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Death toll rises to 64 in Russian shopping mall fire
The aftermath of the fire at the Winter Cherry mall in Russia (Credit: Emergencies Ministry)
The death toll from the fire at a shopping mall in the Russian city of Kemerovo has risen to 64, local authorities said on Monday as it was revealed that the emergency exits were blocked and a fire alarm had been turned off.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations confirmed that 64 people were killed in the fire, which also injured 58 others. Thirteen people remained in hospital on Monday night, including an 11-year-old boy who was seriously injured when he jumped out of a window.
There was no word from authorities on the identities or ages of those killed, but many of the victims are believed to be children. One official said earlier in the day that 41 children between the ages of 2 and 17 were either dead or missing.
Although the cause of Sunday’s fire remains unclear, investigators revealed on Monday that emergency exits at the mall were illegally blocked. It was also discovered that a security guard had disabled the warning system after receiving a fire alarm.
Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, said at a news conference that more than 100 experts are taking part in the criminal investigation. Five people have been detained for questioning, he said, adding that there is no link to terrorism.
The incident began at about 5 p.m. on Sunday when a fire broke out on the fourth floor of the Winter Cherry mall, which was also home to a three-screen movie theater, a skating rink, and a play area for children. Firefighters worked for nearly a day to fully extinguish the blaze.
Footage from a security camera showed that it took just seconds for one part of the fourth floor to be fully filled with thick black smoke. At least one teenager was seen jumping from a window in an attempt to escape the blaze. Both his parents were reported to have died.
Some children took to social media to send desperate messages to friends and family while they were trapped inside the burning building. “We’re on fire .. goodbye perhaps,” a 13-year-old girl who is now missing wrote online.
Related Topics:2018 Kemerovo mall firefeaturedKemerovo (Russia)Russia
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets Chinese President Xi
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ‘makes surprise visit to China’
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חיפוש מתקדם של ספרים
ספרים ספרים 21 - 30 מתוך 186 עבור I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat,....
I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
Travels in Palestine Through the Countries of Bashan and Gilead, East of the ... - עמוד 191
מאת James Silk Buckingham - 1821 - 553 דפים
תצוגה מלאה - מידע על ספר זה
The Second Exodus; Or, Reflections on the Prophecies: Relating to the Rise ...
W. Ettrick - 1814
...prophecies which relate to this time, and to this " battle of that great day of God Almighty? — " For behold! in THOSE DAYS, and in "THAT TIME when I shall bring again the captivity of Judab and Jerusalem, I will also gather ALL NATIONS, and I will bring them; 130 down into the valley...
Travels in Greece, Palestine, Egypt, and Barbary, During the Years 1806 and 1807
François-René vicomte de Chateaubriand - 1814 - 517 דפים
...according lo the prophet Joel, all mankind shall there appear before a formidable judge : " I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshnphat,. and will plead with them there." — " It is reasonable," says * On this subject different...
The Second Advent, Or the Coming of the Messiah in Glory, Shown to be a ...
Elias Boudinot - 1815 - 578 דפים
...will all this happen ? I answer in the words of a parallel passage in Joel, 3d ch. 1st and 2d v. " For behold in those days, and in that time, when I...again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather also all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with...
A Body of Divinity: Wherein the Doctrines of the Christian Religion ..., כרך 3
Thomas Ridgley - 1815
...place, from the application of that prediction mentioned in the prophet Joel, in chap. iii. 2. I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into...Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people: * but that seems to be a prophesy of some • Of Ms opinion -wfiv same among the Pnpixti, and particularly...
...and in that time, -when Isftallbring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather also all nations, and will bring them down into the valley...Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there, for my people, my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and parted my land." — Here the time...
Ezra to Malachi
...deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call. CHAP. III. Jr OR, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall...bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will...
The theological and miscellaneous works of Joseph Priestley, כרך 14
Joseph Priestley - 1804
...and upon the handmaids, In those days will I pour out my spirit. For, behold in those days, and at that time, When I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and of Jerusalem, That I will assemble all the nations, And will bring them down into the valley of Jehosaphat.f...
An Historical Geography of the Old and New Testament ...
Edward Wells - 1819
...PART III. on what is said in the prophecy of Joel, chap. iii. ver. 2, " 12. where God speaks thus : I will also gather all nations, and will bring them...the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them for my people, &c. — Let the heathen be weakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat ; for...
The arguments of faith; or, Incontrovertible answers to Sophists and Epicureans
Hart Simonds - 1822
...shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure." So in Joel, iii. 2. " I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. Psalm, ii. 6 & 7. " Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the...
Works of the British Poets: The vision of Dante Alighieri, tr. by H.F. Cary
Robert Walsh - 1822
...many Christians, that the general judgment will be held in the valley of Josaphat, or Jehoshaphat: "I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehothaphat, and will plead with them there for my people, and for my heritage Israel, whom they have...
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> MM&P Wheelhouse Weekly > Wheelhouse Weekly – May 21st, 2019
CAPTAIN RICHARD PHILLIPS-LANE KIRKLAND MARITIME TRUST RECEPTION AND DINNER ON MAY 21Wheelhouse Weekly – May 28th, 2019
Wheelhouse Weekly – May 21st, 2019
May 21st 2019 MM&P Wheelhouse Weekly IOMMP
Volume 24… Number 21… May 21, 2019
STORIES COVERED
Senate Panel Advances Maritime Security Program Legislation
U.S. Accuses Iran of Responsibility for Sabotage of Four Tankers
America Salutes Merchant Mariners on Maritime Day
After Fires Aboard Its RO/ROs, Shipowner Grimaldi Wants New Rules for Cargo
Bipartisan Bill Would Protect Administrative Law Judges From Undue Political Influence
NASSCO Lays Keel for USNS JOHN LEWIS
Labor News:
ILWU-Canada Locals Authorize Strike
MM&P Members:
Join the Battle: Support the MM&P PCF
Mark Your Calendar:
MM&P Holiday Closing Schedule
MITAGS-PMI Seeking Photos From Members for Use on Social Media
MITAGS Academic Notes
PMI Academic Notes
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Back editions of the Wheelhouse Weekly are available in the archives section.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, under the leadership of Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), has sent to the full Senate legislation that addresses a number of extremely important issues affecting the Maritime Security Program (MSP).
As approved by the committee, the legislation would continue and authorize MSP for an additional ten-year period. As it now stands, MSP would expire at the end of FY ‘25.
The committee extends the program through FY ‘35, which allows the Department of Defense (DOD) to go forward with its strategic planning with the knowledge that our industry will continue to provide the commercial sealift readiness capability that DOD needs.
In addition, the bill corrects a budgetary issue that would cause an arbitrary reduction in the funding authorized for MSP in FY ’22-FY ‘25 from the current $300 million to $222 million.
It is unclear when the full Senate will consider the legislation.
The House of Representatives Committee on Armed Services is working on its own draft of MSP legislation.
The House legislation is also expected to address the need to extend MSP at a funding level that will ensure its viability and guarantee the continued availability of the U.S.-flag, U.S.-crewed maritime security fleet.
Back to Stories Covered
Multiple news outlets have reported that the U.S. believes Iran to be responsible for the May 13 sabotage of four oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Iran has denied any involvement in the attacks and is calling for an independent investigation.
Although there is no evidence that Iran played a direct role, multiple news outlets have reported that the United States believes Iran encouraged those who carried out the attacks.
Two of the vessels were identified as the VLCC AMJAD and the tanker AL MARZOQAH, both owned by Saudi shipping firm Bahri.
The other two were the UAE-flagged fuel bunker barge A. MICHEL and the Norwegian-registered oil products tanker MT ANDREW VICTORY.
The attack took place near Fujairah, one of the world’s largest bunkering hubs, located just outside the Strait of Hormuz.
Tensions in the region are increasing, in particular since the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal and began tightening sanctions against the country to reduce its oil exports.
U.S. maritime authorities have advised U.S.-flag ships of “threats from Iran in a geographic area that includes the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, Bab-el-Mandeb and the Red Sea.”
U.S. commercial vessels operating in the area are advised to review U.S. Maritime Advisory 2019-004.
The Strait of Hormuz sees roughly 18.5 million barrels of oil flow in and out each day.
Some 20 percent of the world’s gas travels through the strait as well.
AMERICA SALUTES MERCHANT MARINERS ON NATIONAL MARITIME DAY
American mariners are being honored this week at National Maritime Day commemorations in cities, towns and ports across the United States.
Government officials, members of the military and representatives of the maritime unions and U.S.-flag shipping companies attended ceremonies in Washington, D.C., Norfolk, Va., and other cities.
The Captain Richard Phillips-Lane Kirkland Maritime Trust has planned a National Maritime Day Reception and Dinner, with all proceeds going to fund scholarships for individuals pursuing careers in maritime or related industries.
National Maritime Day was established by Congress in 1933 to recognize the men and women who keep the maritime industry strong and to salute those who have sacrificed their lives in defense of the United States.
Details of the Maritime Day events will be published in the May 28 issue of The Wheelhouse Weekly.
The Italian shipping group Grimaldi is urging new controls on shipped containers and vehicles following fires aboard two of its RO/ROs, the GRANDE AMERICA and the GRANDE EUROPA.
The GRANDE AMERICA caught fire on March 10 and sank two days later in the Bay of Biscay. In a statement, the company attributed that fire to “cargo carried on the ship.”
Two fires broke out on another of its ships, the GRANDE EUROPA, last Wednesday.
Grimaldi said in a statement that a preliminary investigation showed the fires aboard the GRANDE EUROPA had started in two new vehicles.
The company is asking for tighter controls on cargo, in particular car batteries, and a complete ban on any personal effects in second-hand vehicles carried on RO/RO vessels.
It has called for an International Maritime Organization regulation making it mandatory that a classification society certify containers carrying hazardous materials as being correctly packed and identified.
A group of House lawmakers is seeking to reverse an attempt by the Trump administration to increase its power over America’s 19,000 administrative law judges (ALJs).
ALJs are appointed by, and work for, the federal government, delivering rulings in many areas of statutory law.
At the Coast Guard, for example, they may be asked to rule on cases brought by merchant mariners who object to actions taken against them by the agency.
The president’s executive order gives his office and agency heads significant new authority over the ALJ appointment process.
Previously, ALJs were required to pass a written exam, submit peer references and be interviewed by a panel of experts.
Under the executive order, by contrast, federal agency heads can pick any active lawyer to be an ALJ.
The bipartisan bill–the ALJ Competitive Service Restoration Act (HR 2429)–would require prospective judges to again submit to a vetting process based on technical qualifications.
“[ALJs’] decisions have a significant impact on [Americans’] Social Security, Medicare, workers’ compensation and veterans’ benefits, as well as claims of discrimination, unfair labor practices and securities fraud,” the bill’s cosponsors said in a joint statement.
“Lives would be disrupted if independent adjudicators were replaced by partisan judges whose appointments were based on politics.”
“Congress would not be fulfilling its constitutional duty of oversight if it allowed the politicization of the corps of independent adjudicators who are responsible for protecting the due process rights of the American people.”
The Association of Administrative Law Judges (AALJ) has also criticized the president’s executive order.
AALJ President Marilyn Zahm suggested the real intent of the order was to give agency heads broad authority to select ideological judges.
Among the bill’s sponsors are Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md.; Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.; Richard Neal, D-Mass.; Rodney Davis, R-Ill.; Gerry Connolly, D-Va.; Danny Davis, D-Ill.; Bobby Scott, D-Va.; John Larson, D-Conn.; and Tom Cole, R-Okla.
The keel for the future USNS JOHN LEWIS (T-AO 205), the Navy’s first John Lewis-class fleet replenishment oiler, was laid at General Dynamics-National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego on May 13.
Keel-laying is a ceremony that marks the start of a ship’s construction.
During the course of the event, Rep. John Lewis, the ship’s namesake, and the ship’s sponsor, actress Alfre Woodard, etched their initials into a ceremonial keel plate.
USNS JOHN LEWIS will be operated by the Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC).
It is the first of what will be a class of ships named after Congressman Lewis, a civil rights leader and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The vessel is expected to be delivered to MSC in late 2020.
The John Lewis-class ships will be based on commercial design standards.
The Navy says the new vessels, which will be part of the Navy’s Combat Logistics Force, will “recapitalize today’s T-AO 187-class fleet replenishment oilers to provide underway replenishment of fuel to U.S. Navy ships at sea.”
The licensed deck officers aboard USNS JOHN LEWIS will be represented by the MM&P Federal Employees Membership Group (FEMG).
Rank-and-file members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Canada have voted by an overwhelming margin to authorize a strike against the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA).
The union has been negotiating with employers for 18 months to replace the contract that expired on March 31 of last year.
ILWU Canada rank-and-file members voted overwhelmingly on May 10 to give their full support to union leaders: 98.4 percent of members voted in support of strike action.
“After more than 17 months since negotiations began, your negotiating committee needs your support more than ever to get a fair deal,” ILWU Local 500 President Rino Vico wrote members.
Local 500 is one of several ILWU Locals representing dockworkers in British Columbia.
Together, the Locals represent about 6,000 Canadian dockers.
“Voting yes to a strike does not mean you are voting to go on strike now. It means the union can go on strike in the next 60 days with 72 hours’ strike notice to the employer.”
International longshore unions meeting in Genoa, Italy, last week sent a strong message of solidarity to ILWU Canada.
“The ITF Dockers’ Section Committee, representing over 420,000 longshore workers worldwide, offers full support to the ILWU Canada as they enter into the eighteenth month of negotiations with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA),” the ITF Dockers’ Section said in a statement.
“The BCMEA has failed to negotiate in good faith with the ILWU Canada on key issues facing dockers and the broader community, including the impact of technology and automation in the ports.”
“It is unacceptable for the BCMEA to refuse to negotiate on key issues, including the introduction of any new technologies that could impact and/or result in job losses.”
The ITF Dockers’ Committee said job cuts caused by automation “have repercussions on and off the waterfront including less economic spending power in the community, which leads to a reduction in tax revenue that can be used for public schools and other essential services.”
“We send a strong and clear message of solidarity that there will be no introduction of automation and new technologies without negotiation and meaningful consultation with the ILWU Canada,” the ITF Dockers’ Section said in a statement.
ITF Dockers’ affiliates will take “whatever action is necessary to support the ILWU Canada,” the committee said.
The Jones Act survived a scare and remains in effect–for now.
The effort to extend the Maritime Security Program is moving forward, despite opposition from outside groups and their Congressional allies.
“Ship American” is still the law of the land, yet federal agencies continue to avoid the U.S.-flag shipping requirements.
The battle to strengthen and grow our industry and to keep American maritime jobs is in full swing.
Congressional friends and supporters of the U.S.-flag merchant marine are fighting non-stop to prevent well-financed foreign shipping interests from sending more of our jobs overseas.
Without your help–without the involvement of each and every one of us–our supporters will lose their seats in Congress to our opponents.
If that happens, American mariners will lose their jobs as well.
We ask every MM&P member and pensioner to dig deep and contribute to our union’s Political Contribution Fund (PCF).
Your support for our PCF will give us the resources we need to help keep U.S.-flag ships sailing and U.S.-citizen mariners employed.
For more information about the MM&P PCF, go to www.bridgedeck.org
All MM&P union halls, the MM&P Plan Office, the MM&P Federal Credit Union and MM&P headquarters will be closed on Monday, May 27, for Memorial Day.
MITAGS-PMI is interested in receiving photo submissions from MM&P members for use on the official MITAGS-PMI social media platform.
The goal is to document members’ voyages and promote the maritime industry. As suggestions, photos can be of events and sights onboard, crewmembers at work or scenic locations.
If you are interested in sharing photos, please send them with caption information to MITAGS-PMI’s marketing manager, Lindsay Moran, at lmoran@mitags.org.
Be sure to tell us whether you would like to be credited for the photo.
/ MITAGS ACADEMIC NOTES /
MITAGS needs your current address! Have you moved recently? Did you remember to send MITAGS your new address for communications regarding courses? Please send your current contact information to admissions@mitags.org or to the fax number below.
New dedicated fax line for Admissions only: 1-443-568-1928. For all other MITAGS business, please continue to use: 410-859-5181.
For class availability or information on MITAGS courses and programs, contact Amanda Meadows, Admissions Coordinator, toll-free at 866-656-5568 or by e-mail: admissions@mitags.org.
Why not try our on-line calendar to register for class: mitags-pmi.org/courses/calendar.
For Merchant Mariner Credential (MMC) processing, MMC problem resolution advice, STCW compliance and VA GI-Bill questions, contact MITAGS-PMI Student/Instructional Services Manager Jennifer Pitzen at 206-739-0720 (direct line); (888) 893-7829 (toll free); or by e-mail: jpitzen@mates.org.
Please include your Mariner Reference Number, date of birth and the last four digits of your social security number in all emails.
\\Classes are 5-day unless otherwise noted\\
Class dates followed by an * are full
AB – Able Seaman – 9/9/19
AIS-1 – Automatic Identifications Systems Orientation (1-Day): 8/14/19
ARPA-OIC (4-Day) – Automated Radar Plotting Aids: 9/24/19
AZIPOD (2-Day) – 9/30/19
BRM-35 – Bridge Resource Management: 8/5/19, 10/28/19
BRMP –Bridge Resource Management for Pilots (2-Day): 7/15/19, 7/29/19, 9/30/19
BRMP-EMR –Bridge Resource Management for Pilots with Emergency Shiphandling – (Now also included in BRMP-Refresher) (3-Day): 7/17/19, 10/2/19
BRMP-Refresher (Now including Emergency Shiphandling for Pilots) (3-Day) – Not currently scheduled
BT – Basic Safety Training: 8/12/19, 10/14/19
BT-Revalidation (2-day) (Must have 1 year of sea service in last 5 years) – 6/18/19, 7/30/19, 8/26/19, 9/25/19, 10/30/19, 12/17/19
BT-Refresher (3-day) – 7/29/19, 9/25/19, 12/16/19
CHS-OIC – Cargo Handling Basic: 10/21/19
[CMM – Chief Mate and Master Courses]
ADVSTB-CMM – Advanced Stability: 6/10/19, 7/29/19, 9/23/19, 12/16/19
ADVWX-CMM – Advanced Meteorology: 6/3/19, 8/5/19, 9/30/19, 12/9/19
CHS-CMM – Advanced Cargo Operations (10 Days): 10/7/19
CM-OPS 1 – Chief Mate Operations – Week 1: 8/5/19, 12/2/19
CM-OPS 2 Maersk – Chief Mate Operations II Maersk Specific: 8/12/19, 12/9/18
ECDIS – Electronic Chart Display Information Systems: 9/9/19, 12/2/19
LMS – Leadership and Managerial Skills (Management Level – Formerly MCL-CMM): 8/19/19, 12/16/19
MPP-CMM – Marine Propulsion Plants: 11/4/19 (DCS-1 available on request – contact Admissions)
SEC-APPS – Practical Defense Tactics: Not Currently Scheduled
SHMGT-CMM- Ship Management: 10/28/19
SHS-ADV-I-CMM – Advanced Shiphandling (week 1): 6/3/19*, 6/17/19*, 7/15/19, 8/12/19*, 9/9/19, 9/30/19, 10/14/19, 11/4/19, 12/2/19
SHS-ADV-II-CMM – Advanced Shiphandling (week 2): 6/10/19*, 6/24/19*, 7/22/19, 8/19/19*, 9/16/19, 10/7/19, 10/21/19, 11/11/19, 12/9/19
**SHS-ADV-I & II are now approved to include SAR-CMM assessments at MITAGS**
VPEN-CMM – Voyage Planning & Electronic Navigation: 10/21/19
WKP-CMM – Advanced Watchkeeping: 9/16/19
WX-HW-ATL – Heavy Weather Avoidance Routing: Atlantic Ocean (2-day) – 6/10/19, 9/23/19
WX-HW-IND – Heavy Weather Avoidance Routing: Indian Ocean (2-day) – 6/14/19, 9/27/19
WX-HW-PAC – Heavy Weather Avoidance Routing: Pacific Ocean (2-day) – 6/12/19, 9/25/19
CIW-DPA/IA – Continual Improvement Workshop: Designated Person Ashore & Internal Auditor (3-Day) ** This course is NOT covered by the MATES Program ** – 6/25/19, 11/12/19
CIW-SMS – Continual Improvement Workshop: Successful Safety Management –7/16/19, 10/15/19
CNAV-OIC (15-Day) – Celestial Navigation: 11/4/19
CRISIS-COMMS – Crisis Communications (1-Day): Not currently scheduled
CRSMGT – Crisis Management and Human Behavior (1-Day) – 7/11/19
CDMGT – Crowd Management (1-Day) – 7/12/19
CSE – Confined Space Entry (3-Day): 8/19/19
CSE-AWR – Confined Space Entry Awareness (2-Day): 8/22/19
CY-MAR – Cyber-Skilled Mariner ** This course is NOT covered by the MATES Program ** – 8/5/19
DDE – Great Lakes (20-Day): Not currently scheduled
ECDIS for Pilots (2-Day) – 8/12/19, 11/21/19
ERM – Engine Resource Management: 8/12/19, 12/9/19
FF-BADV – Fire Fighting Combined Basic & Advanced: 8/12/19, 10/14/19
FF-ADV-Rev (1-day) (Must have 1 year of sea service in last 5 years) – Advanced Fire Fighting Revalidation: 6/20/19, 8/1/19, 8/28/19, 9/24/19, 10/29/19, 12/19/19
FF-ADV-REF (2-day) – Advanced Fire Fighting Refresher: 7/27/19, 9/28/19, 12/14/19
FSM – Fatigue, Sleep, & Medications (1-Day): 9/17/19
GL-Pilot – Great Lakes Pilotage Familiarization (2-Day): Not currently scheduled
GMDSS – Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (10-Day): 8/19/19
HAZ – Hazardous Materials (5 day): 8/26/19, 11/18/19
IEN – Integrated Electronic Navigation (3-Day) – Not currently scheduled
LAP – License Advancement Program for Mate to Master (20-Day): 7/29/19*, 10/21/19
LAP-Great Lakes – License Advancement Program – Great Lakes (20-Day): Not currently scheduled
LAP-ORG3rd – License Advancement Program for Original 3rd Mate, Oceans, Any Gross
Ton License (15-Day): 6/3/19
LEG – Legal Aspects of Pilotage (1-Day): 9/18/19
LNG-TPIC (10-Day) – Not currently scheduled
LTS –Leadership and Teamworking Skills (Formerly MCL-OIC) (1-Day): 9/23/19
MEECE – Management of Electrical and Electronic Control Equipment (Assessments not included): 8/5/19, 12/2/19
MED-PIC – Medical Person in Charge (10-Day): 7/8/19*, 9/30/19, 12/2/19
MED-PIC-REF– Medical Person in Charge Refresher: 6/24/19, 8/19/19, 10/21/19
MED-PRO – Medical Care Provider: 9/30/19, 11/18/19
MED-DOT-DA – Dept. of Transportation Drug & Alcohol Testing (1-Day): 6/17/19, 7/14/19, 8/29/19, 9/23/19, 10/5/19, 10/28/19, 12/7/19, 12/20/19
[MSC – Military Sealift Command Courses]
MSC-CBRD-1 – Military Sealift Command Chemical, Biological, Radiological Defense Orientation (Basic) (1-Day): 6/5/19 (evening), 8/7/19, 9/12/19 (evening), 11/1/19 (evening)
MSC-DC – Military Sealift Command Damage Control (2-day): 6/5/19, 8/5/19, 9/12/19, 11/1/19
MSC-ENVPRO (1-Day) – 6/2/19, 8/4/19, 11/3/19
MSC-FF-HELO (2-Day) – 6/3/19, 8/10/19, 10/30/19
MSC-SMA – Military Sealift Command Small Arms Qualifications (4-Day): 6/9/19*, 7/15/19, 8/11/19, 9/16/19, 11/4/19
MSC-Security Watch Basic (1-Day) – 6/7/19, 8/8/19, 9/14/19, 11/4/19
MSC-Security Watch Advanced (1-Day) – 6/8/19*, 7/14/19, 8/9/19, 9/15/19, 11/8/19
MSC-Ship’s Reaction Force (3-Day) – 6/13/19*, 7/19/19, 8/16/19, 9/20/19, 11/9/19
NDMS-ENAV – Navigational Decision Making Series – Best Practice in eNav – 11/18/19
NSAP-MMP – Navigational Skills Assessment Program-MM&P (2-Day) – 6/24/19*, 6/26/19*, 7/25/19*, 7/29/19*, 8/26/19*, 8/28/19, 11/18/19, 11/20/19, 12/16/19, 12/18/19
RFPNW – Ratings Forming Part of a Navigational Watch (3-day) – Not currently scheduled
ROR-1 – Radar Observer Renewal (1-Day): 9/23/19
ROR-1N – Radar Observer Renewal Evening Classes (1-Night): 6/5/19*, 6/12/19, 6/19/19*, 7/10/19, 7/24/19, 8/1/19*, 8/7/19, 8/21/19, 8/28/19, 9/17/19, 9/18/19, 10/2/19, 10/16/19, 10/30/19, 11/6/19, 11/13/19, 12/4/19, 12/18/19
ROU-OIC – Radar Observer Program – Unlimited: 7/29/19
SAR – Search & Rescue – (Now with OIC and CMM assessments) (3-Day): 12/2/19
SHS-BAS-OIC – Basic Shiphandling: 8/26/19, 10/28/19
SHS-EMR5 – Emergency Shiphandling (5 Day) – 6/17/19*, 8/5/19*, 9/23/19, 11/18/19, 12/16/19
STB-OIC – Ship Construction and Basic Stability: 8/5/19
TCNAV/CO – Terrestrial Navigation and Compasses (15-Day): 7/8/19
TPIC – Tankerman Person in Charge: 7/8/19
TRAC-TUG-2 (2-Day): Contact Admissions
TTT – ** This course is NOT covered by the MATES Program ** Not currently scheduled
VPDSD – Vessel Personnel with Designated Security Duties (1-Day): Not currently scheduled
VSO – Vessel Security Officer (3-Day): 7/8/19, 9/4/19
WKP-OIC – Watchkeeping (Operational Level) (10-Day): 10/7/19
WX-OIC –Meteorology (Operational Level): 9/16/19
For registration, contact our admissions department: 206.441.2880 or admissions@mates.org.
Please also see our schedule and enroll online at www.mitags-pmi.org.
20-24 Basic Training
28-30 Search & Rescue
31st Leadership & Teamworking Skills
3-5 Security Officer – Vessel, Company, & Facility
3-21 Celestial Navigation
3-28 License Advancement Preparation (Chief Mate/Master Level)
10-13 Advanced Firefighting
17-21 Basic Firefighting
24-28 Meteorology (Operational Level)
21-25 Basic Training Refresher (no class on weekend)
24-25 Basic Training Revalidation
26th Advanced Firefighting Revalidation
28th Medical DOT
8-12 Advanced Meteorology
8-26 Terrestrial & Coastal Navigation w/ Compasses
9th Radar Renewal
15-19 Basic Shiphandling
15-19 Advanced Stability
16-18 Advanced Firefighting Refresher
22-26 Cargo Handling & Stowage
22-26 Advanced Shiphandling I
29-31 Security Officer – Vessel, Company, & Facility
29-2 Advanced Shiphandling II
5-8 Advanced Firefighting
12-30 License Preparation (Mate Level)
4th Advanced Firefighting Revalidation
5-6 Basic Training Revalidation
6th Vessel Personnel w/ Designated Security Duties (VPDSD)
9-13 Basic Training
9-13 Marine Propulsion Plants
16-20 Ship/Shipboard Management
23-27 Voyage Planning & Electronic Navigation
30-1 ECDIS
30-1 Leadership & Managerial Skills
2nd Advanced Firefighting Revalidation
7-11 Engine Resource Management
7-11 Advanced Shiphandling I
14-18 Management of Electrical & Electronic Control Equipment (MEECE)
14-18 Advanced Shiphandling II
21-25 Advanced Meteorology
21-25 Ship Construction & Basic Stability
28-1 Advanced Stability
28-15 Celestial Navigation
4-8 Advanced Cargo Operations
12th Radar Renewal
18-22 Radar Observer Unlimited
18-22 Advanced Watchkeeping
2-6 Leadership & Managerial Skills
2-20 License Preparation (Mate Level)
9-12 ARPA
The MM&P Wheelhouse Weekly is the official electronic newsletter of the International Organization of Masters, Mates, & Pilots, ILA, AFL-CIO, 700 Maritime Blvd. Suite B, Linthicum Heights, MD 21090-1953. Phone: 410-850-8700; Fax: 410-850-0973. All rights reserved. The MM&P Wheelhouse Weekly © 2019. Articles can be reprinted without prior permission if credit is given to The MM&P WheelhouseWeekly. For subscriptions, address changes or messages to the editor or to MM&P headquarters, e-mail communications@bridgedeck.org. Back issues of The Weekly are posted on www.bridgedeck.org.
Wheelhouse Weekly – Mar. 29, 2016
Wheelhouse Weekly – January 21, 2008
Wheelhouse Weekly – September 11th, 2018
Wheelhouse Weekly – May 23, 2017
Wheelhouse Weekly – July 31st, 2018
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You are here: Home | News | May 2019 | Refugee crisis: IMB’s Chitwood goes to Capitol Hill
Refugee crisis: IMB’s Chitwood goes to Capitol Hill
May 20 2019 by Julie McGowan, IMB
Only days after witnessing Venezuelan refugees’ plight on the Colombia border, and mere weeks after praying with refugees in Uganda, International Mission Board (IMB) President Paul Chitwood traveled to Capitol Hill May 16 to discuss global refugee crises with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
IMB photo
International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood, left, discusses the global refugee crisis with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Chitwood and John Brady, IMB’s vice president of Global Engagement, along with their spouses, met with Sen. McConnell, (R-Ky.) a longtime Southern Baptist elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984 from Louisville, Ky., in the Majority Leader’s office in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
During the meeting, which also included members of Sen. McConnell’s staff, Chitwood and Brady reflected on the refugees they met during their recent overseas trips and the American members of NGOs [non-governmental organizations] seeking to meet the most basic needs of those affected on both continents.
Chitwood said he welcomed the opportunity to meet with the Senate leader about these issues affecting the work of the IMB.
“I’m humbled that as leaders of the global organization representing Southern Baptists across America and Baptist partners around the world, we could offer our firsthand observations to the Senator on these issues,” Chitwood said. “Our intent is to keep a dialogue open with influencers who can help ensure the safety of our global workers sharing hope – and to discuss any way we can offer support to those people seeking hope and peace around the world.”
According to Baptist Global Response, a primary ministry partner of IMB, there are an estimated 60 to 65 million displaced persons in the world today. Some are refugees, who have crossed country borders. Some are internally displaced peoples (IDPs) who remain in their country but are forced to leave their homes.
During the meeting with the Senator, they also discussed an increase in religious persecution, an issue affecting fellow Baptists and missionaries worldwide. Pew Research reported in 2018 that more than a quarter of countries had “high” or “very high” levels of government restrictions on religion in 2016, an increase from 25 percent the year before.
International Mission Board leaders Paul Chitwood, right, and John Brady, left, meet with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on May 16 in Washington, D.C., to discuss the global refugee crisis and religious persecution.
Chitwood said Sen. McConnell had several questions about the work of the IMB and expressed his appreciation for those who are living their lives in service to the world’s hurting.
“As in past meetings we’ve had, Senator McConnell was gracious, engaging, and very interested in the work of Southern Baptists,” he said.
Chitwood has stated in recent weeks how he is thankful for Southern Baptists reaching out to refugees such as Agnes, a single mother among 1.5 million refugees in Uganda – 85 percent of them women and children under age 18. He shared about Baptist workers offering hope to thousands of people daily crossing the bridge between Venezuela and Colombia, their lives marked by fear and pain. See related stories here and here.
“You can’t meet these precious people and walk away unchanged,” Chitwood said. “God has given us insight into His work in these lives. We have a responsibility to intercede for them, and also to use whatever opportunities God gives us to help them and share the hope of the gospel with them. Today’s meeting with Senator McConnell was part of that response, and I’m thankful for that opportunity.”
5/20/2019 10:41:15 AM by Julie McGowan, IMB | with 0 comments
Filed under: Global refugee crisis, IMB, Mitch McConnell, Paul Chitwood
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Posts Tagged Yemen
The UNHCR categorises the various crisis points around the world as either situations or emergencies. Anyone imagining that a ‘situation’ is by definition manageable is naive. It’s just not (yet) (quite) an emergency. There’s the possibility of at least alleviating the problems, given a hefty dose of luck, and goodwill all round.
Here in Europe, we have a situation. The main issue is not numbers, which are low compared to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, many of which have significant numbers of internally displaced people as well as influxes of refugees from neighbouring countries. The problem is twofold – how to help those who are already here, and how to help those who are now or who will soon attempt the perilous Mediterranean crossing. For the first group, we need adequate reception and assistance services, especially for those with specific needs (lone children, survivors of violence, for example), we need access to fair and efficient asylum procedures, and support for family reunion and relocation. For the second group, ‘rescue-at-sea operations undertaken by all actors must remain a priority’.
This movement towards Europe continues to take a devastating toll on human life. Since the beginning of 2017, over 2,700 people are believed to have died or gone missing while crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe, with reports of many others perishing en route. These risks do not end once in Europe. Those moving onwards irregularly have reported numerous types of abuse, including being pushed back across borders.
https://www.unhcr.org/uk/europe-emergency.html
Venezuela too has a refugee situation. More than 3 million Venezuelans are now living abroad, the vast majority in neighbouring countries in South America. They are fleeing violence, insecurity, lack of food, medicines and essential services. They represent the largest exodus in the recent history of Latin America. Most refugees are families with children, pregnant women, the elderly, those with disabilities.
In Burundi, street protests led to outbreaks of violence after the President announced that he would seem a third term in office. Hundreds of thousands have fled to neighbouring countries. The violence has eased but the political situation remains unresolved, and Burundi faces economic decline, extreme food insecurity, and outbreaks of disease.
The Central African Republic has experienced unrest for many years, with increasing clashes between armed groups since May 2017. 700,000 people are displaced within the Republic, and many others have fled to Cameroon, Chad, DRC or the Republic of Congo.
But the above are merely ‘situations’. Then there are the emergencies.
Nigeria (and its neighbours, Chad, Cameroon and Niger) are facing terrible suffering due to the Boko Haram insurgency. Nearly 2.4 million are displaced in the Lake Chad basin. They are facing human rights violations, sexual and gender-based violence, forced recruitment, suicide bombings, conflict-induced food insecurity and severe malnutrition.
South Sudan has experienced brutal conflict since December 2013. Almost 4 million people have been driven from home, and more than 2.2 million have fled to neighbouring countries. The situation has quickly escalated into a full-blown humanitarian emergency, and displacement in the region is expected to rise until a political solution is found. Most refugees are women and children, and the rainy season brings new problems – floods, food shortages and disease.
In Iraq, more than 3 million have been internally displaced since 2014. More than 1.5 million have taken refuge in the Kurdistan region, where one in four is now a refugee or an internally displaced person.
“We had no choice other than to leave because it was not safe for our children. We left everything – our clothes, our furniture, even our food.”
Nafa Jihad, 40, father
The Democratic Republic of Congo seemed to have the chance of peace and stability when its long civil war ended in 2003. But sporadic fighting continued, and since 2016 there has been a new wave of violence. Human rights violations, mutilation, killings, sexual violence, arbitrary arrest and detention in inhumane conditions have led to 4.5 million being internally displaced, and over 826,000 seeking refuge in neighbouring countries. DRC is also hosting over half a million refugees from the same neighbours.
In Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, the violence is worsening, and exacerbating poverty and insecurity. Millions are fleeing their homes to escape the conflict. Yemen is facing a humanitarian catastrophe. Without help, many more lives will be lost to violence, treatable illnesses or lack of food, water and shelter.
The Rohingya people, a stateless Muslim minority in Myanmar, have been fleeing violence in increasing numbers since 2017.
At the peak of the crisis, thousands were crossing into Bangladesh daily. Most walked for days through jungles and mountains, or braved dangerous sea voyages across the Bay of Bengal. They arrived exhausted, hungry and sick – in need of international protection and humanitarian assistance.
https://www.unhcr.org/uk/rohingya-emergency.html
Most of the refugees are woman and children – more than 40% under 12 – and many others are elderly.
And then there’s Syria. More than 5.6 million have fled since 2011, and millions more are internally displaced. 3.3 million Syrian refugees are in Turkey. In Lebanon, 70% of the refugees live below the poverty line – the figure is 93% in Jordan. Most refugees live in urban areas, not in the big refugee camps.
“Syria is the biggest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time, a continuing cause of suffering for millions which should be garnering a groundswell of support around the world.”
Filippo Grandi, UNHCR High Commissioner
This catalogue of misery and despair around the world should put the challenges we in Western Europe face into perspective. For too many it simply encourages the building of literal or metaphorical walls to keep ‘them’ out. But most refugees aren’t clamouring at our borders, they’re fleeing where they can, into neighbouring countries that may be as poor and as unstable as their own, trying to survive however they can. People will continue to flee their homes if their homes are war zones, if they can’t feed their children, if they are persecuted because of their religion, their politics, their sexuality, if they face violence from state or insurgency. We would do the same.
These problems require collective solutions. We can’t, and mustn’t, retreat behind our borders and build bigger walls. We can’t continue to leave it to some of the poorest countries in the world to deal with the fall-out from Western interventions. It just won’t work.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was created in 1950, during the aftermath of the Second World War, to help millions of Europeans who had fled or lost their homes. We had three years to complete our work and then disband.
https://www.unhcr.org/uk/history-of-unhcr.html
They’re still here. 69 years later, there’s more to do than ever.
Boko Haram, Burundi, CAR, DRC, Iraq, Refugee Week, Rohingya, South Sudan, Syria, UNHRC, Venezuela, Yemen
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CPUC Report - CA Leads the Nation in Customer-Generated Solar Power
SAN FRANCISCO, July 2, 2012 - The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today issued its 2012 California Solar Initiative (CSI) Annual Program Assessment, showing that in 2011 California reached a major milestone by becoming the first state in the nation to install more than 1 gigawatt (1,000 megawatts) of customer-generated solar energy; a record 311 megawatts (MW) were installed in the investor-owned utility territories in 2011 alone.
As outlined in the report, currently more than 122,000 sites across the state host solar systems to serve on-site solar generation. The annual rate of new solar installations and the cumulative installed capacity both provide evidence that California is well along the path of achieving the goals set by Senate Bill (SB) 1 in 2006, the legislation that authorized the CSI Program.
“California’s solar success is unmatched in the nation,” said CPUC President Michael R. Peevey. “In the first quarter of 2012, there has already been 97 megawatts of solar installed. This means that the CSI Program is on track to reach 1,000 megawatts in installations by the end of the year.”
Other highlights of the report include:
Costs for residential solar system have decreased by 28 percent since 2007.
CSI projects in low income markets (areas with median incomes of less than $50,000) have increased by 364 percent since 2007.
Approximately 1,500 low income homeowners, with help from the Single-Family Affordable Solar Homes (SASH) program, have installed solar panels to generate energy and improve their monthly cash flow - something that has a big impact in today’s sensitive housing market.
The SASH program surpassed its goals, installing more than 1,000 projects for low income families by the end of 2011.
The Multi-family Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) program completed 181 projects as of April 30, 2012, with a capacity of 9.1 MW.
Virtual Net Metering has allowed thousands of low income tenants to receive thedirect benefits of solar as reductions in their monthly electric bills.
CSI projects in middle income markets (areas with median incomes between $50,000 and$100,000) have increased by 445 percent since 2007, and comprise the majority ofapplications received in 2011.
In just over two years of operation, the CSI-Thermal Program, which provides rebates forsolar water heating systems, has received 704 applications for $4.87 million in incentives.
In January 2007, California began an unprecedented $3.3 billion effort to install 3,000 MW of new solar over the next decade and transform the market for solar energy by reducing the cost of solar generating equipment. The CPUC portion of the solar effort is known as the CSI Program. CSI, the country’s largest solar program, has a $2.4 billion budget and a goal to install 1,940 MW of solar capacity by the end of 2016.
Weekly program demand data, including new rebate applications, installed systems, and system costs can be found at www.CaliforniaSolarStatistics.ca.gov.
The report issued today is available at www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/energy/Solar/2012CASolarLegReport.htm.
Visit www.GoSolarCalifornia.ca.gov for more solar information.
For more information on the CPUC, please visit www.cpuc.ca.gov.
Media Contact: Terrie Prosper, 415.703.1366, news@cpuc.ca.gov
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Iteca Caspian - Hungary offers new technologies to Azerbaijan
Hungary offers new technologies to Azerbaijan
Hungary offers Azerbaijan new technology for electronic fare collection in transport, the introduction of electronic systems in the areas of agricultural production, urban planning, power supply, as well as the water industry, the Hungarian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Imre Laszloczki told Trend.
"We also offer new technologies in the field of agricultural processing and for the food industry. In these areas, Hungary possesses the world-level technical solutions," the diplomat said.
The both countries are interested in creation of the joint enterprises, including those in the sphere of high technology, according to Laszloczki.
"Hungarian companies have already started to implement a number of joint projects with Azerbaijan. One of the latest proposals is to create a plant for processing of medicinal plants and production of spices in one of Azerbaijan’s southern regions through the new investment incentives provided to the Azerbaijani industrial parks and clusters," said Laszloczki.
He added that Hungary also considers a possibility of creating a pharmaceutical plant in Azerbaijan.
The diplomat noted that over 50 percent of the Hungarian trade with the South Caucasus region accounts for Azerbaijan.
"Hungarian exports amounted to $72.3 million in 2014, which is eight percent higher than previous figures. In 2015, exports amounted to $65.8 million (a decrease by 8.8 percent), but this fall can be attributed to changes in the exchange rate of the dollar against the European currency," said the ambassador.
"In the last year, Hungarian positions in the Azerbaijani market have only strengthened. In 2016, due to the lowing of the manat’s rate a decline in Hungarian exports to Azerbaijan is expected," Laszloczki said. "However, Azerbaijan may increase its import in Hungary, which means that the total turnover between our countries in 2016 can maintain the level of the previous years."
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You are here: Home › Best of 2018, #3: Rays End Ybor City Ballpark Pursuit
Best of 2018, #3: Rays End Ybor City Ballpark Pursuit
By Zach Spedden on December 27, 2018 in Major-League Baseball, News
We end 2018 with a countdown of the 10 biggest stories of the year on Ballpark Digest, as chosen by editors and partially based on page views. Today, #3: Tampa Bay Rays end their pursuit of an Ybor City ballpark.
The year 2018 was a whirlwind for the Tampa Bay Rays and their ambitions for a new ballpark. While their plans for a new facility in Tampa’s Ybor City drew considerable attention throughout much of the year, the process came to a stop when the team ended its pursuit in December.
The Rays have wanted for years to replace Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, and a 2016 agreement with St. Petersburg officials gave the team three years to explore the region for a new ballpark site. Such an arrangement effectively allowed the Rays to explore Tampa, while giving them a path to buy out a Tropicana Field lease that runs through 2027 for $2 million annually if a new ballpark outside of St. Petersburg could be secured.
After much speculation about whether a viable plan would emerge, the Rays announced in February that they were pursuing a 14-acre site north of Ybor Channel as the potential home of a new ballpark. More details emerged in July, when the Rays unveiled a concept that called for a fixed-translucent roof ballpark that would be constructed as part of an $892 million project. What was not clear at the time, however, was how the Rays and local officials planned to fund the ballpark.
Few details emerged over the next several months, leaving concerns about whether a workable plan could come together before the agreement between the Rays and St. Petersburg expired on December 31. Hillsborough County officials sought to up the urgency on the issue during the final weeks of the year, even reaching out to Major League Baseball to see if it would throw its support behind a funding framework that relied significantly on private investment.
In December, however, the Rays pulled the plug on the initiative by announcing that they were rejecting the proposal on the grounds that it was financially infeasible. Among the team’s contentions were that the funding plan was not coming together quickly enough and that too many details were not pinned down. With the Ybor City effort coming to a halt, the Rays declined to seek an extension of their deadline with St. Petersburg.
What happens from here remains to be seen. Given the time it could take for a new ballpark plan to move forward, the end of the Tropicana Field lease could be a logical target date for opening a new facility. St. Petersburg officials have previously floated the idea of building a new ballpark as part of a larger redevelopment of the Tropicana Field site, though the Rays have yet to show interest in the idea. The Rays could choose to bide their time in hopes of reviving discussions in Tampa down the road, but any plan to hold off on ballpark discussions could see the organization gamble on how future economic conditions would affect negotiations. To this point, team ownership has not expressed a desire to relocate, even as groups in Portland, Montreal, and Las Vegas make noise about their desire for a new MLB team and ballpark.
Despite a considerable amount of work on the initiative, the Rays were unable to close the deal on a new Ybor City ballpark in 2018. The year is ending with plenty of questions about the team’s facility pursuit going forward, and time will tell how the process plays out.
Here’s our Top Ten of 2018 to date:
Best of 2018, #4: Elmore Sports Group
Best of 2018, #5: Copa de la Diversión
Best of 2018, #6: Wrigley Field Upgrades
Best of 2018, #7: New Portland MLB Ballpark Plan Unveiled
Best of 2018, #8: New Wichita Ballpark Moves Forward
Best of 2018, #9: MLB Embraces Gambling
Best of 2018, #10: SRP Park Opening
About Zach Spedden
Zach Spedden is the managing editor of the August Publications sports sites. He graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in February 2014, and a Master of Arts in Emerging Media from the University of Loyola Maryland's in September 2015. Zach resides in Baltimore.
View all posts by Zach Spedden →
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Manfred: Rays’ Split Season Pitch is Way to Keep Team in Tampa Bay
major league baseball, mlb, new Tampa Bay Rays ballpark, tampa bay rays, tropicana field, Ybor City
New for 2019: Fremont Moo
Best of 2018, #2: PawSox Announce Worcester Move
Florence Freedom Sale Making Progress July 12, 2019
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Tag Archives: low class
Bronx Stardust
June 15, 2010 – 11:48 am
Posted in urban passion
Tagged Al Jolson, Alienation", architect, Barie Fez-Barringten, bigoted, Bing Crosby, blood is thicker than water, bronx, Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn or New Haven, brother, candy store, cchs, columbia, curtains, design, dna, drape hangerm drapes, Eddy Cantor, el, elevated, elevated train station, estainment, ethnic jokes, ethnic minorities, European German culture, Faile Street, family, fire escape, fire hydrant, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, French, Galatians, German, ghetto, Greeks, grocery store, Guinea, harlem, Helen O’Connell, Henry Morgan, Hoe Avenue and Home Street, hunts point, Ingmar Bergman, interior design, Judy Garland, Kike, knight, Latino and Spanish, Lebanese, Lenny Bruce and Nat Hentoff, liberty, limosensse, linoleum, little Joe, loews paradise theatre, low class, Mae West, metaphor, Nazareth, new york school of interior design, nysid, parquet floor, Pearl Harbor, Peggy Lee, pharmacy, Pollock, poverty, pratt, pratt institute, ps20, ps48, ps75, Puerto Rican, Radio City Music Hall, Rhodes, Romania or Poland, roof, roof top, sash window, Saudi Arabia, Saudis, sauid arabai, school, seperation, Simpson Street, slum, Sociological handicap, south bronx, southern boulevard, Spanish, Spic, stain glass, stairs, stoopp, Strand, Syrians, taxi service, the Andrew sisters, the Barry sisters, the Paramount Theatre, the Roxy, toilet bowl, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, urban, urban family, vending machines, veteran, Vic Damone, Wild Strawberries, yale, yale university
980 Simpson Strret was Milty's home sixty years ago
A tome
By Barie Fez-Barringten
Three Chapter excerpt
http://www.bariefez-barringten.com
The complete Table of Contents:
Family: 8,693
Identity/Medical: 4,483
Mom: 11,951
Dad: 7,703
Brother: 5,116
People: 8,932
As stardust is the particles in the environment so is
Bronx Stardust about the bits and pieces that are falling from bigger bodies. These are the fragments of and left overs from main issues, bodies and lives of the times. These are the crumbs from the table where you can only imagine the weight, substance and ingredients of the main dish. The real story has already been lived, the real place is already remodeled and reconfigured so all that remains is the stardust left behind and un-noticed by the the ebb and flow of social forces. If these are the crumbs we can only wonder what was the meal. If this is the stardust what was the heavenly body. As science gathers the stardust I have gathered my recollections of the details of time, place and a space labeled the Bronx.
Chapter 1 Family (8,693 words) Mid-twentieth century Bronx Stardust was a family-centered metaphor. We saw our context through the eyes of our family. The metaphor of the Bronx and Bronx Stardust was connected to each person by family and family traditions, culture and distinctives. Families realized they were unique, but that there were other unique and peculiar families as well. We knew that it was our differences that we had in common and that shaped our view of what made the Bronx special. The Bronx was special because so many families were different – from those who resided on the same floor of a building, in a whole building, on a block or in a neighborhood. It was our family sameness and our differences that made Bronx Stardust. We celebrated and boasted about our differences. We defended our rights to be unique and blast the others who opposed what were our cultural differences. Yet we rejoiced over the contrasts and relished foreign tastes and desires. Bronx Stardust often resulted in gang violence, feuds, shootings and abusive behavior. All of this churned the environment, making our families huddle together and yet find ways to relate and connect with other clans. As we fought and defended, we gained tolerance while strengthening our own identity and uniqueness amongst other unique and special personas. My parents emphasized their respective families, and as a result our family made “family” a basic part of our metaphorical and human vocabulary. In doing so, I memorized each and every member of our families’ name and relation to whom, as well as their relative rank and age in each family. I knew my aunts and uncles and their children and each child and relation they had and could connect them and tell you about them in detail. To this day, I describe them in detail as the context of my childhood. Later, my dad would give me daily reports of my cousin’s whereabouts, marriages, births and condition of children. It was the legacy and imprints my parents passed on to me and that I am now able to pass on to others. It also gave me a great sense of being part of a context much greater than our clan and myself. It was a sense of familiarity, vocabulary and recognizable traits that confirmed my identity and rightness with this world order. I had it and I assumed others had it as well. What I soon discovered is what I had in a great quantity, most had in a very small amount. I also learned that some had “wealth in the family” and assumed stature, while others had only a meager and paltry family. Others, I was surprised, never would talk about their families or would speak with disdain of their families. However, my family is a noteworthy family, having one street named after one of its members. Another member ran for president of the United States; another was a well-known political journalist; and another assisted a Supreme Court justice and authored a law textbook that is used in many law schools. Families are what we remember about how we became who we are. They are the collective memory of our formation and the formation that preceded us. Family is the mnemonic recalling of who I was with anyone or another person from the very beginning. By mentioning any one of them, I remember my own feelings and relationships.
Christina's Collage
Family bonding The bond to my parents that my brother and I had was good and strong. That bond may have explained the tolerance my brother and I had to our dysfunctional home. The bond between my brother and I only strengthened as children, when I’d care for him at night when both our parents were out, or in the morning when I’d dress him and take him to school. As the saying goes, blood is thicker than water. The members of one’s family are themselves the experiences that shape our vocabulary, behavior, emotions and knowledge. At some point, they were the world and everything revolved around what they said and did. What we thought, they thought, and our interpretation of what they said was the building blocks for our future. They provided the voices, landmarks, visions and lessons for future non-family interactions. It is our family in whose image we are framed and often judged by society. If you can tell a person by his friends, it is even more so with the family. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” it is said. Yes, society definitely makes intuitive judgments about us from their impressions of the family. So in that way it is important that we know and understand the family against whom we are measured and the model and mold in which we are cast. For me, the extended family overcame the daily training at low self-esteem. I still did not do well at school, but I did strive to develop a persona and self-character modeled after the best members of my family. They would challenge and lovingly encourage me to go beyond the limitations of where I was. My mom was the best at this!!! She would listen and react to every word I spoke and knew the motive behind it. She was quick and insightful. The urban family is selective versus the rural family, where everyone is with you; there is nowhere to hide. Urban cities are vast and families can easily find themselves in different neighborhoods and paths that will never cross. Family is any group gathered under one leader. I was very fortunate to spend the time and know my father’s parents very well. Unlike most of my cousins, I have a sense of being from them and reference my identity and the culture of all their offspring back to their identity and culture. I also got to visit with their offspring and their clans for the first 20 years of my life and therefore know the details of each clan. I can liken the diverse beliefs and differences between our family’s clan to a country like Iraq, Lebanon, Yugoslavia, etc., who seek to surrender their individual differences to a single identity. It is a very metaphoric process and concept: the family has its own identity at the highest level, which consists of sub-identities at the clan level. We are a family under God spiritually and in the flesh under nations and parents and their parent’s ancestors and heirs. We have one vocabulary, one history, one covenant and one Bible. This experience is the foundation of all the links I make to all other ethnic, national and linguistic cultures throughout the world. I can relate to any family by the memory and lessons from my family. I can see my uncles and aunts and cousins in the Saudis, Lebanese, Syrians, Greeks, Puerto Rican, Spanish, French, German, etc. I can hear my grandmother’s music and see her dance in her folk dances. The strange becomes familiar. My family is my metaphor. They are the people who are there for you when everyone leaves. They are the idea of what is valuable and precious and for whom everyone is measured and counted. They are the profit from all our toils and efforts and the amorphic context with which we gauge our identify location in the cosmos and the measure of our physical vessel. In a family is where you learn consequences, values and behavioral patterns. Members criticize, encourage, judge, gossip, accept and reject. Families have characteristic appearances, behavioral patterns and traditions. In my family, I learned that there were consequences for the behavior or misbehavior of myself, parents or relatives. My parents would inevitably review the activities of their brothers and sisters. My father gave me a detailed account of each aunt, uncle and cousin. My mother’s account was less tedious because her family was smaller. My mother would report that she had heard gossip from others about any visit or event we had with one another. Often complaints and judgments were not overt and direct, but reported to one as gossip and then passed back to my mother. My father was reticent about any of these kinds of conversations and I would not hear from him about this. Such complaints from my father, rather, had to do with my misbehavior and my mother’s notorious passion for cleaning her house. There was a definite love that my mother had for her sister, Clara, that recalculated back to my brother and me from that family. She also was very close to Sylvia and Julie. No doubt our family valued their homes, but less to the extent of location and status. Rather, the furniture and furnishings, maintenance and order were greatly noticed and discussed. The depression, unemployment, lack of education and street savvy was our family’s common denominators, so no one was able to show off. However, there were still those who managed to find themes to vent their pride and snub one another. These included the manner of speaking (either talking too much or about others), overly caring about one’s new acquisitions, touting the accomplishments of one’s children, and slandering others for there idiosyncrasies of which each family has many. My Uncle Jack laughed too loud and harshly, Uncle Irving searched your house when visiting while Mom’s Uncle Irving was a political subversive, Aunt Pauline was a recluse, and to many all my father’s brothers were vulgar and not to be trusted, and Aunt Evelyn was too good for everyone else. The cultural aspects of our family were embodied in the distinctive look of all the my grandparent’s children and their siblings. I was thought to be a look alike for my father. I was called “little Joe”. The behavior of the clan was all predicated on their jovial life growing up amongst blacks in Harlem. This culture of jazz, Zoot suits, cursing, vulgarities, sexual innuendos and so forth plagued all of them. It was the only thing all the wives could agree on. After awhile, it drove them apart, hoping that by disassociation they could etch out some unique improvements for them and their clan. But while it lasted, it was a cultural ideal focusing on my grandparent’s dining table and weddings for the first 10 years of my life. The culture oozed and manifest in dance, songs and language. There were expressions and words used only in the presence of each other. The love and passion between my father’s families was powerful and exciting. They carried with them the expressions learned in Harlem, as well as Latino and Spanish from Esther and Orvadio. My mother’s side was much more restrained and clouded by her sisters and sister-in-laws sympathy for my mother’s plight with her unfaithful husband. However, ethnic jokes, expressions and food passed between them. My mother was not an inherently good cook and learned from her sisters. She read Redbook and prepared recipes she’d learned. Indeed, we were a distinctive family with peculiar characteristics. Our characteristics were not always compatible with others, however, and as a consequence, when involved with others we tended to keep our mouths shut to surprise family nuances. These nuances included many nonsense expressions, prejudicial opinions and silly sayings. Since cursing was absolutely forbidden, we were never criticized for our bad language (because there wasn’t any). Our differences included celebrating Christmas;; working mother; father living with another women; being richer than many; me working; my tenacity; our mixed friends; our huge family; many automobiles; and so on. My mother would say, “You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your relatives.” It was a fatalistic view of the inevitable reality of whom and what we were. Friends, she would say, would not be there when the going gets tough, but you can count on family. The years of evil and dark realities wore away my dear mother’s perspective. Finally, she was alone while I was traveling to so many places and died while I was in Saudi Arabia. This is, I guess, the final lesson of family. The one that is with me these days, I’ve realized, needs work and commitment. It is not automatic nor did to be taken for grant. Family is precious and full of change and crisis requiring a mature and hearty spirit. I have always savored the spirit and blessing of my family’s peculiarities and wished for a kinder world that would accept my family with their peculiarities and specialness. My mother was very open and culturally neutral. My dad’s business required him to be receptive to a variety of types. But our family had its own peculiarities and culture.
Evidence: I look and hear myself When I am with members of my family and I look and hear them, My mind tells me we, they and myself, are of the same flesh, religion, culture, context, genes ancestry, etc. So, when I perceive their facial expressions, speech, demeanor, attitude, passions, intuitions, reactions, etc., I see my own values, attitudes and style. It is not a mirror, nor is it a twin or a clone; it is rather a fulfillment of an imaginary sense of the other person’s likeness and potential genetic similarity to make the connection seem likely. Everything that is the best and worst incarnates in those conversations and interactions. Longings to be accepted for being one’s natural self are fulfilled. We two are alike and match. We have many similarities and significant differences. But there are important natural similarities. Some of the similarities may be favorable and others dissonant and one’s worth overcoming and burying. However, they exist in a unique reality distinct from other realities I have experienced in the real world. I can see distinctions about them, as I must appear to them and to others. I see my unique characteristics and because of what I see, I come to better know who and what I am. It is a revaluing and intimate experience. Family as metaphor/origin The family metaphor provides the identity of my origin, because the metaphor contains the origin. It is not the origin but contains the remnants, characteristics and information about the origin. By metaphor, it is the link to the origin without being the origin. It prevails over time and space, but links me to a past and potential future containing the seeds and essence of the genetic, generic and DNA birth. It is worldly valid. The metaphor tests and confirms physical, psychological, inherited and environmental effects of the same blood, similar environment, common parents, grandparents and ancestors, while environmental contexts tells us something about ourselves and reflects our persona. Family gives us clues to our own genetic, blood and behavior code. It is a metaphor about which we are innately curious; seduced to assimilate and know the metaphor in a way we cannot know other metaphors. It defines the way we will know other metaphors because it so primary an experience. It by this experience, the experience of knowing our family that we authenticate our experience of not only who we are by our first name but what we are; so, that we can become who we are by overwhelming our shortcomings and developing our strengths with both new and learned behaviors and spiritual rebirth. Family; culture; relationship seeking nature; cataclysmic change Vincent Scully, one of my former Yale professors, once described the American cultural distinctive, regarding its treatment of artistic movements, neighborhoods, landmarks and institutions as “cataclysmic,” by which he meant a violent upheaval that causes great destruction that brings about a fundamental change. In any case, it is this that triggers anomie and alienation and the end for most of the displaced persons of this world. I liken his descriptive label to the way my father and mother shrugged off their cultural heritage for that of the context in which they were raised. My father adopted Harlem, my mother the Brooklyn Navy Yard neighborhood while Christina adopted America as her home of preference, she never lost her love and view of all things through a German perspective. In a like manner, I did the same by changing my prenatally given cultural identity. I did the same as my parents insofar as they took on their environmental context, but kept some of their family cultural vocabulary and trimmings. The distinctive characteristic they wore on their sleeve was not Rhodes, Romania or Poland, but the U.S.A. Their personality was American. Christina is remarkably different. Christina carries her Germanic language and cultural. However, she, too, has adapted to America’s normative with joy. However convenient and functional, she still maintains her German citizenship and has not become an American. She is in every way a European. In this way, she and I have a great deal in common. It is the basis of my love of radio and music. It is that neither of us really believed our parents did not love us very deeply, nor we had to do something to relate. In my case, I learned my father’s and mother’s love of music, special words and dress. In reflection, I believe that I memorized the music and words in order to win favor and contact with them. Later, I just extended this modus-operendi to others. It became a relationship tool, a way to meet and converse. Christina believes that for whatever reason, European composers, writers, actors and movie producers so prolific in my childhood shaped my personality. It was to them that I escaped, learned, and found advantage and benefit. When I visit, recall and perceive metaphors about my origin, I see past the metaphor and link to what the metaphor recalls. Photographs, smells, sounds, words, persons and references bring the origin to the present and the present to the origin. My identity, which was isolated and connected spatially, is grounded and linked to its mortal and physical beginnings. Likewise, too, when I recall my spiritual origin, my physical context vanishes and is replaced with an unseen and holy context. This context is made real by the Bible’s words, to my mind reasoning the reality of my spiritual being. However, there was a rift between my father’s family and the others. My mother would discuss this between Rose, Helen, Sylvia and even Pauline. They complained that the family was rude, laughed too much, and were uneducated and liked nightclubs and raucous living. I believe they were “spooked” by the authenticity of Esther and Orvadio’s belief in God, language, illiteracy, cuisine, nationality, culture, dress code and national peculiarities and friends. It was very intimidating to people trying to be American and fit in with America’s emerging cardboard modernism. Later, I was to see this between westerners who married Arabs. Their metaphors were inherently incompatible and as they tolerated and made do, so does Christina with me via her European German culture to my different ways.
Family as metaphor: Where? In the case of my father’s family and the many others that married my grandparent’s children, these metaphors had to be resolved. As any metaphor, the family metaphor exists outside ourselves as an objective reality witnessed and known by others as both an idea and reality. They hear the name and associate it with others having the same name. If unique, they presume there is a family and others sharing the name and family body. The family name conjures a tribal body of persons great in number and having a history, legacy and context in the world. However, in the case of the family, we are ourselves part of the idea as well as the reality. What the family is and represents is both separate and independent of its members, while at the same time dependent and shaped by each of the personas of the family. Both sides of all the families constantly struggled to understand their own feelings and their relationship to their common American culture. It is in this dual consciousness that we enjoy and participate, perceive and contribute to the shape and form of the metaphor. We enjoy the whole while being one of its parts. In this way, our family is both a vision of what metaphors we may be, as known by others, as well as whom we could manifest as an aspect of our own identity. We are not all of the family, but the part that is the family becomes apparent and prevails. My grandparent’s family was both individuals, couples with differences, and part of each other’s metaphors. It is a way to authenticate the metaphor of which we are. The very process of confronting the differences, and seeking commonalities made the strange familiar and kept the family idea alive. We are constantly comparing and jostling between our first and last name (as it were) in a niche described as the dialectic process. By this, we authenticate the metaphor of which we are. It is a constant state of tension and conflict. It is rarely symmetric where the individual only gains equipoise by affection, kindness and love. While the family metaphor is not who we are, it is the context of what we are. It is the second battlefield of where our identity is fought out. It is where we are nurtured and fed vocabulary and antecedents that will measure all other realities.
Who? In myself, I am not remarkable The demise of the role and importance of the family is rooted in the mobility of the family and its replacement by institutions and large corporate employers. Affluence amongst the young and the increase of access to information from other sources than parents has made the parents seem redundant and obsolete. Only the few and fortunate cherish and benefit from loving parents, siblings, cousins, uncles, aunts and grandparents. The inevitable and last earthly connection we have is to our family. It is they with whom we share standards and values that compose our identity and with whom we can still share them in the face of anomie of times, ages, contexts, venues, governments and threats. It is also the demise of family as a metaphor and family metaphors in our time. The Bronx family metaphor dominated the period with the Bronx metaphor on par with the family metaphor. Neighborhood and ethnic metaphors were a close second.
Conformity vs. anarchy Additional differences came about when family clans determined to prosper and succeed in post-war America heard the call to conformity and repression and signed on to the programs offered in education, clubs, neighborhoods and society. They relocated, got new jobs, and sent their children to schools, which would train them to conform and be trained to fit in to the new commercial and political society emerging. Some became politically active, while others immersed themselves into the activities heretofore foreign to our family, such as golf and tennis. They adapted to whatever would work to bring them to the place where they and their children could succeed and develop. Others took a different path and likewise succeeded, but in a different way. They became professors of universities, teachers, school principals, agency heads, school district superintendents, architects, photographers and artists. Their neighborhoods, homes and friends with whom they associated were unique and different. It was not how much money they had in their bank accounts but the ideals and ideologies that caused the rifts. They were all delightful and interesting. In addition, the rifts were not a separation as much as an attachment by necessity to a way of thinking and living that, at the moment, seemed right and proper.
Bronx social handicap {4,148 total words} How I’ve been handicapped by alienation is well portrayed in the film Wild Strawberries made in 1957, which captures the thoughtful and compassionate side of Ingmar Bergman. Having become alienated from his family, he was therefore denied his skills, life and legacy. Lost in Translation is another film that portrays how people relate when alienated by a common phenomenon. Alienated in the city led me to have relationships with both men and women likewise alienated. Alienation was all we had in common. I had such relationships with Eileen, Selma and many in my travels and life abroad. Metaphoric thoughts were eclipsed by momentary feelings. Most of the relationships I had with women were fantasies where they imagined me to be someone whom I’m not and vice versa. Often it led to rude awakenings or mysterious endings. Alienated as a child, I would stare and daydream in class of being somewhere else. Most of the schools alienated me by typecasting and cliques in new neighborhoods in which I had no connections. My parents were not connected to the neighborhood and lent me no connections and trusts. It was rather hostile. My mother was somewhat hostile to family and most in the neighborhoods. I had no sense of familiarity and “inclusiveness.” I never sensed our rightness and belonging. Worse than originating from the Bronx, declaring ones origins was even more of a social handicap. It symbolized a lifestyle, people and class well below and outside of respectable society. It was an inferior identity to any other borough or place in the United States and carried every story of unsocial behavior norms and ideals. Could any good come out of Nazareth, they asked about Jesus. It was the same question about the Bronx and its citizens. Societal ignorance Aside from the abuse, the lack of information limited my options and chances. My parents had an evolutionary view of their own and the life of their children. Whatever I discovered or came to do was uncovered and discovered circumstantially and accidentally. I cannot blame my parents, because neither of them was educated nor appreciated the value of education. My father simply wanted to give me all the things he never had and my mother wanted to discipline me. The bills were always paid and we were never poor. I never had the fear of abject poverty and what comes with poverty, yet I knew frugality and living with bare necessities. Yes, the bills were always paid and I never can recall any arguments about the lack of money. My mother just nagged about saving for the future and not spending anything on recreation. My father totally disagreed. She knew that I needed more than she did and her husband could give, but was very nonchalant about education. My father could only witness what a few of his brothers were doing with their children, but he was not so inclined. This lack of motivation and vision was at the heart of the limited information and scope of the possibilities open and available to me. At school, there were few discussions that I understood or related to; most of my fellow students in high school, I later learned, were very career and education oriented. I was too concerned with overcoming my handicaps, my parent’s relationship and low self-esteem that an education and career was not an important part of my life. I recall meeting with the high school guidance counselor who tried matching my lack of scholarship and interest with real life careers and opportunities. Since I was employed by a decorating store, she recommended I pursue interior decorating. She then solicited the assistance of Dr. Kurzband, who helped me put a portfolio together to apply for NYSofID. What more could have been done, I do not know. I do know I had a natural love of music; I later turned out to have an aptitude for medicine. I remember not even knowing what interior decorators and designers do. I did not know what it meant to design. I did not know the difference between an architect or engineer. I did not know what either an architect or engineer actually did. My cousin was studying to become a lawyer and was a scholar. Perhaps I, too, could have chosen law; I even taught quasi law as part of professional practice courses later in life. But I had no idea about, nor did anyone explain the law or its profession to me. I was terrible at math and arithmetic, so I could not do anything involving math; for that, I was grateful the profession of accounting was never offered. Of course, it was not just the information, but the interest and enthusiasm of my parents and their friends about any profession or career. It was just chauffeuring, hanging drapes, sewing – mostly labor related. Even construction trades were not offered, nor did I know anyone who could guide me. I was limited by the information that I had and the information I did not have. Had I more information and adults to walk me through, I believe things would have been somewhat different. It is neither with regret nor with malice, but I do know that information played a part in the decisions I made and the opportunities I grasped. Had we been able to earn more, I could have drawn more drawings, played in bands, sang, acted, and done more in the arts. But I could not. I had to earn an income, so I let myself be employed by others to work at jobs utilizing architectural, management and business skills. I believed that a person could not only be anything he wanted, but also could be that thing at the highest standard in our society because society would reward accomplishment in skill, knowledge and accomplishment by placing such a person above the rest or, at the very least, accepting such persons into the highest realms of society. I often voiced this with employers, teachers, friends and family. They all thought that these things were preposterous. I felt alienated from them. They had a vision of a reality that I did not share. They were supposedly grown up and mature, while I was merely unrealistic and impractical and a childish dreamer. I also saw the world on a global scale, believing that whatever I could learn and do I could carry out anywhere on the planet and if something I was doing did not bring success in one place, it would in another. I had all the makings of a globalized, affluent brat! The more I think about post-war America in this period, the less I am convinced that the clash between conformity and rebellion understood as culturally distinct attitudes is sufficient to explain its peculiarities. “Conformity” shouldn’t be a dirty word – it’s just “belonging.” They’re people who want to belong. Yes, all of us, all of America, conformist, beatnik, etc., were suffering from alienation, anomie and change. Jewish writers, in particular, were specialists in alienation and virtuosos of moral anguish. The comedy, drama, and theatre of the time tried to explain the rifts and tears and help us through the choices. It was biblical! Righteousness and being amongst the “right” and “it” of our society seemed to make us choose sides and compete, when in fact that was all a diversion from the life we were living despite our circumstances. This period looks very different if we take “belonging” and not “conforming” as the imperative. “Alienation” – such a hip word among critics of the 1950s and 1960s. The Bronx seemed to be the center of alienation, codependence and angst. One only had to go on the streets to meet anyone and they would share their hostility, anger and depression. It is why I could befriend and circulate, because I knew we were all feeling the same need and missed the boat. Belonging is not the monopoly of ethnic minorities. It is the “rightness” that Paul explains in the Bible. I came to understand that all people in all walks of life, whatever their status, were overwhelmed by the same underlying need. That was the need to be a citizen of the “right” inner circle of security, common protection and shared values. “It not what you know, but who you know,” is a colloquial that has dominated my relations in work, ministry and social life. It is biblical and helpful in achieving success and viability in most contexts. I could see it repeating itself in school, on the street and at work. There was segregation, discrimination and minority identification on Faile and Simpson streets.
PS 48 Muster Hall sixty years later
Communications and other maladies (5,714 words) I believe that many of the bullies and the beatings I received from them was because I’d say something in anger to “kids” I should not. The first really good lessons I received were from Mr. and Mrs. Silverman, who taught me what to say to customers and workroom people. It worked and I was able to perform the duties of sales in the store. Later, Mr. Silverman taught me what to say when we visited customers about the problems and the remedies. My best teacher, though, was Stanley Sommers, who taught me exactly what to say from when I entered until I left the house. Keep in mind I visited on average seven apartments daily, six days a week for about three years. At the beginning, it was very rough, but as time went on with Stanley’s and Herman’s patience, I really became quite polished at engaging customers and dealing with the worst problems in a polite, friendly and graceful manner. People asked for me, gave me huge tips, and complemented Stanley on sending me to do the work. Later my father gave me lessons in chauffeuring people to the mountains and Asbury Park. Eventually, I learned and again the customers were so happy. I learned to care and keep my “cool” under stress and handle their questions and criticisms with grace and charm. You will notice the reticence of dialogue running throughout this autobiography because most of the human contact I had did not include a great deal of dialogue. My earliest metaphoric works were on a miniature stage of silence, with two-dimensional figures going from side to side without speaking, only gesturing with one facial expression. I could speak to a dysfunctional personality. From this, I rationalized throughout my life that God led me and directed me with my handicapped to where he wanted me to be. It is all part of my persona and contributes to my peculiarity and significant difference. It has contributed to the changes and readjustments as well as the way in which we returned and departed contexts. It has kept us apart from many and involved with some. I also realized that for my family, I had become an irritant too caustic to be tolerated and better known at a distance. I believed that this was eventually true for both my parents and brother. It was probably true for many of my aunts and uncles and most of my cousins as well. It wasn’t my humor; it was my reactions to their comments and concerns. I always knew they loved me in their own way, but found my beliefs and manner of expressing myself foreign and difficult. Introduction My knowledge differs from others because of the different combination my teachers, experiences and interests. Furthermore, I did not accept things as they were and I had trouble adjusting to the status quo. By my trying to find a way to adjust, I discovered things that others missed. My peers were in the same place, but experiencing things differently. This was true in the South Bronx as it was in Brooklyn or New Haven. It was certainly true in Saudi Arabia. My curiosity differed from others. I was also motivated differently than others to learn things at different times and about different things than others. For example, in Saudi Arabia and India, I really did not care much about the culture and historical artifacts. I cared about winning souls, trade and commerce. Unlike others, I was brave and had the courage to learn and experience the unknown. I could not learn things that others found interesting and was left with what others avoided. The crumbs and leftovers of mainstream interest struck my curiosity. Why wasn’t anyone interested in this or that? I have always found myself delving and exploring unpopular themes. I just couldn’t imagine that my questions hadn’t already been asked and already answered. Why did I first have to be the one to open the subject and expose the truth. Where were the others and those that came before me? Many of my contemporaries found me daft. Being of low esteem and a vague and ubiquitous identity, it was easy for me to engage those bigoted persons who bust with pride and intolerance at their own, family and tribal identity. I was inherently inquisitive – showing all the signs of an intellect, prophet, teacher and scholar. I am not saying I had more or less intelligence than the next, nor that I was superior in any way; as a matter of fact, I have never believed, thought, or nearly imagined myself to be above or superior to anyone’s class nor above reproach. I had early in life learned the difference between discussion, debate, argument or encircling. I had also learned about rebuking, rejecting and shutting off communications with an adversary or one who is totally and completely wrong, one whose primary beliefs are evil, destructive, anarchical, irresponsible, capricious and maliciously harmful. God equipped me to have the capacity to care and pray for the souls of others so that when I see someone or I am asked to preach, I ask God what is needed by these people or by the one person. I was free to choose my subjects and learned early that freedom is real and not something imagined. It means to be free from the fear and obedience to sin, Satan and evil, As Galatians 5:1 says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. My vague, complex and contradictory identity became an asset at a very early age both exacerbating my peers, as well as engaging their occasional acceptance into their bigoted world. It, too, was ambient in the Bronx Stardust and something I had to reckon with regularly. The numbers of persons and ideas that ruled and reigned in my life over time and beyond have been innumerable. They are, in fact, timeless and many not even in this time, but long dead. They are the many intellects, prophets, writers, playwrights, artists and thinkers that have left remnants of their life to impact my life. However, on a more personal and intimate note relative to those who lived amongst us during my lifetime, I wish to acknowledge the following for their significant contribution to the building of the metaphor of my life. These are some of the people God provided to enable and encourage me in His will. These are the special people who affected my life and made a significant difference. They were unique and made my life special. Many other these people shared their intolerance and prejudice, while others silently discriminated by not openly joining us in out of context activities. Bigotry My earliest introduction to intolerance and prejudicial behavior came on Faile Street at school, where kids jeered and called each other by derisionary slang terms to define their religion, sex or nationality. We had to learn them and try to remember to call each other that name and especially to respond when called in either anger or acknowledgment. Kike, Guinea, Pollock, Spic – these were just some of the terms. Cliques and gangs emerged that were ethnocentric and led by the chief trainer. The older I got, the more these gangs became lethal and dangerous. I did try to fit in, but could not; I just did not have the hate, anger and violent passion for rage and violence. So I was the outsider and the only friends I had were the few that enjoyed knowing me and sheltered me from the rest as a guest and visitor. It is this that Billy on Faile Street and John on Simpson Street did for me. It was from these experiences that I learned to be in, but not of the world as a practical matter. I was in the neighborhood context, but not in the gangs and cliques. It was here that I found I always did love the enemy and could not discriminate against him because he beat me to it, and I therefore respected him for that. It was another trait that carried me through many corporations, school and Saudi Arabia. It lasted with me all my life. On the other hand, I have been as much of a bigot being the victim and separating from the others. My happiest life moments have come when I could relate to the bigots and know in my mind and with God that I was sanctified and set apart. So I walked on 42nd Street at 2 a.m., ministered in LaPearla, Saudi, India, Philippines and gave international bible studies. Being in God’s love in the danger zones is my birthplace. The Bible is replete with urgings against intolerance and bigotry, including Galatians 5:15, But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. Both the bigot and the victim are bigots with our love. Even spiritual bigotry is loving God’s creations more than God does. We do this when we covet his creations and out-own fleshly identity when we choose and judge. Bigotry is also the people who stick to one or another procedure and will not change because he believes his ways is better. I do this in English language, drafting, marriage, following Christ, politics and nationality. The below persons I have know in one or another context and have not challenged them beyond the narrow framework of our relationship.
Truth and hypocrisy It was somewhere during this “stardust” period that I wanted the truth. I wanted the truth and wanted to know the truth about someone and that they should know the truth about me. Hide nothing and keep nothing back was my motto. It was only with a few that this was possible and particularly before sin entered into my life or before I was aware that I was sinning. It seemed that sin prevented such total candor. However, before this, I was able to be open with several and they were my friends – friends for a lifetime. It is hypocrisy that changed this attitude and my relations with most people.
Southern Boulevard under the El
In my parents home What did I do? Sociological handicap (4,683 words) How I dealt with my shortcomings and my parents’ role in shaping my persona I carried boxes, bolts of fabric, curtain rods and cornices and drilled up into ceilings for several years, which caused me to have painful bursitis in both of my shoulders. I carried these things in ice and snow and sometimes for several New York City blocks. To tell the story of the Bronx without examples of the affects of the context would be two-dimensional. Like many other communities of the time, the Bronx had its share of dysfunctionals and grief. It is a grief normalized in the 21st century, but in the mid-20th century, infidelity was unacceptable and male chauvinism was very acceptable. Our context, family and especially allegiance, must be focused and not divided. My family had to become those that shared what God was dispensing. I urged my family to join me on this journey, but they refused. I missed them and longed for them to come with me. I’d write when I did not see them and cajole when we were together. However, my father later converted and I always suspected that my mother did as well. Math12:30 says, He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. So, I, too, believed I must be consequent and clear with “them.” People in my context considered me Pollyanna, impractical and out of touch as I was going through the eye of the needle. I was the epitome of stardust and its affects. I considered them irrelevant, uncommitted, drifting, victims of flesh, world and circumstance. I was preparing to be a knight. I needed a king and a kingdom. Recently Barbara-Anne, the Klee’s daughter, asked my advice to encourage her son in his commitment to anything, including his studies and life itself. I suggested she not press him on any one thing except to support him to become a “knight.” If he does, he will somehow find his king and kingdom. In this way, I am very grateful to God for leading me so that I could become a knight and find Him, my King. Perhaps they were caught up in the moment of an American fantasy, ideal and dream. I surely did not seem to last very long. I cannot recollect bright moments – only flashes of being together, but no affection and happy lives. Sometime in the early years, there are some recollections of laughter, doing things together. These were the years before my brother Saul was born, while we lived on Hoe Avenue and Home Street. I was less than four years old; I hardly remember, but it was very mixed. I clearly remember arguments and harsh words as I lie in bed in the living room on Home Street. Then very early on, something went wrong. My mother was about 15 years my father’s senior, from a European/German work-ethic culture, while my father came from a Mediterranean and romantic culture. Both were distracted away from raising me by a failing economy and no business between them to earn. It was a dysfunctional family where there was neither intention, motivation, discipline nor will to behave. What they did was stay together hating, fighting, and avoiding each other. My mother would rant and rave and my father would escape. My mother would take out her hostilities on the “weakest link” – me. Otherwise, she was loving and caring. One could not have a mother who was always there; mine was always cooking, cleaning, shopping, and taking me to doctors, school, beach, park. Her European work ethic and strong sense of duty and learned obedience made her the best caretaker that a child could ever have. The house was immaculate; I was totally clean, overdressed, and fed the most nutritious foods that God produced. She changed the sheets and towels daily. Our clothes were washed and cleaned; we never wore dirty and/or unwashed clothes. Her reaction to anomic stress was to hold on to the status quo of the concept and fact of her marriage and work as hard as she could to create the form, if not the substance, of a marriage. And she did! At what a cost to her life’s happiness and well being, she gave her life for her children. Her sense of responsibility overwhelmed her to the point of nagging and venting her frustrations. She was trying to do the right thing and for that I loved and worshipped her. She loved us and let us know that she loved us by telling us that she loved us and making sure our underwear was washed and ironed and all our clothes were in perfect condition. When I was old enough and before I met Christina, my mother was my best friend. She was intelligent and quick; we liked the same things – Chinese food, classical music, radio programs. She was such fun, but not in these early years! Yet, there must have been a closeness and warm relationship between us, because I can only recall a kind and loving presence. I can recall being nurtured and cared for and surely I was dressed, weaned and bathed. My mother was there attentive and caring. In my mother’s anomie, my father was immature, irresponsible, innocent and other directed. I assume she based her values on the standards and values of her parents and the norms of the day. It was an unwholesome combination that left us all separated and relieved to be separated. My father was the most loving, kind and gentle man I have ever known. He was very diplomatic and wanted the best for his children. My brother Saul seemed to know that he was amongst the wrong combination and soon found a way out in his early marriage to Francine. I did get married early, but under protest. It was Dorothy, not me, who wanted to get married. My father and mother told me the story of how they met and his proposal of marriage, “Two can live as cheaply as one.” She was living in the Brooklyn shipyard district of Brooklyn, adjacent to Bedford Stuyvesant where Pratt Institute was located (in the building of an abandoned shoe factory); and my father lived in Harlem. They met and dated in a very popular dance hall called the Palladium (near Roseland and Birdland). At 12, I learned at school that I needed to prepare myself. My parents were temporary; so I started to prepare myself. I needed discipline and I thought my parents did not realize this; I believed they only knew I misbehaved. My mother said I talked too much; I did. I asked too many questions; I did. I delved; I did. She predicted this would give me the most trouble in my life. After I stopped smoking in 1977 (at age 40) and would enter a restaurant before smoking was banned in restaurants and the maitre’d would ask, “Do you smoke?” (implying, would you like to sit in the smoking or non-smoking section of the restaurant), I would answer, “I only smoke when I’m on fire.” I know, neither did anyone else laugh; however, I always thought it was very funny. I started smoking in 1951 (at age 14), the first year I started attending high school, when I met Leon Goldstein on the bus commuting from our apartment on Simpson Street. He taught me how to smoke sitting on the black iron rail at the bus stop at Pelham Parkway at our destination before walking to school. After a long while of choking and coughing, I learned. Then I began what was years of taking a few cigarettes from my mother’s red pack of Pall Mall until I graduated, and then with the money I earned, I could buy my own. As much as I smoked, I never exceeded one pack per day. When my mother found out that I smoked I urged her not to tell my dad because I did not want to grow up. To me, smoking was growing up and I enjoyed being my father’s son. I thought that would all end once he knew I smoked. After a while, I would do the usual smoke after every meal, while driving, after sex and especially with coffee. My mother never missed the few cigarettes I took and in this way, I felt my mother and I bonded in a way I can never explain. We shared and she did keep a secret. After smoking regularly for several years, Stanley Sommers bet me on one New Year’s Eve that I could not stop smoking and that whoever of us started first would pay the other $100. I won and Stanley paid me $100. I am cosmopolitan and not rural or suburban. I don’t have any interest in baseball, football, soccer, popular rock stars, political candidates or fishing. Man can say that I’m not from around here. Even as a child, we moved often. I am overly traveled and am articulate, glib and conversant. I delve and invade subjects or withdraw and keep silent, concerned that I may overwhelm and offend.
The period in a nutshell The Bronx is in revival and growing and Bronx Stardust is the bridge to the reader’s metaphor of the potential life and joys of the Bronx. Current residents can ask themselves: As I walk the streets now, as I drive through the streets now, as I play on the streets now, as I live in the tenements now, can I model myself to the same hopes and dreams of Barie and his family who came before me? I am part of a history of people in the Bronx, of people who lived in the same places and circumstances and they succeeded in their life. If Barie could do it, so can I. Old residents will see the potential of a neighbor, while new residents will find a kindred spirit upon which to move forward. The below schedule shows my life up until I was 21 in 1958 and living in my parent’s home.
PERIOD PLACE AGE SCHOOL 1937-1939 Hoe Ave 1-2 1939-1942 Home Street 2-5 Pre-Kinder 1942-1945 Faile Street 5-9 Ps 48 1946-1952 1012 Simpson Street 9-15 Ps 20,Ps 75,Cc 1952-1958 2351 Holland Ave 15-21 CCHS; NYSID; Columbia
2351 Holland Avenue
These were the early years; from the time I was born until student days at Pratt Institute. The sociological character of the neighborhoods I lived in with my family was all urban. Although I wanted to move to Long Island, my mother refused. My father and brother were in agreement, but my mother wanted to be in the city. The suburbs seemed a fatal exile that she detested. Hoe, Home, Faile, Simpson and finally Holland Avenue were where we moved instead of the suburbs, because it was close to CCHS, had trees and nice European people.
My Mother's last Apartment on Holland Ave
My mother lived here until she died in 1985. The move to Holland Avenue did change the culture of our family because in coincided with my high school days, my mother’s accelerated work schedule, and my father’s increased time with his new family. But there was more – radio was replaced by television, the stage shows ceased, ethnic music moved into the background in favor of modernism. There was a mood of disdain for the past. The city and its context had an all-consuming aura and finality, as though it were where everything was and that there was no point to visit any other place because New York had it all. And it all was the best there was. However, within that context I always yearned to get up and out of the Bronx and Simpson Street and that dismal environment – the environment of evil, chaos and violence. I associated all of this with the Family, Bronx, and people with certain slangs and accents. I wanted to getaway from all of this. It was not poverty, race, religion or nationality, but the evil lurking and permeating that motivated me to get up and out.
Mom’s home initially featured a three-piece sofa living room set covered in velveteen of burgundy red, yellow ocher and dark blue with slipcovers. The master bedroom was a dark, burled wood bedroom set including headboard and wooden bed with slats that always seemed to fall down, a chiffarobe with closet and chest of drawer, a vanity and vanity chair covered with dark brown velvet and a side chair and a wide dresser. When we moved to Holland Avenue, I had the entire house redecorated my Debrose in modern chartreuse prints, blond oak side tables and lamps with fiberglass shades and a three-way light. Also added were a blond oak floor model television made by Dumont with a ceramic green and brown TV lamp shining up to the ceiling, And a chartreuse wall-to-wall carpet and wall-to-wall drapes. For my bedroom, I had a special print made for casement windows and I designed and had built wrought iron brackets so as to install my air conditioner in the casement window and the curtains way out in front of the carrier air conditioner inside the room.
The below has four sub-chapters targeting 7,000+- words per chapter History Sub-Chapter 1.1: Tom Sawyer Days (11,151 words) (Hoe, Home and Faile streets)
I can remember each place we lived for different things, such as the very shiny wooden floors on Hoe Avenue, the corner of the building outside our window, the empty rooms before my parents bought their furniture, and the peace we had as a family. On September 10-22, 1938, the great hurricane hit Long Island and southern New England. Many people were killed and nearly $4 billion of damage was made (by today’s values). In 1939, the Depression officially ended, but few knew the difference because everyone was poor. The ’40s were when America was recovering from the Depression, led by the construction of everything including housing. When it began, I was two and 12 when it ended. In real estate, it was a renter’s or buyer’s market. You could live for six months free and then relocate without paying anything and those without steady jobs had to do this. As a child, this was amazing how we kept changing and moving. I learned to expect this and somehow understood the benefit to us as a family. Phonographs were not electric, but manually wound with a crank and a heavy spindle also containing the speaker held the needle. You placed your 78-rpm wax record on the turntable and the speaker’s spindle arm on the record and listened. There were record stores and the stars of the day of the early ’40s were Al Jolson, Eddy Cantor, Mae West, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, the Andrew sisters, Frank Sinatra, Vic Damone, Judy Garland, Peggy Lee, Helen O’Connell, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, the Barry sisters, and television begun with John Daily and the news, Milton Berle, the Show of Shows and Howdy Doody. This, along with great movies and stage shows at Radio City Music Hall, the Strand, the Paramount Theatre, the Roxy and even local shows at the Boulevard, were just great. Home Street In 1941, I attended kindergarten while we lived on Home Street and Pearl Harbor was invaded on December 8. I was four when my brother was born on December 4. We then moved to Faile Street and World War II started; the Bronx Zoo opened its African Plains with no cages and we started using Drake Park and the East River for recreation. There were great block parties on Faile Street.
Faile Street across the street from our house
On Home Street at night, I lay in my bed in the living room between my parent’s room and the kitchen. I could remember the sleepless nights having nightmares and the announcement made by President Roosevelt about the Japanese attacking on Pearl Harbor. I remember the sirens and the searchlights in the sky and then lying in bed listening to airplanes in the sky. I dreamt of thousands of flocklike teams of flying wings moving through the skies. Several years later, I actually saw a similar vision in a black and white movie by H.G. Wells called “The Shape of Things to Come”.
Home Street with the site of my building on the right
This one-bedroom apartment had a long entry hall with a door opening to a small kitchen with an small eating area kitchen to one side, followed by the living room spanning the width of the apartment, and followed by a small hall with a bathroom and then my parent’s bedroom. It was furnished with a mohair living set, royal blue high fan chair, crimson red club chair and a large sofa sitting on a large, square, machine-made Oriental rug. My parent’s bedroom had a suite of wood bedroom furniture with mahogany and birch inlay. All of these pieces of furniture my mother had with her until she abandoned them at Holland Avenue.
View form Southern Boulevard to the corner of Home Street
Across the street from my building was an enclosed garage where cars were stored and light repairs were made, and down the street where Westchester Avenue led under the elevated Pelham train line was a huge garage for gas and repairs. Up the street was an auto junkyard and further down a house with an open coal chute we could crawl in and play in the coal.
Several blocks away were wooden one-family houses where one was converted into the kindergarten I attended. The location was such that we could walk several very long blocks to visit my grandparents and shop at the Simpson market. My aunt Jean and Uncle Charles lived with their daughter, Carol, across the street and down the corner and my mother’s friend, Lily and her husband, Morris, lived upstairs. I got to know him very well. Here is where I saw many men returning from the war without their limbs…especially Morris with one leg. He was very sad and quiet. It was in this apartment that my brother Saul was born on December 4, 1941, nearly four years after I was born and just days before the invasion of Pearl Harbor. It was also here that my mother’s father visited, and where I heard President Roosevelt’s radio announcement of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Here I had my most vivid nightmares, as I’d lie in my bed in the living room where I listened to the earliest hushed arguments between my parents. Here was where I remember my mother making baby food from scratch and feeding us little children, especially my little brother in his high chair. The only special feature of this apartment was the nightly wartime blackouts, the air raid sirens and the wardens on the steps outside of our apartment. It was here I dreamt of the black flying wings clouding the skies. It was on the steps leading to the rear alley that I fell and opened a big cut over my eye. These were the first stitches I received. I later fell again on these steps and cut my knee, which also required stitches. The stairs were made of cement and had a curved metal edge strip. The stair led to the alley, which led to a court, and in this court was the entrance to the super’s apartment and another alley leading to the backyard of the building. I recall this area because it was then one of my favorite places around the building to explore. This was the time of the “food ration” books and so I recall my mother pasting her rations in the books and us going to stores waiting in lines to buy food. Of course, she and her friends would talk about where to go and what to buy. The metaphors I recall were less symbolic but more special, textural and pictorial. Sills, steps, iron rails, coal bins, all icons and images without much use…I was a child. But they made up the landmarks of my nest and place. They were to be explored and discovered and understood. Not for their use, but for the meaning they represented. I was looking for why things were the way they were. I needed to know the meanings and purposes of everything. In fact, I was rarely satisfied with men’s answers but looked to science, and later to God’s word, for the answers. I had nothing to which to compare them, and yet they demanded understanding. As a daily routine, my parents had to deal with rationing, which permeated everyone’s lives. I asked thousands of questions, whose answers lied in my future mind and God’s dispensations. In 1941, shortly after I sat and listened in front of our floor model radio with the green eye and short-wave band settings, black outs and air raid sirens began their nightly howl. We had to turn off the lights in our apartment. The fist night, I heard something outside our door and opened it to find a tall man with a helmet climbing up the stairs. He introduced himself as our warden. “Warden?” I asked, “What’s that?” I asked and he explained. As he spoke, he took off his helmet and placed it on my head. He told me his name and duties. I became his deputy and felt I was part of something special. I was very happy and full of joy. I went into our apartment and told my mother and she, too, was very happy. I would roam the streets finding tires to hand over to my teacher at school and my mother complimented me on my efforts to help in the war effort. She mentioned that when I got older I might have to go to war and be a soldier. During this period, I built small hiding places and shadow boxes in which to take refuge. There were coupon racketeers and savvy filling station proprietors who were exploiting the OPA gasoline system that the “average motorist,” such as my father, was ignorant and innocent of. Or were they? It was a very complex and insidious process, where dad and his friends exchanged coupons between them as they needed. It was these events and these people that clouded my mind and reference points to determine that I did not want to dwell in these neighborhoods and with these people. I knows now that my opinions were wrongly placed, but that’s what it seemed at the moment. It was a compromising and shameful mess. I just felt that my father’s dignity and righteousness was being compromised over trivialities. It was all so petty and trivial. It was mundane and often unnecessary. If I felt that way then and I was in America, I can imagine what young people in other countries, such as India, Philippines, Pakistan and Persia, think and feel about their contexts and generations. We have observed that corruption, crime and terrorism have no borders nor nationalities. We have known the same kind of people and conditions to one or another extent in most countries and cities in which we have lived. The only difference is that when you first get there, you may not notice it until you learn to see and hear what’s actually taking place. This has been a reason why we have decided to return to the U.S.A. where I am a citizen, have rights, and understand the context, language and political complexities and operations. Other places may offer one or another advantage, but the life itself is in the place in which God has birthed and placed us. It was the time when I learned, invented, and made metaphors. I had none. I had to make them up. The metaphors of my parents and their friends were the only metaphors I knew. I had none of my own. My play was like the Orientals who make silhouettes with light and shadow on curtains. I hid in fantasy and acted out my fears and anxiety. Shadow theatre is one of the world’s oldest art forms, linked with traditional storytelling and mythology. In countries like Turkey or Indonesia, the shadow puppets were projected onto a white screen by the flickering light of an oil lamp. While manipulating the set of puppets, a sole puppet-master chanted all the roles in the unfolding of the narrative. I used hand puppets, stages and props. I made my own story, used various flashlights, and played music from the radio. When God ordained our different languages, he did so that we would be kept dependent upon Him and not strengthened with unholy alliances and power over each other and between each other. The idea was to stay put and be different, depending and relying upon Him. In the name of pride, vanity, greed and self-righteousness, the world continues to rebel and disobey, and stretch our influence to rebuild the tower of Babel, but “horizontally.” We’re concerned with increasing our power by increasing our network and holdings and globalizing our influence and power base. It is the propensity of the world, but the Christian’s duty to bring light and salvation. The news, gossip and talk of the times revolved around these coupons, the black market, mobs and gangsters. We lived in the Bronx. Many of the gangsters were Jewish and lived in the Bronx. My father never mentioned any of this to me, but this was the environment in which he had to do business. His business and livelihood depended on being able to use his vehicles and complete service.
Because I was a baby who could turn its head to only one side, my mother had special problems caring for me. This and the fact that I was hyperactive with sinus and hearing problems gave my mother an undue burden. Called congenital torticollis, understanding what causes it takes a quick anatomy lesson. There is a muscle located on each side of the neck called the sternocleidomastoid muscle (pronounced STER-no-KLY-do-MAST-oid). It is somewhat of a strange muscle because it attaches in three separate places, namely at the sternum (the breastbone), the clavicle (the collarbone) and the mastoid (the jawbone). It allows us to turn the neck. As the muscles develop in the baby while inside the mother, there is an influence the baby’s position has on that development. Usually, the baby has some room for movement, which allows the muscles to stretch and contract. This stretching and contracting is necessary to allow for the muscles to grow to the proper length. My neck may have gotten tilted to one side for an extended period of time. This was due to unusual positioning within my mother’s uterus. When the neck remains tilted, the muscles on one side of the neck get stretched while the other side never receives this stretching. Therefore, the sternocleidomastoid muscle develops in a position of contraction. Consequently, I was unable to turn my head to one side because the contracted sternocleidomastoid muscles wouldn’t allow it. It is like being on a long trip in a compact car that has very little leg room. When you first get out, you have to stretch a bit before you can walk normally. This is essentially what occurred while I was developing torticollis. The muscles were all there; they just hadn’t been used much. And because this process occurs over several months during pregnancy, getting the muscles to work properly takes a stretching regimen that took months to fix.
Home Street is on the left
We had special relationships with neighbors like Ethel and Morris. Ethel and Morris were a young couple who lived upstairs in our building on Home Street. They had no children and Ethel was ga ga over me. Her husband, Morris, had just been drafted and she needed a second family. The fit was perfect. She would care for me all the time so my mother could go shopping, visit friends, and take care of the house. Ethel would dress me, bathe me, and hold me close in her bed. One day she made the terrible error of taking me to a movie. The name of the movie was The Mummy. It was the first movie I had ever been to. When we came into the dark theatre, I thought the theatre was moving. After she assured me it was not, we began seeing the mummy, who had been lying still, begin to rise. I let out a scream, and with supernatural animal strength climbed over everyone in our row, screaming shrieks of death as I then ran up the aisle and on to the street and toward our house, which was many blocks from the theatre. I knew exactly where Home Street was and where I was headed. Well, poor Ethel finally caught up with me and made it all go away somehow – mostly by telling me it was not real and that to look around and notice that there was no mummies here. It was just in that theatre. I cannot say that I never again went to another movie, but some time did pass before the second movie experience. Some while later, Morris returned from the Army with a missing leg. He was so quiet and I was ridiculous. I just could not understand what happened to his leg. He was so kind to me and really appreciated my stupid questions, which seemed to reflect his own heart. He, too, could not understand what happened. In any case, our friendships continued until they moved away. They needed to change to go back to their parents. I always will love and miss them both.
During this time, the local county board of the Office of Price Administration issued every man, woman and child a ration book during the war. The book held stamps, which Americans used to buy rationed foods. Government officials rationed some food because of limited supply. So much food needed to be set aside for military use that the government restricted civilian purchases. County boards rationed sugar, coffee, meat, butter, margarine, cheese, canned milk, canned fish, canned fruits and vegetables, soups and fruit juices. Shortages of rubber led to the rationing of tires and gasoline. The government also prohibited the making of many household appliances because of a lack of metals. We could not buy hot water heaters, refrigerators, stoves, lawn mowers, vacuums, irons, radios and toasters. The government needed rubber and metals to make airplanes, trucks, tanks, ships and rifles. We had to ration food and materials to help win the war. American responses to rationing varied from cheerful compliance to resigned grumbling to instances of black market subversion and profiteering. We were cajoled into giving over to the government all our spare tires except one, many going along with this gambit. These were almost never used, but accumulated in mountainous piles all over the country and spent the war rotting in these junk yards instead of helping to “win the war.” The kindergarten I attended was at a house near Home Street run by volunteer ladies and containing various rooms where I learned to identify and arrange blocks. Finally, my mother was asked not to bring me anymore because I was building very large structures which eventually toppled and could (but did not) hurt the other children. They said I was too advanced and individualistic. This did not make my mom happy and she complained. It was a shame because it was one of those things that gave my mom a sense of normalcy and contact with other nice women. I knew she was very disappointed and irate about their rejection. She, indeed, took it personally and was insulted. How dare they! I am sure this added to her already well-formed disdain of society and its wiles. My brother was not yet born and the war was on; everything worked off of ration stamps and long lines. The kindergarten building was red brick and had a backyard.
Hunts Point Avenue bridge over railroad with shops like the Ponte Vecchio
Faille Street The southernmost extant station of the NY, NH & H is the Hunts Point station, on Hunts Point Avenue near the Bruckner Expressway. Most of the station is intact, including many of its peculiar architectural traits. The Hunts Point station today is home to a variety of businesses – a deli, a pizza place, a travel agency and a topless joint. Hunts Point received passengers until about 1931. It had dormer windows and a crenellated roof. The roof spires and crenellation are now gone.
Faile Street: poor white Italians, Armenians, Jews and Germans
I was a skinny, adventurous child on Faile Street. It was where I learned to play on the street. It was not a typical urban tenement area. It was the mid-point of Hunts Point – a real Tom Sawyer paradise.
PS48 Drake Public school
PS48, a six-story public school, stood on a hill and I could wander for 50 streets and never get lost because I could always see my school and the street on which I lived.
PS 48 as seen from Hunts Point Boulevard
At the time, landlords competed for your tenancy, giving free months rent up to six months, as well as free electric, water, etc. I remember us visiting the house for the first time and meeting the owners of this two-story house. It was three stories in the rear where the lower story was for the garages and the front was two stories. To the right side of the house was a hill and to the left the alley for the auto driveway to the rear.
633 Faile Bronx Hunts Point
I have photos of my mother and brother sitting on chairs in front of the garage sunning themselves. The side alley had a door to the stairs up to our landlord with an interior door from the kitchen also leading to the stairs. Before we even moved in, the owners made us a dresser of drawers with red-orange round screw-on knobs, which I cherished for as long as I could remember. He had a son who went to war and never returned. There were two entrances at the front of the house a top a few steps to both the lower and upper floors. Ours was to the left and opened into the sun parlor. It was in this room that my brother and I would play. It was here I divided the room in half so that he would have his, and, I, my area to play. Mine was the half furthest from the door so that I could build out of boxes and cloth my own little house with rooms and shelves and places to hide. Of course, I’d invite my brother in to visit. My parent’s master bedroom was just adjacent to this parlor, separated by a wall with a big double window, which they kept closed and curtained. Across from the front door and leading into a long hall way to the living room and the rear of the house was a multi-paned glass door. It was through this door that my brother one day in one of our sliding in the hallway games slide and but his arm though and cut himself so badly we had to rush him to a hospital. As the living room, the kitchen spanned the width of the house, with windows on both sides and next to the window on the left was the community stair connecting from the garage below to the apartment of the owner above. Continuing to the rear of the house was the bathroom on the left and the pantry to the right, and then finally a spare room on the right and the bedroom shared by my brother and I on the left. Both the spare and our bedroom had windows facing the backyard where below was the entrance to the garage where my father parked his car. Hunts Point Boulevard actually began at the end of Hunts Point at the East River port of Hunts Point and ended at southern boulevard and 163 Street. It had a cobblestone surface embedded with steel trolley tracks. Because I was so little, I remember it being huge and the way it bowed up in the center and was low at the curbs for sewer drainage. We walked this boulevard often to shop at the Simpson market, visit my grandma, or shop at the Hunts Point market on the steel bridge where there were a variety of shops, especially a cheese shop where my mother was served by a very handsome and kind gentleman. Also on Hunts Point Boulevard lived a little handicapped girl named Theresa from my class in public school. Also, my father’s accountant, Jimmy, lived in big apartment building next to the Wonder Bread factory. We would often stop at this factory late at night to buy fresh baked bread. We’d always smell the bread being baked every time we drove, trollied, or walked by. There were shops under the building along the way. Some were closed with their glass painted black. Faille Street began at a 45-degree angle off of Hunts Point Boulevard, having some shops and especially our corner grocery owned by Mr. Teitlebaum and across the street from him a corner candy store/luncheonette. It was in this store that I’d buy those sugar dots on paper and for a penny you could watch flip card movies by placing your eyes at a steel view finder and cranking the handle fast or slow as you wish to see a train with smoke coming out, Charlie chaplain running around, etc. When I was four and half Billy, Ralph and his brother, Johnny, took me every Saturday on the trolley to the YMCA. We’d transfer several times. The trolleys were painted red and yellow with wooden seats and brass bars to prevent falling. On other occasions, we’d hitch a ride on the back of the trolley holding on to the electric cable and spool. We’d ride from the swing park down to the end of trolley line, which was only several blocks east. From that point on, hunts Point Boulevard ended because it was not paved. Also, the rest of Hunts Point was industrial, with factories, military storage and auto repair. At the lower corner, there was an empty lot and a bush under which I dug a big hole and this place was my hiding place. There was an empty lot across from this on Faile Street next to the Italian family’s house. They built a hut there and I would go and eat and play there. This same Italian family’s house had a basement and I was invited there occasionally to watch the women cook in giant black vats. They were dressed in black dresses and black stockings. In the morning, they would walk along sidewalk green areas and pick up green growing leafy vegetables, which they used in their recipes. It was here that my love and passion for Italy was planted. I was well known to the old lady and her husband who owned the Italian store across from the cemetery. I could sense their loneliness for their homeland and they could sense my affection for their dialect, dress and food smells. They encouraged me to play with their goats, which prepared me well for my encounter with goats on the little bridges in Amsterdam 20 years later. As the neighbors on my street, she wore black dresses and stockings. Later when I visited Italy, the only time I saw such dresses was in the southern provinces of Positano, Pompeii, etc. I remember that when my father returned from the war he was in his uniform; and I did not immediately jump into his arms. My mother had to prompt me. I depended a lot on my mother. My father understood. There was a fire, a big fire, on the next cross street. A big warehouse garage building burned down. I stood with others and watched it. In Saudi Arabia, there was a similar fire of a warehouse the next night after we moved in to Rahima. It was so similar to this fire. The building burned and we watched. Little was done to put out the fire. I remember the size and mass of the blaze. Eventually, firemen did come and being how it was the first time I’d seen a building on fire, it was an important event.
Drake Park
This neighborhood was filled with special features having great significance to me: ¨ A factory making pickled peppers; a pepper factory where we took a very hot pepper and ate it. I thought I was going to die from the burning sensation in my mouth. I ran from factory to factory until some nice man gave me something sweet that put the fire out in my mouth. ¨ Lumberyard, with its pile of sawdust where we would go and play inside the sawdust mound – one day, the yardman found and chased us along with his very noisy dog. We never went back there. ¨
Cemetary in Drake Park
Drake Cemetery surrounded by a park with a giant tree in the middle: It was here that lightning struck a big oak tree and killed one of my friends. ¨ Abandoned hut with porcelain toilet and marbles ¨ Italian grocery with goats and lady with black dress and stockings ¨ Abandoned military trucks with searchlight trucks and tanks ¨ East River pier with big war and merchant ships where we could swim amongst human fishes. This is a far cry from the cornice of Saudi Arabia and the Philippine beaches. ¨ Apple tree on neighbor’s property ¨
Townhouses painted black with wooden stairs and wood and glass doors ¨ German family living on the next block ¨ Corner brick two-family house ¨ Auto repair junkyard ¨ Mission soda factory where Joe Nuzzi worked ¨ PS48 on a hill and the tallest structure as a landmark on my street ¨ The bush and hut at the end of the block ¨ The Italian family living across and down the street with their hut and cellar caldron kitchen ¨
The block parties held on Faille Street during the war ¨ The swing park on the opposite corner ¨ The steep hill on which I scooted down with my red wagon ¨ The steep hill next to my house where we rode our sleighs and I broke my foot by stopping my ride with my left foot and where I had my foot broken by mischievous boys with a crow bar as I put my foot out to stop them from smashing something and where I saw myself as I was when I was older. ¨ The chicken factory where you could get fresh chickens by selecting the one you wanted, watch it get its head chopped off, and then for an extra five cents they would burn off the feathers. ¨ The many cross and lateral streets, which I would later discover connected to other neighborhoods and thoroughfares. ¨
My side of the street
I used my little red wagon to emulate the other boys who had made wagons out of wooden crates and iron skates and raced down the big hill by the school. They had fitted brakes on their wagons but I did not and as the speed picked up, I realized I had no way of stopping. Through a miracle when I reached the bottom, my mother was at the bottom telling me to turn the wagon, which I did and on Faile Street, it slowed and finally stooped at the park benches. ¨ Another time I sled down the hill on the lot next to our house planning to break my run by crashing into the snow hill on the opposite side of the street when a car came and stopped there as I was coming down. I had no choice but to put my right foot out to stop my run, which broke my leg. My mother was very angry and yelled at a male neighbor for not preventing this from happening. The man said later that he did not feel it was his responsibility. My father, in one of his rare moments of anger, threatened a fight with the man to warn him to be a better neighbor. ¨ My broken leg kept me out of school for about eight weeks, at which time I listened to all the radio programs, ate, and got lovely cards and letters from my classmates and visits from them with toys and cards. Children came and visited me to see my cast, which was put on my whole leg. Eventually they began to sign my cast and write nice sayings on my cast. It was one of the nicest times in my entire childhood. ¨ Several months later, I was with some boys on the lot on top of the hill nest to my house and they were banging and breaking things in a fire and for some reason, I just wanted them to stop and go away. They refuse and I insisted. They still refused and as they were banging, I put my foot in the midst of the fire, thinking that would somehow make them stop the banging. Most stopped, except one who brought his stick crashing on my foot and broke it. Again, I was back in a cast and getting visitors.
My Faille Street fantasy
I dreamt of a village of brick one- and two-story houses and friendly people living in this small village. Later we were to see a village of similar size on the Mississippi. I was tempted to open a bank account in the local bank to tie my memory to this village prototype. I met the current owner of this building while test driving a Lexus in Fort Myers. He was the salesman trying to sell me the car. Though most commonly identified as a center for food distribution and commercial activity, Hunts Point is also an area with a rich cultural and architectural history. Often overlooked by residents, employees and visitors, Hunts Points landmarks provide valuable clues to the community’s diverse historical background. Standing tall at the intersection of Lafayette Avenue and Tiffany Street, the Bronx Apparel Center serves as a monument to New York’s industrial past. Built in 1911, this mammoth brick structure once housed the American Bank Note Company. Serving as a mint for such countries as Mexico and Haiti, the Bank Note Company not only issued currency, but also printed travelers’ checks and lottery tickets. Today the building is home to the Bronx Apparel Center. With nearly 148,000 square feet of commercial space, the Apparel Center is host to a number of corporations, specializing in a diverse array of products and services from apparel and food to construction and security services.
Townhouses Adjacent to the Hunts Point Peninsula, the Longwood Historic District is another area of historical interest in the South Bronx. Situated on the opposite side of the Bruckner Expressway in the Longwood section of the Bronx, the Historic District is a community of elaborately embellished turn-of-the-century row houses. Built by architect Warren C. Dickerson between 1897 and 1901, these colorful two- and three-story houses have been designated landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. In an effort to restore their historic beauty, the Longwood Historic Society has initiated a plan to renovate the homes within the district. Today, these row houses serve as homes to many of Hunts Point’s employees.
There were houses built in this style on my block as well, and my father’s cousin lived on the street where many of these houses were. I once meet my future cousin, Dorothy, walking on this street.
Drake Park is laid out through the former estates of Barretto, Spofford, Dickey, Faile and Hoe, which were subdivisions of the earlier Leggett and Hunt lands of Revolutionary times. The street is named for the poet Joseph Rodman Drake, and this led to the naming of adjoining avenues for Halleck, Longfellow and Whittier. Joseph Rodman Drake was born in New York City on August 17, 1795, and died there on September 21, 1820.
In the midst of the concrete, steel and brick that dominate Hunts Point sits a patch of parkland that contrasts the area’s industrial flavor. Drake Park, located between Hunts Point and Oak Point avenues, is another reminder of the community’s history. Within the park is a small graveyard. Aged stone monuments mark the resting place of some of Hunts Point’s earliest settlers. Among those buried, there are Poet Joseph Rodman Drake and members of the Hunt family, who once framed the peninsula. This experience was just two years later and after my brother was born, my father was away at war, and, we had moved to Faile Street. The school building was on the very same block on which we lived, so I could walk to school without crossing the street. The classroom was large and the very first day, a little girl made friends with me. Everyone was very nice in the room; the teacher taught us the normal things.
PS48 was the tallest building for miles and it was on a hill which made it “a lighthouse” to guide me home from wherever I would roam. It had a yard and whenever we had fire drills, we’d be led to the street behind the school to where there were really nice houses. It had a caged-in area on the roof where we would be taken to play. There were bullies in this school who would gang up and threaten me. I only attended the school a short time, but never would forget the building, the adjacent hill and the park just across the street from the school. I remember when I broke my left foot from stopping my self against a car on a sleigh riding down the hill next to my house; my classmates signed cards and brought them to me. Wow, did that make me feel good. They came and sang for me and asked practically every day how I felt. It was the closest thing to a small town that I ever knew. I had tonsillitis and the doctor in the school was able to operate on me. After the operation, I was kept for a few hours in a bed in the school and given ice cream. I was a very happy person.
I found that it is associations that bigots and hypocrites find neutrality and are able to subordinate their pride and peculiarities for some mutually beneficial purpose. It could be an association of sports, politics, education, religion, entertainment, recreation and social. From the 15th century on, old French bigot meant, “an excessively devoted or hypocritical person.” Bigot is first recorded in English in 1598 with the sense “a superstitious hypocrite.” I have been in associations that flaunted their bigotry, calling it identity, peculiarity and distinction. The Yale Club comes to mind. Engineering societies tend to shun architects and architects shun engineers. But it is in the association where personal distinctives are kept at bay for the association’s stated aims and objectives. The same may be said for business and large companies, except I have found that most bigotry about spiritual and moral values is excused by trying to maintain a neutral place.
In 1943, when we lived on Faile Street, my father took me to my first meeting of the Cub Scouts in a gigantic mansion on a hill in our neighborhood. The significance of belonging to the scouts was the building and the children I met from nearby neighborhoods. I often recall this hill and this mansion being the place my father parked the car and we listened on the radio to Lionel Hampton and Ink Spots.
Boy Scouts In 1950, I bought the entire uniform in the Army and Navy store near Wishnas on Southern Boulevard. My mother was concerned that I was buying the uniform and that I wouldn’t wear and keep going to the meetings. Did I? I went to all the meetings, on hikes and even to their summer camp for three weeks. Milton recalls the times I took him to meetings where he agonized learning how to tie knots. In summer, I spent several weeks learning canoeing, which meant I tipped over my canoe and had to get back in again (I failed). I also learned how to keep warm when late at night you are sitting in your stark wooden cabin freezing (you hug some other boy and exchange body heart without becoming romantic); to take gigantic vitamin pills without keeping them in your mouth to melt and taste sour and awful; and how to become at one with every allergic growing thing on the planet. I learned to tie knots and remain an expert in this field to this day. I never went on to become an Eagle Scout, though, because I was rescued by my interest to work instead.
Trolley: (173 words)
The model of the trolley I rode in and upon since I can first remember. It was our primary means of public transpiration living on Faile and Spofford from the time I was four until nine. It was the trolley that took us to see grandma on Simpson Street and Ralph, Johnny, Billy and me to the YMCA way on the other side of the Bronx near Webster Avenue. We’d ride on the back holding onto the string. And on Saturday morning when we’d ride to the Y, I’d steer the trolley holding onto its controls that were dormant when the conductor was operating the trolley at the other end. I clanged the bell and rang the buzzer. The seats were cane and always shiny. We live real close to the last stop so we could watch the trolley turn. We knew when the trolley was coming because we saw it pass us and could see the conductor go into the bar at the end to take his break. Most of the time, we’d walk down Hunts Point Boulevard to see grandma because it was a great walk and we could save the money.
I am so grateful to Billy Parks for being my big brother and protecting me, and bringing joy and adventure into my life. Besides my father, Billy was my first hero and “good guy.” He was a typical urban Tom Sawyer whose non-reasoned use of the city kept him active and exploring. We were too young to relate as urban or rural, but when ever I think of Billy, rural comes to mind because other than the Y, the places he took me were rural, even if they were the junkyards and factories of Hunts Point. We explored and discovered. It could have been the Mississippi and Billy, Tom Sawyer. When I later read and saw the Tom Sawyer movies, I thought of my time with Billy.
The Nuzzi's Home adjacent to the park
The first Christmas tree I ever saw was at the Nuzzi’s home on Faile Street. On the radio and later black and white TV was the mass from the Vatican and in the kitchen was Jean Nuzzi cooking. I remember the first Christmas I did not even know what was happening, but my mother hung a felt stocking, which had a distinctive musty smell that I always felt singularly belonged to Christmas. She would hang them on the door and tell me to open it the next morning. I did, and I recall the thrill and hers when I would open my presents. Later, this custom was elaborated on when mom would take us to Alexander’s to see Santa Claus and he would give us presents. Christmas was always a special time for mom to give us presents. Later, when I grew up, I could not give my mother enough. We bought her grills, musical ballerinas and more. But it never was with the same joy and excitement as when she gave on Christmas. Because Aunt Shirley was a Christian and designed toys, visiting Aunt Shirley and receiving gifts from her and singing Christmas carols was very special.
Bronx Radio: (8,099 total words)
Radio is the ultimate one-way communicator. Someone talks nicely to me, whether it is Christian or secular, and, in whatever language. I have always kept a radio near by and listened. Now when I lay down to sleep, I listen to God and His message without the radio. But, when I’m in the car traveling, I listen to the news and commentary, preaching and teaching, and stories. Often it is the tone and steady chatter that appeals; while other times it is the familiar character and its mantra of persona whom I could worship and adore. Yes, I said worship and adore because that is exactly what it amounts to when you listen with rapt attention to the sounds of another soul. Rarely is it edifying and turning heart and soul to God. However, when it does, that radio is a blessing. Radio taught me to believe, imagine and perceive the “unseen.” With these gifts, I am able to receive the Holy Spirit. Later, while listening to late night TV, Charles Stanley taught me that the Bible was the word of God because so many in so many different times so testified and God’s words harmonized in the whole and detail of the Bible. In that same sermon, he likewise dispelled my overt anger at Jesus for Him to become my best friend as God come to earth to personally walk me toward eternity away from evil flesh. Christina and my father both learned to know God in a special because of the TV evangelism of Oral Roberts. The music, theatre, radio and television programs have portrayed public truth about who we were. The arts have been used to sell clothes, fashion, furniture, food and real estate; used to fight wars, establish family values, marriage and procreation. Radio especially reaffirms self and clan; context and life’s opportunities. Radio was also my urban connector in feeding me the mantras of urbanity and teaching me what it meant to be a city boy, cosmopolitan and urban. It combined music with drama and information with myth. It stimulated my intellect and my ability to imagine and picture what words and music were “saying.” I learned about the places and sounds and myths of the metropolis and was introduced to the heroes of the city. These heroes included the sound effects men, actors, actresses, musicians, studio directors and bandleaders. They were all my heroes. Of course, the characters in the programs were also urban heroes and I learned that a city isn’t complete without them. It is for that reason that I have meticulously listed their names, themes and sponsors below. As an intellect with a very vivid imagination, they were as much a part of my history and what shaped and filled my life as real family, neighbors, school chums, etc. Between the characters and places in radio, movies and records, my urban landscape was full and bubbly. I lived in media and balanced it with the experience on the streets, boulevards, subways, downtown, theaters and shops. Life was full and rich with personas so colorful and functional that the dysfunctionals of my own family were eclipsed and dimmed. I had friends and neighbors who were very pleasing and would let me focus on their good will, charm and stories of peace and kindness. The below are just a few of the key players of this period. Of course, I pictured all of them as living in the Bronx. Arthur Godfrey ranks as one of the important on-air stars of the first decade of American television. Indeed, prior to 1959, there was no bigger TV luminary than this freckle-faced, ukulele playing host/pitchman. It was from him that I ordered my first ukulele and sheet music. By listening to him, I learned to play. He demonstrated how to finger the chords and strum the strings. When I sang, I mimicked his style and voice tone. I learned to resonate the lower tones of my voice from him and Vaughn Monroe. Radio was my connection with downtown, intelligence and coherence. My soul identified, authenticated, and was built by what I heard on the radio. Radio and the characters with their dialogue spoiled me for the rest of the world because it became my standard. My early year favorite was Ethel and Albert, a program where a couple would talk to each other about life, neighbors and current events. In 1947, Marie Wilson starred in the radio sitcom, My Friend Irma. Throughout its radio run, in a 1952-54 television series and in two films, the new comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis was introduced. Wilson’s open, grinning face belied her age. Irma spoiled me for the rest of the girls that would follow. Duffy’s Tavern was a place on Third Avenue and 23rd Street in New York City, where the “elite meet to eat, Duffy ain’t here, Archie the manager speakin’…” Anyone who loved old time radio probably knows that phone patter by heart! Ed Gardner played Archie, the manager of Duffy’s Tavern, and he was as real sounding as any character on radio, as he had grown up in the Big Apple. His use and abuse of language was exemplary – the same type of local “parlese” that made The Damon Runyan Theater a favorite with New Yorkers everywhere. Gardner was a theatrical veteran, whose wife, Shirley Booth, the well-known stage and screen actress, began on the show with him. William Bendix, who played Riley, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1906. The Life of Riley radio show starred the wonderful William Bendix and aired from 1944-1951(ABC, NBC). The airplane riveter with a heart of gold, Chester A. Riley got himself and his family into the funniest craziest misunderstandings. (Bendix ran a grocery store until the business failed. He was a batboy for the New York Giants and New York Yankees when he was a child. He saw Babe Ruth hit more than 100 home runs. He later played Babe Ruth in the 1948 movie, The Babe Ruth Story. Also, he was nominated in 1942 for best supporting actor in the movie Wake Island). He’d often say on the show, “What a revoltin’ development this is!” This show led into the television version that started in 1949 and ended in 1958. Numerous actors played the radio characters over the years, including Rosemary DeCamp (born November 14, 1910, in Prescott, Arizona), Peg Riley (Riley’s wife) and John Brown as Digby “Digger O’Dell (the undertaker). Digger’s Quotes “It is I, indeed, Digby O’Dell, the friendly undertaker.” “A new calendar, have a happy year.” “You’re looking fine, very natural.” “I’ve covered a lot of ground today.” Riley: “Take a few minutes out, stretch out some place.” Digger: “Oh, I don’t dare. You see, I have a nearsighted assistant.” “Cheerio, I’d better be shoveling off.” Life with Luigi Originating on radio as The Little Immigrant, Life with Luigi is the story of a gentle Italian and other immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia taking U.S. citizenship night school classes. Their new home is Chicago, and their heartwarming encounters with American ways makes this show as contemporary now as it was post WWII, or at any time in the 19th or 20th centuries. J. Carroll Naish, veteran character actor of stage and screen, makes Luigi Basco come to life in each and every show. He is a perfect Luigi! The cast is stellar. Hans Conreid is Schultz, a German with more of an upright and straightforward manner. Alan Reed is Pasquale, Luigi’s friend and sponsor who has already made a success of himself in America as a restaurateur. Jody Gilbert plays Pasquali’s chubby daughter, Rosa. Mary Shipp is Miss Spaulding, the teacher of the night class. Joe Forte is Horowitz, and Ken Peters is Olsen, Luigi’s classmates. Gil Straton is Jimmy, who is Luigi’s partner in a small antique business that Luigi has opened, as he grew up on the outskirts of Rome and has always loved the past and its glories. But his eyes were on the New World, and now, that New World is his own. Baby Snooks Baby Snooks came about through bad dentistry. Fanny Brice had had teeth problems for years, and before one particular radio rehearsal, her dentist let her come away without her dentures. Fanny was unable to speak properly. Frantic, the producer suddenly remembered a cute baby act Fanny would do at parties and in front of friends. It was the only thing she could do in her current condition. “What do you call her?” the producer cried. “Schnooks,” lisped Fanny. But she needed material – instantly. Rapp and David Freedman (his writing partner at the time) frantically searched the nearest bookcase and came up with an out-of-print (public domain) collection of sketches by Robert James Burdette titled Chimes From a Jester’s Bells. Finding a humorous piece about a kid and his uncle called “The Simple Story of George Washington,” the kid was switched to a girl, Rapp changed “Schnooks” to “Snooks,” and history was made. Fanny Brice was born on October 29, 1891, and found early fame starring in the Ziegfield Follies from 1911 to 1923. And it was on Ziegfield Follies of the Air (which Phil Rapp wrote and directed from 1936-37) that Baby Snooks took her first hilarious step. The Snooks sketches began as a regular feature in 1937 on the variety show Good News, and became the main attraction on Maxwell House Coffee Time in 1940. In 1944, the impish problem child began her own radio program, The Baby Snooks Show. The series dealt with the childish innocence and constant questioning from little baby Snooks, which clashed with considerable force against the long-suffering “Daddy,” first played by film actor Frank Morgan. Alan Reed next took over the adult role. But it is Hanley Stafford who is best remembered as Daddy, with his incredibly painful line readings of, “Oooooh……. Snooooooks!” Listening to the radio as a child on Home Street, I thought that when we’d return the program to which we were listening would resume and we would not miss anything. I could not understand that it continued without us being there to listen. Why would it continue? I believed entertainment was a means by which we focused on God’s peace, joy and righteousness, per Romans 14:17. The radio was always an anathema; on one hand, it extolled the myths and virtues of urbanism while itself providing relief from the infrastructure and woes involved in living in the city. It lifted the city off its stark reality and opened it up to another and more polite view of our darkest and dirtiest corners. I enjoyed listening to late night, up-all-night radio, just to leave it on as I went to sleep. As a child I’d listen to static, and tune into remote and hard-to-hear stations from far away. I did the same thing in Saudi, listening to so many foreign stations from around the world. As a child on Simpson street, I enjoyed sounds and the din of the trains coming and going from the station, the sirens of the police and fire trucks, the sounds of people passing in front of our ground floor window, and, of course, the endless sound of traffic, no matter where we lived. Big Joe, whose theme song was “Somebody cares.” could be heard only on NYC radio from midnight until 2 a.m. weeknights. It was a call-in program. Most of his guests were chiropractors. I called in many times and listened often. Nobody that I knew listened to this program. And nobody I knew then nor now ever heard of him. I loved him! So who was “Big Joe” Rosenfeld(courtesy of Don Browne)? I was too young then to know all the details, but Don Browne writes that Big Joe’s Happiness Exchange was a time-brokered program that first appeared on WABC in 1959. David Fentress wrote that he may have read in a paperback book about him, entitled The Happiness Exchange, that he ran this street-front social services agency until one day a little old lady died and left him a million bucks in her will and he disappeared. Others say that The Happiness Exchange was funded by The Salvationists (the Salvation Army folks). I recall he’d been a big drinker and on the air in New Orleans before he came to NYC. David Fentress writes that “Big Joe” Rosenfeld (sometimes spelled Rosenfield) is one of those New York radio personalities who has been surrounded by a culture of mystery. The fact that he was usually heard after midnight in that radio “no man’s land” dedicated to time-brokered shows (as an alternative to “sign-off”) adds to his mystique. Said Fentress, “I personally listened to his unusual program on several occasions in the late ’50s/early ’60s. As a ‘radio person,’ the program was difficult to listen to. There was plenty of ‘dead air’ during which times the audio processing of the period (Gates Level-Devil and Sta-Level) would bring up the studio ‘room tone’ to a point where you could hear a creaking chair or paper rustling.” I just loved all that and would listen to him every night. Both my mother and father were out working and I was all alone with my brother. Big Joe hosted one of the first telephone talk shows in early New York City radio. But you only heard his side of the conversation, then dead air while he alone heard the caller speaking, then he would paraphrase the caller. Bob Donnelly, a transmitter engineer at WHBI (105.9 Mhz, Newark, NJ) in 1962, reported that Big Joe time-brokered at that station for a time, but originated the program by landline from his Manhattan (storefront) office. After that, Big Joe became a mythological radio figure. Here is Joe’s song, remembered by Donald S. Browne: “Somebody cares if your blue and ever little thing that you do, so believe me my friends in case you didn’t know it, somebody cares.” Big Joe had a “street name” that was the complete opposite of his actual size. Big Joe was diminutive in stature – about five feet tall without lifts. Perhaps the big referred to the size of his heart. The success of Big Joe’s Happiness Exchange on a New Orleans radio station, probably WNOE (1060 kHz), brought Big Joe’s brokered radio program to NYC. There were many urban legends about Big Joe during his long career on time-brokered NYC radio. One persistent story, that Big Joe’s Happiness Exchange was bequeathed a million dollars from the estate of a loyal female listener is absolutely true! In 1959, the Happiness Exchange received a bequest of 22,060 shares of General Motor’s stock, then worth $1,213,300, in the will of Mrs. May Rockwell Page of Bristol, CT, widow of a General Motors vice president. She had been a loyal Happiness Exchange listener on WMGM. I remember that Joe would always say: “Have no fear, Big Joe is here. I don’t wanna be rich, I can’t be good looking. All I wanna be is happy, and what do you want to be. You do, well good, until four o’clock in the morning, Let’s be happy together, because somebody cares.” “Somebody cares about you And every little thing that you might do Somebody cares if you sleep well at night If your dreams have gone wrong Or your day has gone right Somebody cares if you’re blue And worries ’til the sun comes shining thru Please believe me it’s so But in case you didn’t know Somebody cares.
” My father’s name was Joe, which made listening to Joe even more attractive. Joe made urbanity a small family, He was the clear communicator, especially educating me about chiropractic, which my father depended upon to ease his back pain. What I learned about that profession still is with me today. In addition to NBC, the radio stations playing music were: ¨ WPAT (music only) in Patterson: Paul diSovino was the radio engineer, then he hired me in Hartford to be his voice on WLAE. 93.7 FM ¨ WMGM: Ted Brown and the Redhead in the AM WINS: “Listen to Lacy” ¨ WNEW: “William B. Williams”: Good evening world, this is William B. Williams.” Theme: “You are the One” ¨
WNEW (see Page 3) and re-established the “Make Believe Ballroom” at WABC on January 4, 1954. The pioneer DJ filled more than four hours, starting at 2:35 on weekdays and in morning and evening slots on Saturdays. ¨ Announcer Martin Block was the first radio disc jockey to become a star in his own right. Late in 1934, WNEW/New York hired Block, where he played music while the station awaited developments in the trial of accused kidnapper Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Block created the illusion that he was broadcasting from a ballroom with the nation’s top dance bands performing live. Block appropriated the name Make Believe Ballroom and the show was an instant hit. Make Believe Ballroom became so popular that when WNEW moved to a new studio on Fifth Avenue, they constructed a simulated ballroom – complete with chandelier and black linoleum – for Block’s broadcasts. Block left Make Believe Ballroom on January 1, 1954, to host The Martin Block Show for ABC Radio. Towards the end of his career, he was heard on WOR/New York. At the time, I was a drape hanger driving and one day under the Bronx EL Martin Block bemoaned the onslaught of the vulgarities and dissonance of rock. Of course, I agreed and sympathized with Block. One day he announced that his station, due to its ratings brought on by the alternates in taste and style, was taking Make Believe Ballroom off the air. I remember listening to the last broadcast as he played the songs and signed off for the last time. My heart broke. Martin Block died September 18, 1967. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988. Of course, I could think of nothing I’d like to do more than be a disc jockey. What I did not count on is that things change. It was devastating and important because my link to the future with all the values I cherished was failing, falling, and disintegrating and I was being abandoned to be alone and a ship at sea with an anchor. All my anchors were being abolished and with it my easy inclinations and intuition for career and potential applications of natural talent. Ethel And Albert, which was also titled The Private Lives Of Ethel And Albert, began life on American ABC radio (1944-1950), then transferred to TV (1953-56, first for NBC then CBS and finally ABC) before returning to radio as The Couple Next Door. The TV version starred Peg Lynch (also the series’ author) and Alan Bunce as the Arbuckles, who lived in Sandy Harbor. Before finding fame as a film actor, Richard Widmark played Albert when the series first aired on radio. One of the earliest forces for women in American radio and TV, Lynch, born in 1917, continued to perform Ethel And Albert scripts at U.S. universities up to the 1990s. Peg’s voice and the candor between the two presented conversation and communication between a married couple that I could not hear in my own home. It was revealing and demonstrated a functional relationship. Morey Amsterdam was an early face on television and my father said he grew up with Morey. It turns out that my father must have mistaken Morey for someone else. At the time, entertainers did not tell all the details of their background, so I assumed my father’s story was correct. A comedian and actor, Morey was born in Chicago on Dec. 14, 1908. The wisecracking television writer of the Dick Van Dyke Show started his career in vaudeville and on the nightclub circuit in the 1930s and made the move to television in the 1940s. Remembered for his corny jokes, Amsterdam also appeared on television’s Broadway Open House, Keep Talking and Hollywood Squares.
Simpson Street Elevated Train Station
BronxTV Programs: (1,605 words)
(1,605 total words) ( 917 words text only)(688 words in three footnotes
All of TV was a kind of awesome experience for our family and friends. We believed that we would save money because “we won’t go out so much to the movies” and “we can see what our friends are seeing” and “everyone else that is anybody is getting one.” Seeing characters and personalities we grew up imagining on radio and experiencing the transformation from radio to movies or TV was like seeing gods. Seeing superman, the Lone Ranger, Jack Benny, Fred Allen and others was such a thrill. I can remember the theatres all competing by offering lower prices and air-conditioning and extra shows. I remember the stage shows that lured one and all to pack the theatres. You could not beat seeing your favorite personality in person. Oh yes, there was then getting tickets and seeing live broadcasts. As we did with radio, so we did with TV. We saw Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason and others. Part of the excitement was starting to finally see some of our most beloved radio personalities in person, on TV. It was very odd. In person on TV – real to see, but not actually there. Just like radio. To hear, but not to see. Somehow, the visual was more dramatic. When TV went from black and white to color, it was very dramatic and exciting. It seemed wonderful. Eventually, we fond watching TV to be an inexpensive pacifier while living in places where we needed inexpensive ways to pass the time as well and satisfy our need for entertainment and contact with the world we knew. This was particularly true in Puerto Rico and Saudia Arabia.
Bronx Comedy:( 2,990 words in text only)
(502 words in One Footnote)
Humor is a social confirmation of metaphors. Secular humor diverts us from our spiritual inclinations while allying us to our fleshly world. While humor is my favorite way of communicating, I am mindful that it diverts as James 4:9 says, Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. God encourages us to be sober in these perilous times – times where evil lurks in our midst. The urban persona avoids God by satire. In their rebellion, they attack rather than acknowledge sin. They are a hairline away from being evangelists, where the word of God exposes folly, vice and stupidity and man is led to eternal life. Rebellious souls attack and expose folly, vice and stupidity with irony, sarcasm or cosmetic wit to acknowledge and accept to lead to eternal death. This humor desensitizes and inhibits maturity and spiritual growth. Jesus says blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted and the truth shall set you free. He wants us to face ourselves with Him and let Him and His Holy Spirit transform and redeem us not to acknowledge and accept, laughing our way to eternal damnation. However, humor and comic relief works well in preaching and personal evangelism. It’s all in the timing and knowing when to shift and close with an altar call. A preacher named John Warneke is an expert in such humor. My contemporary and fellow Bronxite, Earl Carlin, does the same. He even is as blunt about it as I am. I attack human vice and folly through irony, derision and, hopefully, wit. Like comics, I hope to expose the folly, vice and stupidity. My art is satiric, in the tradition of The National Lampoon (between 1973 and 1974) and the Fire Sign Theatre. From the time I can remember, there were comics and humor. Most of their humor seemed so relevant and gauged for people like us. We listened to them on the radio, then on television and in the movies. There were the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Sid Caesar, Henny Youngman, Mort Saul, etc. But those were the famous media-related comics. There were so many others that entertained at ShoreHaven and the hotels in the Adirondack Mountains and Yiddish Theater. Ed Sullivan had stand-up comics on once per week and the other variety shows on radio and TV also had stand-up comics. People liked to laugh. There was vaudeville and the comics that appeared on the stage shows at the Roxy, Radio City, the Strand, etc. They defined the culture and explained our urban dilemmas. They called our attention to the heart and passion of cross and multi-culturalism in the confines of our city. They gave our world a voice and characterized us. We could see ourselves, friends, children and parents in their humor, jokes and comedies. Most of the humor was about urban and common conditions such as marriage, relationships, driving, the police, army life, politics and political leaders, and our jobs. Other jokes were about life in the city and relations with neighbors and relatives. Many comedians made us aware of the clashes and farce of mixing cultures and the nonsense that conflicting behaviors present. People suffering from sometimes frustrating language, meaning, vocabulary and behavioral differences could only derive this kind of observation and presentation in urban contexts. There were lots of mother-in-law jokes and many jokes about wives’ cooking and husbands’ quirks. Fibber Magee and Molly, Archie, Ethel and Albert, My Friend Irma, and others poked fun at married life and how we say and do things that are ridiculous. The writers of these programs were comic writers and famous in their own right. TV’s Milton Berle did it all by totally making a fool out of himself every Tuesday night. Martin and Lewis were latecomers, mostly seen in the movies. Feigned ignorance as irony in humor has prevailed much of my adult life. I am particularly alert to the incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs and will resort to the use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning. I will try to make a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning. Between sarcasm and irony, many around me find themselves off guard but favoring my compassion and concern. Irony and noticing ironic situations seems to have prevailed in my persona and self-expression. In his explanation of Ironic Detachment as an Escape from Routine, Christopher Lasch explains that anxious self-scrutiny not only serves to regulate information signaled to others and to interpret signals received; it also establishes an ironic distance from the deadly routine of daily life. On the one hand, the degradation of work makes skill and competence increasingly irrelevant to material success and thus encourages the presentation of the self as a commodity; on the other hand, it discourages commitment to the job and drives people, as the only alternative to boredom and despair, to view work with self-critical detachment. It is a way of framing the circumstance and thereby making is it a metaphor with oneself as the subject. When jobs consist of little more than meaningless motions, and when social routines, formerly dignified as ritual, degenerate into role playing, the worker – whether he toils on an assembly line or holds down a high-paying job in a large bureaucracy – seeks to escape from the resulting sense of inauthenticity by creating an ironic distance from his daily routine. I attempt to transform role playing into a symbolic elevation of daily life. I take refuge in jokes, mockery and cynicism. When I go to a party, I show by my actions that it’s all a game – false, artificial, insincere; a grotesque travesty of sociability. In this way, I attempt to make myself invulnerable to the pressures of the situation. By refusing to take seriously the routines I have to perform, I deny their capacity to injure. Although I assume that it is impossible to alter the iron limits imposed by society, a detached awareness of those limits seem to make them matter less. By demystifying daily life, I convey to myself and others the impression that I have risen beyond it, even as I go through the motions and do what is expected. I also read and find humor in books. When I attended public school, we were taught to read and appreciated books. One of the books we read for several years was The Good Earth. We found it funny that when, after the settlers stopped, prayed, and read the bible, they always ate porridge. It was reported with such clarify and simplicity. The predictability and mundane nature of the report and their diet seemed funny to us little children. Other favorites on the screen were Charlie Chaplin, Marx Brothers, Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Edgar Bergen, Martin and Lewis, Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, Carl Reiner, Sid Caesar, Gene Wilder, Zero Mostel, Jackie Mason, etc. Broadway shows and music of the time included New York, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. All urban jazz taught us the virtues of urbanity. They lamented, personified, portrayed, pictured, and overlayed the sticks and stones with emotion, color, tone, attitude and personality. They personified the cosmopolitan urban mind. It was the content and subject of their humor. They would observe and reveal our obvious behaviors and help us see them and agree by our laughter that our behavior was at variance with good sense and logic. It was always hilarious. The key to their success was their writers for the material and the timing of their delivery of the material. Some of them dared to point out the absurdity and bedlam of our choices to perpetrate urbanity and its inevitable pitfalls. I was able to see parallels to our home life and my parent’s situation. I realized that my parents were preparing me for the foul play and farce of much of life’s challenges. The late ’50s and early ’60s brought the humor of Henry Morgan, Lenny Bruce and Nat Hentoff. Lenny was a metaphysical philosopher whose method of expressions defied the first amendment and got him ruled off limits, so ruining his career. Others and I enjoyed his insights and revelations, but not his use of vulgar language. It was this language that caused the problems. In December 2003, the governor of New York pardoned Lenny Bruce, who died at age 37 so many years before. I have come up with a number of humorous and occasionally funny lines, such as: I only smoke when I’m burning. The real world – where nothing makes sense like nonsense. My own experience with using Indian and Pakistani vocabulary and accents mirrors those of the actor and comedian Peter Sellers. In so doing, I gained an identity and manner that is comfortable and clear. In this guise and accent, I use such expressions as “very terrible,” “namis de,” etc. I also find it very easy to wag my head in compliance and acceptance during a conversation.
Loews's Paradise Movie Theater on the Grand Concourse
Look of the Endtimes by Barie Fez-Barringten
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SUPERBOWL V. WORLD SERIES
January 28, 2015 UncategorizedSUPER BOWL, World Seriesbaseballworldbjt
This noon, I spoke at the Sanford Kiwanis about my book ‘ From Beer To Beards, Boston Baseball’s 2011-2013 Roller Coaster Ride.’ A friend of mine had asked me to come and speak to the group. That’s the kind of friend everyone needs. Invite you to give a speech about a baseball book the week of the Super Bowl.
Anyway, until I got up to speak, everyone was talking football and I’m not sure it stopped even then. The funny thing was, they talked about Deflategate, the fact that the Pats were the most hated team in football, Seattle being the second most hated and what would happen if it were proven that the Pats had cheated but not much talk about the game itself.
This got me to thinking about the differences between football’s extravaganza and the World Series.
The NFL plays a 16 game season followed by a maximum of three playoff games per team before the Super Bowl contestants are decided. In all, 12 teams make the playoffs and they play a total of 11 games, including the Super Bowl.
MLB, on the other hand, plays a 162 game season followed by a maximum of 13 playoff games per team before the World Series contestants are decided. In all, 10 teams make the playoffs and they play a maximum of 43 games, including the World Series.
The Superbowl is a one game, winner take all, single elimination contest while the World Series contestants have to win four games out of a maximum of seven.
Football is a much more physically demanding sport and must play a shorter season with longer breaks between games. Baseball, which requires superb conditioning also, is less physical on a day to day basis and players can play day after day.
As a result of this difference, football takes two weeks off between the playoffs and the Superbowl while baseball starts the World Series a few days after the playoffs end.
In the Superbowl one key player having an exceptionally good or bad day can mean the championship. In a World Series, because of the length, one player’s performance can be critical but not so much so as in the Superbowl. Of course, when you have a Madison Bumgarner to effectively win three games in a seven game series as happened this fall, that generality goes out the window.
Both events are analyzed to death as they approach. The networks and the rest of the media trot out experts on every aspect of the games and the teams in them. The fact that baseball plays multiple games, softens the media effect as the focus changes somewhat from day to day as the series progresses.
Starting with media day, the Super Bowl has the spotlight for the entire week before the game. By the time the Superbowl begins, most fans know more than they want to about both teams. That two week layoff, especially this year with Deflategate, provides so many distractions that it seems that the game itself becomes secondary to the hype.
The contest among the sponsors to provide the best commercial and the multi-million dollar half time show seem to become more interesting than the game to the average fan.
Maybe that’s why my friends at Kiwanis were talking about the Superbowl but not the game itself.
Whatever the reasons for or the effects of the differences, both events provide the ultimate in sports viewing and competition. Even though I am a baseball fan first, I wouldn’t miss the Patriots thumping the Seahawks this weekend for anything.
GO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Tag Archives: Paul Michalak
Posted on January 28, 2013 by Gregg Levine
From here to eternity: a small plaque on the campus of the University of Chicago commemorates the site of Fermi’s first atomic pile–and the start of the world’s nuclear waste problem. (Photo: Nathan Guy via Flickr)
On December 2, 1942, a small group of physicists under the direction of Enrico Fermi gathered on an old squash court beneath Alonzo Stagg Stadium on the Campus of the University of Chicago to make and witness history. Uranium pellets and graphite blocks had been stacked around cadmium-coated rods as part of an experiment crucial to the Manhattan Project–the program tasked with building an atom bomb for the allied forces in WWII. The experiment was successful, and for 28 minutes, the scientists and dignitaries present observed the world’s first manmade, self-sustaining nuclear fission reaction. They called it an atomic pile–Chicago Pile 1 (CP-1), to be exact–but what Fermi and his team had actually done was build the world’s first nuclear reactor.
The Manhattan Project’s goal was a bomb, but soon after the end of the war, scientists, politicians, the military and private industry looked for ways to harness the power of the atom for civilian use, or, perhaps more to the point, for commercial profit. Fifteen years to the day after CP-1 achieved criticality, President Dwight Eisenhower threw a ceremonial switch to start the reactor at Shippingport, PA, which was billed as the first full-scale nuclear power plant built expressly for civilian electrical generation.
Shippingport was, in reality, little more than a submarine engine on blocks, but the nuclear industry and its acolytes will say that it was the beginning of billions of kilowatts of power, promoted (without a hint of irony) as “clean, safe, and too cheap to meter.” It was also, however, the beginning of what is now a, shall we say, weightier legacy: 72,000 tons of nuclear waste.
Atoms for peace, problems forever
News of Fermi’s initial success was communicated by physicist Arthur Compton to the head of the National Defense Research Committee, James Conant, with artistically coded flair:
Compton: The Italian navigator has landed in the New World.
Conant: How were the natives?
Compton: Very friendly.
But soon after that initial success, CP-1 was disassembled and reassembled a short drive away, in Red Gate Woods. The optimism of the physicists notwithstanding, it was thought best to continue the experiments with better radiation shielding–and slightly removed from the center of a heavily populated campus. The move was perhaps the first necessitated by the uneasy relationship between fissile material and the health and safety of those around it, but if it was understood as a broader cautionary tale, no one let that get in the way of “progress.”
A stamp of approval: the US Postal Service commemorated Eisenhower’s initiative in 1955.
By the time the Shippingport reactor went critical, North America already had a nuclear waste problem. The detritus from manufacturing atomic weapons was poisoning surrounding communities at several sites around the continent (not that most civilians knew it at the time). Meltdowns at Chalk River in Canada and the Experimental Breeder Reactor in Idaho had required fevered cleanups, the former of which included the help of a young Navy officer named Jimmy Carter. And the dangers of errant radioisotopes were increasing with the acceleration of above-ground atomic weapons testing. But as President Eisenhower extolled “Atoms for Peace,” and the US Atomic Energy Commission promoted civilian nuclear power at home and abroad, a plan to deal with the “spent fuel” (as used nuclear fuel rods are termed) and other highly radioactive leftovers was not part of the program (beyond, of course, extracting some of the plutonium produced by the fission reaction for bomb production, and the promise that the waste generated by US-built reactors overseas could at some point be marked “return to sender” and repatriated to the United States for disposal).
Attempts at what was called “reprocessing”–the re-refining of used uranium into new reactor fuel–quickly proved expensive, inefficient and dangerous, and created as much radioactive waste as it hoped to reuse. It also provided an obvious avenue for nuclear weapons proliferation because of the resulting production of plutonium. The threat of proliferation (made flesh by India’s test of an atomic bomb in 1976) led President Jimmy Carter to cancel the US reprocessing program in 1977. Attempts by the Department of Energy to push mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication (combining uranium and plutonium) over the last dozen years has not produced any results, either, despite over $5 billion in government investments.
In fact, there was no official federal policy for the management of used but still highly radioactive nuclear fuel until passage of The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. And while that law acknowledged the problem of thousands of tons of spent fuel accumulating at US nuclear plants, it didn’t exactly solve it. Instead, the NWPA started a generation of political horse trading, with goals and standards defined more by market exigencies than by science, that leaves America today with what amounts to over five-dozen nominally temporary repositories for high-level radioactive waste–and no defined plan to change that situation anytime soon.
When you assume…
When a US Court of Appeals ruled in June that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission acted improperly when it failed to consider all the risks of storing spent radioactive fuel onsite at the nation’s nuclear power facilities, it made specific reference to the lack of any real answers to the generations-old question of waste storage:
[The Nuclear Regulatory Commission] apparently has no long-term plan other than hoping for a geologic repository. . . . If the government continues to fail in its quest to establish one, then SNF (spent nuclear fuel) will seemingly be stored on site at nuclear plants on a permanent basis. The Commission can and must assess the potential environmental effects of such a failure.
The court concluded the current situation–where spent fuel is stored across the country in what were supposed to be temporary configurations–“poses a dangerous long-term health and environmental risk.”
The decision also harshly criticized regulators for evaluating plant relicensing with the assumption that spent nuclear fuel would be moved to a central long-term waste repository.
A mountain of risks
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act set in motion an elaborate process that was supposed to give the US a number of possible waste sites, but, in the end, the only option seriously explored was the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada. After years of preliminary construction and tens of millions of dollars spent, Yucca was determined to be a bad choice for the waste:
[Yucca Mountain’s] volcanic formation is more porous and less isolated than originally believed–there is evidence that water can seep in, there are seismic concerns, worries about the possibility of new volcanic activity, and a disturbing proximity to underground aquifers. In addition, Yucca mountain has deep spiritual significance for the Shoshone and Paiute peoples.
Every major Nevada politician on both sides of the aisle has opposed the Yucca repository since its inception. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has worked most of his political life to block the facility. And with the previous NRC head, Gregory Jaczko, (and now his replacement, Allison Macfarlane, as well) recommending against it, the Obama administration’s Department of Energy moved to end the project.
Even if it were an active option, Yucca Mountain would still be many years and maybe as much as $100 million away from completion. And yet, the nuclear industry (through recipients of its largesse in Congress) has challenged the administration to spend any remaining money in a desperate attempt to keep alive the fantasy of a solution to their waste crisis.
Such fevered dreams, however, do not qualify as an actual plan, according to the courts.
The judges also chastised the NRC for its generic assessment of spent fuel pools, currently packed well beyond their projected capacity at nuclear plants across the United States. Rather than examine each facility and the potential risks specific to its particular storage situation, the NRC had only evaluated the safety risks of onsite storage by looking at a composite of past events. The court ruled that the NRC must appraise each plant individually and account for potential future dangers. Those dangers include leaks, loss of coolant, and failures in the cooling systems, any of which might result in contamination of surrounding areas, overheating and melting of stored rods, and the potential of burning radioactive fuel–risks heightened by the large amounts of fuel now densely packed in the storage pools and underscored by the ongoing disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Indeed, plants were not designed nor built to house nuclear waste long-term. The design life of most reactors in the US was originally 40 years. Discussions of the spent fuel pools usually gave them a 60-year lifespan. That limit seemed to double almost magically as nuclear operators fought to postpone the expense of moving cooler fuel to dry casks and of the final decommissioning of retired reactors.
Everyone out of the pool
As disasters as far afield as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and last October’s Hurricane Sandy have demonstrated, the storage of spent nuclear fuel in pools requires steady supplies of power and cool water. Any problem that prevents the active circulation of liquid through the spent fuel pools–be it a loss of electricity, the failure of a back-up pump, the clogging of a valve or a leak in the system–means the temperature in the pools will start to rise. If the cooling circuit is out long enough, the water in the pools will start to boil. If the water level dips (due to boiling or a leak) enough to expose hot fuel rods to the air, the metal cladding on the rods will start to burn, in turn heating the fuel even more, resulting in plumes of smoke carrying radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere.
And because these spent fuel pools are so full–containing as much as five times more fuel than they were originally designed to hold, and at densities that come close to those in reactor cores–they both heat stagnant water more quickly and reach volatile temperatures faster when exposed to air.
A spent fuel pool and dry casks. (Both photos courtesy of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission)
After spent uranium has been in a pool for at least five years (considerably longer than most fuel is productive as an energy source inside the reactor), fuel rods are deemed cool enough to be moved to dry casks. Dry casks are sealed steel cylinders filled with spent fuel and inert gas, which are themselves encased in another layer of steel and concrete. These massive fuel “coffins” are then placed outside, spaced on concrete pads, so that air can circulate and continue to disperse heat.
While the long-term safety of dry casks is still in question, the fact that they require no active cooling system gives them an advantage, in the eyes of many experts, over pool storage. As if to highlight that difference, spent fuel pools at Fukushima Daiichi have posed some of the greatest challenges since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, whereas, to date, no quake or flood-related problems have been reported with any of Japan’s dry casks. The disparity was so obvious, that the NRC’s own staff review actually added a proposal to the post-Fukushima taskforce report, recommending that US plants take more fuel out of spent fuel pools and move it to dry casks. (A year-and-a-half later, however, there is still no regulation–or even a draft–requiring such a move.)
But current dry cask storage poses its own set of problems. Moving fuel rods from pools to casks is slow and costly–about $1.5 million per cask, or roughly $7 billion to move all of the nation’s spent fuel (a process, it is estimated, that would take no less than five to ten years). That is expensive enough to have many nuclear plant operators lobbying overtime to avoid doing it.
Further, though not as seemingly vulnerable as fuel pools, dry casks are not impervious to natural disaster. In 2011, a moderate earthquake centered about 20 miles from the North Anna, Virginia, nuclear plant caused most of its vertical dry casks–each weighing 115 tons–to shift, some by more than four inches. The facility’s horizontal casks didn’t move, but some showed what was termed “cosmetic damage.”
Dry casks at Michigan’s Palisades plant sit on a pad atop a sand dune just 100 yards from Lake Michigan. An earthquake there could plunge the casks into the water. And the casks at Palisades are so poorly designed and maintained, submersion could result in water contacting the fuel, contaminating the lake and possibly triggering a nuclear chain reaction.
And though each cask contains far less fissile material than one spent fuel pool, casks are still considered possible targets for terrorism. A TOW anti-tank missile would breach even the best dry cask (PDF), and with 25 percent of the nation’s spent fuel now stored in hundreds of casks across the country, all above ground, it provides a rich target environment.
Confidence game
Two months after the Appeals Court found fault with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s imaginary waste mitigation scenario, the NRC announced it would suspend the issuing of new reactor operating licenses, license renewals and construction licenses until the agency could craft a new plan for dealing with the nation’s growing spent nuclear fuel crisis. In drafting its new nuclear “Waste Confidence Decision” (NWCD)–the methodology used to assess the hazards of nuclear waste storage–the Commission said it would evaluate all possible options for resolving the issue.
At first, the NRC said this could include both generic and site-specific actions (remember, the court criticized the NRC’s generic appraisals of pool safety), but as the prescribed process now progresses, it appears any new rule will be designed to give the agency, and so, the industry, as much wiggle room as possible. At a public hearing in November, and later at a pair of web conferences in early December, the regulator’s Waste Confidence Directorate (yes, that’s what it is called) outlined three scenarios (PDF) for any future rulemaking:
Storage until a repository becomes available at the middle of the century
Storage until a repository becomes available at the end of the century
Continued storage in the event a repository is not available
And while, given the current state of affairs, the first option seems optimistic, the fact that their best scenario now projects a repository to be ready by about 2050 is a story in itself.
When the Nuclear Waste Policy Act was signed into law by President Reagan early in 1983, it was expected the process it set in motion would present at least one (and preferably another) long-term repository by the late 1990s. But by the time the “Screw Nevada Bill” (as it is affectionately known in the Silver State) locked in Yucca Mountain as the only option for permanent nuclear waste storage, the projected opening was pushed back to 2007.
But Yucca encountered problems from its earliest days, so a mid-’90s revision of the timeline postponed the official start, this time to 2010. By 2006, the Department of Energy was pegging Yucca’s opening at 2017. And, when the NWPA was again revised in 2010–after Yucca was deemed a non-option–it conveniently avoided setting a date for the opening of a national long-term waste repository altogether.
It was that 2010 revision that was thrown out by the courts in June.
“Interim storage” and “likely reactors”
So, the waste panel now has three scenarios–but what are the underlying assumptions for those scenarios? Not, obviously, any particular site for a centralized, permanent home for the nation’s nuclear garbage–no new site has been chosen, and it can’t even be said there is an active process at work that will choose one.
There are the recommendations of a Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) convened by the president after Yucca Mountain was off the table. Most notable there, was a recommendation for interim waste storage, consolidated at a handful of locations across the country. But consolidated intermediate waste storage has its own difficulties, not the least of which is that no sites have yet been chosen for any such endeavor. (In fact, plans for the Skull Valley repository, thought to be the interim facility closest to approval, were abandoned by its sponsors just days before Christmas.)
Just-retired New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman (D), the last chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, tried to turn the BRC recommendations into law. When he introduced his bill in August, however, he had to do so without any cosponsors. Hearings on the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2012 were held in September, but the gavel came down on the 112th Congress without any further action.
In spite of the underdeveloped state of intermediate storage, however, when the waste confidence panel was questioned on the possibility, interim waste repositories seemed to emerge, almost on the fly, as an integral part of any revised waste policy rule.
“Will any of your scenarios include interim centralized above-ground storage?” we asked during the last public session. Paul Michalak, who heads the Environmental Impact Statement branch of the Waste Confidence Directorate, first said temporary sites would be considered in the second and third options. Then, after a short pause, Mr. Michalak added (PDF p40), “First one, too. All right. Right. That’s right. So we’re considering an interim consolidated storage facility [in] all three scenarios.”
The lack of certainty on any site or sites is, however, not the only fuzzy part of the picture. As mentioned earlier, the amount of high-level radioactive waste currently on hand in the US and in need of a final resting place is upwards of 70,000 tons–already at the amount that was set as the initial limit for the Yucca Mountain repository. Given that there are still over 100 domestic commercial nuclear reactors more or less in operation, producing something like an additional 2,000 tons of spent fuel every year, what happens to the Waste Confidence Directorate’s scenarios as the years and waste pile up? How much waste were regulators projecting they would have to deal with–how much spent fuel would a waste confidence decision assume the system could confidently handle?
There was initial confusion on what amount of waste–and at what point in time–was informing the process. Pressed for clarification on the last day of hearings, NRC officials finally posited that it was assumed there would be 150,000 metric tons of spent fuel–all deriving from the commercial reactor fleet–by 2050. By the end of the century, the NRC expects to face a mountain of waste weighing 270,000 metric tons (PDF pp38-41) (though this figure was perplexingly termed both a “conservative number” and an “overestimate”).
How did the panel arrive at these numbers? Were they assuming all 104 (soon to be 103–Wisconsin’s Kewaunee Power Station will shut down by mid-2013 for reasons its owner, Dominion Resources, says are based “purely on economics”) commercial reactors nominally in operation would continue to function for that entire time frame–even though many are nearing the end of their design life and none are licensed to continue operation beyond the 2030s? Were they counting reactors like those at San Onofre, which have been offline for almost a year, and are not expected to restart anytime soon? Or the troubled reactors at Ft. Calhoun in Nebraska and Florida’s Crystal River? Neither facility has been functional in recent years, and both have many hurdles to overcome if they are ever to produce power again. Were they factoring in the projected AP1000 reactors in the early stages of construction in Georgia, or the ones slated for South Carolina? Did the NRC expect more or fewer reactors generating waste over the course of the next 88 years?
The response: waste estimates include all existing facilities, plus “likely reactors”–but the NRC cannot say exactly how many reactors that is (PDF p41).
Jamming it through
Answers like those from the Waste Confidence Directorate do not inspire (pardon the expression) confidence for a country looking at a mountain of eternally toxic waste. Just what would the waste confidence decision (and the environmental impact survey that should result from it) actually cover? What would it mandate, and what would change as a result?
How long is it? Does this NRC chart provide a justification for the narrow scope of the waste confidence process? (US Nuclear Regulatory PDF, p12)
In past relicensing hearings–where the public could comment on proposed license extensions on plants already reaching the end of their 40-year design life–objections based on the mounting waste problem and already packed spent fuel pools were waived off by the NRC, which referenced the waste confidence decision as the basis of its rationale. Yet, when discussing the parameters of the process for the latest, court-ordered revision to the NWCD, Dr. Keith McConnell, Director of the Waste Confidence Directorate, asserted that waste confidence was not connected to the site-specific licensed life of operations (PDF p42), but only to a period defined as “Post-Licensed Life Storage” (which appears, if a chart in the directorate’s presentation (PDF p12) is to be taken literally, to extend from 60 years after the initial creation of waste, to 120 years–at which point a phase labeled “Disposal” begins). Issues of spent fuel pool and dry cask safety are the concerns of a specific plant’s relicensing process, said regulators in the latest hearings.
“It’s like dealing with the Mad Hatter,” commented Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist for industry watchdog Beyond Nuclear. “Jam yesterday, jam tomorrow, but never jam today.”
The edict originated with the White Queen in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, but it is all too appropriate–and no less maddening–when trying to motivate meaningful change at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC has used the nuclear waste confidence decision in licensing inquiries, but in these latest scoping hearings, we are told the NWCD does not apply to on-site waste storage. The Appeals Court criticized the lack of site-specificity in the waste storage rules, but the directorate says they are now only working on a generic guideline. The court disapproved of the NRC’s continued relicensing of nuclear facilities based on the assumption of a long-term geologic repository that in reality did not exist–and the NRC said it was suspending licensing pending a new rule–but now regulators say they don’t anticipate the denial or even the delay of any reactor license application while they await the new waste confidence decision (PDF pp49-50).
In fact, the NRC has continued the review process on pending applications, even though there is now no working NWCD–something deemed essential by the courts–against which to evaluate new licenses.
The period for public comment on the scope of the waste confidence decision ended January 2, and no more scoping hearings are planned. There will be other periods for civic involvement–during the environmental impact survey and rulemaking phases–but, with each step, the areas open to input diminish. And the current schedule has the entire process greatly accelerated over previous revisions.
On January 3, a coalition of 24 grassroots environmental groups filed documents with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (PDF) protesting “the ‘hurry up’ two-year timeframe” for this assessment, noting the time allotted for environmental review falls far short of the 2019 estimate set by the NRC’s own technical staff. The coalition observed that two years was also not enough time to integrate post-Fukushima recommendations, and that the NRC was narrowing the scope of the decision–ignoring specific instructions from the Appeals Court–in order to accelerate the drafting of a new waste storage rule.
Speed might seem a valuable asset if the NRC were shepherding a Manhattan Project-style push for a solution to the ever-growing waste problem–the one that began with the original Manhattan Project–but that is not what is at work here. Instead, the NRC, under court order, is trying to set the rules for determining the risk of all that high-level radioactive waste if there is no new, feasible solution. The NRC is looking for a way to permit the continued operation of the US nuclear fleet–and so the continued manufacture of nuclear waste–without an answer to the bigger, pressing question.
A plan called HOSS
While there is much to debate about what a true permanent solution to the nuclear waste problem might look like, there is little question that the status quo is unacceptable. Spent fuel pools were never intended to be used as they are now used–re-racked and densely packed with over a generation of fuel assemblies. Both the short- and long-term safety and security of the pools has now been questioned by the courts and laid bare by reality. Pools at numerous US facilities have leaked radioactive waste (PDF) into rivers, groundwater and soil. Sudden “drain downs” have come perilously close to triggering major accidents in plants shockingly close to major population centers. Recent hurricanes have knocked out power to cooling systems and flooded backup generators, and last fall’s superstorm came within inches of overwhelming the coolant intake structure at Oyster Creek in New Jersey.
The crisis at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi facility was so dangerous and remains dangerous to this day in part because of the large amounts of spent fuel stored in pools next to the reactors but outside of containment–a design identical to 35 US nuclear reactors. A number of these GE Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactors–such as Oyster Creek and Vermont Yankee–have more spent fuel packed into their individual pools than all the waste in Fukushima Daiichi Units 1, 2, 3, and 4 combined.
Dry casks, the obvious next “less-bad” option for high-level radioactive waste, were also not supposed to be a permanent panacea. The design requirements and manufacturing regulations of casks–especially the earliest generations–do not guarantee their reliability anywhere near the 100 to 300 years now being casually tossed around by NRC officials. Some of the nation’s older dry casks (which in this case means 15 to 25 years) have already shown seal failures and structural wear (PDF). Yet, the government does not require direct monitoring of casks for excessive heat or radioactive leaks–only periodic “walkthroughs.”
Add in the reluctance of plant operators to spend money on dry cask transfer and the lack of any workable plan to quickly remove radioactive fuel from failed casks, and dry cask storage also appears to fail to attain any court-ordered level of confidence.
Interim plans, such as regional consolidated above-ground storage, remain just that–plans. There are no sites selected and no designs for such a facility up for public scrutiny. What is readily apparent, though, is that the frequent transport of nuclear waste increases the risk of nuclear accidents. There does not, as of now, exist a transfer container that is wholly leak proof, accident proof, and impervious to terrorist attack. Moving high-level radioactive waste across the nation’s highways, rail lines and waterways has raised fears of “Mobile Chernobyls” and “Floating Fukushimas.”
More troubling still, if past (and present) is prologue, is the tendency of options designed as “interim” to morph into a default “permanent.” Can the nation afford to kick the can once more, spending tens (if not hundreds) of millions of dollars on a “solution” that will only add a collection of new challenges to the existing roster of problems? What will the interim facilities become beyond the next problem, the next site for costly mountains of poorly stored, dangerous waste?
Hardened: The more robust HOSS option as proposed in 2003. (From “Robust Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel: A Neglected Issue of Homeland Security” courtesy of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service)
If there is an interim option favored by many nuclear experts, engineers and environmentalists (PDF), it is something called HOSS–Hardened On-Site Storage (PDF). HOSS is a version of dry cask storage that is designed and manufactured to last longer, is better protected against leaks and better shielded from potential attacks. Proposals (PDF) involve steel, concrete and earthen barriers incorporating proper ventilation and direct monitoring for heat and radiation.
But not all reactor sites are good candidates for HOSS. Some are too close to rivers that regularly flood, some are vulnerable to the rising seas and increasingly severe storms brought on by climate change, and others are close to active geologic fault zones. For facilities where hardened on-site storage would be an option, nuclear operators will no doubt fight the requirements because of the increased costs above and beyond the price of standard dry cask storage, which most plant owners already try to avoid or delay.
The first rule of holes
Mixed messages: A simple stone marker in Red Gate Woods, just outside Chicago, tries to both warn and reassure visitors to this public park. (Photo: Kevin Kamps, Beyond Nuclear. Used by permission.)
In a wooded park just outside Chicago sits a dirt mound, near a bike path, that contains parts of the still-highly radioactive remains of CP-1, the world’s first atomic pile. Seven decades after that nuclear fuel was first buried, many health experts would not recommend that spot (PDF) for a long, languorous picnic, nor would they recommend drinking from nearby water fountains. To look at it in terms Arthur Compton might favor, when it comes to the products of nuclear chain reactions, the natives are restless. . . and will remain so for millennia to come.
One can perhaps forgive those working in the pressure cooker of the Manhattan Project and in the middle of a world war for ignoring the forest for the trees–for not considering waste disposal while pursuing a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. Perhaps. But, as the burial mound in Red Gate Woods reminds us, ignoring a problem does not make it go away.
And if that small pile, or the mountains of spent fuel precariously stored around the nation are not enough of a prompt, the roughly $960 million that the federal government has had to pay private nuclear operators should be. For every year that the Department of Energy does not provide a permanent waste repository–or at least some option that takes the burden of storing spent nuclear fuel off the hands (and off the books) of power companies–the government is obligated to reimburse the industry for the costs of onsite waste storage. By 2020, it is estimated that $11 billion in public money will have been transferred into the pockets of private nuclear companies. By law, these payments cannot be drawn from the ratepayer-fed fund that is earmarked for a permanent geologic repository, and so, these liabilities must be paid out of the federal budget. Legal fees for defending the DoE against these claims will add another 20 to 30 percent to settlement costs.
The Federal Appeals Court, too, has sent a clear message that the buck needs to stop somewhere at some point–and that such a time and place should be both explicit and realistic. The nuclear waste confidence scoping process, however, is already giving the impression that the NRC’s next move will be generic and improbable.
The late, great Texas journalist Molly Ivins once remarked, “The first rule of holes” is “when you’re in one, stop digging.” For high-level radioactive waste, that hole is now a mountain, over 70 years in the making and over 70,000 tons high. If the history of the atomic age is not evidence enough, the implications of the waste confidence decision process put the current crisis in stark relief. There is, right now, no good option for dealing with the nuclear detritus currently on hand, and there is not even a plan to develop a good option in the near future. Without a way to safely store the mountain of waste already created, under what rationale can a responsible government permit the manufacture of so much more?
The federal government spends billions to perpetuate and protect the nuclear industry–and plans to spend billions more to expand the number of commercial reactors. Dozens of facilities already are past, or are fast approaching, the end of their design lives, but the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has yet to reject any request for an operating license extension–and it is poised to approve many more, nuclear waste confidence decision not withstanding. Plant operators continue to balk at any additional regulations that would require better waste management.
The lesson of the first 70 years of fission is that we cannot endure more of the same. The government–from the DoE to the NRC–should reorient its priorities from creating more nuclear waste to safely and securely containing what is now here. Money slated for subsidizing current reactors and building new ones would be better spent on shuttering aging plants, designing better storage options for their waste, modernizing the electrical grid, and developing sustainable energy alternatives. (And reducing demand through conservation programs should always be part of the conversation.)
Enrico Fermi might not have foreseen (or cared about) the mountain of waste that began with his first atomic pile, but current scientists, regulators and elected officials have the benefit of hindsight. If the first rule of holes says stop digging, then the dictum here should be that when you’re trying to summit a mountain, you don’t keep shoveling more garbage on top.
A version of this story previously appeared on Truthout; no version may be reprinted without permission.
Posted in Energy | Tagged 112th Congress, Allison Macfarlane, AP1000, Arthur Compton, Atomic Bomb, Atomic Energy Commission, atomic pile, Atoms for Peace, Beyond Nuclear, Blue Ribbon Commission, boiling water reactor, Chicago Pile 1, CP-1, Crystal River, Department of Energy, DoE, dry cask, Dwight Eisenhower, earthquake, Enrico Fermi, first rule of holes, fission, Floating Fukushimas, Ft. Calhoun, Fukushima, Fukushima Daiichi, GE Mark 1, geologic repository, Gregory Jaczko, hardened on-site storage, Harry Reid, high-level radioactive waste, HOSS, Hurricane Sandy, interim consolidated storage, intermediate storage, James Conant, Jeff Bingaman, Jimmy Carter, Keith McConnell, Kevin Kamps, Kewaunee, Manhattan Project, Mobile Chernobyls, Molly Ivins, MOX, North Anna, NRC, nuclear, Nuclear Power, nuclear reactor, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, nuclear waste, Nuclear Waste Policy Act, NWPA, Oyster Creek, Palisades, Paul Michalak, plutonium, proliferation, Red Gate Woods, reprocessing, San Onofre, Shippingport, spent fuel pool, Superstorm, Tohoku, tsunami, University of Chicago, uranium, US Court of Appeals, Vermont Yankee, waste confidence decision, waste confidence directorate, waste storage, watchdog, WWII, Yucca Mountain
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BraveWords Exclusive: AMARANTHE Vocalist JAKE E. Makes Departure Official – “I Can’t Stand On Stage Not Believing In What I’m Doing”
Since the October 2016 release of Amaranthe’s fourth album, Maximalism, vocalist and co-founder Jake E. has been conspicuous in his absence from the touring trail and in the press. The band’s triple vocalist attack remained intact for the band’s 2016 European tour, however, thanks to Smash Into Pieces singer Chris Adams, who had stepped in for Jake on previous tours when he was honouring other commitments. In November 2016, Jake issued a statement hinting that he had run out of steam, announcing that he was taking a break from the band for an unknown amount of time. In an exclusive interview with BraveWords, Jake makes his departure from Amaranthe official and final. Read on…
“Me and Olof (Mörck / guitars) started the band seven or eight years ago, and everything took off in a way we couldn’t have imagined,” Jake begins. “Amaranthe became a huge success and we toured the world, and we had a lot of fun doing that. The first two albums (self-titled debut and The Nexus) were exactly what I wanted the band to sound like; a mix between those Soilwork-like guitars and melodic Bon Jovi-type vocals combined with a female voice. Different elements combined, but the main thing in the music was the metal base. On the Massive Addictive album it started to change into something else that I didn’t really control, and you can hear the songs that I was more involved in working on are very metal. When we started working on the Maximalism album I found that it wasn’t the Amaranthe I had helped create at the start. It wasn’t my vision at all and I realized that I had to be true to myself. That was back in March 2016. I love to tour, I love the fans, but I felt that if I wasn’t true to myself.”
“My idea from the beginning is that we were supposed to be six people in a band striving for the same goal. Nobody had ever seen three singers in a metal band in that formation before, and that was my whole selling point for Amaranthe. We should be marketed as a band with three singers and it worked on the first two albums, but I felt that my place both on the albums and live was reduced; I felt like I was superfluous.”
Posted on February 8, 2017 Author carlCategories On The InsideTags Amaranthe, BraveWords, Elize Ryd, Jake E, Massive Addictive, Olof Mörck, The Nexus
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Haunted New Brunswick Database
Haunted Prince Edward Island Database
New Brunswick Paranormal
Northumberland Strait Paranormal
Prince Edward Island Paranormal
Phantom Ship of Northumberland Strait – Haunted Nova Scotia Database
Phantom ship of Northumberland Strait, Nova Scotia, Canada. A report about the infamous Phantom Ship of the Northumberland Strait seen in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick.
Location: Northumberland Strait, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Type: three-masted ship
NOTE: Michelle McKay, the founder of Cold Spot Paranormal Research, has a special interest in this ghost ship. Her grandmother saw it in Nova Scotia, she will add her testimony to this page shortly.
This phantom ship has been a very popular sighting along the Northumberland Strait ever since 1786. The Northumberland Strait flows through Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick.
Descriptions of the ghost ship vary, but most agree that the ship is a three-masted square rigger with “burning flames leaping from the mast”.
The ship has also been sighted during the winter when the Strait is completely frozen over.
Some believe that Jean Pierre de Roma watched the burning ship from Brudenell Point and that he concluded that it was indeed a ghost ship and that the ship most likely belonged to pirates at one time…
Although nobody knows for certain who the ship belonged to or which ship it was, some say it belonged to an English Admiral. After looting the Roma settlement, he ordered his crew to take the prettiest girl they could find. Once they captured the girl and destroyed the settlement, the crew moved to the outskirts of Georgetown and anchored the vessel at Boughton Island. Supposedly, the Admiral attempted to seduce the frightened young women, and a struggle ensued. A lamp was knocked over spilling oil on the floor causing a huge fire. The crew cut the ship away from the other two ships it was tied up beside. Eventually, the ship floated away and sank off the coast of Pictou Island and the image of the burning ship is that of the English warship.
Also see the Chaleur Bay ghost ship in New Brunswick which might be the same ship.
UPDATE RECEIVED DEC 28, 2017 FROM JOSHUA:
“It was October of 2005. I was almost 15 years old.
We had a family vacation in PEI coming up and were staying in Pictou, Nova Scotia before boarding the ferry. I vividly recall the moon rising over the calm waters of the Northumberland Strait. It was about 10 to 11 at night.
I was outside taking in the chilly, fresh sea air cutting through the winds when I noticed something in the distance. I’ve always loved ships since I was a young boy and have been fascinated in the sinkings of World War I and II ships, as well as the Olympic Class Sisters, The Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic.
I saw a beautiful three-masted schooner coming in, as one would put “hot” or fast, for those who don’t know what that means. I ran back in to get my grandfather’s binoculars. He came out with me and I pointed out the ship in the distance; the unfurled sails taking in the winds, though there was nary a breeze blowing.
I peered through the binoculars, watching helplessly as the ship suddenly caught ablaze. My grandfather, who stood in awe, watched with me. He knew what it was; the stories he had heard while he was serving in the Royal Canadian Navy.
Time seemed to slow down as some others in the hotel we were staying at witnessed it. Some believed they were dreaming, others didn’t know what to make of it. Some called Emergency services to report a ship on fire in the Strait.
Before we knew it, 45 minutes had passed and she went down by the head, vanishing from sight without a trace. I vividly remember the winds suddenly picking up, blowing hard across the land and sea.
It’s been 12 years now and this is the first time I’ve opened up about it. After confirming from multiple friends who lived there that they too have seen it. I dismissed it as a dream for a long time but always heard whispers on the winds about it from mariners here in Halifax.
I’ve always had a paranormal sense. I’ve seen ghosts across the fields of Flanders, the old battlefields of World War I and II, in houses abandoned, and of family and friends in my own.
But the fact I witnessed the legendary ghost ship of the Northumberland strait still baffles me to this day.”
If you have seen this ghost ship, or any ghost ship in Canada, please tell us about it here
Tags: Haunted Ships and Ghost Ships
Previous Scarborough Ghosts: Never Could I Return To That House
Next The Chaleur Phantom Ghost Ship – Haunted New Brunswick Database
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California Employment Lawyer Links
Tag Archives: Jeffrey P. Ames
Arbitration, Handbook, Mutuality
Second District Orders Published Serpa v. California Surety Investigations, Inc.
Old crest of the club. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today, the Second District ordered published Serpa v. California Surety Investigations, Inc., et al., No. B237363, __ Cal. App. 4th __ (filed Mar. 21, 2013, modified Apr. 19, 2013). At the trial court level, the court denied defendants’ motion to compel arbitration, finding the agreement to arbitrate lacked mutuality. Defendants argued that the requisite mutuality was provided by the bilateral arbitration provisions in the employee handbook, incorporated by reference into the arbitration agreement. The trial court rejected this argument because defendant could change the handbook at its sole discretion and without notice. The Second District reversed.
The motion to compel arbitration was based on three documents: (1) “Acknowledgment of Receipt of Arbitration and Agreement to Arbitrate”; (2) “Acknowledgment of Receipt of Employee Handbook”; and (3) a copy of the employee handbook. Plaintiff contended the agreement to arbitrate is one-sided because it requires her to submit claims against her employer to arbitration but does not require her employer to arbitrate its claims against her: “I understand and agree that if my employment is terminated or my employment status is otherwise changed or any other dispute arises concerning my employment . . . , I will submit any such dispute exclusively to binding arbitration.”
The Court of Appeal agreed that if “that the full extent of the agreement, we would likely agree it lacked mutuality because it requires Serpa to submit to arbitration ‘any such disputes’ involving her employment without imposing a similar obligation on CSI.”
However, because the agreement incorporated the arbitration policy in the employee handbook, the Court concluded that this “salvages the agreement by establishing an unmistakable mutual obligation on the part of CSI and Serpa to arbitrate ‘any dispute’ arising out of her employment.” Plaintiff argued that the while the arbitration policy in the handbook establishes a bilateral obligation to arbitrate, she insisted that the mutual obligation is illusory because, the employer is authorized to alter the terms of any policy contained in the handbook at its sole discretion and without notice. The Court disagreed, reasoning that the right to alter the terms was limited by the covenant of good faith and fair dealing implied in every contract.
The implied covenant of good faith prevents one contracting party from “unfairly frustrating the other party‟s right to receive the benefits of the agreement actually made.” (Guz v. Bechtel National, Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 317, 349; accord, American Express Bank, FSB v. Kayatta (2010) 190 Cal.App.4th 563, 570.) Thus, it has long been the rule that a provision in an agreement permitting one party to modify contract terms does not, standing alone, render a contract illusory because the party with that authority may not change the agreement in such a manner as to frustrate the purpose of the contract. (See Perdue v. Crocker National Bank (1985) 38 Cal.3d 913, 923 [“„where a contract confers on one party a discretionary power affecting the rights of the other, a duty is imposed to exercise that discretion in good faith and in accordance with fair dealing‟”]; see generally Asmus v. Pacific Bell (2000) 23 Cal.4th 1, 16 [employer‟s right to unilaterally modify employment agreement does not make agreement illusory]; Badie v. Bank of America (1998) 67 Cal.App.4th 779, 787-788 [contracting party with unilateral right to modify contract does not have “carte blanche to make any kind of change whatsoever”; unilateral right to modify, when limited by the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, requires the party holding the power to affect the other party‟s rights to exercise it in a manner consistent with the reasonable contemplation of the parties at the time of the contract].) Application of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is no different in the arbitration context. In 24 Hour Fitness, Inc. v. Superior Court (1998) 66 Cal.App.4th 1199 (24 Hour Fitness), a former employee brought an action against the company, doing business as 24 Hour Nautilus, for sexual harassment and related torts. The employer moved to compel arbitration based on an arbitration policy in its employee handbook, which also contained a provision allowing the company to amend the handbook at its sole discretion. The 24 Hour Fitness court rejected the plaintiff‟s contention the unilateral right-to-amend provision made the arbitration agreement illusory and thus unconscionable. Observing the parties to an arbitration agreement, like any contract, are bound by the contract‟s implied covenant of good faith, the court explained, “Nautilus‟s discretionary power to modify the terms of the personnel handbook on [written] notice indisputably carries with it the duty to exercise that right fairly and in good faith. [Citation.] So construed, the modification provision does not render the contract illusory.” (Id. at p. 1214.)
Judges & Attorneys
Presiding Justice Perluss delivered the opinion for the court, with Associate Justices Woods and Jackson concurring.
Appeal from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Judge Ruth Ann Kwan.
Paul, Plevin, Sullivan & Connaughton, Fred M. Plevin, Jeffrey P. Ames and Matthew R. Jedreski for Defendants and Appellants, California Surety Investigations, Inc., Two Jinn, Inc., Aladdin Bail Bonds and Peter Holdsworth.
Stevens, Carlberg & McMillan and Daniel P. Stevens for Plaintiff and Respondent Valerie Serpa.
By CHARLES H. JUNG
Tagged Arbitration, California, Contract, Court of Appeal, Crocker National Bank, Daniel P. Stevens, Employee handbook, Fred M. Plevin, Jeffrey P. Ames, Los Angeles County Superior Court, Matthew R. Jedreski, Mutuality, Paul, Plevin, Presiding Justice Perluss, Second District, Serpa v. California Surety Investigations, Sullivan & Connaughton, Trial court
Archives Select Month July 2014 (1) March 2014 (1) June 2013 (3) May 2013 (5) April 2013 (10) March 2013 (6) February 2012 (6) August 2011 (1) February 2011 (2) January 2011 (98)
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Comedian Jerry Seinfeld returns to celebrate another anniversary of Owen Hart Foundation
Marking its 20th anniversary, the Owen Hart Foundation is bringing back Jerry Seinfeld for two shows in October.
The comedian will perform at the Southern Alberta Jubilee on Oct. 18 at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., helping the foundation mark two decades of humanitarian service. It’s a return trip for Seinfeld as he performed in 2009 for the foundation’s 10th anniversary.
“True to our tradition of presenting outstanding artists to the Calgary area, The Owen Hart Foundation is exceptionally ecstatic to be hosting the one and only Jerry Seinfeld for our 20th anniversary. To date, Jerry Seinfeld is the only repeat entertainer the OHF has ever presented,” said founder Martha Hart. “In short, we feel tremendously honoured to host such a talented, formidable, and iconic performer again!”
Following his nine-year run with his eponymous hit sitcom, Seinfeld wrote and produced movies, books and a Broadway show. His latest project is the Emmy-nominated web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee which has garnered over 100 million views. Most recently, Seinfeld has been performing at the Beacon Theatre as part of a year-long residency, “Jerry Seinfeld: The Homestand.”
The October event will once again feature a celebrity online auction with $50,000 in prizes. Some of the items to bid on include a luxury Tofino vacation, VIP tickets to Jerry Seinfeld, NFL Colorado Broncos versus Cleveland Browns Tickets, Flames and Roughnecks tickets, WestJet vouchers, a catering package, and sports memorabilia.
The Owen Hart Foundation’s annual event helps raise funds for education, affordable housing and foreign aid for vulnerable individuals.
Tickets for the event go on sale June 14 at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster.
Blackstone creator Ron E. Scott filming First Nations crime drama Tribal... Banff World Media Festival: Delegates get ready for the 'Olympics of...
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July 10, 2019 Business
Phnom Penh Population Projected to Reach 2.4 Million by 2030
The total population of Phnom Pen, the capital city of Cambodia, would increase to some 2.4 million by 2030, according to a message of Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen on the World Population Day (July 11).
The Phnom Penh's population grew remarkably from 570,000 in 1998 to 1.6 million in 2013, the Premier pointed out.
The Royal Government of Cambodia and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will observe the World Population Day at the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Centre (CJCC), Royal University of Phnom Penh tomorrow.
This event, which is a celebration and call to action to complete the unfinished business by 2030, will feature a photo exhibit, traditional dance and speakers to celebrate some of the achievements of the past 25 years possible.
Samdech Kralahom Sar Kheng, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H.E. Chhay Than, Senior Minister and Minister of Planning, and Ms. Rizvina de Alwis, UNFPA Representative in Cambodia are expected to join this forthcoming celebration.
For 25 years, the Royal Government of Cambodia and UNFPA have worked closely to ensure the reproductive rights and choices of women and young people are respected and addressed, as part of the effort in the implementation of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action.
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McDowell News
Ethan Happ D'Mitrik Trice Jordan Murphy Daniel Oturu Brad Davison Khalil Iverson Amir Coffey Nate Reuvers Gabe Kalscheur Sports Men's college basketball College basketball Basketball College sports Men's basketball Men's sports
Wisconsin Big Ten Minnesota
No. 19 Wisconsin holds off Minnesota 56-51; 6th win in a row
By DAVE CAMPBELL - Feb. 07, 2019 12:49 AM EST
Minnesota guard Dupree McBrayer (1) shoots next to Wisconsin forward Ethan Happ (22) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, in Minneapolis. Wisconsin won 56-51. (AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Ethan Happ and the Wisconsin Badgers brought momentum with them on this trip to Minnesota — and a bad memory, too.
That month-ago loss to the Gophers was avenged with another vintage defensive effort.
Happ had 15 points and 13 rebounds to help No. 19 Wisconsin hang on to beat Minnesota 56-51 on Wednesday, the sixth straight win for the Badgers.
"Gritty group that I've got," coach Greg Gard said.
D'Mitrik Trice hit a 3-pointer with 1:44 remaining and 3 seconds left on the shot clock to give Wisconsin (17-6, 9-3 Big Ten) a 52-46 lead and seal a fourth consecutive victory on rival Minnesota's home court. Gophers coach Richard Pitino fell to 2-9 in his career against the Badgers, despite his team holding Wisconsin to a season-low 34.5 field goal percentage (19 for 55).
"Offense ebbs and flows. There's going to be nights when things really click. There's going to be grinders like tonight," Gard said.
Jordan Murphy (16 points, 19 rebounds) and Daniel Oturu (12 points, 11 rebounds) each had a double-double, but Minnesota (16-7, 6-6) missed 12 of 13 attempts from 3-point range, including three in the final 76 seconds.
"I thought we got some good looks," Pitino said. "We just couldn't hit them. So credit to them."
The 59-52 loss at home to Minnesota on Jan. 3 was made possible by three turnovers and two missed free throws by Wisconsin in the final two minutes of the game that marked a low point in the season for Wisconsin, on the heels of an 83-76 loss at Western Kentucky .
But now the Badgers are back in a groove. Brad Davison had 10 points despite a 2-for-12 shooting performance, and his fellow Minnesota native Nate Reuvers pitched in nine points, eight rebounds and seven blocks.
"They played their heart out tonight," Reuvers said, complimenting his home-state team. "It was just an old-school Big Ten game, and we came out on top."
Gabe Kalscheur's 3-pointer was the first make for the Gophers, but they didn't get any long-range shots to fall over the rest of this rough-and-tumble game and thus never led. The Badgers weren't called for a foul until 1:10 into the second half, much to the consternation of the Williams Arena crowd.
The Gophers didn't get to the free-throw line until Murphy's three-point play with 9:11 remaining capped a 7-0 spurt and cut the lead to 37-34, but they were only within one possession three more times over the rest of the game. Trice made them pay when he made his big shot, stretching his arms out wide and pointing to his forearm as if to signal a dose of ice water in his veins.
"They definitely gave me all I could handle on the physicality side," Murphy said. "Very talented team as well."
WELL-PREPARED
Minnesota's leading scorer Amir Coffey had 21 points and six rebounds in the first matchup at Wisconsin, but with Khalil Iverson leading a team effort, the Badgers kept the junior point guard bottled up with just eight points on 3-for-10 shooting. Assistant coach Joe Krabbenhoft, who finished his playing career for the Badgers a decade ago, tried to emulate Coffey on the scout team in practice.
"We were ready for what they wanted to get," Happ said. "We just tried to take that away."
The Badgers missed a whopping 13 of 18 shots at the rim in the first half, including Oturu stuffing Reuvers on back-to-back shots on the same possession early in the game. Kalscheur stole the ball from Reuvers on the wing and took it the other way for a layup to forge a 19-all tie a little later, but the Gophers made only one basket over the final five minutes of the half and trailed 24-21 at the break. The ugly first 20 minutes fittingly ended with an air-balled 3-point attempt by Davison at the buzzer.
"Offense is hard because defenses are geared and we know each other so well," Gard said. "We could probably tell you more about the opponent than we can ourselves sometimes. So you just find a way."
Wisconsin: With eight games remaining, the Badgers have climbed into position as a legitimate contender for the regular-season conference title with some recent slip-ups by Michigan and Michigan State. They're tied with the Spartans for third place but just one game behind the Wolverines for first. The most valuable development from this performance was the ability to win a Big Ten game on a rival's home court despite such a rough shooting night.
Minnesota: The Gophers are last in the league in 3-point shooting at 30.4 percent, and their trouble from long range surfaced again at the wrong time. McBrayer, who was 1 for 9 from the floor, missed all four of his attempts from behind the arc. Kalscheur made one of five.
"I've just got to keep shooting," he said.
Wisconsin: Travels to face No. 7 Michigan, after winning the first matchup 64-54 on Jan. 19.
Minnesota: Plays at No. 9 Michigan State, which has lost three straight games.
More AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Spartan & WNBA Star Aerial Powers Named to 2016 USA Basketball Select Team
byKara Fisher
Photo Credit: Matthew Mitchell / MSU Athletic Communications
Powers will represent the United States for the second time.
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Former Michigan State All-American Aerial Powers was named to the USA Basketball Women’s Select Team. She is one of 11 members chosen to the team along with former Big Ten rival Kahleah Copper.
The USA Select Team, comprised of young USA National Team members and future USA National Team hopefuls, will train alongside the 2016 USA Women’s National Team July 23-24 in Los Angeles, California before tipping-off the USA Basketball Showcase presented by Verizon in an exhibition game July 25 at the University of Southern California’s Galen Center.
“This is a really good group of young and talented athletes,” said USA and Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma, who has directed the USA National Team to an overall 23-0 record and gold medals at the 2012 Olympic Games and the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Championships. “Having them train against our USA National Team will not only help us prepare for Rio, but it will also give us a chance to evaluate them for future USA Basketball teams. I’ve already had the opportunity to work with several of them in a USA Basketball National Team setting, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them as well as the rest of the USA Select Team in this kind of setting.”
Powers, who currently plays for the Dallas Wings, is joined on the team with her Wings teammate Odyssey Sims. In her rookie season with Dallas, Powers has played in all 21 games, including making her first start on July 9. She is averaging 10.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in the WNBA.
The Detroit, Michigan, native has experience with USA Basketball, earning a gold medal in the World University games in South Korea last July. Powers also led the team in scoring for the tournament with 18.0 points per game on 51.4 percent shooting from the floor. She averaged 6.0 rebounds per game in six games. The United States finished with a perfect 6-0 record after going 3-0 in the group stage and sweeping through the medal round.
Powers had a record-setting season in 2015-16, becoming the MSU career scoring leader with 1,817 career points, passing Liz Shimek’s 1,780 points from 2002-06. Powers also passed her own single-season scoring record with 697 points in a season, topping her 678 points last year.
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Home/Departments/Academic Departments/Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences/Our Department/Media Center/Eye Facts/Uveitis
Uveitisaodunsi2018-03-21T15:38:35-05:00
(Espanol-click)
Uveitis refers to a group of inflammatory conditions that occur in the eye. Often uveitis reflects diseases that are developing elsewhere in the body. Sometimes uveitis is the first evidence of disease in the body. In most cases, the cause of uveitis is unknown.
Inflammation vs. Infection
The symptoms of inflammation are swelling, redness, and dilated blood vessels. Infection occurs when a germ is growing in tissue. Not all inflammation indicates an infection. Inflamed joints in arthritis are seldom infected. Scraped skin is inflamed but not infected. Infection (germs-bacteria and viruses) can also cause inflammation. In uveitis, inflammation can be due to an infection or due to non-infective causes.
The symptoms of acute uveitis are frequent pain, red eyes, and light sensitivity (photophobia). In chronic uveitis, patients complain of dull aches and/or blurring of vision.
Since many kinds of uveitis have no known cause, they are treated nonspecifically with corticosteroids (cortisone) to suppress inflammation and to prevent structural damage to the eye. Corticosteroids may be addressed in the form of eyedrops, ointments, injections next to the eye, or pills. Corticosteroids in the pill form (prednisone) can have serious side effects. As a result, Ophthalmologists treat most cases of uveitis with eyedrops or injections of corticosteroids next to the eye. Even “local” corticosteroids have side effects, including cataracts, glaucoma, and the loss of ability to fight infections around the eye caused by bacteria, fungi, or viruses. Any patient on corticosteroids must be carefully monitored for side effects by an Ophthalmologist.
Common Types of Uveitis
Acute iritis (inflammation of the iris) affects young adults. It begins abruptly with symptoms of pain, redness, and photophobia (light sensitivity). Often, patients have a genetic tendency to acute iritis, and other family members may have had iritis. This genetic tendency often predisposes patients to other diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis (arthritis of the lower back), inflammatory bowel disease (colitis), and psoriasis (scaling skin disease).
By and large, attacks of uveitis last for two to six weeks and usually occur only in one eye. Some patients have only one or two attacks in a lifetime, and others have multiple episodes. Acute iritis is usually treated with eyedrops but occasionally pills or injections are necessary.
Chronic iridocyclitis affects the iris and ciliary body (glandlike structure) behind the iris. Chronic iridocyclitis often displays few symptoms but can severely damage the eye. This is especially true in children who have juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. In these children, especially in girls aged 2 to 6 years, this is a potentially blinding condition. Many of these children do not complain about problems with their sight. Therefore, it is important for pediatricians to refer all children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis to an Ophthalmologist for evaluation. Since chronic iridocyclitis may start years after the juvenile rheumatoid arthritis began, children with this form of arthritis should have periodic checkups into their teenage years.
Pars planitis tends to occur in teenagers and young adults. The cause is unknown, and pars planitis is not associated with any systemic disease (disease of the whole body). The frequent symptoms are those of blurred vision or floaters (spots before the eyes). Most patients with pars planitis have a promising outcome after treatment. However, a few patients have severe visual problems.
Toxoplasmic retinitis is an infection of the retina caused by a protozoan parasite. Over 30% of the American population is exposed to this parasite. If a pregnant woman is infected, her infant is at risk of eye disease and even mental retardation. Besides acquiring this parasite at birth, people can also be infected by eating raw or undercooked meat or by handling cat feces.
Infection of the retina by toxoplasmosis can be blinding. In most cases, antibiotics can control the infection and suppress the inflammation. However, the infection is rarely cured and can be reactivated. The Uveitis Clinic at the University of Illinois was the first to use “quadruple antibiotic therapy” to treat toxoplasmosis. Due to the success of this therapy, many other centers now use it to treat this difficult infection.
Sarcoidosis is an inflammation of unknown cause. It can affect any part of the body but is most commonly found in the lungs, skin, and eyes. In the eyes, it can cause iritis or chorioretinitis (disease of the retina and choroid). Usually the symptoms are decreased vision and mild discomfort around the eyes. Most cases of sarcoidosis of the eye are treated with corticosteroids.
A final type of uveitis is viral retinitis. Herpes viruses, (including CMV, cytomegalovirus), which are normally kept at bay by the patient’s immune defenses, can, at times, destroy the retina. People whose immunity has been weakened due to diseases such as cancer or AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) or from chemotherapy are at greater risk than others for this type of infection. Until recently if the immunity of these patients could not be restored, there was little that could be done to prevent damage to their eyes. Fortunately, new antibiotics have been developed that seem to work well against these viruses.
“Eye Facts” is an informational series and should not be used as a substitute for medical advice. For eye appointments, call (312) 996-6591. All Eye Facts illustrations and images are copyright protected and are the property of the UIC Board of Trustees. Unauthorized use of the images is prohibited. For usage of any Eye Facts content or illustrations please contact the Office of Medical Illustration at eyeweb@uic.edu or 312-996-5309 for licensing.
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Tag: Thom Tillis
Six Things about Pre-Existing Conditions Republican “Leaders” Still Don’t Get
“If at first you don’t succeed, go ahead and quit.” That might be the takeaway from excerpts of a conference call held earlier this month by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and published in the Washington Post.
McCarthy claimed that Republicans’ “repeal and replace” legislation last Congress “put [the] pre-existing condition campaign against us, and so even people who are [sic] running for the very first time got attacked on that. And that was the defining issue and the most important issue in the [midterm election] race.” He added: “If you’ll notice, we haven’t done anything when it comes to repealing Obamacare this time.”
While entirely predictable, McCarthy’s comments make little sense, on multiple levels. Abject surrender may make Republican “leaders” feel better about themselves, but it won’t solve their fundamental problems.
Problem 1: Pre-Existing Condition Provisions In Context
I first noted this dilemma last summer: Liberals call the pre-existing condition provisions “popular” because their polls only ask about the policy, and not its costs. If you ask Americans whether they would like a “free” car, how many people do you think would turn it down? The same principle applies here.
When polls ask about the trade-offs associated with the pre-existing condition provisions—which a Heritage Foundation study called the largest driver of premium increases under Obamacare—support plummets. Cato surveys in both 2017 and 2018 confirmed this fact. Moreover, a Gallup poll released after the election shows that, by double-digit margins, Americans care more about rising health premiums and costs than about losing coverage due to a pre-existing condition.
The overall polling picture provided an opportunity for Republicans to push back and point out that the pre-existing condition provisions have led to skyrocketing premiums, which priced 2.5 million people out of the insurance marketplace from 2017 to 2018. Instead, most Republicans did nothing.
Problem 2: Republicans’ Awful Legislating
McCarthy’s comments referred to an amendment offered by Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ), who lost his re-election bid in November. The House and Senate bills all suffered from the same general design flaw: They went far enough in repealing Obamacare regulations to prompt political attacks from Democrats, but not far enough for Republicans to tout much tangible benefit for consumers.
The bills’ flaws came from a failure to understand how Obamacare works. The law’s provisions requiring insurers to offer coverage to everyone (guaranteed issue) and price that coverage the same regardless of health status (community rating) make insurers want to avoid covering sick people. Those two provisions necessitate another two requirements, which force insurers to cover certain conditions (essential health benefits) and a certain percentage of expected health costs (actuarial value).
In general, the House and Senate bills either repealed, or allowed states to waive, the latter two regulations, while keeping the former two in place. If Republicans had repealed all of Obamacare’s insurance regulations, they could have generated sizable premium savings—an important metric, and one they could tout to constituents. Instead, they ended up in a political no man’s land, with people upset about losing their pre-existing condition “protections,” and no large premium reductions to offset that outrage.
Looking at this dynamic objectively, it isn’t surprising that McCarthy and his colleagues ended up with a political loser on their hands. The true surprise is why anyone ever thought the legislative strategy made for good politics—or, for that matter, good (or even coherent) policy.
Problem 3: Pre-Existing Conditions Aren’t Going Away
McCarthy evidently believes that endorsing Obamacare’s pre-existing condition provisions will buy House Republicans time and silence from the left. In reality, appeasement will work about as well for Republican “leaders” as it did for a “leader” like Neville Chamberlain.
Within hours after Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced a bill last year maintaining Obamacare’s pre-existing condition provisions—the requirement that all insurers offer coverage at the same rates to all individuals, regardless of health status—liberals weighed in to call it insufficient.
As noted above, Obamacare encourages insurers to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. Repealing only some of the law’s regulations would exacerbate that dynamic, by giving insurers more tools with which to avoid enrolling sick people. Liberals recognize this fact, and will say as much any time Republicans try to modify any of Obamacare’s major insurance regulations.
To put it in more crass political terms: Republicans face the same political dynamic they faced earlier this decade, when any talk of entitlement reform prompted attack ads portraying the party as wanting to throw Grandma off a cliff. As with the “Mediscare” ads, attacking Republicans on pre-existing conditions is now part of the Democratic playbook—so McCarthy and his colleagues had better put on their big boy pants, get used to the attacks, and come up with responses to them, rather than just quivering in a corner and hoping the issue goes away. Because it won’t.
Problem 4: Better Policies Exist
According to the Post, McCarthy said he wants to recruit candidates who would “find a solution at the end of the day.” A good thing that, because better solutions for the problems of pre-existing conditions do exist (I’ve written about several) if McCarthy had ever bothered to look for them.
Their political attacks demonstrate that liberals focus on supporting “insurance” for people once they develop a pre-existing condition. (Those individuals’ coverage by definition really isn’t “insurance.”) By contrast, conservatives should support making coverage more affordable, such that people can buy it before they develop a pre-existing condition—and keep it once they’re diagnosed with one.
Regulations proposed by the Trump administration late last year could help immensely on this front, by allowing employers to subsidize insurance that individuals hold and keep—that is, coverage that remains portable from job to job. Similar solutions, like health status insurance, would also encourage portability of insurance throughout one’s lifetime. Other options, such as direct primary care and high-risk pools, could provide care for people who have already developed pre-existing conditions.
Using a series of targeted alternatives to reduce and then to solve the pre-existing condition problem would prove far preferable than the blunt alternative of one-size-fits-all government regulations that have made coverage unaffordable for millions. However, such a solution would require political will from Republicans—which to date they have unequivocally lacked.
Problem 5: Republicans’ Alternative Is Socialized Medicine
Instead of promoting those better policies, House Republican leaders would like to cave in the most efficient manner possible. During the first day of Congress, they offered a procedural motion that, had it been adopted, would have instructed the relevant committees of jurisdiction to report legislation that:
(1) Guarantees no American citizen can be denied health insurance coverage as the result of a previous illness or health status; and (2) Guarantees no American citizen can be charged higher premiums or cost sharing as the result of a previous illness or health status, thus ensuring affordable health coverage for those with pre-existing conditions.
Guaranteeing that everyone gets charged the same price for health care? I believe that’s called socialism—and socialized medicine.
Their position makes it very ironic that the same Republican committee leaders are pushing for hearings on Democrats’ single-payer legislation. It’s a bit rich to endorse one form of socialism, only to denounce another form as something that will destroy the country. (Of course, Republican leaders will only take that position unless and until a single-payer bill passes, at which point they will likely try to embrace it themselves.)
Problem 6: Health Care Isn’t Going Away As An Issue
The federal debt this month passed $22 trillion, and continues to rise. Most of our long-term government deficits arise from health care—the ongoing retirement of the baby boomers, and our corresponding obligations to Medicare, Medicaid, and now Obamacare.
Any Republican who cares about a strong national defense, or keeping tax rates low—concerns most Republicans embrace—should care about, and take an active interest in, health care and health policy. Given his comments about not repealing, or even talking about, Obamacare, McCarthy apparently does not.
But unsustainable trends are, in the long run, unsustainable. At some point in the not-too-distant future, skyrocketing spending on health care will mean that McCarthy will have to care—as will President Trump, and the Democrats who have gone out of their way to avoid talking about Medicare’s sizable financial woes. Here’s hoping that by that point, McCarthy and Republican leaders will have a more coherent—and conservative—policy than total surrender to the left.
This post was originally published at The Federalist.
Author chrisjacobsPosted on February 18, 2019 March 6, 2019 Categories Coverage, Premiums, Regulations, TaxesTags "Repeal and Replace", Actuarial value, Affordability, Baby Boomers, Community rating, Debt, Entitlement reform, Essential health benefits, Guaranteed issue, Health Reimbursement Arrangements, Kevin McCarthy, Mediscare, Portability, Pre-existing condition tax, Pre-existing conditions, Socialism, The Federalist, Thom Tillis, Tom MacArthur, Washington Post
Senate Republicans’ Attempt to Entrench Obamacare
Earlier this month, I wrote about how when Republicans talk about the “need to govern,” they normally mean the “need to govern like liberals.” Last week, a group of ten Senate Republicans perfectly illustrated that axiom.
The Republicans, led by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), introduced “legislation to protect Americans with pre-existing conditions.” Their bill would codify as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements that insurers accept all applicants, regardless of health, and do not vary premiums based upon health conditions.
Those provisions already exist in law. Congress enacted them in 2010 as part of Obamacare. However, a pending lawsuit could result in federal courts striking down all of the 2010 law. (While I support Congress repealing Obamacare, I have previously outlined my disagreement with the legal reasoning behind the suit.)
Democrats have used the pending lawsuit to mount political attacks on pre-existing conditions. For instance, last week Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) attempted to offer an amendment directing the Senate’s legal counsel to intervene in the lawsuit to defend Obamacare, which some Republicans viewed as a politically difficult vote. Hence Tillis’ bill, which gave the ten Senate Republicans political cover to oppose Manchin’s amendment while still claiming to protect pre-existing conditions.
Although likely a messaging exercise, the Tillis bill sends at least four messages to voters about Republican views on health policy—none of them positive.
Senators Don’t Want to Repeal Obamacare
Last spring, I wrote that Republicans had a choice: They could either retain Obamacare’s pre-existing condition provisions, or they could fulfill their promise to repeal the law. They keep trying to do both, but as a policy matter, they cannot.
Obamacare’s pre-existing condition regulations lie at the heart of the sprawling, 2,700-page law. They serve as the prime driver of premium increases, according to a Heritage Foundation study released in March.
The premium increases caused by those regulations necessitated requirements to purchase coverage, and for businesses to offer coverage, to try and keep healthy people purchasing (more costly) insurance. They necessitated Obamacare’s insurance subsidies—to make coverage “affordable.” And the premium increases caused by the regulations required Obamacare’s taxes and Medicare reductions to finance those federal subsidies.
The pre-existing condition provisions stand as the foundation stone of Obamacare. Conservatives who want a true alternative to the law have other policy options for people with pre-existing conditions than merely retaining Obamacare’s federal regulations. But if Republican senators want to codify that provision elsewhere, then, as a practical matter, they want to retain the law.
Republicans Once Again Oppose Federalism
Among others, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sponsored Tillis’ legislation. Last year, of course, Graham stood as one of the prime co-sponsors of the Graham-Cassidy bill, which sought to devolve most of Obamacare’s health spending to the states via a block grant. Graham’s website retains press releases talking about how he supports a “state-centric” system that would “return power” outside of Washington.
The bill he sponsored with Tillis would do none of those things. In fact, it stands diametrically opposed to the principles Graham outlined. It would retain Obamacare’s costliest insurance requirements at the federal level, such that if states did receive a block grant, they would have to manage their own insurance markets without Washington giving them sufficient authority to do so, likely resulting in a policy mess.
The sharp contrast between Graham’s rhetoric on state-centered solutions, and his actions supporting a Washington-centered health-care system, show that he and his colleagues either do not understand the principles of federalism, or they discard those principles when they find them politically inconvenient.
Effectively Taxes the American People
Multiple analyses have discussed how Obamacare’s high deductibles make coverage feel meaningless to exchange enrollees. As an example, this year I will pay nearly $3,500 for a Bronze Obamacare policy with a $6,200 deductible—a deductible I have little chance of meeting unless I get run over by the proverbial bus, or suffer some other catastrophic incident.
I do have some pre-existing conditions, including mild asthma and a foot condition that required reconstructive surgery some years ago. Between these and the general randomness of life, the risk of a major medical condition that causing me to exceed my deductible remains greater than zero. But I doubt it warrants a $3,500 premium either.
Instead, a significant portion of my $3,500 in premiums this year is designed to fund someone else’s medical condition. That difference between an actuarially fair premium and the $3,500 premium my insurer charged me amounts to a “pre-existing conditions tax.” That tax forcibly redistributes money from the healthy to the sick via government regulations—and, in the case of the nation’s capital, a requirement to purchase insurance.
Lawmakers don’t like talking about this “tax.” Wouldn’t you know it, few liberal organizations have attempted to quantify how much of a “tax” the average healthy person pays in state exchanges, although they’re quick to quantify the individuals with pre-existing conditions “at risk.” But this forcible redistribution of wealth exists nonetheless, and the Republican lawmakers just endorsed it.
Liberals Always Find Republican Concessions Insufficient
Hours after Tillis introduced his bill, liberal analysts already had outlined reasons to call it insufficient. According to them, the Tillis legislation would prohibit insurers from rejecting applications from people with pre-existing conditions outright, but they could still impose exclusions on specific conditions.
Therein lies Republicans’ problem: The more they concede, the more the Left demands. When the next wave of greater government control of health care comes along, don’t say I didn’t warn you—and don’t say that Republicans acted to protect you, either.
Author chrisjacobsPosted on August 28, 2018 January 4, 2019 Categories Costs, Coverage, Premiums, RegulationsTags Adverse selection, Binary choice, Block grant, Deductibles, Graham-Cassidy, Heritage Foundation, HIPAA, Joe Manchin, Larry Levitt, Lindsey Graham, Pre-existing condition tax, Pre-existing conditions, Premium increases, The Federalist, Thom Tillis
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What's eating at ADF? - Chronarchy
12:41 pm - What's eating at ADF?
There has been some worry in ADF recently. Fears that the organization is going down the tubes, accusations of interesting things, and the shifting of blame like manure from one stall to the next.
What has prompted this? Three people have resigned. In a 750 member organization, that isn't very many at all.
Some have pointed to ADF's retention rate of first year members. It sits at about 50%. It has been at that rate for about 20 years, as far as I know. What's really interesting is that we still make up that 50% every year in new members, and we still grow.
Three people have left the organization, though, in the past month. Usually, no one would care. No one would look twice. But these are big people, right? They're people who we respect and find interesting. They're people who have traded joking emails with us, people who have approved our Dedicant Programs, and people who have reminded us of ADF's vision when we temporarily forgot about it. These people have held leadership positions almost since joining. Let us not forget: these people also posted to public forums nice vocal reasons, and that is really why we notice.
Has a leadership vacuum been created? No. ADF has more leaders than followers; it always has. ADF will fill those positions with people just as competent as those who have left. To say that ADF lacks people of such competence is to insult the membership of ADF, which I believe is full of huge potential and many untapped skills.
Can we still get publications out on time? Yes. In fact, this year's second issue of Oak Leaves is nearly done. With 30 submissions in the last week, it seems like we're ready and able to go to press with not one but even as many as three issues and put ourselves back on track. The Grove Organizer's Handbook is nearly done after a long delay, as well.
Do these resignations point to real problems in the leadership of ADF? I'm not sure, but I'm inclined to say "no". What they reflect is an inability of ADF's leaders to always solve everyone's problems, something we've always been up front about. Another thing they reflect is a serious issue with interpersonal relationships that has sprung up very recently. Not everyone will get along with everyone in a given organization, and occasionally the relationships blow up. In this case, we've had several do this. What it comes down to here is not whether ADF has met a person's spiritual needs, but rather whether a person has been able to fulfill their spiritual needs when their personal relationships started getting in their way.
How do we respond?
Now that's a tough one. I, however, am eternally optimistic, and I see an opportunity in everything. ADF had sometimes been called an "old boys' club," where new members might not be able to get their point across, or where new members have felt that their influence was negligible because there were big names that everyone listened to far more than they. Perhaps the organization is stuck in a rut caused by our reliance on these people. We should see this as an opportunity for new members to step in, to take responsibility and to mold the vision of ADF to their own and take it in a new, yet similar direction. Several key positions in ADF have been vacated after being held for a very long time by the members who have recently resigned, and so perhaps this is a sign that we should move in a new direction.
Change is not always bad, and if you deal with it correctly, it can certainly be a very good thing.
Current Music: "A Sailor's Christmas", -JB
Tags: adf
moonversion
July 19th, 2004 11:13 am (UTC)
As the person currently in charge with getting Oak Leaves back on track I can unequivocally state that your statement is not accurate; unless Oak Leaves became a mere sliver of a shadow of it's former existence under the now resigned Chronicler....
Quite the contrary, I did receive his submissions, Not only is most of it unusable due to various reasons, the amount of content is a far cry from a "ton of material" and is in no way shape or form a complete issue of Oak Leaves, even under his tenure.
kallisti
As a past Chronicler, I can tell you the hardest part is getting submissions consistently. The next problem is getting them into a shape that is usable, despite submission guidelines. Once you have the material ready for inhalation into your DTP program things are fairly easy, but can be time consuming depending on how much of the layout you have to create, and how much is template. But I hope that the issues will have multiple columns, as reading across the page in a single column is not fun. But that is just me.
Also, handovers always seem to suck. When I received stuff from the previous Chronicler, I got very little that was usable, and much of the stuff that was promised I never recieved from her. And when I passed on what little I had to the Chronicler following me, I was accused of purposely holding back material...stuff I never got. That is a good reason to make sure everything goes through a central clearing house...
But, again, to me, the biggest problem is getting submissions. I had hoped that the Dedicant's Program and the Study Program would generate more material...you should bug our Preceptor often...[hi romandruid!]
Actually, I am finding collecting content to be quite easy. I asked, it came. I received over 30 usable submissions within seven days of my call. In addition I have been speaking with people and there is more on the way, much more, and new submissions come in every day.
The hand-overs in question for this particular case, however, are being claimed as an actual issue. When, in fact, there is very little that can be used with the materials that could be used are either poetry or not fit for print. Had the materials I received actually been printed as a issue of Oak Leaves, I dare say it would have been the lowest point within the history of Oak Leaves.
I am currently putting together steps which ensure a smoother run from this point on and require no single point of failure, as was the case here.
July 21st, 2004 07:57 pm (UTC)
Things are always great at the start, always, but as times goes on...the contributions peter off. It was that way with me, and with almost everyone else I have talked to who has been Chronicler. Don't be decieved by the initial response!!!!
July 22nd, 2004 06:01 am (UTC)
Well, I'm not Chronicler, nor will I be. So I am not going to run into that problem. ;)
And, personally, I doubt that is going to happen. I don't think anyone knew how to run OL before me, no offense. :) Not to mention submissions or no, it is the Chronicler's job if they cannot find submissions within ADF for them to look outside ADF or to create them.
smithing_chick
Probably resembled the GOH.....
gothicdruid
Generally not reading LJ these days, but I heard about this whopper and just had to respond:
As one of the TWO other people he sent the material to, I'll say without fear of contradiction that this is not true at all. One of the files not only was corrupted and unusable, but David told me in an e-mail when I asked about the file's condition that (his own words on 7/13) "I don't recall every (sic) having opened that file." Kinda hard to have a completed issue of OAK LEAVES 24 when you haven't even attempted to open the file containing the organizational news for the issue from the News Editor (olnews24.doc).
All the files we received showed every indication of being raw submissions or something like that (at least one was simply a saved e-mail). They included a member editorial advocating a position on a referendum in the already-past ADF election that was thus unusable as well as an editorial from another member on "why we were right to invade Iraq" that was probably not really appropriate for a Druid journal (and the current staff, I believe, has reached the same conclusion). I don't think any of them even had the author's name included. If there is any sort of assembled version of the issue, it wasn't made available to Skip or me.
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Home2017September12
Filler Post: The Past, Present, and Future of Sonic the Hedgehog! (In a Nutshell!)
Aside September 12, 2017 D&A Anime Blog Filler Posts
In 1991, we were introduced to a video game character that would soon rival a certain plumber, who is the mascot of another well known video game franchise. Within the last 25 years this speedy blue needle mouse has had some moments (both good and bad) that have made him one of the most iconic video game characters in the world! Just like a certain red capped hero, there isn’t a single soul on this planet who doesn’t know who he is. He may not be as famous as the King of Pop, but he’s definitely known as the Legend of Speed.
Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the most iconic video game franchises in the world; rivaling that of Nintendo’s flagship character, Mario. Contrary to popular belief both Sega and Nintendo were trying to out-due one another with each other’s franchise character. If you’ve gotten the chance to play games from both franchises then you’ll notice some slight similarities between the two (i.e. Bowser and Dr. Eggman, as both of them can’t stand Mario and Sonic).
Now back to the blue blur; if you’re a 90’s kid who used to own a 16-Bit Sega Genesis (or still do), then you probably couldn’t wait to get your hands on this old school classic. Sonic the Hedgehog, or Sonic 1 as fans would call it, was the beginning of something revolutionary. In fact it’s even noted that the game’s concept was inspired by the Super Mario franchise, which may explain why there’s so many similarities between the two. (We know, we said that twice already!)
Throughout the 90’s it was already clear that Sega had one goal in mind; to “defeat” Mario in any way possible! Enter the second and third installments of the series (with two new characters known as Tails and Knuckles) and you’ve got yourself a trilogy of high speed awesome-ness! ‘Why stop there?’ they thought as the 90’s decade was nearing its end, ‘Why not kick it up a notch and introduce Sonic’s first in-game rival?’ Now we’ve got ourselves the lock-on cartridge known as Sonic & Knuckles, where fans can play as either True Blue, or Rad Red.
Oh, and don’t forget about Sonic CD, as it has one of the coolest original soundtracks of the 90’s that you’ll ever listen to!
The 2000’s was going to be a time where Nintendo was going to set the bar a little higher. So what did Sega do? They stepped their game up in terms of keeping up with the red capped plumber, by doing some 3D shifting and re-branding of the World’s Fastest Hedgehog. Around 1998 came Sonic’s first real world adventure known as Sonic Adventure, where fans were able to play six different characters; Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, Big, and E-102 Gamma. Their mission was to stop Dr. Eggman from collecting the chaos emeralds and releasing an ancient evil known as Chaos, the God of Destruction! (Other than Lord Beerus, that is. *laughing nervously*)
Now we shift our way to Sonic Adventure 2, where a new hedgehog comes into play known as Shadow, the ultimate lifeform. From that moment on we were going to see a greater rivalry (even greater than Sonic and Knuckles) come about between these two hedgehog’s, even though Shadow can activate the Chaos Control with just one emerald.
The mid 2000’s was also great for Sonic throughout the handheld years, although the 90’s is originally where his handheld gaming debut started. The blue wonder made his way back to 2D with the Sonic Advance series for GameBoy Advance and GameBoy Advance SP. Then came Sonic Heroes and Sonic Battle around 2003 and 2004, followed by Shadow the Hedgehog in 2005. 2005 through 2010 were some rough years for the Blue Blur, as three-star games weren’t exactly cutting it for the legacy of the franchise. Sega knew they had to do something, and they had to do something fast!
Now we find ourselves in Fall 2017, as a new era known as the Sonic Renaissance began! This newfound period began with the first Sonic game for the Nintendo Switch known as Sonic Mania! It follows a little after the events of Sonic and Knuckles and features the return of classic 16-Bit Sonic, only sleeker and with an FPS of 60. Also coming later on in the fall is Sonic Forces, which plays like Sonic Generations if any of you gotten the chance to play it yet. To most of us it seemed like Sega was trying to save their beloved mascot any way they could, but we do believe that they’ve got it right this time. As for the future of the World’s Fastest Hedgehog, we can only hope that Sega continues to be one step ahead of Nintendo. A dream that we, the fans, can only hope for.
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You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Don Cheadle’ tag.
May 7, 2010 in Movie Reviews | Tags: Adam Goldstein, Agent Coulson, arch reactor, Batman, Black Widow, Clark Gregg, Comic Books, DJ AM, Don Cheadle, Don Heck, Garry Shandling, Gwyneth Paltrow, Happy Hogan, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Ivan Vanko, Jack Kirby, Jarvis, Jon Favreau, Justin Hammer, Justin Theroux, Kate Mara, Larry Lieber, Leslie Bibb, Lt. Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, Mark Scarlotti, Marvel Comics, Mickey Rourke, Natalie Rushman, Natasha Romanoff, Natasha Romanova, Nick Fury, Olivia Munn, Paul Bettany, Pepper Potts, Robert Downey Jr., S.H.I.E.L.D., Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Senator Stern, Stan Lee, Stark Expo '74, Stark Industries, Terrence Howard, The Avenger Initiative, Thor, Tony Stark, U.S. Government, Virginia Potts, War Machine, Whiplash | 4 comments
A lot of things can go wrong, and often do, when making a comic book movie sequel. But gladly none of those things seem to be happening in Iron Man 2. Most comic book movies, namely the 1990’s Batman sequels, tend to find themselves spreading their stories ridiculously thin when adding way too many new characters to a storyline, but director Jon Favreau somehow manages to avoid this pitfall. Not only does Iron Man 2 work, but it also manages to do so while maintaining it’s fast pace, and it’s very well executed sense of storyline. Even with a handful of new characters being introduced, at no point does the audience, or the storyline for that matter, feel bogged-down by a bunch of origin story telling. I think Iron Man 2 should be the text book example of how to tell complex storylines to an audience without spoon feeding them at the same time.
In Iron Man 2, Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., not only finds himself dealing with the U.S. Government wanting the ownership of the Iron Man weapon, but also the fact that the very thing saving his life, could very well be killing him at the same time. If that weren’t enough, the Avenger Initiative has also started to lose their faith in him as a proper hero, and begin to question his future role in the Initiative. Topping it all off, Stark finds himself paying for the sins of his father, and dealing with a new enemy known as Whiplash, masterfully played by Mickey Rourke.
Now I figured with the addition of so many new characters, characters we’ve already met like Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, would become secondary characters; making way for the new ones. But, I’m glad to say this wasn’t the case. Pepper’s character plays just as big of a role, if not bigger, in this film as she did in the first film. Also Don Cheadle’s replacement of Terrence Howard as Lt. Col. James Rhodes was seamless. I really liked Cheadle’s choice to play Rhodey the exact same way that Howard did. It really made the role more about the character, and less about the actor playing the character, which is not something all actors would choose to do. Scarlett Johansson is well under played as the Black Widow, but in a good way. The movie doesn’t rely on her as new eye candy, but rather uses her as needed for the story, which is a refreshing change of pace for movies like this. Which brings us the show stealing performance of Sam Rockwell; I don’t know what else to say other than… Wow! He really does bring his ‘A’ game to his performance as Stark Industries’ rival competitor, Justin Hammer. You’ll see what I mean when you see it. That guy needs to work more! Last but not least, Robert Downey Jr. continues to effortlessly capture the essence of Tony Stark, a role he was clearly born to play.
Is Iron Man 2 better than Iron Man? It’s hard to say. They’re two completely different movies. In the first Iron Man, there is this nice slow story pace that helps to ground the movie, but in Iron Man 2 you hit the ground running and it just feels right. With most sequels it’s easy to say which one is better, but with this one it’s truly is a continuation of the original movie, and feels like they are one and the same. Yes, I do realize that I just contradicted myself by saying they’re completely different and yet the same movie, but it’s true. I really hope all the other franchises out there are paying attention, because this is how it’s done. I think it’s safe to say that the 2010 season of summer movies is officially upon us, and the bar has been set very high thanks to Iron Man 2.
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Cayuga County, New York
Cayuga County (N.Y.)
42.6364745242695,-76.2757550822441
Materials/Techniques:
black-and-white prints (photographs)
Cayuga County (N.Y.)--Aerial photographs
This aerial photograph is centered near Halls Corner in Cortland (13045) in Cortland County New York.
Image and original data from Cornell University Library
Cornell Institute for Resource Information Systems (IRIS) Aerial Photograph Collection
This image has been made available by the Cornell University Library to support education and scholarship. It has made a reasonable effort to secure any permissions needed in order to make available for personal or research use the materials included in ARTstor, but would like to learn more about its digital holdings and hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified so that it may make the necessary corrections. If you have any additional information about the material or would like to suggest a correction, please contact copyright@cornell.edu. Your use of this image is potentially restricted by two different entities. ARTstor limits you to the permitted uses specified in the ARTstor Digital Library Terms and Conditions of Use (http://www.artstor.org/info/about/terms_conditions.jsp) regardless of the copyright status of the work. If the image is protected by copyright, you may also need to contact one or more copyright owners for any use that is not permitted under the ARTstor Terms and Conditions of Use or not otherwise permitted by law. Determining whether permissions are necessary, and obtaining such permissions, is your sole responsibility. Note that If the image is in the public domain, no additional permission from Cornell University Library is required, as stated in the guidelines on the use of public domain images found at http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/CULCopyright.
Presents a series of digitized historical aerial photographs of the State of New York from the Cornell Institute for Resource Information Systems.
Collection website
Catalog record
View collection in ARTstor
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“The Last Days of JFK Jr.” premieres tonight on ABC
by DocumentaryNews | Jan 3, 2019 | Lifestyle
Source: Town & Country
“The Last Days of JFK Jr.” premieres tonight on ABC. The two-hour documentary explores the lives of John F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, as they were just before the couple died in a tragic 1999 plane crash.
Using rare footage of John and Carolyn, as well as interviews with several people close to JFK Jr. (his college roommates, assistant, contributors to “George,” and two ex-girlfriends to name a few), the documentary paints an intimate portrait of John F. Kennedy’s late son.
Read the story at Town & Country.
Receive the day’s documentary news every morning. Sign up for DocumentaryNews Daily.
April 11, 2017 ABC to air “The Last 100 Days of Diana” in May.
May 9, 2018 “The Test and the Art of Thinking” explains everything that’s wrong with using the SAT in the college admissions process
August 25, 2017 “California Typewriter” pays tribute to a pillar of the analog age
April 30, 2018 Netflix’s “Bobby Kennedy for President” is a breathtaking look behind the scenes of RFK’s tragically short life
“Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin” premieres next month on American Masters
Morgan Spurlock is at it again in Super Size Me 2
“Oh les filles!” tells the history of french female rock stars
Why 1982 experimental documentary “Koyaanisqatsi” is still a must-see in this time of climate change
How Obamacare became a symbol of America’s divide
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Aural Films
About Aural Films
Music, Soundtracks, Drones, Field Recordings, Sound Design, Publishing, Distribution, Art, Nature, Movies
http://auralfilms.com/
http://auralfilms.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/auralfilms
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWxdmIg2memlN07nC7Raa9A
Epoch Collapse
Tamabot
EugeneKha
jeff sampson
Secret Life of Trees by Jack Hertz
Aural Films posted an album in Soundtrack
Secret Life of Trees was composed on Arbor Day 2012 as part of the Sound For Good "Take to the Trees" Compilation project. Here the entire release is presented with the original "Leaves" and till now, unpublished "Roots" long form ambient compositions.
Aural Films 5th Anniversary 2012-2017
Aural Films posted a topic in Aural Films's Updates
Just for the anniversary celebration, we are offering a 50% OFF coupon on everything from Aural Films for the rest of the month. You can buy any download or CDs at half price by using the the code "5years" at check out. Check out the catalog for all your choices here https://auralfilms.bandcamp.com/ .
Charles Rice Goff III Biography III
Aural Films posted an album in Experimental
Since the 1970's, Charles Rice Goff III has been producing unique audio, visual, and literary art. While nearly all of this art has been made public through Goff’s own Taped Rugs Productions label over the years, much of it also has been released by other producers located throughout five continents. Goff has collaborated with 100's of artists around the world as well, taking an active roll as a member of the world-wide avant garde community. The collection of recordings in this biographical set focuses primarily on Goff's audio collaborations. Listeners interested in Goff's large quantity of purely solo works, or in his visual or literary productions, can find many of them available on the internet at archive.org. The Taped Rugs website at www.tapedrugs.com offers several menus to help locate specific works as well. BIOGRAPHY DISC 1: MAGNETIC ROOTS Tracks 1 - 10 MAGNETIC ROOTS provides listeners with samples of Goff’s collaborative work created on magnetic tape in the 1980’s and 1990’s. Goff was a member of four recording/performing projects during that time. -Ing, Disism, and Herd Of The Ether Space were all based in the East San Francisco Bay Area. Turkey Makes Me Sleepy was formed when Goff moved to Lawrence, Kansas, in the mid 1990’s. Each of these four projects incorporated a wide variety of instruments, non instruments, genres, and non-genres into their recordings and performances. Improvisation, sound collage, social commentary, and humor are elements common to the productions of all of these groups. One thing in particular that also makes each of these groups a genuine contributor to the unique Taped Rugs family of artists is that they all incorporated tape recorders as instruments - looping, editing, and manipulating recording tape to create one-of-a-kind sounds. Membership in each of these groups centered around a small core of individuals, but often other artists took part of their activities. Each of these groups also produced several very lengthy recordings, which could not be presented here because of limited space. Listeners interested in further exploring the recordings of these groups can find many of them available online at archive.org. BIOGRAPHY DISC 2: DIGITAL SCULPTURE Tracks 11 - 32 DIGITAL SCULPTURE provides listeners with samples of Goff's collaborative experimental work created with computer software. Goff made contacts with artists all over the world during the 1980's and 1990's by exchanging cassette tapes through the post. As the 20th Century was ending, digital technologies began providing artists with new methods for recording and editing sounds. The ever-evolving internet also provided artists with a new and speedy pathway for communications and exchanges of recordings. Goff took advantage of these new technologies to increase his collaboratating activities with associates around the globe, producing sonic sculptures by digitally collaging and embellishing the recordings of others with his own. His history with tape manipulation and improvisation influenced his approaches to stretching the normal parameters of digital recording as well, resulting in a wide variety of one-of-a-kind productions. DIGITAL SCULPTURE showcases only a sampling of the artists with whom Goff has produced unique digitally-engineered recordings over the years. He has co-created several very lengthy recordings as well, which could not be presented in this collection because of limited space. Listeners who are interested in hearing Goff's longer collaborative works and/or his collaborations with other sound artists can find many of them online at archive.org. BIOGRAPHY DISC 3: PAINTING WITH VOICES Tracks 33 - 54 Since the 1970's, Charles Rice Goff III has been producing unique audio, visual, and literary art. While nearly all of this art has been made public through Goff’s own Taped Rugs Productions label over the years, much of it also has been released by other producers located throughout five continents. Goff has collaborated with 100's of artists around the world as well, taking an active roll as a member of the world-wide avant garde community. The collection of recordings in this biographical set focuses primarily on Goff's audio collaborations. Listeners interested in Goff's large quantity of purely solo works, or in his visual or literary productions, can find many of them available on the internet at archive.org. The Taped Rugs website at www.tapedrugs.com offers several menus to help locate specific works as well. PAINTING WITH VOICES provides listeners with samples of Goff's "songwriting." These recordings contain familiar song elements such as melodies, refrains, lyrics, etc. However, the arrangements, choices of instruments, embellishments with sounds not normally considered musical, etc., make these pieces uniquely Goff's. Many of the melodies and lyrics in these songs were dreamed in his sleep. Also, as the title suggests, Goff sings on each of these recordings. PAINTING WITH VOICES features several collaborations with other artists; however, this collection also contains some pieces completely composed, performed, and produced by Goff alone. Goff's musical influences stretch to all edges of genre and beyond. Each of his songs has a life of its own, and, thus, projects a style and other qualities that are particularly applicable to it. As with the recordings on the other two discs in this collection, sound collage, improvisation, social commentary, humor, and unique recording techniques are all showcased in this collection. While not well represented here, it should be noted that Goff also has recorded many interpretations of songs written by other artists. His approach to these interpretations generally produces recordings that range very far from their original designs. Also, while Goff recorded quite a few songs on magnetic tape during the 20th Century, this collection only features digitally recorded songs from the 21st Century. Listeners interested in hearing his tape-recorded songs or his "cover songs" can find many of them online at archive.org.
We just found out Bill & Melinda are MATCHING all Donations to Trees For The Future. Help us plant many more than 10,000 trees by purchasing the "This Music Plants Trees" album in any amount with 100% of the funds going to Trees For the Future at the following link https://sound4good.bandcamp.com/al…/this-music-plants-trees/.
This Music Plants Trees - Various Artists
Aural Films posted an album in Miscellaneous
Sound For Good Records began on Earth Day, March 22nd, 2012. As with most years, we will be marking our anniversary with another release to celebrate the Mother Earth on Earth Day April 22nd, 2015. This year, we are honored to present a massive community effort focused on leveraging the power of music to plant trees through the Trees for the Future project. "This Music Plants Trees" brings together artists from around the world in a collection of over 150 tracks. Discover a universe of music to share and help build awareness about Trees. They cool the planet, retain water, are home to the wild, and clean the air we breathe. Every dollar raised plants 10 trees. Your modest donation just $5 or $10 (or more) can make a big difference by planting 50-100s trees! Please give any amount now and get this great collection of music for your kind support of the Mother Earth.
Topic: This Music Plants Trees - Various Artists
Aural Films posted a topic in Albums
Sound For Good Records began on Earth Day, March 22nd, 2012. As with most years, we will be marking our anniversary with another release to celebrate the Mother Earth on Earth Day April 22nd, 2015. This year, we are honored to present a massive community effort focused on leveraging the power of music to plant trees through the Trees for the Future project. "This Music Plants Trees" brings together artists from around the world in a collection of over 150 tracks. Discover a universe of music to share and help build awareness about Trees. They cool the planet, retain water, are home to the wild, and clean the air we breathe. Every dollar raised plants 10 trees. Your modest donation just $5 or $10 (or more) can make a big difference by planting 50-100s trees! Please give any amount now and get this great collection of music for your kind support of the Mother Earth. View full album
Mechanics of Blue - Jack Hertz
Jack Hertz presents a new release that reflects on the industry of unhappiness, the Mechanics of Blue. Entities that design products to make us feel afraid, unattractive, or unwanted. Cloaked in commerce. Branding, deception, fear, propaganda, gamification, subversion, trust, social engineering and other methods are exploited to get us to buy and do what we do not want.
Fukushima Drones - Various Artists
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster was a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. It is the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and only the second disaster (along with Chernobyl) to measure Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. Read more at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster Fukushima Drones is a compilation of drone tracks contributed by artists from around the world. This community project is dedicated to raising awareness and funds to support efforts coping with the Fukushima Diaichi nuclear disaster.
ROBOTS! - Various Artists
Everyone loves one robot or another, so Aural Films and CollectionDX called on all music makers to submit new tracks for our Robots music project. Get ready for 51 tracks from international artists who have composed music about their favorite robots.
Prehistoric Tar Pit Music - Various Artists
During the Pleistocene period 40,000 years ago, giant mammalian creatures roamed North America. Tar pits that formed when crude oil seeped to the surface through fissures in the Earth's crust. Would trap mastodons and other creatures in their molten grip. When predators came to feed, they were consumed as well. Prehistoric Tar Pit Music is a two and half hour compilation of sonic adventures into places that time has forgotten. Listen to the sounds of primordial landscapes, bubbling tar pits, and the echoes of life emerging from the deep earth. The idea for this compilation began in the Intelligent Ambient Music (IAM) group on Facebook. The result is the group effort that you can hear now. We hope that these compositions will entertain your imagination with a sonic documentary of what these prehistoric places may have been like. You are highly encouraged to explore more of the work by these artists at the links provided with each the artists' tracks. Please show your support by downloading their music and sharing it with others.
FAST RAILS - Glimmer on the Tracks
Aural Films posted a topic in Music Videos
It is time for another FAST RAILS video to be released. EMjoy this video for "Glimmer on the Tracks". The follow up to "End of the Steam Age" takes us on a journey to Norway for some amazing scenery by way of the Slow TV Project. Get the album now at https://auralfilms.bandcamp.com/album/fast-rails/
Dark Matter - Michael Meara
Aural Films posted an album in Ambient
Dark matter is an unidentified type of matter that makes up approximately 27% of the mass and energy in the observable universe. It is not accounted for by dark energy, ordinary matter or neutrinos. Dark Matter does not emit or interact with electromagnetic radiation, such as light, and is invisible to the entire electromagnetic spectrum. The existence of Dark Matter is inferred from its gravitational effects, such as the motion of visible matter, gravitational lensing, its influence on the universe's large-scale structure, and its effects on the cosmic microwave background. This long-form minimal ambient piece takes inspiration from this hidden and subliminal phenomenon and is thus mastered to be played at low volume.
Hello folks!
Aural Films replied to Tamabot's topic in Introductions
Hello, Tamabot! Its great to hear new artists. Thanks for sharing your music.
Aural Films changed their profile photo November 11, 2016
Ambient Arkansas - Various Artists
The natural state, Arkansas, with the Mississippi river bordering it's East, the Great Plains to the West, the Ozark mountains in the North, and the flat lands in the South. The state comprises a rich biodiversity of plant and animal species and geologic wonders. Ambient Arkansas is a compilation that draws it's inspiration from the territory of Arkansas and the ambient musicians that reside in or are from the area. Ambient Arkansas is the first in a new series called Electronic Earth that will feature surveys of electronic music from cities, states and countries across the planet Earth. Aural Films will be working with other artists and organizations to survey different regions. Stay tuned for new projects and releases in the Electronic Earth series coming soon.
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The Most Dangerous Place On Earth: The Brutal Drug War Raging On The U.S. Border
November 6, 2010 November 6, 2010 by Michael Snyder
Most Americans have no idea that the most dangerous place on earth is just across the United States border. The city of Juarez, Mexico is nestled right next to El Paso, Texas and it is the murder capital of the world. So far this year, more than 2,000 people have been murdered in the city. The Mexican government has been trying to get a handle on the situation, but corruption is so rampant on all levels of government in Mexico and the drug cartels are so incredibly powerful that it just seems to be a losing battle. But it is not just Juarez that is a crisis point. The truth is that vast stretches of the U.S. border with Mexico have become war zones and yet the mainstream media in the United States is strangely silent about the whole thing.
The truth is that it is far safer to go to Iraq or Afghanistan today than it is to go to cities like Juarez. Freelance journalist Jeff Antebi recently described to CNN what he experienced when he went to Juarez….
“When I arrived in Juarez,” says Antebi, “within an hour, over the police scanners, a body has been found. And maybe 30 minutes later, another body.
“And then another body. And by the end of the day, it was 10. The next day, 10. The next day, 10.”
The Mexican government says that as many as 28,000 people have been slaughtered by the drug cartels since 2007. The drug cartels are constantly at war with each other and with Mexican authorities. In the video posted below, one reporter went to Juarez to try to get a sense of what is happening to that city….
It would be really hard to understate what a disaster zone Juarez has become. In an interview with Democracy Now, author Charles Bowden described how a once very prosperous city has become a literal hellhole as a result of all this violence….
So what you have is about 10,000 federal troops and federal police agents all marauding. You have a city where no one goes out at night; where small businesses all pay extortion; where 20,000 cars were officially stolen last year; where 2,600-plus people were officially murdered last year; where nobody keeps track of the people who have been kidnapped and never come back; where nobody counts the people buried in secret burying grounds, and they, in an unseemly way, claw out of the earth from time to time. You’ve got a disaster. And you have a million people, too poor to leave, imprisoned in it.
It doesn’t matter if you are an American either. The drug cartels will gun you down and gut you like a fish in a heartbeat. For example, NPR recently described one horrific incident in the Juarez Valley that involved American citizens….
A couple of weeks ago, gunmen in the Juarez Valley killed the Mexican relative of a Fort Hancock high school student. When the student’s family in Fort Hancock heard about it, they crossed the border at 10 a.m. to see the body, and took the student with them.
“By 10:30, they had stabbed the relatives that went with him, which included his grandparents, with an ice pick,” says school superintendent Jose Franco. “My understanding is that the gentleman is like 90 years old, and they poked his eyes out with an ice pick. I believe those people are still in intensive care here in a hospital in the U.S.”
Are you starting to get an idea of just how brutal these drug cartels actually are? They are not playing games.
The horrific drug war raging on the U.S. border has created a huge demand for hitmen and acid baths. In January, authorities arrested Santiago Meza Lopez. Known as “the soupmaker”, the 45 year old man has confessed that he made about 300 bodies disappear by dissolving them in acid baths.
So why is all of this violence happening?
Well, it is all for control over the sale of drugs to Americans.
The United States is the biggest market for drugs in the world, and there is a ton of money at stake.
The drug cartels will go to great lengths to get their goods into the United States. This point was illustrated recently when U.S. officials raided a southern California warehouse and discovered a lighted, ventilated passageway 4 feet high and 1,800 feet long crossing into Mexico. The tunnel was approximately six football fields in length. During that operation, authorities seized about 25 tons of marijuana.
But this tunnel is nothing new. The truth is that approximately 75 tunnels along the border with Mexico have been discovered by authorities in the last four years alone.
Unfortunately, most Mexicans don’t even need a tunnel. Security on the U.S. border with Mexico is a complete and total joke, and illegal aliens come over almost at will.
According to some estimates, there are as many as 30 million illegal aliens in the United States today. Nobody has any idea how many of them are gang members or are working directly for the drug cartels.
But one thing is for certain – the gang problem in the United States is rapidly getting worse. Once young illegal aliens arrive in our cities, they quickly find that their employment options are extremely limited. Large numbers of them end up getting sucked into Spanish-speaking gangs.
U.S. authorities say that there are now over 1 million members of criminal gangs operating inside the United States. According to federal statistics, these 1 million gang members are responsible for up to 80% of the violent crimes committed in the U.S. each year.
Not all of this gang violence is caused by illegal aliens, but a growing percentage of it is. Spanish-speaking gangs are rapidly becoming the dominant gangs in cities all over the United States.
But it is not just gang violence that is the problem. The reality is that the Mexican drug cartels are now openly conducting organized military operations inside the United States. Federal border officials say that Mexican drug cartels have not only set up shop on U.S. soil, but they are actually maintaining lookout bases in strategic locations in the hills of southern Arizona.
From those “forward bases”, the armed drug cartel scouts monitor every move that U.S. border agents make. In fact, it has been reported that drivers regularly bring these drug cartel scouts food, water, batteries for their radios and everything else that they need to stay in the wilderness for long periods of time.
Yes, this is really happening.
In fact, there is one stretch of Arizona that the U.S. federal government has conceded control of to the drug cartels. It is a drug smuggling corridor that extends from the Mexican border all the way up to Phoenix, Arizona.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu made national headlines when he told the media what is really going on down there. The following are just a few quotes from what Babeu told the press….
-“Drug cartels control this area.”
-“Local law enforcement cannot handle and stop this on our own.”
-“We are outgunned, we are outmanned and we don’t have the resources here locally for us to fight this.”
The video news report posted below features Babeu and discusses how the U.S. government has actually made some parts of Arizona off limits to U.S. citizens because of the threat of violence from Mexican drug smugglers….
Yes, things have really gotten that bizarre. One border agent who wished to remain anonymous told Fox News the following earlier this year….
“To say that this area is out of control is an understatement.”
A different federal agent put it this way in an email to Fox News….
“Every night we’re getting beaten like a pinata at a birthday party by drug, alien smugglers.”
Things have gotten very, very serious along the border and both the Bush and the Obama administrations have refused to do anything to fix the problem. Today, Arizona police are being openly told that if they try to interfere with all of this drug traffic they will be “taken out” by drug cartel snipers.
Is that how we want our police officers to live?
This is a national disgrace.
The U.S. federal government refuses to secure our border, and drug violence is spilling over onto our soil and into our cities.
For over 50 years, the U.S. military has completely and totally secured the border between South Korea and North Korea. We have spent millions upon millions of dollars to do this and during that time there has not been a single unauthorized entry into South Korea across that border.
But the U.S. government says that it cannot secure our border with Mexico. In fact, there are many in the Obama administration that believe that it would be “a violation of human rights” to put up a fence or to implement extra security on the border.
Meanwhile, drug traffic and drug violence continues to come across the border into the United States. Already, many U.S. border towns are turning into nightmares. It would be very difficult to understate the threat that we are facing.
So what do you think about the Mexican drug war and the crisis on the border? Feel free to leave a comment with your opinion….
Categories Crime, WarTags Debt, Debts, Drug, Drugs, Immigration, Investing, Stock Market, The Debt Post navigation
The Price Of Oil Is Going Up, The Price Of Food Is Going Up And Now Here Comes Quantitative Easing
The Death Of The Dollar? 11 Signs That We Could Be On The Verge Of A Global Currency Crisis
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THE BILL GATES INTERVIEW: An energy miracle is coming, and it's going to change the world
The most remarkable thing about meeting Bill Gates in person is beholding his mental map of the world - how advances in technology, the well-being of humanity, and the fate of our world are all intertwined.Drake Baer | Business Insider | Updated: February 27, 2016, 12:38 IST
Mike Nudelman / Business Insider
Feb 24: The most remarkable thing about meeting Bill Gates in person is beholding his mental map of the world - how advances in technology, the well-being of humanity, and the fate of our world are all intertwined.
Tech Insider met with Gates on Monday to discuss his 2016 annual letter, in which he discusses the balance of bringing electricity to the billion people who don't have it and finding power sources that don't kill the earth.
The head of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spoke about how to make an energy miracle happen, the stakes of climate change, and what the role of the world's billionaires is in all of this.
Interview edited for clarity and length.
Drake Baer: What are the most exciting things happening right now in clean energy?
Bill Gates: A lot of it is pretty early stage. The most straightforward path would be if we could bring the cost of solar electric and wind down by another factor of say, three, and then have some miraculous storage solution, so that not only over the 24-hour day but over long periods of time where the wind doesn't blow, you have reliable energy. That's a path. But energy storage is hard. That's not a guaranteed path.
In fact, batteries haven't improved over the last 100 years as much as they would need to in order to make that happen. So I'm invested in a lot of battery companies - and there's a lot that exists I'm not in. They're all having a tough time achieving it. We need to look at less obvious paths, things like the wind in the jet stream, which is very high up. The material science of what type of kite string you would need to connect up to that. That's still at the basic research level.
That's the part where the governments have a unique role, and then when it progresses well enough, then existing companies or new startup companies should take it. In the $3 trillion a year energy market, the rewards will be quite fantastic.
At some point, that risk-taking private capital can take over, and have patents and trade secrets and things that let them lead the way, which happened with the steam engine and some other things, although with energy, the time of adoption is a lot longer than it is with, say, IT products or even medical advances, like drugs and vaccines.
Skye Gould / Tech Insider
Other paths would include making nuclear fission cheap enough and safe enough that people broadly embrace it, so that could be scaled up. Or, if you really could take the CO2, when you burn hydrocarbons - coal, for example - if you could really capture the carbon and sequester it - they call it CCS - if the extra capital cost, energy cost, and storage costs over time didn't make it super expensive, then that's another path that you could go down.
I could name about a dozen paths, and you'd like to have a whole bunch of research on all those paths, and then, eventually, at least four to five companies with really significant financing try and get to big scale, going down and really trying to prove it out.
Then, in the same way that when the car got going, people thought it would be an electric car, people thought it would be a steam car. Actually, the dark horse in that race was internal combustion, but because of the energy density of gasoline and discovery of oil in large amounts at that point in first Pennsylvania and then Texas, it won out over those other two, to the point that those other two are actually viewed as obscure footnotes in history.
Baer: Was there a moment for you when the light bulb went off, and you realized how important energy was to the world?
Gates: When I was trying to figure out why lives have improved so much in the last 300 years, where we've gone from a third of kids dying before 5 to - by 1990 it was down to 10% - now it's down to 5%. And saying why, over all history, there were smart people, but that number didn't change. Average life span didn't change. What's magical about what's been deemed the Industrial Revolution? It's really energy intensity.
What's magical about what's been deemed the Industrial Revolution? It's really energy intensity.
When I was high school I had a vague sense of it. When I was in college I had a vague sense of it. I'd say that I didn't really start to understand it fully until I started reading Vaclav Smil, who has written a lot about this. David Christian, in "Big History," writes about this. It's energy intensification, where we essentially have, through our light bulbs and cars, the manpower of [hundreds of] people working on our behalf, helping our food being created, helping our materials like steel and plastic and wood and paper be created. Our lifestyles are incredibly energy intense.
GatesNotes
Recently I've been studying how quickly we can get energy out to the poor countries - a lot of which are in Africa - and how little progress we've made there. There's no more electricity today in sub-Saharan Africa per person than there was 20 years ago.
The world is very disparate, in terms of the US using the most energy per person, and then the other rich countries - Europe, Japan, New Zealand - using about half of what we do, and then the world average being about a fifth of what we use, with China just now surpassing the world average.
My broad sense of this is that authors like Smil really paint the clear picture, and once you see that, it's kind of Oh, of course. That's such a primal thing to all these physical services that we take for granted.
Baer: In your letter you say you expect an energy miracle in the next 15 years. When I read that, I was like, Wow, that's bold. What are you expecting?
Gates: When I say "miracle" I mean a kind of thing like a computer on a chip, or the internet, or the cellphone, that are really quite miraculous. Most people would not have predicted them, and their effect has been very, very dramatic. In medicine, we've had a lot of miracles, and I think all of us expect and count on more.
In the next 30 years, I really do think cancer will largely be a solved problem. I think most of the infectious diseases like malaria - our foundation is very involved - once we're finishing polio eradication, then starting up this malaria eradication, and getting that done as fast as we can.
So on the demand side [for energy], there have been a variety of policies that globally have been way over $50 billion a year of tax credits, raising the price of electricity through things like renewable portfolio standards, so the total amount of money that's gone into sending a price signal to push up demand versus what would happen without it has been gigantic.
On the supply side, for innovation, you'd say, go look at those R&D budgets, and they haven't moved in the last 20 years. In the case of the US - which is the majority of R&D funding across every category you can name: health, energy, whatever - it's been about $5 billion a year from the Department of Energy.
It was kind of a milestone to get this commitment from Paris to get 20 countries, including all of the big ones - US, India, China, France Germany, the UK, Japan - to double their energy R&D budgets over a five-year period.
Finally, assuming that many of those are fulfilled, which won't be easy in tight budget times, we're taking the supply side at the basic research level, because that's where government is absolutely fundamental.
How much further beyond basic research the role of the government should be, you could have a really good debate about it. Almost nobody would say it's zero. But that's where at least we need the private sector to play a big role. That's why we paired this announcement of the R&D [commitment] with the so-called Breakthrough Energy Coalition, which is 27 [major investors] saying, "Hey, we'll put significant money into [energy innovations] when they're ready to spin out probably into startup companies."
When I say "an energy miracle," I mean that there will be some form of energy whose 24 hour cost really is competitive with hydrocarbons given, say, 20 years of learning curve. You invent it, then you look at how much its costs go down over the next 20 years, that it really beats hydrocarbons. You might say, well, aren't people saying that about wind and solar today? Not really. Only in the super-narrow sense that the capital costs per output, when the wind is blowing, is slightly lower.
But the reason it still needs subsidies, and it can't go above a certain percentage, is this intermittency [in availability for wind and solar] - it changes the economics, particularly this requirement that the power company at all times be able to require power. That's large. At the end of the day, natural-gas peakers sit back there and get financed so that the Midwest corridor can have a huge [period] of four to five days of no wind. The peakers are running big time to make that up, because that is the swing piece that can always be turned on. (Editor's note: Natural gas peakers are power plants that run when there's a big, or "peak," demand for energy.)
Baer: You've said it will be the world's poorest who are most affected by climate change. Can you paint a picture of what that will be like?
Gates: We need to get a broader awareness. People say climate change is really bad, but painting that picture of what you're putting at risk.
First of all, there are ecosystems like coral reefs [at risk] through ocean acidification. Those are valuable things that we should protect. But humans - the first big effects will be farmers that live on the edge. Today's weather, they barely get by. Their kids, a high percentage are malnourished, and so if you impose more variable weather and more heat, you're getting more floods, more droughts, and during the germination time, the high heat, most crops...do poorly when there's more heat.
Maize, rice, wheat - all have heat sensitivity. Sorghum is kind of unusual. It can go to very high heats, but it's not as productive in most environments as maize is. So we need to help those poor farmers out.
Over 80% of the poor are people who have small plots of land and grow their own food and they don't grow enough to sell much into the marketplace. So they will be hit hard by the worst in climate. They really get hit hard starting in the 20-year time frame and thereafter.
Then, depending on how quickly you get ocean rise, you have people who live in river deltas [at risk]. Bangladesh is largely a river delta, and the rising sea level means that when storms come in, the human sanitation is backing up, the ability to farm, it's destructive-type situations like you saw in New Orleans with Katrina. You're increasing the frequency of that stuff in low-lying areas fairly dramatically.
Now, if you're rich, you can spend a lot of money, Netherlands-style, and reduce that. But Bangladesh or parts of India, like Calcutta, they just simply won't be able to afford that kind of protection.
Baer: Can billionaires save us in this situation?
Gates: Billionaires should never be responsible for solving problems, because they're not the government.
Billionaires should never be responsible for solving problems, because they're not the government.
The government is there day in and day out, if you want all kids to have education, if you want to run courts, if you want to have an army, if you want to have roads, you've got to have the taxation system that funds everything that you expect.
The only role other than paying their taxes, whatever those are, the only role for philanthropy broadly - of which the rich should give disproportionately - the more, the better - and I think there is a positive trend in that direction - there are certain risk-taking things, like trying out a new type of charter school or funding a new kind of medicine. The government's ability to select scientists and pick things that are fairly strange, because politicians don't like failures. They're only in office a short term, and many of these things take a long time.
For philanthropy, although it's tiny compared to the government, it's 2% of the US economy, which is the largest percentage, other than the Middle East. There are economies like China's economy where it's less than a tenth [of a percent] today, although it is growing, is quite small, because of the notion that the government takes care of everything, and Europe and China, philanthropy has not been nearly of the same scale.
But if you think of global public goods like polio eradication, that kind of risk-taking new approach, philanthropy really does have a role to play there, because government doesn't do R&D about new things naturally as much as it probably should, and so philanthropy's there. That doesn't mean with the day in, day out things that you want to make sure get delivered to everyone that you should create a dependency. It's not big enough and it's not reliable enough.
Baer: To bring it back to the US, does the US have the right political priorities to deal with energy?
Gates: The US spends more on energy R&D than all other countries put together, and I personally consider it quite inadequate. In fact, I would have said we should more than double it, if I thought the absorptive capacity could scale up and if it was actually possible to get to that level. I think given all the different imperatives - getting energy to Africa, security of energy, climate change, that we should be spending half as much as we spend on health, which will get you all the way up to $15 billion - the health people don't like it when things get compared to their number.
The US in some ways has been the best. Who figured out shale gas? Although that wasn't a good thing [for CO2 levels], it was very innovative. It's led to low-cost energy. Who figured out nuclear power? Largely the United States. Once you get past the steam engine, which is mostly British, then the US has been at the center of most of the energy things that have happened.
You say, what are the top 20 universities in the world that do good materials research that might create carbon fibers to do jet stream kites or new magnets that will allow [energy] generation to be done up there and you just bring the electricity down. You either have to bring down rotational energy, which is hard, or you have to have the generator up there and bring down the electricity. Well, putting the generator up there is hard to do because it's too heavy.
Anyway, the US, as in most issues, is the best, has the best capability to lead, and really needs to lead. It doesn't [mean] that other countries won't pick different tacks and emphasize different things. In aggregate, they're almost half of the energy R&D. Europe, China, Japan - it's very important that they come along and contribute to these things.
The US really has to get out in front. We are the biggest per person, by a substantial amount, greenhouse emitters, and we give the most foreign aid, not per person but in absolute. This is another issue where hopefully we will take a long-term approach which, even though we sometimes have a hard time doing that, it's easier for us, as a rich country with this kind of scientific depth, than it is for the poor countries who will suffer the problems.
Bill Gates, flanked by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Barack Obama, at the 2015 World Climate Change Conference.
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London Art Week, Summer 2018 / Painting by Joseph Wright
Posted in Art Market by Editor on July 5, 2018
Joseph Wright of Derby, Portrait of a Young Boy with a Drum, inscribed with the letter ‘R’, ca. 1780, oil on canvas, 28 × 36 inches / 70 × 91 cm
(Courtesy Ben Elwes Fine Art)
Press release for London Art Week, via Art Daily:
London Art Week, Summer 2018
28 June — 6 July 2018
A major rediscovery from the mature period of Joseph Wright of Derby is among many important paintings being unveiled at London Art Week Summer 2018, open now through Friday 6 July at forty galleries across Mayfair and St. James’s. Presented by Ben Elwes Fine Art, the painting by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734–1797) depicts a young boy with a drum and a landscape beyond. It shows the artist’s virtuosity as a masterful and empathetic portrait painter—he excelled at children—and a superb landscape artist. It dates from around 1780, a period, following Wright’s return from an Italian soujourn in 1775, when his art, across genres, brimmed with confidence.
Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art (new LAW participants from Rome) is exhibiting a sensational rediscovery of a work famed in art history circles; a painting by Antonio Canova thought to have been lost for two centuries. In a daring trick played by Canova on the greatest artists in Rome, he presented Self-Portrait of Giorgione to his peers as an original by the revered Venetian 16th-century painter. Whist all acclaimed it as a truth, a year later Canova announced that he himself had painted the portrait as a practical joke.
Maurizio Nobile, from Bologna, presents an extraordinary discovery, a large altar-piece by Gaetano Gandolfi (1734–1802) of The Holy Family and Saint Augustine dated 1761. Scholars were only aware of the existence of the work thanks to a photo published in the monograph dedicated to the painter by D. Biagi Maino (Turin, 1995). For the first time, this painting can be viewed by the public at large.
Further highlights among paintings offered at London Art Week include:
• At Colnaghi: A rarely-seen depiction of Saint Francis by Doménikos Theotokópoulos, known as El Greco (1541–1614). The Stigmatisation of Saint Francis is a powerful and dramatic composition which was first published in 1908, and last seen in public in 1999 at the major show on the artist held at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.
• At Martyn Gregory: A rare view of China by William Daniell RA (1769–1837), the most important rediscovery in Daniell’s oeuvre for fifty years.
• At Robilant+Voena: A rare, signed, full-length male portrait of Antoine de Ville, a military engineer, by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593–c1654) one of the most highly regarded female artists of the Baroque. This work is a very important addition to the few portraits known in the oeuvre of this 17th-century artist who is famed mainly for her powerful depictions of Old Testament heroines, though contemporary sources testify that she was also celebrated for her portraits.
• At The Weiss Gallery: A rare Friesland School early Dutch portrait of a young boy aged three, painted 1603, is one of the earliest examples of a portrait incorporating a kolf club, used to hit a stuffed leather ball in the Dutch game of het kolven, an early form of golf.
« Exhibition | Blast from the Past: Artillery in the War of Independence
Exhibition | Triumph of the Baroque, Painting from 1600 to 1800 »
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We envision a world where students can easily explore careers and find personalized post-secondary educational program options. eQuez helps students learn about careers and get connected to schools and opportunities that align with their interests. We are committed to helping students make smart choices about higher education so they may reach their full potential.
Join us as we empower students in their quest for education.
About2019-04-09T18:26:08+00:00
Margaret FeldmanFounder & CEO
Margaret has earned nearly a quarter of a million dollars in scholarships to fund her education, graduating in three years debt-free from her undergraduate studies. She has paid off over $50,000 in student loan debt from her graduate studies. She established a college advising service, Feldman College Advising, to help other students make smart choices about higher education and has helped students find best-fit schools. Margaret has experience in admissions, career services, and business development. She previously worked in the Business School Admissions Office at the Simon Business School and was on the career strategy team at Social Finance (SoFi). Most recently, Margaret served as the Director of School Sales at Meritize, a new merit-based lender. Margaret holds an MBA from the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester, where she was a recipient of the Early Leader Award and a Gleason Fellow. She also holds a B.S. in Business Administration and Political Science from Elmira College, where she graduated as valedictorian.
Discover and connect with podiatric medical schools.
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City of Grande Prairie wins court battle against anti-abortion bus ads
Postmedia News
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice C.S. Anderson, in her Dec. 22 ruling, dismissed the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform’s contention that the City of Grande Prairie infringed on its right to freedom of speech by rejecting advertisements to go on transit buses. Postmedia, file
The City of Grande Prairie has won a court case brought against it by a pro-life group, which claimed the city disregarded its freedom of expression.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice C.S. Anderson, in her Dec. 22 ruling, dismissed the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform’s (CCBR) contention that the city infringed on its right to freedom of speech as protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by denying to post its pro-life advertisement on transit buses.
“I find the city’s decision to reject this particular ad was reasonable. I find the ad is likely to cause psychological harm to women who have had an abortion or who are considering an abortion. It is also likely to cause fear and confusion among children who may not fully understand what the ad is trying to express … (This ad may cause emotional reactions that could) create a hostile and uncomfortable environment,” wrote Anderson, adding that creating such an environment would go against the city’s objective of having a safe and welcoming transit system.
The ad CCBR submitted to the transit authority shows two fetuses at different stages of development (one at seven weeks and one at 16 weeks) and a blood smear with the caption, “Growing … Growing … Gone. Abortion kills children” and the organization’s web address.
The city rejected CCBR’s advertisement because it would have promoted hatred against “an identifiable class: women who have chosen to exercise their legal right to have an abortion,” according to the judge’s written statement.
In its filing, CCBR was not looking for monetary damages. Rather it only wanted the right to put the ad on city buses. The city has maintained the position that it was only rejecting this particular ad and should CCBR wish to submit another ad it may do so, but the advertisement must comply with the city’s advertising policy that ads that are “reasonably deemed by the city to be immoral, vulgar, disreputable, misleading or offensive to the general public” are not allowed.
Man facing string of impaired charges after Leduc RCMP stop wrong-way... Edmonton property owners see dip in value thanks to slow economy,...
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Wednesday’s Training PT I: The Socratic Method
,philosophy, Running in Circles
I know what happens to me when I stop running. I know all too well. Depression. I don’t feel like doing anything. The thought of doing anything even slightly causes anxiety. But when I’m running, the threatening harsh world is smoothed over and doesn’t seem so scary anymore. It becomes inviting. I feel up to life’s challenges. Exhilarated even.
But what happens when running becomes an obstacle? Just a fix, a state of being I become addicted to. Abused.
I’m making myself a cup of coffee made from yesterday’s steeped grounds. It doesn’t have that same aromatic full-body kick to it, but it’ll do. I just ate a bowlful of millet I spiced up with a left over pack of pepper flakes from Dominos, and fry up my last egg. It fills me up, but I know I’ll be hungry again within the hour. The sun is heating up the day, but I can see a weather front moving in. It’ll be nice to get some rain.
Gusts of wind are blowing erratically. The tarp of my outdoor kitchen is dancing wildly with each blow . Tiny droplets appear on the screen of my computer then disappear as the wind returns the moisture to the air. It’s a beautiful day. Moody. Nice smooth, filtered light making all the green colors pop out vibrantly.
I’m tired. My legs feel heavy from the past two weeks of running. My arms and sides and butt are sore and stiff from paddling and biking. I’ve been going hard with my body, trying to stay fit and in shape for the marathon. It’s under two weeks away. Finally time to taper and recover the muscles. I can’t rest too much, it wouldn’t be good, but I can sense my body desiring to crumple up and take a break from it all. I’ve been going hard on all levels. Not just with my training either.
I’m staying positive. I’m staying focused. I’m building confidence and averaging a job interview a week. My Hilo Ohana has been so supportive. “You can do this!” they say. “You’d be perfect at that job” they remark. Just yesterday I got called in for an interview after only applying the day before. Encouraging. My phone rang while I was walking up to my tent. I almost didn’t answer, too tired to want to talk. But I knew I couldn’t afford not to. 1 hour later I was sitting at the cafe 5 miles away rattling out answers about my personality and skill traits like I had become oh-so used to doing the past 6 months.
6 months. In a few days The summer team for Kure Atoll conservancy will be embarking on their 6 month journey to the atoll, the very same journey I embarked on a year ago, that I returned from 6 months ago. It’s been 6 months. 182 days. Still no job. In some ways I’m actually impressed with myself. I’ve been able to get away with living without a paying wage. That takes finesse I tell yeah, if you don’t have much money to begin with. But it also depresses me. I’m someone who needs to be doing something. I need production in my life. I need to be acheiving. And when I turn around and see that since I’ve returned from the far reaches of the Northwest Hawaiian islands, I see a young man who has not been motivated to work. But I’m too tired for the emotional baggage that comes along with that. Depression is a real downer. A real addiction I tell ya.
So instead I choose to rest my weary bones on this Wednesday, and sink into a reflection I’ve been meaning to return to:
I was sitting with my roommate Taapai. It was dark and chilly out. We just finished our shared meal of Poi and and sautéed greens in coconut milk. As we often do, we were sharing the same physical space but very much involved in our own thoughts; each in our own meditative worlds. Sometimes a bridge is formed between our meditations when one of us feels inspired to share. I spoke up.
“I’ve been feeling depressed.”
“oh yea?”
“Yea. It’s weird though, it feels like I’m coming out of it, like a spell was broken.”
“what broke the spell?”
“I don’t know, it’s hard to say really. Maybe I got fed up feeling that way… I started writing again. And that felt good. I think it was because I was creating something. It felt good to be creating… the depression, I wasn’t doing anything, and I didn’t want to do anything.”
“Depression. It’s an addiction.”
His statement caught me off guard. I had to pause and process it, but I couldn’t grasp the concept behind it. “How do you mean?” I asked.
“Look at it this way,” He leans in. He’s got my attention, “emotions are different states of being. When you are feeling an emotion, your body or psyche is desiring a certain state of being. Otherwise, that emotion wouldn’t exist, right? At first glance, you would think that being sad is not something anyone wants to be. But then why does that emotion exist?”
“Oh I see. you’re saying that all the emotional states exist for a reason: to fulfill a certain state of being. Being sad is as necessary of a state of being as being happy. Our psyche desires certain emotions to fulfill a state of being that is necessary in that place and time in our lives.” I’m a quick conceptual learner.
“Yes. you got it. But what happens when we feel an emotion that won’t go away? Like depression. It’s chronic. You feel depressed. You go to bed feeling depressed, you wake up and you’re still depressed. This is when your psyche becomes addicted to that emotion. It’s craving something, trying to fulfill something. It’s stuck in a self-fulfilling pattern.”
“hmm I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
“I mean when you say you were depressed, you’re psyche was addicted to being sad. It was keeping you in that same state, with no end in sight.”
“But it did end.”
“Yeah eventually. But why did it end?”
“I got tired of feeling that way.”
“okay you got tired of feeling that way, but did feeling sick and tired of being depressed make it go away on it’s own?”
“no.. I had to do something.”
“Exactly. You only became aware that you were depressed. That awareness alone did not change your state of emotional desire. You had to force yourself to break out of it, right?”
“Yeah I guess so, in a way. In the only way I felt I could, and that was to write about the depression.”
“Right. So somehow while your psyche was still in that state of depression, addicted to it like someone is addicted alcohol, you saw yourself in a different light, and you wanted to get there, but you had to somehow break this immediate feeling you were stuck in… and you did this by – what did you say – writing about it?”
“Yeah I got out my computer and started typing away about how pathetic my situation was, and when I was creating those words I was then immersed in the activity of creating a story, and I looked back on my words and saw how that actually sounded good, and next thing I knew I was in this state of being satisfied by what I had just created. It was like I had dislodged the depressive emotion and replaced it with something else. All of a sudden I was no longer desiring to be sad and depressed, I was desiring to feel good from creating something of quality.”
“Yup. you got it. You see, our emotions are as much of a desire as the substance in our lives we consume to feel a certain way. You can become addicted to feeling bad just as much as you can become addicted to feeling good. You can become addicted to being alone or become addicted to being among people. Neither is right or wrong. It’s just a state of being in which you are desiring.
“In this world, this life, our entire existence is made up of desires. And society judges which desires are deemed good and which ones evil. Religion loves to decide this for us. But in truth, it is the very act of desiring that causes all conflicts. People desire control, people desire clean air, people desire happiness, people desire sex, people desire war, people desire peace, people desire to love, people desire solitude and on and on… we come together and we share our desires with each other, we find those that share the same interests with us, but those interests are just desires. We relate with our desires and if there is enough of us who relate, those desires become a collective desire,a social movement in which all who participate in that movement are fulfilled by its cause. But one desire always conflicts with another, by definition. If we desire to be happy, than we cannot be sad. But sad exists for a time and a place in our lives.”
“yeah I suppose you’re right… I don’t really want to believe that though. I want to believe that there is always some unifying truth, like on a spiritual level, that drives our motives transcendent of desire. Desire just seems so primal to me.”
“Well there is a unifying truth of course, but it exists outside the plane of our physical reality. That’s what spirituality is… it’s that very unifying force that directs us as physical beings towards righteousness. But we often confuse the morals and ethics taught to us from an external source with the divinity that speaks through us; the internal source.”
“So what are you saying, that a heroin addict’s desire for a dangerous drug should keep on desiring heroin? That they are actually going through with a spiritual fulfillment?”
“No you misunderstand what I’m trying to say. But I can see how you came to that conclusion. What I am saying is that all desires – whether it is that person’s addiction to heroin, or whether it is that other person’s addiction to feeling sad – all those desires are dictated by the very root source of our physical existence: emotions. That in fact, our whole physical selves is directed by our emotions; what we feel in turn motivates how we act, or do not act. This is the very essence of being alive in our plane of reality. Acting bodies of life influencing one another. Every thing else is secondary to those emotions. But emotions are secondary to the collective spirit we all share, what people might call God. It is when we align our emotional state with that of God then we are not acting out of our personal selfish desires, but out of a deeper soulful place. You may still feel sorrow or overwhelming joy either way but those emotional states are no longer full-filling themselves, they are full-filling something else. something greater than yourself.”
“Ok wait, your saying that if I go out and call people to encourage them to vote for say – Bernie Sanders, I’m really just doing that for my own selfish needs?”
“Yes, in a way.”
“But I don’t agree with that. I believe it would be selfish if I just worried about my own vote, or didn’t vote at all.”
“Well yes those would be selfish too.”
“But by trying to get more people involved and voting for Bernie Sanders, and sacrificing my own personal agenda because I believe in this movement in our country, isn’t that a noble cause? Isn’t that fulfilling something greater than my own emotional needs or desires?”
“It is a noble cause because you and the people you surround yourself with believe that. It only seems like a selfless act because you are participating in a collective movement. But like I said before, if enough of the same personal desires come together in mass, then it becomes a collective desire: the desire for a political revolution, the desire for free education, for universal health care, for tax revenue to be distributed equally among the american people through social services; whatever it may be that all of you stand in solidarity for.”
“But how can that be an addiction? I believe in these things because I see a lot of people suffering unnecessarily, and their suffering because of other peoples desire for power and money and control. This whole political movement if anything is a movement away from desires.”
“So is it a spiritual revolution then?”
“I don’t know. maybe. I don’t think people see it that way. Most people think spirituality should be separate from politics or government.”
“Then what’s guiding the politics of a people?”
“Well the people are! Moral principles, economic policies, cultural expectations.”
“Let me ask you something. Where did you get your morals? How do you decide between right and wrong?”
Like many of the stimulating conversations between me in Taapai, this one was evolving fast, like a young tree flowering for the first time in its life. I wasn’t expecting such a philosophical discussion, but I was so very intrigued by all of this, more infatuated with the engagement our conversation was creating than actually taking a stand point on any single argument. We were arguing in a sense, but we weren’t arguing to prove a point, or maybe we were, but we were doing so more to arrive at some point that lay ahead of us. The conversation had a life of its own, and we were the breath, the air or substance giving it life.
I thought about his abrupt question – about where do my morals come from- and was beginning to understand what he was saying this whole time. I thought about my last blog post about being raised atheist but still indoctrinated with christian values; how we are all just raised to think and act in a way that is best suited for our environment – whether those years of development were influenced by our parents, or someone else, or some events. Don’t leave your hand over the fire, it will burn you. I learned that. But I also learned not to fear fire because of it. I learned to admire it, worship, see it as symbolic as a giver and taker of life. A source of warmth and safety and protection. A source of danger and death. A symbol of origin. A symbol of creation. Like our Sun. The giver of life. Were these lessons in life shaping my morals? I somehow sensed through these lessons that I was a single being participating in a greater act of life on this planet in this universe, and I was learning this as I exposed myself more and more to Nature and it’s complex diversity of organized and cooperating life.
But what of my moral compass? How do I distinguish between good and evil? How do I as a conscious self-acting agent make decisions for myself to better my life? And is that any different than how we do that as a Society? I meditated on the question in silence after Taapai asked it. It was the first gap in our conversation since it started. A welcomed one. I needed time to reflect on all that was said.
to be continued…. Wednesday’s Training PT II: Always Have a Plan B
March 9, 2016 March 9, 2016 jonerikjardine Tagged Bernie Sanders, depression, desires and addictions, dinner conversations, emotion, God, Hawaii, philosphy, running, social movements, socratic method, spirituality 1 Comment
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» World Revolution no.290, Dec/Jan 2005/06
Zimmerwald Conference 1915: Revolutionaries against the imperialist war
Submitted by World Revolution on 5 December, 2005 - 21:28
90 years ago, in September 1915, the first international socialist conference was held at Zimmerwald, not much more than a year after the start of the First World War. In discussing it, we are not just reopening a page in the history of the workers’ movement, but reviving workers’ memories about the meaning of the conference. Faced with the criminal butchery of the European proletariat, Zimmerwald reaffirmed that the working class response to imperialist war is internationalism, the struggle against exploitation and war in all countries.
Today, while the horrors of the trenches are not hidden from us and the last of the old soldiers are encouraged to tell us what they went through, this war, like all the other wars that succeeded it in capitalism’s epoch of decline, is still ‘commemorated’, celebrated with poppies and Remembrance Days organised by the very state which sent so many workers to be slaughtered at the front. We are still told that our duty is to ‘defend our country’ and to support it in its present and future wars. And the response of revolutionaries today can only be what it was in 1915 -that the workers have no country, and that patriotism is diametrically opposed to the international interests of the working class.
The impact of the start of the war on the proletariat and workers’ organisations
Zimmerwald was the first proletarian reaction to the first world butchery, and its growing echo gave hope to millions of workers submerged by the bloody horror of the war. The start of the war on August 4th 1914 was an unprecedented catastrophe for the workers’ movement. In fact, alongside the bourgeoisie’s nationalist ideological barrage, the decisive element in the mobilisation for this vile slaughter was the treachery of the main workers’ social democratic parties. Their parliamentary fractions voted for war credits in the name of the Sacred Union, urging masses of workers to kill each other in the interests of the imperialist powers, resorting to the most abject chauvinist hysteria. The unions banned all strikes from the beginning of the war. The Second International, which had been the pride of the working class, was consumed in the flames of the world war, after the largest of its parties, the French Socialist and above all German Social Democracy, rallied shamefully to the war. Although infected with reformism and opportunism, the Second International, under the pressure of its revolutionary minorities, particularly the German left and the Bolsheviks, had previously made a number of pronouncements against the threat of war. In 1907, at the Stuttgart Congress, at the Basle Congress in 1912, and right up to the last days of July 1914, it raised its voice against the militaristic propaganda and imperialist designs of the ruling class. So several decades of work and effort were annihilated in one blow. But, having fought opportunism within the Second International and its parties for some years, the revolutionary minority remained loyal and intransigent on the principle of proletarian internationalism, and was able to resist and continue the struggle. Among them:
- in Germany, ‘Die Internationale’ group, constituted in August 1914 around Luxemburg and Liebknecht, the ‘Lichtsrahlen’, the Bremen Left;
- in Russia and among émigrés, the Bolsheviks;
- in Holland, the Tribunist Party of Gorter and Pannekoek;
- in France, some of the revolutionary syndicalists around Rosmer and Monatte;
- in Poland, the SDKPIL
- in Britain, the Socialist Labour Party, John Mclean, Sylvia Pankhurst and others.
Another current was also developing: hesitant, centrist, oscillating between an attitude of calling for revolution and a pacifist position (the Mensheviks around Martov, the Italian Socialist Party), some of whom wanted to renew their ties with the social-chauvinist traitors. The revolutionary movement was able, through the confrontation of positions, to win new forces to its struggle against the imperialist war, and to prepare the conditions for the inevitable split in the socialist parties and the formation of a new International.
The Zimmerwald Conference
The task of the hour was thus to encourage the international regroupment of revolutionaries, and contacts were immediately made between the different internationalists who had broken with social-patriotism. The struggle against the war was given impetus in Germany first of all, when on 2nd December Liebknecht was the only deputy to openly vote against war credits. In the months to come his example was followed by other deputies. Working class activity against the war was developing, among the rank and file of the workers’ parties but also in the factories and in the streets. The hideous reality of the war with its slaughter and death and mutilation at the front, the development of poverty at the rear, would open the eyes of more and more workers and bring them out of the fog of nationalist intoxication. In March 1915, in Germany, there was the first demonstration against the war, by women mobilised for arms production. In October there were bloody confrontations between the police and demonstrators. In November of the same year nearly 15,000 people marched against the war in Berlin. Class movements against the war also appeared in other countries: Austria, Britain and France. This renewal in class struggle, alongside the activity of revolutionaries who distributed propaganda against the war in very dangerous conditions, accelerated the holding of the Zimmerwald Conference (near Berne) where, from 5 to 8 September 1915, 37 delegates from 12 European countries met. This Conference symbolised the reawakening of the international proletariat, which, until then, had been traumatised by the impact of the war. It was a decisive step on the road to the Russian revolution and the foundation of the Third International. The Manifesto it issued was the fruit of a compromise between the different tendencies. In fact the centrists were in favour of putting the end of the war in a pacifist framework without referring to the necessity for revolution. They were strongly opposed by the left, represented by the ‘Die Internationale’ group, the ISD and the Bolsheviks, who made the link between war and revolution the central question. Lenin criticised the pacifist tone and the absence of means for opposing the war expressed in the Manifesto: “The slogan of peace is not at all revolutionary. It can only take a revolutionary character when it is linked to our argument for a revolutionary tactic, when it goes along with a call for revolution, a revolutionary protest against the government of the country in which one is a citizen, against the imperialists of one’s own country” (‘Contre le Courant, vol 1, translated from the French). In other words, the slogan for the imperialist epoch must be “turn the imperialist war into the civil war”. Despite these weaknesses the Left, without abandoning its criticisms, considered this Manifesto a as “step forward towards a real struggle against opportunism, towards a rupture with it” (Vol.21 ‘The First Step’). The Zimmerwald Manifesto created an enormous stir in the working class and among the soldiers. With the strong recovery in the class struggle internationally, the intransigent struggle of the left to split the centrists, the second international conference held in Kienthal in March 1916 was clearly more orientated to the left and marked a clear break from pacifist phraseology.
The considerable widening of the class struggle in 1917 in Germany, in Italy, and above all the outbreak of the Russian revolution, the first step in the world revolution, would make the Zimmerwald movement obsolete, having exhausted all its potential. From then on the only perspective was the creation of a new International which, taking account of the slow maturation of revolutionary consciousness, the formation of sizeable communist parties and the expectation of a revolution in Germany, took place a year and a half later in 1919.
So, despite its weaknesses, the Zimmerwald Movement played a decisive role in the history of the revolutionary movement: as a symbol of proletarian internationalism, as a proletarian standard in its war against the war and for the revolution. It truly represented a bridge between the Second and the Third International.
The lessons for today
One of the important lessons of Zimmerwald, which remains valid in our period of the incredible exacerbation of imperialist conflicts, must be the reaffirmation of the importance of the question of war for the proletariat. The struggle against the bourgeoisie’s militaristic schemes is an integral part of the class struggle, in the same way as the struggle against exploitation. The history of the workers’ movement shows that the working class has always considered war a calamity as it is the principal victim of it. War is not an aberration in capitalism, especially in its decadent period. It is part of its functioning and has become a permanent aspect of its way of life. The reformist illusion of a capitalism without war is deadly for the proletariat. Caught in their contradictions, in an economic crisis which they cannot escape due to the world wide saturation of solvent markets, the different national fractions of the bourgeoisie have no choice but to tear each other to pieces to keep their share of the cake, to take that of others, or to win the strategic positions necessary to their domination. In this sense, to pretend that we can struggle for an improvement in our living conditions or for peace, without affecting the foundations of capitalist power, is a mystification, an impossibility. Without the perspective of a massive, revolutionary political confrontation, there is no real struggle against capitalist war. Pacifism is a reactionary ideology used to channel the proletariat’s discontent and revolt, provoked by war, in order to reduce it to impotence. Similarly, for workers to fall into the trap of defending the democratic bourgeoisie, making common cause with their exploiters and supporting the bellicose campaigns of the ruling class, is to fall head first into the warlike dynamic of decomposing capitalism, which goes from ‘local’ war to ‘local’ war and will end up putting the survival of humanity at risk. The working class struggle for its own interests, which cannot go forward without developing the perspective of overthrowing this society and replacing it with communism, is the only possible struggle against war. SB
‹ The problems of the Blair government are the problems of the whole ruling class up World Revolution - 2006 ›
World Revolution no.290, Dec/Jan 2005/06
A short history of British torture
Chaos spreads through the Middle East
Correspondence from Iran: Why new trade unions would not be a step forward
East Timor 1975: How Britain hid a massacre
Outsourcing illustrates the laws of capitalist exploitation
Pensions crisis shows capitalism has no future (2005)
The problems of the Blair government are the problems of the whole ruling class
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For other uses, see Crucifix (disambiguation).
Crucifixion of Christ at the winged triptych at the Church of the Teutonic Order in Vienna, Austria. Woodcarvings by an anonymous master; polychromy by Jan van Wavere, Mechelen, signed 1520. This altarpiece was originally made for St. Mary's Church, Gdańsk, and came to Vienna in 1864.
A crucifix (from Latin cruci fixus meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is an image of Jesus on the cross, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the corpus (Latin for "body").[1][2]
The crucifix is a principal symbol for many groups of Christians, and one of the most common forms of the Crucifixion in the arts. It is especially important in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church, but is also used in the Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian, and Eastern Catholic Churches, as well as by the Lutheran and Anglican Churches.[3][4] The symbol is less common in churches of other Protestant denominations, which prefer to use a cross without the figure of Jesus (the corpus). The crucifix emphasizes Jesus' sacrifice — his death by crucifixion, which Christians believe brought about the redemption of mankind. Most crucifixes portray Jesus on a Latin cross, rather than any other shape, such as a Tau cross or a Coptic cross.
Western crucifixes usually have a three-dimensional corpus, but in Eastern Orthodoxy Jesus' body is normally painted on the cross, or in low relief. Strictly speaking, to be a crucifix, the cross must be three-dimensional, but this distinction is not always observed. An entire painting of the Crucifixion of Jesus including a landscape background and other figures is not a crucifix either.
Large crucifixes high across the central axis of a church are known by the Old English term rood. By the late Middle Ages these were a near-universal feature of Western churches, but are now very rare. Modern Roman Catholic churches often have a crucifix above the altar on the wall; for the celebration of Mass, the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church requires that, "on or close to the altar there is to be a cross with a figure of Christ crucified".[5]
DescriptionEdit
A crucifix in the chancel of a Lutheran church.
The standard, four-pointed Latin crucifix consists of an upright post or stipes and a single crosspiece to which the sufferer's arms were nailed. There may also be a short projecting nameplate, showing the letters INRI (Greek: INBI). The Russian Orthodox crucifix usually has an additional third crossbar, to which the feet are nailed, and which is angled upward toward the penitent thief Saint Dismas (to the viewer's left) and downward toward the impenitent thief Gestas (to the viewer's right). The corpus of Eastern crucifixes is normally a two-dimensional or low relief icon that shows Jesus as already dead, his face peaceful and somber. They are rarely three-dimensional figures as in the Western tradition, although these may be found where Western influences are strong, but are more typically icons painted on a piece of wood shaped to include the double-barred cross and perhaps the edge of Christ's hips and halo, and no background. More sculptural small crucifixes in metal relief are also used in Orthodoxy (see gallery examples), including as pectoral crosses and blessing crosses.
Western crucifixes may show Christ dead or alive, the presence of the spear wound in his ribs traditionally indicating that he is dead. In either case his face very often shows his suffering. In Orthodoxy he has normally been shown as dead since around the end of the period of Byzantine Iconoclasm.[6] Eastern crucifixes have Jesus' two feet nailed side by side, rather than crossed one above the other, as Western crucifixes have shown them since around the 13th century. The crown of thorns is also generally absent in Eastern crucifixes, since the emphasis is not on Christ's suffering, but on his triumph over sin and death. The "S"-shaped position of Jesus' body on the cross is a Byzantine innovation of the late 10th century,[7] though also found in the German Gero Cross of the same date. Probably more from Byzantine influence, it spread elsewhere in the West, especially to Italy, by the Romanesque period, though it was more usual in painting than sculpted crucifixes. It's in Italy that the emphasis was put on Jesus' suffering and realistic details, during a process of general humanization of Christ favored by the Franciscan order. During the 13th century the suffering Italian model (Christus patiens) triumphed over the traditional Byzantine one (Christus gloriosus) anywhere in Europe also due to the works of artists such as Giunta Pisano and Cimabue. Since the Renaissance the "S"-shape is generally much less pronounced. Eastern Christian blessing crosses will often have the Crucifixion depicted on one side, and the Resurrection on the other, illustrating the understanding of Orthodox theology that the Crucifixion and Resurrection are two intimately related aspects of the same act of salvation.
Another, symbolic, depiction shows a triumphant Christ (Latin: Christus triumphans), clothed in robes, rather than stripped as for His execution, with arms raised, appearing to rise up from the cross, sometimes accompanied by "rays of light", or an aureole encircling His Body. He may be robed as a prophet, crowned as a king, and vested in a stole as Great High Priest.
On some crucifixes a skull and crossbones are shown below the corpus, referring to Golgotha (Calvary), the site at which Jesus was crucified, which the Gospels say means in Hebrew "the place of the skull."[8] Medieval tradition held that it was the burial-place of Adam and Eve, and that the cross of Christ was raised directly over Adam's skull, so many crucifixes manufactured in Catholic countries still show the skull and crossbones below the corpus.
Very large crucifixes have been built, the largest being the Cross in the Woods in Michigan, with a 31 feet (9.4 m) high statue.[9]
UsageEdit
Prayer in front of a crucifix, which is seen as a sacramental, is often part of devotion for Christians, especially those worshipping in a church, also privately. The person may sit, stand, or kneel in front of the crucifix, sometimes looking at it in contemplation, or merely in front of it with head bowed or eyes closed. During the Middle Ages small crucifixes, generally hung on a wall, became normal in the personal cells or living quarters first of monks, then all clergy, followed by the homes of the laity, spreading down from the top of society as these became cheap enough for the average person to afford. Most towns had a large crucifix erected as a monument, or some other shrine at the crossroads of the town. By the 19th century displaying a crucifix somewhere in the general reception areas of a house became typical of Catholic homes. Richer Catholics could afford a room set aside for a chapel.
Roman Catholic (both Eastern and Western), Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican and Lutheran Christians generally use the crucifix in public religious services. They believe use of the crucifix is in keeping with the statement by Saint Paul in Scripture, "we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God".[10]
In the West altar crosses and processional crosses began to be crucifixes in the 11th century, which became general around the 14th century, as they became cheaper. The Roman Rite requires that "either on the altar or near it, there is to be a cross, with the figure of Christ crucified upon it, a cross clearly visible to the assembled people. It is desirable that such a cross should remain near the altar even outside of liturgical celebrations, so as to call to mind for the faithful the saving Passion of the Lord."[11] The requirement of the altar cross was also mentioned in pre-1970 editions of the Roman Missal,[12] though not in the original 1570 Roman Missal of Pope Pius V.[13] The Rite of Funerals says that the Gospel Book, the Bible, or a cross (which will generally be in crucifix form) may be placed on the coffin for a Requiem Mass, but a second standing cross is not to be placed near the coffin if the altar cross can be easily seen from the body of the church.[14]
Eastern Christian liturgical processions called crucessions[citation needed] include a cross or crucifix at their head. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the crucifix is often placed above the iconostasis in the church. In the Russian Orthodox Church a large crucifix ("Golgotha") is placed behind the Holy Table (altar). During Matins of Good Friday, a large crucifix is taken in procession to the centre of the church, where it is venerated by the faithful. Sometimes the soma (corpus) is removable and is taken off the crucifix at Vespers that evening during the Gospel lesson describing the Descent from the Cross. The empty cross may then remain in the centre of the church until the Paschal vigil (local practices vary). The blessing cross which the priest uses to bless the faithful at the dismissal will often have the crucifix on one side and an icon of the Resurrection of Jesus on the other, the side with the Resurrection being used on Sundays and during Paschaltide, and the crucifix on other days.
Exorcist Gabriele Amorth has stated that the crucifix is one of the most effective means of averting or opposing demons. In folklore, it is believed to ward off vampires, incubi, succubi, and other evils.
Modern iconoclasts have used an inverted (upside-down) crucifix when showing disdain for Jesus Christ or the Catholic Church which believes in his divinity.[15] According to Christian tradition, Saint Peter was martyred by being crucified upside-down.[16]
ControversiesEdit
Unlike many other Protestants, Lutherans retained the use of the crucifix, Martin Luther church in Oberwiesenthal, Germany
Protestant ReformationEdit
The Lutheran Churches retained the use of the crucifix, "justifying "their continued use of medieval crucifixes with the same arguments employed since the Middle Ages, as is evident from the example of the altar of the Holy Cross in the Cistercian church of Doberan."[17] Martin Luther did not object to them, and this was among his differences with Andreas Karlstadt as early as 1525. At the time of the Reformation, Luther retained the crucifix in the Lutheran Church and they remain the center of worship in Lutheran parishes across Europe.[18] In the United States, however, Lutheranism came under the influence of Calvinism, and the plain cross came to be used in many churches.[19] In contrast to the practice of the Lutheran Churches, the early Reformed Churches rejected the use of the crucifix, and indeed the unadorned cross, along with other traditional religious imagery, as idolatrous.[20] Calvin, considered to be the father of the Reformed Church, was violently opposed to both cross and crucifix.[21] In England, the Royal Chapels of Elizabeth I were most unusual among local churches in retaining crucifixes, following the Queen's conservative tastes. These disappeared under her successor, James I, and their brief re-appearance in the early 1620s when James' heir was seeking a Spanish marriage was the subject of rumour and close observation by both Catholics and Protestants; when the match fell through they disappeared.[22]
ModernEdit
In 2005, a mother accused her daughter's school in Derby, England, of discriminating against Christians after the teenager was suspended for refusing to take off a crucifix necklace.[23]
A British prison ordered a multi-faith chapel to remove all crucifixes "in case it offends Muslims."[24]
In 2008 in Spain, a local judge ordered crucifixes removed from public schools to settle a decades-old dispute over whether crucifixes should be displayed in public buildings in a non-confessional state.[25]
A 2008 Quebec government-commissioned report recommended that the crucifix of the National Assembly be removed to achieve greater pluralism, but the Liberal government was supported in its refusal by a consensus of most legislators.[26]
On 18 March 2011, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the Lautsi v. Italy case, that the requirement in Italian law that crucifixes be displayed in classrooms of state schools does not violate the European Convention on Human Rights.[27][28][29] Crucifixes are common in most other Italian official buildings, including courts of law.
On 24 March 2011, the Constitutional Court of Peru ruled that the presence of crucifixes in courts of law does not violate the secular nature of the state.[30]
A handheld crucifix
A crucifix in a church, with votive candles.
Russian Orthodox crucifix, brass
Russian Orthodox crucifix, 19th - early 20th century
Orthodox crucifix in Vilnius
Crucifix, ca. 1795-1862, Brooklyn Museum
Lutheran crucifix with the portrait of Luther at Saint George's church in Immeldorf, Lichtenau
A large crucifix at Gereja Santa, Jakarta, Indonesia
A post–World War II crucifix in a courtroom in Nuremberg, Germany
A crucifix overlooks a fountain at the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham
Pulpit crucifix at the Canterbury Cathedral
Altar of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford
Christianity portal
Cloisters Cross
Christian symbolism
Crucifer
Crucifix Decrees
Crucifixion in the arts
Feast of the Cross
Holy Face of Lucca
Jesus, King of the Jews
Master of the Blue Crucifixes
Papal ferula
^ Rufolf Distelberger, Western Decorative Arts (National Gallery of Art 1993), p. 15
^ Paul F. Bradshaw, The New SCM Dictionary of Liturgy and Worship (Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, 2002)
^ Our Savior's Lutheran Church, "Sanctuary and Chapel"
^ St. John's Lutheran Church of Topeka, KS, "The Altar Crucifix" Archived 19 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
^ General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 117.
^ Schiller, Gertrud, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. II, 1972 (English trans from German), p. 96, Lund Humphries, London, ISBN 0-85331-324-5
^ Schiller, 98-99
^ In fact this is clearly Aramaic rather than Hebrew. 'Gûlgaltâ' is the Aramaic for 'skull'. The name appears in all of the gospels except Luke, which calls the place simply Kranion 'the Skull', with no Aramaic. See Aramaic of Jesus
^ "Welcome to the Worlds Largest Crucifixion". Michigan Interactive. Michigan Interactive. Retrieved 30 June 2010.
^ 1 Cor 1:23-24
^ General Instruction of the Roman Missal, 308
^ Rubricae generales Missalis, XX
^ Manlio Sodi, Achille Maria Triacca, Missale Romanum: Editio Princeps (1570) (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 1998 ISBN 88-209-2547-8)
^ Rite of Funerals, 38
^ Lucifer Rising: A Book of Sin, Devil Worship and Rock n' Roll (Nemesis, 1994)
^ Kramer, Heinrich and Sprenger, James (1486), Summers, Montague (translator - 1928), The Malleus Maleficarum
^ Marquardt, Janet T.; Jordan, Alyce A. (14 January 2009). Medieval Art and Architecture after the Middle Ages. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 9781443803984.
^ Lyons, Mary Ann; O'Connor, Thomas (2010). The Ulster Earls and Baroque Europe: Refashioning Irish Identities, 1600-1800. Four Courts Press. p. 172. |access-date= requires |url= (help)
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013. CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
^ Obelkevich, James; Roper, Lyndal (5 November 2013). Disciplines of Faith: Studies in Religion, Politics and Patriarchy. Routledge. p. 548. ISBN 9781136820793. The Calvinizers sought to remove the crucifix as idolatrous. There was considerable continuity, certainly, between the Lutheran use of the crucifix and the Catholic.
^ John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Retrieved 12 November 2015. Of what use, then, were the erection in churches of so many crosses of wood and stone, silver and gold,
^ Tyacke, Nicholas in Lake, Peter and Questier, Michael C.; Conformity and orthodoxy in the English church, c. 1560-1660, Boydell & Brewer, 2000, ISBN 0-85115-797-1, ISBN 978-0-85115-797-9, pp. 29–32
^ The Telegraph
^ Prison chapel not to have a crucifix
^ Monster and Critics
^ Press release of the European Court of Human Rights
^ Full text of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
^ Summary of the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights
^ Peru court upholds presence of crucifix in public places
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crucifixes.
Archæology of the Cross and Crucifix
The Cross and Crucifix in Liturgy
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Crucifix&oldid=897962059"
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Planning granted for Abermule Business Park plans
Plans to develop a vacant north Powys business park to provide business units and a recycling bulking facility have been given the go-ahead, the county council has announced.
A planning application to develop Abermule Business Park, near Newtown, was approved by Powys County Council's Planning Committee last week (Thursday, August 2).
The council will now develop the business park and construct six business units as well as a recycling bulking facility after it purchased the 1.7 hectare site from the Welsh Government last year.
The site already has the basic infrastructure in place after construction work was carried out several years ago as part of the Severn Valley Regeneration Programme, which was funded by European Regional Development Funding and the Welsh Government.
Development works are likely to start early in 2019 with the council intending to develop the park in a number of phases.
The six businesses units planned for the site will be for local businesses to establish themselves and expand while the recycling bulking facility will be for materials that are collected from households and will be bulked up at site before being transported to re-processors.
Cllr Phyl Davies, Cabinet Member for Highways, Recycling and Assets, said: "I'm delighted that this application has been approved.
"As part of our vision for Powys, we want to be an open and enterprising council that actively promotes and supports a vibrant economy. Yesterday's decision will allow us to develop this well-located site so that we can provide opportunities for existing businesses to expand and attract new enterprises to the county.
"The recycling bulking facility is essential to maximise the efficiency of the collection vehicles and ensure the quality of the material we collect as we continue to increase our recycling rates in line with the Welsh Government's targets. This site is ideally located between the two main population centres of north Powys."
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New! Download Unionpedia on your Android™ device!
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Managua is the capital and largest city of Nicaragua, and the center of eponymous department. [1]
269 relations: Academic degree, Agroforestry, Air Madrid, Alajuela, Albert Gamse, América Economía, American University (Nicaragua), Aminta Granera, Amsterdam, Anastasio Somoza García, Ancient footprints of Acahualinca, Andorra la Vella, Anthropology, Archaeology, Arecaceae, Argentine cuisine, Art Deco, Art museum, Association football, Asunción, Atlanta, Augusto C. Sandino International Airport, Augusto César Sandino, Avianca El Salvador, Baluster, Banco de América Central, Banco de la Producción, Bar, Baseball, Belgians, Best Western, Bilingual education, Bluefields, Bogotá, Boutique, Boxing, Brazilian cuisine, Buenos Aires, Business school, Campus, Canal 10 (Nicaragua), Canal 15 (Nicaragua), Capital city, Caracas, Carlos Fonseca, Carnival, Carrara marble, Casino, Catholic University Redemptoris Mater, Central America, ..., Central American University (Managua), Cherub, Chimichurri, Chinese cuisine, Chinese Nicaraguans, Choluteca, Choluteca, Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, City limits, Ciudad Sandino, College, Computer, Computer science, Construction, Corn Islands, Crowdsourcing, Crowne Plaza, Cultural capital, Cultural center, Culture of Nicaragua, Curitiba, Daisy Torres, Daniel Ortega, Dennis Martínez National Stadium, Department store, Departments of Nicaragua, Deputy mayor, Deutscher Wetterdienst, DINA S.A., Educational accreditation, El Crucero, El Güegüense, El Nuevo Diario, El Salvador, Electronics, Ernesto Cardenal, Eternal flame, Expatriate, FERISTSA, Film festival, Flora, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Freddy Martin, French cuisine, French people, Gallo pinto, Gang, General National Archive (Nicaragua), German cuisine, German Nicaraguan, Government of Nicaragua, Granada, Nicaragua, Guatemala City, Guy Lombardo, Harvard University, Havana, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, History, History of the Jews of Nicaragua, Holiday Inn, Hurricane Mitch, Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Managua, INCAE Business School, Indian cuisine, InterContinental, Irving Fields, Italian cuisine, Italians, Japanese cuisine, Juan Bautista Sacasa, Kay Kyser, Köppen climate classification, La Costeña (airline), La Paz, La Prensa (Managua), Lagoon, Lake Managua, Lake Nicaragua, Latin pop, León, Nicaragua, LGBT community, LGBT rights in Nicaragua, Lima, Lisbon, List of shopping malls in Nicaragua, Literacy, Los Angeles, Madrid, Major League Baseball, Mammoth, Managua Department, Managua, Nicaragua (song), Mangue language, Marketplace, Mayor, Melicoccus bijugatus, Mercedes-Benz, Merengue music, Mestizo, Metres above sea level, Metrocentro Managua, Metropolitan area, Mexican cuisine, Mexico City, Miami, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Military of Nicaragua, Miss Nicaragua, Monorail, Montevideo, Movie theater, Mozarabic art and architecture, Municipalities of Nicaragua, Muses, Nacatamal, Nahuatl, National Agrarian University (Nicaragua), National Autonomous University of Nicaragua, National Autonomous University of Nicaragua–León, National Opposition Union, National Police of Nicaragua, National symbols of Nicaragua, National University of Engineering (Nicaragua), Natural history museum, Neoclassical architecture, Nicaragüense de Aviación, Nicaragua, Nicaragua National Institute of Information Development, Nicaraguan cuisine, Nicaraguan Revolution, Nightclub, Nindirí, Masaya, North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, Numismatics, Old Cathedral of Managua, Ometepe, OpenStreetMap, Paleo-Indians, Palo de Mayo, Pan-American Highway, Panama City, Parade, Parmalat, Peru, Petroglyph, Plaza Inter, Political prisoner, Polytechnic University of Nicaragua, Pontoon (boat), Pop music, Port, Pre-Columbian era, Quito, Real estate, Retirement, Reus, Ricardo Legorreta, Rio de Janeiro, Rock music, Roystonea regia, Rubén Darío, Rubén Darío National Theatre, Russians, Saint Dominic, Salsa (dance), Salvador Allende, San Carlos, Río San Juan, San José, Costa Rica, San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Salvador, Sandinista National Liberation Front, Santiago, Santo Domingo, Secondary education, Seismology, Shopping mall, Shrub, Sister city, Somoza family, South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region, Spanish cuisine, Spanish language, Spondias purpurea, State of Palestine, Supermarket, Taipei, Taiwan, Tamale, Taxicab, Teaching English as a second or foreign language, Tegucigalpa, Telefónica, Telenica (Canal 8), Televicentro (Canal 2), The Wall Street Journal, Theatre, Thomas More Universitas, Ticuantepe, Tip-Top Restaurant, Tipitapa, Tiscapa Lagoon Natural Reserve, Tourist attraction, Trade, Tropical climate, Tropical savanna climate, Turkish people, Unión Fenosa, Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities, United Nations Development Programme, University, University of Commercial Sciences, Valencia, Violeta Chamorro, Walmart, Wastewater treatment, Wheelchair, White people, Zapatera, 1931 Nicaragua earthquake, 1972 Nicaragua earthquake. Expand index (219 more) » « Shrink index
An academic degree is a qualification awarded to students upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, normally at a college or university.
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Agroforestry is a land use management system in which trees or shrubs are grown around or among crops or pastureland.
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Air Madrid
Air Madrid Líneas Aéreas S.A. was an airline headquartered in San Sebastián de los Reyes, Community of Madrid, Spain, operating services to Spain, Tenerife, Mexico, South America, Central America, Europe and Israel.
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Alajuela is the second-largest city in Costa Rica after the capital, San José.
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Albert Gamse
Albert Gamse (1901–1974) was an American lyricist.
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América Economía
AméricaEconomía is a Latin American magazine founded in 1986 by Chilean Elías Selman and Swedish Nils Strandberg.
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American University (Nicaragua)
The American University (Spanish: Universidad Americana (UAM)) is located in Managua, Nicaragua and was founded in 1992.
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Aminta Granera
Aminta Granera Sacasa (born 18 September 1952) is a former Sandinista revolutionary and the former Director General of the National Police of Nicaragua.
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Amsterdam is the capital and most populous municipality of the Netherlands.
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Anastasio Somoza García
Anastasio Somoza García (1 February 1896 – 29 September 1956) was officially the 21st President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1937 to 1 May 1947 and from 21 May 1950 to 29 September 1956, but ruled effectively as dictator from 1936 until his assassination.
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Ancient footprints of Acahualinca
The Ancient footprints of Acahualinca (Huellas de Acahualinca) exist in Managua, Nicaragua near the southern shore of Lake Managua.
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Andorra la Vella (Andorra la Vieja, Andorre-la-Vieille) is the capital of the Principality of Andorra.
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Anthropology is the study of humans and human behaviour and societies in the past and present.
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Archaeology, or archeology, is the study of humanactivity through the recovery and analysis of material culture.
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The Arecaceae are a botanical family of perennial trees, climbers, shrubs, and acaules commonly known as palm trees (owing to historical usage, the family is alternatively called Palmae).
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Argentine cuisine is described as a cultural blending of Mediterranean influences (such as those created by Italian and Spanish populations) with and very small inflows (mainly in border areas), Indigenous, within the wide scope of agricultural products that are abundant in the country.
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Art Deco, sometimes referred to as Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewelry, fashion, cars, movie theatres, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects such as radios and vacuum cleaners.
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An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball.
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Asunción is the capital and largest city of Paraguay.
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Atlanta is the capital city and most populous municipality of the state of Georgia in the United States.
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Augusto C. Sandino International Airport
Augusto C. Sandino International Airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Augusto C. Sandino) or ACS is the main joint civil-military public international airport in Managua, Nicaragua named after Nicaraguan revolutionary Augusto Nicolás Sandino and located in the City's 6th ward, known locally as Distrito 6.
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Augusto César Sandino
Augusto C. Sandino (May 18, 1895 February 21, 1934), also known as Augusto Nicolás Calderón Sandino, was a Nicaraguan revolutionary and leader of a rebellion between 1927 and 1933 against the U.S. military occupation of Nicaragua.
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Avianca El Salvador
Avianca El Salvador, formerly Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano, simply known as TACA Airlines, is an airline owned by the Synergy Group based in El Salvador.
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A baluster—also called spindle or stair stick—is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, cut from a rectangular or square plank, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase.
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Banco de América Central
Banco de América Central, BAC is a bank in Central America, with operations in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua (where it was founded and former headquarters in the city of Managua), Costa Rica (current headquarters), Panama and Mexico.
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Banco de la Producción
Banco de la Producción, BANPRO is a bank in the city of Managua, Nicaragua.
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A bar (also known as a saloon or a tavern or sometimes a pub or club, referring to the actual establishment, as in pub bar or savage club etc.) is a retail business establishment that serves alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine, liquor, cocktails, and other beverages such as mineral water and soft drinks and often sell snack foods such as crisps (potato chips) or peanuts, for consumption on premises.
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Baseball is a bat-and-ball game played between two opposing teams who take turns batting and fielding.
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Belgians
Belgians (Belgen, Belges, Belgier) are people identified with the Kingdom of Belgium, a federal state in Western Europe.
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Best Western International, Inc., operator of the Best Western Hotels & Resorts brand, operates over 4,100 hotels and motels worldwide.
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Bilingual education involves teaching academic content in two languages, in a native and secondary language with varying amounts of each language used in accordance with the program model.Bilingual education refers to the utilization of two languages as means of instruction for students and considered part of or the entire school curriculum.
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Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region (RACS) in Nicaragua.
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Bogotá, officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santafé de Bogotá between 1991 and 2000, is the capital and largest city of Colombia, administered as the Capital District, although often thought of as part of Cundinamarca.
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A boutique is "a small store that sells stylish clothing, jewelry, or other usually luxury goods".
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Boxing is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves, throw punches at each other for a predetermined set of time in a boxing ring.
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Brazilian cuisine is the set of cooking practices and traditions of Brazil, and is characterized by African, European, and Amerindian influences.
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Buenos Aires is the capital and most populous city of Argentina.
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A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management.
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A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated.
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Canal 10 (Nicaragua)
Canal 10 is a nationwide terrestrial television channel from Nicaragua owned by Radio y Televisión de Nicaragua, S.A. (RATENSA), a company founded by Mexican investors.
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Canal 15 (formerly known as 100% Noticias) is a Nicaraguan cable TV channel broadcasting from the city of Managua and owned by the local journalist Miguel Mora Barberena and his wife Verónica Chavez.
A capital city (or simply capital) is the municipality exercising primary status in a country, state, province, or other administrative region, usually as its seat of government.
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Caracas, officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and centre of the Greater Caracas Area, and the largest city of Venezuela.
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Carlos Fonseca Amador (June 23, 1936 – November 8, 1976) was a Nicaraguan teacher and librarian who founded the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN).
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Carnival (see other spellings and names) is a Western Christian and Greek Orthodox festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent.
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Carrara marble
Carrara marble is a type of white or blue-grey marble of high quality, popular for use in sculpture and building decor.
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A casino is a facility which houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities.
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Catholic University Redemptoris Mater
The Catholic University Redemptoris Mater (Spanish: Universidad Católica Redemptoris Mater (UNICA)) is a private university located in Managua, Nicaragua.
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Central America (América Central, Centroamérica) is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with the South American continent on the southeast.
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Central American University (Managua)
Central American University – Managua (Universidad Centroamericana – UCA) is a university located in Managua, Nicaragua.
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A cherub (also pl. cherubim; כְּרוּב kərūv, pl., kərūvîm; Latin cherub, pl. cherubin, cherubim; Syriac ܟܪܘܒܐ; Arabic قروبيين) is one of the unearthly beings who directly attend to God according to Abrahamic religions.
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Chimichurri or chimmichurri is an uncooked sauce used for grilled meat; it comes in a green version (chimichurri verde) and a red version (chimichurri rojo) and originates from Argentina and Uruguay.
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Chinese cuisine is an important part of Chinese culture, which includes cuisine originating from the diverse regions of China, as well as from Chinese people in other parts of the world.
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Chinese Nicaraguans
Chinese Nicaraguan (Simplified Chinese: 尼加拉瓜华人 Pinyin: níjiālāguā huá rén Spanish: sino-nicaragüenses) are Nicaraguans of Chinese ancestry who immigrated to or born in Nicaragua.
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Choluteca, Choluteca
Choluteca is a municipality and the capital city of the Honduran department of the same name.
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Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris
Saint-Sulpice is a Roman Catholic church in Paris, France, on the east side of the Place Saint-Sulpice within the rue Bonaparte, in the Odéon Quarter of the 6th arrondissement.
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The terms city limit and city boundary refer to the defined boundary or border of a city.
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Ciudad Sandino
Ciudad Sandino is a municipality in the Managua department of Nicaragua.
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A college (Latin: collegium) is an educational institution or a constituent part of one.
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A computer is a device that can be instructed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations automatically via computer programming.
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Computer science deals with the theoretical foundations of information and computation, together with practical techniques for the implementation and application of these foundations.
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Construction is the process of constructing a building or infrastructure.
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The Corn Islands (Las Islas del Maíz) are two islands about east of the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, constituting one of 12 municipalities of the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region.
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Crowdsourcing is a sourcing model in which individuals or organizations obtain goods and services.
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Crowne Plaza is a multinational chain of full service, upscale hotels headquartered in the United Kingdom.
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In sociology, cultural capital consists of the social assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech and dress, etc.) that promote social mobility in a stratified society.
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A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts.
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Culture of Nicaragua
Music and religious icons in Iberian culture and Amerindian sounds and flavors.
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Curitiba (Tupi: "Pine Nut Land") is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Paraná.
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Daisy Torres
Daisy Torres is a Nicaraguan politician who is the current mayor of Managua.
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José Daniel Ortega Saavedra (born November 11, 1945) is a Nicaraguan politician serving as President of Nicaragua since 2007; previously he was leader of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990, first as Coordinator of the Junta of National Reconstruction (1979–1985) and then as President (1985–1990).
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Dennis Martínez National Stadium
Dennis Martínez National Stadium (Estadio Nacional Dennis Martínez) is located in Managua, Nicaragua.
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A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different product categories known as "departments".
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Departments of Nicaragua
Nicaragua is a unitary republic, divided for administrative purposes into fifteen departments (Spanish: departamentos) and two autonomous regions (Spanish: regiones autónomas).
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Deputy mayor is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official in many local governments.
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The Deutscher Wetterdienst or DWD for short, is the German Meteorological Office, based in Offenbach am Main, Germany, which monitors weather and meteorological conditions over Germany and provides weather services for the general public and for nautical, aviational or agricultural purposes.
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DINA S.A.
DINA (Diesel Nacional, S.A. de C.V, in English National Diesel) is a Mexican automotive producer of heavy duty and specialty trucks, urban buses, armored military vehicles, and intercity buses.
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Educational accreditation
Educational accreditation is a type of quality assurance process under which services and operations of educational institutions or programs are evaluated by an external body to determine if applicable standards are met.
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El Crucero
El Crucero is a municipality in the Managua department of Nicaragua with 22,107 inhabitants.
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El Güegüense
El Güegüense (also known as Macho Ratón) is a satirical drama and was the first literary work of post-Columbian Nicaragua.
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El Nuevo Diario is a Nicaraguan newspaper, with offices in the capital Managua.
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El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador (República de El Salvador, literally "Republic of The Savior"), is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America.
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Electronics is the discipline dealing with the development and application of devices and systems involving the flow of electrons in a vacuum, in gaseous media, and in semiconductors.
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Ernesto Cardenal
Ernesto Cardenal Martínez (born 20 January 1925) is a Nicaraguan former Catholic priest, poet, and politician.
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Eternal flame
An eternal flame is a flame, lamp or torch that burns continuously for an indefinite period.
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An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country other than their native country.
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FERISTSA
FERISTSA was the name of a proposed USD $3 billion privately owned commercial railroad going from the Panama Canal Railway Company through the entire length of Central America, linking with Mexico's rail system at the Guatemala border, and thus to Belize, the United States, and Canada.
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A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region.
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Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life.
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Fort Lauderdale (frequently abbreviated as Ft. Lauderdale) is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami.
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Freddy Martin
Frederick Alfred (Freddy) Martin (December 9, 1906 – September 30, 1983) was an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist.
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French cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices from France.
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French people
The French (Français) are a Latin European ethnic group and nation who are identified with the country of France.
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Gallo pinto
Gallo pinto or gallopinto is a traditional dish of Nicaragua, made with rice and red or black beans.
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A gang is a group of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectively, in illegal, and possibly violent, behavior.
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General National Archive (Nicaragua)
The General National Archive (Archivo General de la Nación) is charged with conserving the documentary heritage of Nicaragua, standardizing the national archival system, and promoting research and access to information.
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German cuisine
The cuisine of Germany has evolved as a national cuisine through centuries of social and political change with variations from region to region.
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German Nicaraguan
German Nicaraguan is a Nicaraguan having German ancestries or a German naturalized Nicaraguan.
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Government of Nicaragua
Nicaragua is a country in Central America with constitutional democracy with executive, legislative, judicial, and electoral branches of government.
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Granada is a city in western Nicaragua and the capital of the Granada Department.
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Guatemala City (Ciudad de Guatemala), locally known as Guatemala or Guate, officially Nueva Guatemala de la Asunción (New Guatemala of the Assumption), is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala, and the most populous in Central America.
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Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was a Canadian-American bandleader and violinist of Italian descent.
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Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
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Havana (Spanish: La Habana) is the capital city, largest city, province, major port, and leading commercial center of Cuba.
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Hilton Hotels & Resorts (formerly known as Hilton Hotels) is a global brand of full-service hotels and resorts and the flagship brand of Hilton.
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History (from Greek ἱστορία, historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation") is the study of the past as it is described in written documents.
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History of the Jews of Nicaragua
Jewish Nicaraguans or Nicaraguan Jews (Judío Nicaragüense) are Nicaraguans of Jewish ancestry who were born in or have immigrated to Nicaragua.
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Holiday Inn is a British-owned American brand of hotels, and a subsidiary of InterContinental Hotels Group.
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Hurricane Mitch
Hurricane Mitch was the second-deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, causing over 11,000 fatalities in Central America, with over 7,000 occurring in Honduras alone due to the catastrophic flooding it wrought due to the slow motion of the storm.
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Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Managua
The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Mary (Spanish: Catedral Metropolitana de la Inmaculada Concepción de María), referred to as the New Cathedral (La Nueva Catedral), is located in Managua, Nicaragua.
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INCAE Business School
INCAE Business School is an international business school located at the Francisco de Sola campus in Nicaragua and the Walter Kissling Gam campus in Costa Rica.
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Indian cuisine consists of a wide variety of regional and traditional cuisines native to the Indian subcontinent.
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InterContinental Hotels & Resorts has over 180 hotels, located in more than 60 countries across the globe.
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Irving Fields
Irving Fields (born Yitzhak Schwartz; August 4, 1915 – August 20, 2016) was an American pianist and lounge music artist who was born in New York City.
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Italian cuisine is food typical from Italy.
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The Italians (Italiani) are a Latin European ethnic group and nation native to the Italian peninsula.
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Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of social and economic changes.
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Juan Bautista Sacasa
Nicaraguan Postage, 1953| --> Juan Bautista Sacasa (León, Nicaragua, 21 December 1874 – Los Angeles, California, 17 April 1946) was the 20th President of Nicaragua from 1 January 1933 to 9 June 1936.
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James Kern Kyser (June 18, 1905 – July 23, 1985), known as Kay Kyser, was an American bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s.
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Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems.
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La Costeña (airline)
Aerotaxis La Costeña S.A., is an airline based in Managua, Nicaragua.
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La Paz, officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Our Lady of Peace), also named Chuqi Yapu (Chuquiago) in Aymara, is the seat of government and the de facto national capital of the Plurinational State of Bolivia (the constitutional capital of Bolivia is Sucre).
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La Prensa (Managua)
La Prensa is a Nicaraguan newspaper, with offices in the capital Managua.
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A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by barrier islands or reefs.
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Lake Managua
Lake Managua (also known as Lake Xolotlán) (located at) is a lake in Nicaragua.
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Lake Nicaragua
Lake Nicaragua or Cocibolca or Granada (Lago de Nicaragua, Lago Cocibolca, Mar Dulce, Gran Lago, Gran Lago Dulce, or Lago de Granada) is a freshwater lake in Nicaragua.
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Latin pop (Spanish and Portuguese: Pop latino) refers to pop music that contains sounds or influence from Latin America, but it can also mean pop music from anywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.
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León is the second largest city in Nicaragua, after Managua.
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LGBT community
The LGBT community or GLBT community, also referred to as the gay community, is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, LGBT organizations, and subcultures, united by a common culture and social movements.
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LGBT rights in Nicaragua
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Nicaragua may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.
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Lima (Quechua:, Aymara) is the capital and the largest city of Peru.
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Lisbon (Lisboa) is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 552,700, Census 2011 results according to the 2013 administrative division of Portugal within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2.
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List of shopping malls in Nicaragua
The 1972 Managua earthquake virtually destroyed all of the existing supermarkets, shops and department stores in the city of Managua.
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Literacy is traditionally meant as the ability to read and write.
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Los Angeles (Spanish for "The Angels";; officially: the City of Los Angeles; colloquially: by its initials L.A.) is the second-most populous city in the United States, after New York City.
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Madrid is the capital of Spain and the largest municipality in both the Community of Madrid and Spain as a whole.
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Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.
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A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus, proboscideans commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair.
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Managua is a department in Nicaragua.
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Managua, Nicaragua (song)
"Managua, Nicaragua" is a popular American jazz song from the 1940s.
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Mangue language
Mangue, also known as Chorotega,Daniel G. Brinton.
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A market, or marketplace, is a location where people regularly gather for the purchase and sale of provisions, livestock, and other goods.
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In many countries, a mayor (from the Latin maior, meaning "bigger") is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town.
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Melicoccus bijugatus
Melicoccus bijugatus, commonly called Spanish lime, genip, guinep, genipe, ginepa, kenèp, quenepa, quenepe, chenet, canepa, mamón, limoncillo, skinip, kinnip, huaya, ackee, or mamoncillo, is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native or naturalized across the New World tropics including South and Central America, and parts of the Caribbean.
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Mercedes-Benz is a global automobile marque and a division of the German company Daimler AG.
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Merengue music
Merengue is a type of music and dance originating in the Dominican Republic, which has become a very popular genre throughout Latin America, and also in several major cities in the United States which have Hispanic communities.
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Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Spain, Latin America, and the Philippines that originally referred a person of combined European and Native American descent, regardless of where the person was born.
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Metres above sea level
Metres above mean sea level (MAMSL) or simply metres above sea level (MASL or m a.s.l.) is a standard metric measurement in metres of the elevation or altitude of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level.
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Metrocentro Managua
Metrocentro Managua is a shopping center in Managua, Nicaragua, developed and operated by the salvadorean Grupo Roble.
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A metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as a metro area or commuter belt, is a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing.
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Mexican cuisine began about 9,000 years ago, when agricultural communities such as the Maya formed, domesticating maize, creating the standard process of corn nixtamalization, and establishing their foodways.
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Mexico City, or the City of Mexico (Ciudad de México,; abbreviated as CDMX), is the capital of Mexico and the most populous city in North America.
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Miami is a major port city on the Atlantic coast of south Florida in the southeastern United States.
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Miguel Ángel Asturias Rosales (October 19, 1899 – June 9, 1974) was a Nobel Prize-winning Guatemalan poet-diplomat, novelist, playwright and journalist.
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Military of Nicaragua
The Nicaraguan Armed Forces are the military forces of Nicaragua.
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Miss Nicaragua
The Miss Nicaragua contest is the national beauty pageant of Nicaragua and is a franchise of Silhuetas modeling agency.
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A monorail is a railway in which the track consists of a single rail.
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Montevideo is the capital and largest city of Uruguay.
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A movie theater/theatre (American English), cinema (British English) or cinema hall (Indian English) is a building that contains an auditorium for viewing films (also called movies) for entertainment.
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Mozarabic art and architecture
Mozarabic art refers to art of Mozarabs (from musta'rab meaning “Arabized”), Iberian Christians living in Al-Andalus, the Muslim conquered territories in the period that comprises from the Arab invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (711) to the end of the 11th century, adopted some Arab customs without converting to Islam, preserving their religion and some ecclesiastical and judicial autonomy.
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Municipalities of Nicaragua
The 15 departments and 2 autonomous regions of Nicaragua are divided into 153 municipalities.
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The Muses (/ˈmjuːzɪz/; Ancient Greek: Μοῦσαι, Moũsai) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts in Greek mythology.
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Nacatamal
A nacatamal is a traditional dish found in Nicaragua and Honduras, similar to the tamal.
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Nahuatl (The Classical Nahuatl word nāhuatl (noun stem nāhua, + absolutive -tl) is thought to mean "a good, clear sound" This language name has several spellings, among them náhuatl (the standard spelling in the Spanish language),() Naoatl, Nauatl, Nahuatl, Nawatl. In a back formation from the name of the language, the ethnic group of Nahuatl speakers are called Nahua.), known historically as Aztec, is a language or group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family.
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National Agrarian University (Nicaragua)
The National Agrarian University (Spanish: Universidad Nacional Agraria, UNA) is a public university in Managua, Nicaragua.
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National Autonomous University of Nicaragua
The National Autonomous University of Nicaragua (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, UNAN) is the main state-funded public university of Nicaragua.
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National Autonomous University of Nicaragua–León
The National Autonomous University of Nicaragua–León (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua-León, UNAN-León) is a state-funded public university of Nicaragua.
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National Opposition Union
National Opposition Union (Unión Nacional Opositora—UNO) was a wide-range coalition of opposition parties formed to oppose Nicaragua's president Daniel Ortega in the 1990 election.
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National Police of Nicaragua
The National Nicaraguan Police Force (La Policía Nacional Nicaragüense) is the national police of Nicaragua.
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National symbols of Nicaragua
National symbols of Nicaragua are the symbols that are used in Nicaragua and abroad to represent the country and its people.
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National University of Engineering (Nicaragua)
The National University of Engineering (Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería) (UNI) is located in Managua, Nicaragua.
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A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more.
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Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century.
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Nicaragüense de Aviación
Nicaragüense de Aviación (NICA) is a commercial airline based in Nicaragua.
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Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the largest country in the Central American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west.
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Nicaragua National Institute of Information Development
The National Institute of Information Development of Nicaragua; (Spanish: Instituto Nacional de Información de Desarollo de Nicaragua (INIDE)), is responsible for completing censuses and surveys.
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Nicaraguan cuisine
Nicaraguan cuisine includes a mixture of indigenous cuisine, Spanish cuisine and Creole cuisine.
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The Nicaraguan Revolution (Revolución Nicaragüense or Revolución Popular Sandinista) encompassed the rising opposition to the Somoza dictatorship in the 1960s and 1970s, the campaign led by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) to violently oust the dictatorship in 1978–79, the subsequent efforts of the FSLN to govern Nicaragua from 1979 until 1990 and the Contra War which was waged between the FSLN-led government of Nicaragua and the United States-backed Contras from 1981-1990.
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A nightclub, music club or club, is an entertainment venue and bar that usually operates late into the night.
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Nindirí, Masaya
Nindirí is a municipality in the Masaya department of Nicaragua.
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North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region
The North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (Región Autónoma de la Costa Caribe Norte), sometimes shortened to RACN, or RACCN (for North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region), or RAAN (for its former name of Región Autónoma del Atlántico Norte), is one of two autonomous regions in Nicaragua.
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Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects.
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Old Cathedral of Managua
The Old Cathedral of Managua, known as the Catedral de Santiago (St. James' Cathedral) in Spanish, is a cathedral in Managua, Nicaragua.
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Ometepe
Ometepe is an island formed by two volcanoes rising out of Lake Nicaragua in the Republic of Nicaragua.
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OpenStreetMap (OSM) is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world.
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Paleo-Indians
Paleo-Indians, Paleoindians or Paleoamericans is a classification term given to the first peoples who entered, and subsequently inhabited, the Americas during the final glacial episodes of the late Pleistocene period.
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Palo de Mayo
Palo de Mayo (Maypole; or ¡M ayo Ya!) is a type of Afro-Caribbean dance with sensual movements that forms part of the culture of several communities in the RAAS region in Nicaragua, as well as Belize, the Bay Islands of Honduras and Bocas del Toro in Panama.
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Pan-American Highway
The Pan-American Highway is a network of roads measuring about in total length.
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Panama City (Ciudad de Panamá) is the capital and largest city of Panama.
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A parade (also called march or marchpast) is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons.
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Parmalat SpA is a multinational Italian dairy and food corporation.
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Peru (Perú; Piruw Republika; Piruw Suyu), officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America.
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Petroglyphs are images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art.
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Plaza Inter
Plaza Inter is a shopping center in Managua, Nicaragua, developed and operated by the Taiwanese company Nica Eastern Development, Inc.
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Political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned because they have opposed or criticized the government responsible for their imprisonment.
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Polytechnic University of Nicaragua
The Polytechnic University of Nicaragua (Universidad Politecnica de Nicaragua, UPOLI) is a university in Managua, Nicaragua.
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Pontoon (boat)
A pontoon boat is a flattish boat that relies on pontoons to float.
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Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid-1950s.
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A port is a maritime commercial facility which may comprise one or more wharves where ships may dock to load and discharge passengers and cargo.
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Pre-Columbian era
The Pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during the Early Modern period.
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Quito (Kitu; Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital city of Ecuador, and at an elevation of above sea level, it is the second-highest official capital city in the world, after La Paz, and the one which is closest to the equator.
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Real estate is "property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more generally) buildings or housing in general.
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Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life.
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Reus is the capital of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain.
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Ricardo Legorreta
Ricardo Legorreta Vilchis (May 7, 1931 – December 30, 2011) was a Mexican architect.
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Rio de Janeiro (River of January), or simply Rio, is the second-most populous municipality in Brazil and the sixth-most populous in the Americas.
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Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the early 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United Kingdom and in the United States.
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Roystonea regia
Roystonea regia, commonly known as the Cuban royal palm or the Florida royal palm is a species of palm that is native to Mexico, parts of Central America and the Caribbean, and southern Florida.
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Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (January 18, 1867 – February 6, 1916), known as Rubén Darío, was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-American literary movement known as modernismo (modernism) that flourished at the end of the 19th century.
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Rubén Darío National Theatre
The Rubén Darío National Theatre (Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío) is the national theatre of Nicaragua.
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Russians (русские, russkiye) are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the nation state of Russia, while notable minorities exist in other former Soviet states such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Ukraine and the Baltic states. A large Russian diaspora also exists all over the world, with notable numbers in the United States, Germany, Israel, and Canada. Russians are the most numerous ethnic group in Europe. The Russians share many cultural traits with their fellow East Slavic counterparts, specifically Belarusians and Ukrainians. They are predominantly Orthodox Christians by religion. The Russian language is official in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and also spoken as a secondary language in many former Soviet states.
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Saint Dominic (Santo Domingo), also known as Dominic of Osma and Dominic of Caleruega, often called Dominic de Guzmán and Domingo Félix de Guzmán (8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), was a Castilian priest and founder of the Dominican Order.
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Salsa (dance)
Salsa is a popular form of social dance that originated in the Caribbean.
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Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and politician, known as the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections.
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San Carlos, Río San Juan
San Carlos is the capital city of the municipality of San Carlos and of the Río San Juan Department of Nicaragua.
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San José (literally meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica.
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San Juan (Saint John) is the capital and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States.
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San Salvador ("Holy Savior") is the capital and the most populous city of El Salvador and its eponymous department.
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Sandinista National Liberation Front
The Sandinista National Liberation Front (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional, FSLN) is a democratic socialist political party in Nicaragua.
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Santiago, also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas.
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Santo Domingo (meaning "Saint Dominic"), officially Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic and the largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population.
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Secondary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale.
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Seismology (from Ancient Greek σεισμός (seismós) meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (-logía) meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other planet-like bodies.
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A shopping mall is a modern, chiefly North American, term for a form of shopping precinct or shopping center, in which one or more buildings form a complex of shops representing merchandisers with interconnecting walkways that enable customers to walk from unit to unit.
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A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized woody plant.
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Twin towns or sister cities are a form of legal or social agreement between towns, cities, counties, oblasts, prefectures, provinces, regions, states, and even countries in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.
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Somoza family
The Somoza family was an influential political dynasty who ruled Nicaragua as a family dictatorship from 1936 to 1979.
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South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region
South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (Región Autónoma de la Costa Caribe Sur), sometimes shortened to RACS, RACCS, or RAAS (for its former name of Región Autónoma del Atlántico Sur), is one of two autonomous regions in Nicaragua.
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Spanish cuisine is heavily influenced by regional cuisines and the particular historical processes that shaped culture and society in those territories.
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Spanish or Castilian, is a Western Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain and today has hundreds of millions of native speakers in Latin America and Spain.
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Spondias purpurea
Spondias purpurea is a species in flowering plant in the cashew family, Anacardiaceae, that is native to tropical regions of the Americas and can be found from Mexico to Brasil.
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Palestine (فلسطين), officially the State of Palestine (دولة فلسطين), is a ''de jure'' sovereign state in the Middle East claiming the West Bank (bordering Israel and Jordan) and Gaza Strip (bordering Israel and Egypt) with East Jerusalem as the designated capital, although its administrative center is currently located in Ramallah.
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A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food and household products, organized into aisles.
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Taipei, officially known as Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of Taiwan (officially known as the Republic of China, "ROC").
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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state in East Asia.
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A tamale (tamal, tamalli) is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of masa or dough (starchy, and usually corn-based), which is steamed in a corn husk or banana leaf.
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A taxicab, also known as a taxi or a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride.
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Teaching English as a second or foreign language
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) refers to teaching the English language to students with different first languages.
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Tegucigalpa (formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.), colloquially referred to as Téguz, is the capital and largest city of Honduras along with its twin sister, Comayagüela.
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Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish multinational broadband and telecommunications provider with operations in Europe, Asia, and North, Central and South America.
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Telenica (Canal 8)
Telenica (Canal 8) is a nationwide terrestrial television channel from Nicaragua, founded by Nicaraguan businessman Carlos Briceño.
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Televicentro (Canal 2)
Televicentro (Canal 2) is a nationwide terrestrial television channel from Nicaragua owned by Televicentro de Nicaragua, S.A.
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The Wall Street Journal is a U.S. business-focused, English-language international daily newspaper based in New York City.
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Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers, typically actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage.
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Thomas More Universitas
Thomas More Universitas (Spanish: Universidad Thomas More (UTM)) is a private, Catholic university located in Managua, Nicaragua.
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Ticuantepe
Ticuantepe is a municipality in the Managua department of Nicaragua with an estimated population of 34,000.
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Tip-Top Restaurant
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Tipitapa
Tipitapa is a municipality in the Managua department of western Nicaragua.
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Tiscapa Lagoon Natural Reserve
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Tropical climate
A tropical climate in the Köppen climate classification is a non-arid climate in which all twelve months have mean temperatures of at least.
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Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a type of climate that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories "Aw" and "As".
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Turkish people
Turkish people or the Turks (Türkler), also known as Anatolian Turks (Anadolu Türkleri), are a Turkic ethnic group and nation living mainly in Turkey and speaking Turkish, the most widely spoken Turkic language.
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Unión Fenosa
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Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities
The Union of Ibero-American Capital Cities, UCCI (Unión de Ciudades Capitales Iberoamericanas and União de Cidades Capitais Ibero-americanas), is an international, non-governmental organization of 29 major Ibero-American cities that fosters ties and friendly relations between its members.
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The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the United Nations' global development network.
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A university (universitas, "a whole") is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in various academic disciplines.
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University of Commercial Sciences
The University of Commercial Sciences (Universidad de Ciencias Comerciales) (UCC), is a private university located in Managua, Nicaragua which was founded in 1964.
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Valencia, officially València, on the east coast of Spain, is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona, with around 800,000 inhabitants in the administrative centre.
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Violeta Chamorro
Violeta Chamorro (born 18 October 1929) is a Nicaraguan politician, former president and publisher, known for ending the Contra War, the final chapter of the Nicaraguan Revolution, and bringing peace to the country.
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Walmart Inc. (formerly branded as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores.
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A wheelchair, often abbreviated to just "chair", is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, or disability.
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1931 Nicaragua earthquake
The 1931 Nicaragua earthquake devastated Nicaragua's capital city Managua on 31 March.
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Bahir Dar
City in Amhara, Ethiopia
ባሕር ዳር
The Bahir Dar city center
Location within Ethiopia
Coordinates: 11°36′N 37°23′E / 11.600°N 37.383°E / 11.600; 37.383
Woreda
27,000/km2 (69,000/sq mi)
UTC+3 (EAT)
Bahir Dar (Amharic: ባሕር ዳር, Baḥər Dar, "sea shore") is the former capital of Gojjam province and the current capital of the Amhara Regional State in Ethiopia. Administratively, Bahir Dar is a Special Zone. Bahir Dar is one of the leading tourist destinations in Ethiopia, with a variety of attractions in the nearby Lake Tana and Blue Nile river. The city is known for its wide avenues lined with palm trees and a variety of colorful flowers. In 2002 it was awarded the UNESCO Cities for Peace Prize for addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization.[1]
1.1 Origins
1.2 20th century
1.3 21st century
2.1 Climate
3.1 Ethnic and linguistic composition
3.2 Religions
7 Sports
8 Twin towns – sister cities
Origins[edit]
Originally the settlement was called Bahir Giyorgis. In the 19th century, Bahir Dar was visited by Belgian, French, British and Italian travelers, who described it alternatively as a village or a town. [2] [3] [4] The Italian traveller Mario Alamanni (1891) estimated its population between 1,200 and 1,600.[5]
20th century[edit]
During the early 20th century, the British, desiring to construct a barrage at the outlet of Lake Tana, dispatched several study teams, such as those of Dupis (1902), Grabham and Black (1920-21) and Cheesman (1926-34). [6][7] In 1930 the Ethiopian Government sent to Bahir Dar its own team of experts, who described Bahir Dar as a village with considerable trading activity, with a population from the interior as well as from Lake Tana ports such as Zege.[8] At this time Bahir Dar was characterized by various traditional settlement areas, each of which was distinguished by the social position its members occupied. The kahenat (clergy) and balabbat communities were the most important. In addition, three groups of tenant-craftsman communities, tanners, Muslims weavers and the Weyto stone-mill grinders, lived on balabbat lands. Although all were economically interdependent, there was no intermarriage between the tenant communities or between them and the balabbat and kahenat.[9]
In 1936, Bahir Dar was occupied by the Italians, who gave it modern urban features. Abolishing communal family ownership of land, they instituted private ownership. Alienating the balabbats from their rist, the allocated land for administration, the army, an airstrip and port facilities. New residential and commercial zones were demarcated. Bahir Dar was connected by motor-boats with other Lake Tana ports and by motor roads with Gonder, Debre Marqos and Addis Ababa.[10] The physical and social appearance of Bahir Dar was considerably changed. New settlement patterns emerged: and Italian camp, a Muslim community and a Weyto quarter, while the tanners' quarter remained unaffected. Bahir Dar became a melting-pot of different people and cultures. In the commercial zone, different types of shops, tea-rooms, tailor shops, bars and restaurants run by Italians, Arabs, Somalis and Sudanese made their first appearance. Ethiopian participation in this realm was insignificant.[11]
The Italians gave Bahir Dar political importance making it the administrative center of the Lake Tana southern territories. They also showed interest in the possibility of developing the Lake Tana and Blue Nile basic agriculturally and of exploiting their waters for hydroelectric power.[11] In 1941, the Ethiopian Government was reinstated. It made Bahir Dar a capital, first at a sub-district and then at a district level. Various offices and public services were set up. In 1945 Bahir Dar was raised to the status of a municipality. In the early 1950s, it was considered to be the best site selected for the construction of an alternative capital of Ethiopia.[10]
During the 1960s and 1970s, Bahir Dar grew rapidly, being the capital of the awrajja by the same name in the Gojjam province. The central government developed it as a market and transportation center of the economic growth of Lake Tana and the Blue Nile basin. A comprehensive master plan, with the new zoning, was prepared by German experts. Its implementation changed completely the physical appearance of Bahir Dar, which grew as a center of industrial and economic development. It was provided with a water-supply, hydroelectric power, improved lake-port facilities, the Abbay bridge, textile mills, a hospital and institutions of higher education which now form Bahir Dar University.
During the Ethiopian Civil War, May 1988 the 603rd corp of the Third Revolutionary Army (TLA) made its headquarters at Bahir Dar. On 3–4 March 1990, the TLA abandoned Bahir Dar in disarray, blowing up the nearby bridge with several hundred soldiers which stopped the TPLF/EPRDF forces from occupying the city. However, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) claimed they had too few effectives in the area to capture the town at that time, and the Derg army reoccupied Bahir Dar a few days later.[12] The EPRDF gained permanent control of the city around 1810 hours on 23 February 1991, as one of the objectives of Operation Tewodros.[13] In the 1990s Bahir Dar experienced remarkable growth and expansion. It has become the capital of the Amhara National State. The country's free-market economic policy has encouraged investment and other market potentialities. Today Bahir Dar is not only a center of administration, but also a nucleus of commerce, industry, transport, communication, health, education and tourism.
21st century[edit]
The city, in honor of the Millennium celebrations, hosted a National Investment Bazaar and Trade Fair on 6–9 January 2007. Mulat Gezahegn, head of the Trade, Industry and Investment Promotion Coordination Office, told journalists that more than 150 local and foreign companies participated.[14]
Bahir Dar is located at the exit of the Abbay from Lake Tana at an altitude of 1,820 metres (5,970 ft) above sea level.[9] The city is located approximately 578 km north-northwest of Addis Ababa. The Lake Tana region is a UNESCO Biopshere Reserve since 2015.[15]
Climate[edit]
Bahir Dar has a borderline tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw), very close to a subtropical highland climate (Cwb). Afternoon temperatures are very warm to hot year-round, and morning temperatures cool; however, the diurnal range is much larger in the largely cloudless dry season.
Climate data for Bahir Dar (1981–2010)
Record high °C (°F)
Average high °C (°F)
Average low °C (°F)
Record low °C (°F)
Average rainfall mm (inches)
(15.6) 375
(0.2) 1,416
Average rainy days (≥ 0.1 mm)
1 1 2 3 10 18 28 28 20 10 3 1 125
Source #1: World Meteorological Organisation[16]
Source #2: National Meteorology Agency (records)[17]
Resort hotel in Bahir Dar
Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia (CSA), Bahir Dar Special Zone has a total population of 221,991, of whom 108,456 are men and 113,535 women; 180,174 or 81.16% are urban inhabitants, the rest of population are living at rural kebeles around Bahir Dar. At the town of Bahir Dar there are 155,428 inhabitants; the rest of urban population is living at Meshenti, Tis Abay and Zege towns which are part of Bahir Dar Special Zone. As Philip Briggs notes, Bahir Dar "is not only one of the largest towns in Ethiopia, but also one of the fastest growing – the western outskirts have visibly expanded since the first edition of this guide was published in 1994."[18]
Ethnic and linguistic composition[edit]
The three largest ethnic groups reported in Bahir Dar Special Zone were the Amhara (96.23%), the Tigrayan (1.11%), and the Oromo (1.1%); all other ethnic groups made up 1.56% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 96.78%, and 1.01% spoke Oromiffa; the remaining 2.21% spoke all other primary languages reported. The 1994 national census reported a total population for Bahir Dar of 96,140 in 20,857 households, of whom 45,436 were men and 50,704 women. The three largest ethnic groups reported in the city were the Amhara (93.21%), the Tigrayan (3.98%), and the Oromo (0.7%); all other ethnic groups made up 2.11% of the population. Amharic was spoken as a first language by 95.52%, and 2.93% spoke Tigrinya; the remaining 1.55% spoke all other primary languages reported.
Main article: Languages of Ethiopia
Languages spoken in Bahir Dar as of 2007[update] [19]
Amharic (96.78%)
Afan Oromo (1.01%)
Other (2.21%)
Religions[edit]
Murals in a church on Lake Tana, near Bahir Dar
In 2007 census 89.72% of the population said they practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, 8.47% were Muslim, and 1.62% were Protestants.[20]
The 1994 national census reported 87.53% practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity, and 11.47% of the population said they were Muslim.[21]
The Ethiopian Catholics, who practice the Alexandrian Rite in Geez language, have a cathedral in the city, which is the episcopal see since 2015 of the Ethiopic Catholic Diocese of Bahir Dar–Dessie, one of the suffragan eparchies (dioceses) of the Ethiopian Catholic Archeparchy of Addis Abeba, a Metropolitanate sui juris.
The Blue Nile Falls as they looked before a dam was constructed
The city offers a small daily market and a very extensive weekly market. There are some music clubs in the city.
The Blue Nile Falls (Tis Issat) are located about 30 km to the south. Nowadays the amount of water running through the falls is being reduced and regulated, since the construction of a hydroelectric power dam. Nevertheless, the Blue Nile Falls are still one of the main tourist attractions of Bahir Dar, especially during the rainy season when the water level rises and the falls become greater.
Bahir Dar is home to a number of universities and colleges. The most prominent of all is the Bahir Dar University, which projects an enrollment of over 40,000 students in the academic year beginning in October 2012.[22] Bahir Dar University is home to more than 40,000 students. Emperor Haile Sellasie inaugurated the Technical School in Bahir Dar University on 11 June 1963.[23]
As part of political initiatives and development efforts in Africa, renewed interest in the higher education in Ethiopia has been the focus of partnerships between governmental and private funders. The Ethiopian university system has been noted as one of the "fastest growing" systems in the twenty-first century.[24]
Bahir Dar University, one of the largest universities in Ethiopia, has an enrollment of 45,000 students in 65 undergraduate and 67 graduate programs. A Council of Ministers regulation combined the Bahir Dar Polytechnic and Bahir Dar Teachers’ College in 2000 to establish the university. Supporting the country’s objective to attain a "middle income status" by 2025, a research priority has produced eleven research centers. within the university.[25]
As part of the US AID objective IR 3.2: Improved workforce skills development, an identified strategy of enhancing "... university partnerships with U.S. Universities to strengthen the capacity of Ethiopian Universities." Primary and secondary education goals are supported by the university through teacher education programs designed to improve literacy rates, supporting employment and higher education opportunities for citizens.[26] Degrees in science and health support the effort to address Ethiopia’s inclusion as one of 57 countries on the health workforce crisis list.[27]
Alkan University College is located in Bahir Dar. The Institute of Land Administration was founded and located in Bahir Dar in 2006.
Blue Nile with Bahir Dar and lake Tana in the background
Front entrance to the Bahir Dar Ginbot Haya Airport.
Air transportation in Bahir Dar is served by the Bahir Dar Airport, also known as Belay Zeleke Airport; it has paved runways. Ethiopian Airlines operates daily flights through the facility, linking Bahir Dar with the capital, as well as with Gondar to the northwest. In December 2014 a new domestic airline TNA started flights to Bahir Dar but only on Mondays and Fridays.
Additionally, the city is also connected through roads (and buslines) to these cities. The most common and convenient way of traveling in Bahir Dar is cycling. Auto rickshaws and share taxis also provide transportation in the city. Intercity bus service is provided by the Selam Bus Line Share Company, Abay Bus s.c, Ethio Bus s.c and Sky Bus Transport System which operates daily to and from the capital.
Sports[edit]
Association football is the most popular sport in Bahir Dar. The 60,000-capacity Bahir Dar Stadium and the 15,000-capacity Bahir Dar University Stadium are the main sports venues.
Twin towns – sister cities[edit]
Bahir Dar is twinned with:
Cleveland, USA (2004)[28]
Ashdod, Israel (2011)
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604 – an aircraft accident at the airport in 1988
^ UNESCO Cities for Peace Prize, 2002
^ Duchesne, Albert (1953). A la recherche d'une colonie belge: le consul Blondeel en Abyssinie, 1840-1842, contribution à l'histoire précoloniale de la Begique. Institut Royal Colonial Belge.
^ d'Abbadie, Antoine (1858). "Mémoire sur le tonnerre en Éthiopie". Mémoires présentés par divers savants à l'Académie des sciences de l'Institut de France. 16: 1–158.
^ Plowden, Walter (1869). Travels in Abyssinia and the Galla Country. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
^ Alamanni, Ennio (1891). La Colonia Eritrea i suoi commerci. Torino.
^ Garstin, William (1904). Report upon the Basin of the Upper Nile with Proposals for the Improvement of that River. Cairo: National Printing Department.
^ Cheesman, Robert (1936). Lake Tana and the Blue Nile, an Abyssinian Quest. London: Macmillan and Co.
^ Report on Lake Tsana Outlet Control Works and Ethiopian Highway from Addis Ababa to Lake Tsana. New York: White Engineering Corporation. 1932.
^ a b Seyoum, Seltene (2003). "Bahər Dar". Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. 1. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. pp. 442–444.
^ a b Seyoum, Seltene (1988). A History of Bahir Dar Town, 1936-1974. Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University.
^ a b Selassie, Haile (1978). My Life and Ethiopia's Progress, 1892-1937. Oxford.
^ "Local History in Ethiopia" Archived 8 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine The Nordic Africa Institute website (accessed 12 February 2008)
^ Gebru Tareke, The Ethiopian Revolution: War in the Horn of Africa (New Haven: Yale University, 2009), p. 302
^ "Bahirdar City to host trade fair marking Millennium celebrations" WIC (last accessed 30 November 2006)
^ Homepage of Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve
^ "World Weather Information Service – Bahir Dar". World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
^ "Climate of City: Bahir Dar". National Meteorology Agency. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
^ Philip Briggs, Guide to Ethiopia, third edition (Old Saybrook: Globe Pequot Press, 2003), p. 181. ISBN 1-84162-035-1
^ Central Statistical Agency. 2010. Population and Housing Census 2007 Report, National. [ONLINE] Available at: http://catalog.ihsn.org/index.php/catalog/3583/download/50086. [Accessed 10 January 2017].
^ Census 2007 Tables: Amhara Region Archived 14 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Tables 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.2 and 3.4.
^ 1994 Population and Housing Census of Ethiopia: Results for Amhara Region, Vol. 1, part 1 Archived 15 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Tables 2.1, 2.11, 2.14, 2.17 (accessed 6 April 2009)
^ "Bahir Dar University to enroll 40,000 students in regular, continuing and distance education." Capitalethiopia (capitalethiopia.com)
^ Ayele, Fantahun (2013). "A Brief History of Bahir Dar University" (PDF). bdu.edu.et.
^ Fischer, Karin. "Africa Attracts Renewed Attention From American Universities (pdf)". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
^ O'Keeffe, Paul (22 May 2014). "Ethiopia crackdown on student protests taints higher education success". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
^ "Country Development Cooperation Strategy 2011 – 2018" (PDF). USAid. Retrieved 14 March 2018.
^ "Ethiopia Visit | Hotels | Top Attractions | National Parks | Weather | Videos". ethiovisit.com. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
^ "Sister Cities International (SCI)". Sister-cities.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bahir Dar.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bahir Dar.
Pictures from Bahir Dar
Homepage of Lake Tana Biosphere Reserve
Lake Tana project webpage of The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU e.V.)
Cities of Ethiopia
Adigrat
Arba Minch
Asella
Awasa
Axum
Bishoftu
Debre Berhan
Debre Marqos
Debre Tabor
Degehabur
Dembidolo
Goba
Hosaena
Irgalem
Jimma
Kebri Dahar
Kombolcha
Mek'ele
Negele Arsi
Negele Boran
Nekemte
Sebeta
Shashamane
Weldiya
Wukro
Ziway
Zones of the Amhara Region
Current zones
Agew Awi Zone
East Gojjam Zone
North Gondar Zone
North Shewa Zone
North Wollo Zone
Oromia Zone
South Gondar Zone
South Wollo Zone
Wag Hemra Zone
West Gojjam Zone
Bahir Dar Special Zone
Special woredas
Argobba
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bahir_Dar&oldid=904718504"
Populated places in the Amhara Region
Lake Tana
Zones of Ethiopia
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ARMEN VARDANYAN
FIRST EYECARE PROJECT FELLOW
Armen Vardanyan, the Armenian EyeCare Project’s (AECP) very first Fellow, views his selection as “both a great honor and a big responsibility.” Chosen in 1996 as the first AECP-AAMSOC (Armenian American Medical Society of California) Scholars participant, Armen studied with Dr. Barry Kuppermann at the University of California, Irvine (UCI.)
Armen says he learned a lot from Dr. Kuppermann, mentioning the combination of theoretical knowledge with practical skills as just one of the lessons learned from his mentor.
“He is a celebrity in the sphere of ophthalmology,” Dr. Vardanyan says of his teacher. “He believes in his Fellows and gives them more freedom. This is a greater responsibility, but at the same time, it makes one concentrate on all the skills, inquisitiveness and creativity it takes to be a great doctor.”
Returning to Armenia after his one-year fellowship, Armen began to place a high value on using his experience abroad to help those in need. He returned home eager to use his newly acquired knowledge to bring sight to the people of Armenia.
As Director of the AECP Retina Clinic, Armen now examines about 20 patients a day and conducts around 12-15 surgeries — including cataract, extraction, vitrectomy, and sclera buckle — on a weekly basis. Serving with two other AECP scholars, Drs. Lilit Voskanyan and Anna Hovakimyan, together, these doctors strive to bring specialty medical care, on par with the U.S., to Armenia.
An important part of this process, Dr. Vardanyan says, is teaching. “I teach doctors and clinical residents who work in my clinic every single day,” he says. “…I enjoy the opportunity to transfer my skills to other people, then watch them progress and know that it is partially due to my efforts.”
He also says the opportunities that the AECP has provided have been extraordinarily impactful.
“The AECP has developed and advanced ophthalmology in a number of ways — surgical and medical advancement, education and research,” Dr. Vardanyan says. “They made it possible for Armenian physicians to travel to the U.S., learn surgeries and come back to teach and practice innovative eye care. People from abroad — Iran, Syria, and Russia — even come here to get treatment now that we have the knowledge and the expertise. It is greatly due to AECP’s contribution.”
Dr. Vardanyan says he decided to become a doctor at a young age: “It seems I began my practice in childhood. When I was just six years old, I treated all the dogs and cats in the neighborhood. Later, I was influenced by the professional choice of my parents.” Armen comes from a family of doctors — both parents, two sisters, and a brother-in-law.
Continuing the family tradition, Armen married his wife, Nona, and after graduating from The Medical Institute’s pharmaceutical branch, she, too, became a doctor. Their two children, a son and daughter, are also in the medical field.
The decision to focus on ophthalmology and, in particular, the retina came years later, during Vardanyan’s time in medical school and during his training.
“I believe that eyesight is one of the most important things in life,” Dr. Vardanyan says. He also elaborates on his decision to work in the retina field: “I think it is the most difficult sphere in ophthalmology and the neediest specialty in my country. There are not many retina surgeons, but there are many patients in need of retina treatment and surgery.”
As for what he likes most about being a doctor, it’s quite simple: “The possibility to help people,” Dr. Vardanyan says. “To help a hopeless person with the worst complications by bringing back his vision is the most challenging and interesting occurrence.”
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FTA Media
FTA in the Media
How We Can Tackle Child Labor and Modern-Day Slavery in the Fashion Industry
Original article from:
Eco Warrior Princess
Toronto, Canada: We live in a world with immense complexities. New innovations, advancements in technology and sustainability are being explored every day to solve global problems. But still, there is the mentality that some problems don’t need ‘solving’. Some will argue that climate change is a hoax and others too will argue that sweatshops offer an adequate livelihood to people in the developing world.
My mind just doesn’t compute these justifications at all.
Nevertheless, I feel that being part of conversations that are focused on how we can do things differently in order to encompass positive change is a better way to direct my passion and energies.
In late February, I had the opportunity to sit in on a panel talk on ‘Sourcing for Impact: Addressing Child Labor and Modern-day Slavery’ moderated by Rafik Riad, Founder of the Buy Good Feel Good Expo in Toronto. The panel consisted of Kelly Drennan, Founding Executive Director of fashion education and advocacy group, Fashion Takes Action, Michael Messenger, President and CEO of World Vision Canada, and Toby Heaps, the CEO and Co-Founder of Toronto-based media, research and financial information company Corporate Knights.
Listening in on the discussion, it was made clear that the issues and complexities surrounding child labor are deep. And it can be tough to navigate the solutions.
Globally, there are 152 million children engaged in child labor, with 73 million of them involved in the worst forms, which include sex trafficking, forced, hazardous and dangerous labor, affecting their mental, physical, social or moral health.
“Sixty percent of these children are actually working in the fashion supply chain,” explains Kelly Drennan founder of Fashion Takes Action. “In Uzbekistan, children are taken out of school, hired on the cotton field and forced to pick cotton. They are also used to cut, dye, sew, and work in environments that constantly expose them to harmful toxic chemicals and pesticides, whether this is on the cotton farms or tanneries in the leather industry.”
Sanliurfa,Turkey 2011: Seasonal child workers work in the cotton fields instead of going to school. Credit: shutterstock.com
Although there is still a long way to go, the panellists note the observable changes in supply chain transparency currently taking place.
“Many major retailers are now sharing where they are sourcing, and technology will continue to harness the power of reporting,” enthuses Toby Heaps, CEO of Corporate Knights.
There is a push for the Canadian government to regulate the fashion industry and put a stop to human exploitation and social injustices. World Vision Canada’s CEO Michael Messenger notes that “$34 billion of what is currently being imported still falls under being potentially risky goods” but shares in the excitement that change is finally happening.
“Fifty percent of companies are sharing more and 39 percent of CEOs are providing this information before the legislation is in place. In a few months time, there will be action towards this legislation in Canada, which would push for even broader transparency.”
Heaps, however, would like to see more pressure on the industry from the public sector. “It’s working in California, the UK and the Netherlands, and similarly, consumers in Canada should be adamant about not wanting our money invested in goods with modern-day slavery; even our current public pension plan might be linked to investments in child labor.”
Still, across the globe, the fast fashion industry is facing increasing opposition to its unethical practices and business model. Kelly Drennan notes that Fashion Revolution has changed the game with transparency for fashion brands, forcing them to become more accountable as consumers demand answers for #whomademyclothes? The organisation’s Fashion Transparency Index is another great tool, which reviews and ranks global fashion and apparel brands according to how much information they disclose about their suppliers and supply chain policies.
Furthermore, innovation in blockchain technology is proving to completely alter the way consumers will be able to access information and build trust with brands. Provenance in the UK has already started this as a way to give full transparency to consumers.
So how can we, as consumers, push for more transparency in the fashion supply chain?
1. Use your voice! Let your government know you care about transparency in the supply chain. Find ways to talk directly to your parliamentarians either through email, Twitter, Facebook or by sending them a letter.
2. Sign a petition like nochildforsale.ca and promote the cause by forwarding on in an email, tweeting about it, posting on Instagram Stories. Social media is extremely powerful!
3. Find out more about the fashion brands you are supporting. Use websites such as donegood.co, knowthechain.org,
goodonyou.eco to educate yourself on brands and their supply chain. Write them a letterasking for transparency. As much as you possibly can, connect yourself to the people who make the item.
As Toby Heaps stated at the event:
“There is no pleasure without conscience. Pause and be conscious when you shop and invest. Questions create discomfort and we want to make it less comfortable in order to move us from the status quo to doing the right thing.”
And, it’s true. It’s not going to be an easy road, and for me, it really hasn’t been thus far, but I’m still willing to follow the road less travelled for more social justice. How about you?
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OUR FAST FASHION HABIT IS KILLING THE PLANET
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« Central Europe & the EU: Part III. Open democracy or hidden corruption? | Main | The European Parliament approved a proposal on labeling of tyres which entails considerable cost burden on the UK Government and on tyres manufactures »
EU co-decision procedure & the dismantling of democracy
A major constitutional change in the development of the powers of the European Parliament was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty – opposed by Bill Cash and eurosceptic MPs – under the co-decision legislative procedure. The new legislative procedure was then extended and adapted by the Treaty of Amsterdam and Nice. The legislative powers of the European Parliament were substantially increased. In fact, the co-decision procedure, when first introduced it applied to 15 legal bases and it now covers 43 areas under the first pillar. It is now the normal legislative procedure, which means that the Council and Parliament act as co-legislators on a Commission-originated proposal with no legislative role provided by the national Parliaments.
Under the co-decision procedure Council and Parliament act as co-legislators on the basis of a Commission proposal. Hence, a Commission legislative proposal only becomes law if both of them approve it. The European Parliament is, therefore, on equal footing with the Council, which acts by majority of all the Member States. The European Parliament has a stronger negotiation position as it can use its right of rejection to negotiate compromises with the Council. The European Parliament can accept, amend or reject the content of a legislative proposal. The European Parliament can make changes to the Council common position that make a substantial difference to the content of the legislation. The European Parliament has been promoting European integration. It always votes for further harmonisation of the EU Member States laws.
The European Parliament is the only EU institution directly elected therefore it is has been said that co-decision enhances democracy in the EU. However this procedure is, in fact, undemocratic. We have been assisting with the proliferation of informal meetings and early agreements through the co-decision procedure. Such informal trilogues are aiming at reaching an agreement before the Council adopts its common position or the European Parliament adopts its position in name of the efficiency of decision making. The debates on European legislation are not open or transparent since important decisions are made behind close doors with no accountability.
The co-decision procedure has enhanced the efficiency of decision-making but it disregards transparency and accountability. The Commission has a monopoly of legislative initiative in all the areas which are subject to the co-decision procedure. In the majority of the cases co-decision goes hand in hand with qualified majority voting in the Council.
The Commission’s legislative proposals are forwarded to the European Parliament and to the Council. The relevant parliamentary committee for examination of the Commission proposal appoints a rapporteur who is responsible for presenting a draft report to the committee proposing amendments to the proposal. The proposals are far too complicated for anyone other than experts in the EU to further it, which is also undemocratic. The parliamentary committee responsible votes on the Commission’s proposal as amended on the basis of a simple majority. The committee proposes to the plenary either the approval or the rejection of the Commission proposal, or the tabling of amendments. Further amendments to the report may be tabled by political groups or at least 37 Members and put to the plenary’s vote.
The Commission may alter its legislative proposal in order to incorporate European Parliament amendments if it believes it will improve the initial proposal or are likely to facilitate an agreement. However, the European Parliament most of the time votes to tighten the Commission’s proposals such has happened on pesticides ban Regulation and the working time directive.
The Council’s preparatory work takes place within working parties. The working parties consist of officials from the Member States who prepare the dossiers at technical level and they are chaired by the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council. This preparatory work runs simultaneously with the European Parliament’s activity.
The Permanent Representatives Committee or “Coreper” consists of theMember States’ ambassadors to the European Union (“Permanent Representatives”) and national civil servants. It is chaired by the Member State which holds the Council Presidency. Coreper assists the Council in dealing with proposals for legislation. Coreper prepares every Council decision taken at Ministerial level. It seeks to reach agreement at its own level on each dossier otherwise it may suggest solutions to the Council. The Council of Ministers adopts the decisions prepared by Coreper either without debate, when an agreement has already been found (“A” item), or with debate (“B” item). This, too, therefore is undemocratic.
The act is adopted, by a qualified majority, if the Council accepts without amendments the Commission’s proposal, which the European Parliament has not amended or the Council accepts all the European Parliament’s amendments which the Commission has incorporated into its amended proposal otherwise the Council adopts a common position. The Council adopts a Common Position when it does not agree with the European Parliament. The Council goes from the general approach, before the European Parliament adopts its opinion, to a political agreement, then to a common position unless the European Parliament amendments coincide with the general approach which allows the act to be adopted. The general approach speeds up work and makes easy an agreement on first reading. The next step of the preparatory work is the political agreement which contains the broad guidelines of the future common position. The working party finalises the details of this agreement which are formally adopted as a Common Position by the Council of Ministers at a subsequent meeting, mostly without a debate.
However, the problem is that most of the time the acts are adopted without a formal vote. As regards “A points” there is no vote at all as the agreement was reached by Coreper therefore the Council presidency simply mentions that they have been adopted. As regards “B points” usually the Presidency notes that the required majority has been achieved. Hence, if any Member States objects the act is adopted without the Council formally voting.
Co-decision was allegedly introduced in order to strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the European Union but it is both undemocratic and has harmful consequences for transparency and accountability. It should be recalled that the Treaty of Amsterdam – also opposed by Bill Cash – introduced the “early agreements”, the possibility of bringing co-decision dossiers to a conclusion at the end of the first reading without the need for the Council to adopt a common position.
In 1999, under Tony Blair’s Government, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission adopted a Joint Declaration on practical arrangements for co-decision when the Treaty of Amsterdam came into force. The Institutions confirmed “(…) that the present practice of contacts between the Council Presidency, the Commission and the chairmen of the relevant committees and/or the rapporteurs of Parliament and between the co-chairmen of the Conciliation Committee (…) should be extended to cover all stages of the co-decision procedure.” It does not mention the word “trilogue.” The Declaration provides that “The institutions shall cooperate in good faith with a view to reconciling their positions as far as possible so that wherever possible acts can be adopted at first reading” and that “They shall establish appropriate contacts to monitor the progress of the work and analyse the degree of convergence.” In 2007 the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission reviewed their Joint Declaration which specifically provides that “Cooperation between the institutions in the context of co-decision often takes the form of tripartite meetings (‘trilogues’). This trilogue system has demonstrated its vitality and flexibility in increasing significantly the possibilities for agreement at first and second reading stages, as well as contributing to the preparation of the work of the Conciliation Committee.” Moreover, it reads “Such trilogues are usually conducted in an informal framework. They may be held at all stages of the procedure and at different levels of representation, depending on the nature of the expected discussion.”
The co-decision procedure entails, therefore, a flood of informal meetings in which legislative decisions are taken behind close doors with no scope for public supervision.
Usually, on the beginning of each period of the EU presidency, the chairman of Coreper has a preliminary contact with the several chairmen of the parliamentary committees and rapporteurs involved in co-decision matters in order to discuss their situation and establish a timetable for priority work which will be carried out during the sixmonth presidency. Obviously, if a certain legislative proposal it’s a priority of the presidency, it will push for a first reading agreement. Such discussion involves matters going through a first reading which may be concluded at first reading. They also discuss matters going through a second European Parliament reading for which informal negotiations between the European Parliament and Council may avoid conciliation as well as matters for which conciliation proves necessary.
The Commission’s proposal is examined by the Presidency at working party level. The Council working party follows the progress of work within the relevant parliamentary committee. As soon as it is known the delegations positions on the main issues the chairman of Coreper initiates contacts with the European Parliament rapporteur and with the Chairman of the parliamentary committee. These meetings are also attended by the Commission officials, where the Presidency is assisted by the DG in charge of the dossier. The aim is to identify the different positions establishing, in this way, an initial assessment of the possibilities of concluding the procedure at first reading. Hence, the trilogue meetings take place even before the parliament’s rapporteur or the Council presidency has a mandate. Coreper immediately starts assessing the possibilities for an “early agreement” and may draft proposals for a compromise. Obviously, such meetings continue as informal negotiation meetings for which Coreper, in principle, has given a mandate to the Presidency.
Informal tripartite meetings are therefore organised and attended by the Chairman of Coreper, the Parliament’s rapporteur and the Commission. Leaders of the political groups may also be involved. The Presidency has an enhanced power and influence. Coreper may have a marginal role if the Presidency tries to dominate the policy making process in the attempt to reach early agreements. The European Parliament considers the trilogues an excellent opportunity to increase its influence over the legislative process.
The Parliament and Council seek to reach an agreement on a proposed piece of legislation before the Council adopts a formal Common Position, or the Parliament adopts its official opinion. Usually, takes place between the committee vote and the relevant plenary session.
When an agreement has been reached through informal negotiations, there is a practice, confirmed on the Joint Declaration, whereby the Coreper chairman writes a letter to the chair of the relevant parliamentary committee with the details of the agreement indicating “(…) the Council’s willingness to accept that outcome, (…) , should it be confirmed by the vote in plenary.” A copy of such letter is forwarded to the Commission. The compromise reached on trilogues meetings needs to be endorsed by the Parliament’s political groups, as well as representatives of the Council before being tabled to a first reading plenary vote.
The informal trilogues meetings deals are very difficult to change. The co-decision measures at the committee and plenary stages in the European Parliament are public, as are the debates and the votes but this means nothing as these trilogues remove from the arena of public scrutiny the agreements reached in secret meetings. If an agreement is reached in secret trilogues it is presented to the relevant committee and plenary which, usually, do nothing else but to confirm the agreement.
The informal trilogues bypass the formal machinery. The early agreement is based on informal negotiations than on the formal co-decision procedure. Hence, if such agreement is reached the European Parliament and Council sign up a deal that has already been negotiated by a small group of people. The trilogues are considered an essential part of the legislative procedure. These informal negotiations have been considered as necessary to reach an agreement on legislative proposals. The legislative procedures are speed up. An “early agreement” between the Council and the European Parliament leads to “fast track legislation.” No doubt that they increase the efficiency of decision making however that also weakens and undermines the democratic accountability.
Lack of transparency and lack of democratic legitimacy are intrinsic to these behind close doors deals. The negotiations through trilogues are conducted on an informal and secretive basis. Nobody has an idea of what is going on at those meetings. These meetings documents are not made public. There is no public scrutiny. The trilogues meetings documents are not listed in the public Registers of documents because they are discussed in “informal” meetings.
The co-decision procedure with the inclusion of the trilogue meetings and the early agreements could not have been more undemocratic. It shows how bad things have become, particularly as the unelected European Commission has the sole right of initiating legislation.
Early agreements jeopardize national parliamentary control. Under the co-decision procedure it is more difficult for national parliaments to supervise how EU affairs are conducted. There are also serious consequences for democracy at the national level. An agreement is reached before the European Parliament or the Council has adopted a formal position on the legislative proposal. The negotiations are informal so it is very difficult for national parliamentary committees to assemble information, and to decide speedily enough in order to have any impact on the final outcome of an early agreement dossier. It is almost impossible for the European Scrutiny Committee to analyse legislative proposals brought through under early agreements as decisions are taken before the Member States have even decided on a Common Position.
The UK has fond itself in a position where it has no choice but to accept the “early agreement.” There is no veto therefore it is force to accept a legislative measure.
If no agreement is reached at the European Parliament’s first reading, contacts are carried on in order to an agreement to be reached at the common position stage. Consequently, if an agreement is reached the chair of the relevant parliamentary committee writes a letter to the chair of Coreper indicating his recommendation to the plenary to accept the Council common position without amendment, subject to confirmation of the common position by the Council.
If no agreement is reached the Council adopts a Common position and the European Parliament has three-months to take action on it. The relevant parliamentary committee adopts “the recommendation for second reading”, which is normally the one defended at first reading. Generally, the amendments include amendments adopted at first reading and not accepted by the Council or are concerned with a part of the common position which is substantially different from the Commission’s initial proposal or introduce a compromise between the Parliament and the Council. The parliamentary committee responsible votes on the proposed amendments by simple majority. The common position is approved and the act is therefore adopted if the European Parliament endorses the common position or fails to adopt amendments as a result of not obtaining an absolute majority of its Members. Rejection of the common position requires the votes of an absolute majority of the component Members of the European Parliament. The European Parliament may adopt amendments to the common position by an absolute majority of its component Members then the text amended is forwarded to the Council and the Commission.
Consequently, the Presidency ensures that the working party starts examining the European Parliament amendments. The competent working party prepares a position which is submitted to Coreper and adopted by the Council. The act is adopted in the form of the common position amended if the Council agrees to accept all the amendments of the European Parliament. If the amendments are not accepted, the working party examines possible compromise texts and proposes them to Coreper.
During the European Parliament second reading the Presidency establish contacts with European Parliament representatives aiming at facilitating the acceptance of the Council common position. Consequently, informal negotiation meetings are organised along the lines of those during the first reading. According to the Joint Declaration when an agreement at second reading seems to be possible, informal contacts should be established in the period between the political agreement and the formal notification of the common position.
If an agreement is reached through informal negotiations in trilogues the chair of Coreper sends a letter to the chair of the relevant parliamentary committee with the details of the substance of the agreement indicating the Council’s willingness “to accept that outcome (…) should it be confirmed by the vote in plenary.” Consequently, the compromise amendments are then tabled in parliamentary committee or before the plenary session. The political groups coordinate their votes in order to adopt the amendments negotiated with the Council. Trilogues are not formally binding as the Council nor Parliament are obliged to accept the agreements reached in these meetings. However, Council and Parliament usually stick to the agreement. If the European Parliament votes in accordance with the agreement reached, the Council will adopt the act and the procedure will end. The legislative act is then sign by the Presidents and Secretaries-General of the European Parliament and of the Council, and is published in the Official Journal.
If the Council does not approve all the amendments of the European Parliament, the President of the Council, in agreement with the President of the European Parliament, convenes a meeting of the Conciliation Committee within six weeks. Informal trilogues take place between the end of the Council’s second reading and the convening of the Conciliation Committee in order to prepare the work of the latter. The European Parliament appoints its delegation to the Conciliation Committee and gives a mandate to its negotiators. The Council’s negotiating positions are drawn up in advance by Coreper which constitutes the Presidency’s mandate.
The European Parliament’s representatives are the chair of the parliamentary committee and the rapporteur, assisted by members of the European Parliament’s conciliations secretariat. The Council is represented by the Chairman of Coreper.They explore possible ways of compromise in an informal manner and report to their delegations. The outcome of these trilogues is then submitted to Coreper. The negotiations are focus on all the amendments adopted by the European Parliament at second reading on the basis of the Council’s common position. If an agreement is reached within the Conciliation Committee, the Council Secretariat, or the European Parliament Secretariat prepares the draft legislative text. The Conciliation Committee approves the compromise in the form of a “joint text”. The Council’s delegation acts by a qualified majority and the European Parliament’s delegation acts by a simple majority of its component members. The Conciliation Committee meetings are just formality as much of the bargaining takes places in the informal trilogues before them. The joint text is forwarded to the Presidents of the European Parliament and of the Council. No amendments may be tabled to the compromise. If within six or eight weeks the European Parliament, by a majority of the votes cast and the Council, by a qualified majority, adopt the act in line with the joint text the legislative procedure is ended and the act is submitted directly for the signature of the Presidents and Secretaries- General of the European Parliament and of the Council, and is published in the Official Journal.
According to the Joint Declaration, “The working documents used during the conciliation procedure will be accessible in the Register of each institution once the procedure has been concluded.” Therefore, such documents are only made public only after the measure in question had been adopted.
Originally, the trilogues and early agreements procedure were intended for noncontroversial or technical dossiers however, it has been expanded to highly controversial measures. In fact, it now applies to any co-decision measure. During the Maastricht period 40 per cent of co-decision required the conciliation procedure but this has dropped to 20 per cent. The total number of first reading deals is increasing considerably. Since the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty until 30 December 2007, 654 co-decision procedures have been completed, 285 files were concluded on first reading, 263 were concluded on second reading and 106 were concluded by the Conciliation Committee.
The number of fast-track deals is increasing and the process is not transparent. There is always a pressure during each six-month EU presidency to wrap up a piece of legislation at the expense of open political debate.
In the run up to the 2009 elections there is a wish to complete as many dossiers as possible before the legislative break. The European Commission has recently published its 2009 work programme and it will try to ensure the full adoption of these measures before the European Parliament elections. Experience from previous elections indicates that the EU institutions will be under pressure to adopt as many legislative proposals as possible before May 2009.
Obviously, the trilogue meetings and early agreements would be fully used at the expense of a proper debate and analysis of the legislative proposals. The European Parliament and the Council of Ministers will work towards reaching a first reading agreement on the different proposals therefore the proper consideration of the vital details of the legal texts would be sacrificed in a blind rush to complete as many legislative proposals as possible before the European Parliament is dissolved for elections. The Lisbon Treaty increases substantially the policy areas subject to co-decision.
The Lisbon Treaty has not substantially changed the procedure. Whereas under present Article 251 (2) (b) (c) it is required, at second reading, that “absolute majority” of the European Parliament component members to reject or to adopt amendments to the Council common position under the Lisbon Treaty it is solely required simple majority. It will be easier to pass legislation. The Lisbon Treaty will abolish the Maastricht Treaty pillar structure and move Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (EC Treaty).
The Lisbon Treaty will have several implications for police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters as co-decision, qualified majority voting and the ECJ’s jurisdiction will be extended to those areas. The secret trilogues and first reading deals would be extended to police and judicial cooperation on criminal matters.
All this demonstrates just how undemocratic our legislative system has become. No proper scrutiny and no real accountability. It is at best a system of incomprehensible complacency.
Posted at 2:24 PM in Margarida Vasconcelos | Permalink | Comments (0)
ABOUT BILL CASH MP
Bill Cash has been the Conservative Member of Parliament for Stone since 1997 and an MP since 1984.
He is currently the Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee and the founder member of the European Foundation...
BILL'S BLOG CHOICE
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Custom «essay questions» Essay Paper
Custom «essay questions» Essay Paper essay
Can we find an ethic that guides us toward better meeting ethical responsibilities to animals without jettisoning laboratory research altogether? Among veterinarians and animal researchers, the philosophies of Bernard Rollin, Jerrold Tannenbaum, and Andrew Rowan have found a wide audience in journals and at conferences; none of these three argues for abolition of animal research. In contrast to Singer and Regan's abolitionism, current public policy on laboratory animal welfare (as embodied, for instance, in the Animal Welfare Act and the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals) starts with the philosophical premise that animal use for human ends not only is justifiable, but that we may justifiably kill and hurt them in that use. (Garrett 2009) Society's moral consensus, as summarized in 1990 by a working group at the Hastings Center, condones animal use, but nonetheless calls for some protection of some animals. Society's “troubled middle” and current public policy call for strong justification, but do not prohibit, the infliction of pain and suffering on animals (Garrett 2009). It is precisely this balancing act of human interests and animal harm that stirs the most controversy in policy debates and is most in need of some sort of philosophical refinement. It is roughly the consensus working ethic that guides most of us in animal research and as it underlies most of animal welfare policy: It is wrong to inflict harm on individuals without strong justification. But the devil is in the details: whether “individuals” applies only to humans, to humans and some animals, to humans and all animals, and whether it applies equally to all; what to count as “harm” and how to recognize its presence; and how to assess the justification for harming another.
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Every day in the animal research laboratory, laboratory animal professionals and IACUCs face large and small decisions about animal welfare. An animal care and use committee receives a protocol application for permission to use dogs to teach a class on surgery and anesthesia for medical students. The professor has done her best to assure that students develop competence using computer simulations of anesthetic responses and good psychomotor skills for suturing and tissue handling using nonliving animal models. Eventually, though, she believes her students develop their best skills by following all of this training with procedures performed on live animals. The committee must consider a host of questions that we won't go into here: choice of anesthetics; qualifications of lab instructors; how the animals will be housed; and many others. Focus for now on the questions of what kind and how many animals the committee will allow. In the interest of reducing animal numbers, should the instructor allow animals to recover from anesthesia so that she may use a smaller number of animals a few times over? Or should she never allow the animals the potential pain of postsurgical recovery and euthanize them while still anesthetized on the surgery table even if that means using more animals? 3 Should she try to switch from dogs to “lower” animals? If so, are rats sufficiently “lower”? What if their smaller size would dictate using a larger number of rats, or made it more difficult to deliver adequate anesthesia and analgesia, or compromised what the students were able to learn from the lab?
How much of an incremental increase in the students' learning justifies inflicting pain or death or both on animals? (Garrett 2009) These are the sorts of questions that animal care and use committees consider at their meetings, not the big question of whether people have any right to use animals in research and teaching. That big question is vitally important, but by the time we are determining cases, it has already been decided in favor of human priority. Yes, we will continue using animals for the foreseeable future; the question is not whether, but how. Can we find guidance from philosophers to help us decide when painless death is preferable to life with some potential pain, to rank species one above another, to rule whether more animals should experience low-level suffering so that a small number do not suffer greatly? Can we figure out which human needs and desires might justify inflicting pain or death on animals? Can we find guidance to make decisions for animals who cannot tell us their preferences and experiences directly? Twin studies and adoption studies It would be reasonable to characterize behavioral genetics research at this time as largely descriptive in nature. Its primary purpose has been to determine what is heritable and to what degree. Over the past two decades the primary research questions has been along the lines of: "Are depression and schizophrenia heritable?," and the answer has been "Yes, about 30% and 80%, respectively." (Garrett 2009) The purpose of multivariate research has been similar. Its task has been to determine why, for example, depressed patients are frequently anxious. The answer has been that depression and anxiety are influenced by some of the same genes. Finding substantial and significant evidence of heritability for the most common mental disorders bodes well for molecular genetic studies attempting to identify susceptibility loci. These methods promise that, once susceptibility genes are identified, before long it will be possible to screen for psychiatric disorders with blood tests and develop pharmacological interventions to mediate gene function. (Garrett 2009) However, this work has been hampered by the diffuse and heterogeneous nature of many psychiatric phenotypes that may reflect competing genetic and environmental influences. The persistent use of these kinds of broad diagnostic categories is inconsistent with the accumulating evidence from family, adoption, and twin studies that have shown many symptoms defining these categories to be differentially familial or heritable. Depending on precisely what is subjected to genetic analysis, quite different answers are found. The typical approach to overcoming this problem is to design more statistically powerful studies that genotype hundreds or thousands of people worldwide, which allows for the testing of more and more closely spaced alleles. This, coupled with high through-put gene sequencing machines, manages any uncertainty by averaging it out and capitalizing on even minimal true genetic effects through aggregation. The research, however, suggests that brute force approaches that rely on bigger and faster studies must also be made better by putting greater consideration into the phenotypes subjected to genotyping analysis. The behavioral genetic literature has shown that many of the ways psychopathology is presently understood and conceptualized could do with some revision so that the phenotype accurately reflects its aetiology.
Gene-environment interplay is important. Simply inheriting a liability gene or being exposed to a momentous event often does not lead to mental illness. (Garrett 2009) Genes and the environment influence each other. Two gene-environment interplay effects studied by behavioral geneticists are gene-environment interaction and correlation. Early research had little power to detect these effects, but recent advances in statistical modeling and research design suggest that these effects were previously largely underestimated. There are few studies of these effects currently available, but of those that do exist (e.g., antisocial personality and parental treatment, alcoholism and rural or urban residency), the results are dramatic. Of particular note is that these new models provide the means to explore environment-by-experience interactions, which to date have received little attention. Gender-specific factors are important as well. There is no doubt that some disorders are more prevalent in one gender than another. Sex-limitation analyses have shown that, for many disorders, men and women are influenced by the same genetic and environmental liabilities (e.g., schizophrenia) and only differ in the magnitude of these effects (e.g., anxiety sensitivity and panic). (Garrett 2009) However, there are a number of disorders, such as alcohol abuse, whose variability is attributable to genetic and environmental factors that are largely unique to each gender. Any gender differences in terms of magnitude, genetic effect, or type of effect clearly indicate that gender-specific treatments must not be overlooked.
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By Larry Fire Movies, Pixar
Josh Cooley to Co-Direct Toy Story 4 with John Lasseter
Pixar has announced that Josh Cooley, head of story on their summer release Inside Out, will co-direct the hotly-anticipated Toy Story 4 with original director and company CCO John Lasseter.
“To be co-director on ‘Toy Story 4’ with John, who brought the ‘Toy Story’ characters to the screen 20 years ago, is a dream come true,” Cooley told Variety. “When I first saw ‘Toy Story’ I was amazed by the groundbreaking computer-generated animation. But it was the strong storytelling that kept me coming back. ‘Toy Story 4’ will continue that tradition and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it!”
The script for Toy Story 4 will be provided by actors-turned-screenwriters Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, who previously penned and starred in Celeste and Jesse Forever. They’re working from a story idea by Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, and Lee Unkrich. Pixar’s Galyn Susman will produce.
Although officially unconfirmed at this time, it’s just about a certainty that Toy Story 4 will feature the return of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack and the rest of the hit franchise’s diverse voice talent. It will be released on June 16, 2017.
Tagged Josh Cooley, Movies, Pixar, Toy Story 4
One thought on “Josh Cooley to Co-Direct Toy Story 4 with John Lasseter”
humphries346 says:
I loved the original Toy story films it will be great to see no 4
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Atlanta’s DOECINO is a hip-hop duo comprised of Kentucky-native DJ / Producer Jon Doe & Memphis-born rhyme connoisseur Eddie “Cappucino” Meeks. While many know them as part of the Prophetix crew that formed in the late 90’s, and both had their own solo achievements & accolades - the year 2012 marked a rebirth in the form of their Southern Vangard platform - a creative incubator curated by Doe & Meeks that spawned DOECINO’s inaugural EP “STANKY”, which showcased Meeks rhymes over Doe's soul & funk drenched production and features from long time allies Supastition & Esoteric. It also marked the beginning of the fledgling twice-a week podcast Southern Vangard Radio - which features a new mix of the latest and greatest hip-hop every Tuesday and an interview with hip-hop heavyweights such as Grap Luva, DJ Trackstar of Run the Jewels, Amerigo Gazaway, Oh No & many more. The podcast is also the home of one of Sean Price's last interviews before his untimely passing. At the top of 2018, Southern Vangard partnered with Soulspazm for all future digital music releases, the first of which is DJ Jon Doe’s newly released “Maxi-Single Sessions", an ongoing, multi-volume tribute to the maxi-single format, that pairs the producer with a different MC / group on each release. The first volume is with Scienz Of Life's own ID4Windz and features collaborations with Eloh Kush, Ras Beats & Eddie Meeks.
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Port rethinks dumping of PCBs in Elliott Bay
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/331350_port12.html
Contaminated mud may go into landfill insteadWednesday, September 12, 2007
Last updated 7:08 a.m. PT
By KRISTEN MILLARES BOLT
P-I REPORTER
PCB-contaminated mud dredged from a Superfund site may be headed to a landfill rather than being dumped into the open waters of Elliott Bay as planned.
Port of Seattle commissioners unanimously directed their staff Tuesday to work with King County on a proposal to send the material from a dredging project in the Harbor Island Superfund site to a landfill.
The project had cleared the environmental hurdles set for it by federal and state agencies, but environmentalists — with support from the state’s newly formed Puget Sound Partnership, King County Executive Ron Sims and various scientists within the state’s Department of Ecology and Department of Fish and Wildlife — said the current momentum toward a cleaner Puget Sound calls for higher standards.
“We need to leave the waterways better than we found them,” said commission President John Creighton, who as chairman of the five-member elected board set environmental stewardship as one of its top priorities.
PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are toxic chemicals used in flame retardants banned in the late 1970s. Because they do not readily dissolve in water, preferring instead to glom onto fat, PCBs left in the marine environment can be passed up the food chain until they reach humans and Puget Sound’s resident orcas, which scientists and environmentalists say are the most polluted orcas in the world.
The port staff is studying whether taking the most contaminated part of the 60,000 cubic yards of mud to be dredged — about a third of it, containing about 7 pounds of PCBs — to a landfill would delay the dredging project, set to begin in late 2008. The staff is to report back to the commission by early December.
PCBs are so toxic that they are measured in parts per billion. While the concentration of PCBs within the mud to be dredged meets state standards for dumping in the open water, environmentalists say those standards need to be updated.
Scientists with Fish and Wildlife and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center said the effect of PCBs on Puget Sound salmon — and the orcas and people who eat them — shows that taking them out of the water is the better option.
PCBs cause behavioral and learning deficits in children exposed in the womb. The accumulation of PCBs in Puget Sound’s 86 resident orcas is making it hard for the endangered species to reproduce and maybe even find food, they said.
“One of the things about PCBs is that it is a persistent bio-accumulative toxic — I could find it in your body right now, as well as in fish and everything that eats them,” said Rob Duff, manager of Ecology’s environmental assessment program.
“While they are subtle changes — you can’t point at your child and say you’ve lost a few IQ points — because they persist and bio-accumulate, even if the impact is very subtle … everybody is exposed.”
The debate about the port project, detailed in Monday’s Seattle P-I, centers on the fact that the port is dredging in an area proposed for cleanup by the EPA’s Superfund project beginning in 2010.
The plan is to deepen the trade lanes enough to fit container ships at Terminal 30, a cruise terminal that is being remade to accommodate trade beginning in 2009.
The $118 million project will also revamp Terminal 91 in Interbay to handle cruise ships.
“We do have significant progress in getting this area made available for an important customer, which will translate into $7 (million) to $8 million per year,” said port Chief Executive Tay Yoshitani, who earlier this year said the port will be “the cleanest, greenest, most energy-efficient port in the U.S.”
“We need to generate the money so we can be the cleanest and greenest port — the issue is how we get there,” Yoshitani said.
State and county officials said they would do everything possible to make sure the permits came in on time. Puget Sound Partnership Executive Director David Dicks said the state would throw its weight behind the effort.
The port’s seaport finance director, Wayne Grotheer, said the port should be careful about spending money on cleaning up mud that is cleared for open water disposal by current state standards. He said the mud to be dredged from the Harbor Island Superfund site is far less polluted than what’s nearby in the Lower Duwamish Superfund site, which also is to be cleaned up partly with port funds.
The port has estimated that it would cost $1.8 million to send the most polluted mud to a landfill.
It seems likely that the port will get help on that from King County, after Sims sent a letter to the commission on Tuesday formalizing the county’s responsibility for some of the pollution there and offering to help find a way to pay for moving the contaminated materials.
The county operates the Lander combined sewage overflow, which pumps storm water and, sometimes, sewage, into the site to be dredged.
King County has allocated $2.28 million in its wastewater treatment division budget for the Harbor Island Superfund cleanup until 2008, said Department of Natural Resources spokesman Doug Williams.
Whether and how much of that will be used to defray the port’s cost is still up in the air, but King County Councilman Larry Phillips — the chairman of two committees responsible for oversight of projects like this — also said the county would contribute to clean up its part of the pollution.
Across the state, port executives’ biggest concern is that going above and beyond the environmental requirements will set a precedent that will increase costs for future dredging projects, said Eric Johnson, deputy director of the Washington Public Ports Association, formed by the Legislature in 1961 to lobby for the state ports.
Despite concerns about keeping the Terminal 30 project on track, Commissioner Alec Fisken said, “If we are going to err, we want to err on the side of a cleaner Puget Sound.”
P-I reporter Kristen Millares Bolt can be reached at 206-448-8142 or kristenbolt@seattlepi.com.
© 1998-2007 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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I subscribed to this in MY early 20's way back in the magazines infancy. Back when the cover photo's were black and white and most of the cover "models" were female athletes. It's changed since then, catering a little more to the "Cosmo" crowd. Which is fine, just not for me. It just doesn't feel like it applies as much to someone in their thirties married with kids as someone in their twenties who apparently has the money and lack of self-control to spend $90 on a designer t-shirt (really).
Obviously, the best treatment plan for poor nutrition is to change your diet. Most Americans eat too little of what they need and too much of that they don't. For many women, decreasing fat and sugar consumption and increasing fruit, vegetables and grains in your diet can make a big difference. Many women also need to boost consumption of foods containing fiber, calcium and folic acid. Compare your diet to that suggested by the food pyramid and compare your nutrient intake to the suggested daily levels. Adjust accordingly, and you may be able to dramatically improve your health.
Iron helps to create the hemoglobin that carries oxygen in your blood. It’s also important to maintaining healthy skin, hair, and nails. Due to the amount of blood lost during menstruation, women of childbearing age need more than twice the amount of iron that men do—even more during pregnancy and breastfeeding. However, many of us aren’t getting nearly enough iron in our diets, making iron deficiency anemia the most common deficiency in women.
Popular belief says if you really want to make a big change, focus on one new healthy habit at a time. But Stanford University School of Medicine researchers say working on your diet and fitness simultaneously may put the odds of reaching both goals more in your favor. They followed four groups of people: The first zoned in on their diets before adding exercise months later, the second did the opposite, the third focused on both at once, and the last made no changes. Those who doubled up were most likely to work out 150 minutes a week and get up to nine servings of fruits and veggies daily while keeping their calories from saturated fat at 10 percent or less of their total intake.
I subscribed to this magazine thinking it would be about health, fitness, and above all, working out. The headlines on the cover seemed to suggest that was true, with the biggest fonts advertising things like "flat abs now" and "maximize your workout". In reality, the content of the magazine is mostly beauty (how that counts as "health" is beyond me) and weight-loss. Oh, the endless, endless articles about "burn more fat!" "three new foods that will help you burn fat!" "drop pounds with this easy exercise!" I don't need to lose weight and I found that these articles just played into my growing impression, as issue after issue dropped on my doormat, that the magazine views women as vapid, stereotypical beings whose only desire is to look good, whether through exercise (almost inevitably restricted to cardio and yoga), the "right" work-out clothes (really?) or knowing what dress is in fashion or what color make-up to buy. If you enjoy that sort of thing, that's fine- it is essentially one step above Cosmopolitan on the seriousness scale. If you're looking for actual information about working out and building muscle, know that Women's Health magazine is barely aware that these things exist, and when it does, it will come wrapped in the form of "ten minutes a day to tone your bum like a super-model!" or something equally cringe-inducing.
Calcium: For adult women aged 19-50, the USDA recommended daily allowance is 1,000 mg/day. For women over 50, the recommended daily allowance is 1,200 mg/day. Good sources of calcium include dairy products, leafy green vegetables, certain fish, grains, tofu, cabbage, and summer squash. Your body cannot take in more than 500 mg at any one time and there’s no benefit to exceeding the recommended daily amount.
Food fortification is one of the most cost-effective strategies to improve micronutrient status through a variety of food vehicles, including staples, condiments, and processed foods (63, 64). Common fortifiable micronutrients include iron, folic acid, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, and iodine, although B vitamins and vitamin C are also used as fortificants (33, 64). Food fortification reduced anemia and iron deficiency anemia, and improved vitamin A, folate, niacin, thiamin, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, zinc, and iodine status of women of reproductive age and adolescents (13, 46, 61, 63–74). Vitamin D and calcium fortification were found to reduce the risk of osteoporosis among older women, especially for those exposed to inadequate sunlight (63, 64). Biofortification efforts, including those that involved breeding or genetic modification of plants to improve micronutrient content, have also shown improvements in the vitamin A and iron status of women (64, 75). Similar to micronutrient supplementation, women and girls with low micronutrient status were most likely to benefit.
Long-term goals are imperative, but they can make you feel overwhelmed or discouraged at times. Instead of thinking about how many dress sizes smaller you want to be in four months, focus on small everyday victories, suggests Michael Snader, BodyAware specialist and nutritionist at The BodyHoliday, a health and wellness resort in St. Lucia. “For example, today you are going to eat breakfast, fit in a workout, and drink more water,” he says. Stay focused on the present, and your future will be successful.
You know strength training is the best way to trim down, tone up, and get into “I love my body” shape. But always reaching for the 10-pound dumbbells isn’t going to help you. “Add two or three compound barbell lifts (such as a squat, deadlift, or press) to your weekly training schedule and run a linear progression, increasing the weight used on each lift by two to five pounds a week,” says Noah Abbott, a coach at CrossFit South Brooklyn. Perform three to five sets of three to five reps, and you’ll boost strength, not bulk. “The short, intense training will not place your muscles under long periods of muscle fiber stimulation, which corresponds with muscle growth,” Abbott explains.
Oaks BM, Young RR, Adu-Afarwuah S, Ashorn U, Jackson KH, Lartey A, Maleta K, Okronipa H, Sadalaki J, Baldiviez LM et al. Effects of a lipid-based nutrient supplement during pregnancy and lactation on maternal plasma fatty acid status and lipid profile: results of two randomized controlled trials. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids 2017;117:28–35.
Some fat is an important part of your diet; fat is part of every cell. It maintains skin and hair; stores and transports fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K; keeps you warm; and protects your internal organs. It even helps your mental processes—not surprising given that fat comprises about 60 percent of your brain. But many women consume too much fat. The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that you keep your total fat intake between 25 and 35 percent of your total calories.
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Katz DL, O'Connell M, Yeh MC, Nawaz H, Njike V, Anderson LM, Cory S, Dietz W; Task Force on Community Preventive Services. Public health strategies for preventing and controlling overweight and obesity in school and worksite settings: a report on recommendations of the Task Force on Community Preventive Services. MMWR Recomm Rep 2005;54(RR-10):1–12.
Picture your perfect self with your flat abs, firmer butt, and slim thighs every day. Seeing really is believing: “You become consciously and acutely aware of everything that can help you achieve the visualized outcome that you desire when you impress an idea into the subconscious part of you,” says celebrity yoga coach Gwen Lawrence. “It eventually becomes ‘fixed,’ and you automatically move toward that which you desire.”
Women who have very low levels of sunlight exposure or have naturally very dark skin are at risk of vitamin D deficiency. Those affected may include women who cover most of their body when outdoors, shift workers, those who are unable to regularly get out of their house or women in residential care. Women who have certain medical conditions or are on some medications may also be affected.
Healthy eating is a way of eating that improves your health and helps prevent disease. It means choosing different types of healthy food from all of the food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, and proteins), most of the time, in the correct amounts for you. Healthy eating also means not eating a lot of foods with added sugar, sodium (salt), and saturated and trans fats.
Instinct may tell you to slow down when running in wintery conditions, but the secret to not slipping is actually to speed up and shorten your stride. Aim to have each foot strike the ground 90 times per minute, says Terry Chiplin, owner of Active at Altitude, a Colorado-based facility for endurance athletes. This high cadence helps ensure that each foot lands beneath the center of your weight rather than ahead of it, which can throw off your balance on slick terrain.
Getting enough water also is important. Many experts recommend at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily—more if you exercise frequently or are exposed to extremes of heat and cold. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans emphasize drinking more water and other calorie-free beverages, along with fat-free or low-fat milk and 100 percent fruit juices, instead of calorie-packed regular sodas.
When you’re at the bar or a party and starving, your options aren’t always the best. But if it’s bruschetta, chips and salsa, or wings, go for the chicken (though nuts would be even better). Protein fills you up faster than carbs do, making it less likely that you’ll overeat, says Christopher Ochner, Ph.D., a research associate at New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center. And since it’ll keep you satiated longer, you won’t be as tempted when your friend orders a brownie sundae or brings out a tray of blondies.
To help you learn how to eat healthfully, start with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) dietary guidelines system, which you can find at http://www.mypyramid.gov. The MyPyramid system, which looks somewhat like the familiar food pyramid of old, offers guidance based on individual needs and replaces "serving" recommendations with actual amounts of food. It also emphasizes the importance of balancing nutritious (and tasty!) food choices from all food groups every day with daily physical activity.
Iron: Iron, too, remains a critical nutrient. Adult women between the ages of 19 and 50 need 18 mg a day. Pregnant women should shoot for 27 mg a day. “The volume of blood almost doubles when women are pregnant, which dramatically increases the demand for iron,” Schwartz tells WebMD. After delivery, lactating women need far less iron, only about 9 mg, because they are no longer menstruating. But as soon as women stop breast-feeding, they should return to 18 mg a day.
Much of the sugar we eat is added to other foods, such as regular soft drinks, fruit drinks, puddings, ice cream and baked goods, to name just a few. Soft drinks and other sugary beverages are the No. 1 offenders in American diets. A 12-ounce can of regular soda contains 8 teaspoons of sugar, exceeding the daily maximum amount recommended for women.
Before you convince yourself that you’re too busy to mediate, consider this: “Adding mediation to your daily fitness routine can be a crucial part of body transformation,” says Mark Fisher, founder of Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC. Find five to 10 minutes once or twice a day to focus on your breath, he suggests. “Taking the time to do this can help your body and brain de-stress and recover better from all your hard work at the gym and the office.”
You should consume only 25 percent to 35 percent of your total calories per day from fat, with a significant portion from good fats like omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. According to the American Heart Association, women should get at least five to 10 percent of their total daily calories from omega-6 fatty acids (equal to 12 to 20 grams), and anywhere from 0.5 to 3 grams of omega-3 fatty acids, depending on individual risk for heart disease.
It sounds counterintuitive, but fatty fish are actually good for you because they deliver omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), fats with cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory benefits. While fish oil capsules will help you meet your PUFA needs, studies have found that fish itself offers even more nutritional benefits, including vitamin D, selenium, and antioxidants. Among the best choices are salmon, albacore tuna, herring, and trout. Recommendations are for 1 gram of PUFAs daily for people with coronary heart disease and at least 250 to 500 mg daily for those who want to prevent it.
For healthy bones and teeth, women need to eat a variety of calcium-rich foods every day. Calcium keeps bones strong and helps to reduce the risk for osteoporosis, a bone disease in which the bones become weak and break easily. Some calcium-rich foods include low-fat or fat-free milk, yogurt and cheese, sardines, tofu (if made with calcium sulfate) and calcium-fortified foods including juices and cereals. Adequate amounts of vitamin D also are important, and the need for both calcium and vitamin D increases as women get older. Good sources of vitamin D include fatty fish, such as salmon, eggs and fortified foods and beverages, such as some yogurts and juices.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) food pyramid system (www.mypyramid.gov) provides a good start by recommending that the bulk of your diet come from the grain group—this includes bread, cereal, rice and pasta— the vegetable group; and the fruit group. Select smaller amounts of foods from the milk group and the meat and beans group. Eat few—if any—foods that are high in fat and sugars and low in nutrients. The amount of food you should consume depends on your sex, age and level of activity.
Social protection programs typically target the most marginalized members of communities and typically families with children (5, 196). Cash transfers are often targeted to women in these households because they more often invest the transfers in household and food expenditures than men do (192, 202, 204, 205). Cash transfer programs were also targeted to older adults through government-coordinated programs (196, 198, 206). The delivery of transfers involved community centers (town halls, post offices) and banks, as well as locations associated with other services, e.g., schools or health centers (192, 206, 207). These latter platforms were relevant not only for the distribution of social protection programs (i.e., the receipt of transfers), but also for enrollment in and “conditions” of those programs. Conditional transfers required that recipients had access to certain delivery platforms (e.g., schools and health centers) in order to meet the “conditions” of their transfer, and this was a limitation in very rural areas. Although social protection programs are intended for the most vulnerable populations, their delivery platforms can serve as barriers to individuals’ receipt of services, particularly if they require engagement with health care, school, or work-related systems.
Integrated health care, which integrates curative and preventive interventions, can improve nutrition outcomes for women across the life course through improved access to counseling, vaccinations, and screening and treatment of illnesses (103–107). Access to primary health care positively contributed to the prevention, diagnosis, and management of both communicable and noncommunicable disease (108). Distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets, condoms, screening and testing for disease, and delivery of medical treatments were often associated with integrated health initiatives and improved health and nutrition outcomes (13, 109). Access to health care was associated with the delivery of nutrition-specific interventions to manage pregnancy-induced hypertension, diabetes, pre-eclampsia, and hemorrhage (106, 107, 110). However, some studies showed that integrated services increased knowledge, but did not result in changes in health or nutrition outcomes (103). In addition, in many settings, quality of care was inadequate (107) and incorrect diagnoses and treatments were common (111).
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Female Glam Rockers: Joan Jett, Girlschool, Lita Ford
This is part two of the original post on “Female Glam Rockers: Leathered-Up Queens of Noise”, and features more extensive look at three spectacular female Glamour Rockers in their own right: Joan Jett, Girlschool, and Lita Ford. As stated in the first post, these female rockers held their own with their male counterparts and as such are accepted as having “made their mark” in the fields of heavy metal and Glamour Rock acts, with astounding results musically and professionally.
Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin) is an American-born rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter best known for her work with the Runaways -ground-breaking all-girl rock group in the 1970s- as well as with her solo career as rock musician with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts had a string of hits in the 80s and 90s, including “I Love Rock N Roll”, which was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 from March to May 1982. Other hits by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts include “Crimson and Clover”, “I Hate Myself for Lovin’ You”, “Bad Reputation” and “Light of Day”.
Joan Jett was born in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. In her teens in the 1970s, Joan would sneak out at night with friends to attend rock concerts; she received her first guitar at age 13 from her parents at Christmas.(For this and subsequent info, see Wikipedia).Later, Joan’s family moved to West Covina, California (L.A. county) which gave Joan the opportunity to pursue her rock and roll dreams. Suzi Quatro was Joan’s idol, and Joan, as a teenage fan, would wait in the lobby after Quatro’s rock concert perfomances to try to meet the star. Legend has it that they did meet, but details on this encounter most likely would be found on Jett’s website http://www.joanjett.com which has many details about the writing of particular songs by the Runaways as well as with the Blackhearts. Jett adopted Suzi Quatro’s style of shag haircut, leather, and tough-girl rocker stance, musically and lyrically. Around age 16, Joan Jett began hanging out at the only Glamour Rock nightclub in the Los Angeles area called Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco, where she met the man who would become the Runaways’ producer, the eccentric Kim Fowley. The rest is an astounding history, and see former post here for more information on The Runaways legendary musical sound and “mass hysteria” tours as the only all-teenage all-girl rock band then, and even to this day do they hold that distinction!
In Spring 1979, Joan Jett was in England pursuing a solo career and recorded several songs with Sex Pistols band members’ Paul Cook and Steve Jones. Jett then returned to L.A. to complete an obligation to finish a film about the Runaways called “We’re All Crazee Now” and during the shoots met Kenny Laguna who then was instrumental in helping Joan form the Blackhearts. She placed an advertisement looking for band members as “looking for three good men” and from these auditions recruited Gary Ryan on bass, Eric Ambel on guitar, and Danny “Furious” O’Brien. After recording demos, the band’s efforts were rejected by 23 major labels, so they decided to form an independent record label “Blackheart Records” and put the record out themselves. Watch the video post on this page to see this documented to the band’s great single “Bad Reputation”.
Girlschool are a British metal band, originating out of the “New Wave British Heavy Metal Scene” in 1978, according to Wikipedia. Girlschool was also frequent collaborators with contemporaries, heavy metal rockers Motorhead. Formed from a school band called Painted Lady, Girlschool enjoyed success with three metal albums in the early 80s but soon lost momentum after that. The principle members of the band are Kim McAuliffe (rhythm guitar, vocals), Dinah Williams (bass guitar), Deidre Cartwright (lead guitar, vocals) and Tina Gayle on drums. Kim McAuliffe was famously quoted as saying “The reason we were all girls is we couldn’t find any blokes to play with us.” Girlschool’s first three albums were Demolition (1980), Hit and Run (1981), and Screaming Blue Murder (1982). Their first single “Take It All Away” was released in 1978, and “Please Don’t Touch” was released in 1981 with Motorhead.
Lita Ford was born Lita Rossana Ford to a British father and Italian mother in London, England. She moved with her family to the U.S. at the age of four and began playing guitar at age eleven. In 1975, she joined the all-girl band The Runaways as lead guitarist. Lita’s lead guitar skills are on par with her male counterparts in heavy metal, and thus, she has toured with Glam Rockers Poison, Motley Crue, Britny Fox, as well as heavy metal rockers Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Antrax and Iron Maiden. Lita Ford’s first album was released in 1983 entitled Out For Blood; however, Ford scored the most commercial success with her album entitled Lita which went Platinum in the U.S. and Gold in Canada with singles “Kiss Me Deadly”, “Back to the Cave”, and “Falling In & Out of Love”. You can see Lita Ford on tour in 2012 with Heavy Rock group Def Leppard and Glam Metal band Poison.
This entry was posted on March 21, 2012 by glamrock4ever. It was filed under Entertainment, Glam Rock, Heavy Metal Music, Rock Music and was tagged with Female Rockers, GIrlschool, Glam Rock, Heavy Metal Music, Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Runaways.
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← Wendy Davis Announces for Governor and Gun Control
Polar Vortex Effects →
“Winston, come into the dining room, it’s time to eat,” Julia yelled to her husband.
“In a minute, honey, it’s a tie score,” he answered.
Actually Winston wasn’t very interested in the traditional holiday football game between Detroit and Washington. Ever since the government passed the Civility in Sports Statute of 2017, outlawing tackle football for its “unseemly violence” and the “bad” example it sets for the rest of the world”, Winston was far less of a football fan than he used to be. Two-hand touch wasn’t nearly as exciting. Yet it wasn’t the game that Winston was uninterested in. It was more the thought of eating another Tofu Turkey. Even though it was the best type of VeggieMeat available after the government revised the American Anti-Obesity Act of 2018, adding fowl to the list of federally forbidden foods, (which already included potatoes, cranberry sauce, and mincemeat pie), it wasn’t anything like real turkey.
And ever since the government officially changed the name of “Thanksgiving Day” to “A National Day of Atonement” in 2020, to officially acknowledge the Pilgrims’ historically brutal treatment of Native Americans, the holiday had lost a lot of its luster.
Eating in the dining room was also a bit daunting. The unearthly gleam of government-mandated fluorescent light bulbs made the Tofu Turkey look even weirder than it actually was, and the room was always cold. Ever since Congress passed the Power Conservation Act of 2016, mandating all thermostats – which were monitored and controlled by the electric company – be kept at 68 degrees, every room on the north side of the house was barely tolerable throughout the entire winter.
Still, it was good getting together with family. Or at least most of the family.
Winston missed his mother, who passed on in October, when she had used up her legal allotment of life-saving medical treatment. He had many heated conversations with the Regional Health Consortium, spawned when the private insurance market finally went bankrupt, and everyone was forced into the government health care program. And though he demanded she be kept on her treatment, it was a futile effort. “The RHC’s resources are limited,” explained the government bureaucrat Winston spoke with on the phone. “Your mother received all the benefits to which she was entitled. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Ed couldn’t make it either. He had forgotten to plug in his electric car last night, the only kind available after the Anti-Fossil Fuel Bill of 2021 outlawed the use of the combustion engines – for everyone but government officials. The fifty mile round trip was about ten miles too far, and Ed didn’t want to spend a frosty night on the road somewhere between here and there.
Thankfully, Winston’s brother, John, and his wife were flying in.
Winston made sure that the dining room chairs had extra cushions for the occasion. No one complained more than John about the pain of sitting down so soon after the government-mandated cavity searches at airports, which severely aggravated his hemorrhoids. Ever since a terrorist successfully smuggled a cavity bomb onto a jetliner, the TSA told Americans the added “inconvenience” was an “absolute necessity” in order to stay “one step ahead of the terrorists.”
Winston’s own body had grown accustomed to such probing ever since the government expanded their scope to just about anywhere a crowd gathered, via Anti-Profiling Act of 2022. That law made it a crime to single out any group or individual for “unequal scrutiny,” even when probable cause was involved. Thus, cavity searches at malls, train stations, bus depots, etc., etc., had become almost routine. Almost.
The Supreme Court is reviewing the statute, but most Americans expect a Court composed of six progressives and three conservatives to leave the law intact. “A living Constitution is extremely flexible”, said the Court’s eldest member, Elena Kagan. “Europe has had laws like this one for years. We should learn from their example,” she added.
Winston’s thoughts turned to his own children. He got along fairly well with his 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, mostly because she ignored him. Winston had long ago surrendered to the idea that she could text anyone at any time, even during Atonement Dinner. Their only real confrontation had occurred when he limited her to 50,000 texts a month, explaining that was all he could afford. She whined for a week, but got over it.
His 16-year-old son, Jason, was another matter altogether. Perhaps it was the constant bombarding he got in public school that global warming, the bird flu, terrorism, or any of a number of other calamities were “just around the corner”, but Jason had developed a kind of nihilistic attitude that ranged between simmering surliness and outright hostility. It didn’t help that Jason had reported his father to the police for smoking a cigarette in the house, an act made criminal by the Smoking Control Statute of 2018, which outlawed smoking anywhere within 500 feet of another human being. Winston paid the $5,000 fine, which might have been considered excessive before the American dollar became virtually worthless as a result of QE13.
The latest round of quantitative easing the federal government initiated was, once again, to “spur economic growth.” This time, they promised to push unemployment below its years-long rate of 18%, but Winston was not particularly hopeful.
Yet the family had a lot for which to be thankful, Winston thought, before remembering it was a Day of Atonement.
At least, he had his memories. He felt a twinge of sadness when he realized his children would never know what life was like in the Good Old Days, long before government promises to make life “fair for everyone” realized their full potential. Winston, like so many of his fellow Americans, never realized how much things could change when they didn’t happen all at once, but little by little, so people could get used to them. He wondered what might have happened if the public had stood up while there was still time, maybe back around 2012, when all the real nonsense began.
“Maybe we wouldn’t be where we are today if we’d just said ‘enough is enough’ when we had the chance,” he thought.
This was sent to me via e-mail, the possibilities of similar events like this could be very real in Americas future…..Remember freedom is not free. When good men do nothing evil men prevail. GRW
About Republic of Texas (Conservative/Libertarian state)
Apostolic/Christian, Conservative/Libertarian, Husband & Father, Hunter, Mountain biker, hiking, camping, outdoors love em. Business man etc.
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This entry was posted in Life in America, Politic's and tagged "A National Day of Atonement", A living Constitution, Anti-Fossil Fuel Bill, Anti-Obesity Act, Anti-Profiling Act, Communist, Congress, Future of America, Government, government bureaucrat, government-mandated cavity searches, Marxist, Power Conservation Act, progressive, QE13, socialist, Thanksgiving. Bookmark the permalink.
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Cheating on Uncle Lanny
tags: About, Albany, Chinese, Criticism, Food, Guide, Love, Menu, Pork, Restaurant, Soup, Taste
Perhaps the very worst meal of my life came from what was the most highly regarded Chinese restaurant in Albany as we were preparing to move here in 2007.
This was especially tragic for me as I am a big fan of Chinese food. My former office used to be on the edge of San Francisco’s Chinatown, and I would explore many of the smaller out of the way places on my lunch breaks. Sometimes these breaks might take the better part of two hours.
Hey, you’ve got to have priorities.
But then, there was a light in the darkness. Lanny Lao opened Ala Shanghai, and he brought not just glorious soup dumplings to the Capital Region, but also a changing seasonal menu of traditional and regional Chinese dishes. At some point Albany Jane started to affectionately call him “Uncle Lanny” and the nickname stuck.
Several great Chinese restaurants have opened up since then, still Ala Shanghai has remained my favorite. Sure, I will go to Hong Kong Bakery for their buns and chow fun, Taiwan Noodles for cheap comfort food, and SHU for fiery Szechuan cuisine. You can find me at Northeast chinese for boiled dumplings, Shining Rainbow should I need a hot pot fix, and Ocean Palace for salt and pepper squid.
None of these make me feel disloyal to Uncle Lanny. But on Friday, we just got a new Shanghaiese place in Colonie. And I was compelled to try it out with Albany Jane. Because, you know, eating is what we do.
Which isn’t to say that I didn’t feel guilty about it.
Especially since Hu’s House is owned by a fellow who came from Ala Shanghai. In fact, according to Steve B, Mr. Hu had worked with Uncle Lanny for six years.
Until yesterday, I had never been in the building at 1619 Central Avenue. It was most recently a Thai restaurant, and it’s across the street from what was at one point one of the most beloved Thai places in the area: Blue Spice (which later became Orange Mango). The restaurant actually looks bigger from the outside, but inside during lunch it’s filled with natural light.
From the street, despite the new sign, the building looked like it might have been closed. Happily, the illuminated “Open” sign in the window put any concerns to rest.
Let me skip straight to the question everyone wants to know. How were the soup dumplings?
Promising. The broth itself is amazingly flavorful, and the meatball was delightfully tender. There were just two elements that could be improved upon.
I hate to even mention the first one, since I have a little bit of a bad reputation on this front. But one thing you’ll notice right away is that the soup dumplings themselves are on the larger side. Unfortunately, the spoons that you have to contain the dumplings are on the smaller side with relatively shallow bowls. Yes. It’s the spoons. However, that’s easy to fix. And it’s very possible that after only two days of operation, their “official” soup dumpling spoons just simply have not arrived.
The second one is a common criticism of many soup dumplings far and wide, and that’s about the thickness of the skins. They are on the thicker side, and the experience of eating them would be better with a thinner wrapper.
That said, let’s remember that the soup dumplings at Ala Shanghai have improved over the years. The dumpling skins have gotten thinner, and the volume of broth has increased.
We also tried the scallion pancake (which was oddly devoid of scallions), the boiled pork and leek dumplings which I enjoyed, and the spicy wontons which were a hit with the kids. Albany Jane’s heart seemed to belong to the soup dumplings and their broth.
But we were just there for a light lunch before Sunday night’s latke fest. The rest of the menu looked incredibly tempting. Although one of the dishes we were interested in ordering wasn’t quite ready for service. We tried to order a cold appetizer of beef tendon with tripe, and were denied.
No big deal. This is sometimes what happens on day three of a restaurant.
One big difference between Ala Shanghai and Hu’s House right now is that Hu’s House has no lines to get in, and you don’t need a reservation…yet. Hu’s House also happens to be on the way home from Sunday school, which could prove to be a dangerous thing.
I love soup dumplings, but I don’t think I need to eat them every week.
Still, I”m looking forward to seeing how this new restaurant grows over time, and I’m hoping to get back with a crew of people to try a bunch more dishes. There are a few big round tables complete with a spinning center, and this is exactly the kind of place where it’s best to bring a large party so you can try a broad swath of the menu.
If you don’t have a group of such adventurous eaters in your life, feel free to try to arrange a meet up in the comments here. But lately there have been a few enterprising members of the local Yelp community who have been orchestrating these kinds of casual eating outings. I try to get in on as many of those as possible. Maybe I’ll see you there.
from → Fussy about Restaurants
← The Quiet Demise of Family Dinner
The Miracle of the Latkes →
I can’t wait to try them. Drove by and saw it last week. Thanks for the review!!! xxx
Dave permalink
We like Yang’s Asian Bistro in Latham
Albany Jane permalink
Always a treat dining with the Fussy Little Crew.
Matt M permalink
Good to see a review, but the smorgasbord of stock photos on Hu’s website raises a red flag. You took a few informed photos with a cell phone that are more truthful. So far I see a restaurant that plagiarizes food and photos on the menu.
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March 8, 2013 by Connie Kirchberg
The enduring inspiration of Kobe Bryant
Our regular readers know I’m a huge NBA fan, and that I count Kobe Bryant among my heroes. He shares that treasured status with Elvis, who I have admired since I was a shy but determined to make something of myself 12 year old girl. Kobe has been on my short list—and it’s truly short, as he and Elvis are it—since January 2006, when he had that 81 point game against Toronto. I watched, mesmerized at how he was able to single-handedly bring his team back from the brink and turn what was on track to be a humiliating home loss into a highlight reel that would be watched over and over again for years to come.
This past Wednesday, I watched in a similar state of awe as Bryant worked his magic again, this time against the under-achieving New Orleans Hornets, a team which has won only a handful of home games all season. At one point, the Lakers found themselves down by 25 points in a game they absolutely had to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. They still trailed by 18 (75-93) to begin the fourth quarter, one that had Hornets fans on their feet, cheering what was certain to be a major upset, a tiny flicker of feel good in their season of lost desires. Twelve minutes later, the Lakers walked off the court with a 108-102 win. During those twelve amazing minutes, Kobe scored 18 points on seven-for-eight shooting and added four assists. He finished the game with 42 points, 12 assists, and 7 rebounds. Granted, he had some help from Dwight Howard, who posted his best game as a Laker with 20 points, 15 rebounds, and four blocked shots, the last of which was critical to preserve the win. But I know, as does every Laker fan, that it was Kobe and his refuse to lose attitude that won the seemingly unwinnable game.
It’s no secret that it’s been a tough season for the Lakers. What was expected to be a championship contender has struggled to stay within striking distance of the playoffs all year. The reasons are many: major injuries to key players, a coaching change (of which I still say thank you, Dr. Buss), too many new players, a difficult schedule, and the recent passing of legendary team owner Jerry Buss, may he rest in peace.
But Kobe isn’t one to make excuses, so neither will I. The Lakers should have a much better record than 31-31. Nonetheless, they are still alive and kicking because Kobe will not accept anything less than qualifying for the playoffs, even if it kills him. And frankly, most days I’m surprised it hasn’t. Here is a 34-year-old guy who still goes to the gym at 4:30 in the morning to work on his game, which often includes taking some 800 practice shots. He takes ice baths after games to keep the swelling down. Not ice packs on the joints like I use for my tendonitis and arthritis, but ice baths. He maintains a healthy diet of lean meats, fruits and veggies. Namely, he does everything humanly possible to keep his body in top shape. A body that has logged an enormous number of miles over his 17 year career. As a result, as incredible as it is to say, he is playing better this year than he ever has.
There is talk of retirement when his contract ends after next season. Talk that I can certainly understand from Kobe’s standpoint. I can’t imagine how hard it is to do what he does every single day. As a basketball fan, however, I want the Mamba—or, as he has recently been dubbed, Vino, to keep doing all those things and more so he can play forever. Frankly, I just can’t imagine watching Laker games without that fine wine, number 24, dripping his magic on the court. Regardless of who has donned the Purple and Gold in the past and who will proudly do so in the future, I am certain of one thing: there will never be another player who displays the type of lead-by-example work ethic of Kobe Bean Bryant.
Greatest Laker ever? Yes, and it’s not even close. Best NBA player ever? At this moment, it’s probably a dead heat between Jordan and Kobe, but when all is said and done, I truly believe Vino will prevail.
This morning I was thinking that if I possessed even a fraction of Kobe’s determination, I would likely have penned several best sellers by now. I suppose there’s still time, so I best sign off this blog and get to writing them.
Posted in Musings, NBA | Tagged kobe bryant, Lakers, NBA | Leave a comment
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Documents filtered by: Author="Williams, Jonathan, Jr." AND Author="Franklin, Benjamin" AND Author="Williams, Jonathan, Jr."
Journal, 1764–1776; Ledger, 1764–1776
MS account books: American Philosophical Society
As Franklin had done when he went to England in 1757, he began a new record of his financial transactions when he started his second mission in 1764. Probably the new record consisted at first of a series of rather informal entries such as those in his “Account of Expences,” 1757–1762, described above, VII, 164–5, and cited repeatedly in volumes VII–X of this series. When his grandnephew, Jonathan Williams, Jr., went to England in 1771 Franklin asked him, as he told the young man’s mother, March 5, 1771, “to put my accounts in order, which had been much neglected. He undertook it with the utmost cheerfulness and readiness, and executed it with the greatest diligence, making me a complete new set of books, fairly written out and settled in a mercantile manner, which is a great satisfaction to me, and a very considerable service.”6 Williams completed the task on February 28, 1771, bringing all entries down to date, and then struck a trial balance. Thereafter Franklin seems to have maintained the books himself and was able to strike a second trial balance after his return to Philadelphia in 1775. A few entries of later date and some miscellaneous memoranda complete the volumes. The rough accounts Williams used to set up these records have not survived.
The two books Williams started and Franklin carried on take the familiar form of a Journal and a Ledger. The first is a folio volume inscribed on an otherwise blank initial page: “The Journal of Benjamin Franklin after his leaving Philadelphia Novr 7. 1764 and during his Residence in London.” It consists of a series of chronological entries recording receipts and expenditures.7 The first entries are dated Dec. 10, 1764, and the last May 31, 1775, except for about two pages of additions from October 1776 which relate, in one way or another, to earlier transactions. The 61 pages on which the entries appear are numbered consecutively.
The second of these account books, also a folio, is inscribed: “The Ledger of Benjamin Franklin containing Accounts of such Transactions only as have pass’d since his leaving Philadelphia Novr 7. 1764 and during his Residence in London.” It consists of a series of facing-page records of specific accounts. Although most of these are with individuals or business firms, including banking houses, there are also accounts with the General Post Office, each of the four colonies for which Franklin acted as agent during these years, and a few other bodies or institutions. On the left-hand page of each account, headed “Dr.,” are entered by dates and brief descriptions the amounts which Franklin paid to the person or organization concerned. On the right-hand page, headed “Contra—Cr.,” are similarly entered the amounts BF credited to himself in connection with that account, showing the nature and sources of such credits.
Jonathan Williams, who had been trained in accounting, set up these books to provide a full system of double-entry bookkeeping.8 This system is based on the theory that every transaction involves simultaneously the receipt of a financial benefit by one person or organization and the conferring of a financial benefit by another. Hence for every transaction recorded in a double-entry ledger, two entries must be made—one debit and the other credit—in two different accounts. Realistically, however, there are numerous transactions for which an entry can be made in monetary terms in only one account, as, for example, when a person whose accounts are being recorded receives money for services rendered, or draws out currency from his bank, or pays cash for a purchase of clothing. To provide a second balancing entry it becomes necessary to create one or more “impersonal,” or nominal, accounts in a ledger. Williams met this requirement for his uncle by establishing accounts, with both debit and credit pages, entitled conventionally “Profit and Loss” and “Cash.” To provide for Franklin’s special situation, where many transactions involved overseas transfers of monetary credit, he also set up a similar record headed “Account of Bills of Exchange.” These three “impersonal” accounts, together with one or two others of minor importance, completed the categories required in the Ledger for a full recording of Franklin’s financial transactions of every sort.
The first entries in the Ledger are again dated Dec. 10, 1764, and the last Oct. 21, 1776. There are 71 pairs of facing pages containing these ledger accounts, both pages of a pair identically numbered. Williams made no attempt at alphabetical arrangement; he simply opened an account under a new name on the next available pair of pages whenever it became necessary, and Franklin later followed suit.9
The entries in the two account books are closely related. For each entry in the Journal there must be two entries in the Ledger, one where it appears on the “Dr.” page of one account, the other where it becomes a “Cr.” entry in another account. Two ruled columns near the left margins in the Journal provide spaces where these page numbers in the Ledger are shown. Similarly, a column on each page of the Ledger contains a figure for each entry to indicate the page in the Journal where that transaction was first recorded. These columns thus provide a complete system of cross-reference between the books. There are, however, no alphabetical indexes.
Two simple examples will illustrate the system employed in these books. Under date of Feb. 1, 1765, there is an entry on page 2 of the Journal showing that Franklin paid William Strahan £163 13s. 7d. to assume James Parker’s debt to Strahan, as Parker had asked before Franklin left Philadelphia.1 Cross-references direct one to the Parker account in the Ledger, where the payment is recorded on the debit page as “To William Strahan,” and to the Strahan account, where it appears on the credit page as “By James Parker.” Both entries refer back to page 2 of the Journal. Again, the Journal records on page 3 that on June 11, 1765, BF received from the banking firm of Brown & Collinson a draft for £12 12s. in favor of Mason Chamberlain “for my portrait.”2 The credit page of the Brown & Collinson account in the Ledger records receipt of this draft on the same date, and the debit page of the Profit and Loss account records the transaction as an expenditure. While some of the financial operations shown in these books are more complicated than these two, the principles involved remain the same.
As occasion requires, these account books will be referred to in this edition as Journal, 1764–1776, and Ledger, 1764–1776, respectively.
6. [Jared Sparks, ed.], A Collection of the Familiar Letters and Miscellaneous Papers of Benjamin Franklin (Boston, 1833), p. 139.
7. The earlier entries in the Journal are all recorded by specific date, but after Williams had gone back to Boston BF usually entered his transactions only by the month in which they occurred.
8. The surviving account books from BF’s years in the printing business, Ledgers A & B, Shop Book, and Ledger D (above, I, 172–5; II, 127–8, 232–4), reflect a less sophisticated system of bookkeeping. “Account of Expences,” 1757–1762, and Memorandum Book, 1757–1776 (above, VII, 164–5, 167–8), useful as they are, can hardly be said to reflect any system at all. It may be surmised that Williams had to teach BF the niceties of the system he set up in 1771.
9. When any of the more active accounts had filled all the space on its pair of facing pages, BF totaled the figures in each debit and credit column and carried these totals forward to an indicated pair of pages later in the book, where he continued the account. BF also pasted into the Ledger a number of bills received, promissory notes, and other papers he wished to preserve. Some of these are helpful in following his affairs, though they are not properly a part of the Ledger accounts.
1. See above, pp. 414, 470–1.
2. Above, X, XV, and frontispiece.
Williams, Jonathan, Jr.
“Journal, 1764–1776; Ledger, 1764–1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed April 11, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-11-02-0149. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 11, January 1, through December 31, 1764, ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1967, pp. 518–520.]
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IRS May 13, 2013
Here Are Some of Things People Are Saying About the IRS Scandal
by Caleb Newquist
As you've probably heard by now, the head of the IRS's tax-exempt organizations divison, Lois Lerner, apologized on Friday that the agency targeted 501(c)4 organizations with "Tea Party" and "patriot" in their names. Lerner said this was not done out of political bias, because, as we all know, those words don't hold any political overtones.
What we also now know is that the audit from the IRS watchdog — the Treasury Inspector General of Tax Administration — will come out this week and say that the agents in Cincinnati who are being thrown under the bus for this fiasco actually expanded their search to include groups seeking to “make America a better place to live” or “criticize how the country is being run” and, as ABC reports, "limited government." So, if you weren't sure if the IRS was targeting groups based on political motivations before, you have to agree that this sorta looks bad! Add in the fact that former IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman testified in March 2012 that "There's absolutely no targeting," when Ms. Lerner knew about the targeting in June 2011 and this looks SUPER bad!
The President has said this targeting by the Service is "outrageous and there’s no place for it," vowing that someone will get to the bottom of this, but the Republicans are way ahead of him as hearings are already being scheduled. So if you enjoy bad political theater, get your DVRs ready.
Anyway, there's a roundup of things from across the web below and while it's still early on in this shitshow to come to any concrete conclusions, we're currently in the "this was gross incompetence in action" camp that Kevin Drum discusses (don't worry, the counter to this is below).
Simply, if you want your organization to be in compliance with 501(c)4, the majority of your activities have to be non-political. In their search for applicants who were not complying with those rules, the IRS employees involved figured they'd make their lives easier by searching for things like "Tea Party" and "patriot" in the names of the organizations. The problem is they didn't apply that kind of scrutiny to groups with "progressive" or "change" or "tea baggers" and the like in their names. Omitting those investigative measures makes things look incredibly biased against conversative conservative organizations. It doesn't matter if there was an explicitly political motive or not. The appearance is that these employees were using the political viewpoints of the Tea Party groups to conduct their investigations into compliance with 501(c)4.
The Washington Post Editorial Board, like Drum, wonders if stupid is as stupid does and they can't be trusted to find out:
If it was not partisanship, was it incompetence? Stupidity, on a breathtaking scale? At this point, the IRS has lost any standing to determine and report on what exactly happened. Certainly Congress will investigate, as House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) promised. Mr. Obama also should guarantee an unimpeachably independent inquiry.
Tax Analysts' Jeremy Scott continues with the dummies narrative:
The incompetence boggles the mind. It’s also bewildering how the Service could sit in front of GOP lawmakers and chastise them for underfunding tax enforcement when employees were using some of those supposedly precious funds to conduct a politically charged vendetta against conservative exempt organizations.
But at The Daily Beast, Megan McArdle doesn't buy it; that is, the IRS didn't need the magic words of "Tea Party" and "patriot" if they were doing investigations the right way:
[The IRS] have all the information they need to do that without any special filter. They can search for the date of the application. If what you're concerned about is that most of the new groups being created are in fact thinly disguised electioneering vehicles, then what you want to do is take a random sample of the new groups, review them, and see what percentage turn out to be self-dealing or otherwised engaged in inappropriate behavior. Instead, the IRS method for dealing with the volume was to take an unrandom sample. And how did they decide that you deserved extra scrutiny? Because you had "tea party" or "patriot" in your name. Since the Tea Party was a brand new movement in 2010, they couldn't possibly have had any data indicating that such groups were more likely to be doing something improper. So how exactly did they come up with this filter? There is no answer that does not ultimately resolve to "political bias".
Ezra Klein reminded everyone on Friday that most people are missing the broader point, which is that all 501(c)4 organizations need to be scrutinized:
The problem wasn’t that the IRS was skeptical of tea party groups registering as 501(c)4s. It’s that it hasn’t been skeptical of Organizing for America, Crossroads GPS, Priorities USA and Heritage Action Fund registering as 501(c)4s. The IRS should be treating all these groups equally and appropriately — which would mean much more harshly.
Writing at CNN, Michael Macleod-Ball and Gabe Rottman of the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office opine, "It shouldn't need to be said: Even the tea party deserves First Amendment protection."
[T]he IRS apology shows that concerns over selective enforcement are prescient. Those in power will always be tempted to use political speech restrictions against opposing candidates or causes.
The New York Times' Ross Douthat says the anxiety created at the IRS about Tea Party groups might be a "Brown Scare":
Where might an enterprising, public-spirited I.R.S. agent get the idea that a Tea Party group deserved more scrutiny from the government than the typical band of activists seeking tax-exempt status? Oh, I don’t know: why, maybe from all the prominent voices who spent the first two years of the Obama era worrying that the Tea Party wasn’t just a typically messy expression of citizen activism, but something much darker — an expression of crypto-fascist, crypto-racist rage, part Timothy McVeigh and part Bull Connor, potentially carrying a wave of terrorist violence in its wings.
Naturally, the Republicans are all over this and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) thinks it goes higher than just the offenders in Cincinnati:
“I just don’t buy that this was a couple rogue IRS employees,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “There’s evidence that higher level supervisors were aware of this.”
Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) wants Acting Commissioner Steven Miller to resign:
“It is clear the IRS cannot operate with even a shred of the American people’s confidence under the current leadership,” Rubio wrote in a letter today to Treasury secretary Jack Lew. “Therefore, I strongly urge that you and President Obama demand the IRS Commissioner’s resignation, effectively immediately. No government agency that has behaved in such a manner can possibly instill any faith and respect from the American public.”
Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) has got the ball rolling on the impassable legislation front:
"Americans of all political beliefs have been rightly outraged by the revelation of the IRS's efforts to target certain political organizations," Turner said Monday. "The fact that this could occur with little to no corrective action against those who seek to silence their fellow citizens is unacceptable." Under current law, IRS workers who discriminate against taxpayers can already be fired, although discretion lies with their supervisors. Turner's bill would boost the maximum penalty to a $5,000 fine, five years in prison or both.
And believe it or not, even Democrats are jumping on the pile:
Monday morning, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) all issued statements denouncing the IRS and calling for an investigation and corrective action. “These actions by the IRS are an outrageous abuse of power and a breach of the public’s trust. Targeting groups based on their political views is not only inappropriate but it is intolerable,” Baucus said, adding: “The IRS will now be the ones put under additional scrutiny.” […] “The actions of the IRS are unacceptable and un-American,” [Mancin] said. “Government agencies using their bureaucratic muscle to target Americans for their political beliefs cannot be tolerated. The president must immediately condemn this attack on our values, find those individuals in his Administration who are responsible and fire them.” Added Kaine: ”There’s no excuse for ideological discrimination in our system. The Administration should take swift action to get to the bottom of this to ensure those responsible for misconduct are held accountable and establish appropriate safeguards to prevent this from ever happening again.”
As a sage greenskeeper once said, "I don't think the heavy stuff's going to come down for quite a while."
Tags: 501(c)4, IRS, mistakes were made, Politics, Tax-exempt entities
Taxes May 14, 2019
IRS Agent Lady Allegedly Tries and Fails to Scam Unwitting Taxpayer Out of Thousands
When we talk about IRS scams, we’re usually referring to chain-smoking Indian dudes packed into a dingy call center trying to scam Google Play cards out of your grandma. Although few Americans might say they trust the IRS, I think we can all agree that at the end of the day, an overwhelming number of […]
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Home / mexico / Alfa Romeo "Berlinetta" is the best classic car in the world
Alfa Romeo "Berlinetta" is the best classic car in the world
mexico February 10, 2019 mexico
Alfa Romeo "Berlinetta" is the best classic car in the world.
Eight classic cars competed for the award "The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best". Of them, the 1960s Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Berlinetta was the winner and was awarded the Peninsula Paris Hotel as the best classic car in the world.
For William E. Connor, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of William E. Connora & Associates Ltd and co-founder of The Peninsula Classics Best of the Best Award, the winner's choice was successful. In that sense, he said: "It's the perfect example of a car that has sparked the creation of a prize that celebrates the design and engineering of this caliber car."
Champions of Champions
Discover the secrets that the legendary car looks like the best among the best classics in the world.
1. The car entered the award race after being named "Best of Show" at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d 'Elegance.
2. This model was designed by Ingegner Vittorio Jano for competition in the Mille Miglia (Thousands of Miles) sports cars. The race that broke in Italy twenty-four times between 1927 and 1957; thirteen years before the Second World War and eleven of 1947.
3. The Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Berlinetta completely won a thousand miles in 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938 and 1947.
4. It was developed by the Italian car Carrozzeria Touring, founded in 1925 in Milan.
5. The car was the first to get a license for Charles Weymann's lightweight fabric system. He then developed his own construction of the Superlegger.
6. The "Superleggera" system, patented in 1936, consists of a constructional frame of small diameter steel tubes that fit the body shape and are covered with thin-legged, rigid bodies that strengthen the structure.
7. It is the first of the five famous berlinets built on the Lungo chassis. It's the car that Touring calls at the beginning of the Superlegger.
8. Owned by collectors David and Ginny Sydorick resident in Los Angeles, California.
After a great discovery, guests of the award-winning games enjoyed the music creation of DJ Hannah Bronfman.
A big protagonist of 16 million euros
It was the highlight of the long-awaited Artcurial auction at the Retromobile classic, held on Friday in Paris. The brand new Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Touring Berlinetta from 1939, which exceeded 16 and a half million euros.
According to Artcurial General Manager, Matthieu Lamoureu, one of the hosts of the auction, the car is unique due to the technological features it has, including the dual compressors and the osmocilindric engine in the line.
The car will now go to the fifth owner, United States collector who bought it by telephone. However, the automotive expert at RM Sotheby's rival auction house, Tonnie Van der Velden, was disappointed with the sale and said he could probably get more car money on the US market.
Van der Velden said his company managed to sell a similar car, the Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Lungo Spider from 1939, for a slightly higher price. The auction's success follows the steps of last year, which raised a total of EUR 31.79 million.
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David Harbora's contract includes the fourth season – Stranger Things – Spoiler Time
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Pathology is a branch of medical science primarily concerned with the diagnosis of disease. Bridging science and medicine, it underpins the delivery of every aspect of patient care.
From diagnostic testing and treatment advice to the use of cutting-edge genetic technologies and the prevention of disease the department through its five sub-specialties supports 70-80% of all clinical decisions. The five separate specialties under the local Pathology umbrella are Haematology, Clinical Chemistry, Medical Microbiology, Cellular Pathology and Blood Transfusion. These are central to the provision of healthcare in Guernsey. Their work secures the foundations on which evidence-based treatment and care plans are built and from which effective disease diagnosis, monitoring and management can be provided and developed. The Department has a team of just under 40 staff (30 whole time equivalents) of whom approximately half are qualified biomedical scientists.
The laboratory provides a comprehensive Pathology service to the Committee for Health & Social Care (HSC) Bailiwick of Guernsey including the Islands of Alderney, Sark and Herm, The Medical Specialist Group (MSG) and five local primary healthcare groups, consisting of eleven surgeries. The service embraces most aspects of clinical pathology and is an accredited training centre for all professions within the speciality of medical pathology.
As well as the comprehensive range of local diagnostic testing the laboratory maintains close relationships with a number of specialist service providers such as Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust , Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, Birmingham Women's Hospital NHS Trust, and Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust.
Microbiology provides a comprehensive Bacteriology, Virology, Serology and Mycology service. The department grow, identify and determines treatment options for most clinically important bacteria. It offers interpretation and advice in the diagnosis, management, treatment of infectious disease.
The department works in close conjunction and with support from the Microbiology Consultants at Heartlands hospital, who are available 24/7 and visit every three weeks. The Department also works closely with the HSC's Infection Prevention and Control Team (IPACT) and Sexual Health service providing rapid screening tests for transmissible infections.
This unit is central to the provision of routine healthcare in the Island, both acute and primary care.
The largest of the specialities, this section provides diagnostics for renal, liver and cardiac function, therapeutic drugs, immunology, tumour markers and hormones.
It supports the Diabetic service, Blood Donor service and the Sexual Health service by providing all primary screening for Hepatitis, HIV, and Syphilis.
Histopathology (Cellular Pathology)
This unit is at the heart of Cancer services for the States of Guernsey and deals with approximately 6000 cases per year.
It is responsible for the dissection, preparation, cutting and staining of tissues for the diagnosis of cancer and related conditions. It liaises closely with other UK centres, for specialist molecular testing and is an integral part of the Multi-Disciplinary Team that develop and deliver on-going management and treatment.
The section also provides the Islands' Andrology service a major part of which involves fertility investigations.
The Haematology section provides a comprehensive diagnostic Haematology and Coagulation service.
It looks at the formed elements of the blood, red and white blood cells and platelets, for signs of infection, anaemia or malignancy. The section also undertakes the investigation of clotting abnormalities, as well as providing support to two large anticoagulant control clinics a week.
Although the unit does not have its own Consultant Haematologist on site, it has contractual links with a centre of excellence - Birmingham Heartlands Hospital - who provide 24hr Consultant grade cover, as well as visiting the site every three weeks to work with the Guernsey team and to provide a non-malignant Haematology service to the Bailiwick.
This unit undertakes two key roles, the processing and provision of blood collected by our nursing team representing the Guernsey Blood Transfusion service, and cross matching, or compatibility testing, to provide safe blood for transfusion.
Blood for transfusion is needed to support the Trauma services, surgery, cancer treatment, and the physicians.
The hospital has a transfusion committee which is chaired by a Consultant Haematologist from Birmingham, and who also works closely with the transfusion service to provide advice.
Pathology Department:
Princess Elizabeth Hospital, Le Vauquiedor, St Martins, Guernsey, GY4 6UU,
Tel: 01481 725241 ext: 4120
Opening Times: Mon - Fri 08.30 till 17.00, Sat - 09.00 - 10.00
Pathology is available to clinicians as an emergency on-call service outside of these hours 365 days a year.
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The Story of Little League Baseball®
2019-04-10T11:06:28-05:00By Robin Van Auken|
By Lance and Robin Van Auken
Play Ball! The Story of Little League® Baseball is the remarkable story of Little League® Baseball, from the first diamond in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to the playing fields of the world.
Little League’s history is told with great detail at the World of Little League Museum, but if you can’t visit the site in person, learn more about Little League and its humble beginnings in Williamsport, in “Play Ball! The Story of Little League Baseball” by Lance and Robin Van Auken, and available through The Omnibus Publishing company.
On any given spring evening, 360,000 children around the world can be found on the dusty mounds and grassy fields of a Little League field. With more than three million people playing or volunteering in Little League games every year, Little League is the institutional rite of passage into the quintessential American pastime.
“Play Ball!” charts Little League’s history from the earliest days and shows how, in many respects, its history parallels America’s history: isolation in the beginning; rapid expansion; a civil war of sorts, followed by reconstruction; struggles over civil rights and gender equity; and foreign entanglements. A microcosm of American society, Little League reflects and is affected by, cultural, political and historical trends.
Today, Little League is played on 02,000 fields in every U.S. state and in more than 80 countries on six continents. Little League also sanctions play in softball, tee ball, and the Challenger Division for disabled children. The Little League® Baseball World Series played annually in Williamsport, is watched by crowds of 40,000 each year in person, and by more than ten million on ABC’s ESPN.
An original jersey worn by a Lycoming Dairy player, the first Little League Baseball team.
The authors were given full access to the Little League® Baseball archives and have created a comprehensive history. In addition to a foreword by Pulitzer-Prize winner Dave Barry, Play Ball! The Story of Little League Baseball contains appendixes including winners of all Little League® Baseball and Softball World Series, year-by-year history of Little League, countries in Little League, and lists of some of the famous people who played the game as children, including Kevin Costner, Bruce Springsteen, and George W. Bush.
“Play Ball!” will interest parents, former players, and coaches, fans of Little League® Baseball, general baseball enthusiasts, and anyone who has ever picked up a ball and bat.
Lance Van Auken oversees the day-to-day operations of the World of Little League Museum, a 22,000-square foot newly renovated facility dedicated to preserving the history of the world’s largest organized youth sports program, and to provide a key educational asset to the children and families of Central Pennsylvania and visitors from around the world.
Robin Van Auken is an instructor, teaching communications and archaeology at Lycoming College. She has authored and co-authored nearly a dozen books of local and regional history, including “Play Ball! The Story of Little League® Baseball” with her husband, Lance Van Auken.
Have you read Play Ball! The Story of Little League® Baseball?
We’d love to hear your thoughts. Contact us with questions or suggestions.
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About the Author: Robin Van Auken
Robin Van Auken, CEO of Hands on Heritage, is a writer and researcher, with 35+ years experience interviewing people and telling stories. Her educational background combines advanced degrees in Communications and Anthropology, with a focus on Public and Historical (Military/Industrial Sites) Archaeology. In addition to her work as a journalist, she is the author and co-author of a dozen books on regional history. An adjunct college instructor, she has directed multi-year historical and archaeological projects, working with hundreds of volunteers and temporary staff, and educating thousands of visitors.
The Road to Williamsport
Little League Baseball World Series
Grant Supports World of Little League ®
Birthplace of Little League Baseball® Listed in National Register of Historic Places
Play Ball Like a Girl!
Play Ball! Little League Shouldn’t Inspire Fear
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Father of British Snowboarder Ellie Soutter Leads Calls For Greater Mental Health Support
by Maurice Richmond on 1 August 2018 Read in
The father of British snowboarder Ellie Soutter believes her mental health history and the pressured nature of elite sport contributed to her death on her 18th birthday
Tony Soutter revealed his daughter "wanted to be the best" and "not to let anybody down", as he spoke publicly for the first time since Ellie completed suicide in the French Alps on July 25th.
Mr Soutter says shis daughter had experienced a history of mental ill health, and that the pressure of competing at the highest level was starting to affect Ellie, who grew up in Surrey before moving to the Alps to focus on her training.
He told BBC South East: "Unfortunately it all came about from missing a flight which then meant she didn't go training with the GB squad. She felt she'd let them down, felt she'd let me down and just tragically it just takes one silly little thing like that to tip someone over the edge, because there's a lot of pressure on children."
Ellie’s talent saw her take bronze in the Youth Olympic Winter Festival in Turkey last year, this would be the only medal Team GB would win at the games.
The father of snowboarder Ellie Soutter, who died on her 18th birthday, has spoken exclusively to BBC South East about the pressure on young athletes. pic.twitter.com/ZTZyfrR1x4
— BBC Surrey (@BBCSurrey) July 31, 2018
Her tragic death has prompted her family to set up a foundation in her name, which will aim to help young winter athletes in need of financial support. Tony has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to set up the foundation.
UK sporting bodies have each insisted they take the wellbeing of athletes seriously, and praised Ellie for being a popular member of team. A UK Sport spokesman said: "This is a desperately sad situation and our thoughts are with all of Ellie's family and friends.
"We are working with all of our Olympic and Paralympic programmes and the mental health charity Mind to make sure appropriate support is in place."
A statement issued by British Ski and Snowboard said: "Ellie was an incredibly popular and well-liked member of the team. The country has lost a great talent.
"The wellbeing of all athletes across every discipline is the primary concern of any sporting organisation. We commend the family for setting up the Ellie Soutter Foundation and they have our full support."
As the spotlight radiates on mental wellbeing in sport, professional bodies and clubs are making plans to introduce mental health initiatives. Cambridge United Football Club revealed a four-point action plan this week, in a bid to be a "mentally healthy club."
From the start of the season later this month, the club will introduce: Mental Health First Aid Training; first team and academy Mental Health Champions; expansion of its Mind Your Head School Programme and club and community mental health drop in sessions.
If you need to speak to somebody confidentially, find a mental health professional in your area by visiting Counselling Directory or for immediate support contact Samaritans.
To find out more about Cambridge United's mental health plans, visit their website.
Maurice Richmond
Maurice is a contributing writer at Happiful Magazine
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Kjell Salvanes
Summer School on Socioeconomic Inequality, Bergen (SSSI 2019 Bergen)
3 Questions with Kjell Salvanes
The Supply of Skill and Endogenous Technical Change: Evidence From a College Expansion Reform
Video of Kjell Salvanes on the Mechanisms of Mobility
MIP network member Kjell Salvanes recently met with HCEO to discuss his research on inequality and the development of the Scandinavian welfare state.
"My main interest is trying to understand better why some people do well in life and some people don’t do so well," he says. Another component of this research focuses on intergenerational mobility, which measures changes in socioeconomic status within the same family across generations.
One project Salvanes is working on with his colleagues follows three different age cohorts of children across a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. The project combines register data with experimental and survey data and tracks parental investment as well as the cognitive and noncognitive skills of the children.
"What we are particularly interested in is the socioeconomic difference," Salvanes says. "We know that, for instance from Professor Heckman’s work, differences start early on, before school starts. And that there is a strong socioeconomic gradient. What we want to understand is why is that? What are they doing differently? Parenting style is the concept people are using, that parents are doing things differently. What we want to also understand is why they are doing this differently?"
A second project focuses on the development of the Scandivanian welfare state, which started with policy changes dating back to the 1930s. Salvanes has data from cohorts born in the 1920s, as well as data from their children and grandchildren. This allows the researchers to track long term outcomes alongside historical policy changes in order to try and understand the mechanisms of mobility. "The idea is to bring together these two perspectives," he says. "So those are the two big projects we are undertaking."
Salvanes is Professor in Economics at Norges Handelshøyskole (the Norwegian School of Economics) and Deputy Director of the Centre of Excellence FAIR (Centre for Experimental Research on Fairness, Inequality and Rationality.) He is also co-organizer of the 2019 Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Global Working Group and FAIR Summer School on Socioeconomic Inequality.
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Westboro Baptist Church Twitter Account Hacked By Anonymous
Jeremy Taylor
Angelonfire, Flickr
Just when you thought the Westboro Baptist church couldn't get any lower, they did.
The radical group, which has gained notoriety for protesting military funerals and blaming the deaths on America's acceptance of homosexuality, announced that they would picket a vigil that is being held this week for victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting.
In response, the hacktivist group Anonymous decided to make sure the WBC wouldn't be making any more announcements. After releasing a video in which they said they would "destroy" the WBC, Anonymous appears to have taken over the Twitter account of WBC spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper.
Instead of WBC's regular messages of hate, on Monday Phelps-Ropers twitter account posted a link to a petition calling for the White House to label the WBC as a hate group. There were also other less safe for work changes to the account's layout.
In addition, Anonymous has taken credit for bringing down the WBC's main website and posting its member's personal information online.
It's unclear if the Westboro Baptist Church still plans to go to Connecticut. In the past they have announced their intentions to protest certain events but then never actually showed up.
Source: Westboro Baptist Church Twitter Account Hacked By Anonymous
Filed Under: Twitter
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Esther Htusan
Pulitzer Prize-winning Kachin journalist from Burma
Esther Htusan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning Kachin journalist from Burma. In 2017, she was forced to flee to Thailand after receiving numerous threats for having reported on Aung San Suu Kyi’s counterinsurgency policies toward Rohingya refugees. In 2013, she started reporting for the Associated Press on human rights abuses, with a focus on the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine State. In 2016, Htusan was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for her investigative reporting on human trafficking in Southeast Asia. Htusan’s work has been featured in outlets such as The Guardian, The Washington Post, and The Daily Mail.
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HVGIQ: Cambodia
June 12, 2014 / Jason Malloy / 8 Comments
Much like Burma, Cambodia is a populous Southeast Asian country with a toxic authoritarian government, and routinely shows up at the back of human development indices. Richard Lynn’s international IQ dataset likewise does not yet have a study for this country.
Lynn & Vanhanen (2002, p. 74) make an IQ estimate of 89 for Cambodia by averaging together scores from its regional neighbors Thailand (91) and the Philippines (86). IQ and Global Inequality (2006, p. 56) revises this estimate to 91 by averaging together scores from three neighbors: Laos (89), Thailand (91), and Vietnam (94). Lynn & Vanhanen’s most recent update (2012, p. 21) assigns Cambodia an IQ of 92, but it’s not entirely clear why, as this book no longer lists the nations used to generate regional estimates. Presumably it’s the rounded average of Laos (89) and Vietnam (94).
In this post I present several different intelligence studies from Cambodia, as well some data for U.S. immigrants. These studies suggest that Cambodia has one of the lowest IQs in the world, but their achievement test scores in the U.S. exceed blacks and Hispanics.
⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻ HᏤ ⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻
The oldest study I’ve located for Cambodia is Fergusson et al (1995 ); Cattell’s Culture Fair Intelligence Test was administered to 23 students at the Institute of Economic Science in Phnom Penh and to 47 students at the Maharishi Vedic University in Prey Veng province. Remarkably, the IQ of these college students was 70.9.
More recently, Janssen & Geiser (2012 ) administered the Standard Progressive Matrices to 306 students at the University of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. In comparison with British norms, their IQ was 86.4.
Taking the average of these two tests gives us an IQ of 78.7 for Cambodian University students. Assuming the typical difference of 1 standard deviation between college students and the general population (Herrnstein & Murray, 1994, pp. 151-152), this would imply that the average IQ in Cambodia is 63.7!
There is only one existing study capable of verifying this estimate; Naudeau et al (2011 ) report intelligence test data for 4,015 preschool-age children from 7 Cambodian provinces. The researchers translated the Spanish version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test into Khmer (You might remember that the TVIP was standardized in Mexico and Puerto Rico in the early 1980s). The reported IQ of the Cambodian children on this test was 82.7 (p. 20), but this is the sample’s IQ in relation to Mexican and Puerto Rican test norms. On top of that we have nearly 30 years of norm inflation. Adjusting for the Flynn Effect and U.S. norms brings the IQ down to 64.5, which is within one point of the estimate made from University student performance.
This number must be an underestimate of the population average, but probably not by much. While the children included in this study were socioeconomically mixed, the communities they live in were pre-selected for certain disadvantages, including a poverty rate of 30%. Since the national poverty rate is 30%, this means that no children from above average regions of Cambodia were tested. Only a study with good sampling could tell us how this omission really affected the average. But we can get a rough idea of what’s missing by looking at the socioeconomic differences in IQ within this sample (pp. 25-30): children from the upper quartile of wealth have IQs that are 4 or 5 points above the study average. Taking this as an upper bound, it is unlikely that Cambodia’s average IQ would be more than a few points higher than 64.5—at least on this particular test.
One additional study for Cambodia is O’Donnell et al (2012 ), which tested 237 young orphans on the second edition of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children. I would like to know how these children performed, but only the raw scores are reported, and I don’t have the conversion norms for this test. Regardless, orphans are a highly disadvantaged population and would not be an appropriate sample for a national IQ score.
Table I: IQ test scores in Cambodia
Admin Sample Age N Test IQ Reference
1993 MA 19 70 CCF 71 Fergusson et al, 1996
2011 MA 19 306 SPM 86 Janssen & Geiser, 2012
2008 SD 3-5 4015 TVIP 65 Naudeau et al, 2011
Did Pol Pot Lower Cambodia’s National IQ?
In 1975 the Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia and committed large-scale atrocities on the model of Mao’s Great Leap Forward. The Communist dictator Pol Pot evacuated the cities with forced marches into the countryside and orchestrated a mostly intra-ethnic genocide of educated professionals in an attempt to transform Cambodia into an agrarian socialist utopia. This resulted in the mass-murder of ¼ of the Cambodian population!
Even though Lynn’s books have always given a relatively high IQ estimate to Cambodia, there has long been speculation from the HBD corners of the Internet that Pol Pot’s extermination of the intelligentsia must have had an enormously deleterious effect on Cambodia’s genotypic IQ (See comments here, here, and here).
How much of Cambodia’s current IQ deficit might be explained by this genocide?
James Flynn recently addressed this very question in his book Intelligence and Human Progress (2013, pp. 42-44) and answered ‘not much’:
How much did Pol Pot do to lower the mean IQ of the Cambodian people? … This question can be settled by a few calculations. Pol Pot killed somewhere between 1.7 and 2.5 million people. I will put this at 2.1 million or 26% of Cambodia’s 8 million people (Kiernan, 2002). If he had done it using IQ tests, eliminating the top 26% would have lowered the IQ of the remaining parents by 6.4 IQ points and a good portion of this deficit would have been handed down to their children. However, as we have seen, he in fact used occupation as his criterion.
We do not know the correlation between the occupational status of the parent and the IQ of their (no longer to be born) children, but in a semirural society it would be below that of the United States. [Note: this claim is possibly false. See Malloy, 2008, p. 1085. –JM] At that time in the United States, it was 0.300 (Flynn, 2000b). If you eliminated the top 26% of the US population by occupation, the mean IQ of their children would drop by only 1.92 points. Moreover, Pol Pot did not really use a pure criterion of occupational status. For example, a lot of his henchmen doing the killing were intellectuals (Pol Pot attended the Sorbonne, although he did flunk all of his courses). When he tried to eliminate everyone who lived in the capital city of Phnom Penh, this included many in humble occupations. The genetic capital of the Cambodian people was lowered by not much more than an IQ point. The people were hardly stripped of intellectual talent.
Of course, this only wrestles with the hereditary cost of the Khmer Rouge. A few 1979 reports from one Cambodian doctor—used in the trial of Pol Pot—specifically discuss the environmental impact of the regime on cognitive ability: “The survivors of this generation (aged from one to four years) will necessarily have a highly reduced intelligence potential, with IQs no higher than 95.” (De Nike, 2000, pp. 335-338)
Intelligence and Achievement of Cambodian Americans
Cambodian immigration to the U.S. mostly occurred in a single wave in the late 1970-1980s as peasants fled the Vietnamese military occupation (few were so lucky in escaping the Khmer Rouge).
Clarke et al (1993 ) tested 39 adolescent refugees who had been living in the U.S., on average, for about 6 years. They were given the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised and the vocabulary subtest of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. IQ on the PPVT was 49.7. Only a few had scores in the normal range, and 75% scored below 70. Their IQ on the Stanford-Binet subtest was 75.2. Taking an average of the two tests gives this sample an IQ of 62.5.
Large-scale annual achievement test data is available for Cambodian Americans. Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) is a state program for measuring student performance in California, and test scores from 1998-2013 are available online. Conveniently for Human Varieties, the results are also broken down by ethnicity, which includes a dozen different Asian nationalities.
For the years 2003-2006 I looked at the performance of over 65,000 Cambodian Americans on the reading and math sections of the California Achievement Test. In comparison with white students, Cambodians had an AQ of 91.7 (Reading = 89.2, Math = 94.1)
For the years 2009-2012 I looked at the performance of nearly 49,000 Cambodian Americans on the math and reading sections of the California Standards Tests. In comparison with white students, Cambodians had an AQ of 94.8 (Reading = 92.9, Math = 96.8)
A much smaller amount of data is also available from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, which gave the Abridged Stanford Achievement Test to 95 Cambodian school children living in San Diego, CA during 1992 and 1996 (Kim, 2002 ). Cambodians had an AQ of 89 (Reading = 84, Math = 94).
These three sources of data give Cambodian Americans a weighted Achievement Quotient of 93.
To the extent the results from Clarke et al (1993) represent the scores of new immigrants, and the results from the post-1990s Californian state exams are mostly second generation, we might take this as evidence that when Cambodians are nurtured in the high quality U.S. environment their standard scores rise to the low or mid 90s: similar to the (presumed) scores of closely-related populations like the Thais or Vietnamese.
⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻ REFERENCES ⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻⎻
Clarke, G.N., Sack, W.H., Ben, R., Lanham, K., & Him, C. (1993). English language skills in a group of previously traumatized Khmer adolescent refugees. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 181, 454-456.
Fergusson, L.C., Bonshek, A.J., & Masson, G.L. (1995). Vedic science based education and nonverbal intelligence: a preliminary longitudinal study in Cambodia. Higher Education Research & Development, 15, 73-82.
Flynn, J.R. (2013). Intelligence and Human Progress: The story of what was hidden in our genes. Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
De Nike, H.J., Quigley, J.B., & Robinson, K.J. (2000). Genocide in Cambodia: documents from the trial of Pol Pot and Ieng Sary. Philadelphia, USA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Herrnstein, R.J., & Murray, C. (1994). The Bell Curve: Intelligence and class structure in American life. New York, USA: Simon and Schuster.
Janssen, A.B., & Geiser, C. (2012). Cross-cultural differences in spatial abilities and solution strategies—an investigation in Cambodia and Germany. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43, 533-557.
Kim, R.Y. (2002). Ethnic differences in academic achievement between Vietnamese and Cambodian children: Cultural and structural explanations. Sociological Quarterly, 43, 213-235.
Lynn, R., & Vanhanen, T. (2002). IQ & the wealth of nations. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Lynn, R., & Vanhanen, T. (2006). IQ & global inequality. Augusta, GA: Washington Summit Publishers.
Lynn, R., & Vanhanen, T. (2012). Intelligence: A Unifying Construct for the Social Sciences. London, UK: Ulster Institute for Social Research.
Malloy, J. (2008). James Watson tells the inconvenient truth: Faces the consequences. Medical Hypotheses, 70, 1081-1091.
Naudeau, S., Martinez, S., Premand, P., & Filmer, D. (2011). Cognitive development among young children in low-income countries. In H. Alderman (Ed.), No Small Matter: The impact of poverty, shocks, and human capital investments in childhood development (pp. 9-50). Washington, DC, USA: The World Bank.
O’Donnell, K., Murphy, R., Ostermann, J., Masnick, M., Whetten, R. A., Madden, E., … & Whetten, K. (2012). A brief assessment of learning for orphaned and abandoned children in low and middle income countries. AIDS & Behavior, 16, 480-490.
HV Global IQ, Southeast Asia
The Fallacy of Significance Tests
HVGIQ: Turks and Caicos Islands
To the extent the results from Clarke et al (1993) represent the scores of new immigrants, and the results from the post-1990s Californian state exams are mostly second generation, we might take this as evidence that when Cambodians are nurtured in the high quality U.S. environment their standard scores rise to the low or mid 90s: similar to the scores of closely-related populations like the Thais or Vietnamese.
But why assume that these immigrants were representative of the Cambodian population? (Immigrants to the U.S. usually aren’t, save Mexicans.)
Jason Malloy (Post author)
But why assume that these immigrants were representative of the Cambodian population?
There was significant elite immigration from Vietnam, but the refugees from Cambodia were mostly rural peasants. Maybe they were below average, but when your GDP is $50 per capita, how can you even tell?
T. Greer
A reference on this point:
Arthur Sakamoto and. Hyeyoung Woo, “The Socioeconomic Attainments of Second-Generation Cambodian, Hmong, Laotian, and Vietnamese Americans,* Sociological Inquiry, Volume 77, Issue 1, pages 44–75 (February 2007).
In short, unlike most other Asian immigrants, Southeast Asians typically arrived in the United States as refugees under duress with essentially no economic assets or well-devised plans for the future. Many of the first arrivals had no prior family connections. Nor were they particularly selective in terms of possessing high levels of educational attainment or scarce occupational skills as stipulated by immigration law (Kao 1995). Refugees tend to have lower socioeconomic statuses than immigrants who are admitted for their labor market skills.
The initial immigration of Southeast Asians is usually divided into two major waves. The first are those who entered the United States in 1975 or earlier (i.e., Wave 1), while the second (i.e., Wave 2) are those who entered after 1975. Wave 1 immigrants are mostly persons who entered the United States in 1975 (with the fall of Saigon and the withdrawal of U.S. military forces in Vietnam) because the immigration of these groups before 1975 was highly limited (Rumbaut 1995). Wave 2 immigrants are mostly from 1979 and later as the immigration of these groups between 1976 and 1978 was comparatively minor (Rumbaut 1995).
Wave 1 Vietnamese immigrants tended to have somewhat higher socioeconomic origins than Wave 2 Vietnamese immigrants. As discussed by Rumbaut (1995), Wave 1 Vietnamese immigrants were substantially more likely than Wave 2 Vietnamese immigrants to have completed high school, to know some English, to be from an urban background, and to have had an upper white-collar occupation. Wave 1 Vietnamese immigrants were more likely to be associated with the South Vietnamese military or the U.S. military or to have been employed by the U.S. government. By contrast, Wave 2 Vietnamese immigrants were more likely to have never attended school, to have been farmers or fishermen, to know no English, and to have a rural background. Wave 2 Vietnamese immigrants were also sometimes known as the “boat people” in the American popular press during the 1980s because of their precarious and often tragic exodus via boats from Vietnam to nearby asylum countries.3
Wave 1 Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian immigrants also tended to have slightly higher socioeconomic origins than their Wave 2 counterparts. Both waves of these groups, however, tended to have lower levels of education than even Wave 2 Vietnamese. The school system in Laos at that time did not offer schooling beyond the 12th grade. Only tiny proportions of these populations were urban. The Wave 2 Cambodians have very low levels of education because many are the survivors of the “killing fields” controlled by the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot. The Hmong are particularly disadvantaged in part because the Laotian government at that time did not develop a school system in Hmong communities. The Hmong were mostly illiterate, and were engaged in hunting and in traditional slash-and-burn agriculture (Chan 1994; Kitano and Daniels 1995; Rumbaut 1995).
As noted above, we focus our analysis on the second generation rather than on persons who immigrated to the United States as adults. Our investigation therefore does not include Wave 1 or Wave 2 adult immigrants per se but rather their children who were educated in the United States. It is a well-established finding, however, that children tend to have higher educational attainment to the extent that their parents have higher educational attainment and socioeconomic status (Featherman and Hauser 1978; Goyette and Xie 1999; Mare and Winship 1988). Furthermore, persons who complete more education tend to have higher incomes and wages (e.g., Farley 1996). We therefore expect that
second-generation Southeast Asian Americans who have Wave 1 parents to tend to have higher socioeconomic attainments than those who have Wave 2 parents.
Among Cambodians, Wave 1 immigrants have a mean years of schooling of 11.91, while Wave 2 immigrants have a mean of 7.15. The difference between the two waves is thus 4.76 years which is the largest difference for any of the Southeast Asian groups. While Wave 1 Cambodians have mean years of
schooling that is fairly similar to African Americans (i.e., 11.91 versus 12.14 for African Americans), the 7.15 mean years of schooling for Wave 2 Cambodians is quite low by U.S. standards. Wave 1 Cambodians of the “parental generation” have a poverty rate that is substantially lower than that for African Americans, while among Wave 2 Cambodians poverty is about 10 percentage points higher than among African Americans. Only one of five Wave 1 Cambodians speaks English poorly, while among Wave 2 Cambodians the corresponding figure is about two of three. It should be noted, however, that the sample sizes shown in Table 1 imply that slightly less than 10 percent of the “parental generation” of Cambodians is Wave 1 (over 90% are Wave 2).
The rest of the paper has other data & insights germane to this discussion and worth reading in full.
You missed:
//www.mankindquarterly.org/spring_summer2014_lynn2.html
(delete)
I did miss that, but it contains no new information. Lynn’s paper simply summarizes the results from Janssen & Geiser (2012). He is attempting to use the IQ of University students for the average IQ of Cambodia. If he used this as a consistent inclusion criteria for his dataset he would get all kinds of wonky results. Many nations would have inflated national IQs.
ckp
How does Achievement Quotient translate to IQ?
How about doing Ukrainians, another region subjected in the 20th Century to massacres and exiling of people with above average intelligences: Jews, kulaks, aristocrats, and Communist Party officials (both by Stalin in the Great Terror and by Hitler in 1941)? And no doubt there has been some selective migration outward since the late 1980s: my son’s one Ukrainian friend in grade school, Andy, was the son of a genius aerospace engineer who owned the single nicest piece of land I’ve ever been on in the San Fernando Valley.
The lone Ukrainian figure I’ve seen from Rindermann is 95, which sounds reasonable, but you are amazing at digging up more numbers.
More Links For June 2014 | Slate Star Codex
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rotten boroughs - with a mighty bound he was free... - The Villages
Subject: rotten boroughs - with a mighty bound he was free...
Music: vaughan williams
If you'd asked me, towards the end of last week, I'd have told you that Gordon was headed for the dole queue. That he's managed to survive is, I suppose, a tribute to his talents and to the fear he inspires in MPs.
The European elections were disastrous for any number of reasons. It was Labour's worst performance at an election ever, but they've managed to spin it. Across Europe voters - the ones who could be bothered to vote - turned away from Socialism and towards the centre right, which took a little of the sting out of Labour's performance. In addition, Europe really doesn't have a very big place in the public consciousness over here. I don't remember the last European elections being so closely watched and dissected; they're being seen now as something of a referendum on the credit crisis and the government's handling of it, and of the MPs expenses thing, and both those things are spinnable.
What is embarrassing - shameful, actually - is that the protest vote allowed UKIP and the BNP to gain ground - in the case of the BNP sending two MEPs to Brussels, and I'm ashamed to say that one of them came from my home area. UKIP are a bunch of cartoons, and I found it deeply ironic that a party which is anti-Europe was so delighted to do well in European elections.
Like the European elections, meetings of the Parliamentary Labour Party aren't heavily-reported, as a rule. But yesterday's attracted the kind of attention Princess Diana used to get.
It was built up as a make-or-break meeting, when Gordon would face a roomfull of fractious backbenchers, all of whom wanted to tear him limb from limb. There would be resignations, calls for him to step down, automatic weapons fire, attack dogs. That kind of thing.
In the event, it was a bit of a damp squib. Charles Clarke called for Gordon's resignation, but Charlie does that to every Prime Minister. Stephen Byers called for his resignation, but he wasn't even at the meeting and he's hardly fondly-regarded within the Party, for a number of reasons.
As I understand it, Gordon put on the performance of his life. He was described a `humble,' `caring.' He got applause. He got away with it.
So, boxes ticked. Cabinet sorted out; check. European elections spun; check. Council elections...well, probably sortable, and it's the General Election that really matters; check. Backbenchers mollified; check.
This is not to say he's entirely out of the woods yet. In the next week or so he'll be facing a no-confidence motion in the Commons, but I think he could squeak that too.
If he does, it's unlikely that we'll have an election until next Summer. By then, the expenses system will have been reformed and - if present trends continue - the economy may well be picking up, and Gordon can go to the country as the man who got the big issues right. He could win. He probably won't win big; I think his majority will be absolutely tiny and he'll have to cut a deal with parties like the SNP, which will wreck his next term.
But really, I can't remember any other time like this in British politics. Historians are going to be picking over this period for years and years.
I think the phrase `colour and smells' is probably a good one; every nation's politics has a certain colour and smell, and probably taste as well, and you've got to pay attention to what's going on over a period of time in order to catch those little nuances.
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Home Actors Ken Leung – Bio, Wife, Height, Family, Facts About The Actor
Ken Leung – Bio, Wife, Height, Family, Facts About The Actor
The American film industry has opened up its doors to welcome talent from different regions in the world and this has created a melting pot of people with different ethnicities who portray characters that have personality traits that are peculiar to people from the same regions in the world they hail from. This multicultural face of Hollywood is a hub of racial and ethnic representation and one of the people representing the Asian continent in the American film industry is the actor, Ken Leung. To learn more about how this man has made a mark in the film industry, keep reading.
Ken Leung Bio
The actor Ken Leung was born in the city popularly known as The Big Apple in 1970 on the 21st of January. He is the first child of his parents and has a younger brother whose name is not known, his father Wang-Gang Leung operated his own business while the occupation of his mother, Kim-Chong Lui is not known. Part of Leung’s childhood was spent in Manhattan in the Two Bridges, area, his family eventually moved to another part of the state.
The move affected his education and he had to change the school he was attending and transferred to a boarding school, the final stop for his high school education was at Old Bridge High School. His enrollment at the school was facilitated by his family moving once more to Old Bridge in New Jersey. Leung earned his high school diploma from Old Bridge and then went ahead to the New York University, where he majored in Pre-physical Therapy.
It was during Ken Leung’s time at the university that his interest in acting was piqued; a friend had suggested he take a course in acting while he was in his junior year and thus began his journey in the world of acting. He was done with the university in 1995 and by that time, he had already trained with seasoned actresses who gave him pointers in acting.
His career as an actor started right after he left the university, but he only had small roles and he continued to take classes in acting to better hone his skills. Leung’s first major role was in the 1998 film Rush Hour. He played the role of Sang, who was the villain in the film. Leung was cast alongside Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. His performance in Rush Hour led people to believe he was a martial artist from Hong Kong, this rumor thrived as he was a relatively young actor who had not done any major work in film. This was not his only film with Brett Ratner the director of Rush Hour, the two collaborated on three other films as the director held Leung in high regard and compared him to the seasoned actor, Philip Seymour.
Ken Leung has had roles in other high profile movies and television shows such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Lost, Saw, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Sopranos, The Night Shift, Inhumans, among many others. His performance as Liam Liu in the 2007 film, Shanghai Kiss earned him recognition at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. Ken has enjoyed a successful career as an actor, a career that began by taking an elective course completely different from the one he was majoring in, one year away from his graduation.
Ken Leung’s Wife and Family
Although Leung has had appearances in major films and has been popular since his acting career began in 1995, he has managed to keep certain aspects of his life under wraps. One of these aspects is his wife. The actor revealed in an interview that he was a married man but declined to reveal any more details regarding the identity of the woman. It is also not known if they have any kids together.
Read Also: Eve Harlow – Bio, Family, Facts About The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Actress
Height and Other Facts About The Actor
1. Ken Leung is of average height standing at 5 feet 7 inches.
2. While at the university, he was part of its scholar program; this speaks to the genius and intelligence he possesses.
3. This actor always had the inkling to perform even as a child when he would put on skits for his dad and grandmother alongside his brother.
4. Leung is a fan of comics and he has stated that the superhero fight he will love to see is one between the Human Torch and Aquaman.
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No Primary Section FoundGoDaddy
GoDaddy is going public
Dan Primack
GoDaddy Group, an Internet hosting company and domain registrar with a reputation for raunchy ads, today filed for an initial public offering, three years after being acquired by private equity firms for $2.25 billion.
The Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company listed $100 million as the amount it plans to raise, but a source familiar with the situation says that is just a placeholder, as GoDaddy has not yet reached a final determination on offering amount.
Morgan Stanley (MS), J.P. Morgan (JPM) and Citigroup (C) are listed as lead underwriters. No ticker symbol nor exchange was listed.
GoDaddy reports a $200 million net loss on $1.13 in revenue for 2013, compared to a $279 million net loss on $979 million in revenue for 2012. Its 2014 also is tracking better than 2013, based on a $51 million net loss on $320 million in revenue for the first quarter.
The company also reports having just around $133 million in cash on its books, plus $1.08 billion of long-term debt.
GoDaddy previously filed for an IPO in 2006, before later abandoning the effort over apparent valuation concerns. At the time, founder and then-CEO Bob Parsons also wrote in a blog post that he had balked at SEC ‘quiet period’ regulations. The self-described “outspoken” executive called the quiet period “suffocating” and didn’t want to give up his weekly radio show, or other planned radio and TV appearances.
Here is a chart of the company’s history, from the IPO registration document:
Parsons moved out of the CEO role in late 2011, months after GoDaddy was sold for $2.25 billion to an investor group that included Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures. Those firms already have gotten some return on their investment, with GoDaddy recently taking out a new $1.1 billion loan that was used, in part, to provide shareholders with a $350 million dividend.
According to its registration document, KKR and Silver Lake each own a 28% stake in GoDaddy and TCV holds 12.6%. Most of the remaining shares are held by company founder Bob Parsons.
GoDaddy will be required to pay the private equity firms an aggregate $25 million upon IPO, per the terms of a management and monitoring fee termination agreement.
With 57 million domains GoDaddy is the world’s largest domain name registrar. The company has been expanding over the past two years through a series of acquisitions, including the purchase of accounting app Outright and a deal to acquire aftermarket domain sales business Afternic. In October, the company also acquired domain hosting and website services company Media Temple, and recently opened operations in India.
Related Video: GoDaddy Files for IPO Amid Shifting Ad Strategy
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UH Hilo graduates selected for JET Program
Two spring 2016 graduates from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo have been selected for the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program.
Johann Kuipers, a sociology major who minored in English and received a Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) certificate, also studied abroad at the University of Waikato in New Zealand during the 2014 -2015 academic year. Kuipers now lives on Ishigaki Island in Okinawa, and works at multiple schools around Taketomni-cho, where he teaches elementary and middle school students.
Linguistics major Kayla Ing also graduated with a TESOL certificate, and studied abroad at Meio University in Nago, Japan during the 2014-2015 academic year. Ing is currently teaching 1st -3rd-year students at Sanjo Senior High School, Sanjo Commercial High School, Kamo Senior High School and Kamo Agricultural & Forestry High School, located in Sanjo and Kamo, Japan.
UH Hilo graduates interested in the JET Program can acquire more information by contacting the Center for Global Education and Exchange at 932-7488 or by emailing uhhglobe@hawaii.edu.
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Tag Archives: underage girls
China marries Iran, Saudi’s say 10-year-old girls should marry, and there’s a new St. Pauli Girl for beer drinkers to lust after
> Report: Iran signs oil deal with China
> Saudi cleric: it’s an injustice to NOT marry girls aged 10
> Breaking news: A new St. Pauli Girl has been chosen!
St. Pauli Girl Van Derham
Breitbart reported last week that Iran and China signed a $2 billion agreement that allows Chinese development of an Iranian oil field. The two countries did a similar deal in December 2007, and despite U.S. concerns, their commitment to one another continues to grow. And Mail Online reported last week that Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric said 10-year-old girls are ready for marriage, and people who say they’re too young are being “unfair” to them. Meanwhile, BrandFreak reported last week that German beer company St. Pauli Girl, has selected Slovakian model Katarina Van Derham, to appear as their faux German barmaid in future promotions. The quest for oil, beer and fine women — of all ages — rolls on like the timeless traditions of communist-dictatorships, drinking and underaged sex.
“There’s no stopping Communists and Islamofascists from hooking up for mutual benefit, or slowing Muslim men from marrying baby girls or blowing themselves or others to bits,” said Misty Mae-Morningside, a barmaid and holder of the ‘2009 Beer Babe’ title down at the Shady Hollow Stripper Bar and Welding Helmet Lounge. “I don’t know whether it’s in their DNA or part of the Middle Eastern education system, but screwing helpless girls and blowing up innocent women in the marketplace is like a damned tradition over there. The Chinese just need the oil so they don’t give a shit one way or another. As far as the new Pauli Girl goes, she’s hot, but hasn’t got nothin’ on me.”
Wife to-be of 50-year-old Guy
Some people say there are traditions that should end. “Marrying-off 10-year-old Saudi girls or giving birth control patches to 11-year-old U.S. children at King Middle School in Maine, is as wrong as Communists and Islamofascists working together to strengthen themselves against the free West,” said Mabel Matron-Ironside, a shopkeeper and pro-establishment Virginian, whose only regret in life is that the South didn’t win the U.S. Civil War. “Just because you call underage marriage a tradition doesn’t make it right, and just because you believe in sexual freedom that doesn’t mean you should slap chemical patches on school children so they avoid pregnancy but inherit a bunch of drug related side-effects. Doesn’t anyone think through this stuff? I’m not sure whose fault it is, but I’m guessing it’s those damn Yankees up North. Son’s of bitches.”
Breitbart reported that Iran’s official news agency says the country has signed a $1.76 billion deal with China to develop the North Azadegan oil field in southwestern Iran near the Iraq border. The IRNA report says the deal was signed between the National Iranian Oil Company and the China National Petroleum Corp. Iran’s Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari says the field has an estimated 6 billion barrels of crude oil and will produce 75,000 barrels of oil per day for 25 years. In December 2007, China’s biggest refiner, Sinopec, signed a $2 billion agreement with Iran to develop another Iranian oil field, the Yadavaran. The deals illustrate China’s strong business ties with Iran despite U.S. pressure over the Iranian nuclear program.
Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al Sheikh
The UK Mail Online reported that ten-year-old girls are ready for marriage, according to Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric. Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al Sheikh, the country’s grand mufti, told Al Hayat newspaper that those saying ten or 12-year-old girls are too young to marry are being ‘unfair’ to them. Al Sheikh’s comments come at a time when Saudi human rights groups have been pushing the government to put an end to marriages involving the very young and to define a minimum age for marriage. In the past few months, Saudi newspapers have highlighted several cases in which young girls were married off to much older men or very young boys.
The report followed a ruling by a court in Oneiza in central Saudi Arabia last month that dismissed a divorce petition by the mother of an eight-year-old girl whose father married her off to a man in his 50s. Newspaper reports said the court argued that the mother did not have the right to file such a case on behalf of her daughter and said that the petition should be filed by the girl when she reaches puberty. There are no statistics to show how many marriages involving children are performed in Saudi Arabia every year.
Van Derham
BrandFreak reported that continuing a 26-year tradition of finding stunning women who look great in German barmaid’s attire to represent its signature beer, St. Pauli Girl has selected Katarina Van Derham as its new bar wench for 2009. The Slovakian model’s selection is unique in that the beer brand partnered with Maxim.com for an online vote. Her bio states: “Van Derham grew up in a small village in the woods of Slovakia, a communist country at the time. She moved to the United States at age 22, without any intention of becoming a model.” Van Derham has already appeared in ad campaigns for AT&T, Dodge and the Rockstar Energy Drink. In regards to her new role as a faux German barmaid, she says, “I am very honored and look forward to meeting St. Pauli Girl fans all over the country.”
Some people say that as long as you have fans you can do whatever you want.
St. Pauli Girl
“Let’s face it, success is driven by popularity. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is popular with Jew haters, the Chinese are popular with Iran’s government because they need cash and political support, young girls are popular with old men and St. Pauli girl is popular with men of all ages. It’s popularity that gives you money, power and freedom — unless you’re a Muslim girl of course — then you’re just screwed,” said Strawberry Dackari, a sweet tasting drink that will nonetheless leave you heaving and with a hangover if you imbibe too much. “I may be nothing more than the figment of your imagination or a combination of alcohol, sugar and fruit, but I know about popularity. It got an unknown community organizer elected to the most powerful position in the world. Brand Obama will rule the globe and he can do whatever he wants. I’ll bet St. Pauli Girl is his if he wants her. I wonder what he really does want … I mean besides power? I suppose time will tell. It usually does.”
St. Google Girl?
In other news, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week that in the Cincinnati area, where legend holds that trends come 10 years late, “sexting” arrived well ahead of time. Teens there are taking nude photos of themselves or others, sending them on their cell phones or posting them online. Some teens do it as a joke. For others, it’s the new bold pickup line to get a date. A year ago, a 19-year-old Goshen cheerleading coach was charged and prosecuted for a misdemeanor, contributing to the unruliness of a child, for taking a topless photo of herself and a 15-year-old girl. A Glen Este Middle School boy was taken to juvenile court during the last school year for taking explicit photos of his girlfriend. “It’s ‘Kids Gone Wild,’ with technology being provided by the parents,” according to Jim Brown, school resource officer at Glen Este High School. No word on how Saudi clerics feel about this, but since these incidents involve girls older than 10 and the issue isn’t marriage to 50 year-old men, it’s kind of hard to decide which society the suicide bombers should attack.
Source articles:
Report: Iran signs oil deal with China
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D95N2SAO0&show_article=1
It’s an injustice to NOT marry girls aged 10, says Saudi cleric
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1115624/Its-injustice-NOT-marry-girls-aged-10-says-Saudi-cleric.html
Important breaking news: A new St. Pauli Girl has been chosen!
http://www.brandfreak.com/2009/01/important-breaking-news-a-new-st-pauli-girl-has-been-chosen.html
Maine Middle School May Drug 11 Year Old Girls with Birth Control Patches
http://www.naturalnews.com/022934.html
Teens bare all on phones
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090113/NEWS0102/901130326
Comments Off on China marries Iran, Saudi’s say 10-year-old girls should marry, and there’s a new St. Pauli Girl for beer drinkers to lust after
Tagged as babe, beer, China, energy, hot babe, hot babes, Iran, islam, islamofascism, Katarina Van Derham, marriag, Middle East, muslims, oil production, Saudi, St. Pauli Girl, suicide bombers, underage girls
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Photo by Brian Ascuncion.
by Erica Euse
Mar 15 2019, 3:04pm
these teen curators want young artists to finally be taken seriously
Emma Orland and Carolyn Hallock are fighting ageism in the art world by giving young people the chance to exhibit their work in New York City.
Emma Orland and Carolyn Hallock were only in high school when they put together their first art exhibition. At 16 and 18 respectively, they scouted the location (a basement venue in Brooklyn), solicited submissions through social media, and put together the event in less than a couple months. Throughout it all, the teens hadn’t relied on adults to help them put together their art show and that was the point.
“My mom and dad didn’t know about the first one until a month before [it opened],” Emma, now eighteen, says. “I told my mom and she was like, wait what? It was after we already had the space.”
Inspired by exhibits like Brittany Natale’s Teen Dream, which showcased female artists from the ages of 13 to 21, Emma and Carolyn wanted to create a space for young local and international artists to showcase their work in one of the world’s art capitals. In their experience, teenagers weren’t getting the respect or opportunities they deserved. They hoped this platform would help show everyone just what they were capable of. They named the exhibition Sonder (a word they fortuitously found through Google), which means “the realization that people around you have minds as vivid and complex as your own.”
Art by Alexis Williams.
After the success of their first show in 2017, the girls brought the exhibition back the next year, in a new space in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. This past weekend, they returned to the neighborhood for their third installment titled Sonder iii, but in a larger space that could now hold nearly double the work than when they started — 70-plus artists, some as young as 13 years old.
This time around the exhibit was filled with photography, paintings, and multi-media pieces that had come in from places as far as the Philippines. Nearly every piece was accompanied by an artist’s statement that described the work, but was strategically void of their age — an intentional decision by Emma and Carolyn, so that viewers wouldn’t judge the work solely based on their youth.
Art by Laila Stevens.
“In today’s world, more and more people are exposed to never before seen mediums... However, their work, more-often-than-not, goes underappreciated due to the inherent ageism that is prominent in the world today... We ultimately hope to abolish the notion that artistry has an age range," reads a sign in the exhibition printed in millennial pink.
We caught up with the teen curators to find out more about their work with young artists and what it's like to tackle ageism in the art world.
How did the idea for this art show come about?
Carolyn: I think we both wanted to do something and we felt there wasn’t a great space for young artists to show their work, in like a physical sense. Anyone can show their work online, but being able to have your work in a gallery at a young age is difficult. We want to be able to give young artists that opportunity.
Why the name Sonder ?
Emma: We were kind of struggling with names. I think I really just looked up ‘interesting word’ which is not the best approach, but we came across sonder which means the realization that people around you have minds as vivid and complex as your own. We were like OK, that really pertains to our exhibit because teenagers and young adults are sort of overlooked in art. We tried to transfer that [meaning] to teenagers being just as creative and capable of doing things as anyone else.
Art by Lexi Meace.
What made you want to open submissions up to people who weren’t physically in NYC?
C: We wanted international artists. It is always a goal for people to show their work in New York. I think it is like a cool thing for them. So, we wanted to let people have that opportunity.
So you never really thought about needing to have them here?
E: We wanted to show the teenage experience. I don’t think it would be right to limit it only to people in a certain area. I feel like that was really important to show [their work].
What are some of the themes that are popular throughout the show?
E: We have a lot about sexuality and a lot about...
C: Sexuality is definitely a big one.
E: A lot about relationships. A few that cover religion...definitely some about race. Just anything that people struggle with, maybe not struggle with, but are exploring.
Have you seen the current political climate influencing the art you’ve featured?
E: People use art as an outlet. You can just see that people are really affected by things. I think you can’t ignore it, so if you have to feel it, art is a way to release those emotions.
C: I think we definitely have stuff that you can tell is based on or influenced by things that are going on around the country or the world.
Art by Andrea Dimagmaliw.
What has been the reactions from the artists?
E: People have cried, which it isn’t because it’s sad, it is happy. We’ve gotten a lot of...
C: A lot of excitement. A lot of times for people it is their first gallery show, so people are really excited about that and really appreciative. Especially if they don’t live here, they are like ‘my work is in New York, that is so cool.’
What as been the response from the older generation?
E: A lot of people that I know that are older and are artists are like, I am so glad you are doing this because no one did this for us. They love to see young people being appreciated, which is very good to hear.
Art by Massimo Avanzato.
Follow Sonder on Instagram.
we are fans, not critics.
suscribe to i-D's positive vibes.
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Finding a Voice: What the “Council for Digital Good” Means to Me
In the words of my fellow Council member William, “I didn’t even realize I had these opinions until someone asked to hear them.”
While I have been online—whether gaming or on social media—for practically 10 of the 17 years of my life, I never felt like I could really do anything about the often cruel online culture and environment. Of course, I wondered why people could act completely differently online, and I was frustrated by the abundance of ugly issues that originated in the digital world. Like most other kids, though, I didn’t feel I was in a position to ameliorate the situation…
Fast-forward to my sophomore year of high school, the school counselor shared a unique opportunity with students: Microsoft Corporation’s inaugural “Council for Digital Good”—a program that aimed to be a youth sounding board for Microsoft’s digital civility agenda. The idea of the Council immediately intrigued me, and I fretted over my application for hours because I knew that I wanted to be a part of that group with the resources to take action and leave a lasting mark.
Somehow, a few months later, I found myself meeting William and thirteen other hardworking, insightful teenagers from across the United States. We talked about why we applied for the Council, and from the start, I knew we were going to have compelling, reflective discussions that really analyzed the issues that reside in the online world. And that’s exactly what we did— together as a cohort—for eighteen months.
We worked and spoke with a variety of technology companies, as well as NGOs like the International Bullying Prevention Association, to discuss the state of online interactions and what we want to see them look like in the future. We dug into our own experiences and those of our peers to try to understand what makes people “tick” online, and by the end of our Council term this past July, we created two key, joint products that embodied all our efforts: a cohort written manifesto and an open letter to United States policymakers.
For me, all of this was an incredible experience because it was the first time that I felt like my input on current issues was taken seriously by adults. We had a platform to share our thoughts with the world, and we were able to both make and see a tangible impact. It’s so important for teenagers to feel empowered enough to share their perspectives, and I encourage other companies and organizations to take the time to reach out to teens. I’m sure there are plenty more kids like William and myself who felt like the current online environment could be greatly improved, but we didn’t realize how much we had to say until a company like Microsoft gave us the means to tackle the issues that we see every day but often just accept or push aside as just “the way things are.”
But in any context, we never have to settle for “the way things are.” We are capable of being articulate and sharing our ideas; teenagers just sometimes need a friendly reminder that they and their voices are wanted. For me, that was the beauty of the Microsoft Council for Digital Good experience. I grew as an individual, communicating organic thoughts with other kids, as well as adults and professionals, who were just as passionate as I was about positively impacting our communities. We were given a platform to make a difference, and as many of us continue our digital civility efforts beyond the Council program, I think we did exactly that.
Christina Woodrow is a senior at Kennesaw Mountain High School’s Academy of Mathematics, Science, and Technology in Kennesaw, Georgia. She was one of fifteen teens in the United States selected to be a part of Microsoft Corporation’s inaugural Council for Digital Good, a youth-based pilot program that worked to advance digital civility. While the 18-month Council experience has come to a close, she is excited—and very much energized—to continue her efforts to spread awareness about online safety and online cultural issues. Christina is currently in the midst of the college application process and is looking forward to hopefully further exploring her many interests (research, law & policy, cybersecurity, Spanish, and more) at an institution next fall.
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Home » Articles » The 10 steps to achieving a data privacy compliance framework
The 10 steps to achieving a data privacy compliance framework
Andrew Henderson
The need for protection of data is becoming increasingly apparent after several high-profile incidents involving leaks of company and consumer data. The results of such data breeches usually include two types of damage: first to a company’s reputation, as the public bemoans the violation of their trust, and then financially from the fallout. The implications can be that companies are forced to pay for credit-monitoring services, make pay-outs for lawsuits or settlements, or even pay ransoms for hijacked data.
Even if companies have an ‘it-can’t-happen-here’ approach to data breaches, legislation will soon force them to take a closer look at their approach. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is coming into force in Europe in 2018 with potential fines of 4 percent of global revenue.
When dealing with complex topics like data privacy, it is very easy to get lost in the details of specific requirements or to have management shift the focus to the hottest topic of the moment. It is better to not react to the most recent scandal or legislation and instead look at the overarching process of data-privacy controls at the technological, compliance and management levels.
To help those tasked with managing compliance obligations and risks, companies need to be able to plan and prioritise over a wide range of issues and have those priorities understood and acted upon by the business.
The 10 steps to take to structure and manage your data-privacy programme
1. Choose a framework
It is important to agree to a framework to document obligations and review their relative importance. There should also be a method of managing the overarching programme to deal with each of the obligations according to their priority. The system of controls and processes can become very complex and intricate, and companies need to build their systems on a firm footing. There is rarely the need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to data-privacy controls, as there are internationally recognised standards to assist in building and organising.
The International Organization for Standardization publishes a standard, ISO19600, aimed at general support for compliance programmes (rather than any one specific risk). The idea behind ISO19600 is that it provides broad guidance, based on internationally agreed best practice, rather than a requirement standard for which is possible to be certified. Its use can differ depending on the size and level of maturity of an organisation and on the context, nature and complexity of the activities carried out.
2. Understand your obligations
One of the most common mistakes when building a data-privacy programme is to jump into the technical requirements of a law or code without fully considering what is most important to the business.
The first step should always be to understand the business necessity to comply. This involves a careful analysis of what your obligations are, what the risk of breaching those obligations might be and what risks your company is willing to take — essentially conducting a gap analysis of your legal, regulatory and reputational obligations and how your current efforts stack up.
The obligations of data privacy for companies operating or based in Europe may come from the European Union’s GDPR, but most countries have some form of data-privacy legislation that also needs to be considered. Many industries have their own codes of conduct which provide more specific guidance about how to treat data and are often more stringent. There may also be contractual obligations. Finally, there are also expectations of a company’s employees about how you will treat their private personal data — whether realistic or not.
3. Understand your risks
Once the obligations have been understood, you need to consider the chances that a violation will occur. This involves analysis of many factors, such as the type of data (employee or customer), how sensitive the data is, what people have access to that data (both within your company and externally), what your security processes are, and how you have managed breaches in the past. This understanding will help provide clear guidance on the risks and potential impact of breaches, and it will allow for a discussion about what level of risk your business is willing to accept.
Technological and physical security assessments play an important role in this risk assessment, and should cover both external access and internal users. A breach does not have to be from hacking— inadvertent access or alterations are far more common. Understanding social engineering, or using the powers of persuasion and fraud to gain access to systems, is crucial to guarding against data breaches. Technological controls can make it very difficult to access data, but tricking an employee into sharing data can thwart even the most stalwart encryption and data-security barriers.
4. Document your policies
Once the obligations and risks are understood, it is vital to document exactly what your policies are to manage the risk. Not all risks are managed in the same manner or to the same extent. A policy document needs to provide more than a high-level statement that you take privacy seriously — it needs to set out the appropriate guidance in key areas, such as consent, access and breach management. Policies for data protection and privacy may overlap with other business policies, such as security standards, records retention policies and the management of confidential or internal intellectual property.
5. Get buy-in
Senior management needs to agree with and sign off on your analysis as set out in the policies. This is a key step in gaining resources for remediation efforts, such as training, technology, or personnel, or to acknowledge leadership’s comfort level with the risks.
There is also the important topic of setting the tone from the top — the way leaders speak about privacy, their support of the programme, the resources that they provide (both financial and human) and the incentives they offer to encourage proper treatment of private information.
6. Assign responsibility
Data-privacy programmes fail when there is no clear ownership of the risk. The topic often falls between legal, IT, HR and compliance to manage, as it requires various skills to succeed. Each business will structure the ownership differently, but it is vital that it is clearly understood and that the owner has the necessary resources and influence to achieve the agreed outcomes. It is also important that across the business, everyone is aware of their responsibilities relating to privacy.
7. Provide training and communications
Training and communication can take many forms, including classroom sessions, electronic learning, posters and intranet articles, but all these should aim to ensure that all employees are competent to fulfil their job role in a manner that is consistent with the organisation’s compliance culture and policies.
The training programme should be focused on the risks related to the roles and responsibilities of the employees and the known gaps in their knowledge and competence. For most staff members, this will involve an understanding of the data that they will have access to and how a breach may occur.
Training should be provided on a regular basis, and it ought to be performed again whenever there are significant changes to positions, structures, risks or obligations, or when actual issues arise.
8. Deploy the programme
Once deployed, the programme should focus on specific day-to-day tasks that could pose a risk. These include:
Impact assessments: Privacy-impact assessments are key tools in understanding the risks related to any significant change in the business, whether a restructuring, a new product or the use of new partners. When performed at an early stage, they are useful in quantifying the risks of the project and they also to help build in privacy as a key part of the design.
Interactions with people: One of the primary purposes of data-privacy legislation is to provide rights to the individuals whose data you hold. Under the GDPR, these rights include access to their data and requiring a statement of consent for the processing of data or the eradication of data. Some of these rights can place a significant burden on companies if they have not planned and built processes for them.
Third-party transfers: Whenever data is moved outside an entity, the risk of a breach increases. Management of these transfers is vital; it requires an awareness that a transfer is taking place, a review of the transfer method, an understanding of the recipient’s privacy practices and those of the jurisdiction, and potentially the consent of the individuals involved.
Breach management: In many jurisdictions, legislation places an obligation on companies to notify regulators or individuals of a breach within a certain time period. It is therefore important to have processes in place to manage the investigation, containment and reporting requirements and the institution of remediation actions after the event.
For all these operational requirements, it is advisable to look at systems and tools (whether built in-house or brought in) to support the processes in the most efficient manner and to ensure that key activities are documented.
9. Monitoring progress
To ensure that the programme is progressing as planned, there should be a monitoring plan that sets out:
What needs to be monitored and measured and why
The methods for monitoring, measuring, analysing and evaluating
When the monitoring and measuring should be performed
When the results from monitoring and measurement should be analysed, evaluated and reported.
The feedback about the performance can come from employees, customers, suppliers, regulators, external security sources (especially for threat assessments) or analysis of the performance of the various systems in place. It can arrive via many routes, such as hotlines, informal discussions, workshops, sampling and integrity testing, perception surveys, formal interviews, inspections and audits.
Audits should be conducted at planned intervals to ensure that the programme is effectively implemented and maintained. Part of the planning should include decisions about the scope, criteria, frequency, methods, responsibilities and reporting. The auditors should have appropriate competence and be selected to ensure objectivity and impartiality. Audits could be carried out either internally at various business unit locations or externally at third-party operations.
Once the information has been collected, it needs to be analysed and assessed to identify root causes for appropriate action to be taken. The analysis should consider systemic and recurring problems for rectification, as these are likely to carry more significant risks for the organisation. To support the analysis, measures should be developed which focus on the management of the specific risks. Examples for a privacy programme might include the percentage of employees trained effectively, the number of breaches and near misses, the number of transfers or impact assessments completed (versus expectation), the time to investigate and report breaches, and the time to respond to individual access requests.
Once the analysis is completed, reporting arrangements should ensure that timelines for regular reporting are established. This reporting plan should include a system for standard reports, where no issues have been found, as well as exception reporting for issues. Reports may include matters in which the organisation is required to notify the regulatory authority, changes in external threats, incidents that have occurred, and the subsequent analysis and corrective action undertaken.
10. Review
The overall aim of the compliance framework is to ensure that the programmes are well managed and have continual improvement built into their design. It is also important to perform a more formal review on a regular basis to ensure that the programme is adjusted to meet any changes in legislation or the business. This review will feed into process changes so that processes are not changed too often and the impact of changes can be tracked and assessed.
Managing the risks of data privacy is a significant undertaking for any organisation, and it is only going to get more complex, given the growing focus from regulators and the increasing amounts of data concerning individuals that businesses hold.
It is a risk area that requires such a diverse set of skills to manage — including technical, security, legal and compliance — that external support will often be required. Having a framework in place to manage the continuous nature of the programme is essential.
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May 4, 2014 By Tariq Ramadan
Palestine : When Democracy Kills
Image Credit : REUTERS Palestinians evacuate a wounded man after an Israeli air strike, witnessed by a Reuters journalist, on a floor in a building that also houses media offices in Gaza City November 19, 2012.
In a world that celebrates the onward march of democracy, the Palestinian people have been left behind. When the first free elections (internationally recognized as fair and transparent) were held in the Occupied Territories in 2006, the democratic victory of Hamas rapidly plunged the Palestinians into a cycle of endless violence. The people had chosen the wrong winners and have been regularly and brutally punished for its error ever since. By voting for the fighters, it was as if they had given Israel a free hand to treat the entire population like “terrorists”, with imprisonment, summary execution, torture and regular air strikes, not to mention daily humiliation at military check-points and the horror of the apartheid wall of shame. What a remarkable success for democracy ! Vote freely, to become prison-camp inmates.
There is no end in sight. The so-called “peace process” has never fulfilled its promises. While the Israeli government and the colonists continue their slow colonization — thereby destroying the very notion of two states — dialogue breaks down and dies. US President Barack Obama, that Nobel Peace laureate, has never, with the exception of a handful of speeches, lifted a finger for peace, let alone on behalf of the Palestinians. On the contrary, he has carried unilateral support for Israel even farther than his predecessors. During the recent American election campaign, in quest of a second term, he totally washed his hands of Palestine. Letting a few Arabs be killed in Palestine and in Syria made it all worthwhile. Likewise, the upcoming “democratic” election in Israel is linked with the most recent violent clashes, aerial bombardments, targeted assassinations and the death of dozens — and soon hundreds — of civilians. Killing Palestinians and deploying armed forces, which only increase the danger, is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s winning strategy. The true message of democratic elections in Israel and the US is this — kill and let kill.
The response of the democratically elected regimes that took power in the wake of the Arab awakening must be more than simply symbolic. The immediate dispatch of the Egyptian and Tunisian foreign ministers must be saluted, just as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s firm position, both in 2008 and today, must be hailed. These are clear signs that times are changing and that government policy in these countries now reflects popular sentiment. But strictly national strategies only contribute to isolation and cannot build a concerted regional approach strong enough to weigh on future developments. The outcome may well be a brief emotional upheaval, with the Arab masses expressing their anger and their support for the initiatives of the Tunisian, Egyptian and Turkish authorities, but with no firm outcome, since Israel is continuing its attacks and intends to accomplish its objectives. Once more, the Palestinians may fall victim to a populist and nationalist exploitation of their cause. Newly elected officials issue firm condemnations, their populations demonstrate angrily and Palestinians keep on dying. The Palestinian cause calls for more than verbal support from the Arab countries — the time has come to form coalitions, to devise strategies that would concretely involve states from the Middle East through Latin America, South Africa and Asia, to establish a true front to defend justice and the rights and dignity of the Palestinians in a determined defense of the oppressed against their oppressors.
The western media, in virtual unison, claim that Israel is merely defending itself against Palestinian rocket attacks. What a lie ! It’s the 2008 scenario repeated, with the media regurgitating the mendacious propaganda of the Israeli government. For weeks and months, piloted aircraft and drones have been flying over Gaza, terrorizing the population and striking at individual targets. Four times last month, the Israelis raided Gaza : The Palestinian leadership did not react to the provocation until after the death of a child. A rocket was launched, followed by agreement on the terms of a truce by the two sides one day before the summary elimination of Hamas leader Ahmad Jabari ! Meanwhile, Israel attacks, kills and provokes in silence and presents itself in the media as the victim that must defend itself. The scenario is the same as in 2008, which cost the lives of nearly 1,500 Palestinians.
The Arab world is destabilized, weakened. The civil war in Syria (where the international community seems to agree to disagree and allows the situation to deteriorate), tensions in Lebanon, Iran’s complex foreign policy, instability in Tunisia and Egypt, and Yemen and Jordan combine to make it difficult — perhaps more than under the dictatorships of the past — to undertake concerted action. And all the while, Israel pushes ahead with its long-term policy of facts on the ground : To isolate Gaza, to dismiss Mahmoud Abbas, punish resistance and increase the pace of colonization until finally no peaceful outcome remains possible. The Israeli government does not want peace. It is playing for time, as some cabinet ministers now openly admit.
And still, it is a disgrace. In the minds of westerners, raised on the values of the Enlightenment that posit the fundamental equality of all humanity, the idea that Arab lives and blood — and in a broader sense, those of Muslims today — are worth less than Israeli lives and blood, than the lives and blood of the women, children and men of the dominant powers. This racism, whether institutionalized by law or informally accepted, lies at the core of the White Man’s Burden and at the root of the apartheid regimes. It nurtured the Zionist project from its inception and has now expanded, in turn colonizing government policies in the North, in the media and in popular perceptions. Human beings are categorized — people like us, or those who look like us, are more worthy of living than “the others.” This return of the repressed is fraught with risk. We are living in dangerous times. Perhaps it will fall to the Global South to reject such dismal logic ; perhaps it is time for people of conscience to stand up, to speak up and proclaim that the death of an innocent Palestinian taints our silence with guilt. Perhaps it is time to go beyond fine words and to organize boycotts and disinvestment campaigns, sanctions and broad alliances, to mobilize, to act, to let the Israeli authorities know that today’s arrogance and deafness only reflect the extent of tomorrow’s defeat.
Source : http://gulfnews.com/opinions/column…
Posted in: young bloggers
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Faculty of Clinical Sciences
Department of Community Health
Evaluation of the Bamako Initiative in Ekiti State
Maxwell, Kolawole Stephen (2015-04-27)
The Bamako Initiative (BI) was established at the 36th African Ministers' meeting in Bamako, Mali in 1987 to help accelerate Primary Health Care (PHC) implementation at the district and community levels. Nigeria has implemented the BI for decades but it has rarely been evaluated. This study was aimed at evaluating the level of implementation of the programme in Ekiti State of Nigeria. The specific objectives were to assess the extent of achievement of the BI national priority objectives in the State and ascertain factors contributing to the achievement of these objectives. The study employed a descriptive design using a structured questionnaire. The study population included 180 implementers (Primary Health Care Management Committee members and members of the PHC Technical Committee) and 240 beneficiaries who were community members. The level of implementation was measured by the extent of attainment of the national priority objectives of the initiative since its inception. Equally, the activities with the highest and the lowest frequency under each of the key implementation subject areas were taken as the factors contributing to the level of achievement of the respective national objective. Results were presented using simple descriptive statistics. The results showed that 60% of the implementers and beneficiaries were in support of the cost-recovery programme, just meeting the national target of 60%, while 35% of communities had Drug Revolving Funds (DRF) still running in their facilities, this being much lower than the national target of 100%. Only 12% of health workers reported using standing orders to treat patients, compared with the national target of 90%, while 31% received supervisory visits (with the supervisors using a checklist) in the month preceding the study, also much lower than the national target of 100%. Equally, 35% of health workers (compared with the national target of 100%) reported that the health facilities had a continuous supply of essential drugs and 40% of them (instead of the 1000 recommended) had attended update trainings in the year preceding the study. Factors reported to contribute to the prevailing level of implementation included the non-translation of the B.I. manual into local language (79%), non use of the Standing Order while treating patients (30%), poor supervision of the scheme by LGA authorities (50%), poor coverage of pro-poor schemes such as exemption and deferrals (42%) and poor financial commitments of LGA authorities to the health facilities (42%). The study concluded that the level of implementation of, the Bamako Initiative in the State was poor, grossly falling short of the national targets. Factors responsible for this included non-translation of the B.I. manual into local language, poor support of pro-poor schemes by the LGAs and poor financial commitment of the LGAs to the BI programme.
URI: http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/106
Evaluation of the Bamako Initiative in Ekiti State by Maxwell.pdf (60.06Kb)
Theses and Dissertations11
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Kansas house fire kills 4 people
Authorities say four people have died in a house fire in Kansas. Riley County Fire Department Chief Pat Collins said in a news release that crews were dispatched around 3:40 a.m. Thursday to the blaze. Firefighters were told multiple people were entrapped in the two-story structure and began searching for them while extinguishing the blaze. All four victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Fatal House Fire
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About Istvan Kopar
About GGR2018
Puffin Yacht Restoration
GGR in the News
About Kihivas
The Meaning of “Kihivas”
Book Description & Reviews
Circumnavigation Map
Order Kihivas
About GGR2018Kopar Sailing2018-03-29T22:00:18-04:00
About the 2018 Golden Globe Race
In 1968, some of the world’s most adventurous sailors set out on the first Golden Globe Race. Ten months later, Robin Knox-Johnston emerged victorious, becoming the first person in history to complete a solo, nonstop circumnavigation of the globe. Much has changed in the past fifty years, and today many sailors yearn for a time when a circumnavigation race could be so raw and elemental. Don McIntyre now seeks to recapture the thrill and purity of this bygone era by organizing the Golden Globe Race 2018. Not only will all competitors have to sail solo around the world without stopping, but they will also only be allowed to use the same level of technology that was available to Knox-Johnston in 1968. Istvan Kopar has been chosen as one of only 30 provisional entrants in this prestigious competition.
One of the main goals of the race organizers is “To organise a race where the adventure of it takes precedence over winning at all costs.”
All provisional entrants are required to have at least 8,000 miles of ocean sailing experience and an additional 2000 miles of solo sailing experience by April 30, 2018. Fortunately, Istvan achieved both of these requirements many years ago!
Competitors will be monitored using a satellite tracking system, but the skippers themselves will not be able to access it. They will need to rely upon the old-fashioned method of navigation: the sextant and paper charts. Istvan will have an advantage over many of his opponents after already completing one solo circumnavigation using a sextant to navigate.
All skippers are required to sail through a “gate” in the waters near Tasmania. Here they can pass over camera film and letters to waiting family members and media personnel, but they are not allowed to touch shore or receive any additional supplies.
There are strict guidelines for what kind of boats may be used in the race. For example, the boat must have been designed before 1988, must be between 32’ and 36’ in length, and must have a full-length keel. Istvan has already purchased the boat he will be sailing in, a used Tradewind 35 called Puffin.
The race officially begins in Falmouth, UK, on June 16, 2018.
The race course follows an easterly route via the five Great Capes very similar to that taken by Istvan on his first solo circumnavigation in 1990-91.
Competitors may communicate by radio with family members or the media throughout the race, as long as they do not receive any weather routing from them.
Each boat will have a satellite phone on board, but it can only be used to contact Race headquarters in the event of an emergency.
The race is expected to take approximately 300 days.
Provisional entrants will only be considered fully official entrants when all inspections and certifications are completed just prior to the race to ensure compliance with all of the official rules.
Provisional Entrants
Istvan is one of only 30 provisional entrants in the world, and one of only 4 Americans entered in the race. Other entrants represent Brazil, Austria, France, Australia, Britain, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Palestine, Russia, Switzerland, and Estonia. The current average entrant age is 47, with the youngest at 26 and the oldest at 70. At 62, Istvan is the 4th oldest entrant. One of the exciting elements of the race will be seeing whether youth or experience yields the most successful results.
See official Golden Globe Race website
See Sponsorship Info
Support Istvan's 2018 Golden Globe Race prep!
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Copyright © 2017 Istvan Kopar | All Rights Reserved | Site Design by Robert Farrelly
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← JAN Trust’s View on the Integration Report
Honour-based crimes and why they are incompatible with Islam →
Real Housewives of ISIS – why the sketch creates a dangerous perception of Muslim women
Posted on January 12, 2017 by JAN Trust
The BBC has come under fire for one of its programmes, Revolting, airing a sketch called ‘Real Housewives of ISIS’. The programme, which depicts four women who have left the UK to join ISIS, was first published online on BBC3 on 5 January. In the show, the four women, in hijabs, interact and joke about the gifting of suicide vests by their husbands. The two-minute clip has been controversial, with many viewing it as satire while others view it as mocking the plight of women under ISIS.
The sketch portrays Muslim women as having manipulated views of Islam, in which violence, not peace, is the answer. And it creates further division as the women seem to be British citizens and used to live in Britain, implying that Muslim women must all have intolerant views and are not willing to integrate into society. The name of the sketch, ‘Real Housewives of ISIS’ further trivialises the issue, comparing life in Syria and Iraq to popular reality shows. Some say that the sketch criticises the women who have voluntarily chosen to leave the UK and join ISIS. However, what is not recognised is the plight of women and those who are groomed online to join ISIS and that we must be sympathetic in understanding why these women have decided to join in the first place and try to understand what has been offered to them to convince them to join.
Furthermore, there is the overlooked aspect that many women have been forced against their will to join ISIS; many are emotionally and physically abused, and traded as sex slaves. One of the creators of the programme, Jolyon Rubinstein, stated that the target of the satire was ISIS and that it aims to make viewers aware of the servitude of Muslim women to ISIS: “The target is online grooming, it’s about people who are vulnerable to these kind of approaches.” However, it seems that the aim of the sketch has been lost as it just comes across as offensive to those who have lost family members as a consequence of the strength of online extremist communities.
The fact that the sketch is part of a BBC programme is even more shocking considering that the BBC is funded by the taxpayer and the government, and that it should, in theory, remain balanced. This sketch has created further division and bigotry within British society as some may find it difficult to differentiate between Islamic extremists and moderate Muslims.
At JAN Trust, we aim to help mothers who fear for their children’s safety online with our Web Guardians© project. The project helps mothers to prevent and prevent online radicalisation of their children. Many families have been destroyed by ISIS, the women and men who have joined are victims of a very sophisticated online network that uses lies.. JAN Trust is helping in the struggle against homegrown radicalisation, which is being set back with sketches such as these which further isolates and marginalises Muslim women within British society.
If you are interested in finding out more about Web Guardians© go to http://webguardians.org/.
This entry was posted in Daesh, Ethnic Minorities, Extremism, hijab, ISIS, Islam, islamophobia, JAN Trust, Jihadi Brides, Middle East, Muslim, Muslim women, radicalisation, Syria, Terrorism, Uncategorized and tagged BBC, ISIS, islamophobia, Muslim women, Real Housewives of ISIS. Bookmark the permalink.
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Abstract The main criteria in the diagnosis of Autism spectrum disorder
The main criteria in the diagnosis of Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) emphasize social impairment (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) . There are also several studies who describe motor impairments in children with a diagnosis of ASD (Downey & Rapport, 2012; Setoh et al., 2017). This study aimed to investigate the extent to which motor impairments can predict social skills and the extent to which social impairments can predict motor skills. It is hypothesized that a greater impairment in social or motor skills will lead to more problems with motor or social abilities. A group of 46 children between two to eight years old participated. A multiple and logistic regression model was conducted. The results showed clear motor and social impairments in children with ASD. Furthermore presence of motor difficulties was a strong predictor for diagnosis of ASD. However, the variables motor and social skills did not display significant predictive capability in the presence of the other as outcome.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a pervasive developmental disorder, described by two main features. First, individuals with ASD are characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts. Second, restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests, or activities are described. The symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of current functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Studies in Asia, Europe, and North America determined an average prevalence between 1% and 2% (Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 2012a).
As mentioned above children with ASD have an increased likelihood of impairment in social development. It is manifested in problems such as social-emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communicative behaviours (e.g. reduced eye contact, facial expression and body gesture) and in developing and maintaining relationships (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Sharmila Banerjee Mukherjee, 2017; Park et al., 2016). It seems social motivation (Calder, Hill, & Pellicano, 2013; Chevallier, Kohls, Troiani, Brodkin, & Schultz, 2012) and sensory dysfunction (Corbett, Muscatello, & Blain, 2016) impact negatively social behaviour. According to the literature, only 20% of the children with ASD have friends (Chang, Shih, & Kasari, 2016; Kasari, Locke, Gulsrud, & Rotheram-Fuller, 2011). Furthermore, less accurate processing of faces at school age (Eussen et al., 2015) and the amount of eye contact during conversations (Jones et al., 2016) is associated with higher ASD severity.
The Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders version 5 (DSM-5) describes repetitive stereotyped motor patterns, but they are not considered to be a core characteristic of ASD (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Restricted and repetitive behaviours are observed at young age (Bhat, Landa, & Galloway, 2011; Elison et al., 2014; Hattier, Matson, Macmillan, & Williams, 2013; Malhi & Singhi, 2014) and may be identified as early as social communication deficits in children with ASD (Elison et al., 2014). To continue, motor problems in individuals with ASD are the rule rather than the exception (Setoh et al., 2017). Reviews remarked motor impairments appearing at early age, in ASD (Bhat et al., 2011; Matson, Matson, & Beighley, 2011; Memari, Ghanouni, Shayestehfar, & Ghaheri, 2014; Setoh et al., 2017; Van Damme, Simons, Sabbe, & van West, 2015).
Depending on the study, 20% to 90% of children with ASD demonstrated motor impairments (Dewey, Cantell, & Crawford, 2007; D. Green et al., 2009; C. L. Hilton, Zhang, Whilte, Klohr, & Constantino, 2012; Hirata et al., 2015; Malhi & Singhi, 2014; Pusponegoro et al., 2016a). Clumsiness in children with ASD is often seen (Fournier, Hass, Naik, Lodha, & Cauraugh, 2010; Setoh et al., 2017). Moreover, praxis difficulties is common in these children. They can experience problems in motor planning, sensorimotor integration and motor execution (Bhat et al., 2011; Chukoskie, Townsend, & Westerfield, 2013; Downey & Rapport, 2012; Fournier et al., 2010; J. P. McCleery, N. A. Elliott, D. S. Sampanis, & C. A. Stefanidou, 2013; Memari et al., 2014; Sacrey, Germani, Bryson, & Zwaigenbaum, 2014). Consequently, concerning their motor difficulties altered sensory input, altered motor output and difficulties in organizing motor knowledge, may have a significant role in people with ASD (Gowen & Hamilton, 2013).
According to standardized motor evaluations, they have difficulties in achieving motor milestones at the same rate as typical developing children (Harris, 2017). The motor impairments involve gross and fine motor skills (Bhat et al., 2011; Chukoskie et al., 2013; Gowen & Hamilton, 2013; Memari et al., 2014; Sacrey et al., 2014; Setoh et al., 2017) and appear in upper and lower extremities (Bhat et al., 2011; Fournier et al., 2010).
Reviews regarding more specific motor features indicate deficits in: manual dexterity (Bhat et al., 2011; Gowen & Hamilton, 2013), handedness (Mosconi & Sweeney, 2015), coordination (Bhat et al., 2011; Fournier et al., 2010; Gowen & Hamilton, 2013; Kindregan, Gallagher, & Gormley, 2015; Memari et al., 2014), postural instability (Bhat et al., 2011; Downey & Rapport, 2012; Fournier et al., 2010; Gowen & Hamilton, 2013; Memari et al., 2014), imitation (Bhat et al., 2011; J. P. McCleery et al., 2013; Setoh et al., 2017) and gait (Bhat et al., 2011; Fournier et al., 2010; Gowen & Hamilton, 2013; Kindregan et al., 2015; Memari et al., 2014; Mosconi & Sweeney, 2015; Setoh et al., 2017). Moreover, these reviews often report a gait pattern that is similar to Parkinson Disease or Cerebellar ataxia (Bhat et al., 2011; Fournier et al., 2010; Gowen & Hamilton, 2013; Kindregan et al., 2015; Memari et al., 2014; Mosconi & Sweeney, 2015; Setoh et al., 2017).
A child with more play and motor experiences may develop better in other domains (Van Damme et al., 2015). Several studies postulate that motor skills may play an important role in promoting social engagement, social interaction and social skills (Bedford, Pickles, & Lord, 2016; Bhat et al., 2011; Sacrey et al., 2014; Sipes, Matson, & Horovitz, 2011). There is growing interest and empirical evidence regarding the relation between motor skills and social functioning in individuals with ASD. This could be important because the depth and reason of a relationship must be further examined in the future (Hirata et al., 2015; M. MacDonald, C. Lord, & D. A. Ulrich, 2013b). Motor impairments could clarify problems in social functioning in these children (Casartelli, Molteni, & Ronconi, 2016). In turn, the existence of a relationship can be important for clarifying the pathogenesis of ASD (Estes et al., 2015). According literature, shared neurobiology is a likely contributor to the frequent occurrence of motor and social dysfunction in ASD (Ariane M. Dowd et al., 2010).
To continue, sensorimotor symptoms in children with ASD are noticed before social communication deficits (Estes et al., 2015). These motor markers could be used for early ASD detection (Casartelli et al., 2016). Additionally, early determination of the degree of motor deficits may predict the severity of ASD. Consequently, this can improve social and motor targeted interventions. These interventions may be important, because we assume that children with delayed motor or social skills participate less in sport-related activities, which could aggravate their motor ( or ) social skills delay versus peers. As cited in (Bremer, Balogh, & Lloyd, 2014) children with ASD may not be physically able to engage in active play partially due to their poor motor skills. Play is reported to be essential for the development of joint attention, sharing, empathy, cooperation, and emotional regulation through the peer interactions that play can provide (Bremer et al., 2014). Finally, since children with ASD are 40% more likely to be overweighed compared to their peers, providing physical activity may be crucial (Curtin et al., 2010).
Some previous studies suggest a relationship between motor skill impairment levels and socialization impairments and consequently ASD severity scores (Dziuk et al., 2007; Estes et al., 2015; C. Hilton et al., 2007; C. L. Hilton et al., 2012; Hirata et al., 2015; MacDonald et al., 2013b; M. MacDonald, C. Lord, & D. A. Ulrich, 2014; Mody et al., 2016; Pusponegoro et al., 2016a; Sipes et al., 2011). Moreover, the quality of early fine and gross motor skills seems to be associated with the rate of expressive language development (Bedford et al., 2016; Gernsbacher, Sauer, Geye, Schweigert, & Goldsmith, 2008; Lebarton & Iverson, 2013; Leonard, Bedford, Pickles, & Hill, 2015; Mody et al., 2016). On the contrary, adverse evidence exists concerning the influence of motor development on receptive language (Bedford et al., 2016; Leonard et al., 2015; Mody et al., 2016). Furthermore, it has been suggested that interventions targeting motor skills promoted both, motor and social behaviour (Bremer et al., 2014; Bremer & Lloyd, 2016; Ketcheson, Hauck, & Ulrich, 2016).
Regarding this evidence several studies used a sample of children minimum 6 years old (Dziuk et al., 2007; C. Hilton et al., 2007; Hirata et al., 2015; MacDonald et al., 2013b). This study targeted either for younger children assuming school setting, leisure activities and therapies may have an effect on their further development of motor and social skills. These experiences could influence the results by underestimation of initial motor and social problems. Some of the studies mentioned above (Estes et al., 2015; Megan MacDonald, Catherine Lord, & Dale A. Ulrich, 2014; Sipes et al., 2011), examined infants and preschool children. The present study included children aged 2 years and older, suspecting these children have better communication, concentration, work skills, and have achieved already the motor milestones what may improve reliability of motor examinations. Furthermore a significant gap in the literature concerning the motor skills of preschool-aged children with ASD exist (Bremer et al., 2014). Another remark of some studies mentioned above is the number and type of instruments used. As suggested in M. MacDonald, C. Lord, and D. Ulrich (2013a) more sensitive motor skill assessments need to be implemented, such as Peabody Motor Developmental Scales – second edition. Consequently, reliable and valid motor assessments were thoroughly selected. Moreover a combination of standardised instruments and parent questionnaires was conducted, contrary to several studies (Bedford et al., 2016; Dziuk et al., 2007; Gernsbacher et al., 2008; Leonard, Elsabbagh, & Hill, 2014; MacDonald et al., 2013b; Megan MacDonald et al., 2014; Mody et al., 2016; Pusponegoro et al., 2016a; Sipes et al., 2011). In contrast with various studies Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) and Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) were combined with each other and sometimes the Beery Buktenica Developmental test of Visual-Motor Integration (Beery VMI) was added, obtaining a comprehensive motor skill evaluation (C. Hilton et al., 2007; Hirata et al., 2015; MacDonald et al., 2013b).
Estes et al. (2015); Pusponegoro et al. (2016a) did find a trend among children with lower motor skills to obtain lower socialization scores, but in fact they did not search for an association between gross motor impairments and socialization skills. Moreover, in the study of MacDonald et al. (2013b) only object control skills, and not locomotor skills, predicted social skills in one out of the two social skill measurements. But the total score on TGMD-2 could not predict standardized social skills. In addition, no significant relation of Beery VMI Performance and the level of social impairment was found in a study from R. R. Green et al. (2016).
In conclusion the purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which motor skills, measured by questionnaires and standardised motor assessment instruments predict social behaviour and skills in children with a (suspected) diagnosis of ASD and vice versa. Based on previous research a reciprocal influence is hypothesized (Sacrey et al., 2014). We expect that children with higher motor scores will obtain better social scores and children with better social skills, will have better motor abilities.
A population of 46 children, 10 girls and 36 boys, age 2-8-year-old, suspected of ASD, participated in this study. Children between 2 and 18 years old were gathered by means of consecutive sampling for a larger study about the determinants of adaptive behaviour, family quality of life and behavioural problems in children with (suspected) ASD. Participants were excluded if they met the following exclusion criteria: (a) Children who did not fulfil the criteria of calendar age. (b) Children with a developmental age less than 2 years, (c) Children whose parents do not speak sufficient Dutch, (d) Children with substantial physical, sensory and neurological disabilities, evaluated by physical examination. Psychomotor performance and other abilities were examined in the Centre of Developmental Disorders (COS) and the Centre of Expertise for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Leuven, Belgium. All parents of the subjects signed a written consent form prior to participation in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The study was approved by the local ethics committee (KU Leuven Medical Ethics Committee).
Motor assessment
The Peabody Developmental Motor Scales-2 (PDMS-2) is a valid and reliable assessment of fine and gross motor skills for children aged 0 to 6 years 11 months (Folio, 2000). It consists of six subscales: reflexes (for children birth through 11 months), stationary, object control (for children 12 months and older), locomotion (gross motor subtest), grasping and visual motor integration (fine motor subtest). Raw scores on the PDMS-2 are converted to age equivalent scores, percentiles, and standard scores for each of the subtests (Folio, 2000). All the PDMS-2 subtests contribute to a Total Motor Quotient (TMQ) (Tavasoli, Azimi, & Montazari, 2014). Usually this score is considered to be the best estimate of overall motor abilities (Tavasoli et al., 2014). In addition, there consists a Gross and Fine Motor Quotient. Subtests reflexes/stationary, object control and locomotion contribute to the Gross Motor Quotient (GMQ) (Tavasoli et al., 2014). Fine Motor Quotient includes the grasping and visual motor integration subtests (Tavasoli et al., 2014). The PDMS-2 has a high to excellent test-retest reliability (r = 0.89-0.96), interrater reliability (r = 0.96-0.99) and internal consistency (r = 0.89-0.97), for subtest and total test scores (Folio, 2000). Regarding validity, performance increases with age and PDMS-2 discriminates between typical developing children and children with motor problems (Folio, 2000). van Hartingsveldt, Cup, and Oostendorp (2005) found high test-retest (r=0,84-0,98) and inter-rater reliability (r=0,94-0,99) and excellent convergent validity with the M-ABC (r=0,69), for fine motor scale of PDMS-2. High concurrent validity with Bayley-III was found for age-equivalent scores in children above 18 months (Connolly, McClune, & Gatlin, 2012).
The Beery Buktenica Developmental test of Visual-Motor Integration (Beery VMI), sixth edition is a valid and reliable instrument for children from two years to 18y 11 months. It comprises three subtests: visual motor integration, visual perception and motor coordination. Moderate to excellent internal consistency (? = 0.82-0.87), high test-retest reliability (r = 0.88) and excellent interrater reliability (r = 0.93) is reported (Beery & Beery, 2010; Brown & Hockey, 2013). Harvey et al. (2017) found strong interrater correlations (r = 0.75-0.88) and moderate test-retest correlations (r = 0.54-0.58). Regarding validity, moderate correlations with the Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Ability (WRAVMA) and the Developmental Test of Visual Perception exist (DTVP-2) (Beery & Beery, 2010; Simons, 2004).
The Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) is a valid and reliable assessment of gross motor development for children between 3 years and 10y 11 months. The TGMD-2 consists of 2 subtests: locomotor skills and object-control skills. Raw scores are converted into standardised scores, percentiles and a gross motor quotient. TGMD-2 raw scores and Gross motor quotient (GMQ) have moderate to excellent interrater reliability (ICC = 0.71-0.94 & 0.98), test-retest reliability (r = 0.88-0.96) and internal consistency (ICC = 0.80-0.88) (Barnett, Minto, Lander, & Hardy, 2014; Ulrich, 2000). There exists a moderate correlation between performance subtest and chronological age and good construct validity was found. Furthermore this test discriminates between typical developed children (TD) and children with a developmental delay (Simons, 2004; Ulrich, 2000).
The Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2 (MABC-2) has been developed for screening motor impairment in children between 3 months and 16y 11 months. The MABC-2 quantitative test consists of three components: manual dexterity, aiming and catching, and balance (static & dynamic). Scores are evaluated with the traffic light method representing definite motor impairment, borderline motor impairment or no motor impairment. Raw scores are converted into standardised scores and percentiles. The sum of the eight item standard scores makes the total test score (S.E. Henderson, Sugden, Barnett, & Smits-Engelsman, 2010; Schoemaker, Niemeijer, Flapper, & Smits-Engelsman, 2012; Simons, 2004). Interrater reliability is reported to be good to excellent (ICC = 0.94-1.00) (Sheila E Henderson & Barnett, 2007). The test-retest reliability of the three component scores is good to very good (r = 0.73, r = 0.79, r = 0.84) (Brown & Lalor, 2009; Sheila E Henderson & Barnett, 2007). The test-retest reliability of the total test score is very good (r = 0.80) (Sheila E Henderson & Barnett, 2007; S.E. Henderson et al., 2010; Schoemaker et al., 2012). Content and criterion validity is reported to be high, but there is a lack in construct validity (Brown & Lalor, 2009; Sheila E Henderson & Barnett, 2007; Saracho, 2014).
The questionnaire for motor skills of preschool children (VMVK) is a Belgian 28-item questionnaire about daily activities of children aged 3-5 years. The VMVK consist of age-specific norm scores. If the child obtains a higher score, this child has probably more difficulties performing daily activities compared to children of same age. Also, the motor developmental age can be derived from these scores. Reliability and validity scores are good. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency are excellent. Interrater reliability is high, except for children aged 5 years. A high correlation exists with the MABC-2 in the children aged 3-4 years, in five years moderate correlation exists. (see http://www.ugent.be/ge/revaki/nl/onderzoeksgroepen/pedia/wetmat/vmvk-pdf)
The Coördinatie Vragenlijst voor Ouders (CVO) is the Dutch translated version of the Developmental Coordination Disorder Questionnaire (DCD-Q) (Wilson et al., 2009). This is a 15-item questionnaire for screening motor problems in children aged 5-15 years. The questionnaire exists of three subscales: control during movement, fine motor/handwriting and general coordination. Scores are divided in three age categories and interpreted as suspected DCD or probably no DCD (Simons, 2004). The internal consistency of the DCD-Q is high (? = 0.88) and validity is good (Parmar, Kwan, Rodriguez, Missiuna, & Cairney, 2014; van der Linde et al., 2014). For the CVO the internal consistency is high (? = 0.90). The discriminant validity is good (Schoemaker et al., 2006).
Socio-affective assessment
The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) is a widely used parent report questionnaire to assess behavioural and emotional problems in children aged between 1,5 and 18 years (Mazefsky, Anderson, Conner, & Minshew, 2011). The CBCL’s questions are associated with problems on a syndrome scale in eight different categories: anxious/depressed, withdrawn/depressed, somatic complaints, social problems, thought problems, attention problems, rule-breaking behaviour, and aggressive behaviour (Mazefsky et al., 2011). The CBCL is a valid and reliable measurement (T. Achenbach, 2001). The test-retest reliability is excellent (r = .89) for the syndrome scales. The between-parents reliability (inter-parent reliability) is good (r = .65 – .75). Cronbach’s alpha values range from low to excellent (? = .46 to .93) on the various subscales. Evidence for construct validity is extensive (r = .59-.88) with the Conners Parent Questionnaire and with the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist with clinically-referred children (T. M. Achenbach, 1991; Mazefsky et al., 2011).
The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) is administered to determine the severity of autism spectrum disorders, in particular measuring social ability and impairment. The SRS is a 65 items parents or teacher questionnaire, for children aged 4-18 years. It provides an understanding of individual’s social impairments, social information processing, ability to reciprocate social communication, anxiety/avoidance and preoccupations. Scores on the SRS range from 0 to 195. Higher scores indicate more severe impairments and more risk for ASD (J.N. Constantino, Gruber, Noens, De la Marche, ; Scholte, 2012; Moody et al., 2017; Wigham, McConachie, Tandos, ; Le Couteur, 2012). The SRS has good overall psychometric properties (Moody et al., 2017). The SRS shows strong internal consistency (J. Constantino ; Gruber, 2005; J. N. Constantino et al., 2003), test-retest reliability (J. N. Constantino et al., 2003) and inter-rater reliability (Pine, Luby, Abbacchi, ; Constantino, 2006). In addition, it has good discriminant validity.
IQ assessment
Intelligence quotient (IQ) measurements are conducted with Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-III-Dutch version (WPPSI-III-NL) and the Snijders Oomen Non-verbal Intelligence test-Revised (SON-R). The WPPSI-III-NL (Hendriksen ; Hurks, 2009; Wechsler, 2002) is a sufficient to good reliable and valid instrument, measuring total IQ (TIQ) and indexscores for different age categories (Hendriksen ; Hurks, 2009). Total IQ is a sum of the scores on different subtests. The indexscores verbal IQ and performal IQ are each obtained by the sum of three different subtests. The Cronbach ? (TIQ = .86-.94, indexscores = .73-.93) and test-retest reliability (corrected subtests r =.60-.83, corrected IQ -and indexscores r = .75-.84) is generally good (Hendriksen ; Hurks, 2009). It’s internal and content validity has been established (Hendriksen & Hurks, 2009) (see https://www.pearsonclinical.be/media/whitepapers/Whitepaper_WPPSI-III-NL.pdf ).
The SON-R 2,5-7 and the SON-R 5,5-7 have very good mean reliability for total IQ score (r = 0.90 & 0.93) and sufficient mean reliability for the subtests (r = 0.72 & 0.76) (Snijders, Tellegen, & Laros, 1989; P. Tellegen, Winkel, Wijnberg-Williams, & Laros, 1998; P. Tellegen, Winkel, Wijnberg-Williams, & Laros, 2005; P. J. Tellegen & Laros, 2004; Winkel, 1999). Convergent and divergent validity in SON-R 2,5-7 is supported but there exist highly varying correlations (P. Tellegen et al., 1998; Winkel, 1999).
Concerning the total IQ scores, children were classified in to different categories. Table 1 shows the different categories and percentages of the study population.
Table 1 Intelligence Quotient (IQ) classification and descriptives (n=46)
IQ range Frequency %
Note: IQ= Intelligence Quotient
Diagnosis of ASD
The Autism Diagnostic Observation Scale-2, Dutch version (ADOS-2, NL) is a semi-structured, standardized assessment tool for individuals with suspected autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and is deemed to be part of the gold standard for diagnostic evaluation (Kamp-Becker et al., 2018). It is an internationally well-established but complex diagnostic instrument that consists of five modules to be administered based on the individuals level of expressive language and chronological age as well as the appropriateness of assessment materials (Kamp-Becker et al., 2018). Each module provides different tasks including playful elements and activities as well as verbal tasks intended to provide the examiner with information on social, communicative, play and stereotyped behaviour (Kamp-Becker et al., 2018). Studies examining the validity of the ADOS have produced mixed findings (Dorlack, Myers, & Kodituwakku, 2018). The ADOS-2 has a high interrater and test-retest reliability (Chojnicka & Pisula, 2017; Lord et al., 2012).
As mentioned previously, the sample consisted of 46 children aged 2- 8 years, with suspected ASD. They were recruited through consecutive sampling from the Centre of Developmental Disorders (COS) and the Centre of Expertise For Autism Spectrum Disorder (ECA) in Leuven. These children participated in a more comprehensive study, investigating characteristics of children with ASD. Children were seen and measured by different therapists or trained master students in psychology or physiotherapy. A paediatrician, remedial educationalist, speech therapist, psychologist and a physical therapist examined the child and consultations in the ambulatory setting were spread across approximately six months. Therapists were experienced with these different measurements and questionnaires. The master students got an education and training before executing the measurements. The standardization procedures of the guidelines of these instruments were followed rigorously.
The ADOS-2 NL was used to determine indications of potential ASD. IQ was measured with the WPPSI-III-NL or SON-R. These instruments were selected by experienced psychologists.
To measure social skills and psychological problems, SRS and CBCL questionnaires were used. To get an idea of motor functioning of these children during activities of daily life and their impact on daily functioning, the VMVK and CVO questionnaires were completed by parents. Most of the children 2-5y were assessed with the VMVK. In the children aged 5-8 years, the Dutch version of the DCDQ was preferred.
Furthermore, the PDMS-II, Beery VMI, TGMD-2 and Movement ABC-2 were administered to evaluate the motor skills in a standardised setting. Due to a clinical setting, the decision was dependent of the protocol and the choice of the therapist working in the institution. But in general motor skills in children aged 5-8 years was measured mainly using the TGMD-2, the MABC-2 and Beery VMI. PDMS-II was administered mainly in children aged 3-5 years to assess their motor abilities.
Next to these, playground observation, physical examination and language examination (RTOS: Reynell language developmental scale) were executed.
Data analysis was conducted to examine the extent to which motor impairment can predict socialization skills in children with ASD and vice-versa. This analysis was done with the statistical software SPSS, version 24 for Mac. First, descriptive analysis was executed. Subsequently multiple regression was conducted. Finally, logistic regression was performed for the categorical variables.
There were different multiple regression models created with SRS standard scores as dependent variable. The first two models included IQ as independent variable, but low predictability was found in these models. Hence, we excluded IQ as an independent variable in the other two models. These last two models are explained below. CBCL standard scores and motor problems were integrated as predictors for the outcome of the first model. CBCL standard scores and no motor problems were integrated as predictors for the outcome of the second model. The variable motor problems was divided into three dummy variables: no motor problems (pc >15), at risk motor (pc 5-15) and clear motor problem (pc 15)
SS on SRS SS on total CBCL scale At risk motor No motor problem
SS on SRS 1 .00 0 .51* 0 .28 -0 .16
SS on total CBCL scale 1 .00 0 .25 -0 .10
At risk motor 1 .00 -0 .49*
No motor problem 1 .00
The analysis indicated a significant positive moderate correlation between the standard score on SRS and the standard score on total CBCL scale. Positive but weak and no significant correlations were found between the at risk motor and SRS and total CBCL scale.
In the multiple regression model the three variables (standard score on total CBCL scale, at risk motor and no motor problem) explain 28.8% (r² = 0.288, adj r² = 0.199) of the variance of the standard score on SRS. A significant regression equation was found (F(3,24)=3.233, p
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background to the Study More than ever
Multi-Level Testing Approach for Multi Agent Systems Yacine Kissoum1
EXPLORATION OF THE MEDIATING ROLE OF JOB SATISFACTION IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMAN RESOURCES PRACTICES AND ORGANISATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOUR AMONG EMPLOYEES OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITALS IN ENUGU STATE
According to ICRW
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1
← Active communication is the key in building relationships with children
As William Arthur Ward once said →
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Princess Isabella: The Rise of an Heir
By starchild | May 19, 2013 | Add to Favorites
(4 votes) *Average rating will show after 20 votes
Platform: Mac, Windows
Categories: adventure, affiliate, casual, collectorsedition, demo, download, game, gogii, hiddenobject, mac, princessisabella, rating-y, windows
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Sometimes you're simply in the mood for a fairy tale. Let's face it, the grown-up world can get complicated and drab, and there's nothing like a bit of old-fashioned fantasy to lift your spirits. So come and spend a few hours in the enchanted realm of the newest hidden-object adventure, Princess Isabella: The Rise of an Heir by Gogii Games. There are fairies, a dragon, magic of all sorts, not to mention a whale with a Scottish accent, what more do you need? Young Bella is a pretty golden-haired teenager, blissfully oblivious of the evil surrounding her. The witch has discovered her whereabouts and has sent her hellish minions to take away Bella's fairy godmothers, leaving her without protection. Bella is now the kingdom's only hope, and she must find a way to end the witch's reign and lift the curse which envelops the land.
As far as gameplay goes, Princess Isabella: The Rise of an Heir offers more than your standard hidden-object adventure. In each scene, you can mouse over different objects. If your cursor turns into a hand, that means you can pick up an item; if a question mark appears, you should use an item from your inventory to interact with it. Hidden-object scenes are indicated with sparkles. However, in addition to this, you can use a flute to call your dragon for help and a wand to break things with (hey, not all princesses have to be dainty and gentle!). Your fairy godmothers will also accompany you as you save them one by one, and you will be able to use their powers to change the world around you.
Analysis: Compared to its predecessor, the game offers some definite improvements. For one thing, the astonishingly annoying blue fairy has decided it's time to tone down, so she's now content with giving advice during cutscenes. The sound effects are unobtrusive and more appropriate, meaning that not every action you take is followed by harps and fanfares. The graphics haven't had a major overhaul, but the scenes look royally grandiose and it's always wonderful to see cursed rooms come back to life and fill with joy and merriment.
A Disney-like atmosphere can be felt all through the game, so the animations, which are more cartoonish than realistic, fit in quite nicely. The hidden-object scenes could have done with a little variety. In the olden days, we were used to the click-on-stuff-to-cross-it-off-a-list variety, but it's 2013 and we now appreciate some more puzzliness and challenge. Speaking of which, the mini-games vary from extremely simple to relatively tricky, but never venture into the difficult territory. It is obvious that the developers made an effort to give the series a more grown-up air, but it's still probably a tad too easy for most casual gamers.
What sets Princess Isabella: The Rise of an Heir apart from other similar games is the way fantasy is built into the gameplay. Magical creatures abound, each with their own power, so there's always enough variety to hold your attention. The creatures are characters in their own right, rather than just sidekicks, and they add colour and depth to the plot. Some suspension of disbelief is needed, of course, as the story is one prince short of Sleeping Beauty, but that's the whole point – this is first and foremost an interactive fairy tale and as such, it works beautifully.
Princess Isabella: The Rise of an Heir is currently only available in a Collector's Edition, which includes a bonus level, concept art, wallpapers, behind the scenes footage and more. Remember that Big Fish Game Club Members pay only $13.99 for Collector's Editions (or 2 club credits), and collector's editions count 3 card punches of 6 total needed for a free game.
Download the demo
Get the full version
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JESSICA MEUSE
KUKN is Cookin'!
Thanks to KUKN Cookin’ Country 105.5 for burning up their playlist with “Thank God It Didn’t Work!” Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Columbia Theatre show on Thursday (5/16)! Get show at http://warr.link/jm-kukn 🎤🎸
Jessica Meuse is an American performer from Slapout, Alabama. She has wowed audiences since the age of 10 and plays several instruments (guitar, piano, and classical violin). At 20, Jessica won the statewide artist showcase, Stars of Alabama. A spot on Season 3 of NBC's The Voice followed, where she made it to the blind auditions and was on Vans Warped Tour. Jessica was then selected by American Idol's judges, Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, and Harry Connick, Jr., for Season 13 of the TV series where she rose to be a Top 4 National Finalist, subsequently touring across the USA and Canada. Currently, Jessica is signed to LA Group Management, and “Halfhearted” marks her first full-length album release via Warrior Records/eOne. On a personal note, Jessica dedicates time to raising awareness about Domestic Violence, Cyberbullying, Children's Cancer Association, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and other organizations, while continuing to write, release music, and tour.
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(800) 579-9157 (Extension 707)
jimmy@jessicameuse.com
About L.A. Entertainment, Inc.
L.A. Entertainment, Inc. is a California based entertainment corporation, with businesses including, Warrior Records, whose products are distributed via eOne Distribution, LA Group Management, publishing divisions that administrate a wide range of copyrights, a music supervision firm specializing in motion picture and television soundtracks, and L.A. Entertainment Merchandise, providing merchandise and VIP services to touring artists
© 2019 Jess Meuse LLC
Thank God It Didn't Work 4:00
California Dream 3:57
High 4:00
Love Her Better 3:33
Done 3:28
Rio Grande 4:08
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William Jessup Hires Former UOP Administrator to Oversee Growing Fundraising Efforts
Home Media News Press Release William Jessup Hires Former UOP Administrator to Oversee Growing Fundraising Efforts
ROCKLIN, Calif., – William Jessup University today announced that Tom Sasser has joined the greater Sacramento area’s only residential four-year private university as chief development officer effective November 26.
“We are overjoyed to have Tom join the team at William Jessup University,“ said Jessup’s President, John Jackson. “His extensive experience in the marketplace, ministry, and encouraging generous stewardship toward the kingdom of God makes him the ideal person to continue the growth of our University.”
The newest member of William Jessup’s executive team, Sasser hails from the University of the Pacific where he served as the assistant dean of development for the School of Engineering and Computer Science. In this role he and his team elevated fundraising production by 120 percent while on their way to realizing a university-wide campaign of $300 million.
Prior to working for the University of the Pacific, Sasser was director of development at Life Pacific College in Southern California. He was responsible for the design and execution of a $12 million capital campaign, managing staff, volunteer involvement, prospective donor development and Board of Trustee engagement.
Preceding Sasser’s successful fundraising career, he served as associate pastor at Christian Assembly Church for six years where he was responsible for leadership and program development, teaching, community outreach and event management.
At William Jessup, Sasser will be responsible for executing a comprehensive yet diversified fundraising plan, overseeing the growing university’s development program; administering and managing all development and fundraising, alumni affairs, and marketing as well as church, community, donor, and media relations.
Sasser is a motivated leadership professional skilled in promoting vision, leveraging networks and maximizing assets for the accomplishment of organizational development goals.
“I am extremely grateful and excited for the opportunity to serve William Jessup University,” Sasser said. “It is such an honor to be given the chance to be a part of this historical time in the life of the University. It is going to be an exciting ride and I can’t wait to get started!”
Sasser has a master’s degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and a bachelor’s of science in organizational leadership from Azusa Pacific University.
William Jessup University has experienced expansive growth since it first moved to Rocklin in 2004. The university currently instructs more than 1,700 students and offers over 70 academic offerings, including masters and online programs.
Approximately 99 percent of William Jessup University students receive institutional aid.
For more information about William Jessup University, visit www.jessup.edu or call (916) 577-2200.
William Jessup Hires Tom Sasser as Chief Development Officer
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Suspicions cloud Senegal’s upcoming election
Senegal will choose its president on 24 February in an atmosphere clouded by suspicions that the incumbent, Macky Sall, has engineered recent electoral reforms to secure a second term in office.
Shortly after the start of the electoral campaign, on 7 February, Senegalese Democratic Party (PDS) leader and former president Abdoulaye Wade declared: ‘Macky Sall already has his percentage, some say 55%, others say 65%, so why go to these elections? He rigged everything and we understood ... he chose his candidates and defrauded on the electoral file.’
Wade’s statements echo the feeling of the opposition and some of the public that changes to the electoral code in July 2018, and legal proceedings against two of Sall’s main opponents, were aimed at removing important rivals to facilitate the incumbent’s re-election.
Recent reforms have heightened opposition parties’ suspicions. Given the large number of candidates (47) during the 2017 legislative elections, the government considered it necessary to limit the number for local, legislative and presidential elections. The aim was to lower election costs and enable citizens to better engage with candidates’ campaign programmes.
The two parties that dominated politics for four decades are absent from the upcoming polls
A law was passed on 18 June 2018 establishing a citizen sponsorship system. It requires presidential candidates – whether independent or affiliated to a party or a coalition – to obtain citizen sponsorship (through signatures) of at least 0.8% and at most 1% of the electoral roll in at least seven regions of the country.
This was boycotted by the opposition. Of the 87 original candidates for the presidential election, 27 finally submitted their applications to the Constitutional Council and only seven were validated by the council.
In theory, government’s arguments in favour of citizen sponsorship are acceptable. In practice, the introduction of the system barely a few months before the elections – and without consensus – casts doubt about the real objectives of the process.
First, the electoral roll that would have allowed candidates to verify the existence and accuracy of their sponsors’ names, preventing signatures from being invalidated, was not made available to them. Second, the software-based data verification mechanism wasn’t subjected to consultation among stakeholders. Finally, the lack of explanation of the reasons for certain rejections has increased the feeling of a lack of transparency among the opposition and sectors of the public.
Unlike 2007 and 2012 when 15 and 14 candidates ran for election, only five will stand in 2019
The review of Article L57 of the electoral code in July 2018 introduced a pre-condition requiring all presidential candidates to be eligible to vote before submitting their candidacies. The opposition sees this as another move to disqualify Karim Wade and Khalifa Sall – two of Sall’s main opponents.
Their candidacies were invalidated by the Constitutional Council when they lost their voter status because of their respective convictions for illicit enrichment and embezzlement of public funds. This rejection provoked strong reactions from their supporters.
Karim Wade, the PDS’s candidate, was sentenced in 2016 to six years in prison. Khalifa Sall, former mayor of Dakar and leader of the coalition Manko Wattu Senegal, who was excluded from the Socialist Party (PS), was sentenced in 2018 to five years in prison.
Their two parties, which have dominated Senegal’s political history for at least four decades, are the main absentees from the upcoming polls. For the first time since 1960, the PS won’t participate in a presidential election. Since 2012 its leader Ousmane Tanor Dieng has supported the candidacy of Macky Sall in the form of the Benno Bokk Yakaar coalition.
For the first time since 1960, the Socialist Party won’t participate in a presidential election
The PDS, whose leader Abdoulaye Wade has run in all the presidential polls since 1978, won’t have a candidate since Karim Wade was disqualified. Unlike the 2007 and 2012 elections, which had 15 and 14 candidates respectively, only five will stand in the 2019 presidential elections.
Macky Sall, who is running for a second term, Idrissa Seck, leader of the Rewmi, and Madické Niang, from the Madické 2019 coalition, are all former senior PDS officials. Two rising figures on the political scene are also in the running – Ousmane Sonko, from the Pastef les Patriotes party, a former tax inspector; and El Hadj Issa Sall, of the Unity and Rally Party (PUR).
As 24 February approaches, suspicions persist and political tensions are rising. The president’s refusal to appoint a neutral minister of interior to organise Senegal’s elections reinforces this feeling. The current minister, a ruling party member, stated in February last year that he would do his best to ensure Macky Sall’s victory.
With the public debate focused on how the elections are being organised, voters are missing out on the chance to make an informed choice about what the candidates have to offer. The current situation shows how important it is to ensure the confidence of all stakeholders in the ballot process.
Free and transparent elections will help consolidate the country’s democratic gains. The government agencies responsible for organising the elections – such as the interior ministry and the National Electoral Commission – must do everything in their power to make sure the polls are credible.
Paulin Maurice Toupane, Researcher, Aissatou Kanté, Junior Researcher, Adja Khadidiatou Faye, Junior Fellow, ISS Dakar
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Addresses of the President of Kazakhstan. February 2005
Address by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev to the People of Kazakhstan
18th of February 2005
“Kazakhstan on the Road to Accelerated Economic, Social and Political Modernization.”
Dear Fellow Citizens of Kazakhstan! Compatriots!
1 Where did we start
The 1990s brought Kazakhstan a true independence, and with it a dramatic change in our lives. An unprecedented level of passion and enthusiasm marked those years. Those were the years of the most fateful decisions that would determine the future course of our nation, and when one erroneous step could have set the whole country on the wrong track. The people put their trust in me to lead the nation over this period. In honoring this trust, I tried to lay down the path of our strategic development by always keeping the people’s interest at heart.
After almost fifteen years, I would like to invite you to consider the results of our joint efforts. We have every right to be proud of what we have accomplished.
So, how did we start, what did we have to work with at the beginning, and what were our real chances for success?
The socio-economic and political situation in the country was precarious. Seen from the outside, our political and economic future looked grim. The nation’s economy was in disarray, its political system embryonic; its treasury empty; its Constitution was a legacy of the Soviet times, as was its military complex.
We were irrelevant to the world community, which was only concerned about our nuclear potential.
Looking back 20-25 years from now and evaluating the results of “Kazakhstan’s Strategic Development Program till 2030”, the next generation of state managers will find it hard to believe how far we have come from that inauspicious start.
I am sure they will envy us, our courage, our energy, our creativity, and our freedom. Only the strong of heart could have accomplished what we have done together.
We had a clear goal. We wanted to live better, to pursue freedom, and most of all, we wanted to make sure that our children and grandchildren would have a future worthy of them, and that our nation would become an equal, proud and predictable partner to others in the world community of nations. We have worked towards these goals for many years of our lives.
Our efforts were not in vain - just look what we have achieved!
Let’s look at the last ten years since the introduction of the national currency, which signified our economic independence. This year is also the tenth anniversary of our Constitution, which became the cornerstone of our stability and economic growth.
2 By doubling our GDP, we will together build another Kazakhstan.
2.1 We have built a functioning market economy.
We put our faith in a radical market reform of our economy, introduced expedited market reforms, and passed the necessary legislation. Kazakhstan today has a functioning market economy.
Ten years ago, our per capita GDP was barely over $700; by the end of 2004 it was $2,700, and the economic forecast for this year will put our per capita GDP beyond the $3,000 threshold.
I believe that by 2010 we can exceed $5,800 per capita, i.e. reach the level of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Malaysia. By 2015, we should be at $9,000 per capita. Based on purchasing power parity indicators, we have already come close to this level.
We expected to double our GDP by 2010 from the level of the year 2000; I am confident we can reach this goal by 2008.
Today, the main driving engine of our economic growth is our extractive industry. Since 1985, we have increased the production of hydrocarbons by 225%; over the same period the global output has grown by less than 1.3 times.
We have attracted about 30 billion USD in foreign direct investment. This is an enormous achievement. Today investors know Kazakhstan as a reliable partner that guarantees stability and mutually beneficial cooperation.
International experts have recognized the financial system of Kazakhstan as one of the most advanced.
First among the CIS countries, Kazakhstan established the National Fund for Stable Socio-Economic Development, which will reduce our vulnerability to external shocks.
By now the National Fund has accumulated $5.3 billion. Our total gold reserves, including the National Fund, exceed $14 billion. We could not even dream about such a reserve ten years ago!
We have consistently pursued the policy of open trade. In 2004 our foreign trade volume approached USD 33 billion with a trade surplus of USD 7 billion, or three times the level of 1994.
Our foreign trade, which in the early years of independence was primarily with other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, has become much more diversified among many partners.
In 2004, Kazakhstan’s main trading partners were the European Union, Russia, Switzerland and China.
We are witnessing our nation integrating itself in the global economy, and inevitably being drawn into global competition.
2.2. We have started to live better.
According to the World Bank classification, Kazakhstan now belongs to the group of middle-income countries.
When one compares the quality-of-life indicators at the beginning and the end of the last decade, one can see that the average income has grown almost fivefold; monthly salaries have increased by about 6 times; the minimum wage has gone up 25 times; average monthly pension by 4.6 times; and personal and average per capita banking deposits, by 35 and 37 times, respectively. Compared to 2003, state expenditures on guaranteed free health care have risen by 1.7 times.
Rapid economic growth has made it possible to expand substantially the social targeting of government expenditures, which is a reflection of the robustness of our economy.
In a record short time, we have built the new capital city in the very heart of our nation. Every visitor to Astana is amazed by its transformation. The people of Kazakhstan are proud of its new capital.
2.3 For the first time in our history, we have established an independent state founded on the principles of Western democracy, the experience of advanced East-Asia states, and the specific features of our religiously diverse society.
We have always kept in mind that democracy is our goal, not the starting point. We knew that democracy cannot be decreed; it can only be gained by labor and passion.
Kazakhstan statehood has arrived to stay. Kazakhstan’s model of political development is close to that of Western democracies and other so-called “new” Asian democracies, whose social progress and political pluralism are recognized around the world.
I believe we have attained major results in political liberalization.
Let me just point out the following accomplishments:
- Kazakhstan has been steadily building up the institutes of democracy; we have regularly held free democratic elections; and we have implemented and maintained the principle of the division of powers and the system of checks and balances;
- Political pluralism and a multiparty system have become a feature of our society; any citizen of Kazakhstan is free to associate himself or herself with any public or political grouping;
- We have created functioning institutes of the civic society, including over five thousand NGOs;
- The foundation for the independent judiciary has been laid down to ensure the supremacy of the rule of law. Public confidence in our court system has been growing;
- In our country, we have established freedom of speech; there is no censorship, and independent mass media is thriving. You may recall the attempt during the previous session of Parliament to limit freedom of the media; I had to veto the bill and thereby once more assert our firm commitment to freedom of speech;
- Kazakhstan has made important strides, and achieved substantial progress, in securing the rights and freedoms of its citizens; the institute of the human rights ombudsman has been established; and Kazakhstan has joined international human rights conventions. We have guaranteed civil rights, and stood up a fairly representative and authoritative National Commission on Democracy and Civic Society;
- Any citizen of Kazakhstan is free to travel abroad and come back;
- Everyone in Kazakhstan has the right to choose his or her vocation;
- Every citizen can send his or her children to the school of the parents’ choice;
- Every citizen can vote and stand in direct elections;
- Kazakhstan has complete freedom of religion. Our state is pursuing a rigorous policy of ensuring equality and accord among faiths. Different religions peacefully co-exist, while religious extremism is not tolerated. The recent Congress of the Leaders of the World’s Major Religions in Astana has demonstrated the growing peace-making potential of our nation;
- Kazakhstan has observed a moratorium on the death penalty;
- We have succeeded in uprooting organized crime in our country;
First in the CIS, Kazakhstan passed a law against corruption; we are committed to sustained efforts in this area.
Only ten years ago none of these accomplishments existed; it now seems as if life has always been this good.
It is my belief that all this progress, underpinned by a strong presidential power, has made it possible to overcome the legacy of the by-gone era and to grow at a higher pace than most members of the Commonwealth.
We have attained a certain level of modernization of our political system. Last year, the Chairman of the OSCE Solomon Passi said during his visit to Kazakhstan that our nation “has made immense progress in democratic reforms.”
2.4 We have transformed Kazakhstan into a regional leader; a respected international partner; an active participant in the global fight against terrorism, drug trafficking, and nuclear proliferation.
We have chosen the path of demilitarization and nuclear disarmament, and in the process we have become a guarantor of regional stability in the eyes of the world community of nations.
Kazakhstan has voluntarily shut down its nuclear test facility in Semipalatinsk. We have set an international example by abandoning the world’s fourth largest nuclear missile potential.
Kazakhstan is a founding member and an active participant in the integration process in Eurasia.
It will be no exaggeration to point out that our nation’s name is firmly associated in the world with the initiative to convene the Conference on Cooperation and Confidence Building Measures in Asia. The recent meeting of ministers of foreign affairs in Almaty, which adopted a unique document, The Comprehensive List of Confidence Building Measures, has demonstrated the successful implementation of the initiative that I put forth back in 1992 at the 47th session of the UN General Assembly.
While in 1991 the world community did not pay much attention to Kazakhstan, today Kazakhstan has attained high international visibility, respect, and trust.
A prominent Russian economist, academician Aganbegyan has recently pointed out that “today two countries, China and Kazakhstan, show the highest rates of economic growth.”
2.5 Our goals
I have told you about the initiatives that have been implemented. I would like to emphasize that together we have created a strong foundation for our progress towards establishing a free economy and a free nation.
It is universally recognized that Kazakhstan is today one of the most dynamic nations in the world.
Dear fellow-citizens! You have entrusted me with the leadership of the nation, you have stood by me and always supported me, in your deeds and in your hearts. I am deeply grateful to you.
How do I see our future?
On our agenda today is a new milestone in the economic and political development of the country, its further modernization and democratization. That is our current agenda.
Therefore, my continued efforts will be directed toward:
- safeguarding and nurturing our statehood; further developing Kazakhstan as a modern democratic nation based on the rule of law;
- strengthening the stability in the country and in the region; boosting regional and international cooperation;
- accelerating economic growth in line with the demands of globalization and new technological realities, with an emphasis on the development of non-extractive industries;
- bringing our system of education, vocational training and social services to the 21st century level;
- steadily developing our civil society, protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens;
- preserving and fostering the moral and spiritual values of the multiethnic population of Kazakhstan;
- ensuring tolerance of, and accord among, all faiths and confessions;
- fighting corruption;
- fully engaging in the fight against terrorism, drug trafficking and all forms of extremism.
Let me also point out that Kazakhstan is now right in nexus of the communication flows between Europe and Asia. Our task should be to leverage this unique geopolitical advantage in the interests of our nation and the rest of the world.
Today I would like to lay out a specific roadmap for accelerating our reforms. This roadmap should guide us over the balance of the period until 2010.
3. Accelerated social and economic advancement of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan should join the ranks of efficiently developing economies while ensuring a high standard of living for our population. We can do it when our nation and our economy become competitive.
3.1 Creating innovative economy and developing non-extractive manufacturing.
We have begun to implement our Strategy of Industrial Innovation, which seeks to diversify our economy. The future belongs to this Strategy.
We have chosen the model of a competitive economy featuring some priority sectors that are vital to boosting our competitiveness. This decision marks the starting point for the creation of networks of innovation clusters in Kazakhstan.
I believe that by mid-year, we will need to have a blue-print for the development of at least 5 to 7 of Kazakhstan clusters in such industries as tourism, oil-and-gas machine building, food processing and textiles, transport logistics, metallurgy and construction materials. These clusters will determine the long-term economic development beyond the extraction of raw materials.
We have started designing a fundamentally new system of economic management, the National Innovation System, which will be our path to the opportunities of new technologies and new economy.
The infrastructure of industrial innovation has already been put in place. The various national development bodies have been fully capitalized in the amount of USD 730 million, while their investment portfolio exceeds USD 1.2 billion.
In 2004, 204 investment projects were implemented, and half of them were carried out with the support of development agencies.
Our strategic aim is to join the ranks of competitive economies. Therefore, the government and the private sector should build a partnership based on mutual trust and benefit.
3.2 Small and Medium-Size Business
In such countries as Japan, Germany, Belgium, and Italy small and medium-size businesses account for more than 90% of all their companies, and in many advanced nations SMEs generate over than 50% of the GDP.
We should therefore create a fundamentally new ideology of development for small and medium-size enterprises. We should create a favorable environment for the realization of the true spirit of enterprise.
Every enterprising citizen of Kazakhstan should join the entrepreneurial culture, and find himself or herself a place in the innovation economy.
The environment for unleashing the initiative of our citizens has been created; now is the time to seize the new opportunities!
I urge the regions to become economically ambitious.
It is necessary to improve our legislation qualitatively, in line with the new philosophy.
It is time at last to follow our words with deeds and to finish the job of transferring non-core functions of state enterprises and mega-holdings, starting with the major national companies and monopolies, to small and medium-size businesses. This would give a fresh new impetus to private enterprise.
At the same time, the assets of a number of strategically important state-owned companies should be transferred to a state holding company that is specifically designed to manage these assets. Debates about these measures and resistance to their implementation are only to be expected. The government will have to show its determination and finally roll up the sleeves to do the job.
And there is one more thing to mention. Not all entrepreneurs can have access to the services of the Bank of Development and the Investment Fund. Hence, The Small Business Development Fund should become a kind of “financial supermarket.” This year we will capitalize the Fund with additional 10 billion Tenge from the central budget, which should bring to 25 billion Tenge the volume of credit available to small businesses. Starting this year, we should introduce state guarantees of bank loans and insurance products. This way, our SMEs will receive considerable support from the government.
3.3 Agricultural policy.
This year will see the completion of the three-year agriculture and food program. We have for the most part developed the system of state regulation and support for agricultural business in the country. In the current year alone, the central budget provides for a record 57.9 billion Tenge for the development of agricultural production.
We should pass the law on “Public Regulation of Development of Agroindustrial Complex in Rural Areas.”
As we have discussed on a number of occasions, our pending accession to the World Trade Organization, presents new challenges to the competitiveness of domestic farming. I believe it is imperative that as we go forward we pay particular attention to industrializing the agricultural production through the implementation of cluster initiatives in the production and processing of agricultural raw materials. It is to this sphere that we should attract the attention of the private sector, and provide credits as part and parcel of our agribusiness policy.
3.4 Financial Services
In order to develop our financial services market, we have adopted programs for the development of the capital market, and fully funded (accumulation) pension system for the period 2005-2007. It is time to get down to business and make these programs work!
Our banking system should become a model of transparency. Above all, it concerns the ownership structure and information about related parties. All persons who exert considerable influence upon decisions of the banks should explicitly formalize their positions with the permission of authorized bodies. It is necessary to bring order to banks’ investment activity on a consolidated basis. Deals with related parties should not generate new risks for the banks. The Financial Services Supervisory Agency should deal with this task with all necessary urgency.
3.5 Education and professional training in the 21st century
In the 21st century, a nation that is not able to develop knowledge is doomed to failure. We should create a depth of talent for the high-technology and research-based industry of the future. It is only with a modern education system, and modern ambitious managers who are open to new ideas, that we can create an innovation-based economy.
We have to take all the necessary steps to enhance technical and professional education at all levels.
The goal of Kazakhstan’s universities is to deliver world-class education so that the diplomas awarded by our leading schools will be recognized around the world. They must fulfill this task.
We commit ourselves to providing every citizen of Kazakhstan with real opportunity to receive higher education.
To create a comprehensive system of public financing for higher education, I instruct the government to increase the amount of available education grants by 50% at the expense of education credits.
At the same time the government should create a modern system of student loans to be offered through second-tier banks and backed by state guarantees.
The government should carefully study the issue of offering our students the opportunity to work during their summer break in the residential construction industry, and to take part in the “Zhasyl el” (Green nation) program of planting greenery in the country, both noble causes that should attract our students.
And now a few words about our teachers. Their problems are well known, and they are being solved, but they cannot be solved instantly. The Ministry of Education, together with the Association of Universities, should think through a system of support for educators. Already today, we can, for instance, introduce public scholarships to “The Best Teachers”, which will be awarded as one-year study grants, including fellowships anywhere around the world.
By my decree, this year 2 million dollars were appropriated to attract 20 foreign visiting professors in the Kazakh State University and the Eurasian National University. Why not encourage, in the same manner, our best specialists who are recognized in the West?
I believe that first of all we should develop engineering professions, where talent is in very short supply and has to be attracted from abroad.
Clearly, everything starts in school. That is why from 2008 we should shift to a 12-year school education, raise the level of professional qualification of our teachers, and improve the quality of textbooks and comprehensive education programs.
We must restore the prestige and dignity of the teaching profession.
3.6 Motherhood, childhood, and senior citizens.
An important part of our strategy is to provide a decent living standard for the most vulnerable members of our society – children, mothers, and the elderly. The government will not spare resources to address their problems. We have adopted, and we will implement specific measures to provide children and expectant mothers with medicines.
Starting from 2003, a lump sum benefit is paid for every newborn.
From this year on we are implementing a 3-year program of further advancement of social reforms aimed at developing a 3-level system of social protection. It is grounded in a clear philosophy: First, there are basic social benefits guaranteed by the state. Second, there is a mandatory social insurance. And finally, there are voluntary savings of citizens, which in the future will become their supplement social income. In the future, these three sources will ensure dignity in retirement for our citizens.
3.7 Housing policy
Another key task is to speed up solving the problem of housing. Without a roof over your head, it is difficult to create a family and raise children.
This year we are starting to implement a housing program. We are rising to the challenge that under the previous regime seemed intractable.
The government and regional authorities at all levels are responsible for implementing this vision, and they should demonstrate to all the citizens their ability to cope with the task. Residential housing construction is a new driving engine of our economy.
3.8 Spiritual growth and inter-faith accord
It is necessary to carry on implementing the “Cultural Heritage” program; by reflecting on the past, we will be able to ensure our cultural advancement.
We should design a comprehensive program of public support for arts and culture.
We should also work together to sustain one of the mainstays of the unity of our nation, our national language, the mother tongue of all the Kazakhs.
All of the world’s religions have left their mark on the Kazakh soil, which explains why we are strangers to intolerance and religious fanaticism. This spiritual tradition, this openness to the Word of God in any instantiation is one of the most important foundations of inter-faith accord in Kazakhstan. We are known throughout the world for our tolerance, interethnic and interfaith accord and dialogue. The growing peace-making potential of our country should be preserved and nurtured with great care.
3.9 What does it all mean today for every family and every citizen of Kazakhstan?
1. Starting from this year, we have begun the implementation of the Program of Further Social Reforms for the period 2005-2007, which will have a positive effect on the interests of almost every family.
2. Again from 2005 on, we will provide free medicines for certain illnesses for children under age 5 on an outpatient basis. And we have begun supplying expectant mothers with free iron- and iodine-containing medications.
3. Beginning in 2006, it is necessary to start free provision of medicines for the children and teenagers on the dispensary register. In addition, we should provide medicines on preferential terms on an outpatient basis.
4. From the year 2006, low-income households should begin receiving monthly benefits for children under 18. Special benefits for mothers living together with four or more underage children and for mothers-recipients of the pendants “Altyn Alka”, “Kumys Alka” or “Maternal Glory” of 1-st or 2-nd degree will be increased to 4,000 tenge.
5. We are already paying lump sum benefits for every newborn child. I believe that over and above that sum, we should introduce public child-care benefits for the first 12 months of the child’s life and start doing it from July 1, 2006, rather than from 2007 as initially planned.
6. From July 1, 2005 we will begin paying all pensioners a supplementary basic pension in the amount of 3,000 tenge regardless of their employment history, salary, and accrued pension. Therefore, the minimum pension will reach 9,200 tenge, and the average pension more than 12,000 tenge.
7. As early as July 1, 2005 we should double the amount of scholarships paid to university and secondary level vocational training school students.
8. We will help our best and brightest to go and study abroad. Every year, within the framework of the “Bolashak” (The Future) program, 3,000 of our best students will receive scholarships from the national budget to study at the leading universities of the world.
9. We have many talented boys and girls who are willing and able to become engineers or technologists. Through education grants and credits, the government will help them in a very real way. I urge the private sector to join actively in this initiative.
10. In order to implement the system of state guarantees of student loans issued by commercial banks, we need to appropriate 2 billion tenge within 5 years, including 600 million tenge as early as this year.
11. I regard as necessary to increase social benefits paid to all categories of disabled people, and to those receiving old-age benefits, as well as to the recipients of special public benefits by 1,000 tenge starting from 2006. All of these benefits have already been substantially raised earlier this year.
12. Starting from 2006, we should provide additional support amounting to 300-1,000 tenge to 247,000 families who have lost their breadwinners.
13. I believe that starting from July 1, 2005 it is necessary to raise the wage of public sector employees such as doctors, teachers, cultural and social services workers by 32% on average. And from 2007, by another 30% on average.
14. On the whole, wages should go up both in the public and private sectors. Therefore, from July 1, 2005 the minimum wage should be increased up to 9,200 tenge.
15. I believe that it is necessary to increase the wages of civil servants and other public service employees as early as July 1, 2005 by 32% on average, and from 2007 by an additional 30%, gradually closing the gap between wages in the public and private sectors.
16. This year, within the framework of the public housing program, we should add 1,600 apartments for socially protected groups, and another 11,700 affordable apartments paid through the mortgage program.
17. Over the next three years, we ought to be able to add to the nations’ housing stock 12 million square meters of residential housing, or 195,000 apartments, financed through all available sources. That will double the volume of construction works.
Everything that I outlined can be done because we can afford to do it.
I have always said that the time will come when, having improved our economy, we will improve the life of our citizens. As you can see, this time is arriving. And I keep my word.
The policy of accelerated economic and social modernization of Kazakhstan should bolster Kazakhstan’s leading position in economic and social development, and thereby enable our economy to attract capital, investments, technology and know-how, and highly skilled labor.
Entrepreneurs should know that we are creating for them a conducive environment and effective incentives, that business in our country is safe and rewarding. Researchers and highly-skilled professionals should be confident that their labor will be properly rewarded as well. Artists should know that they will be duly appreciated in accordance with their achievements. We are working to make it all possible.
Let our accomplishments be the measure of our efforts.
4. The new phase of democratization of Kazakhstan.
Dear citizens of Kazakhstan!
Over these ten years, we have been moving forward, towards democratization taking into consideration the specific features of our country and following the principle of “first economy, then politics”. This approach has proved itself. Gradualism has not let us down. Here I would like to remind you of the words of Margaret Thatcher, who said that she did not believe it possible to establish democracy in one grand risk-free swoop in any country, whether Asian or not, if such a country lacked the right conditions and experience.
The experience of other countries demonstrates that establishing democracy is a learning process that should involve all the strata of society over a long period of time. Many nations have been practicing liberal traditions for centuries but are still far from perfection. We started from zero. We should keep in mind that democracy presupposes a certain mentality and individual conduct.
I believe that these ideas have merit. We should remain devoted to the Oriental wisdom and be deliberate and careful.
4.1 The National Program of Political Reforms.
Our joint achievements allow us to launch comprehensive efforts in many directions to further modernize our political system and enhance democracy.
Hence, today I offer this package of initiatives, The National Program of Political Reforms.
The program constitutes a unified coherent approach to reforming political, social, and public institutions. The essence of this approach is to further democratize Kazakhstan in line with the traditions and principles of Western democracies, the experience of the leading South-East Asian nations, and with the traditions of our ethnically and religiously diverse people.
Obviously, this national program of political reforms should be implemented only on the basis of a dialogue with the entire society.
The year 2005 should go down in history as the year of a dynamic progress in political reforms, and of the nation-wide policy debate about these reforms.
I believe that this process should be very transparent and public and involve all the citizens of Kazakhstan, including prominent figures, leading opinion-makers, and representatives of the national elite.
I do not exclude the possibility of inviting international experts and respected political figures from Western democracies, as well as from the high-growth economies of Asia (Turkey, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea etc.)
I charge the National Commission on Democratization and Civil Society with the responsibility to coordinate the discussions of the National Program of Political Reforms.
Guided by political initiatives laid out in this address, the Commission, should:
• analyze and summarize the results of the nation-wide discussion;
• prepare the initial legislative framework for the National Program that should reflect the results of the discussion;
• prepare recommendations for the President and Parliament on the implementation of the National Program of Political Reforms; and
• coordinate the final adoption and enactment of the political reforms package.
4.2 Future Use of the Potential of the Constitution in Effect
First of all, it is imperative to make maximal use of the current Constitution. Our Constitution is recognized in the world as appropriate to the basic tasks of a democratic society. If there is criticism, then it lies only in the way its articles are being implemented.
It is acknowledged throughout the world that democracy and compliance with the law are inseparable.
What has our country’s Constitution, adopted by the people, given us? An effective two-chamber Parliament – the legislative power of the country. The Constitution endowed it with the right to approve a budget for the country, and to oversee its execution.
The Parliament, by majority vote, gives its consent to the appointment of a Prime Minister, and Chairman of the National Bank. It has the right to vote “no confidence” in the Government, to insist on its resignation, and to relieve any minister of his or her duties.
Factions of political parties are represented in the Parliament.
The Parliament has the right to introduce amendments to the country’s Constitution.
Members of the Government regularly report back to the chambers of Parliament. The Senate elects judges of the Supreme Court, gives its consent to the appointment of Chief Prosecutor and Chairman of the National Security Committee.
In our country the President, members of Parliament, and the members of regional governments (maslikhat), are elected by free and secret ballot in multi-party elections.
Such important state organs as the Constitution Council, and the Audit Committee are formed on an equal footing with the President, Parliament (Mazhilis), and the Senate. In its turn, the Central Election Commission is elected by the Parliament (Mazhilis) based on nominations by the Head of State. That is, a necessary system of checks and balances has been established.
The challenge now is to ensure the clear use of rights granted by the Constitution, and that laws not be violated, but clearly observed.
4.3 Reform of Executive Power
I think that considering what has been achieved, and the new prospects for development, it is essential to continue the reform of executive power in the direction of:
• further decentralization of power;
• regulating and increasing the effectiveness of the system of state government.
We have taken definite steps toward decentralizing the system of executive power. We have created conditions for introducing elections of regional governors (akim). In August of this year, we will conduct pilot elections of regional governors (akim) in the regions, oblasts, and in the cities of Astana and Almata, and we will begin, in phases, the election of local governors (akim) in rural districts, villages, and settlements, a process that will be completed in the year 2007.
At the same time, it is imperative that the Government develop and introduce for consideration by Parliament legislative bills, which complete the process of dividing power between the levels of state government, and which define the system of local government in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Furthermore, the Government must design a State program of support for the development of local government in Kazakhstan.
And only after this will it be possible to finally introduce local government in our country. Transparency of the work of executive power must become the norm.
Officials of the local executive government are now reporting to their constituencies at special meetings convened for that purpose. And this is as it should be.
These meetings should help to inform the population about the social-economic and political reforms being conducted in the country, as well as contribute to the exchange of opinions and proposals. This is a way to try to increase the responsibility and accountability of the organs of executive power to the people, to involve the general public in the process of state government. These meetings should become the absolute norm for social-political life.
The further deepening of administrative reforms is imperative. It is necessary to complete the transformation of the previously archaic and sluggish state mechanism into a modern one, capable of governing dynamic social-political processes on the basis of the best world experience, and in the interests of our citizens.
It is necessary to raise not only the effectiveness of the work of the Government itself as a collective body, but also the personal responsibility of each minister-member of the Government.
The Government is independent and bears responsibility for the entire executive branch of power. It must make full use of the rights and powers granted to it by the Constitution of the country.
It is imperative to reduce the unnecessary number of state functions at the central level of power, by transferring a portion of the powers to organs of local government.
There should be created an effective -- and most importantly -- an optimally staffed state apparatus comprised of contemporary managers - “Better fewer, but better!”
It is imperative to accelerate the formation of e-Government in order to improve the quality of services and shorten the delivery time of services to citizens and organizations. The key to the reform of executive power is the implementation of a comprehensive set of measures to improve the civil service.
It is essential to:
• improve administrative services of the state;
• reduce the bureaucracy of government; and
• optimize the professional level of state personnel.
A foundation for these measures has already been put in place. In Kazakhstan the law, “On Civil Service” has already been passed. Admittance to the civil service is competitive, based on computer administered tests of skills. An Academy of Civil Service has been created, where more than one and a half thousand people are trained each year.
The government must concentrate on general regulatory functions, and on creating norms and standards.
Its structure must be built in accordance with the priorities of state policy, and the ministries must be organized according to the type of state function they perform.
I am instructing the Government to develop a unified system for assessing the effectiveness and quality of the work of state organs. The standard for assessing the performance of each government department in general, as well that of each individual employee in particular, should be the level of effectiveness of the work performed.
It is imperative to create “one stop” (i.e. comprehensive) social service centers; introduce a system of quality control (ISO) for state employees; give bonuses to the best employees, and not in the form of automatic salary supplements, as is the current practice; and ensure compliance with the rules and ethical principles of the civil service.
4.4 On Strengthening the Political Authority of the Legislative Branch of Government
As I said, the process of political modernization requires, first of all, strengthening the political authority of the legislative branch of government. And this can and must be done within the framework of the current Constitution. Its potential has not been exhausted.
It is necessary to discuss the advisability of raising the role of both chambers of Parliament in the formation of a Central Election Commission, Constitution Council, and the Audit Committee.
We should carry out a detailed and carefully thought out study of the mechanisms for forming the Government on the basis of a parliamentary majority and approval of candidates for ministers’ posts with the social-economic briefs by corresponding committees.
The solution to these questions will empower the people’s representatives to strengthen their influence and control over the organs of executive power.
It is also imperative to provide for a broadening of powers of the regional governments (maslikhats). This will be an important step towards decentralization of the system of state authority, and an increased role for the system of local government.
4.5 Reforms of the Judicial System and the Legal Defense of Citizens
We are on the threshold of full-scale reforms of the judicial system, corresponding to generally accepted standards in the democratic community. A commission has been created to prepare proposals on improvement of the legal system and on the effective practice of justice, which answers the needs of modern society.
We still have work to do on the following tasks:
• To simplify legal proceedings, ensure their objectivity, and also the stability and timely disposition of legal acts;
• To strengthen the guarantees of the rights of citizens in the framework of legal proceedings and at the stage of executing judicial decisions;
• To ensure the independence of judicial officials, which will become a guarantee of due process within the limits of the law;
• To raise the qualification of judges, which will ensure that the judicial system of Kazakhstan be equal to the economic, investment, and trade challenges of the 21st Century;
• To secure a greater role for public defenders in the framework of criminal proceedings and adjudication;
• It is imperative to introduce into the practice of criminal proceedings the institute of juries. Toward this end, in 2005 a law “On Jurors” should be passed. Changes and additions should be made in the Constitutional provision, “On the Judicial System and the Status of Judges”, and other legislative acts on the question of introducing juries should be adopted.
• It is essential to provide for maximum openness and transparency of judicial proceedings.
I want to draw particular attention to the question of the independence and integrity of judges. We have raised the salaries for judges, and today they have become the highest paid civil servants. We must think about the whole package of social guarantees for a judge, including a secure pension. A fitting salary and benefit package for judges should be considered not only a reward for difficult and honest work, but also one measure to prevent corruption. We must do what we can so that bribery in the judicial sphere is not only morally unacceptable, but economically disadvantageous as well. A judge should value his or her place on the bench and know that if he or she violates the law or professional ethics, they will lose not only the right to be part of the civil service, but also the entire benefits package.
All this will entail additional budget expenditures, but they are justified. As the old saying goes – cheap justice is too expensive.
4.6 On Elections
It is worthwhile to discuss the importance of further improvement in our election laws.
I am instructing the Central Election Commission (CEC) to conduct a serious analysis of shortcomings of the legal safeguards in our election process. In the course of 2005 the CEC should develop and introduce appropriate proposals for improving the quality of election mechanisms, which must fully conform to international standards and the level of development of our society. Only with such an approach do I see a consistent implementation of a policy of securing the free and guaranteed expression of the will of all citizens.
4.7 On the Development of Institutions of Civil Society
Of primary importance is the future development of the guarantees of the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Kazakhstan: freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and the right to express political will.
We already have a legislative framework.
In accordance with the decree, “On the Future Development of the System of Constitutional Laws and Freedoms of Persons and Citizen”, the resources of Ombudsmen for protecting human rights have been broadened. Now real action is needed.
Freedom of speech is one of the fundamental conditions for the continued democratic development of Kazakhstan. In independent Kazakhstan, no individuals are condemned for political reasons.
In the future as well we must constantly create and protect all necessary legal and other conditions, which guarantee freedom of speech, the freedom to receive and disseminate information. On the other hand, there ought to be a clear legislative shield against the abuse of freedom of speech.
4.8 On the Fight against Corruption and Crime
Kazakhstan was one of the first Post-Soviet states to pass anti-corruption legislation and to enter into international agreements. Quite a few officials have been punished. Much has been done. At the same time, we are not working as we should with those international organizations, which are dealing with these problems, and which evaluate us, relying on our own information. I can say with complete certainty that Kazakhstan is not lagging behind in our region, or beyond. Though a transition economy has its own costs.
Time has passed, the situation has changed, and legislation requires thorough analysis and improvement. We must revise all the regulations that willfully or unwittingly create conditions conducive to corrupt actions by officials.
We must completely separate business from the civil service.
We must put an end to the lack of transparency of stock companies, their owners and related parties, the lack of transparency of the banking system, the multitude of licensing bodies, the impunity of those who give bribes in order to flout the law, etc.
What must be done to achieve these goals?
1. Create comprehensive “one-stop” public service centers, where in one location it is possible to apply for a passport, receive a tax ID number, a driver’s license, etc. This can be done on a pilot basis in Astana and Almata this year.
2. Sharply reduce the number of licenses and permits.
3. Pass appropriate amendments in the law, “On Stock Companies in the Republic of Kazakhstan.”
4. A civil servant should make public that he sold, or handed over management of his business.
5. It is essential to develop an Ethics Code for civil servants that prohibits them from engaging in private business, or lobbying in the interests of companies.
6. Disciplinary councils should finally be given over to the Agency On Civil Service Affairs, and transferred to the central budget; the councils should be strengthened with legal personnel, and not hire officials who are old enough to retire. The Council should be charged with assuring that civil servants act ethically, and in compliance with the Ethic Code.
7. Punishment should be handed out not only to those taking bribes, but also to those giving them. 8. The salary of civil servants should be raised to a level comparable to the salary earned in business.
I have spoken more than once about regulating the actions of appropriate state structures and officials. The Agency on Fighting Economic Crimes and Corruption must be independent. It is appropriate to bring it under the direct control of the President.
I am instructing the Government to introduce concrete proposals on these issues and to provide strict oversight over their implementation.
At the same time, it is time to cease the groundless accusations of corruption on the part of civil servants. If this is slander, then the civil servant should be able to defend himself or herself in the court. If the accusation is proven to be unfounded, then the complaint should be investigated. * * *
I gave you account of my vision of political reforms. Everything I mentioned can be realized within the framework of the Constitution in force.
We know that, in connection with reforms initiated by me, a number of options for the political development of the country are being discussed by various actors, including the opposition. The opposition’s views should be treated with respect when the opposition has at heart the interests of the country, and of the people.
I propose to complete the package of measures advanced by me over the period of 2005-2007. Once this is done, the path of further advancement will be clear.
I am confident that the stability of the Constitution means the stability of the society. Reckless amendments would wreak chaos in the country. Before proposing any amendments to the Constitution, we should thoroughly examine the current state of affairs.
However, amendments to the Main Law of the Land are possible. The crux of the matter is whether people would continue to support the presidential model of government that we now have, or would opt for transferring the power in the country to numerous political parties. This is why I have elaborated one more time the advantages of our Constitution. I believe that the principles of democracy require that the matter be settled by the will of the people. The time will come when we put this question to our citizens. And we will act in the interests of our people and our country.
5. Kazakhstan in the modern world.
5.1 Our foreign policy priorities.
Our priorities remain unchanged – an activist, multifaceted and balanced foreign policy able to confront the challenges of the 21st century and aimed at pursuing the long-term national interests.
We put priority on the development of cooperation with Russia, China, the United States and the European Union. We attach great importance to relations with the leading countries of Asia and the Middle East.
The government is steadfastly committed to compliance with all the main treaties and agreement with these nations in order to guarantee the security of Kazakhstan and create favorable conditions for our domestic reforms.
Treaty on border delimitation signed a month ago in Moscow by Kazakhstan and Russia is of historic importance. For the first time in our history, we have gained legally recognized borders with Russia, our strategic partner.
With this delimitation treaty singed, we have completed the demarcation of all our borders, which stretch over 14,000 km. It is a major guarantee of national security, which creates favorable conditions for implementing our nation building agenda at home.
Also in our strategic interest is the effort to expedite accession to the World Trade Organization on the terms that take full account of our interests.
Kazakhstan attaches great importance to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to reforming the CIS, the Eurasian Economic Community, and to proceeding with the establishment of the Single Economic Space.
Our engagement with the OSCE remains important for us along the entire range of its activities. We take very seriously the nomination of Kazakhstan for the 2009 chairmanship of this organization. Present initiatives are also aimed at achieving this goal.
It is important to remember that Kazakhstan is regarded in the world as a regional power possessing a strong economy and a solid position in the international community. We should value this image and apply additional efforts to strengthening the standing of our country in the modern world.
5.2 Today’s challenges.
I would like to draw your attention to objectively existing threats of the 21st century, which can become a serious obstacle for further economic, political, and social modernization. These threats are not too far off. Our ability to work in peace and advance our country depends on all of us and on the attitude of the international community.
What are these challenges?
First, the spreading of instability and religious extremism in the region.
Second, unabated drug trafficking that for geographic reasons goes through Kazakhstan.
We will cooperate as actively as before with all the nations and international bodies that work to solve these problems.
Among the threats of the 21st century, international terrorism is a matter of special concern. At the end of January 2005, Almaty hosted a special session of the UN Security Council’s Counter-Terrorism Committee, in which heads of 40 international organizations took part. An effective struggle against this international evil requires joint efforts by the entire international community.
This is our philosophy in dealing with issue of Kazakhstan’s participation in the antiterrorist coalition and in sending our field engineer squad to take part in stabilizing the situation in Iraq.
Active measures are also undertaken at home: the Supreme Court has banned 4 terrorist organizations. We have passed the Law on Fighting Extremist Activities.
To meet the challenge of escalating terrorist threat, we are ready to move to a qualitatively new level of coordination and joint efforts among all the regional powers and concerned countries.
5.3 Regional issues
Until the end of 15th century, Central Asia was a major player in the global economy. Our region bridged the East and the West. The population of the region was not divided into countries and nations. The decline of the Silk Road turned Central Asia into backwaters of progress. For the first time in over five centuries, our independence is making it possible to restore the economic importance of our region. We are developing our transit infrastructure and emerging as a global major supplier of commodities, including oil, gas, iron ore and agricultural products. The network of new oil and gas pipelines and modern highways and railways can already be seen along the ancient Silk Road.
We can clearly see the causes of success by Asian tigers and the European Union. On the other hand, we have observed the international confrontation and conflicts among nations that emerged from colonial rule after the Second World War. The global economy demands larger markets. Today, we are again witnessing superpower rivalry for economic dominance in our region. We have to address correctly this new global and geo-economics challenge.
We have a choice between remaining the supplier of raw materials to the global markets and wait patiently for the emergence of the next imperial master or to pursue genuine economic integration of the central Asian region.
I choose the latter.
Further regional integration will lead to stability, regional progress, and economic, military and political independence. This is the only way for our region to earn respect in the world. This is the only way to achieve security, and to fight effectively against terrorism and extremism. Regional integration will advance the interests of all the common folk that live in Central Asia.
I propose therefore to create a Union of Central Asian States. The Treaty of eternal friendship between Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan can serve as a solid foundation for such union. Other countries may also wish to join.
In the region, we share economic interest, cultural heritage, language, religion, and environmental challenges, and face common external threats. The founding fathers of the European Union could only wish they had so much in common. We should direct our efforts towards a closer economic integration, a common market and a single currency.
I see integration as the only way to become worthy of our common great ancestors who always envisioned us together. The Czarist Empire and Stalin’s ethnic policy abhorred this unity; they broke our region into administrative territories. Their policy was that of “divide and rule”. The day has come for us to embark on a new and indispensable path that the next generations of equal peoples in the region will follow after us.
6. Our responsibility for the Kazakhstan homeland.
Dear citizens of Kazakhstan, compatriots!
I have presented to you my philosophy and vision of economic, social, and political modernization for the years ahead.
As you can see, we still have a lot to accomplish.
And as always, I do not promise that the road will be easy. We may have different points of view on the tactical aspects of reforms, and on timing and mechanisms of their implementation.
But I urge all the citizens of Kazakhstan and all political associations to close the ranks for the sake of our common progress and for the future of our country.
We should build a society of maximum opportunities where individual freedom is respected; where those who cannot provide for themselves are taken care of; where every labor is valued; where motherhood and childhood protected; where retirees are given every support, and where veterans and defenders of the Fatherland are deeply revered.
We should build a free and tolerant society where every citizen of Kazakhstan, regardless of his or her ethnic background or confession, is free to practice the culture, customs, and religion of his or her choice.
We should build a society where law-enforcement bodies provide peace and order, and where businessmen have every opportunity to put their ideas to work.
We should build a society that values the honor, dignity and reputation of everyone; where high morality, ethical standards and spiritual values thrive.
We have chosen the right way. The results speak for themselves. On this basis, we have a unique opportunity to accelerate our advancement. Down this path, Kazakhstan will travel to join the ranks of developed and prosperous nations of the world.
I am confident that the people of Kazakhstan will support me in these undertakings, that they will demonstrate initiative, and want to see our plans realized.
As for me, who stood at the very origins of our statehood and took personal responsibility in the eyes of the nation for its future, I would like to see this era to come as soon as possible.
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← Trump Resignation Playbook
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Cameroon’s civil war
Posted on June 28, 2018 by shulquist
Cameroon’s governance and security problems have historically attracted little outside attention. But this seems likely to change, for two reasons. The first is the growing political crisis in the Central African nation’s English-speaking region. The second is a presidential election scheduled for October 2018.
Roughly 20% of the country’s population of 24.6 million people are Anglophone. The majority are Francophone. The unfair domination of French-speaking politicians in government has long been the source of conflict.
For a year and a half, the Cameroonian military has been accused of beating and arresting people suspected of being separatists, torching homes and killing unarmed protesters
Activists in the country’s Anglophone western regions are protesting their forced assimilation into the dominant Francophone society. They argue that this process violates their minority rights, which are protected under agreements that date back to the 1960s. Anglophone political representation and involvement at many levels of society has dwindled since the Federal Republic of Cameroon became the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972. There are growing calls for the Anglophone region to secede from Cameroon.
After World War I, the territory was divided between France and the United Kingdom as League of Nations mandates. In 1960, the French-administered part of Cameroon became independent as the Republic of Cameroun. More than a decade later the southern part of British Cameroons federated with it in 1961 to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. This was abandoned when it was also renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and again in 1984 as the Republic of Cameroon.
It began in 2016 with demonstrations by English-speaking lawyers, students and teachers.
Protests against marginalisation by the French-speaking majority were met with a crackdown.
Activists were arrested, and several protesters shot by security forces.
Separatist demands for an independent state grew, resulting in increasing violence.
Some symbolically proclaimed the independence of a new state called “Ambazonia”.
Some 160,000 people have fled their homes in Cameroon, the UN says.
More than 20,000 have fled to Nigeria.
Journalists are being denied access to conflict zones.
On 12 June 2018, Amnesty International issued a report documenting human rights violations in Cameroon. The International Crisis Group says that at least 120 civilians and 43 members of security forces have been killed in the most recent waves of violence.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged anglophone, cameroon, civil war, francophone. Bookmark the permalink.
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The Law Says President Trump Can’t Just ‘Fire’ Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller
by Rachel Stockman | 11:27 pm, June 12th, 2017
According to reports, President Donald Trump is considering firing special counsel Robert Mueller who was appointed to lead the investigation between Trump’s campaign and Russia. Chris Ruddy, Trump’s friend and CEO of Newsmax told PBS’ Judy Woodruff that Trump is considering terminating the newly appointed special counsel after reports surfaced Trump allies were turning their fire on him. Mueller has come under some criticism for his close relationship with Comey, and over the fact that he interviewed for the job of FBI director after Trump fired Comey.
Jay Sekulow, an attorney on Trump’s personal legal team, told ABC News that the president has authority to take action if he wants. But, is this true? Can Trump really act by himself and fire the special prosecutor? Isn’t that the entire point of having Mueller appointed– to keep him independent? The law is pretty clear: Trump can not take unilateral action and fire Mueller (however, read this article to the end, there is a small wrinkle that Trump can explore).
According 8 CFR 600.7:
(d) The Special Counsel may be disciplined or removed from office only by the personal action of the Attorney General. The Attorney General may remove a Special Counsel for misconduct, dereliction of duty, incapacity, conflict of interest, or for other good cause, including violation of Departmental policies. The Attorney General shall inform the Special Counsel in writing of the specific reason for his or her removal.
“In this case, the Deputy Attorney General since Attorney General (Sessions) is recused, can do it, and only for good cause,” Norm Eisen, an attorney and fellow at the Brookings Institute explained to LawNewz.com. “Now, Trump could order the Deputy Attorney General to do it. Something similar happened with Nixon during the Saturday Night Massacre, and both the Attorney General and the next in line refused to comply with the order. Finally after they were both fired Robert Bork complied. Of course, the result was that Nixon’s end was not far away.”
So that would mean that Trump would have to order Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to fire Mueller. If he refused to do it, Trump could fire him until he found someone at the Department of Justice that would agree to fire the special prosecutor. However, there is one small caveat that could give Trump’s lawyers some wiggle room.
“The tiny wrinkle is that people who believe in a robust form of the unitary theory of the executive — the idea that the president should control the exercise of all elective power — might argue that the president retains this authority or discretion given that the prosecutor is an executive branch official,” Michael Gerhardt, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law, told LawNewz.com In Meyers v. United States, the Supreme Court said that the President has the exclusive power to terminate executive branch officials — and of course, the Justice Department is part of the executive branch.
“Indeed the Supreme Court decision in Myers could be read that way. I am guessing that some of the comments from Trump lawyers that he can do this himself could be based on that reading of the constitution,” Gerhardt explained.
Even if Trump’s legal team was able to convince a court that Trump is allowed to fire Mueller, there is no doubt a firestorm would ensue. Of course, similar action taken by President Nixon resulted in his undoing.
firing, Robert Mueller, t, trump
Rachel Stockman - President / On Air Host
Rachel Stockman is President of Law&Crime and The Law&Crime Network. She has spent years covering courts and legal issues, and was named Atlanta Press Club's 'Rising Star' in 2014. Rachel graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and Yale Law School.
More Stories by Rachel Stockman
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leafchicago
Liberation Education And Facilitation
LEAF Chicago is a growing group of trainers and facilitators. Here’s who we are:
Claudia Garcia-Rojas is a multiracial woman with eleven years of professional experience working as a speaker, activist, and scholar on antiviolence and antiracism issues, specifically focusing on gender-based violence.
Claudia was educated in the departments of Philosophy and Women and Gender studies at DePaul University, and in art and art theory in Paris. After receiving her dual Bachelors of Arts in 2006, she moved to Nantes, France on a Teaching Assistantship Grant to work as an English Instructor. During this time, Claudia was offered a position as a Public Relations intern at Le Lieu Unique where she assisted with the Estuaire 2007 Project, an arts and culture installation that sought to draw attention to the regions sociocultural histories. Working alongside world-renowned artists such as Tazu Nishi and Minerva Cuevas, but especially Anish Kapoor’s Svayambh installation, deepened her interest in the relationship between artistic resistance to intergenerational trauma and violence.
Returning to the United States, in 2007, Claudia worked as a Counselor/Legal Advocate in Chicago’s Hospital’s Crisis Intervention Project (HCIP) with low-income women of color and children who are survivors of violence. That same year, Claudia was chosen as Amnesty International’s “Stop the Violence Against Women” Campaign Coordinator for the Midwest. Claudia began work as a Research Associate for the Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls and Young Women in 2009. This year, she was promoted to coordinate the Chicago Taskforce’s Media Toolkit project that will help journalists cover the issues of rape and sexual assault. Claudia also serves as the Design Coordinator for AREA Chicago, and is also a contributing writer and photographer for Gozamos.
Jessica Havens is a white woman raised in multiracial communities from the Southside of Chicago. She is an educator, feminist, cultural worker, public education advocate and racial justice cheerleader who works to integrate love and mindfulness into her social justice work. Jessica has worked with high school students for 10 years in Chicago as a youth educator at Project Exploration, Kenwood Academy, the Multicultural Arts School and Francis W Parker School.
Her current work as a trainer and consultant, with both adults and youth, is focused on anti-racism, community building and love-centered racial healing. She received her M.A. in Women and Gender Studies from DePaul University in 2011, completing a thesis entitled, Of Heart, Mind & Belonging: Reflections on Anti-Racist White Identity Development. During the past year, Jessica taught and/or led workshops at Francis W. Parker School, The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, the Chicago Freedom School, Northwestern University’s Civic Education Project and DePaul University. As part of her work at Francis W. Parker School, Jessica founded and facilitated a white anti-racist affinity group with faculty called White Educators for Racial Justice (WERJ). She believes strongly in the need for white anti-racist affinity groups and sees this as vital to capacity building for institutions that have an espoused commitment to “diversity” and anti-racism.
Jane Hereth is an educator, organizer, and radical social worker. Jane got her start facilitating and creating anti-oppression trainings in her youth as a member of the Unitarian Universalist Anti-Racist, Anti-Oppressive Trainer/Organizer Program. In college, she co-founded the Coalition of Anti-Racist Whites, a group dedicated to resisiting white supremacy through education and identity development.
Since moving to Chicago in 2007, Jane worked as a trainer for the Chicago Rape Crisis Hotline, facilitating trainings on sexual violence, rape culture and crisis intervention for staff, volunteers, and community members. She currently facilitates workshops on the Prison Industrial Complex as a member of the Chicago Prison Industrial Complex Teaching Collective. As a volunteer with Project NIA’s Chain Reaction project, Jane works with youth at the Broadway Youth Center to collect and disseminate stories about young people’s interactions with the police. By day, Jane coordinates a behavioral research study on HIV prevention among transgender youth.
Mariame Kaba is an organizer, educator, and writer who lives in Chicago. Her work focuses on ending violence, dismantling the prison industrial complex, and supporting youth leadership development. Mariame is a published author, a teacher, and has served on numerous nonprofit boards. Mariame is currently the founding director of Project NIA (www.project-nia.org), a grassroots organization with the long-term goal of ending juvenile incarceration in Illinois. Prior to launching Project NIA, she spent five years as a Program Officer for education and youth development at the Steans Family Foundation and also as the coordinator of evaluation for the foundation.
Mariame has been active in the anti-violence against women and girls movement where her experience includes coordinating emergency shelter services at Sanctuary for Families in New York City, directing prevention services at Friends of Battered Women & their Children, serving as the co-chair of the Women of Color Committee at the Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network, serving on the founding board of the Women and Girls Collective Action Network (www.womenandgirlscan.org), being a member of Incite! Women of Color against Violence and co-founding the Chicago Taskforce on Violence against Girls and Young Women (www.chitaskforce.org). She was also an adult ally and co-founder of the Rogers Park Young Women’s Action Team (www.rogersparkywat.org). Mariame is one of the founders of the Chicago Freedom School (www.chicagofreedomschool.org).
In addition to her experience teaching both high school and college, Mariame has facilitated workshops and trainings on several topics including anti-oppression, understanding youth criminalization, mobilizing youth for social change, community accountability to address violence, grassroots fundraising, evaluation, and more. Some of the curricula and research she has developed can be accessed through www.thepicis.org.
Ana Mercado is the Youth Organizer at Blocks Together, an intergenerational community organizing group in West Humboldt Park where she is developing the leadership of youth as organizers and restorative justice practitioners that challenge the school-to-prison pipeline. She is also the Restorative Justice Co-coordinator at Cameron Elementary school where she trains youth and parents on Restorative Justice and brings together stakeholders to develop strategies for culture shift at the school. Before working at BT, she was the Girls Organizing Coordinator at Access Living, a disability rights organization, where she facilitated the Empowered Fe Fes political education group. She was a founding member of the Black Diaspora Project, a collective dedicated to supporting Black youth in Chicago to understand their connection to the issues and lives of Black youth in Haiti. She was also a founding member of FRIDA (Feminist Response in Disability Activism). She developed her skills as a participatory video documentarian and popular educator during an extended internship at the Highlander Center in Tennessee. She holds a BA in Cultural Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Women’s Studies from Antioch College. She was born and raised in the Dominican Republic.
Abraham Mwaura is developing a project to create resiliency to climate change among the most vulnerable communities as a platform for movement building. He has organized and helped facilitate powerful strategic planning with anti-war, labor, environmental, community and religious groups. He was the founding Coordinator of Warehouse Workers for Justice (WWJ), a campaign to improve conditions and bring dignity to warehouse & logistics workers in the Chicago region. Prior to that he organized with the United Electrical Workers (UE) and coordinated media during the historic occupation of Republic Windows factory. Abe also organized with Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) helping to grow a base of coalfield residents in southern West Virginia to resist mountaintop removal and win grassroots campaigns for access to clean drinking water. He has roots in the mountains of West Virginia and Kenya.
Megan Selby is a fiercely proud midwesterner with over a decade of experience as a facilitator, organizer, and educator. Politicized around issues of prisons and education reform in the Unitarian Universalist youth movement, Megan’s politics are grounded in the transformative power of love and community. Within her faith organization she supported a national youth leadership development program and social justice training. She was a founding member of the Unitarian Universalist Anti-Racist, Anti-Oppressive Trainer/Organizer Program that focused on challenging white supremacy and collective liberation. She began facilitating workshops on the prison industrial complex as the Volunteer Coordinator of a books to prisoners program in Bloomington, IN. She then worked for a few years as an elementary school educator in a public school in Brooklyn, NY.
Megan has facilitated workshops and trainings with a wide variety of groups including faith communities, students in elementary school, high school, and university, people incarcerated in the San Bruno, CA jail, and more.
After participating in the Anne Braden Anti-Racist Training Program in San Francisco, Megan moved to Chicago in 2011, where she organizes locally around immigration justice, housing justice, and tearing down the Prison Industrial Complex.
Lewis Wallace has over 12 years of experience as a facilitator, organizer and educator. He began facilitating as an LGBTQ youth organizer in Michigan working with his peers to target “zero tolerance” policies and homophobia in schools. He went on to work for several years as a sexuality educator, cooperative worker-owner, and facilitation team member at Good Vibrations Berkeley, giving workshops on sexuality, safety, and consent.
After training with the Challenging White Supremacy (CWS) workshop in 2003, Lewis shifted his focus towards political education as a form of solidarity, training mostly-white constituencies about institutional racism. In addition to training with CWS, he has worked as a trainer and consultant with the Pacific Center in Berkeley, the Neutral Zone Teen Center in Ann Arbor, and with grassroots LGBTQ groups to address institutional racism, transphobia, and adultism.
Lewis moved to Chicago in 2006, where he co-founded the Chicago Childcare Collective, a group that provides free childcare for social justice organizations around the city. In 2009, he had the opportunity to become involved in restorative justice and peacemaking circle practices through his work with Project NIA, an organization fighting youth incarceration through community-based alternatives. In addition to sitting on the advisory board of Project NIA, he is a current volunteer with the Chicago Prison-Industrial Complex Teaching Collective and the coordinator of Chain Reaction: Alternatives to Calling Police. By day, Lewis is also a freelance writer with an educational background in religious studies and Christian history.
Lewis is passionate about the power of transformative and restorative justice to build viable community-based responses to violence and conflict. He is equally passionate about the necessity of education and facilitation as a path to empowerment and to building more effective movements for collective liberation.
We want to work with you!
Email us at educationandfacilitation@
educationandfacilitation@gmail.com
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New Study Finds Worrying Climate Trend in Karamoja Over Last 35 Years
March 20, 2017 Education
A new study carried out by the Government of Uganda and its partners has found a new weather pattern that threatens to worsen food insecurity in the Karamoja region if no action is taken.
The study found that the average monthly rainfall in the region increased over the last 35 years and that the rainy season is now longer by two months. However, the rains � which now fall from around March to the end of the year � increasingly varied in volumes. This unpredictability was found to undermine agricultural production, thereby threatening to aggravate food insecurity in Karamoja.
Released in Kampala today, the ‘Impacts of Climate Change on Food Security and Livelihoods in Karamoja’ found that temperatures have been rising in Karamoja over the last 35 years.
The rising temperatures threaten to increase the frequency, intensity and duration of heat waves in the region, therefore reducing availability of water for crops and animals. This too undermines food security.
A large majority of people in Karamoja, particularly women, were not aware that changes to the climate had been taking place over decades, the study states. However, most of the people that had perceived changes to the climate had not taken any action to adapt, typically because they did not know how to do so. Where trees were planted as an adaptation measure, the sale of charcoal and firewood were also a common measure that people took in response to climate-related crop failure.
Sponsored by the Swedish Government, the study was carried out in 2016 by the Ministry of Water and Environment with support from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the CGIAR Consortium’s Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security.
The Uganda Minister for Water and Environment, Sam Cheptoris, said today, These are significant findings that threaten any hope for Uganda achieving its Vision 2040 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), if no immediate action is taken.rdquo;
Cheptoris said that his Ministry was already calling for a national and regional response, advocating for climate change sensitive approaches across all Government sectors, educating the population about climate change, and undertaking emissions profiles.
Karamoja’s population is heavily dependent on rain-fed agriculture, which is highly vulnerable to climate change,rdquo; said El Khidir Daloum, WFP Country Director for Uganda. However, little has been known previously about the impacts of climate change on food security, and in particular, the ability of households in the region to adapt.rdquo;
WFP hopes that the findings and recommendations of the study will contribute to efforts toward appropriate adaptation measures while helping to identify policies that will safeguard the most vulnerable communities in Karamoja.
The study recommended that the Government and its partners increase investments in water harvesting and agroforestry schemes, education of the people, improved access to climate change information and the cultivation of drought-resistant crop varieties.
Within the Ministry of Water and Environment, the study was carried out by the Climate Change Department and the Uganda National Meteorological Authority.
Source: World Food Programme (WFP).
Alleged Trafficking Kingpin Faces Deportation, Even as Case Against Him Unravels
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When it comes to prominent and leading media outlet in Lesotho, so the name which comes in one’s mind is none other than “Lesotho Wire” and the reason behind its popularity, which it got in a very short span of time, are its professionalism and the international standards that it follows when it comes to publish news.
Judicial News
Boxer Keddy Agnes will be the flag-bearer for Seychelles at
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HARARE – Most parts of Zimbabwe’s capital get electricity for
Sudan General Says Coup Attempt Foiled
KHARTOUM – Sudan’s ruling military council has foiled a coup
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South Africa to harshly punish employers for hiring undocumented foreigners – official
PRETORIA, South Africa will harshly punish employers who employ undocumented
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PRETORIA, Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane says South Africa will look
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Dharma Library
How Buddhism Began
Richard F. Gombrich
Dharmalib.net
This book, the second edition of How Buddhism Began, takes a fresh look at the earliest Buddhist texts and offers various suggestions how the teachings in them had developed. Two themes predominate. Firstly, it argues that we cannot understand the Buddha unless we understand that he was debating with other religious teachers, notably Brahmins. The other main theme concerns metaphor, allegory and literalism. By taking the words of the texts literally – despite the Buddha’s warning not to – successive generations of his disciples created distinctions and developed doctrines far beyond his original intention. This accessible, well-written book by one of the world’s top scholars in the field of Pali Buddhism is mandatory reading for all serious students of Buddhism.
Richard F. Gombrich is Academic Director of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, and one of the most renowned Buddhist scholars in the world. From 1976 to 2004 he was Boden Professor of Sanskrit, University of Oxford. He has written extensively on Buddhism, including How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings (1996); Theravada Buddhism: A social history from ancient Benares to modern Colombo (1988); and with Gananath Obeyesekere, Buddhism transformed: Religious change in Sri Lanka (1988). He has been President of the Pali Text Society and was awarded the Sri Lanka Ranjana decoration by the President of Sri Lanka in 1994 and the SC Chakraborty medal by the Asiatic Society of Calcutta the previous year.
Proceed to reading
Copyright © Dharma Library
Rating: 5 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ (Voices: 182)
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Film Review – The Intruder
May 3rd, 2019 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar
Dennis Quaid is having a ball playing the villain of The Intruder (2019). It’s been said that the antagonist is sometimes more interesting than the hero, and because of that actors tend to play their characters far looser and with more creativity. A lot of the time the good guy has to play the straight counterpoint to the villain’s hijinks. Quaid takes this idea and runs with it with unrelenting joy. It’s as though director Deon Taylor and writer David Loughery simply provided Quaid a stage to do whatever the hell he wanted, and because of that his performance is a collection of weird facial tics, creepy rage, and absolute hilarity.
Scott (Michael Ealy) and Annie (Meagan Good) are a young, married couple looking to move to the countryside to start a family. They find a nice, cozy home nestled in a wooded area in Napa Valley, CA. The house is everything they wanted: it’s one of those old, lived in homes where vines have grown up and down the side of the house and the driveway includes a long stretch of road lined by large trees. It’s a beautiful plot of land, and the owner of the home Charlie (Quaid) is all too eager to sell it to them.
That’s our first sign of trouble, isn’t it? Instead of buying the home through a real estate agency or some other legal third party, Scott and Annie decide to negotiate with Charlie directly. Charlie says that he plans to move to Florida to stay with his daughter, but strangely enough, he keeps showing up at the house unannounced. One time he offers to cut the grass, then he brings over food to share – soon he’s coming over for Thanksgiving dinner and offering to help Annie put up Christmas lights. For a guy who decided to sell his home, he doesn’t seem all that enthusiastic to leave it behind.
Scott’s growing suspicion of Charlie juxtaposed with Annie’s willingness to trust Charlie make for the central point of tension in The Intruder. Taylor and Loughery don’t try to subvert the tropes of this kind of thriller. There is no mistaking that Charlie is a lunatic, whose obsession over his home is taken to extreme levels. You may be asking yourself, “Why would this guy sell his house if he didn’t want to leave in the first place?” The narrative does make an effort to explain that, but in reality, none of it actually matters. The point is to see whether Scott can convince Annie that Charlie is up to no good, and for the both of them to survive before Charlie’s actions turn dangerous.
This is one of those “Yell At The Screen” type of movies, where characters are put in precarious situations and do the exact opposite of what they should, causing an audience to shout at the screen telling them to “Watch out, he’s right behind you!” Taylor’s direction does a nice job of building suspense. The sound design and cinematography (Daniel Pearl) make good use of the house, allowing us to hear every creak and moan of the wood, making us wonder if Charlie is inside stalking about. Jump scares are littered throughout, but the tension building earns those moments. There is a direct reference to a famous scene from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980), but the execution is done well enough to give it its own identity. By the time all of Charlie’s secrets are revealed, Scott and Annie’s cozy home has turned into an all out nightmare.
I was surprised at how funny this was. There are sequences of pure terror, especially in the latter half, but a lot of the time this came off more as a comedy than a thriller. Scott and Annie’s reactions to Charlie’s odd behavior were both understandable and hilarious. It was also funny how Charlie seemed to magically appear out of nowhere. He can show up right behind Scott or Annie without making a single noise, like an apparition suddenly emerging out of thin air. It’s a tricky balance between scaring an audience and making them laugh, but Taylor manages to pull it off.
The Intruder is basically “the Dennis Quaid show,” and he delivers with a full tilt showcase. Just watch how he moves about a room; his mannerisms don’t look like they are coming from a rational human being. When he’s disturbed or upset, he scrunches his mouth as though he took a bite out of a lemon. He is both a psychopath and cartoon character. Notice how he practices putting on a fake smile all by himself, and how he writhes in pain with how difficult it is. Taylor amplifies Quaid’s physique, making him seem bigger and more menacing compared to Ealy and Good. Fitting him with a red hat and a devotion to firearms also adds an extra layer of nuance, perhaps representative of a certain section of Americana (I’ll let you draw the parallels there). All in all, Charlie is a villain in the full definition of the term, and Quaid doesn’t shy away from that fact. Thank goodness.
FINAL GRADE: B
Daniel Pearl, David Loughery, Dennis Quaid, Deon Taylor, Meagan Good, Michael Ealy, Screen Gems, Stanley Kubrick, The Intruder, The Shining
About Allen Almachar
Allen is a moviegoer based out of Seattle, Washington. His hobbies include dancing, playing the guitar, and, of course, watching movies.
You can reach Allen via email or Twitter
View all posts by this author
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Benjamin Nason
Adelaide Blair
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UPCOMING FILMS
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Foreign Policy in Trumpville
April 29, 2016 LobeLog 1 Comment
by Phyllis Bennis
For a foreign policy speech that was supposed to make Republican candidate Donald Trump look presidential, it took an awful lot of digging through a basketful of bumper-sticker slogans to get to a substantive point. And when you did find it, it wasn’t very pretty.
It’s a narrow world, Trumpville. The sole reference to an actual course of action—you know, what foreign policy is supposed to be made of—was in Trump’s commitment to “strengthening and promoting Western civilization” as opposed to “trying to spread ‘universal values’ that not everyone shares.” In Trumpville, that means everyone shares the commitment to keeping America First, to treating allies as international ATMs, to walking away from negotiations (over what, we don’t know) if the US doesn’t get everything it wants, to protecting only “the Christians” (with no recognition that the vast majority of Islamic State (ISIS or IS) victims are Muslim), to ending immigration as we know it because it is “allowing in extremists.”
Much has been said by now about Trump’s clear lack of knowledge—not to speak of experience—in foreign affairs, diplomacy, or even military matters. He shows no evidence of familiarity with the geography, politics, economies, or peoples of the rest of the world. We don’t know whether his simplistic “America First,” is actually supposed to remind us of the right-wing movement of the same name that wanted to placate Hitler and Nazi expansionism. But his version of American exceptionalism does shape the one dangerous aspect of foreign policy he has actually articulated: the anti-immigrant policies that lie at the intersection of racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia. His only specific plan is to change the immigration rules—because in Trumpville, Mexicans are all rapists, asylum seekers are all extremists, Muslims are all terrorists. All must be kept out.
Trump’s America First approach does reflect a preference for some level of isolationism. He distanced himself from other candidates, saying that “war and aggression will not be my first instinct.” It remains uncertain whether his main target was Ted Cruz and his nuclear threat to “carpet bomb” IS in the Middle East to see if “the sand glows,” or Hillary Clinton’s embrace of escalating wars in Libya, Syria, and beyond. Maybe he meant both of them.
Trump on Diplomacy
Trump did include a foreign policy 101 soundbite on his teleprompter, “You cannot have a foreign policy without diplomacy.” But he provided no indication that he understands diplomacy or has any idea how it works. Similarly, he checked off a reference to the need for “caution and restraint,” with zero evidence that his history of reckless self-indulgence would somehow be kept in check in the White House.
Trump didn’t tell us anything about what he thinks are the global problems facing the United States. Global warming? Massive poverty? Escalating wars, water shortages, food insecurity, loss of indigenous communities? No idea. But Trump did provide his own version of the main problems with Obama’s foreign policy that he called “a complete disaster”—the military is over-extended, allies are not paying their fair share of military actions, friends can’t depend on the US, enemies humiliate us and aren’t afraid, and there’s no clarity of foreign policy goals.
On IS, Trump did acknowledge that US actions in Iraq, Libya, and Syria helped unleash the terrorist organization, but he had no evident strategy for responding. In the past Trump had called for denying IS access to oil, but this speech made clear that he had no idea what he was talking about. He claimed that “now ISIS is making millions and millions of dollars a week selling Libyan oil.” Maybe his foreign policy advisers forgot to tell him that IS oil comes from Iraq and Syria or that the coastal territory IS holds in Libya has no oil? But at least he was consistent in his “Western civilization” emphasis, Trump was concerned only that the US “has done nothing to help the Christians,” ignoring the reality that the vast majority of IS victims as well as the victims of the war in Syria are Muslim.
Earlier in his campaign, Trump said that the US should be neutral between Israel and the Palestinians. He reversed himself at the AIPAC conference, though, where his pandering won standing ovations. And in this speech, Israel is once again “our great friend” and “the one true democracy in the Middle East.” But President Obama “has not been a friend to Israel. He has treated Iran with tender love and care and made it a great power … all at the expense of Israel.” Maintain and implement the Iran nuclear deal? Fuggetaboutit.
Trump’s Agenda
So what would Trump do instead?
IS—“they’re gone”—but he won’t tell us how. It was reminiscent of Nixon’s secret plan to end the war in Vietnam, which of course turned out to be massive escalation.
On the military: rebuild and expand it while expanding the economy. How? Look at number three.
Look for savings and spend wisely, and make sure US workers get jobs. How? Don’t ask. And really don’t ask what it would mean for workers in the rest of the world.
Treat veterans better. That’s a good idea, actually, but hardly a foreign policy issue.
Finally, base your foreign policy on US interests. But I won’t tell you what that means.
The presidential aspirant said nothing about how he would accomplish any of those goals. The danger, of course, is that whether or not Trump embraces regime change as a guiding principle, he has no interest in or familiarity with the real alternatives to a military-first policy. America First means doing whatever you need to do to get “those people” out of the way. And as soon as the next crisis erupts, whether it’s another escalation in Syria or a terrorist attack in Europe, a new war in Western Sahara or a Boko Haram atrocity in Nigeria, we can be sure that Trump will turn directly to that enlarged, better-funded military that he’s committed to building. He doesn’t have another approach.
Trump surrogate Bobby Knight claimed that his candidate will be the next Truman, who he identified as one of the greatest presidents because he dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Knight went on to say that Trump would do the same thing. Trump embraced him, saying “such a great guy. Wow, how do you top that?”
That should make all of us, around the world, very afraid.
Photo of Donald Trump by Michael Vadon via Flickr.
Phyllis Bennis directs the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. Her most recent book is Understanding ISIS and the New Global War on Terror: A Primer.
Analysis, US Foreign Policy 2016 president elections, AIPAC, diplomacy, Donald Trump, immigration, iraq, ISIS, Islamic State, isolationism, Israel, Libya, Mexico, Palestine, Pentagon, Phyllis Bennis, Syria, Ted Cruz, terrorism, War
Articles by guest writers.
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ronmac
Yeah, yeah, yeah. One thing we can count on, if Trump gets to be president, he won’t be listening to the same gang of foreign policy “experts” who had a big hand in creating this mess in the first place.
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Lot or Land In MARCO ISLAND, Florida
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You have found this lot for sale in Marco Island, FL, which is in Collier County. Florida was hit hard, but the market for lots and land for sale in Florida has bounced back. LotNetwork.com regularly has an inventory of over 30,000 parcels of land and lots for sale in Florida. Whether you are a potential homeowner looking for a lot for sale or a builder or developer seeking land for sale for your next project, the perfect property for you may be found in Florida. Its nickname, the Sunshine State, is well-deserved, with an average daily temperature around 70 degrees. Summers are long, winters are mild, and the heat is often tempered by gentle breezes along the state’s 1300-plus miles of coastline. Although it is the most hurricane-prone area of the country, there are plenty of people prepared to weather the storms. Florida ranks fourth in population with approximately 19 million residents, and claims several world-class cities including the five largest: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Orlando. The capital city of Tallahassee is located in the northwestern portion of the state, just 20 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico and 14 miles south of the Georgia border. Tourism is the major industry, and it’s easy to see why more than 60 million visitors make Florida their destination each year. There are 159 state parks, more than 1250 golf courses (the most of any state), a plethora of beaches, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Disney World, Universal Studios, SeaWorld and several other amusement parks. If you’re a sports fan, Florida has two major league baseball teams, three teams in the NFL, two professional basketball organizations, two NHL teams, and hosts both the start (in Daytona) and finish (at Homestead-Miami) of the three major NASCAR series. Everglades National Park covers roughly 1.5 million acres at the bottom of the peninsula, and the Florida Keys island chain extends like a comma from the southeastern tip of the state, starting with Key Largo (considered the dive capital of the world) and ending with Key West. Also known for its citrus fruits, Florida provides 63% of the country’s production, impacting both the state’s income and its employment rates. Florida is one of only seven states without income taxes, and favorable rates on S corporations and sole proprietorships make for a highly competitive small business environment. If you are seeking property in Florida, you will find a wide variety of choices, from waterfront property for sale, lake property for sale, beachfront property for sale, riverfront land for sale, gulf coast property for sale, golf-course lots for sale, metro-area lots for sale, vacant land for sale and even cheap land for sale.
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Aston Martin’s Marek Reichman on his Blueprint for Success
Words: Ken Gibson
Photography: Christoffer Rudquist
As Chief Creative Officer, Reichman relishes the challenge of creating the next generation of Aston Martins, maintaining the same passion as when he first started 12 years ago
Not many people end up doing what they always dreamed of as a child. For Marek Reichman, it’s being Head of Design at Aston Martin. “As soon as I sketched my first car, I instantly knew this was my dream job,” he recalls of his 12-year-old self. “But it felt unobtainable, like never daring to ask out the girl in the playground who was so beautiful — you just imagined.”
Even his initial phone interview for the role of Head of Design with Aston Martin’s then Chief Executive, Ulrich Bez, was slightly surreal because Marek was simply asked to bring along sketches of his vision for a new four-door Aston Martin. As soon as Dr Bez saw them in 2005, Marek was told: “You have the job.” His career with Aston Martin was underway and those sketches went on to become the Rapide concept car of 2006.
His first production car was the DBS. He remembers being asked to show it to two VIP visitors, an actor called Daniel Craig and a film producer called Barbara Broccoli. For all Marek knew, Craig was just an up-and-coming actor; he had no idea Craig had signed up to play James Bond and that he and Broccoli were looking at the DBS as 007’s new car in the next 007 movie, Casino Royale. Happily, Craig’s reaction at seeing the DBS for the first time was a blunt “That’s bloody awesome.” It was at that point that Marek started to appreciate just how special being Aston Martin’s chief designer was — very few people get to design a Bond car, for a start.
It’s the aura of the brand and the special place it has in people’s affections that the designer still appreciates most: “What I love about my job here is that we build cars that get everyone passionate and excited, even James Bond. Even people normally not interested at all in cars. This puts pressure on everything we design, but I thrive on the pressure.”
Marek’s ambition as a 12-year-old to become a car designer had been inspired by his father, a Sheffield blacksmith: “I had always wanted to make things, like my dad, and I had an interest in cars from an early age because my dad’s best friend had exotic cars. Occasionally he got to drive them, so they quickly became my passion.”
The very first thing he helped to design was as a student at Land Rover, when he worked on the bar that holds the spare wheel on the tailgate of the original Discovery. He took his formative steps in design at the Royal College of Art in London, as the very first Land Rover student. He eventually received a sought-after student placement in the Land Rover studio at Solihull — “a brilliant experience” — and one that eventually led to his first job as a designer with the company after college.
Marek remembers learning very quickly from design mentors such as Gerry McGovern, now Design Director at Land Rover, and his predecessor, Geoff Upex. He also quickly learned to be tenacious in his dealings with engineers. “If you didn’t fight your corner about the smallest details, they would just dismiss you as a young designer,” he recalls. Those early days could also be “very frustrating”, he admits. “The bosses at Rover at the time didn’t seem to want to nurture design; they needed to wake up.”
Marek’s office is filled with objects, images, materials and models that can provide sources of inspiration and fire his imagination, His new designs won’t be an exercise in nostalgia, but display innovation while respecting the dynamic heritage of Aston Martin
The next stage of his career was far more adventurous. Working at BMW’s Designworks studio in California, he found a place where designers were given the freedom to truly express themselves. This steep learning curve continued when he worked on BMW’s newly acquired Rolls-Royce brand, designing the new Phantom. The design team set up in a studio in London’s Park Lane that used to belong to the actor Johnny Depp. His final job before joining Aston Martin was a spell at Ford in California under the guidance of another automotive design legend, J Mays.
Marek has now overseen Aston Martin design for 12 years, but he says that he is as passionate about the cars now as the day he arrived. “There are so many new challenges because Aston Martin has so much potential,” he says. One of the few criticisms he has had to address was the charge that 21st-century Aston Martins all had a very similar look. Marek argues convincingly that it was this clear design identity that put Aston Martin on the global map.
The thing that pushes me most is the constant drive for innovation from design
“One of my roles today is to ensure that every new model from Aston Martin is very different while also being very beautiful and instantly recognisable as an Aston Martin,” he says. After that, there are a few special cars on the horizon. The next big project is the new Vantage. “In many respects, it’s actually more important than the DB11 because it’s the next phase. The Vantage is our core sports car. It has to be simple yet still jaw-droppingly beautiful with a strong wow factor and different to the DB11.”
After the Vantage arrives in 2018, Marek and his design team have been tasked with creating Aston Martin’s first SUV. “My challenge is simply to deliver the most beautiful SUV in the world and that’s exactly what we’ve done.” He thinks it’s vital that he has the same attitude to Aston Martin as the owners who buy the cars: “I believe I have the same passion as an owner and that’s why the designers all bond so well with our owners. Some of them have even become personal friends.” This unique affinity between the company and its customers is, Marek believes, a cornerstone of the brand’s recent success. The small things are also important: “One of the most special things about this job is getting emails from owners after they have bought a new car saying how ‘amazed’ they are. That‘s real job satisfaction.”
Does this self-confessed perfectionist ever relax? “I’m not especially good at relaxing. My mind is always analysing and looking for inspiration everywhere I go. I currently run 5km every day, wherever I am, which helps me de-stress and relax. I also like to cook and shop for ingredients; I like perfecting a recipe.”
Perhaps Marek best sums up what the job means to him when he says: “The thing that pushes me most is the constant drive for innovation from design, always looking forward and staying ahead of the game. The opportunity we have at Aston is brilliant, but we can never be complacent. We have to continuously push and stretch ourselves.”
Future Thinking with Industrial Designer Ross Lovegrove
Inside AMR and AMR Pro
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Pete Wentz
Pete Wentz, executive director of APCO’s Chicago office, provides clients with expertise in corporate reputation, crisis, financial and litigation communication and strategic planning.
Mr. Wentz has provided crisis and litigation communication for a number of clients, including a major financial services firm, a leading book retailer, an influential trade association and leading energy company. He also has extensive experience working with colleges and universities in crisis situations.
His most recent projects have including representing clients facing regulatory and reputational challenges from the Administration, litigation between major companies and product recalls. He has also worked with clients on labor and employment issues, including union organizing campaigns, sexual harassment and employee layoffs and terminations of senior executives. He has provided merger and acquisition communications counseling to a number of companies, including United Airlines in its merger with Continental Airlines, particularly directed towards employees, customers and other key audiences.
A lawyer by training, Mr. Wentz is a former general counsel for a Fortune 500 consumer products company. In that capacity, he was involved in a variety of crisis-related situations ranging from product recalls to product boycotts to litigation communications over a wide variety of issues, including antitrust and employment discrimination.
ABOUT MAPI
Founded in 1933, the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation is a nonprofit organization that connects manufacturing leaders with the ideas they need to make smarter decisions.
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© MAPI 2019: All rights reserved
Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation
1600 Wilson Blvd., Suite 1100, Arlington, VA 22209
mapi.net | 703.841.9000 | Contact Us
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Have UMNO leaders learnt the right lessons from UMNO’s electoral disaster in the 14th General Election?
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has joined his rival Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi in “whistling in the dark”, expecting UMNO to be back in power before the 15th General Election by 2023.
Four days ago, Zahid said he expects an implosion of the Pakatan Harapan coalition and the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government in Putrajaya before the 15th General Election.
Both Zahid and Razaleigh are entitled to their fantasies although both should realise that the Pakatan Harapan coalition parties are committed to make the Pakatan Harapan government a success not only at the national level, but also in the states where the Pakatan Harapan is the government - not just for one term, but in the subsequent general elections as well.
To do this, Pakatan Harapan component parties must fulfill the high hopes of Malaysians for national renewal to fulfill Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman’s Malaysian Dream for the nation to be a “beacon of hope in a disturbed and distracted world” and cease to be the laughing-stock of the world by becoming a kakistocracy and global kleptocracy!
Is Malaysia capable of turning outwards to compete with the rest of the world to become a world-class nation in one field of human endeavour after another by leveraging on the strength and assets of our diversities of race, religion, language and culture or will Malaysia hurtle down the trajectory of a failed and rogue state, turning inwards to cannibalise the nation with the irresponsible and dangerous politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies?
The more immediate question is whether UMNO leaders have learnt the right lessons from UMNO’s electoral disaster in the 14th General Election?
Now, UMNO has 52 Members of Parliament, representing 23.4% of the 222-member Parliament, a far cry from UMNO’s zenith of political power when it had over 50 per cent representation of MPs in Parliament.
But this sorry state of affairs is not just confined to UMNO, as MCA fell from its height of having 26 per cent of Members of Parliament in 1964GE to 3.1% of the Malaysian parliamentary seats in 2013GE and the present 0.45% of Malaysian parliamentary seats in 2018GE; while Gerakan fell from its heyday when it won 5.5% of the parliamentary seats in 1969GE to 0.45% of parliamentary seats in the 2012 GE and zero parliamentary representation in the 2018GE.
Have UMNO, MCA, Gerakan and other BN component parties learnt the lessons from their electoral disaster in the 14GE?
This does not seem to be the case from the speeches and statements from leaders of UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other former BN component parties.
UMNO’s Tengku Razaleigh has said that UMNO must ask the rakyat for forgiveness for all its past mistakes if it is to rise again.
He said Umno should apologise to all Malaysians for neglecting its duties and responsibilities as the people had entrusted their faith in the party.
His rival for the UMNO Presidential post, Khairy Jamaluddin agrees with Razaleigh and said that UMNO must first admit its mistakes and explain things to the grassroots before apologising to them for its defeat in the 14th general election.
But no UMNO leaders seem ready to admit as to what are real mistakes causing UMNO/BN’s electoral disaster in the 14GE, as reflected by Razaleigh’s statement that 'Umno's standing unaffected by Najib-linked RM1.1b haul' and that the police seizure making Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor world news had nothing to do with Umno.
Would Malaysians or the 3.6 million UMNO members agree that the police seizure of RM1.1 billion of items, inclusive of cash, watches, handbags and jewellery at Pavilion Residences linked to Najib had nothing to do with UMNO?
Have UMNO, MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other BN component parties learnt the other important lessons of the 14GE?
Media statement by Lim Kit Siang in Gelang Patah on Friday, 29th June 2018
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Chen, Xi, University of Michigan, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Chen, Xi, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)<br /> (Sweden)
Chen, Xianfeng
Chen, Xianfeng, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Chen, Xiangfei
chen, Xianzhong, School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, UK
Chen, Xianzhong, School of Physics & Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Chen, Xianzhong, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
Chen, Xianzhong, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University,Edinburgh,EH14 4AS, UK
Chen, Xianzhong
Chen, Xianzhong, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK EH14 4AS (United Kingdom)
Chen, Xiao Shuang, National Laboratory for Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
chen, xiaobing
Chen, xiaodong
Chen, Xiaoshu, University of Minnesota
Chen, Xiaoshu
Chen, Xiaoshu, University of Minnesota, twin cities (United States)
Chen, Xiaoshuang, National Laboratory for Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 500 Yu Tian Road, Shanghai, Shanghai 200083, China Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information & Quantum Physics, University of Sci
Chen, Xiaoshuang, <p>State Key Laboratory of Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China</p><p>University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China</p> (China)
Chen, Xiaoshuang
Chen, Xiaoshuang, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China)
Chen, Xiaoshuang, National Laboratory for Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 500 Yu Tian Road, Shanghai, Shanghai 200083, China Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information & Quantum Physics, University of Sc
Chen, Xiaoye, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
Chen, Xingxing, <p>State Key Laboratory of Modern Optical Instrumentation, Department of Optical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China</p>
Chen, Xingxing, Zhejiang University
Chen, Xuewen, School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Chen, Xuexian, Sun Yat-sen University
Chen, Y.
Chen, Yan-Feng, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures & Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University,China
Chen, Yan-Feng, <div>Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Applied Science and Engineering, National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, Nanjing University, China</div>
Chen, Yan-Feng, Nanjing University
Chen, Yan-Feng
Chen, Yanfeng, Nanjing University
Chen, Yanfeng, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Applied Science and Engineering, National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures, Nanjing University, China
CHEN, Yanfeng, National Laboratory of Solid-State Microstructures& Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University
Chen, Yang
Chen, Yi, Beijing Institute of Technology
Chen, Yi-Hao
Chen, Yi-Pu, Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Chen, Yifan, Faculty of Science and Engineering, The University of Waikato
Chen, Yifan, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, South University of Science and Technology of China; Faculty of Science and Engineering, The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Chen, Yiguo, <p class="Affiliation">The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom</p>
Chen, Yih-Dar
Chen, Ying
Chen, Yiqin
Chen, Yiqin, Hunan University (China)
Chen, Yiting, <div>Division of Optics and Photonics, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden</div>
Chen, Yiting, <p class="OEAuthorAffiliation">Laboratory of Photonics and Microwave Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)</p>
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The Entrepreneurs
Anatomē
Brendan Murdock made his name as the founder of well-designed barbershops, which he called Murdock London. The brand was right at the forefront of a wave of new spots catering to men who care about their appearance and are willing to pay good money for smart grooming products. But Murdock has since left that eponymous firm to set up a more intriguing company: a health-and-wellness brand called Anatomē. Now he’s in the business of advising customers on their wellbeing and recommending vitamins, supplements and essential oils. The brand also has a flagship store in Shoreditch.
Matt Alagiah
Innovative businesses and inspiring start‑ups.
Next premiere
Wednesday 17 July at 19:02 UK time
The Entrepreneurs - latest episodes
Eureka 156: Cape Byron Distillery
Eddie Brook is co-founder and CEO of Cape Byron Distillery, which launched near Australia’s Byron Bay in 2016. Legendary whiskey distiller Jim McEwan invested in the venture and agreed to mentor Brook after learning about…
Rémi Clermont is co-founder and creative director of French cycling-fashion brand Café du Cycliste. After a career as a professional kayaker he took an IT job in Nice where, as an avid cyclist, he discovered the dream roads…
Eureka 155: Billy Tannery
Jack Millington and Rory Harker are co-founders of Billy Tannery, a company based in England’s Midlands that’s helping to revive the region’s rich leather-making history. Launched in 2017, the company produces leather goods…
Avi Meir, TravelPerk
Avi Meir is the co-founder and CEO of TravelPerk, a Barcelona-based company aimed at streamlining business travel courtesy of a platform for doing everything from booking flights to simplifying expenses. In the past four…
Eureka 154: Charmian Love, B Lab UK
Charmian Love is the co-founder of B Lab UK, the Certified B Corporation partner in the UK. The global movement was created to help businesses strive for both profit and purpose by becoming more transparent, innovative and…
Adam Lewenhaupt, CQP
Adam Lewenhaupt is the CEO, creative director and founder of CQP, a Stockholm-based footwear brand. Though Adam worked in finance for the first decade of his career, he grew up with a passion for design. Realising that…
Eureka 153: Respect Your Universe
What Milan is to fashion, Vancouver is to technical apparel and athletic-wear. While the city is home to Arc’teryx and Lululemon, it’s also home to Respect Your Universe. The athletic-apparel brand has grown steadily since…
Christian Meier, The Service Course and La Fábrica Girona
Christian Meier is a Canadian former professional cyclist, who retired at the peak of his career to focus on his passion for coffee. Meier and his wife Amber own and operate three businesses in Girona, Spain: La Fábrica…
Eureka 152: Perlego
Gauthier Van Malderen is the CEO and founder of Perlego, a digital streaming platform for textbooks. Around the world, the cost of textbooks is one of the greatest pain points for college and university students, who often…
Anya Hindmarch is a name synonymous with creativity and handbags. Her label was launched in 1987; in the ensuing years, Princess Diana became a loyal customer. With shops around the world, the brand is also known for the…
Eureka 151: The Water House Project
Gabriel Waterhouse is the founder and chef behind The Water House Project. After years of cooking in London’s Michelin-starred kitchens he yearned for a less structured environment – what he calls ‘social fine dining’. The…
Matt Taylor, Tracksmith
Matt Taylor is the co-founder and CEO of Tracksmith, the New England-based premium running label that celebrates the style, heritage and culture of the sport. Taylor started designing his own line after leaving sportswear…
Eureka 150: Brewgooder
Alan Mahon is the founder of Brewgooder, a Scottish craft-beer company that donates all its profits to clean-water projects. Launched in 2016, the Certified B company has to date helped fund more than 130 such projects from…
Kresse Wesling, Elvis & Kresse
Kresse Wesling is the co-founder of Elvis & Kresse, a company that’s creating a blueprint for sustainable luxury fashion. She launched the brand in 2005 with her husband James ‘Elvis’ Henrit and the Certified B Corporation…
Eureka 149: Circumference
Chris Young and Jina Kim are the husband-and-wife team behind Circumference, a line of natural skincare products aimed at changing the way we think about the beauty industry and how we treat the environment. Growing up in…
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Eczema can drive people to thoughts of suicide: study
by E.j. Mundell, Healthday Reporter
(HealthDay)—Nearly 28 million Americans are affected by the skin condition eczema, and for some it may become so chronic and severe they consider suicide, new research shows.
A new review of data from 15 studies, involving over 300,000 people, found that those with eczema had a 44 percent higher risk of suicidal thoughts compared with people without the immunological disease.
People with eczema also had a 36 percent higher rate of suicide attempts, the study found.
Eczema, clinically known as atopic dermatitis, often brings a "profound psychosocial burden" to patients, concluded a team led by Dr. April Armstrong, of the University of South California (USC) Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles.
Eczema is an inflammatory skin condition that often involves painful itch, blisters and sores. People can also have trouble sleeping due to itchiness and other symptoms.
The disease can vary in severity and can be socially debilitating, prior research has shown. One such study involved 600 eczema patients interviewed by researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago.
That study found that even for people with mild eczema, nearly 18 percent said they avoided socializing because of their appearance, while 23 percent said they limited their daily activities. Those figures rose to 40 percent and 43 percent, respectively, when moderate and severe patients were included.
The findings were published in July in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
In the new study, the USC team found similar issues plaguing eczema patients.
"Because of the visibility of the disease, patients may experience shame, embarrassment and stigmatization," Armstrong's team said. This can affect a child's performance at school or an adult's ability to thrive in the workforce, they explained.
To learn more, the investigators analyzed data from 15 studies on eczema's emotional toll on patients.
The findings showed that "patients with atopic dermatitis are at significantly greater risk of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts," and the level of distress rose along with the severity of the skin disease, according to the report.
For example, while less than one percent of people with mild eczema said they had suicidal thoughts, that number rose to nearly 20 percent for those with severe disease, the researchers found.
Two skin specialists weren't surprised by the findings.
Eczema "can be mentally stressful for patients who suffer from it," said Dr. Michele Green, a dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. She believes the study reinforces the need for treatments that minimize the illness, to help patients mentally cope.
Dr. Raman Madan practices dermatology at Northwell Health's Huntington Hospital in Huntington, N.Y. He said that people with eczema often have to deal with concurrent health issues—conditions such as asthma, allergic rhinitis (hay fever), metabolic syndrome and sleep disturbances.
Now, the new study "casts light that dermatologists should screen for mental health in [these] patients," as well, Madan said.
For their part, Armstrong's team stressed that treatments that ease eczema severity are available.
Immune-targeted treatments, "such as interleukin 4 and interleukin 13, have been shown to decrease symptoms of depression and anxiety in patients," the study authors wrote. And as physical symptoms subside, and the social stigma around the illness eases, "we can work toward reducing suicidality in patients with [eczema]," the team noted.
The new findings were published online Dec. 12 in JAMA Dermatology.
Your severe eczema may best be treated by allergy shots
More information: Michele Green, M.D., dermatologist, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York City; Raman Madan, M.D., dermatologist, Northwell Health's Huntington Hospital, Huntington, N.Y.; Dec. 12, 2018, JAMA Dermatology, online
For more on eczema, visit the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Journal information: Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology , JAMA Dermatology
Citation: Eczema can drive people to thoughts of suicide: study (2018, December 12) retrieved 15 July 2019 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-12-eczema-people-thoughts-suicide.html
Mean cumulative lifetime prevalence of eczema 9.9 percent
Study shows painful eczema symptoms negatively impact quality of life
Eczema's effects more than skin deep
Severe eczema may be linked to heart disease risk
Eczema can take a toll on adults
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More songs by Ed Sheeran
Autumn Leaves 3:20..
Happier (Acoustic) 3:26..
You Need Me, I Don't Need You 4:05..
So 4:28..
Be Like You 3:38..
The City 4:26..
Sunburn 4:26..
The A Team (Live At The Bedford) 5:22..
Homeless (Live At The Bedford) 3:45..
All Of The Stars 3:54..
The City (Live At The Bedford) 5:07..
Fall (Live At The Bedford) 2:31..
Wake Me Up (Live At The Bedford) 5:00..
You Need Me, I Don't Need You (Live At The Bedford) 9:50..
One 4:12..
Happier (Tiësto’s AFTR:HRS Remix) 3:36..
I'm A Mess 4:04..
Sing 3:55..
Don't 3:39..
Nina 3:45..
Photograph 4:18..
Shape of You (Acoustic) 3:43..
Bloodstream 5:00..
Happier (Kasbo Remix) 4:16..
Tenerife Sea 4:01..
Runaway 3:25..
The Man 4:10..
Thinking Out Loud 4:41..
Afire Love 5:14..
Take It Back 3:28..
Shirtsleeves 3:10..
Even My Dad Does Sometimes 3:48..
I See Fire 4:59..
English Rose 3:04..
Touch and Go 4:00..
New York 3:55..
Make It Rain 6:44..
Parting Glass (Live From Wembley Stadium) 3:15..
Small Bump (Live From Wembley Stadium) 5:02..
Shape of You (Stormzy Remix) 3:51..
The A Team 4:18..
Shape of You (Galantis Remix) 3:15..
Drunk 3:20..
Castle on the Hill (Acoustic) 3:46..
U.N.I. 3:48..
Grade 8 2:59..
Wake Me Up 3:49..
Castle on the Hill (Throttle Remix) 3:40..
Small Bump 4:19..
This 3:15..
Lego House 3:05..
I Don't Care (Acoustic) 3:58..
Kiss Me 4:40..
Give Me Love 8:46..
Don't (Don Diablo Remix) 4:09..
I Don't Care 3:39..
Autumn Leaves (Deluxe Edition) 3:20..
Little Bird (Deluxe Edition) 3:44..
Thinking Out Loud (Alex Adair Remix) 3:02..
Gold Rush (Deluxe Edition) 4:03..
Sunburn (Deluxe Edition) 4:35..
The City (LIVE) 4:55..
Homeless (LIVE) 4:55..
The A Team (LIVE) 2:59..
Little Lady (LIVE) 5:37..
U.N.I. (LIVE) 3:18..
Lately ( Devlin) 4:31..
Galway Girl (Martin Jensen Remix) 3:16..
You (+Wiley) 3:21..
Family (+ P Money) 4:14..
Radio (feat. JME) 3:42..
Little Lady (+ Mikill Pane) 5:28..
Drown Me Out (+ Ghetts) 4:21..
Nightmares (+ Random Impulse + Sway + Wretch 32) 4:03..
Shape of You (Yxng Bane Remix) 3:27..
Goodbye To You (+ Dot Rotten) 5:30..
Fall 2:43..
Fire Alarms 2:24..
Where We Land 3:03..
Cold Coffee 4:14..
She 4:04..
Let It Out 3:51..
Homeless 3:30..
Little Bird 3:46..
Sofa 3:19..
One Night 3:26..
Firefly 4:15..
The City (Live At Sticky Studios) 5:06..
Firefly (Bravado Dubstep Remix) 4:29..
Beautiful People (feat. Khalid) 3:17..
Shape of You (Major Lazer Remix) [feat. Nyla & Kranium] 3:12..
Cross Me (feat. Chance the Rapper & PnB Rock) 3:26..
Lego House (Goldie Remix) 4:33..
How Would You Feel (Paean) 4:40..
Castle on the Hill 4:21..
Shape of You (NOTD Remix) 3:10..
I Don't Care (Loud Luxury Remix) 3:14..
I Don't Care (Chronixx & Koffee Remix) 3:38..
Perfect Duet (with Beyoncé) 4:19..
Cross Me (feat. Chance the Rapper & PnB Rock) [M-22 Remix] 3:27..
Eraser 3:47..
Dive 3:58..
Shape of You 3:53..
Photograph (Felix Jaehn Remix) 3:22..
Shape of You (Latin Remix) [feat. Zion & Lennox] 3:57..
Perfect 4:23..
Galway Girl 2:50..
Happier 3:27..
New Man 3:09..
Hearts Don't Break Around Here 4:08..
What Do I Know? 3:57..
Supermarket Flowers 3:41..
Barcelona 3:11..
Bibia Be Ye Ye 2:56..
Nancy Mulligan 2:59..
Save Myself 4:07..
Don't (Rick Ross Remix) 4:17..
Be My Husband (Live From Glastonbury) 7:50..
Everything You Are 3:58..
Happier (Cazzette Remix) 3:27..
Friends 3:10..
Don't (Xambassadors Remix) 3:40..
Castle on the Hill (Seeb Remix) 3:50..
The A Team (Shy FX's Ackee and Saltfish Remix ) 4:28..
The A Team (KOAN Sound Remix) 4:39..
The A Team (True Tiger Remix) 3:39..
The A Team (Acoustic) 4:01..
Ed Sheeran Reveals All Star Teaser for ‘NO.6’ Collaboration EP
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JAY-Z Cuts Short His Show To Inspire
Rihanna Graces THREE Covers For The December Issue of Vogue Paris
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The Analog Sunset
Important notice about the analog video format
This is an important notice about the analog video format. It relates to the phasing out analog media and analog players (VCR, Laserdisc [LD] and slide projectors) in the classrooms at Middlebury College. Please review the next sections for information on the reasons behind this and the approach that LIS plans to undertake.
What do the analog sunset and digital audio/video mean for Middlebury?
Analog media (VHS, Betamax, U-matic, etc.) and certain digital media (LaserDiscs) have become obsolete – new media are not being produced, nor are replacement players. For LaserDisc and VCR technology, better, higher quality, and easier to use digital technologies have emerged. By removing these media players players and slide projectors from classrooms, and by replacing these older formats with digital ones, we can ensure that our classrooms will continue to be functional, easy to use, and easy to support, both now and in the near future.
The media and computer industries have chosen to retire certain older audio and video technologies and move to newer digital audio and video formats. This means the imminent death of VHS, LaserDisc, 3/4" tape and, eventually, even our beloved VGA (and possibly even 16mm and 35mm film, but we don't know that quite yet). BluRay (using a newer connection type - HDMI) and streaming Internet video are the newer formats intended to replace all of the aforementioned older media formats. The DVD format remains alive, for now.
LIS has developed a plan to address the obsolescence of these older formats and support for the new ones. The process is guided by a combination of technology options, copyright law, and input from our user community. The Copyright and Fair Use Guidelines section of the Handbook outlines some of the copyright intricacies. If you currently have a VHS tape, Laserdisc or 35mm slides that you use for class, you should be developing a strategy for migrating the class material to a different media for use inside and outside of class (see #What can you do to prepare.)
Phase I - Beginning January 1, 2013 LIS will no longer add VHS players to new or renovated classrooms. Current status: VHS players were not added to any of the Warner classrooms after the renovations in January, 2013.
Phase II - Beginning January 1, 2014 LIS will begin removing VHS, LaserDisc, and slide projectors from all classrooms except for the main auditoriums (Sunderland Dana, Alexander Twilight Auditorium, and Axinn 232). We need to preserve as many of these devices as possible for spare parts and archival purposes.
Phase III - Onward and upward. LIS will continue to move forward with digital technology, including investigating reliable streaming options, and strive to accommodate any emerging technologies for the future.
What does the analog sunset mean for computers
The VGA plug that can be found on most computers is slowly being phased out. Dell and other computer manufacturers are not including it on some newer computer models - a trend that is likely to continue. HDMI is a new type of audio/video connection that allows audio and video to be sent over the same cable. DisplayPort (used by some Dell computers) and Mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt (used by most modern Apple computers) are additional audio/video connection types that are compatible with HDMI and can send both audio and video over the same cable. Both HDMI and DisplayPort aim to reduce audio/video projection complexity and reduce cable clutter. Moreover, both of these connection types allow for higher quality projection.
Of the two, Middlebury has chosen to support HDMI alongside the existing video cables (VGA) for the foreseeable future. Thus, any classrooms built or upgraded after May 2009 will support both HDMI and VGA. This decision was made based on the media industry's decision to support HDMI, Dell's current and future choice to use HDMI and Apple's promise of compatibility between their Mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt and HDMI.
some computers distributed by Middlebury College have a VGA connector only (mostly Dell computers made before 2010)
other computers distributed by Middlebury College have a DisplayPort and VGA connector (mostly Dells made between 2010 and 2011)
a third group of computers distributed by Middlebury College have an HDMI and VGA connector (mostly Dells after 2011)
a fourth group - most current Mac computers - can be connected to VGA or HDMI with the appropriate adapter.
What does the analog sunset mean for DVD, VHS, Laserdisc, 3/4" tape, film slides
Last (blank) VHS tape produced in 2008. [1]
Last standalone VHS player produced in 2008. [2]
Last LaserDisc produced in 2000. [3]
Last LaserDisc player shipped in 2009. [4]
DVDs and DVD players are still actively produced, though it is likely they will eventually be superseded by Blu-Ray and Internet video. More and more titles are simultaneously released on DVD, Blu-Ray and (legal) Internet video.
This means that the supply of VHS/VCR & LaserDisc players and parts is becoming limited. Soon we will no longer be able to buy new players to replace existing ones as they fail. In addition, there will be a limited supply of spare parts and technical personnel that have the knowledge to repair equipment. Middlebury College's timeline is outlined in the Important Dates section above.
What we are doing to prepare
Over the past two years, LIS has replaced a large amount of analog and obsolete media (VHS & LaserDisc) placed on Library Reserves with DVD or Blu-Ray media. Last winter, a large LaserDisc deselection project reduced our holdings by almost 90% and was lauded by staff and faculty as a strong step forward. In the past year we've been turning our attention to the VHS collection, targeting those items which have never circulated, which reduced our holdings by over 35%. We are currently in the process of removing VHS copies of works for which we also have DVD and/or Blu-Ray versions.
Other VHS titles have not circulated at all in the past seven years (i.e., since our migration of MIDCAT to the current platform), and we are reviewing those titles with faculty input and assistance. Individual departments should check their collection of media titles for VHS items. If any are crucial for teaching or research, LIS can attempt to purchase new copies in modern format (DVD or Blu-Ray) if we do not already have them. If these formats are not available, we will retain the VHS.
Our classrooms will continue to have the option of bringing in an analog or obsolete digital device (VCR, LaserDisc player, slide projector) for the foreseeable future. LIS maintains an inventory of VCRs, LaserDisc players, and slide projectors in functional condition available for check-out from the Library circulation desk. However, there is no guarantee that we will be able to maintain and repair these devices indefinately, as new supplies dwindle.
We are following similar steps with our collection of aging audio cassettes. Cassettes that have never circulated in the past seven years are being reviewed. Cassettes that have been put on reserve or that have circulated will be replaced, retained, or migrated to a newer format.
Please place individual requests to purchase replacements VHS/LaserDisc media at go/requests.
What can you do to prepare
If you currently have a VHS tape, Laserdisc or 35mm slides that you use for class, you should be developing a strategy for migrating the class material to a different media for use inside and outside of class. Look for DVD, Blu-Ray or (legal) Internet video replacements for any VHS, LaserDisc, 3/4" tape, or Betamax titles in your personal collection. The Library (go/request) or your liaison (go/liaisons) can work with our media curator to assist you with this. If a commercial digital copy is available we will attempt to purchase a replacement; processing times will vary based on availability. Before any in-house conversion of analog or obsolete digital formats is done, however, we need to determine the legality of the duplication request. Expect about 5 business days for the copyright question to be resolved (this can be a somewhat complex issue) and another 5 business days for the actual conversion.
If you are purchasing a personal computer or tablet (e.g. iPad) and suspect you may need to use it in a classroom, ensure that it has a VGA port or, if it does not, purchase a VGA video adapter (speak with your vendor for more details about compatible adapters). Keep an eye on this page and MiddPoints/the LIS blog for any announcements on the future of VGA.
What will happen to all the tapes and LaserDiscs in the Library's collection? See the section above, What we are doing to prepare.
How can I replace my NON-LIS VHS or Laserdisc film that is needed for a class? Check if the Library has a copy of the film already (http://go.middlebury.edu/midcat). If we do not already have the film, the library can search for a replacement - place your request to purchase the item at http://go.middlebury.edu/request. If there is no viable replacement, LIS will create a digital copy, but our Collections department must perform a thorough search, first. See the expected processing times in the section What can you do to prepare above.
How can I replace VHS or Laserdisc material that's in my department's collection or in a personal collection? If the material will be used for a class, it is best to follow the recommendation in the answer to the previous question. If the material will not be used for a class, you can:
Use the simple self-service VHS to DVD conversion deck next to room 220 in the main Library.
Use the inexpensive conversion services from Video Syncracies in Burlington (http://www.vidsync.com/, contact them to discuss options for shipping or drop off)
If you feel that neither of the above options is appropriate and the material is a recording of an on-campus event, submit a request to the Help desk and we can go over the options.
What has Middlebury College done so far to ease this process? See the section above, What we are doing to prepare.
What can I do to prepare? See the section above, What can you do to prepare.
If I convert my VHS tape to DVD, will it increase or decrease the quality? The quality does not increase if a tape is converted to DVD. There may be some loss of quality whenever a conversion happens. It is best to look for a commercially made replacement title. If the tape itself is in poor condition, there is no way to increase the quality or remove errors. Also, attempting to convert tapes that have Macrovision protection will result in a very poor quality picture.
Does digital media offer higher quality than analog media? When compared to VHS and LaserDisc, yes, a commercially made DVD, Blu-ray or Internet video will usually provide higher quality.
Can someone help me with a conversion project that includes editing? I'd like to make MP4 clips from a VHS tape for class use (for example)... It is important to get a digital copy of the entire tape, first. That way, you will be able to use the material despite current industry changes. See the answers above for ways you can get a digital copy. After you obtain a digital copy, and provided that LIS has confirmed that the requested copying complies with U.S. copyright law, the Digital Media Tutors (DMTs) in the Wilson Media Lab in the Davis Family Library can assist with these types of projects. With advance notice, DMTs even can complete the conversion from start to finish as a summer project (for summer 2013, see Get Help with Media Projects for Your Courses).
http://library.allegheny.edu/content.php?pid=62071&sid=2140939
http://www.ithaca.edu/its/services/dms/vhs/
http://www.bates.edu/ils/policies/access-use/ils-measures-on-use-of-vhs-in-the-classroom/
http://www.pdx.edu/oit/sites/www.pdx.edu.oit/files/Newsletter_Sp12.pdf
[1] http://articles.latimes.com/2008/dec/22/entertainment/et-vhs-tapes22
[2] http://broadcastengineering.com/products/jvc-ends-vcr-production-after-32-years
[3] http://www.mindspring.com/~laserguru/askjosh.htm
[4] http://www.pioneer.eu/uk/newsroom/news/news/endoflaserdiscplayer/page.html
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Listen to Billy Corgan’s New Song, ‘The Spaniards’
Dave Lifton
With two weeks to go before the release of his new album, Billy Corgan has given us another taste of music from Ogilala. You can see the video for "The Spaniards" above.
It's the second track to be previewed from Ogilala, with "Aeronaut" arriving along with the news of the record. The video includes footage from Pillbox, a silent movie that Corgan wrote and directed, and will screen in London, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York from Oct. 5-12.
Corgan co-produced Ogilala with Rick Rubin, who was the subject of praise from the Smashing Pumpkins frontman for helping to get the best performances out of him. “Having written the songs for voice and guitar, I put myself in Rick’s hands to take the music wherever he’d like,” Corgan said. “Normally I would have done more, and tinkered more on production, but rather Rick put the onus on me to deliver at a molecular level via live takes. The rest was simply a reaction.”
Although Corgan played all the instruments except for the string parts, one track, "The Processional," features a contribution from an old friend: Former Pumpkin James Iha. The guitarist hasn't played on a Corgan album since 2000's Machina II/The Friends & Enemies of Modern Music, although he did sit in with his old band last year during a Pumpkins tour stop in Los Angeles. Corgan's resumed friendship with Iha and founding bassist D'Arcy Wretzky has fueled speculation that there will be a reunion of the original lineup at some point.
Smashing Pumpkins Albums Ranked in Order of Awesomeness
Next: 10 Things You Didn't Know About the Smashing Pumpkins
Source: Listen to Billy Corgan’s New Song, ‘The Spaniards’
Filed Under: billy corgan
Categories: Bozeman News
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Home » NEWS » Manufacturing » Fraenkel Furniture expands operations
Fraenkel Furniture expands operations
Posted by: Staff Writer in Manufacturing, NEWS August 21, 2009
Fraenkel Furniture, a fixture in Olive Branch for more than 20 years, has expanded its manufacturing operations. In 2008, the company added its Advantage upholstery manufacturing line to the facility, which already produced a full line of Englander and U.S.A. mattresses. The expansion was the second for the 375,000-square-foot facility since opening in 1992. In addition to manufacturing upholstered furniture and mattresses, Fraenkel imports bedroom, dining room, entertainment, and occasional furniture from all over the world. In the past, Fraenkel Furniture has been DeSoto County’s Industry of the Year.
Founded in 1959 in Baton Rouge, LA., by Albert Fraenkel, Fraenkel Furniture has enjoyed great success over the years. Before his retirement, Mr. Fraenkel began transferring ownership to his employees, and today the company is 100 percent employee-owned. Mr. Fraenkel wanted to make sure his employees were taken care of, and all employees are eligible to participate in the employee ownership program after one year of service to the company. Employees have a real interest in making sure the products sold by Fraenkel are high in quality, continuing to ensure success into the future. “When the company does well, the employees do well,” said Brett Ray, Vice President of Operations.
While Fraenkel’s administrative offices are still located in Baton Rouge, Olive Branch is headquarters for the company’s operations. The Olive Branch facility also has room to expand as the business climate dictates.
Fraenkel has its own fleet of trucks to deliver its products to retail outlets across an 18 state area. Locally, Fraenkel furniture may be found at such stores as The Great American Home Store, Classic Oak, Richwell, Samuel’s, and many others.
For more information, visit the company website, www.fraenkel.com.
Previous: Smiths Medical expanding
Next: Burlington Northern Santa Fe to expand
About Staff Writer
Reno-based Eldorado selling casinos in Mississippi, Missouri
CAET restaurant opens in larger quarters in Renaissance
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Hyuna and hyunseung dating 2012 toyota
Hyuna and hyunseung dating movie download
Kim Hyun-ah (born June 6, ), better known by the mononym Hyuna, is a South Korean Hyuna's second EP Melting () saw her first number one entry on the first forming the duo Trouble Maker with Jang Hyun-seung in ; which . Cube Entertainment denied rumors that they were dating, however Hyuna and. In March , Hyuna joined The Birth of a Family, an "animal communion variety" In March, Hyuna became a spokesmodel for the Toyota Corolla. In October, Hyuna and Hyunseung made a comeback as Trouble Maker. Cube Entertainment denied rumors that they were dating but on the late evening of August. With their sexy and intimate dance moves, HyunA and Hyunseung MAMA Backstage Scenes May Trigger Another HyunA and Hyunseung Dating Rumor MAMA was made by Troublemaker's HyunA and Hyunseung.
Do you think Hyuna and Hyunseung used to date?
Hyuna collaborated with Lee Gi-kwang on the song "" from his debut album First Episode: A New Hero, and also appeared in the music video of his single "Dancing Shoes," which was released on March 30, On August 13 she rapped for Navi's song "Wasteful Tears" and she also appeared in its music video.
Hyuna also featured in Brave Brothers ' song "Bittersweet," released August Their first digital single "Tomorrow" was released on October 6,and the official music video was released on October 12, starring actor Lee Dong-gun. Hyuna was also part of Invincible Youtha South Korean variety show. However, she left the show due to some scheduling conflicts with her group's overseas promotions on June 11, On January 4,Hyuna released the single " Change " which debuted high on various online charts and promoted it on music shows.
HyunA Facts
Cube Entertainment stated that the music video would be re-edited and submitted for approval. The duet was released on November 10, The show started broadcasting on June Its music video was released on July 5. Trouble Maker's first mini album, Trouble Makerconsists of a dance track as well as an emotional ballad, a solo song for Hyuna, and a solo song for Hyunseung.
Their EP was released on December 1. Birth of a Family is an "animal communion variety" program where idols adopt stray pets and take care of them for a certain period of time to raise awareness for animal rights. The first episode was broadcast March 3.
Hyuna released her second mini album titled Melting on October 21, with the title track "Ice Cream". The song was produced by Brave Brothers and was the first collaborative effort between the producer and Hyuna as a solo artist.
A New Hero, and also appeared in the music video of his single "Dancing Shoes," which was released on March 30, On August 13 she rapped for Navi's song "Wasteful Tears" and she also appeared in the music video.
Hyuna also featured in Brave Brothers ' song "Bittersweet," released August Their first digital single "Tomorrow" was released on October 6,and the official music video was released on October 12, starring actor Lee Dong-gun.
Hyuna also participated in the South Korean variety show Invincible Youth. Hyuna second from left performing as a member of 4Minute at the Asia Song Festival in October On January 4,Hyuna released the single " Change ", which charted highly on various online charts. Cube Entertainment stated that the music video would be re-edited and submitted for approval. InHyuna appeared in the Korean version of Dancing with the Stars.
The show began broadcasting on June The single was a global success, and featured on top of YouTube's "most watched today" chart after gaining one million views in two days.
Do you think Hyuna and Hyunseung used to date? - Random - OneHallyu
Trouble Maker's first mini album, Trouble Makerconsisted of a dance track and an emotional ballad, as well as solo songs for both Hyuna and Hyunseung. The song was produced by Brave Brothers and was the first collaborative effort between the producer and Hyuna as a solo artist. She released the short music video "Corolla x Hyuna: My Color", [36] and the "CorollaxHyuna" mobile app which teaches her song and choreography. They released the single " Now " from their Chemistry EP.
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new 1lluminati/Flickr
Look to the Romans to Understand Hallucination
By Alice Robb
Psychiatrists can’t agree on how to define—let alone treat—even the most common mental disorders. Maybe examples from antiquity can help. After all, the way we think about mental illness might change almost constantly, but the issues we deal with never really do. William Harris, a professor of history at Columbia University, recently edited a volume of essays, Mental Disorders in the Classical World, covering topics ranging from the early Greek medical vocabulary of insanity to Rufus of Ephesus’ epistemology of melancholy. Harris’ contribution focuses on concepts of hallucination in ancient Greece and Rome.
Alice Robb: What did the Greeks and Romans hallucinate about?
William Harris: They did not have a single concept of "hallucination" until very late on, but they left us quite a number of vivid descriptions of both auditory and visual hallucinations. The most famous are probably the visions of the Furies suffered by Orestes after he murdered his mother, and the "voice" that gave advice to Socrates. In my opinion, the story of the resurrection of Jesus is based on a hallucination, probably by Mary Magdalen.
They mostly hallucinated about divine figures of one kind or another, but sometimes also human scenes such as the one Galen describes in which a certain Theophilus thought that flute-players were playing in his house all day and all night.
AR: How did they understand hallucinations? What did they attribute them to?
WH: For most people, I think, the gods were responsible one way or another, but for quite a number of others the causation was medical (no clear theory emerged of how that worked), while still others (the Epicureans in particular) adopted a naturalistic view on philosophical grounds.
The Epicureans were strict materialists, and they thought that images in the mind were caused by atoms flying through the air, there being huge numbers of these at any given moment. The mind always wants to make such images into intelligible shapes but sometimes it makes mistakes, especially when the person is tired—hence hallucinations.
AR: Did they see hallucinations as a problem—did they “treat” them?
WH: Yes, sometimes, and this was not just what doctors wanted. In Plautus' play The Menaechmi, for example, when a character "hears" the voice of Apollo telling him to commit a murder, the other characters in the play assume he needs a doctor.
AR: Do you think we over-medicalize hallucinations today?
WH: That's a hard one: On the one hand, many, many hallucinations are essentially harmless (in some cultures more than others), and it seems dangerous to treat them as symptoms of schizophrenia; on the other hand, some people are seriously bothered by their hallucinations. On balance, my answer is yes—but I am not a psychiatrist.
AR: Why should we look at concepts of mental disorders in the classical world?
WH: Since the Greeks invented rational medicine and their medical ideas remained dominant in the West until the 18th century, those ideas are a significant part of our own history. They included lengthy reflections about mental disorders, which also received close attention from some of the greatest literary figures of classical antiquity, including Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Herodotus, Euripides, and Plato.
We also, ourselves, need all the help we can get in thinking about mental disorders: Witness the controversies that have surrounded all five editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, including the most recent one (2013). I agree with those scientists who think that our categories of mental disorders need a further shake-up.
Tripping, The Plank, Culture, classical world, Greece, Rome, Psychology, hallucination
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Governor Carney Recognizes State Social Workers
Delaware Health and Social Services | Delaware Libraries | Department of State | Governor John Carney | Office of the Governor | Date Posted: Thursday, March 1, 2018
Governor signs proclamation marking March as Social Work Month
WILMINGTON, Del. – Governor John Carney on Thursday recognized the role of Delaware’s social workers as he signed a proclamation marking Social Work Month. The Governor signed the proclamation during an event at the Wilmington Public Library, one of seven libraries statewide where since January social workers have been stationed once a week to answer questions and connect patrons to social services.
“Social workers are a vital source of support for many individuals, families and communities here in Wilmington and throughout our state,” said Governor Carney. “The Social Worker at the Library program is just one way these compassionate, dedicated individuals help others cope and thrive in the face of life’s challenges, and help us build a stronger and healthier Delaware.”
At the libraries, social workers guide patrons through the state’s online benefits application process, steer them to resources that provide basic needs like food, shelter, clothing, health care, child care, and education; connect them with services to treat addiction or address domestic violence; and help them get training and opportunities to find and keep jobs with decent wages. This onsite assistance is provided in addition to the help available at the 15 state service centers.
The social workers who staff the libraries come from the Department of Health and Social Services’ (DHSS) Community Partner Support Unit, operated within the Division of Social Services.
“Our social workers are meeting the community where they are,” said Dr. Kara Odom Walker, Secretary of DHSS and board-certified family physician. “As a doctor, I know some of the things my patients need such as housing, employment or transportation can’t be provided through a prescription. In the libraries, our social workers are finding another way to connect individuals to those support services.”
Libraries were identified as a natural fit for this outreach since many people who need assistance are already library patrons.
“Delaware libraries have become ‘force-multipliers’ for community outreach and engagement across the state,” said Dr. Courtney Stewart, Deputy Secretary of State. “This is another outstanding example of the added value our libraries can provide by partnering with agencies and organizations across the social services spectrum.”
“The Division of Libraries is delighted to have the expertise of social workers in libraries to assist patrons in need,” said Dr. Annie Norman, Delaware’s State Librarian. “Now more than 150 agencies and nonprofits are partnering with libraries to extend their reach and effectiveness in providing services to Delawareans across the state.”
Social workers have helped about 150 people since the program’s launch.
“I was homeless for a couple of months, staying in abandoned buildings, on the streets, even benches. I basically broke down and told [social worker Chloe Mayo] my situation,” said Sharis Purnell, a 27-year-old Wilmington woman who recently found help through the Social Worker at the Library program. “She literally called everyone, all the shelters [and other emergency housing resources]. Everything is going to be OK. I’m staying positive. Just when I thought no one cared, I opened my mouth and got the help I needed.”
With additional help from the library staff and from the nonprofit Housing Alliance Delaware, Purnell was offered a temporary bed at the Salvation Army in Wilmington and has been accepted into that organization’s rapid rehousing program, which provides temporary housing subsidies to families and single women. She is also getting help applying for jobs.
“Sharis is 27; my son is 27. If my son ever had a problem, I would want someone to treat him the way I treat Sharis. They’re all our children,” said Chloe Mayo, a social worker in the Division of Social Services. “She’s not going to be able to get rid of me until she’s able to show me she’s on a path to success in life. I see her doing great things.”
Library patrons in Kent and Sussex counties are also benefiting from the social workers’ presence.
Social worker Mel Mahoney recently helped a man complete an online job application in the Dover Library when the applicant did not have a computer or know how to operate one. The man later informed Mahoney that he had been hired for the position.
At the Frankford Library in Sussex County, social worker Dorian Baker has been working with a man in his 60s who needed help applying for medical assistance following a recent stroke, and has returned to the library frequently with questions for Baker about his benefits.
The Division of Social Services has received positive responses to the library pilot program and is placing social workers from the Community Partner Support Unit at other pivotal sites, especially in and around Wilmington.
“We are present at the Hicks Anderson Community Center, Latin American Community Center, and the Department of Correction’s Cherry Lane Probation and Parole Office in New Castle,” said Ray Fitzgerald, Director of the Department of Health and Social Services’ Division of Social Services. “And we’re walking the beat with Wilmington’s community-police unit as part of the city’s West Center City neighborhood stabilization effort. It’s all about increasing access to services by going where our clients are.”
Here’s the statewide schedule for the Social Worker at the Library program:
• North Wilmington Public Library, 34th and Market streets, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Fridays
• Wilmington Public Library, 10 E. 10th St., Rodney Square, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays
• Route 9 Library, 3022 New Castle Ave., New Castle, 1 to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays
• Dover Public Library, 35 Loockerman Plaza, 9 a.m. to noon Wednesdays
• Seaford Public Library, 600 N. Market St. Extension, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Mondays
• Selbyville Public Library, 11 S. Main St., 10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Thursdays
• Frankford Public Library, 8 Main St., 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Thursdays
Social Workers at the Libraries
Governor Carney’s 2018 State of the State
Pilot Program Will Connect Library Patrons to State Services
Related Topics: governor, Governor Carney, libraries, proclamation
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