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Home » full frame
Tag: full frame
Three new Sony E-mount full frame prime lenses from Tamron
Press release issued by Intro 2020:
Tamron announces three close-focusing fixed focal lenses for Sony E-mount full-frame mirrorless cameras
20mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2（Model F050）
October 23, 2019. Tamron Co., Ltd. announces the launch of three fixed focal lenses for Sony E–mount full-frame mirrorless cameras: the 20mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 (Model F050), the 24mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 (Model F051), and the 35mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 (Model F053).
Tamron 20mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2（ Model F050）
Tamron announces three close-focusing fixed focal lenses for Sony E-mount full-frame mirrorless cameras
MTF response graph and optical construction
Having already produced award-winning zoom lenses* in this mirrorless category, we turned our attention toward fixed focal lenses. When using a fixed focal lens, the photographer must decide the composition based on their distance from the subject.
This puts the joy of capturing the image exactly as envisioned and the pure fun of shooting on a different level. The three new models include a 20mm focal length (Model F050) to fully explore the world of ultra wide-angles, a 24mm focal length (Model F051) as the perfect general-purpose wide-angle lens, and the versatile 35mm focal length (Model F053) that is ideal for everyday/every subject use.
Developed under the concept of “letting as many as possible learn the joy of fixed focal lenses in a more accessible way,” each lens strikes a balance between gorgeous image rendering and superior operation. We managed to match the same filter size (φ67mm) for all three fixed focal lenses as well as the two previously launched zooms and achieve our aim of compactness.
Furthermore, the 20mm, 24mm and 35mm lenses are all capable of focusing very close, to an unprecedented in this category magnification ratio of 1:2. Other features include Moisture-Resistant Construction (for outdoor shooting) and a Fluorine Coating on the front element for easy maintenance and fingerprint removal.
They also support various camera features offered by certain Sony cameras, such as Fast Hybrid AF and Eye AF, and offer a multitude of advanced functions to ensure a pleasant shooting experience and fantastic results.
This series of highly practical lenses lets photographers enjoy the photographic expression of wide-angle lenses, often regarded as the sweet spot for most photographic pursuits, plus unprecedented light weight and ful-blown performance.
*28-75mm F/2.8 Di III RXD (Model A036) standard zoom and 17-28mm F/2.8 Di III RXD (Model A046).
PRODUCT NAME DATE OF LAUNCH
24mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 (Model F051)
20mm F/2.8 Di III OSD M1:2 (Model F050) Launch planned by January 2020
1. Enhanced close-focusing capability expands lens usefulness and versatility
These fixed focal lenses focus very close. The MOD (Minimum Object Distance) for the 20mm, 24mm and 35mm is 0.11m, 0.12m and 0.15m (4.3, 4.7 and 5.9 inches) respectively. Plus, the maximum magnification ratio for all three is 1:2. This remarkable performance allows users to create compositions that emphasize perspective (closer subjects are larger and distant ones are smaller) and that are unique to wide-angle lenses.
Being able to get in close is one of the most desirable specifications for a wide-angle lens. With dramatic closeup shooting performance for full-frame lenses, the series unleashes an unprecedented level of shooting freedom. Plus, by moving close to the subject, strongly blurred backgrounds are easier to attain.
2. A compact, lightweight 67mm filter diameter system offering excellent portability
Weighing in at 220g (7.8 oz) for the 20mm (Model F050), 215g (7.6 oz) for the 24mm (Model F051) and 210g (7.4 oz) for the 35mm (Model F053), the lenses are exceptionally light, allowing photographers to enjoy shooting comfortably without hesitating about whether to carry the lens. All three lenses combined weigh under 1.5 pounds (645g)! Meanwhile other lenses in Tamron’s lightweight full-frame mirrorless series such as the 28-75mm F/2.8 (Model A036) standard zoom or 17-28mm F/2.8 (Model A046) ultra wide-angle zoom make the perfect companions to broaden the range of shooting possibilities.
As testament to their compactness, all three new models feature the same 67mm filter diameter as Tamron’s zoom lenses for full-frame mirrorless cameras. This significantly reduces cost and packing space when working with PL, ND and other filters. Even the front lens caps are the same size, eliminating the hassle of sorting caps when switching lenses. These features combine to produce a highly convenient and mobile system that adds more fun to photography.
3. Superb high-resolution performance that matches the latest high-resolution image sensors
The sophisticated optical formula created with the latest lens design technologies boasts exceptionally high rendering performance from edge to edge thanks to the optimal arrangement of LD (Low Dispersion) and GM (glass-molded aspherical) lens elements. Any remaining minor distortions sometimes common in wide-angle lenses are corrected using in-camera functions.
Additionally, Tamron’s legendary BBAR (Broad-Band Anti-Reflection) Coating effectively reduces ghosting and flare. With excellent resolving power achieved through uncompromising optical performance and camera-based distortion correction, these lenses can be used with complete confidence for a wide range of applications from casual family snaps to serious professional photography.
4. Consistent 64mm (2.5 in) overall length facilitates ease-of-use
All three lenses are the same length: 64mm (2.5 in). Achieving excellent balance with Sony E-mount cameras, these compact lenses employ a front element extension system but are designed to maintain the same exterior length during focusing operations. Therefore, there is less chance of an extended front element accidentally coming into contact with a subject during closeup shooting. And optional manual focusing is easier because the focus ring is positioned toward the front of the lens within natural reach of the thumb and index finger.
5. Silent autofocus driven by OSD (Optimized Silent Drive) DC motor
The AF drive system employs an OSD to ensure quiet operation. In comparison to conventional AF types with built-in DC motors, Tamron was able to greatly reduce the drive noise as well as vastly improve AF performance and speed. The lower ambient noise level is sure to be appreciated by video shooters. Overall, this fixed focal lens series provides superlative AF precision for exact focus even when shooting moving subjects, as well as outstanding accuracy and tracking capability. Additionally, this fixed focal series supports various AF features offered by certain Sony cameras, including Fast Hybrid AF, Eye AF, and Direct Manual Focus (DMF) to ensure a pleasant shooting experience.
6. Moisture-Resistant Construction and Fluorine Coating
Environmental seals are located at the lens mount area and other critical locations to prevent infiltration of moisture and/or rain drops and afford Moisture-Resistant Construction. This feature provides an additional layer of protection when shooting outdoors under adverse weather conditions. Also, the front surface of the lens element is coated with a protective fluorine compound that has excellent water- and oil-repellant qualities. The lens surface is easier to wipe clean and is less vulnerable to the damaging effects of dirt, moisture or oily fingerprints, allowing for much easier maintenance. These protective features are keenly important for lenses that allow you to get in close to a subject.
7. Compatible with main camera–specific features and functions
All three of Tamron’s new fixed focal lenses are compatible with many of the advanced features that are specific to certain mirrorless cameras. These include the following:
-Fast Hybrid AF
-Eye AF
-Direct Manual Focus (DMF)
-In-camera lens correction (shading, chromatic aberration, distortion)
-Camera-based lens unit firmware updates
* Features vary by camera. Please consult your camera’s instruction manual for details
* As of September, 2019
Model F050 F051 F053
Focal Length 20mm 24mm 35mm
Maximum Aperture F/2.8
(diagonal) 94°30’ʹ 84°04’ʹ 63°26’ʹ
Optical Construction 10 elements in 9 groups 10 elements in 9 groups 9 elements in 8 groups
Minimum Object
Distance 0.11m (4.3 in) 0.12m (4.7 in) 0.15m (5.9 in)
Magnification Ratio 1:2
Filter Size φ67mm
Maximum Diameter φ73mm
Length** 64mm
Weight 220g (7.8 oz) 215g (7.6 oz) 210g (7.4 oz)
Aperture Blades 7 (circular diaphragm)**
Minimum Aperture F/22
Standard Accessories Lens hood (Flower-shaped), Lens caps Lens hood (Cap-type),
Compatible Mounts Sony E-mount
* for full-frame mirrorless format
** Length is the distance from the front tip of the lens to the lens mount face.
*** The circular diaphragm stays almost perfectly circular up to two stops down from maximum aperture.
Zeiss ZX1 Full-Frame Mirrorless Camera
Zeiss are developing their own full-frame compact system camera, the Zeiss ZX1.
Press release issued by Zeiss
ZEISS ZX1
The Camera Concept for the Creative Flow in Photography
First full-frame camera from ZEISS with first-class image quality and the familiar, intuitive image editing and connectivity of a smartphone.
OBERKOCHEN/Germany, 2018-09-27.
ZEISS ZX1 – That is the name of the newly developed mirrorless full-frame camera from ZEISS that was presented today in Cologne, Germany. Thanks to the ZEISS lens and a sensor developed in-house at ZEISS, the camera delivers first-class image quality combined with an operational concept and user experience that make the photographer’s jobs-to-be-done as intuitive as on a smartphone.
The ZEISS camera concept is just the first step to opening up a new world of possibilities for ambitious photographers – from taking the shot to editing the image and sharing it on the web.
SHOOT. EDIT. SHARE. – Harmonized hardware, software and optics for a seamless creative process
SHOOT: the ZEISS ZX1 features a newly designed, integrated ZEISS Distagon 35 mm f/2 T* lens with autofocus that has been perfectly matched to the 37.4 megapixel full-frame sensor developed in-house at ZEISS. The interplay between the lens and sensor ensures first-class picture quality with that typical ZEISS look.
EDIT: The ZEISS ZX1 enables photographers to professionally process RAW images directly on the camera thanks to fully integrated Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC. Moreover, the ZEISS ZX1’s unique user interface supports the user’s particular workflow without any interruption – providing direct access to the most frequently used functions via a 4.3″ multi-touch display.
SHARE: when the networked full-frame camera is connected, the user can upload selected images directly to the internet – without the intermediate transfer to memory cards or other external devices.
512 GB of internal memory provide sufficient space for approximately 6,800 RAW files (DNG) or over 50,000 JPGs – more than enough to handle photos, even during a longer trip, and giving the photographer the chance to let their creativity flow. Versatile connectivity options such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB-C ensure that various peripherals can be connected. Over-the-air software updates keep the camera up to date without requiring a computer connection.
Designed with a passion for detail and a focus on the essentialsThe design of the ZEISS ZX1 is characterized by its iconic shape with carefully crafted details. The overall form and reduction to just those elements that are absolutely necessary lay the foundation for an ergonomic camera and ensure easy handling. The symbiosis of hardware and software is exemplified by the newly defined user interface that utilizes the 4.3″ multi-touch display. The slightly bent screen separates the live view from the control elements, making camera operation comfortable and straightforward.
“We know that we exploring new ways and initially addressing a special target group with the ZEISS ZX1. With our concept we are focusing on ambitious, professional creatives who want to produce their photographic experiences quickly and efficiently, and inspire as many people on the Internet as possible. This requires a streamlined workflow in addition to high-end features. This is exactly what the concept of the ZEISS ZX1 offers,” explains Jörg Schmitz, Head of the Consumer Products business group at ZEISS.
ZEISS ZX1 available from early 2019
The ZEISS ZX1 will be available at selected dealers in early 2019. ZEISS will announce the recommended retail price at the start of the official market launch. Starting now, anyone interested in receiving information on exact availability can register at www.zeiss.com/zx1
Panasonic S1 and S1R
Press release issued by Panasonic
First Full-Frame Mirrorless Cameras powered by Panasonic
Panasonic launches two models of its first Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera with a 35 mm full-frame image sensor
The S1R and the S1 cameras are the world’s first*1 to support 4K 60p/50p video recording
Leica Camera’s L-Mount allows for the use of replacement lenses that meet the L-Mount specifications of the partners
Cologne (Germany), 25. September 2018 – Panasonic Corporation has developed two models of its first Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera with a 35 mm full-frame image sensor: the S1R and the S1. These models are equipped with the world’s first*1 4K 60p/50p video recording function and the Dual I.S. image stabilization system. As part of the LUMIX S series, Panasonic aims to release them on the global market next spring, as announced during Photokina 2018.
For 100 years, Panasonic has strived to help realize better lives for customers around the world by responding to their needs. Working on the concept of creating a new culture of photography for a digital age, in 2008 Panasonic released the G1, the world’s first*2 Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera. Over the last ten years, Panasonic has continued to lead the industry with product innovations. This has included the world’s first*3 camera supporting 4K video recording, and cameras equipped with the Dual I.S. image stabilization system; combining stabilization both inside the camera unit and the lens.
In more recent years, the sharing of video via social media has gained in popularity. More and more people are also enjoying a hybrid of photos and videos, expanding the range of expression in the production of content. A new type of camera has been needed for this new field that goes beyond the boundaries of photos and videos.
Against this backdrop, Panasonic adopted the concept of ‘Fuel the Photographers’ creative vision’ to develop a Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera with a comprehensive focus on this need. These cameras will form the LUMIX S series with a powerful sense of striving to provide specialized value to customers desiring high expressiveness.
The cameras have the user-friendliness and robustness essential as tools for photography or videography by professionals. They incorporate an entire array of our technology refined over a century in the consumer electronics business and ten years developing Digital Single Lens Mirrorless cameras. Such innovations include digital technology like image or signal processing, plus optical and heat treatment technology and more. The combination of these will provide our customers with new value for photography and videography.
The key features of the newly developed S1R and S1 cameras are as follows.
Creative capabilities: with high definition and high level of expression achieved with the newly-developed 35 mm full-frame image sensor and image processing engine. (Effective pixels: approximately 47M for the S1R and 24M for the S1)
World’s first*1 support: for 4K 60p/50p video recording in a full-frame Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera.
World’s first*1 full- frame camera equipped with Dual I.S. image stabilization: enabling handheld shots for dark or distant scenes that would previously have required a tripod or other equipment.
A double slot for XQD memory cards and SD memory cards, a first for Panasonic
A rugged triaxial tilt LCD: emphasizing ease of use and supporting professional photography and videography.
An unlimited scope of applications: Leica Camera’s L-Mount, making it possible to use replacement lenses that meet the L-Mount specifications of the partners*4 Leica Camera and Sigma. Expressiveness is further enhanced by increasing options for replacement lenses.
Panasonic will also expand its line-up of LUMIX S series compatible lenses, developing more than ten by 2020, including a 50 mm/F1.4 fixed-focus lens, 24-105 mm standard zoom lens, and 70-200 mm telephoto zoom lens.
For the LUMIX G series of Micro Four Thirds Digital Single Lens Mirrorless cameras, Panasonic will begin developing a Leica DG VARIO-SUMMILUX 10-25 mm F1.7 lens that will achieve the world’s first*5 zoom with a constant aperture value of F1.7. On top of this, the support services for professional photographers and videographers, which started in Japan in April last year, will be available in selected European markets and the United States this fiscal year.
The GH5, G9, and GH5S high-end Digital Single Lens Mirrorless cameras that Panasonic has steadily released since 2017 have already gained a solid reputation among professionals and high-level amateurs across the world for the quality of their pictures and ability to capture the vitality and beauty of life. This success is thanks to Panasonic’s world’s-first*6 support
for 4K 60p/50p video recording, and the world’s fastest autofocus*7 function using the company’s proprietary DFD technology. Panasonic will continue to provide new value to customers through the unique features of the compact yet high-definition LUMIX G series, while also reaching the professional market through the introduction of the full-frame LUMIX S series and the greater reach of our support system. Through these measures, Panasonic will continue to transform the culture of photography and videography.
The products in development in this release will be exhibited at Photokina 2018*8.
*1. World’s first support for 4K 60p/50p recording in a full-frame Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera. Regarding the inclusion of the Dual I.S. image stabilization system, this is for a full-frame Digital Interchangeable Lens System Camera: As of September 25, 2018 when announced at Photokina (Germany), according to Panasonic data.
*2. For a Digital Interchangeable Lens System Camera: As of September 12, 2008, according to Panasonic data.
*3. The GH4 Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera capable of 4K video (as a Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera, as of February 7, 2014), and the GX8 Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera with Dual I.S. onboard (as a Digital Interchangeable Lens System Camera, as of July 16, 2015) according to Panasonic data.
*4. “The L-Mount Alliance: a strategic cooperation between Leica Camera, Panasonic and Sigma”(announced on September 25, 2018 in Germany.
*5. For an interchangeable lens for use with a Digital Interchangeable Lens System Camera. As of September 25, 2018 when announced in Germany, according to Panasonic data.
*6. As a Digital Single Lens Mirrorless camera. As of January 4, 2017, according to Panasonic data.
*7. For a Digital Interchangeable Lens System Camera. As of November 8, 2017, according to Panasonic data.
*8. Photokina is a leading exhibition for the photographic and imaging industries (held in 2018 from September 26 to September 29, at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany).
• Leica is a registered trademark of Leica Microsystems IR GmbH.
• SUMMILUX and L-Mount are registered trademarks of Leica Camera AG.
panasonic s1
Canon EOS 6D Mark II unveiled
Press release issued by Canon UK:
Canon reveals the highly anticipated EOS 6D Mark II – Realise your creative vision with the latest generation full frame DSLR camera
United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, 29 June 2017 – Canon has today unveiled the highly anticipated EOS 6D Mark II, the latest addition to Canon’s full frame DSLR line up, designed for both passionate hobbyist and professional photographers.
Successor to Canon’s EOS 6D, the EOS 6D Mark II features Canon’s latest generation technologies and is designed for a range of specialist photography categories, from travel to portraits. It offers huge advancements to users allowing greater shooting possibilities, additional control and flexibility to achieve their photography vision.
The EOS 6D Mark II has been developed following feedback from users, and as such, will enable photographers to go beyond their limits as they take their creations further. With its new full frame 26.2 Megapixel CMOS sensor, DIGIC 7 processor, 45 point AF system and Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology, the EOS 6D Mark II delivers the highest quality images fulfilling the needs of both professionals and hobbyists alike.
Push the boundaries with the latest generation technology
With a new 26.2 Megapixel CMOS sensor, the EOS 6D Mark II offers unrivalled image quality and improved performance.
Its high dynamic range ensures exceptional exposure latitude so users can push boundaries when shooting in bright light conditions.
The improved ISO 40,000, expanding to ISO 102,400, allows flexibility so documentary photographers can snap scenes with the confidence that details will be retained even in the darkest nights.
The latest DIGIC 7 processor creates high quality files straight from the camera.
With the EOS 6D Mark II users can achieve greater control over their creative vision thanks to the 45 point AF system, which can be customised and allows more precise tracking.
Alongside DIGIC 7’s image processing advancements, the EOS 6D Mark II can predict the movement of a subject across the frame and respond rapidly. When combined with the 6.5 fps, the EOS 6D Mark II opens a whole new range of possibilities.
The EOS 6D Mark II’s new AF system retains the ability to accurately lock onto subjects even in the lowest lighting, perfect for portraits in diminishing ambient lights.
Canon’s renowned Dual Pixel CMOS AF technology allows for high performance tracking as well as smoother focusing, and shorter focusing times, for movies. These features are a great advantage for shooting macro and product photography aided by the Live View screen.
The EOS 6D Mark II is the first full frame EOS camera to include built-in 5-axis movie stabilisation that counteracts shake when footage is captured hand-held and on-the-move.
The vari-angle LCD touch-screen allows users to switch focus at the tap of the screen and reach tricky angles when shooting unusual perspectives or in a crowd.
Offering even smarter connectivity, the EOS 6D Mark II boasts Wi-Fi and Bluetooth[i] for an always on connection. Giving users even more flexibility when transmitting images to smart devices, users can easily share their work to speed up their workflow. Its capabilities allow photographers to control their camera from their smartphone to shoot images or video remotely; advantageous for users cautious of distracting their subject with movement, such as a resting butterfly. The built-in GPS keeps track of location, allowing you to automatically chronicle the destinations in which you create your stories.
The EOS 6D Mark II is a compact and lightweight full frame DSLR camera. It is resistant to dust and moisture, making it ideal for on-the-go shooting whilst offering top performance to complement users’ needs.
The EOS 6D Mark II is the first camera from Canon to have both 4K time-lapse movie mode and intervalometer for more diverse movie making. Getting creative is made even easier and capturing footage in up to 4K resolution is ideal for shooting star-scapes in brilliant detail. The built-in intervalometer gives users maximum possibilities when editing their time-lapse movies.
BATTERY GRIP BG-E21
BG-E21 is a bespoke battery grip for EOS 6D Mark II which can hold two battery packs simultaneously, and is compatible with both LP-E6N and LP-E6 battery packs. By improving the camera’s battery life BG-E21 doubles the number of possible shots. BG-E21 replicates the buttons of the top right body of EOS 6D Mark II. This means that the camera can be used in exactly the same way when shooting vertically, ensuring the ergonomics is not hindered. Users will also help to provide better handling and balance when shooting with heavier lenses.
The EOS 6D Mark II will be available in July 2017 with an RRP of £1,999.99/€2,499.99 body only
The EOS 6D Mark II can also be purchased with an EF 24-105 STM kit with an RRP of £2,379.99/€2,944.99
[i] Always-on connection between smart device and camera via Bluetooth® requires initial set up with Canon Camera Connect app. Stability of the Bluetooth® connection depends on model of smart device and other environmental factors. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by the Bluetooth® SIG, Inc. and any use of such marks by Canon Inc. is under license. Other trademarks and trade names are those of their respective owners. Requires Bluetooth® version 4 or later and iOS 8.4, Android 5.0 or higher.
Sony launches Alpha 99 Mark II SLT flagship full frame camera
Contrary to the assumptions of some, Sony hasn't quietly left behind its unsuccessful DSLR-based Alpha SLT system. Instead Sony has made its new Alpha 99 Mk II a flagship camera.
Sony Bolsters Full-Frame FE Lens Lineup with New 70-300mm High-Resolution Zoom and 50mm F1.8 Prime Lenses
Sony today introduced two new full-frame lenses for their E-mount camera system, the FE 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G OSS telephoto zoom and 50mm F1.8 prime lens.
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About Dr. Wilda
University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry study: Pet exposure may reduce allergy and obesity
University of California Irvine study: Roots of schizophrenia: Excess of methionine during pregnancy?
Tag Archives: American Dental Association
University of Louisville study: Oral bacteria linked to risk of stroke
The Center for Dentistry lists the reasons that dental exams are important:
5 Major Health Threats That Your Dentist Can Predict
#1: Obesity
An increase in cavities could mean you’re eating too many unhealthy foods, which also puts you at risk for obesity. A dentist who knows your medical history may ask about your eating habits, but you should feel free to ask if what’s happening to your teeth might be a sign of other problems.
#2: Cardiovascular disease
It’s also possible for cavities themselves to threaten your heart, if the bacteria that produce them find their way into your cardiovascular system. Bacteria associated with tooth and gum disease may also be involved in stroke, diabetes, and respiratory problems—so brush and floss every day.
#3: Diabetes
The fermentable carbohydrates in sugary drinks and snacks loaded with carbs increase your blood sugar level drastically, raising the risk of type 2 diabetes.
#4: Cancer
Not only does a tooth-unhealthy diet put you at risk for obesity, which is a risk factor for certain cancers, harmful lifestyle habits like smoking can produce tooth discoloration and periodontal destruction. Abnormalities in your mouth, including bleeding gums and cavities, should be a natural alarm bell.
#5: Alzheimer’s disease
People who lost most of their teeth were more likely to develop dementia problems, such as Alzheimer’s disease, later on. It will take more research to clarify what the connection between tooth loss and brain health may be. But is seems that keeping your teeth as healthy possible has benefits that go far beyond your mouth. http://www.centerfordentistry.com/Blog/EntryId/1/Predicting-Health-Threats-through-Dental-Exams.aspx
A University of Louisville study found that there is a link between oral bacteria and stroke risk.
Science Daily reported in Oral bacteria linked to risk of stroke:
In a study of patients entering the hospital for acute stroke, researchers have increased their understanding of an association between certain types of stroke and the presence of the oral bacteria (cnm-positive Streptococcus mutans). Robert P. Friedland, M.D., the Mason C. and Mary D. Rudd Endowed Chair and Professor in Neurology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, was a co-author of the study, published online this month in Scientific Reports, a journal of the Nature Publishing Group.
In the single hospital study, researchers at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Japan, observed stroke patients to gain a better understanding of the relationship between hemorrhagic stroke and oral bacteria. Among the patients who experienced intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), 26 percent were found to have a specific bacterium in their saliva, cnm-positive S. mutans. Among patients with other types of stroke, only 6 percent tested positive for the bacterium.
Strokes are characterized as either ischemic strokes, which involve a blockage of one or more blood vessels supplying the brain, or hemorrhagic strokes, in which blood vessels in the brain rupture, causing bleeding.
The researchers also evaluated MRIs of study subjects for the presence of cerebral microbleeds (CMB), small brain hemorrhages which may cause dementia and also often underlie ICH. They found that the number of CMBs was significantly higher in subjects with cnm-positive S. mutans than in those without.
The authors hypothesize that the S. mutans bacteria may bind to blood vessels weakened by age and high blood pressure, causing arterial ruptures in the brain, leading to small or large hemorrhages.
“This study shows that oral health is important for brain health. People need to take care of their teeth because it is good for their brain and their heart as well as their teeth,” Friedland said. “The study and related work in our labs have shown that oral bacteria are involved in several kinds of stroke, including brain hemorrhages and strokes that lead to dementia….” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160216181715.htm
Oral bacteria linked to risk of stroke
Brain researchers demonstrate the importance of oral health in stroke
Source: University of Louisville
In a study of patients entering the hospital for acute stroke, researchers have increased their understanding of an association between certain types of stroke and the presence of the oral bacteria (cnm-positive Streptococcus mutans).
1. Shuichi Tonomura, Masafumi Ihara, Tomohiro Kawano, Tomotaka Tanaka, Yoshinori Okuno, Satoshi Saito, Robert P. Friedland, Nagato Kuriyama, Ryota Nomura, Yoshiyuki Watanabe, Kazuhiko Nakano, Kazunori Toyoda, Kazuyuki Nagatsuka. Intracerebral hemorrhage and deep microbleeds associated with cnm-positive Streptococcus mutans; a hospital cohort study. Scientific Reports, 2016; 6: 20074 DOI: 10.1038/srep20074
Here is the press release from the University of Louisville:
by Betty Coffman, HSC communications and marketing — last modified Feb 16, 2016 11:37 AM
Robert P. Friedland, M.D., the Mason C. and Mary D. Rudd Endowed Chair and Professor in Neurology at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, was a co-author of the study, published online this month in Scientific Reports, a journal of the Nature Publishing Group.
“This study shows that oral health is important for brain health. People need to take care of their teeth because it is good for their brain and their heart as well as their teeth,” Friedland said. “The study and related work in our labs have shown that oral bacteria are involved in several kinds of stroke, including brain hemorrhages and strokes that lead to dementia.”
Multiple research studies have shown a close association between the presence of gum disease and heart disease, and a 2013 publication by Jan Potempa, Ph.D., D.Sc., of the UofL School of Dentistry, revealed how the bacterium responsible for gum disease worsens rheumatoid arthritis.
The cnm-negative S. mutans bacteria is found in approximately 10 percent of the general population, Friedland says, and is known to cause dental cavities (tooth decay). Friedland also is researching the role of oral bacteria in other diseases affecting the brain.
“We are investigating the role of oral and gut bacteria in the initiation of pathology in the neurodegenerative disorders Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s with collaborators in the United Kingdom and Japan.”
http://louisville.edu/uofltoday/campus-news/oral-bacteria-linked-to-risk-of-stroke
The American Dental Association not only provides information about dental care, but advocates for the inclusion of dental care in medical plans.
According to the American Dental Association:
Why Oral Health Matters
Numerous recent scientific studies indicate associations between oral health and a variety of general health conditions — including diabetes and heart disease. In response, the World Health Organization has integrated oral health into its chronic disease prevention efforts “as the risks to health are linked.”
The American Dental Association recommends that dental visits begin no later than a child’s first birthday to establish a “dental home.” Dentists can provide guidance to children and parents, deliver preventive oral health services, and diagnose and treat dental disease in its earliest stages. This ongoing dental care will help both children and adults maintain optimal oral health throughout their lifetimes.
Dentists’ areas of care include not only their patients’ teeth and gums but also the muscles of the head, neck and jaw, the tongue, salivary glands, the nervous system of the head and neck and other areas.
Improving the Nation’s Oral Health
Despite all we know about the importance of oral health to overall health, to people’s self-esteem and to their employability, state and federal policies continually sell dental care short.
• Most states spend 2 percent or less of their Medicaid budgets on dental services.
• An estimated 164 million work hours are lost each year due to oral disease.
The American Dental Association is committed to improving the nation’s oral health through public education and through legislative advocacy to strengthen funding for dental services provided through public health programs…. http://www.ada.org/en/about-the-ada/dentists-doctors-of-oral-health
The goal of comprehensive medical plans should be to include dental and vision coverage.
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University of Virginia study: Study finds dopamine, biological clock link to snacking, overeating and obesity
Princeton University study: Baby and adult brains ‘sync up’ during play
John Hopkins Medicine study: Early-life exposure to dogs may lessen risk of developing schizophrenia
Columbia University Irving Medical Center study: Brain differences detected in children with depressed parents
West Virginia University study: Helicopter parents and ‘hothouse children’ — exploring the high stakes of family dynamics
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Secondhand Smoke in Infancy May Harm Kids' Teeth
Trump Had Right to Withhold Ukraine Funds: GAO is Wrong by Alan M. Dershowitz • January 17, 2020 at 7:00 pm… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…Dr. Wilda says 28 minutes ago
Trump Had Right to Withhold Ukraine Funds: GAO is Wrong gatestoneinstitute.org/15462/trump-ha…Dr. Wilda says 29 minutes ago
Chelsea Clinton’s dubious ‘earnings’ - go.shr.lc/2T6bJ35 - @washtimesDr. Wilda says 12 hours ago
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Justice Dept. Investigating Years-Old Leaks and Appears Focused on Comey a.msn.com/01/en-us/BBZ23…Dr. Wilda says 12 hours ago
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Development Bookshop
Gender, Development and Care eBook
Edited By Deepta Chopra,Caroline Sweetman
Writers in this book explore women’s experience of care work in different contexts from a feminist perspective, highlighting the impact that care work has for their lives, choices and wellbeing. The goal is for care work to be divided fairly between the sexes, and between the household and other social institutions, including the state.
View Jacket
Care is a social good; it not only sustains and reproduces society, but also underpins all development progress. Yet the vast majority of care work is done free, at home; and it is widely seen as a female responsibility. This gender division of labour has profound implications for women and girls – both in terms of their daily lives and options, and their status in society. Writers in this issue explore women’s experience of care work in different contexts from a feminist perspective, highlighting the impact that care work has for their lives, choices and wellbeing. The goal is for care work to be divided fairly between the sexes, and between the household and other social institutions, including the state.
1. Introduction to gender, development and care
2. What is a transformative approach to care, and why do we need it?
3. What does care have to do with human rights? Analysing the impact on women’s rights and gender equality
4. Public policies on water provision and early childhood education and care (ECEC): do they reduce and redistribute unpaid work?
5. Policy advocacy for women’s unpaid care work: comparing approaches and strategies in Nepal and Nigeria
6. Not ‘women’s burden’: how washing clothes and grinding corn became issues of social justice and development
7. Transforming gender roles in domestic and caregiving work: preliminary findings from engaging fathers in maternal, newborn, and child health in Rwanda
8. Valuing unpaid labour in community Fair Trade products: a Nicaraguan case study from The Body Shop International
9. Caring for people with intellectual disabilities in poor rural communities in Cambodia: experience from ADD International
10 Resources for gender, development and care
‘Offering compelling new research evidence and conceptualization, Gender, Development and Care lays out a radical, transformative approach to care that we can all get behind. The book draws on human rights and social justice principles to urge development policymakers and practitioners to finally take care seriously.’
Gina Crivello, PhD, Senior Researcher, Department of International Development, University of Oxford
‘This collection represents a stellar contribution to a new galaxy of research on gender, care, and development. It provides both a clear theoretical framework and a wide variety of fascinating, detailed, policy-relevant applications.’
Nancy Folbre, Director, Program on Gender and Care Work, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Deepta Chopra,Caroline Sweetman
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DAAC Home > Get Data > NASA Projects > Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment (LBA-ECO) > Landing page
LBA-ECO CD-04 Soil Moisture Data, km 83 Tower Site, Tapajos National Forest, Brazil
Spatial and Temporal Coverage
Lat: -3.02
Lon: -54.97
https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/979
LBA-ECO
3 publications cited this dataset
Download Data1.4 MBUser Guide
This data set reports continuous high-resolution frequency-domain reflectometry measurements of soil moisture to 10 m depth and precipitation data near each of the two towers located at the km 83 tower site (logged forest site) in the Tapajos National Forest in the state of Para, Brazil. Measurements were made during 2002 and 2003. Soil moisture and precipitation data are provided in two comma-delimited ASCII files. The first tower was installed in an intact forest area at this site in June 2000 (the 'intact' tower) and instrumented for eddy flux and micrometerological measurements and operated 15 months prior to any logging in the area (Goulden et al., 2004; Miller et al., 2004; Rocha et al., 2004). In September 2001, the area adjacent to the tower was selectively logged (Bruno et al., 2006). The second tower (the 'gap tower' tower) was installed and operating in June 2002, 400 m east of the intact tower. The gap tower was installed in the middle of a 50 m x 50 m log landing. Soil moisture measurements were made in 10 m deep vertical pits (1 x 1 m2) approximately 20 m from the micrometerological tower sites in undisturbed forest patches. Reflectometers were inserted horizontally into shaft walls at 0.15, 0.30, 0.60, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 meters beneath the surface. These data were used to determine how soil moisture varies on diel, seasonal and multi-year timescales and to better understand the quantitative and mechanistic relationships between soil moisture and forest evapotranspiration.
Science Keywords
PRECIPITATION AMOUNT
SOIL MOISTURE/WATER CONTENT
Data Use and Citation
This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the NASA Data and Information Policy.
Download citation from Datacite
RISBibTexOther
Crosscite Citation Formatter
Goulden, M.L., S.D. Miller, and H.R. da Rocha. 2010. LBA-ECO CD-04 Soil Moisture Data, km 83 Tower Site, Tapajos National Forest, Brazil. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/979
See our Data Use and Citation Policy for more information.
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Dataset Companion Files
Dataset has 1 companion files.
CD04_Soil_Moisture_Km83.pdf
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Editorial: Save view from Saratoga battlefield | The Daily Gazette
Editorial: Save view from Saratoga battlefield
Scenery and history in Saratoga and Washington counties key to heritage tourism
The countryside around Saratoga National Historic Park is as scenic and historic as it gets, a still unspoiled landscape of river, rolling hills, farms and streams that looks pretty much as it did during those seminal battles in 1777. With intense development pressure to the west, and even more expected once the new GlobalFoundries factory in Stillwater gets going, the question is whether it can be kept that way. Fortunately, there’s reason to think it can.
One reason is the Battles of Saratoga Preservation and Viewshed Protection Plan, a comprehensive study funded two years ago by the National Park Service and done by the local conservation group Saratoga PLAN. The study identifies the threat from such things as cell towers, farmland loss and sprawl development. And it urges park officials to work with local governments: to educate them about the battle-related sites in their own communities, get them to look at these sites as the cultural and historic resources they are, and then save them through zoning changes, conservation easements, etc.
Saratoga PLAN and the Greenwich-based Agricultural Stewardship Association have already saved thousands of acres through easements, many of them donated by private landowners with these organizations picking up the costs for title searches, lawyers and the like. Legislation sponsored by Sen. Chuck Schumer, which would make Revolutionary War sites eligible for federal Land and Water Conservation Fund money as Civil War sites already are, could provide money for more such easements. The viewshed protection plan calls for saving 14,000 acres over the next 10 years.
The other reason for encouragement is the Historic Saratoga-Washington on the Hudson Partnership, formed in 2008. This is a coalition with representatives from 17 communities, state and federal agencies and several non-profit organizations that meets once a month.
The partnership’s goal is to preserve open space, strengthen agriculture and promote heritage tourism, which it sees as an economic driver. One example is the Tour of the Battenkill bicycle race, which draws thousands of riders and spectators for two weekends of racing each April. Without the natural beauty of the area around Cambridge, with its open vistas, farmhouses, covered bridges and quaint villages, this race wouldn’t be nearly the attraction that it has become.
The partnership’s latest quest, to include navigational dredging of the Hudson as part of the PCB dredging project, would also provide a big economic boost by allowing for more recreational and commercial boating on the river.
Communities in this beautiful area seem to realize what too many others elsewhere have not: that tourists will come for the history and scenery, if only they will preserve it.
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Editorial: Hold off on ethanol hike
Editorial: 'Steps' hide impact of teacher pay hikes
Editorial: In Schenectady, how do you solve a problem like graffiti?
Editorial: Time has come for Bruno
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Saratoga County public defender should be fired over DWI arrest
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Don't waste time on snow removal law
NY must act urgently to improve homeless shelters
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Schenectady grads Hart, Singh honored | The Daily Gazette
Schenectady grads Hart, Singh honored
Win Lillie S. Cross Foundation scholarships
Jim Schiltz | July 18, 2019
Radica Singh, Randy Cross and Janiiya Hart, from left, at awards ceremony.
Photographer: Photo provided
SCHENECTADY — Janiiya Hart and Radica Singh were recently honored as the second Lillie S. Cross Foundation Scholarship Award winners at Schenectady High School's year-ending awards ceremony.
The scholarship is the brainchild of former Mont Pleasant basketball player Randy Cross who with his sister Lillian Cross Green created the Lillie S. Cross Foundation following his 2016 induction into the Schenectady City School District Athletic Hall of Fame.
Lillie Cross raised her three children, including the late James Cross, in a single-parent household in Schenectady's Mont Pleasant section, and often worked several jobs to make ends met. Part of the scholarship criteria is to be a youngster from a single-parent household. Grades and extra-curricular activities are among the other criteria.
The foundation's board of directors initially established a policy that one scholarship in the amount of $6,000 would be awarded to a Schenectady High School senior with an interest in continuing their education. Randy Cross said after seeing the number of qualified applicants in the first year of the program, the board amended its policy to also give an additional scholarship award in the amount of $1,000 to a second-place finisher.
Hart was the first-place winner with a cumulative 3.76 grade-point average, and will be attending Colgate University. Singh was the second place winner with a 3.48 cumulative grade-point average, and will be attending Hartwick College. Both seniors received a commemorative plaque, and another plaque with the first-place recipient's name is on permanent display at the high school.
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'MyRacehorse' to offer part-ownership to racing fans
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Home Aerospace Helicopters More appetite for helicopters in Brazil
More appetite for helicopters in Brazil
Besides the modernization of combat jets and transport aircraft, the Brazilian military has requirements for new helicopters. Ongoing procurement programs include the delivery of 50 EC725 Cougar helicopters, manufactured in Brazil by Avibras, a local company established by Airbus helicopters to conduct local manufacturing of helicopters in country. Helibras is also upgrading part of the 34 AS565 Panther operated by the Brazilian Army. Despite the significant weight of Airbus Helicopters in Brazil, the country’s strong appetite for helicopters has drawn more manufacturers to LAAD 2015.
The biennial defense and security expo LAAD 2015 held in Rio De Janeiro this week highlights Brazil’s growing importance in the global security and defense market. With more than 650 exhibitors from 43 countries participating in this 10th edition, LAAD has outgrown its local focus as a Brazilian fair, becoming an international exhibition with regional focus.
LAAD covers a diverse range of topics, from military and aerospace, naval and electronics, to logistics, security systems cyber. Special focus is given to military aircraft, surface naval vessels, armored vehicles, unmanned systems, border sand maritime security, command and control, due to ongoing procurement programs in Brazil.
While international participation at LAAD is lighter this year, compared to 2013, ongoing programs and new ones are expected, given the clearing political situation, particularly in the military, and naval sectors, which were held back in recent years, as investments in homeland security were considered at higher priority.
Embraer, Brazil’s leading aerospace and defense company is one of the largest exhibitors at LAAD. Its military operations are conducted under Embraer Defense & Security, established by Embraer in 2013. Beyond the development of the KC-390 tactical military transport aircraft Embraer Defense & Security was selected to lead some of the most important projects in Brazil, such as the Integrated Border Monitoring System (SISFRON) and the Brazilian Defense and Strategic Communications Geostationary Satellite (SGDC).
Besides the modernization of combat jets and transport aircraft, the Brazilian military has requirements for new helicopters. Ongoing procurement programs include the delivery of 50 EC725 Cougar helicopters, manufactured in Brazil by Helibras, a local company established by Airbus helicopters to conduct local manufacturing of helicopters in country. Helibras is also upgrading part of the 34 AS565 Panther operated by the Brazilian Army. Despite the significant weight of Airbus Helicopters in Brazil, the country’s strong appetite for helicopters has drawn more manufacturers to LAAD 2015.
34 Panther SA565 helicopter operated by the Brazilian Army are undergoing a modernization program undertaken by Avibras. Photo: Noam Eshel, Defense-Update
AgustaWestland, part of the Finmeccanica Group. Is displaying here the AW119Kx, a single engine light helicopter, the AW109 LUH light twin, and the T129 combat helicopter. The AW139 intermediate twin, the AW149 medium multirole aircraft and the AW101 three-engine medium heavy platforms are also displayed, these are often used for services supporting offshore activities. Another exhibitor, Bell Helicopters, is displaying the Bell 407GX and V-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft. The AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters and UH-1Y Venom, currently operated by the US Marines, are promoted to attract potential procurement for the Brazilian marines.
The Russian Helicopters group is promoting a number of helicopters, including the Mi-29NE attack helicopter and Mi-171A2, the latest edition of the Mi-8/17 proven through years of operational service with a number of countries in Latin America. The Mi-171A1 operated by Brazilian air-taxi company Atlas Taxi Aereo carrying freight to and from Brazilian national oil company Petrobras sites located in remote areas of the Amazon jungle. Reliable and economical Mi-171A1 were highly commended by the Brazilian operator. Mi-171A2 has started flight testing in November 2014. Russian Helicopters has recently delivered 12 Mi-35M combat helicopters to Brazil.
Its Mi-17V-5 and MI-171SH military transport helicopters are used by other air force in the region, a recent shipment of 12 Mi-17SH was sent to Peru. To promote the sales prospects of those helicopters in Brazil, Russian Helicopters’ holding company Rostec has been negotiating a possible joint production of helicopters in Brazilian. Rostec has been discussing this option with the Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht Defense and technology and its subsidiary Mectron, “For now it’s a memorandum of cooperation on technology,” he said. “Perhaps it could lead to an assembly line with machines produced in Brazil and, afterwards, you could expand production and transfer certain technologies.” Sergei Goreslavsky, deputy head of Rostec unit Rosoboronexport told Reuters.
Previous articleIsraeli C4I, ISR solutions meet Brazilian requirements
Next articleIAI set to produce drones, radars in Brazil
Britain to Transfer its Last Helicopter Carrier to Brazil
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Home Land Systems Armored vehicles T-72 – Battle-Tank Fit For Urban Combat
T-72 – Battle-Tank Fit For Urban Combat
The T-72B with added 'urban kit' displayed at KADEX 2016. Photo: UVZ
The T-72 is the most popular tank currently in service. With over 22,000 produced, the T-72 is involved in almost every theater of war, and, with the transformation of warfare from symmetric to asymmetric combat, waged in urban areas, the T-72 must also adapt, to maintain its effectiveness in complex terrain.
Part of this modernization is to equip the T-72 to be more effective and less vulnerable to close-in threats, such as obstacles, mines, IEDs and RPGs, all characteristic of urban warfare, The Russian company has designed this urban warfare kit based on the experience of the war in Syria.
The tank displayed at KADEX 2016 shows additional reactive armor tiles expanding the protected areas on the turret and hull sides, and rear areas protected by slat armor. The tank also carries Counter-IED jammer to defeat radio-controlled threats. A distinctive feature is the protected shield built around the commander’s hatch, that enables the tank commander to observe to all sides and upwards, through the transparent shield and operate the heavy machine gun. For optronics and fire control the modernized tank employs the Sosna-U, multi-channel TV/thermal sight and missile guidance system. The gun is replaced with the improved 2A46M cannon and an auto loader modified to fire missiles. A dozen blade adds to the tank’s potential in obstacle clearing or counter-mobility operations.
Considering large-scale modernization of its fleet of T-72 tanks, Kazakhstan has approached several providers from Russia, Turkey, and Israel. All are providing systems and components for the upgrading program to be done in the country. Among the systems displayed at KADEX was a T-72A fitted with a modern Optronics, thermal imaging and fire control provided by Elbit Systems. Another variant was the T-72B3 configured with a new urban warfare kit developed by the original manufacturer Uralvagonzavod.
A Russian-Kazakh JV established by Uralvagonzavod and Kazakhstan Engineering in 2013 aims to modernize T-72 tanks and other variants based on this chassis. The JV is also set to convert decommissioned T-72 tanks into evacuation, obstacle-removing vehicles, and other heavy, special purpose machines. The Kazakh company has established another JV with the Turkish defense conglomerate Aselsan; this JV is also eying the T-72 upgrade as a major business opportunity.
Part of this modernization is to equip the T-72 to be more effective and less vulnerable to close-in threats, such as obstacles, mines, IEDs and RPGs, all characteristic of urban warfare, The Russian company has designed this urban warfare kit based on the experience of the war in Syria. Photo: Dan Zeevi.
Previous articleKADEX: Barys – The New 8×8 APC from Kazakhstan and South Africa
Next articleGray Eagle Firing Demonstrates JAGM UAS Suitability
Defense Exhibitions: Q2 2018
KADEX: Barys – The New 8×8 APC from Kazakhstan and South Africa
KADEX 2016 – Photo Report
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Climbing paddles carry ‘gecko man’ over vertical glass walls
Cybertech Global
Tel Aviv Expo Center, Israel | 28-30 January 2020
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Attack on Saudi Oil Refineries Proves the Devastating Potential of Iranian Cruise Missiles
Tamir Eshel - Sep 14, 2019
On the night of September 14, 2019, several attacks rocked two strategic infrastructure sites in Saudi Arabia. One target was a large oil field at Khurais, recently developed by the Saudi national oil company Aramco. The second is the company’s main processing center and one of the world’s largest oil refineries at Buqayq, 200 km northeast of Khurais.
Babcock led Team to Build Five Type 31 Light Frigates for the Royal Navy
Babcock Team 31 has been selected by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) as the preferred bidder to deliver its new warships. Led by Aerospace and Defence company Babcock, in partnership with the Thales Group, the T31 general-purpose frigate program will deliver the Royal Navy with five light frigates, at an average production cost of £250 million per ship. The first ship is scheduled for launch in 2023. The ships follow Babcocks's Arrowhead 140 design, balancing between global mission capability in blue or white waters, both at an affordable cost. Work on the fleet of five ships will begin immediately following formal contract award later this financial year, with detailed design work to start now and manufacture commencing in 2021 and concluding in 2027.
German Puma Equips with MUSS Soft-Kill APS
The HENSOLDT company has delivered the 300th active protection system (soft kill) equipping the German Puma infantry fighting vehicle. In total, the company is under contract to deliver 342 MUSS equipment sets by 2020 to PSM, the vehicle manufacturing JV.
New Defensive Suites for RAF Shadows
The UK Ministry of Defence has chosen Leonardo/Thales protection system to protect the RAF Shadow ISTAR fleet. This single-source selection by the MOD follows the recent SALT III international trials hosted by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration in Sweden. There, the integrated Miysis/Elix-IR system, using a jamming waveform developed by the UK MOD’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, proved its ability to defeat Infra-Red missiles in live-fire exercises.
RAF Launches a 3-Year Study of UAS Threats & C-UAS Requirements
The Royal Air Force has selected Leonardo to support the next stage of their research and development program, exploring the current and future threat posed by hostile drones, and evaluating a range of technologies for counter-drone capability. The three-year program will commence in early 2020. Leonardo counter-drone technology has already seen use with the RAF and is under contract for the Italian Army and Air Force. In 2018 and 2019, following drone sightings at Gatwick and Heathrow airports, elements of Leonardo’s counter-drone technology were deployed by the RAF to allow airport operations to resume.
IAI’s EO/IR POPSTAR is designed to Detect ‘Flying IEDs’
IAI introduced today the 'POPSTAR', a persistent surveillance sensor using an EOIR camera array to automatically detect and track small, flying or moving targets in the air and on the ground, track those targets and designate the targets deemed suspicious and dangerous for engagement by countermeasures and weapons.
Supacat’s Advanced Off-Road Platforms – Mobile Fires, Autonomous Hybrid Vehicle
Tamir Eshel - Sep 9, 2019
Supacat, Rheinmetall Defence and SCISYS have partnered to showcase at DSEI 2019 the ‘High Mobility Integrated Fires Capability’. Supacat also demonstrates a hybrid, optionally manned autonomous ATMP developed in cooperation with te University of Exeter
Few days after Fox News reported about extensive construction of a new military base near the Syrian border crossing at Albukamal-Al-Qaim, the site suffered an airstrike that destroyed some of the site's protected structures, allegedly providing forward storage for Iranian ballistic missiles. The new site, like others, that recently struck in Iraq and Syria, was manned by the Iranian sponsored Popular Mobilization Force (PMF).
Rheinmetall, WB Group Pursue Remotely Operated Loitering Weapon Capability
Rheinmetall has partnered with WB GROUP of Poland to provide dismounted troops with high precision strike capabilities using loitering munitions, by integrating Rheinmetall's 8x8 all-terrain Mission Master UGV with WB's WARMATE Loitering Munition System.
Rada Unveils New Radars for Active Protection Systems
RADA unveils at DSEI 2019 two new radars addressing the acute threats that land forces are facing in the modern battlefield. Both radars - the aCHR and xMHR, provide the central sensor element in mobile active protection capabilities - both APS and mobile SHORAD, are based on the company’s modular software-defined radar platform.
Lockheed Martin, Dynetics to Build a Hypersonic Missile System for the US Army
Tamir Eshel - Aug 30, 2019
Lockheed Martin and Dynetics Technical Solutions (DTS) have both won contracts to develop and supply hypersonic weapon systems to the US Army. Lockheed Martin will be the prime contractor for the land-mobile Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) system, while Dynetics primes the development and integration of the arrow-shaped Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) the LRHW carries.
Russia Unveils New Mega-Drones at MAKS 2019
In recent years Russia has gained extensive combat experience using small and tactical drones, particularly in Syria, on reconnaissance, target acquisition, and battle damage assessment. With a growing emphasis on reconnaissance and aerial operations, Russia has increased the role of UAS in the conflict...
Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced today the selection of Elbit Systems’ Iron-Fist Active Protection System (APS) for the protection of some of the IDF combat and combat support armored vehicles. The selection followed a competitive evaluation of several APS solutions.
Israel MOD Evaluates Future Concepts for Armored Warfare
Israel’s Ministry of Defense Defense Research and Development Directorate (DRDD) provided today a glimpse into the Carmel technology demonstration program, evaluating future combat vehicle technologies for the late 2020 and beyond. Rafael, Elbit Systems and IAI participated in the demonstration showcasing how each group addressed a technology approach to meet the challenge.
Military Aviation & Air Dominance Summit
Huntsville, AL | 15-16 January 2020
Frankfurt am Main, Germany | 18-20 February 2020
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Category Archives: Urbus Orbis
Adam Levin, Beatniks, Bill Clinton, Bloomington Indiana, Bucktown, Chess, Coffeehouse Culture, David Foster Wallace, Exit Chicago, Heine Brothers, La Mere Vipere, Louisville Kentucky, McSweeney's, MTV, O'Banion's, Peter Murphy, Ronald Reagan, Rush Limbaugh, Sid Feldman, Soma Coffee, The Instructions, The Real World, Third Place, Unabomber, Urbus Orbis, Wicker Park
Today: Tuesday, November 15, 2011
MY COFFEEHOUSE LIFE
Pardon me a moment while I take today’s first sip of coffee.
Ahhh.
That’s the ticket. The life-giving, eye-opening, brain-igniting legal substance without which I would most likely be a rotting corpse by 11:00am.
Guatemalan Coffee Cherries: The Seeds Inside Keep Me Alive
As faithful readers of this daily account are aware, I spend much of my time at Soma Coffee. I’ve been a coffeehouse habitué for at least the last twenty years, since coffeehouses came back into vogue.
Coffeehouses were the subterranean headquarters of the beatniks back in the late 1950s. There isn’t much at all about the ’50s that appeals to me — which is ironic considering one of this holy land’s most venerated presidents of all time, Saint Ronald Reagan, pretty much positioned that decade as something of a second Eden — but I’d have loved to have hung out in that era’s smoky, moody, finger-snapping, beret-required coffeehouses.
When beatniks went out of style, so did coffeehouses. Then, thanks to retro, Seattle grunge, and a phenomenon known as Starbuck’s, they started popping up here and there, mostly in those urban pioneer precincts that artists and hipsters gravitated toward.
I spent nearly ten years haunting Chicago’s premier, almost mythical, coffeehouse called Urbus Orbis. The place occupied the main floor of a four-story red-brick industrial building near the six-corners intersection of Milwaukee, North, and Damen avenues.
The locale was a tough spot in those days. Gang-bangers ran around grabbing their crotches and flashing signs at each other. Hard-drinkers tumbled out of the Borderline tavern just a half-block away. On any given Friday or Saturday night, stewed-to-the-gills drivers would slam into each other in the middle of that complicated intersection and physical altercations were sure to ensue. A good percentage of the time firearms were introduced into the proceedings.
Urbus Orbis itself was not immune to the horrors of the street. It wasn’t unusual to wait outside the single, locked bathroom, hopping on one leg then the other until finally banging on the door and getting no response. You’d tell the barista about it, she’d lower her shoulder and crash the door in, and the two of you would find some poet curled up in a ball on the piss-stained floor in a junk-induced reverie.
I loved the place.
There were anarchists, painters, actors, old punk-rockers, and countless hangers-on. On any given day I’d share a table with characters like Sidney T. Feldman, a former teen Frisbee champ who’d scraped-together his disc-tossing winnings to buy out his boss’s window washing business. Sidney loved to brag he was the laziest man in the city of Chicago. He worked a mere 45 minutes a week, he claimed, long enough only to schedule appointments with his North Shore clients and assign his crews. The first day I met him, he walked into the Urbus Orbis with a grey African parrot on his shoulder.
One winter night while stuck in traffic on the Kennedy Expressway, Sidney and I got the bright idea that we should become private detectives. We’d tail errant spouses and track down missing heirs. No joke. Sidney said it was a natural: I was used to bird-dogging and researching as a journalist and he knew how to run a business. He even knew a guy who could make a blinking eye neon sign to hang outside our office. But most of all it was perfect because we’d just bought snazzy new fedoras.
I was to go down to the State of Illinois building the very next morning to get all the paperwork in order. Sadly, I learned a couple of chuckleheads need to be trained and sponsored before they can become private eyes. Even if they do have fedoras.
There was Michael Fisher, a twenty-something who wore a dashing brimmed hat like an Italian movie star and a long scarf which he threw over his shoulder with a dramatic flair even when the temperature hovered around 70. Michael’d spent his college years fencing and playing chess. He and Sidney — himself a highly-rated chess player — jockeyed for position to give me pointers on my game. Then they’d loom over me and kibbitz as I played another opponent, slapping their heads in dismay when I’d make a blunder. But if my opponent blundered, they’d shout, “Punish him!” in my ear.
There was Terry Broderick, a hulking, prematurely gray-haired man who relished being the outsider among us outsiders. He listened to a little known (at the time) radio ranter named Rush Limbaugh and would come into Urbus Orbis to tell us what treasonous things he’d learned Bill Clinton had done that morning. Terry wore many hats. He had a tiny red pick-up truck whose bed he packed with dry ice. He loaded it up with frozen meats and lobsters and would drive to northwest Indiana and ring doorbells to sell the stuff.
Terry also sold insurance door to door and ran his own moving company. He’d rent a truck, hire his Urbus acquaintances and the odd wino off the street, and move families from the Gold Coast to the North Shore. His business card claimed he was licensed and insured but we knew better. We knew he was running a pirate business because whenever he saw anybody he suspected was an inspector from the Illinois Commerce Commission snooping around, he’d flip the ramp back into the truck in a rush and peel away, leaving us and the family we were moving to stand there looking dumbfounded.
One day I confronted Terry. “Come on, man,” I said, “You and I both know you’re running a scam. Let me see your bonding papers. Where’s your business license?”
He looked over both shoulders and confessed, “I don’t have ’em.”
“So,” I said triumphantly, “you’re lying on your business card.”
“No I’m not!” he said, hurt. “I’m licensed! I’m insured! I’ve got a drivers license and I have auto insurance.” He was serious as a heart attack. Then he said, “Can you work tomorrow? I’ve got three jobs.” I said I could.
There was the Dark Prince. His given name was Bill. Years earlier, he’d been a silent fixture at the punk rock nightclubs La Mere Vipere, O’Banion’s, and Exit. He only ever wore black. Black pointy Beatle boots. Black stovepipe jeans. Black turtleneck sweater. Black eye liner. His spiky, pouffed-up hair was also shockingly black, which we all took to be a dye job considering he was about 40 years old. His mood was generally black and the cloud that hung over his head was, if not black, darkest gray.
The highlight of the Dark Prince’s resume was that he’d spent time on tour with Peter Murphy some years back. We though this odd since the Prince couldn’t play any musical instruments and he was vehemently opposed to the concept of labor, so we knew he couldn’t have been a roadie.
In any case, the Prince liked to sit alone, chain smoking and looking for all the world as if he was plotting to become the next Unabomber. One day the Prince walked into Urbus Orbis actually smiling — well, okay, the corner of his mouth was sort of upturned. He carried with him a dozen red roses. We all gaped at him.
He explained: A junkie street hooker he’d befriended was so touched that anyone would treat her like a human being that she’d decided to fall in love with him. She started out by leaving mash notes on his windshield. That day, she’d left the flowers.
“Whaddya gonna do with ’em?” we asked. The Dark Prince shrugged. “I dunno. Probably give ’em to my mother.” We though that sweet of him. He did, after all, live in his mother’s basement in the conservative suburb of Mount Prospect.
At least one Urbus regular went on to become a big hit in the bigger world. Adam Levin, a dreadlocked teenager, would sit with Sidney and me and tell us about his dream of becoming a writer. He carried a notebook with him everywhere he went. He wouldn’t stay too terribly long on any given day because, he said, he needed to write and he couldn’t do it with all the rest of us distracting him. His hard work paid off: Adam Levin’s novel “The Instructions” was published by the ultra-hip McSweeney’s people in 2010. Some critics likened his work to that of David Foster Wallace.
Urbus Orbis stood on the border between the Wicker Park and Bucktown neighborhoods. By the late 90’s the yuppies had discovered the area. First the gangbangers, the drunks and the junkies were pushed out. Then the Puerto Ricans. We knew we were next.
Urbus Orbis closed down on New Year’s Eve 1997.
Not long after that, the owner of the building decided to rent it out to the production company that put on MTV’s “The Real World.” They moved in some precious, faux-edgy, aspiring actors and videotaped their every living moment.
One Friday night a crowd of several hundred freaks, revolutionaries, and painters massed in front of the building, shouting for the MTV people to go home. A rock or two may have been thrown. The cops came, clunked a few heads, and everybody dispersed, lamenting to each other as they ran what a sick corporate police state we’d become.
Wicker Park and Bucktown now boast some of the priciest townhomes in the city.
I’ve set my laptop down in any number of coffeehouses since the Urbus days. There were Kafein and the Unicorn near the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. Katerina’s on Chicago’s North Side and Bic’s Hardware Cafe on the South Side. Heine Brothers, and Matthew Lannan’s joint in Louisville. And now, Soma.
Soma’s a good place. I’ve met tons of fine folks here. Nobody on the order of the Dark Prince, though. Soma’s more serious. Loads of students reading textbooks and instructors grading papers. Adam Levin would have liked it here.
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Village of Mamaroneck, NY
Ch 6 Architectural Review, Board of
Ch 7 Arts Council
Ch 8 Assessments, Real Property Tax
Ch 9 Board of Trustees
Ch 11 Checks, Returned
Ch 20 Environment, Committee for
Ch 26 Fire Limits
Ch 36 Indemnification and Defense
Ch 36A Internet Usage Policy
Ch 39 Local Laws, Adoption of
Ch 42 Merit Award Board
Ch 45 Notification of Information Security Breaches
Ch 56 Pensions
Ch 58 Planning Board
Ch 62 Records Retention
Ch 72 Traffic Commission
Ch 73 Traffic Violations Bureau
Ch 76 Village Manager
Ch 78 Village Attorney
Ch 88 Alarm Devices and Systems
Ch 96 Amusements
Ch 100 Antennas
Ch 106 Auctions and Auctioneers
Ch 112 Bicycles and Other Wheeled Devices
Ch 116 Bingo
Ch 120 Blasting
Ch 123 Block Parties
Ch 126 Building Code Administration and Enforcement
Ch 140 Cable Television
Ch 145 Community Choice Aggregation Energy Program
Ch 150 Dance Halls and Cabarets
Ch 156 Dogs and Other Animals
Ch 160 Drug-Free School Zones
Ch 164 Electrical Standards
Ch 168 Environmental Areas, Critical
Ch 172 Excavations
Ch 176 Fees
Ch 178 Film Permits
Ch 181 Fire Hydrant Accessibility
Ch 183 Fire Lanes
Ch 192 Freshwater Wetlands
Ch 206 Handbills
Ch 222 Housing Discrimination
Ch 234 Laundries and Dry Cleaning
Ch 240 Management of Coastal Zone, Harbor and Vessels
Ch 242 Mandatory Recycling
Ch 246 Motels
Ch 248 Multiple Dwellings
Ch 250 News Racks
Ch 260 Parks
Ch 278 Plumbing Standards
Ch 281 Retail Checkout Bags
Ch 285 Sidewalk Cafes
Ch 286 Signs
Ch 290 Smoking Policy
Ch 294 Stormwater Management and Erosion and Sediment Control
Ch 310 Telecommunications Franchising and Licensing
Ch 312 Tenant Protection
Ch 316 Trapshooting
Ch 320 Vacant Stores
Ch 322 Vehicles, Abandoned
Ch 328 Vehicles, Dimensions and Weights of
Ch 334 Water Conservation
Ch 342 Art VII Standards for Uses Subject to Special Permit Procedure
§ 342-39 Construal of standards.
§ 342-40 Places of worship and religious instruction in residential districts.
§ 342-41 Agricultural uses.
§ 342-42 Clubs and recreational uses.
§ 342-42.1 Massage establishments.
§ 342-43 Transformer stations.
§ 342-44 Cleaning and laundry pickup stations.
§ 342-45 Food service establishments and taverns.
§ 342-46 (Reserved)
§ 342-46.1 Motor vehicle filling/service stations.
§ 342-46.2 Motor vehicle repair/body shops.
§ 342-47 Manufacturing in commercial districts.
§ 342-47.1 Micro-alcohol production and sale in commercial districts.
§ 342-48 Sewage disposal.
§ 342-49 Swimming pools.
§ 342-50 Residence uses in commercial districts and Transit-Oriented Development Overlay District.
§ 342-51 Authority of Planning Board.
§ 342-52 Planned residential developments.
§ 342-52.1 Nursing homes in residential districts.
§ 342-52.2 Adaptive reuse of religious or educational buildings.
Ch A348 Subdivision Regulations
Village of Mamaroneck, NY / Part II: General Legislation / Zoning
Article VII Standards for Uses Subject to Special Permit Procedure
The following standards are to be considered minimum and may be increased, where required by the Board of Appeals, as a condition of approval under Article X.
Places of worship and religious instruction and parish houses shall be on lots of adequate size, with sufficient parking and screening as determined by the Board of Appeals.
Permitted farms, truck gardens, greenhouses, nurseries and arboretums shall meet the following additional requirements: Buildings other than dwellings and buildings accessory thereto, any heating plant and any fertilizer storage shall be set back at least 75 feet from any lot line, except that buildings for the housing of livestock shall be set back at least 200 feet from any lot line.
Clubs and other recreational structures and uses permitted under Articles V and X shall:
Be on lots of adequate size with sufficient parking and screening as determined by the Board of Appeals.
Have no outdoor entertainment, live or mechanical, except under permission granted by the Village Manager for particular occasions.
Have no exterior lighting other than that essential to the safe and convenient use of the premises, which lighting shall meet the standards of § 342-18.
Have no outdoor public address systems, except for such as may be specifically permitted under the approval of Article X.
[Added 3-27-2006 by L.L. No. 3-2006, effective 4-10-2006]
Requirements for massage establishments. A permitted massage establishment located within the Village shall adhere to all the requirements set forth under Article XVI of this Code as well as the following requirements:
No massage establishment shall be established until the issuance of a special use permit by the Board of Appeals (See Article X.) and in strict adherence to Article XI, Site Development Plan Approval, of this Code. Said permit shall be required to be renewed every two years.
Each applicant must furnish a copy of a New York State license as a massage therapist and must possess a copy of a current New York State registration certificate for itself and each of its employees.
No permit shall be issued to an applicant for the operation of a massage establishment until an applicant has provided a register of contact phone numbers, home addresses and social security numbers of the owner and all employees to the Village Police Department. It is the responsibility of the owner of a massage establishment to keep these records current and notify the Village Police Department of any changes and updates to these records. A copy of the register shall be maintained by the Village Clerk and shall be made available at the massage establishment to representatives of the Village during regular business hours.
All massage establishments shall have visible signage, indicating the existence of a commercial business, and said signage shall be in strict adherence to Chapter 286 of this Code.
All massage establishments shall display in a prominent place, visible to all clients, the special use permit issued under this chapter, the New York State licenses to act as a massage therapist and current New York State registration certificates, for itself, owners and all its employees.
All advertising by massage establishments shall include, in the very least, a valid phone number as well as a bona fide street address.
All massage establishments shall permit representatives of the Village Police Department, Fire Department, Code Enforcement Officer or other Village departments or agencies to inspect its premises for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the law at any time it is occupied or open for business.
Each applicant who wishes to establish a massage establishment shall submit two sets of fingerprints to the Village Police Department. Said fingerprints shall be taken by the Village Police Department, and the applicant shall pay a fee as set forth by the Police Department. If the applicant is a company or corporation, then two full sets of fingerprints of the principal officer of said company or corporation shall be provided in accordance with this subsection. The Police Department shall forward the applicant's fingerprints to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and shall be responsible for reviewing the criminal history record information disseminated by the DCJS. A certified check or money order, in the amount specified by and made payable to the DCJS to cover the cost of processing fingerprints, shall also be provided by the applicant.
Each applicant who wishes to establish a massage establishment shall also submit a complete statement of all convictions of the applicant and all its employees for any felony or misdemeanor or violation, except summary traffic violations.
The holder of a massage establishment special use permit shall notify the Code Enforcement Officer of each change in any of the data required to be furnished by this chapter within 10 days after such change occurs.
The maximum hours of operation of massage establishments shall be from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Any person who knowingly owns, manages or maintains a massage establishment in any way which is contrary to the provisions and regulations of this chapter and Code shall be subject to prosecution under this Code or by civil injunction by the Village Attorney or his designee in any court of competent jurisdiction.
The continuation of a violation of the provisions of this chapter shall constitute, for each day the violation is continued, a separate and distinct offense hereunder.
Each violation of the provisions of this chapter shall subject the owner and/or operator to a fine in the amount of $500 for each such violation in addition to any other penalties otherwise imposed hereunder.
Issuance of special use permit for massage establishment. The Board of Appeals shall issue a special use permit for a massage establishment if all the requirements for a massage establishment special use permit under this section are met, unless they find that:
The correct special use permit fee has not been tendered to the Village.
The operation, as proposed by the applicant, if permitted, would not comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws, ordinances or regulations.
The applicant fails to provide the required New York State licenses and current New York State registration certificates for itself and its employees.
Conviction of offenses.
An applicant or any current employee has been convicted of an offense involving:
The use of force and violence upon a person that amounts to a felony;
Sexual misconduct; or
Narcotics, dangerous drugs or dangerous weapons.
A special use permit may be issued to any applicant convicted (or an employee convicted) of any of the crimes described above if the Village finds that such conviction occurred at least five years prior to the date of the application.
The applicant has knowingly made any false, misleading, or fraudulent statement of fact in the special use permit application or in any document required by the Village in conjunction therewith.
The applicant has had a massage business, or other special use permit, denied, revoked, or suspended by the Village or any other state or local agency within five years prior to the date of the application.
The applicant, if an individual, or any of the officers and directors, if the applicant is a corporation; or any of the partners, including limited partners, if the applicant is a partnership; and the manager or other person principally in charge of the operation of the massage establishment is not over the age of 18 years.
Revocation or suspension of special use permit for massage establishment. A massage establishment's special use permit may be revoked or suspended by the Code Enforcement Officer where it appears that the owner, applicant or an employee has been convicted of any offense which would be cause for denial for a special use permit upon an original application, has made a false statement on an application for a special use permit, or has committed an act in violation of this article.
A permitted transformer station located in a residence district shall meet the following requirements:
The lot shall have an area of not less than 10,000 square feet and a frontage of not less than 75 feet.
The installation shall be so designed, enclosed, painted or colored and screened with evergreens that it shall be harmonious with the area in which it is located.
The entire property shall be suitably landscaped and maintained in reasonable conformity with the standards of property maintenance of the neighborhood in which it is situated and in full accord with the standards and requirements of § 342-16.
The installation shall be surrounded by protective fencing and gates, which shall be closed and locked except when necessary to obtain access thereto.
Except in manufacturing districts, permitted cleaning and laundry pickup stations shall not conduct any washing of wearing apparel or household effects on the premises, and any other cleaning of such apparel or effects on the premises shall be permitted only if noncombustible solvent is used, except for incidental removal of spots. Motive power shall be electric and of not more than five horsepower. Self-service automatic laundry and dry-cleaning establishments shall contain no more than 30 machines in any one establishment.
[Amended 12-20-1973, effective 12-27-1973; 1-22-1996 by L.L. No. 1-1996, effective 1-31-1996]
No food service establishment or tavern shall provide outdoor counter, drive-in or curb service, but it may provide service at tables on a porch or terrace where this is incident and clearly subordinate to the operation conducted within the main building. In a C-1 District, no more than 20% of all indoor seats in a food service establishment or tavern shall be counter seats. In a C-2 District, no fast-food restaurant, carry-out restaurant or delicatessen shall be permitted on Mamaroneck Avenue closer than 200 linear feet to another existing fast-food restaurant, carry-out restaurant or delicatessen on the same side of the avenue. Such distance shall be measured from the closest lot line of the respective food service establishments.
§ 342-46 (Reserved) [1]
Editor's Note: Former § 342-46, Public garages and motor vehicle filling stations, as amended, was repealed 3-8-1999 by L.L. No. 5-1999, effective 3-17-1999.
[Added 3-8-1999 by L.L. No. 5-1999, effective 3-17-1999]
No driveway to or from any motor vehicle filling/service station and no underground motor fuel storage tank, outdoor gasoline pump or automotive appliance shall be located within 200 feet, measured along the street line of the side of any street on which such motor vehicle filling/service station has its main frontage and which such driveway would cross, of the boundary line of any residential district or of any school, church, park, playground, hospital, public library, institution for children or the aged or infirm, or any place of public assembly designed for the simultaneous use of 100 persons or more, regardless of the district in which either premises is located.
No motor vehicle filling/service station building and no gasoline or oil pump, service appliance or underground motor fuel storage tank shall be located within 20 feet of any street line.
Storage/parking of vehicles.
No automobile or other vehicles shall be stored or kept at any motor vehicle filling/service station for any purpose except for repairs and for car rental agencies limited to three passenger vehicles, subject to approval by the Board of Appeals.
One motor vehicle each for an owner or employee shall be permitted to be parked on the premises during their actual hours of employment.
Notwithstanding the above, no motor vehicle shall be stored or parked on the sidewalk, in the area between the street and the sidewalk or, where no sidewalk exists, within 10 feet from the curbline or the edge of the street, if there is no curbline.
No major repair or refinishing work shall be carried on at a motor vehicle filling/service station; gasoline or oil sales, changing of tires and other similar automobile maintenance or servicing shall not be considered to be major repair work. Major repair work shall include and mean any mechanical replacement or repairs involving an engine or its components, transmission and/or exhaust, electrical, steering or braking systems. Major refinishing work shall include and mean sanding, painting, body or fender work or any similar work done to the body of any vehicles. All automobile parts and all wrecked or damaged vehicles, and any parts thereof, shall be stored in a building and not outdoors.
No motor vehicle filling/service station and, unless located within a building and accessory to a use otherwise permitted, no gasoline or oil pump or automotive service appliance shall be permitted to be established on a lot that is within 1,000 feet of another lot on which there is an existing motor vehicle filling/service station or outdoor gasoline or oil pump or automotive service appliance or of another lot for which a building permit has been issued for the erection of such a station, pump or service appliance.
No outdoor vending machines shall be maintained at any motor vehicle filling/service station, except by permission of the Board of Appeals.
Aboveground motor fuel storage tanks are prohibited, unless they are used for storage of diesel fuel and provided that such tanks are of a type and construction approved by the Fire Inspector, and such tanks must be surrounded by a wall of reinforced concrete, brick or stone. The enclosure thus provided must be capable of holding the entire contents of all fuel stored therein, and the thickness and height of such wall shall be determined by the Fire Inspector upon the advice of the Building Department. Any such tanks shall also be fully enclosed with secondary means of containment to prevent any spills or leakage into the environment. Any such tanks shall be installed, operated and maintained in strict compliance with all applicable federal, state, county and local laws, rules and regulations.
The maximum number of gallons permitted in underground motor fuel storage tanks at any one motor vehicle filling/service station, or at any other permitted use listed in § 342-32A(1)(a), (b) and (c) of this chapter for an M-1 District, shall not exceed 32,000 gallons, and the maximum tank size shall not exceed 10,000 gallons, and the minimum tank size shall not be less than 1,000 gallons. An underground motor fuel storage tank shall be made of noncorrosive material and shall have installed, in conjunction therewith, a leak-monitoring system and a dry-chemical extinguishing system with sufficient heads and piping to effectively cover pump assembly and vehicle receiving fuel, all of which shall be approved by the Fire Inspector. This requirement shall relate to any modification to the underground tank storage, pumps or pumping islands, regardless of the date of the original construction of the station.
No motor vehicle filling/service station may remain open for more than 16 hours during any twenty-four-hour period without obtaining a special permit pursuant to Article X of this chapter. However, this provision shall not affect the hours of operation of any motor vehicle filling/service station as it existed as of November 15, 1985.
Subject to the provisions of § 342-92 of this chapter, no canopy shall be permitted to be maintained on the premises of any motor vehicle filling/service station, as the term "canopy" is defined in § 342-3B of this chapter.
Consumer convenience center. A motor vehicle filling/service station may merchandise goods and/or wares, subject to the requirements listed below. The intent of these requirements is to ensure that accessory retail development on a lot occupied by a motor vehicle filling/service station as a primary use conforms to the Village Master Plan. Development along the Mamaroneck Avenue corridor between the Central Business District and 1-95 shall be controlled such that negative aspects of strip commercial development are avoided. Further, it is the intent of the Village that accessory retail development not hamper the continued operation of existing primary retail establishments.
[Amended 6-14-2004 by L.L. No. 7-2004, effective 6-30-2004]
Definition. Such operation shall be defined as a consumer convenience center. Such use shall be accessory to a motor vehicle filling/service station, and shall be located on the same lot as the primary use. It shall provide for retail sales of convenience merchandise, prepared foods, and pre-packaged foods for personal or household consumption. Such accessory use shall require a special permit and site plan approval to be issued by the Planning Board. The special permit must be renewed at least six months prior to the three-year anniversary date of the initial permit date or the effective date of this subsection for all presumptive special permits.
Zoning district. Such consumer convenience center shall only be allowed within a C-1 General Commercial District.
Frontage. The lot shall have a minimum street frontage of 100 feet on a state or county road.
Access within the primary lot required. Pedestrian and vehicular access shall be from county or state road and as provided for in Subsection K(2)(d) below.
[Amended 10-24-2005 by L.L. No. 9-2005, effective 11-4-2005]
Access to adjacent lot(s) prohibited. The accessory retail operation shall have a buffer of no less than five feet in depth along a common lot line with another commercially zoned property. The buffer shall be densely landscaped with shrubs and trees, and shall not in any way provide pedestrian or vehicular access to adjacent lot(s). However, if the Planning Board determines that traffic safety would be improved along a county or state road, vehicular and pedestrian access may be provided to the adjacent commercial lot(s) or an easement may be provided to allow future vehicular and pedestrian access. Such easement shall be subject to the review and approval by the Village Attorney.
Ownership and subdivision. A motor vehicle filling/service station may be allowed a consumer convenience center as an accessory use if such accessory use is located on the same, unsubdivided lot as the primary use. The lot shall not be subdivided in order to construct and/or operate a retail store on the new lot, unless such new lot (1) has ownership not in common with the motor vehicle filling/service station ownership; and (2) has an approved site plan that included (but is not limited to) a five-foot landscaped buffer along the common lot line with the lot containing the motor vehicle filling/service station. Such buffer shall be densely landscaped with shrubs and trees, and shall not in any way provide pedestrian or vehicular access to adjacent lot(s).
Area and bulk.
Minimum lot size. The primary use shall have a minimum lot size of 30,000 square feet.
Maximum floor area.
he consumer convenience center shall have a gross floor area of no more than 750 square feet, except that such accessory use may be allowed greater floor area, at the discretion of the Planning Board, according to the following table:
(square feet)
Maximum Permitted Gross Floor Area for Customer Convenience Center
For a lot size that falls in between the above listed increments, the Planning Board shall have the discretion to allow a proposed accessory customer convenience center to have greater gross floor area in proportion to the greater lot size.
Under no circumstances shall such accessory use be allowed a gross floor area greater than 2,250 square feet.
Maximum height. The consumer convenience center shall be no more than one story high.
Neighborhood impact.
Hours of operation. The consumer convenience center shall be accessory to the primary use and, as such, shall be open for business during the same hours as the pumping operation of the motor vehicle filling/service station. These hours may be reduced at the discretion of the Planning Board. Under no circumstance shall the consumer convenience center be open more than 16 hours in any twenty-four-hour period.
Parking. Parking spaces shall be provided proximate to the consumer convenience center, at the rate of one space per 150 square feet of consumer convenience center floor area. Where parking is located near a residential district boundary, the applicant shall provide landscaping and/or fencing or screening in the mandatory setback.
Lighting. The applicant shall demonstrate to the Planning Board's satisfaction that the proposed lighting plan will adequately light the consumer convenience center exterior and related parking area and will not shed light onto abutting residentially zoned land.
Presumptive special permit. In order to avoid unnecessarily creating nonconformities due to these requirements, the Village of Mamaroneck will deem a motor vehicle filling/service station to have an automatic special permit for an accessory consumer convenience center, if such use could have applied for the special permit detailed here and met the special permit requirements at the time these requirements were adopted by the Board of Trustees. All "presumptive special permits" will be subject to the renewal procedures as set forth in § 342-46.lK(l) herein.
Within the M-1 District, the Board of Appeals may grant a special permit for the construction and operation of a motor vehicle repair/body shop subject to the following standards, the standards listed in § 342-46.1 of this chapter and the requirements as set forth in Article X of this chapter.
Location. New motor vehicle repair/body shops shall not be permitted within 200 feet of an existing motor vehicle repair/body shop, measured from the closest point on the premises maintaining such use to the point of the premises wherein the proposed use would be established, as opposed to measuring from lot line to lot line or building to building. In addition, no such shop shall be located within 200 feet, measured from the nearest lot line of the facility along the street line on both sides of the street to the boundary of any residential district or the nearest lot line, of any school, church, park, playground, hospital, public library, institution for children or the aged or infirm, or any place of public assembly designed for the simultaneous use of 100 persons or more.
Parking/storage of vehicles.
All required parking must be provided on site.
No motor vehicle shall be stored or kept on site for any purpose except for repairs, except that one motor vehicle each for an owner or employee shall be permitted to be parked on the premises during their actual hours of employment.
Fencing and landscaping. All outdoor storage areas shall be fenced and/or landscaped. Fencing shall be a minimum of five feet and a maximum of seven feet in height. Chain-link fences shall be screened with privacy slats or other screening materials used for fencing. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, in the case of corner parcels, no fencing and/or landscaping shall be installed in a manner which shall obstruct or interfere with the view of operators of motor vehicles.
Repair work. Unless otherwise permitted by the Board of Appeals, all painting, body, fender or similar work shall be performed indoors and in compliance with all applicable federal, state, county and local laws, rules and regulations.
Outdoor storage. The property owner shall demonstrate that a suitable program is in place to periodically remove all waste materials, parts, refuse and recyclables. No outside storage of damaged or partially disassembled vehicles, unregistered and/or unlicensed vehicles, parts, supplies or materials shall be permitted. All on-site storage areas, including trash areas, shall be placed on a concrete pad and enclosed in a suitable building or behind a solid-fenced area, as approved by the Board of Appeals.
Permit compliance on hazardous materials. Service operations and the storage and disposal of all materials must meet applicable rules and regulations of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The environmental assessment form (EAF) for any special permit approval shall detail how compliance with applicable DEC regulations shall be achieved.
Renewal of special permit. The special permit must be renewed by the Board of Appeals upon any change in ownership or, if there is no change in ownership, every five years. When required permits are renewed from the County Department of Health, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and/or the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Fire Inspector shall be provided with copies of the renewal certificates. The maintenance of such permits shall be a condition for the renewal of the special permit, and copies of same shall be provided to the Building Department prior to any such renewal being processed.
Annual fee. There shall be an annual fee imposed, as set forth in Chapter A347, Fees, to be borne by the motor vehicle repair/body shop owner, to cover the cost of periodic inspections necessary for the purpose of verifying compliance of all applicable laws, rules and regulations.
Permitted manufacturing activities shall be carried on in an area fully concealed from any street or neighboring residential zone, and such areas shall not exceed 20% of the area devoted to retail sales. Motive power shall be electric and, except in connection with newspaper printing, shall not exceed 10 horsepower. No more than five persons may be engaged at any one time in such manufacturing or processing.
[Added 10-10-2017 by L.L. No. 13-2017, effective 12-29-2017]
Microbreweries, microdistilleries, microcideries, microwineries, nanobreweries and brewpubs shall be subject to the approval procedure set forth in Article X and in conformance with any additional requirements imposed in connection with that approval, and further provided that:
Not more than 70% of the total gross floor area of the microbrewery, microcidery, microdistillery, microwinery or nanobrewery shall be used for the brewing, distilling, cidery or winemaking function, except for a brewpub where not more than 30% of the total gross floor area may be used for the brewing, bottling or kegging function.
The microbrewery, microcidery, microdistillery, microwinery, nanobrewery or brewpub shall obtain the appropriate manufacturing, wholesale, retail, marketing and/or other permits or licenses from the New York State Liquor Authority prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy.
No outdoor storage shall be permitted for such uses.
The manufacturing, bottling or kegging process shall be carried on in an area fully concealed from any street or neighboring residential zone and shall not produce noxious odors, dust, vibration, noise, effluent or other external impacts that cause a disturbance off-site.
Sewage disposal plants shall:
Be located on a lot of at least five acres.
Be set back at least 50 feet from all lot lines.
Not cover, with buildings, an area greater than 20% of the lot area.
Not discharge or permit to escape into the atmosphere odors which are offensive to the public or which endanger public health or safety. Intensity of offensive odors shall be determined at the property line adjacent to the source in the manner described in Air Pollution Abatement Manual, Chapter 5, Table 111, Manufacturing Chemists Association, Washington, D. C., 1951, or as amended.
No swimming pool shall be constructed or maintained except in compliance with the provisions of Chapter 300, Swimming Pools, as it may be amended.
[Amended 11-14-1983 by L.L. No. 11-1983, effective 12-5-1983; 10-16-1985 by L.L. No. 25-1985, effective 10-28-1985; 10-27-1986 by L.L. No. 13-1986, effective 11-18-1986; 9-14-1988 by L.L. No. 13-1988, effective 9-22-1988; 2-14-1994 by L.L. No. 1-1994, effective 3-3-1994; 3-8-2004 by L.L. No. 3-2004, effective 3-24-2004; 5-1-2008 by L.L. No. 5-2008, effective 5-15-2008; 11-24-2014 by L.L. No. 18-2014, effective 12-10-2014; 11-23-2015 by L.L. No. 7-2015, effective 1-11-2016; 8-26-2019 by L.L. No. 3-2019, effective 8-28-2019]
Special permit for residence uses. The Planning Board may grant special permits for residence uses in the following areas in accordance with the requirements of this section and the approval procedure set forth in Article X:
As a principal use in that portion of the C-1 Districts not located on Boston Post Road or on the southwestern side of Old White Plains Road northwest of Center Avenue or on Mamaroneck Avenue north of Nostrand Avenue;
As a use accessory to a permitted principal use on the Boston Post Road in the C-1 Districts;
As a principal use in the Transit-Oriented Development Overlay District; and
As a principal use in the C-2 Districts.
Requirements for residence uses where permitted in the commercial districts and the Transit-Oriented Development Overlay District. Each permitted residence use in the commercial districts and the Transit-Oriented Development Overlay District must satisfy the following requirements.
Separate entrance. The entrance to the residentially used portion of the building must be through either a common lobby or plaza or an area that is separated from the area used for nonresidential purposes.
Reserved parking. Except in the Transit-Oriented Development Overlay District, parking for the residences of any mixed-use structure, where required or provided, must be in a separate parking area for the use of residents only or in a reserved section of a common parking area. The reserved section must be adequately marked, landscaped and otherwise demarcated from commercial parking. To allow for visitor parking, the Planning Board may require up to 15% more off-street parking for the use of residents than would otherwise be required by Article VIII.
Compatibility of use. The Planning Board may allow residence uses above or in conjunction with commercial uses only if the Planning Board determines that the proposed commercial uses will be compatible with residences. In making that determination, the Planning Board must consider noise, odors, hours of operation and traffic anticipated to result from the proposed nonresidential uses. Motor vehicle service stations, public garages, printing plants, cabarets, transformer stations and motels are presumed to be incompatible with residence uses, but the Planning Board may determine, on the basis of proof submitted by the applicant, that those uses are compatible with residences.
Green building elements and infrastructure. The development must incorporate green building elements and/or green infrastructure to the satisfaction of the Planning Board.
The development may not contain a building, structure or parking area within 50 feet from the mean high-water line of Long Island Sound or any body of water which flows into Long Island Sound, and the Planning Board may not grant a permit for such a building structure or parking area under § 240-30 of this Code for development under this section, unless the building, structure or parking area is water-dependent, as that term is defined in § 240-30.
In order to provide a choice of housing opportunities for a variety of income groups within the Village, in accordance with the purposes of this article and the policies established by the Village Comprehensive Plan, residence uses in the commercial districts must provide fair and affordable housing units in accordance with Article XV and the following schedule:
Zoning District
Maximum FAR or Coverage - 5 or more Units
Percentage Required
5 to 10 units: 1 FAHU
11 to 20 units: 2 FAHU
21 or more units: 10% of units rounded up to the nearest whole number
0.8 (up to 1.1 if other TOD incentives are utilized)
Additional requirements for residence uses in the C-1 Districts. Residence uses, where permitted as principal uses in C-1 Districts, must meet the following standards, in addition to the standards set forth in § 342-50B, above:
Site size. The site must be less than 40,000 square feet in area, except that the site may be up to 60,000 square feet in area for a development that consists of all fair and affordable residences in accordance with Article XV of this chapter.
Floor area ratio. Except as provided in Article XV, the permitted maximum floor area ratio (FAR) may not exceed 0.60 for developments with four or fewer residential units and 0.80 for developments with five or more residential units.
Height, setback and yard controls.
Minimum lot width and frontage: 50 feet.
Minimum lot depth: 100 feet.
Minimum habitable floor area (per unit): 450 square feet.
Maximum stories: three.
Maximum height: 35 feet.
Maximum coverage: 30%, except that a maximum coverage of 35% is permitted for a development in which all of the residences are fair and affordable residences in accordance with Article XV of this chapter.
Minimum required yards:
Front: 20 feet.
Lesser side: 10 feet.
Two sides combined: 20 feet.
Rear yard: 25 feet.
Required side yards must be landscaped as reasonably determined by the Planning Board.
The Planning Board may require that any required side yard that is adjacent to a residential district be twice the size that would otherwise be required.
Minimum setback for parking and driveways: five feet. The setback area must be landscaped and where the setback area is adjacent to a residential district, the Planning Board may require that the setback be up to 10 feet.
Off-street parking and loading: as required by Article VIII.
Open space: 300 square feet per unit.
Additional requirements for residence uses on Boston Post Road in the C-1 Districts. Residence uses on Boston Post Road in the C-1 Districts, where permitted as accessory to a permitted principal use, must meet the following standards, in addition to the standards set forth in § 342-50B, above:
Site size. There is no minimum or maximum site size requirement.
Maximum stories: one story of residential use.
Open space requirement: 300 square feet per market-rate unit, 150 square feet per fair and affordable housing unit or fair and deeply affordable housing unit.
Additional requirements for residence uses in the Transit-Oriented Development Overlay District. Residence uses in the Transit-Oriented Development Overlay District must meet the following standards, in addition to the standards set forth in § 342-50B, above:
Floor area ratio. The permitted FAR for the entire building, including residential and nonresidential uses, is 0.6 for buildings with four or fewer residential units and 0.8 for buildings with five or more residential units, except that the FAR may be increased by up to 0.3 for mixed-use development that includes a full-service grocery store not more than 25,000 square feet in gross floor area, but if the grocery store ever ceases to operate, the area in which the grocery store was located must be leased to the Village of Mamaroneck for community use for $1 per year.
Maximum height: 40 feet, but 50 feet on Mamaroneck Avenue as long as the stories above the first story are set back at least five feet more from the front lot line than the first story.
Maximum stories: three, but four stories on Mamaroneck Avenue.
Maximum coverage: 50%.
Front: five feet.
Lesser side: eight feet.
Rear: 25 feet.
Usable open space requirement: 150 square feet per unit.
Residence uses in C-2 Districts must meet the following standards, in addition to the standards set forth in § 342-50B, above:
There must be at least five residential units in the building.
The maximum permitted floor area ratio for residence uses is 2.0. The maximum permitted floor area ratio may be increased in accordance with the bonus provisions of Article XV of this chapter.
The maximum permitted building height is 40 feet. The maximum permitted building height may be increased in accordance with the bonus provisions of Article XV of this chapter.
Off-street parking spaces must be provided as required by Article VIII of this chapter.
No ground floor space with frontage on Mamaroneck Avenue may be used for residential occupancy.
No provision of this chapter shall be construed to limit the authority of the Planning Board in the exercise of the authority conferred upon it by § 7-738 of the Village Law and the resolution of the Board of Trustees adopted May 22, 1967.
[Amended 12-17-1984 by L.L. No. 36-1984, effective 1-2-1985]
For the purpose of promoting environmental protection, open space preservation and superior design of residential development; encouraging the most appropriate use of land; increasing recreational opportunities; and improving the balance and variety of the Village's existing housing stock, the Planning Board is hereby authorized to approve planned residential developments, subject to site development plan approval in accordance with the standards, procedures and requirements as set forth in Article XI of this chapter and as authorized by § 7-725 of the Village Law. The Planning Board shall not act on any planned residential development application unless a public hearing is held in accordance with the timing and notice requirements as set forth in said § 7-725 of the Village Law. If a subdivision is involved, the procedure, hearing and notice requirements shall be as required by the Land Subdivision Regulations.[1]
Planned residential development may be permitted only within one-family residence districts.
The minimum size of parcel eligible for planned residential development shall be 10 acres. No more than 10% of the total acreage shall be tidal or freshwater wetlands.
The maximum permitted number of residential dwelling units within a planned residential development shall be determined by dividing the gross area of the subject parcel by the minimum lot size requirements of the zoning district(s) in which it is located. The Planning Board may, in its discretion, further reduce the maximum permitted density where said Board determines that, because of environmental limitations, traffic access, the use and character of adjoining land or other planning considerations, the maximum permitted density would be inappropriate.
The permitted uses within a planned residential development shall be the same as those otherwise permitted in the zoning district(s) in which the property is located, except that attached and semidetached dwellings shall also be permitted.
There shall be no more than eight dwelling units in any one dwelling building or attached grouping.
The maximum permitted building height shall be the same as permitted for one-family dwellings in the zoning district(s) in which the property is located.
In approving a planned residential development, the Planning Board may waive, to the extent determined necessary by said Board to achieve the purposes of this section, all normally applicable lot area, width, frontage, depth, floor area, yard and coverage requirements normally applicable in the zoning district(s) in which the property is located.
Notwithstanding the above, the minimum required setback from all perimeter boundaries of the site shall be equal to one and one-half (1 1/2) times the applicable yard requirements for one-family dwellings in the district(s) in which the property is located.
Off-street parking shall be provided within each planned residential development at the rate of not less than two spaces for each one-family detached dwelling, and one space per dwelling unit, plus one-half (1/2) space per bedroom for each dwelling unit in an attached or semidetached dwelling. No less than one-third (1/3) nor more than two-thirds (2/3) of the minimum required off-street parking spaces shall be enclosed. Of the unenclosed spaces, an amount equal to at least one-third (1/3) of the total number of required spaces shall not be reserved for the use of specific dwelling units and shall, at all times, remain open and available for the use of visitors and guests, as well as other residents. Where the Planning Board determines that, because of special limitations on the occupancy of units or because of the location of the planned residential development site, the actual number of off-street parking spaces needed may be less than the minimum number required in accordance with the above standards, the Board may waive the initial improvement of up to 25% of the minimum required number of spaces, provided that adequate assurance is obtained that such spaces will be improved in the future if they become necessary, and further provided that the location and layout of such future spaces is shown on the approved site development plan.
All off-street parking areas shall be appropriately located, designed and landscaped so that they will harmonize with the residential character and scale of buildings on the site and on adjoining properties. In general, parking areas shall not contain more than 10 contiguous spaces uninterrupted by landscaping or other forms of spatial or visual separation.
The Planning Board shall require suitable easements, covenants, offers of dedication or other forms of binding legal agreements as said Board determines necessary to assure that all open spaces shown on the approved plan will be permanently owned, operated and maintained in accordance with the use limitations indicated on the final plan.
Editor's Note: See Ch. A348, Subdivision Regulations.
Within any residential district, the Planning Board may grant a special permit for construction and operation of a nursing home subject to the following standards and the requirements as set forth in Article X of this chapter. Notwithstanding this delegation of authority to the Planning Board to grant special permits for nursing homes, the Board of Trustees may determine to serve as the permit-granting authority in place and instead of the Planning Board upon the adoption of a resolution advising the Planning Board that, for public policy reasons, it considers the particular application to merit the Board of Trustees' involvement. The adoption of such a resolution by the Board of Trustees shall be sufficient to remove the matter from the Planning Board's jurisdiction and to place it before the Board of Trustees for review in accordance with the following standards as well as those requirements as set forth in Article X of this chapter.
Location. Nursing homes shall be permitted in residential districts only in locations fronting on and having direct access to a state or county road.
Minimum site size and frontage. The minimum site size for a nursing home in a residential district shall be five acres with a minimum of 200 feet of frontage.
Density. There shall be a minimum of 800 square feet of lot area for each patient bed, and the total development shall not exceed a floor area ratio (FAR) of 0.80.
Coverage. Building coverage, including accessory buildings, shall not exceed 25% of the land area.
Yards. Yards shall have the following minimum widths:
Front yards: 50 feet.
Side yards: 25 feet.
Rear yards: 50 feet.
Off-street parking and loading. The minimum off-street parking requirements for nursing homes shall be one space for each two patient beds, with the provision that the approval agency may vary the number of parking spaces by up to 10% of that required upon a showing that actual demand for parking will be adequately met. One off-street loading space shall be provided for each 150 patient beds or major portion thereof.
Height. No building shall be erected to a height in excess of 2 1/2 stories or 35 feet.
Buffer area. A ten-foot landscaped buffer area shall be required along all lot lines excluding railroad rights-of-way.
Other requirements. In addition to the special standards described above, to the extent not inconsistent herewith, nursing homes shall comply with any other requirements of this chapter, any other special requirements deemed appropriate by the approval agency in accordance with the requirements of Article VII, and all other applicable laws and regulations governing nursing homes.
[Added 5-23-2016 by L.L. No. 6-2016, effective 7-5-2016]
The purpose of this section is to foster the renovation and reuse of structures originally constructed for religious or educational uses, which have historic, architectural, economic, cultural or other value to the Village and are at risk of becoming underutilized, vacant or demolished. This section encourages the adaptive and flexible reuse of such buildings to allow more economic and efficient use of the property. Special regulations are appropriate to this type of reuse because of the difficulty present in adapting these structures to allow economic and efficient use of the property.
Special permit authority. The Planning Board may grant a special permit subject to the additional provisions set forth below to allow the use of an eligible building for uses which may not otherwise be allowed and such adaptive reuse of an existing building may occur within its existing footprint even if dimensionally nonconforming. The Planning Board may modify minimum lot area, height, stories, minimum lot frontage, maximum coverage, maximum habitable floor area, minimum lot width, and front, side and rear yard setback requirements if the Planning Board determines that the modification is necessary to preserve the building and allow its adaptive reuse. The granting of a special permit will require compliance with site plan review requirements. The special permit authority granted to the Planning Board would be in lieu of, rather than in addition to, the Zoning Board of Appeals' special permit authority generally for private schools, places of worship, and places of religious instruction in residential zones.
Eligible buildings. Any building originally constructed for religious or educational purposes including buildings previously occupied as a primary or secondary school, place of worship, accessory building to a place of worship (such as a rectory, convent, school gym or similar use) on properties less than five acres in size.
Parking. The Planning Board may modify off-street parking requirements based on applicant's information regarding the parking impacts of the proposed adaptive reuse. Parking may also be provided on lot(s) in private ownership within 500 feet of the building entrance as part of the Planning Board approval of the special permit.
Restrictions on uses in particular districts.
For eligible buildings on a lot zoned partially residential and partially commercial, the Planning Board may permit an adaptive reuse for any use permitted in either of the applicable zoning districts.
For eligible buildings on a lot zoned entirely for single-family or two-family residential use, only uses permitted in such zone shall be allowed, except that for an eligible building located on or with direct access to an arterial or collector road as defined by the NYSDOT, the Planning Board may permit multifamily housing for senior citizens 62 years of age or older subject to the open space and maximum FAR requirements in the RM-2 District.
Additional conditions. The Planning Board may attach such additional conditions to a special permit granted under this section as may be necessary to protect the neighborhood surrounding the property and to encourage the most appropriate adaptive reuse of the buildings and property.
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Encounters with fierce dogs and itchy bedbugs: why my first field work failed
Ingvar Svanberg1
Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine volume 10, Article number: 39 (2014) Cite this article
This essay, which is the fifth in the series “Recollections, Reflections, and Revelations: Personal Experiences in Ethnobiology”, is a personal reminiscence by the researcher on his first field experience in Turkey in the late 1970s, which was a failure from an ethnobiological point of view but a success for a social scientist pursuing Turkic studies. The author later returned to ethnobiology during subsequent fieldwork on the Faroes.
Becoming a scholar
I was brought up in Bergslagen―a mining district in the middle of Sweden―in the 1950s and 1960s. From an early age I was interested in animals and plants and had dogs, cats, birds, frogs, snakes and aquarium fish as my companions. As a child I always found pleasure in discussing old folk botanical aspects with my grandmother, who born in the 1890s and brought up under poor circumstances had great knowledge of plants. Although my family was more urban than rural, hunting and fishing remained part of our life. Later, as a high school student, my interest in reptiles and amphibians led me to various parts of the Mediterranean, in particular to the southern Balkan Peninsula, a region of rich herpetofauna and folk cultural life. Collecting lizards, frogs and newts in the field provided plenty of opportunities to encounter ancient folk beliefs about (and prejudices against) these animals. So my interest for studying what we nowadays call ethnobiological perspectives goes way back.
However, there was no such subject as ethnobiology at the university in the early 1970s. Since I was interested in complex relationships between human beings and other organisms I decided that cultural anthropology was my field. I was trained accordingly as an anthropologist, and went on to specialise in European ethnology. My early scholarly interest focused on how ethnic minorities and rural people utilised marginal areas and how they sustained on biological resources in their vicinity. Key words of the time—we are talking mid-1970s here—were ecology, niches and ethnicity, but also traditional plant use, local handicraft, food customs and animal myths. With great interest I read an inspiring book by Kerstin Eidlitz, one of my own professors, about plant and animal utilisation in harsh environments [1]. I was encouraged early on as well by Phebe Fjellström’s 1964 study of the importance of mountain angelica (Angelica archangelica) among the Sámi [2], and Israel Ruong’s analysis on how Sámi nomads and settlers were sustained by a livelihood based mainly on trapping and gathering in the 1930s [3]. Nils Storå’s works on local fishing, hunting and waterfowl catching in northern Eurasia was also inspiring to me [4]. I found Lars Sundström’s lectures in African anthropology on fishermen and ecology in the Niger River area stimulating [5]. Theoretical literature of interest available to me was primarily in cultural ecology and peasant studies [6, 7]. Wolfram Eberhard’s broad scholarship in historical sociology inspired my way of writing [8].
The closest I came to ethnobiology as an undergraduate was a research paper, based on interviews, on hallucinogenic and psychotropic plants used as substitutes for marijuana or maybe for fun by young ‘drug addicts’ (rather teenagers and drop-outs). I also investigated various kinds of smoking pipes, often with Asian backgrounds, used by these hippie-inspired ‘addicts’. The study of subcultures was very much in vogue at the time. My teachers were amused and approved of my undertakings.
As a graduate, I started with an historical investigation of a hitherto almost unknown group of sedentary Sámi basket makers and horse slaughterers that lived in central Sweden during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. I became acquainted with historical methods and source criticism while tracking down this vanished and forgotten culture in archival sources. This was a fascinating study, an investigation into a history previously unheard of, which kept me busy for several years. I built up a picture from scarce and dispersed source material. My focus was on ethnicity and its relationship to ecological aspects of rural economies. Gathering, hunting, crafts and animal husbandry had been important for this now assimilated group of Sámi. They exploited a marginal niche and gathered wild plants for various purposes. Hunting predatory mammals for bounty was still an important source of income for them as late as in the mid-nineteenth century. Their role of slaughtering horses and skinning fur dogs for the peasants living in the same area was of immense importance. Both activities were regarded as taboo for the Swedish farmers, and they had to rely on their Sámi neighbours for these tasks. Especially dog furs were much in demand by the peasants, but they were, due to these taboo rules, not allowed to kill their own dogs. Instead they hired the Sámi [9]. The importance of wild animals, utilisation of wild plants and traditional dog breeding became interesting aspects, and I gathered a lot of comparative records from the sources on these topics.
In search for a field
However, I was longing for fieldwork with ‘real people’, not just historical individuals in church records and other administrative sources. Therefore I was interested in finding a small, contemporary marginal group that, in the same way as these Sámi once did, received their income by utilising a niche not used by the majority. I was looking for something similar, such as an ethnic community living a rather traditional way of life within the borders of Europe. I looked again towards the south-east, to the Balkans, where as a high school student I caught frogs and salamanders a few years earlier.
So I travelled extensively around the Balkan Peninsula, visiting remote villages in Greek and Yugoslavian Macedonia (but was harassed by police in the Bulgarian part). Since these were all regions of the old Ottoman Empire I also went to Turkey. I met peasants, shepherds and various peripatetic groups, all of which were of great interest. This part of Europe I experienced late in the 1970s, at least in my eyes, a period still very marked by traditional lifestyles. It was also to some extent economically backward. Ottoman structures persevered. It was also a time when anthropology students were expected to do their field work in a local community, preferably a remote village somewhere. Participant observation was the most preferable method recommended. And I found these villages, settled with Sarakatsans, Juruči (Yörük), Turks, Vlachs (Aromâni), Jifti (Roma) and other interesting ethnic groups. I made interviews in the villages about local economy, documented food habits, and recorded various peculiar customs. I still have notes about ways of preparing and using hedgehogs as food and medicine among various ethnic groups in the southern Balkans and Anatolia, and interesting data on the significance of the crow in Balkan tooth-lore, for instance.
After several subsequent visits to Yugoslavia, Greece and western Turkey, I decided to give the Juruči of eastern Macedonia (Yugoslavia) a try. They were a challenge, living in remote villages up high in the mountains. A local veterinarian had promised to help me establish contacts with them.
I cannot say that my professor was excited with my field setting for my PhD project–rather she was sceptical–but the opportunity to study shepherding, dog keeping and sitting postures (!) in the field was deemed acceptable. She became more encouraging when I promised to study enculturation, especially to document how the villagers of nomadic and sedentary background transferred their way of sitting and standing to the children (she had read a book by anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson from Bali about this). She was particularly interested in animal myths and customs related to physiological conditions, and she loved my Balkan and Anatolian records on customs connected with tooth-shedding, with formulas invoking crows, sometimes dogs, stork, and mice [10].
I had met the Juruči in the town of Radovish, but never really established any contact with them. It was usually easy to begin talking to people in the villages and markets, but the Juruči were reticent, shy or uncooperative. Policemen also stopped me when I tried to access their far-off villages in the Plačkovica Mountains. Eventually, with the help of several people I got permission from the Yugoslav Embassy in Stockholm and the authorities in Skopje. I also had some grants for doing Turkic research. I was only waiting for a written permission from a research institute in Skopje, but it never arrived. I tried in vain several times, but never received any answer. This is now a long time ago, before modern computers with internet connections; instead we had to use tricky telephones and unreliable mail, and we had no common language in which to communicate although I provided letters in the Macedonian language. Anyway, I was waiting, and waiting, but no answer arrived. After discussions with colleagues of their experiences in Yugoslavia—foreign field working social scientists were seldom accepted at this time in the country—I eventually decided to use my research money on the probably related Yörüks in Anatolia, whom I had met during two previous trips to the interesting town Niğde (Figure 1).
At the Yörük settlement in Niğde (Photo Ingvar Svanberg).
Field work in Anatolia
Turkey was not especially open-minded towards foreign scholars either, but it was easy to get around as an outsider and I could stay for several months without permission. I talked to colleagues who had done linguistic and ethnographic field work in Turkey, and I followed their example just going there (some colleagues had actually been expelled even though they had the required permissions). When I returned to Niğde in autumn 1979, my intention was to settle in a neighbourhood (mahalle) with Yörük households in the outskirts of the town. It was a family group of Karahacılı Yörüks; all households were related to each other. As far as I remember, there were nine households at the time, sustaining on semi-nomadic shepherding, carpet making, and agriculture (sugar beets). These Yörük households spent the winter season in this neighbourhood, and in the spring many family members moved with their cattle and sheep up to the yayla, the summer pastures, in the mountains. They also, like most rural people on the Anatolian countryside, did some plant gathering.
This particular group of Yörüks also had some contacts with itinerant peddlers, craftsmen and horse traders, categorized as çingeneler (‘Gypsies’), who regularly set up their tents near the Yörük neighbourhood. Such itinerant groups or service nomads were constantly on the move in Anatolia. They made a living as peddlers, brush-makers, sieve-makers, bear-trainers, or horse-traders, combined with harvesting, cotton-picking, plant gathering, etc. [11]. I used to pay visits to these camps during my stay in Niğde, and I once found in a tent a cage with a rock partridge (Alectoris chukar). Thirty years later I used this observation in an essay on the history of aviculture (Figure 2).
Karahacılı Yörüks in the summer camp outside Niğde (Photo Ingvar Svanberg).
Next to the Yörük neighbourhood was a large cement factory which employed townsmen. My intention was to study how the Yörüks occupied their ecological niche as shepherds, their relationships with other ethnic groups in the vicinity, and how they could survive as semi-nomads in a rather industrialised context. Yörüks I had seen elsewhere along the southern Anatolian coast had switched to green house economy, while this group in Niğde continued as shepherds and semi-nomads. This was promising. They kept a traditional lifestyle using locally available resources, literally on the margins of an industrialized society.
I became acquainted with these Yörük families when visiting the town during the summer of 1978 and the spring of 1979. At one of my first visits to them we were shearing sheep wool. My first host, the oldest brother in the quarter which I liked very much, was not prosperous enough to house me for a longer stay, according to the Yörüks. Instead I moved into the house of Ali, another brother in the lineage group of the Karahacılı tribe that constituted the settlement. He said he was willing to house us for a few months and to teach me the Yörük way of life. With his two wives, many children, and a large house, he was the most prominent of the brothers of the lineage group. He had fifteen cows, one very large bull and around two hundred sheep. I managed to record some kinship terms, asked about marriage patterns, and did some elementary surveys of the households. One day the Yörük women were baking, using cattle dung as fuel in the oven. We completed an inventory of the simple material cultures of the homes (they had TV—still not commonplace in Anatolia at that time). I recorded what was possible with my limited experience and shortcomings in the language, and I must admit that everything was very elementary. I had a handwritten black notebook with questionnaires I had compiled. Nothing on wild plants could be gathered at this stage and few data about animals. These Yörüks put the first shed tooth in a piece of bread and gave it to a dog (like Central Asians do)! I also recorded a few notes about the danger of dogs (in folk religion).
Ali soon came to be more of an obstacle than help because of his exuberant hospitality. He prevented me from visiting other households of the Yörük neighbourhood. I was not allowed to participate in the sugar beet harvest or anything else that Ali thought that I, as his guest, should not have to do. I really tried. I went out in the fields, used the hoes and took part in cutting the beets, but was immediately sent back to the house when Ali found out. Of course it was a matter of communication, or, rather, lack of communication. My knowledge in Turkish was still very limited. I had only a few weeks of modest training. To collect 24-hour recall data on food intake or detailed household inventories and surveys was not an option.
Thus, I was placed within the walls of the house, and my host ordered one of his little daughters always to be at hand to attend me. Ali had a big Anatolian watch dog, trained to keep thieves, wolves and other predators away from his sheep, and of course also unwanted guests from his house. Every stranger was a potential thief in this dog’s eyes. To study dog keeping was one of my aims. But this dog made it impossible for me to leave the house, even for small necessary walks, without the company of any of the house’s children. The outhouse was a primitive round stone building in the back-yard. It had a hole in the wooden ground. The building was actually covered with bricks of dried cow dung, used as fuel. On the roof was a big haystack.
It might have been possible to endure these enforced restrictions on my freedom and still succeed in doing good field work. I could at least have won the dog’s favour. I am not afraid of dogs, but I certainly respect these Anatolian sheepdogs kept by the Yörüks. Although studying their way of dog keeping was my aim, I was not exactly prepared for the situation. What could I ask, really, about these big, lazy dogs mostly sleeping in the yard and only reacting when someone passed by? (Figure 3).
A page from my Anatolian field notebook from 1979 with questions and annotations on dogs.
However, the bites of the myriad bedbugs and fleas in the beautiful carpets, which had the special patterns of the Karahacılı tribe, were rapidly becoming so severe that it would have been impossible to stay confined there for several months more. The infested carpets were our beds. I had no romantic view or illusions about field work. I knew it would be hard, providing many shortcomings when it came to hygienic aspects. We had, for instance, no tap water, and hot water did not exist. But even cultural relativism has its limits. The situation was awkward to me. Participant observation was not the working method here. To change houses, but still continue to visit families in the Yörük neighbourhood was unthinkable as it would have been a direct affront to Ali. The only way out of this was to leave, and try to find another Yörük settlement elsewhere willing to accept me.
Switching fields
The solution came in the form of a Kazakh refugee from Xinjiang who lived in Niğde. He was aware of my field work and research. I am not sure that Ali ever quite understood why I was living in his house. He was a host showing me Yörük hospitality. This Kazakh, Mr. Qaplan, offered to let me live in his apartment for a while and then visit other refugee families in his home-village Altay köyü out in the Anatolian countryside. I had earlier visited his village in order to record some Kazakh folk music, and I was then fascinated by the hospitable people in this, as I then thought, very isolated village on the Anatolian high table land. Furthermore, I had read articles about the historical background of the Kazakh refugees and also acquired some general knowledge of Kazakh ethnography prior to travelling to Turkey. So even if European ethnology was my field (and Turkey was at least on the margin of Europe), I was not a complete novice to Central Asian cultural history and ethnography. This became a new career move for me. I worked for many years with Kazakh, Xinjiang and Central Asian matters. Geopolitical changes with the breakdown of the Soviet Union kept me studying this geographic area for many years. I also kept an ethnographic and academic interest in Turkey, Turkish migration and Turkish Islam. This was all good for my career as a scholar, but it steered me away from folk biology. Ethnobiological matters were therefore of little importance in these lectures and publications [12].
My field work among the Karahacılı Yörüks in Niğde failed. It did so partly because of the fierce dogs and itchy parasites, but probably more because of my mistaken belief that participant observation was the best method to study the things I was looking for. I never managed to carry out any further research of their interrelationship with the biota, nor did I ever have the opportunity to do studies among the related Juruči of the Plačkovica Mountains in eastern Macedonia. However, these experiences among the Anatolian Yörüks inspired me to successfully study locally known plant repellents against fleas and bedbugs, although in much later, in Estonia [13]. I am often thinking of questions about the Juruči that I never had a chance to pursue, and I have been looking for an opportunity to go back ever since, but so far without success [14].
Although my Yörük field work took a new direction, and I spent many years working with Kazakhs from Xinjiang emphasising macro-perspectives (social structure, impact of ideologies, law systems and politics) rather than micro-perspectives with focus on local environmental knowledge, I continued to keep an eye on folk botany and folk zoology. I believe we developed a still useful theoretical model for researching the use and non-use of locally available food resources in a peasant setting [15, 16]. My Kazakh studies kept at least my interest alive. Horses, dogs and hunting eagles were all important key symbols in the masculine Kazakh worldview, which I of course had come to understand. I also returned to historical studies and found a very valuable source―written by Johan Peter Falck, a pupil of Carl Linnaeus―with data on Turkic (Kazakh, Bashkir, Tatar, Siberian Turkic groups) ethnobotany and ethnozoology, of which I published a part in 1987 and have continued to publish since [17, 18].
The spirit of the time also turned my interest towards Islam and folk religion among Turkic peoples, aspects which I still find interesting, also from an ethnobiological perspective [19]. Through the Kazakhs I could also study various aspects of folk biology and folk therapy. For instance they told me about a cure against rheumatism: the Kazakhs in Xinjiang used the skin of a one year old fat lamb. The whole skin was put on the body and filled with spices. It was later fascinating to find out that exactly the same folk therapy was used among medieval Mongols [20, 21]. I even recorded a story about two hunters capturing a female relative to the abominable snowman in the Altai Mountains in the 1930s, a story that later became a motif for a scholarly paper intended for an anthology on cryptozoology [22].
In the early 1990s, when I returned to Central Anatolia in order to investigate some thirty-five villages in the Kulu district from where many immigrants in Sweden originated, my colleague and I also asked about local plant use. This time I was better prepared. Now we actually recorded some information, but never had the time to do any systematic data collection. Sıyırma (Circium arvense) served as a distraction for workers in the fields. In April, its juicy marrow was regarded as very delicious, and it was eaten on the spot when they came across it. Also deve kengeri ‘camel thistle’ (Silybum marianum) was eaten. It was common in earlier times for poor families to harvest thistles and chop them into pieces for a supplement to the animal fodder. Ayrık was a small, unidentified plant (probably Elytrigia repens), with long roots that were used for making strings. In ditches along the fields grew sabun otu ‘soap grass’ (Saponaria officinalis), which they earlier used to produce soap with. Very common was the fragrant plant yavşan (Artemisia vulgaris), which made excellent tinder for lighting the fire. A plant locally known as bilecik çiçeği (unidentified) had been used for making rosaries (tespih). I am sure the Yörüks in the late 1970s could have provided me with similar information and much more, if we could have had more time together.
Through research among immigrants in Sweden I became more and more interested in contemporary local plant use (e.g. ferns gathered by Koreans for food in Sweden; leaves of common sorrel (Rumex acetosa) picked by Turkish women in the spring; mushrooms harvested by Thai immigrants), but I never had the chance to explore this further. (Ethnic Swedes themselves are by the way currently harvesting large quantities of wild berries, such as cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) and cowberry (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) in the forests). I did however contribute later to scientific articles on contemporary wild utility plants in the North and the Baltic Rim [23, 24].
Back in the field
Fate brought me to the Faroe Islands in the mid-1990s, where people then, and now, still rely very much on the marine biota: fishing, whaling (pilot whale), and fowling (northern fulmar, puffin, common guillemot). Richard J. Ford’s 1994 book coincided with my first visit to the Faroes and it inspired me to begin researching folk biology knowledge there [25]. My work since then has led me to the discovery of interesting ethnobiological data [26–30]. My extended stay there (no permission needed, no real language barrier) amidst the rain and mist also gave me time to finish various books I had been planning for a long time. I looked through my files of historical excerpts from Sweden and there was plenty of material for a handbook on traditional plant knowledge. This was later followed by other Swedish language handbooks (fish, mammals, herptiles and birds) within ethnobiology.
I was now firmly back on the ethnobiological track again, trying to convince foundations and grant agencies to provide me research money— sometimes with success, sometimes not. Methodological aspects especially interested me [31, 32], as well as the discipline’s history. A brief field study among sheep farmers in Greenland in 2000 convinced me of the need for further field research elsewhere in other parts of the world. Today I am working with other ethnobiologists and colleagues from different fields worldwide. Previously, ethnobiology was very lonely business. Nowadays I cooperate with scholars from Finland, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Spain and the United States. I am researching a wide spectrum of interesting topics: local plant knowledge in Eurasia, whales in folk religion, traditional fishing, activity contexts between human beings and animals in circumpolar areas, cultivated plants, history of our discipline, and I am especially interested in the importance of companion animals (dogs, cage birds, wild animals as pets) in various societies. Local aquaculture is another important research field [33–41]. Some of these studies are based on the field material once gathered in Turkic contexts. I am convinced that ethnobiology in European and northern Eurasian environments provides rewarding fields, which need more support and many more scholars [42].
Ethnobiologists study a vast array of knowledge. Academically, ethnobiology is still forming as a discipline and its scope is broad by design. However, as I see it, we examine the biocultural domains that develop through the interactions between human beings and other organisms. It is an active process affecting all parts of any ecosystem. We are therefore interested in a dynamic complex of information and data about the biota we study. Contextual aspects are essential for all ethnobiological research; and I find the emic perspective fundamental. For me, nature is culture. List-making, for instance of medicinal plants, might sometimes be useful, but could also be misleading in terms of understanding of the interrelationship between humans and other species. Readings of Claude Lévi-Strauss’ Le pensée sauvage (1962), Ian Saep Majnep’s and Ralph ’s, Birds of My Kalam Country (1977), Richard Nelson’s Make Prayers to the Raven: A Koyukon View of the Northern Forest (1983), William Balée’s Footprints in the Forest (1994), together with Ragnar Kinzelbach’s (1999) writing on cultural zoology, have given more theoretical strength to my way of viewing our discipline. Few yet call themselves ethnobiologists [43–47].
How I wish I had read them before I went into the field for the first time! But who knows— if I had, would I be doing what I am doing today? For me it all started with a failure in Anatolia; still it was possible for me to do some research, although for almost two decades I focused more on other aspects of subsistence and survival, including life-styles and world-views. Ethnobiological field work also taught me the virtues of combining various kinds of sources. I read many other scholarly works and maintained other theoretical interests. It was not until my experience in the Faroe Islands that I became more specialized in what we now call ethnobiology.
The Yörüks of Anatolia will remain an interesting topic, but for someone else. I am sure that ethnobiological field investigations of great quality are still possible among them. I strongly encourage younger scholars to go out in the field whenever they have a chance. It is in many ways much easier nowadays. And I can assure you, rich field work material is an investment for many years of research to come. It is very much fun, too.
Eidlitz K: Food and Emergency Food in the Circumpolar Area. 1969, Almqvist & Wiksell International: Uppsala
Fjellström P: Angelica archangelica in the Diet of the Lapps and the Nordic Peoples. Lapponica: Essays Presented to Israel Ruong, June 26, 1963. Edited by: Furumark A. 1964, Uppsala: Almqvist and Wiksell International, 99-115.
Ruong I: Harrok: ett samiskt nybygge i Pite Lappmark. By og Bygd. 1978, 28: 263-272.
Storå N: Massfångst av Sjöfågel i Nordeurasien: en Etnologisk Undersökning av Fångstmetoderna. 1968, Åbo: Åbo Akademi
Sundström L: Ecology and Symbiosis: Niger Water Folk. 1972, Almqvist & Wiksell International: Uppsala
Vayda AP, Rappaport RA: Ecology, Cultural and Noncultural. Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. Essays in the Scope and Methods of the Science of Man. Edited by: Clifton JA. 1968, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 477-497.
Wolf E: Peasants. 1966, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall
Eberhard W: Nomads and farmers in southeastern Turkey. Problems of settlement. Oriens. 1953, 6: 32-49.
Svanberg I: Hästslaktare och Korgmakare: Resursutnyttjande och Livsstil bland Sockenlappar. 1999, Johan Nordlandersällskapet: Umeå
Svanberg I: The folklore of teeth among Turkic and adjacent peoples. Cent Asiat J. 1987, 31: 111-137.
Svanberg I: Marginal Groups and Itinerants. Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey. Edited by: Andrews PA. 1989, Wiesbaden: L. Reichert, 602-612.
Benson L, Svanberg I: China’s Last Nomads: The History and Culture of China’s Kazaks. 1998, New York: St Martin’s Press
Sõukand R, Kalle R, Svanberg I: Uninvited guests: traditional insect repellents in Estonia used against the clothes moth Tineola bisselliella, human flea Pulex irritans and bedbug Cimex lectularis. J Insect Sci. 2010, 10 (150): 1-18. 10.1673/031.010.14110. http://www.insectscience.org/papers/2010/,
Svanberg I: Gagavouzika and juručki: urgent tasks for turkologists. Cent Asiat J. 1988, 32: 109-116.
Nelson MC, Svanberg I: Lichens as food: historical perspectives on food propaganda. Svenska Linnésällskapets Årsskrift. 1987, 1986-1987: 7-51.
Svanberg I, Nelson MC: Bone Meal Porridge, Lichen Soup, or Mushroom Bread: Acceptance or Rejection of Food Propaganda in Northern Sweden in the 1860s. Just a Sack of Potatoes? Crisis Experiences in European Societies: Past and Present. Edited by: Antti H. 1992, Helsinki: Societas Historiae Finlandiae, 119-147.
Svanberg I: Turkic ethnobotany and ethnozoology as recorded by Johan Peter Falck. Svenska Linnésällskapets Årsskrift. 1987, 1986-1987: 53-118.
Ståhlberg S, Svanberg I: Gathering food from rodent nests in Siberia. J Ethnobiol. 2010, 30: 185-203.
Svanberg I: Alis Katt. Perspektiv på Islam: en Vänbok Till Christer Hedin. Edited by: Olsson S, Sorgenfrei S. 2011, Stockholm: Dialogos, 160-166.
Svanberg I: Kazak Refugees in Turkey: A Study of Cultural Persistence and Social Change. 1989, Almqvist & Wiksell International: Uppsala
Cleaves FW: A medical practice of the Mongols in the thirteenth century. Harvard J Asiat Stud. 1954, 17: 428-441. 10.2307/2718323.
Ståhlberg S, Svanberg I: Wildmen in Central Asia. Animals Out of Place: Cryptozoology in Anthropological Perspective. Edited by: Lampeter HS. Ceredigion, Wales: Edwin Mellen Press, in press
Svanberg I: The use of wild plants as food in pre-industrial Sweden. Acta Soc Bot Pol. 2012, 81: 317-327. 10.5586/asbp.2012.039.
Svanberg I, Sõukand R, Łuczaj Ł, Kalle R, Zyryanova O, Dénes A, Papp N, Nedelcheva A, Kołodziejska-Degórska I, Šeškauskaitė D, Kolosova V: Uses of tree saps in the northern and eastern parts of Europe. Acta Soc Bot Pol. 2012, 81: 343-357. 10.5586/asbp.2012.036.
Ford RJ: The Nature and Status of Ethnobotany. 1994, Ann Arbor: Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, 2
Svanberg I: The snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) as food in the northern circumpolar region. Fróðskaparrit: Ann Soc Sci Færoensis. 2001, 48: 29-40.
Svanberg I: Human usage of mermaid’s glove sponge (Isodictya palmata) on the Faroes. J Marine Biol Assoc UK. 2007, 87: 1773-1775.
Svanberg I: Plant Knowledge as Indicator of Historical Cultural Contacts: Tanning in the Atlantic Fringe. Travelling Cultures and Plants: the Ethnobiology and Ethnopharmacy of Migrations. Edited by: Pieroni A, Vandebroek I. 2007, Oxford: Berghahn, 227-244.
Svanberg I, Ægisson S: Great northern diver (Gavia immer) in circumpolar folk ornithology. Fróðskaparrit: Ann Soc Sci Færoensis. 2005, 53: 51-66.
Svanberg I, Ægisson S: Edible wild plant use in the Faroe Islands and Iceland. Acta Soc Bot Pol. 2012, 81: 233-238. 10.5586/asbp.2012.035.
Svanberg I: Black slugs (Arion ater) as grease: a case study of technical use of gastropods in pre-industrial Sweden. J Ethnobiol. 2006, 26: 299-309. 10.2993/0278-0771(2006)26[299:BSAAAG]2.0.CO;2.
Svanberg I: Folk knowledge of an individual plant specimen: the case of the royal fern (Osmunda regalis L.) in Virestad Parish, Småland, Sweden. Ethnobiol Lett. 2012, 3: 63-67. 10.14237/ebl.3.2012.39.
Nesbitt M, Simpson St J, Svanberg I: History of Rice in Western and Central Asia. Rice: Origin, Antiquity and History. Edited by: Sharma SD. 2010, Enfield, NH: Science Publishers, 308-340. 535–541
Ståhlberg S, Svanberg I: Sarana in Eurasian folk botany. J de la Société Finno-Ougrienne. 2006, 91: 133-157.
Ståhlberg S, Svanberg I: Loplyk fishermen: ecological adaptation in the Taklamakan Desert. Anthropos. 2010, 105: 423-439.
Ståhlberg S, Svanberg I: Wild animals in Russian, Siberian and Central Asian households according to eighteenth-century travel reports. J de la Société Finno-Ougrienne. 2012, 93: 455-486.
Ståhlberg S, Svanberg I: Catching basking ide, Leuciscus idus (L.), in the Baltic Sea: fishing and local knowledge in the Finnish and Swedish archipelagos. J Northern Stud. 2011, 5 (2): 87-104.
Svanberg I, Ægisson S: Black guillemot (Cepphus grylle) in circumpolar folk ornithology. Scripta Islandica. 2006, 56: 101-114.
Redman N, Svanberg I: Recent use of whale bones in the Faroes. Svenska Linnésällskapets Årsskrift. 2009, 2009: 151-166.
Svanberg I, Bonow M, Olsén H: Fish ponds in Scania, and Linnaeus’s attempt to promote aquaculture in Sweden. Svenska Linnésällskapets Årsskrift. 2012, 2012: 83-98.
Ulicsni V, Svanberg I, Mólnar Z: Folk knowledge of non-domestic mammals among ethnic Hungarians in North-Western Romania. N West J Zool. 2013, 9: 383-398.
Svanberg I, Łuczaj Ł, Pardo-de-Santayana M, Pieroni A: History and Current Trends of Ethnobiological Research in Europe. Ethnobiology. Edited by: Anderson EN, Karen A, Pearsall DM, Hunn ES, Turner NJ. 2011, Hoboken NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 189-212.
Lévi-Strauss C: La Pensée Sauvage. 1962, Paris: Plon
Majnep IS, Bulmer R: Birds of My Kalam Country. 1977, Auckland: Auckland University Press
Nelson R: Make Prayers to the Raven: A Koyukon View of the Northern Forest. 1983, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Balée W: Footprints in the Forest: Ka’apor Ethnobotany. The Historical Ecology of Plant Utilization by an Amazonian People. 1994, New York: Columbia University Press
Kinzelbach R: Was ist Kulturzoologie? Paradigmen zur Koevolution von Mensch und Tier. Beiträge zur Archäozoologie und Prähistorischen Anthropologie. 1999, 2: 11-20.
Thanks to Justin Nolan and Andrea Pieroni, who invited me to write about my rickety roads into ethnobiology, and how I, despite potholes and dead ends, finally managed to find the right direction. Thanks also to my Yörük hosts and informants. The subjects in the photos in this essay consented to their image being taken and included in a publication.
Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University, Box 514, SE-751 20, Uppsala, Sweden
Search for Ingvar Svanberg in:
Correspondence to Ingvar Svanberg.
The author declares that he has no competing interests.
Svanberg, I. Encounters with fierce dogs and itchy bedbugs: why my first field work failed. J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine 10, 39 (2014) doi:10.1186/1746-4269-10-39
Cultural zoology
Recollections, reflections, and revelations: personal experiences in ethnobiology
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Tough Early-Season Schedule Paying Off For John Tyler
[By Stephen Amason, Special to ETSN.fm]
The John Tyler Lions wanted to test themselves early this early this season by playing a couple of 6A powerhouses in Cedar Hill and Longview. Though those two games did not go in their favor, playing those teams helped get themselves ready for a tough district schedule ahead.
John Tyler has been firing on all cylinders, and currently has a record of 2-0 in District 7-5A Division I play.
“We needed to make sure that we were battle-tested before we hit district,” John Tyler head football coach Ricklan Holmes said Tuesday. “Our district is going to be tough, the playoffs are even tougher, that’s why we played all 6A teams to start the season out.”
The Lions’ rushing attack has been impressive all year. They have seven different running backs with at least one touchdown. To say they’re deep at the running back position is an understatement.
“We use the philosophy that we had when I played here under coach (Allen) Wilson: having a fresh running back by having a rotation of backs,” Holmes said. “We have a luxury this year by having several running backs that can touch the ball and do some damage with it in their hands.”
Passing the football has also been a strong suit for the Lions. Senior quarterback Devlen Woods has been averaging 23.8 yards per toss, and has 808 yards on the year.
“He’s the guy this year, we knew that at the end of last season coming into this season,” Holmes said. “He’s the leader, the guy that everyone looks up to on the team, and they know if he stays healthy and stays upright, we can have a long and successful football season.”
On the defensive side of the football, John Tyler has been able to put pressure on quarterbacks all year.
Last Friday against Wylie East, the Lions recorded five sacks bringing their total to 19 on the year.
Holmes gives credit to a lot of their success on defense this year to defensive coordinator Barry Anderson.
“He’s a guy that knows what he’s doing, been around the game a long time,” Holmes said. “He has some assistant coaches that do a fine job for him getting the plan together with him and executing it well with the kids.”
John Tyler (3-2) looks to add another district win this Friday, as it goes on the road to take on the West Mesquite Wranglers (2-2, 1-0).
“Defensively they play fundamentally sound football, they don't make many mistakes, you don’t see them miss a lot of tackles,” Holmes said. “On the offensive side of the ball, they have three electrifying athletes on that side, their running back, their quarterback, and the big outside receiver that everybody in the country is recruiting.”
Filed Under: football, John Tyler
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Chris Turner 11 August 2018
In a recent announcement, Infiniti has said that it will be unveiling a new concept electric vehicle (EV) this month, at the 2018 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The unveiling of the new concept EV by Infiniti is scheduled for August 23, 2018.
With Infiniti having already announced that it has efforts underway to launch new vehicles with electrified powertrains from the year 2021, the upcoming debut of the new EV concept indicates that Infiniti is advancing towards its goal. The new concept EV has been developed by the company’s teams in Japan, the US, and the UK.
Ahead of the forthcoming debut of the new concept EV, Infiniti has released a teaser image of the vehicle. Although the teaser image does not reveal many details about the design of the concept EV, it shows a cockpit which indicates a single-seat vehicle. The image also hints at the EV’s aerodynamic nature, as is evident from the triangular-shaped air intakes behind the driver seat.
The teaser image also shows the new concept EV’s red accented steering wheel and a small windshield. Overall, from the teaser image, the vehicle appears to be the spiritual successor of the Prototype 9, but with notably sharp design elements.
About the new concept EV, Infiniti Executive Design Director Karim Habib said that “the new concept is a physical representation of our electrified performance future.”
Cameron Silverman
Honda launches ‘SmartCharge’ pilot program, initially for Fit EV owners in California
Aaron Lawson
Tesla finishes last in Pied Piper’s latest dealership ‘mystery shopper’ ranking
Tesla increases cost of Model 3’s Dual Motor version and some color options
22Motors is bringing ‘pothole mapping and warning’ feature to its Flow electric scooter
According to a recent disclosure by 22Motors, one of the notable high-tech features of the company’s ‘Flow’ electric scooter will be a ‘pothole mapping and warning’ feature, which will enable riders to better avoid road potholes or to altogether a
NY Auto Show: VW unveils Atlas Cross Sport PHEV concept
At the New York Auto Show this week, German automaker Volkswagen (VW) showcased a new edition of the Atlas SUV --- the Atlas Cross Sport PHEV concept.
Chinese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Kandi has recently marked its official foray into the US market, with the launch of two new EVs --- the EX3 all-electric SUV, and the K22 subcompact electric car.
Tesla Motors stock plunges to 52-week low after fatal Model X crash
The shares of the Silicon Valley-based electric-car manufacturer Tesla Motors plunged to a 52-week low this week, with the freefall of the company’s stock continuing on Wednesday.
EVs have gained immense popularity in five Nordic countries
In an interesting report, US News has revealed that electric cars have gained a lot of popularity in five Nordic countries --- Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland.
Nissan uses old Leaf battery packs and solar modules to design standalone streetlight
Japanese automaker Nissan has recently released the first photos of a dazzling new standalone streetlight which will be powered by old Leaf battery packs and solar modules.
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President issues executive order to set up Mehran Free Trade Zone: Ilam governor-general
Ilam, July 12, IRNA -- President Hassan Rouhani has issued executive order for commissioning Mehran Free Economic, Trade and Industrial Zone in southwest Ilam, Ilam governor-general Mohammad Reza Morvarid said on Saturday.
According to governor general office's Public Relations Department, President Rouhani has assigned his advisor, Akbar Torkan to carry out executive works to establish the Free Trade Zone.
Torkan was also tasked with bringing the proposal of setting up Mehran Free Economic, Commercial and Industrial Zone to the cabinet for approval.
Given president and cabinet's special attention to the strategic location of Mehran, the bill for the establishment of Mehran free economic, trade and industrial zone will be submitted to Majlis for final endorsement.
After Majlis approval, operations to set Mehran free economic zone will be undertaken at the earliest, Morvarid said.
The border city of Mehran located southwest of Ilam province has 220 kilometers joint borders with Iraq.
High level of security and lingual, tribal, religious and cultural diversity are among its unique advantages for establishment of the free trade and economic zone.
Mehran border is often frequented by the Iranian pilgrims and Iraqi pilgrims and tourists, as 6,000 people commute through Mehran border terminal each day.
Russia offers concerns over E3 JCPOA choices
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Ishwar Mangal
Indian market
Group Chief Sales Officer
Suzlon completes commissioning of wind power turnkey project
"Suzlon will offer operations and maintenance for 20 years through an Integrated Service Package contract," the company said in a statement."PTI | September 29, 2015, 13:00 IST
NEW DELHI: Wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy today said it has completed the commissioning of 100.8 MW wind power turnkey project for CLP India.
The project is located at Tejuva, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.
"The project will provide electricity to over 50,000 homes and curb 0.21 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. Suzlon will offer operations and maintenance for 20 years through an Integrated Service Package contract," the company said in a statement.
Elaborating on the project, the firm said: "The project comprises of 48 WTGs (Wind Turbine Generator) of Suzlon's robust S97- 2.1 MW wind turbines... designed to optimally harness the available wind resources and deliver higher energy, productivity, improved serviceability and higher return on investment (ROI) to customers.
"Suzlon leveraged its end-to-end wind solutions expertise to oversee the project completion from start to end."
Suzlon Group Chief Sales Officer Ishwar Mangal said, "Given the positive change in the Indian renewable energy landscape, our focus this year is to cater to the Indian market and enhance our market share."
Shares of Suzlon Energy were trading 0.25 per cent up at Rs 20.30 apiece during afternoon session on the BSE.
Tags : Renewable, Suzlon Energy, Ishwar Mangal, Indian market, Group Chief Sales Officer
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421 - 430 of 450 results for: ANTHRO
ANTHRO 375: Archaeology and Globalism
The emergence of archaeology as a discipline in the context of the rise of the nation state. Global economies and other issues have created a new context for archaeology. How are archaeology and heritage responding? The idea of world heritage. The impact of postcolonialism. The commodification of the past: the past as theme park, as travel tourism or nostalgia, as exotic and other. Conflict between uses of the past for identity and as theme park; between heritage and resource or play. The impact of the Goddess, New Age, and other movements. Archaeology and human rights issues including forensic archaeology. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
ANTHRO 376: Archaeology: The Emergence of a Discipline
This course explores the key thinkers and practitioners who have founded the discipline of archaeology. Reaching back into the nineteenth century, the course examines in depth the key figures, their preoccupations and projects that shaped the way that archaeology grew through the 20th and into the 21st century. Global in scope, the emphasis will be on field projects and practical problems that stimulated the intellectual development of archaeology as an independent discipline closely tied to geology, history, anthropology, and the natural sciences. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Last offered: Winter 2014
ANTHRO 377: Authority: Anthropological Perspectives
Why do people obey others in the absence of explicit coercion? Why do people accept some leaders but not others? What does it mean to say something or someone has authority? Is authority personal or institutional? Why do people believe in the Pope? Why do people believe some objects have power and others not? Is charisma only a perfume? Can institutions wield charismatic power? These are questions that from Max Weber onwards classical and contemporary anthropologists and sociologists continue to ask.nnIn returning to (Weberian) questions of authority and legitimacy this course takes a question posed by Bourdieu ¿ what is the mystery of ministry? We will apply the question of authority broadly, not just in the explicitly political realm but also to understand, for example, how (culturally specific) charismatic and sacral authority can be fashioned through persons and through objects (eg. relics). The course will thus move between interrelated religious, moral, and political notions to try to generate some critical questions for how a contemporary anthropology that explicitly (rather than implicitly) re-addresses authority might look.
Terms: Spr | Units: 5
Instructors: Thiranagama, S. (PI)
ANTHRO 377 | 5 units | Class # 33188 | Section 01 | Grading: Letter (ABCD/NP) | SEM | Students enrolled: 11 / 20
04/03/2017 - 06/07/2017 Thu 1:30 PM - 4:20 PM at 260-004 with Thiranagama, S. (PI)
ANTHRO 378: Dynamics of Coupled Human-Natural Systems
This is a graduate research seminar on the interdisciplinary approach to the study of the dynamics of what is known as "coupled human-natural systems." We will take a critical perspective on such systems, asking to what extent the idea of coupling of discrete subsystems is intellectually profitable and what defines a "human" vs. a "natural" system? We will explore concepts such as coupling, nonlinearity, threshold behavior, feedback, complexity, resilience, and catastrophes. Case studies will be drawn from the literature on human ecology, population dynamics, disease ecology, and social dynamics. Emphasis will be on developing a working knowledge of mathematical and computational models of coupled systems embedded within a rigorous empirical framework of biosocial data collection.
ANTHRO 379: Empathy Lab (TAPS 284)
This lab-based class examines the ways in which various disciplines and art forms conceive of, and tell stories about, the experiences and stories of others. With permission of instructor.
ANTHRO 379A: Empathy Lab II: The Potential of Anthropology for the 21st Century (TAPS 379A)
This interdisciplinary arts/anthropology lab class will study and practice methods from performing arts to expand our understandings of cultural contact and develop methods of thinking more expansively about the creative elements and possibilities for ethnographic fieldwork and critical cultural studies. Prerequisite, by instructor consent.
Last offered: Winter 2016 | Repeatable for credit
ANTHRO 379B: Empathy Lab II: The Potential of Anthropology for the 21st Century
This interdisciplinary arts/anthropology lab class will study and practice methods from performing arts to expand our understandings of cultural contact and develop methods of thinking more expansively about the creative elements and possibilities for ethnographic fieldwork and critical cultural studies.
Last offered: Spring 2016
ANTHRO 380: Practice and Performance: Bourdieu, Butler, Giddens, de Certeau
Poststructuralist theories of iteration and mimesis used by social scientists to negotiate the tension between social structure and social practice: Gidden's structuration theory; Bourdieu's practice theory; Butler's theories of gender performativity; and de Certeau's analysis of tactics and strategies. Ethnographic and archaeological case studies that employ methodologies inspired by these approaches. Intersections and contradictions between these theorists' work; their use in anthropological practice. Issues of gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
ANTHRO 381: Archaeology of Violence
This advanced graduate seminar reflects on archaeological research on violence in relation to readings in philosophy, political anthropology, cultural studies, and gender and ethnic studies. While some forensic approaches are discussed, the emphasis is more on structural and collective violence and the role of violence in the formation of the archaeological record.
ANTHRO 382: Advanced Topics in Medical Anthropology
Graduate seminar. The history and theories of medical anthropology. Focus is on medical anthropology's transformations in the 20th century: how medical anthropology has emerged as a field of inquiry, grown in dialogue with other areas of scholarships, and come to offer a unique array of theoretical positions and modes of ethnographic engagement. Emphasis is on debates within interpretive and critical medical anthropology, and how an understanding of these debates may be used to assess contemporary works within the field. Prerequisite: consent of instructor.
Last offered: Autumn 2012
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Curtis S. Fallgatter
Harold H. Catlin
Lisa Varon
White-Collar Defense
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By Fallgatter Catlin & Varon, P.A. • March 4, 2019
Marijuana and Driving Under the Influence… A Cause for Concern According to the most recent statements made by the former United States Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, the Trump Administration has major concerns about the effects of the legalization of marijuana and the possibility of an increase in crimes being committed. Sessions told reporters that, where marijuana has been legalized, a “real violence” exists around the marijuana industry, and in some cases, into states where legalization has not yet taken place. This ongoing debate is being fueled by proponents who advocate for stronger resistance by the federal government to legalization on…
Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorneys are Busy
By Fallgatter Catlin & Varon, P.A. • February 27, 2019
There were many issues associated with the building of the new Duval County Courthouse — from the estimated original investment to the actual builder and architectural design used. One could argue that the $350 million-dollar price tag for the project’s completion in 2012 was a huge sum of money, but no one would argue that the size and scope of the facility is geared up for doing a lot of business on behalf of our taxpayers. The old courthouse was outdated and overcrowded, and the State of Florida needed to secure a new building and relocate all the offices of…
Choosing the right Jacksonville Criminal Defense Attorney
By Fallgatter Catlin & Varon, P.A. • August 30, 2018
Criminal Defense Lawyers – Education and Experience Practicing attorneys, in the state of Florida, are schooled and trained in many aspects of the law, with most law schools requiring roughly 85 hours of legal courses. The field of study is broad, covering everything from contracts and civil procedures to criminal and constitutional law. However, law school does not allow a law student to specialize in any particular field of the law. Once the attorney passes the State Bar Exam, gets admitted to the bar, and are sworn in by the court, they’ll choose a specific legal field to specialize in. …
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By Fallgatter Catlin & Varon, P.A. • May 14, 2018
Jacksonville Crime Rates If you read or listen to the local news here on the First Coast, crimes committed and arrests made by law enforcement officials top the list of stories being reported on most given days. North Florida, like most of urban Florida, has its fair share of issues. One of the most important issues is crimes involving Florida citizens. According to The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), arrests made within the 4 counties that make up our area, were actual down year over year for 2017. Not surprising, with all the emphasis made by officials to broaden…
Assimilative Crimes Act
By Fallgatter Catlin & Varon, P.A. • July 17, 2017
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By Fallgatter Catlin & Varon, P.A. • June 16, 2017
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"The Father of Locks" by Andrew Killeen (reviewed ...
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Interview With Gary Gibson (Interviewed by Mark Ch...
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Spotlight on August 2009 Books
Anticipation - Keep an eye on it via Convention Reporter
The 67th World Science Fiction Convention had just started in Montréal, Canada. Unfortunately, none of us FBC editors could be there (I would go, but last-minute financial issues kept me out of it), but don´t fret: our good friend Cheryl Morgan has created a veritable global network to cover the Worldcon: it´s the Convention Reporter, a site whose main goal is to cover science fiction conventions through a network of volunteers, linked via their blogs/LJs/tweeter accounts, each one giving his/her own vision of the event. There will also be a group of editors to help putting some order in the mix (not cutting anything, just blocking SPAM and making sure that everything is being posted) and, in some cases, even translating reports to their native languages.
That will be my case, as one of the editors. From today on, you can expect daily reports from our main woman and men on Montréal, a jolly bunch among whom you can find Neil Gaiman, Cory Doctorow, Elizabeth Bear, Catherynne M Valente, Irene Gallo, Jay Lake, Marc Gascoigne, Rani Graff, Claude Lalumière and many, many others. Go check it out whenever you want it, there will be plenty of information.
Oh, and regarding the Hugo Awards, expect reviews of the nominees for Best Novel right here, on Fantasy Book Critic.
1:36 PM | Posted by Fabio Fernandes | | Edit Post
bloggeratf said...
I am probably headed up there on Friday. I'll make sure to sign up if I have any news to share. Any of the FBC crew want any authors sucker punched?
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Home /Complaints
HC vio33
payamcf6d 11h
So I got an HC vio for saying a word which doesn't even exist https://epicmafia.com/report/281003
As I understand, if I say now a word which is close to an offensive word (it rhymes or it has one letter flipped) then I get a HC vio?
I was wondering where do we draw the line here exactly? Am I allowed to say niger? Or is it also banned because it is really close to the n word? How about if istead of saying the r word, I flip 2 letter instead of 1? Is that also not allowed? Why aren't they filltered then, if they are not allowed?
Citadel5d 14h
Why are you trying to deduce a robotic algorithm that draws the line when the person who's handing you the violation has an adaptive brain and can make different decision on a case-to-case basis. If the moderator thinks your ill-intentions are clear, finding a creative way to bypass the filter will net you a violation. It really is as simple as that.
It really amazes me how people actively compromise their integrity just to try and evade on a technicality when you know well enough that the person in front of you can see through it.
UniversalStudios5d 14h
But where do we drawl that line?
alexandra5d 14h
we draw the line at “don’t say slurs or try to be cute and say a non slur that’s similar to a slur to bypass the rules”
it is mindblowingly easy to just not try and say slurs
As a person that could potentially be drafted, I posted a culturally relevant meme a few people agreed with and got a violation for racial slurs.
UniversalStudios
Is the term "rere" acceptable?
This also didn't get answered.
it’s slang for the r word so no
payamcf
it becomes pretty obvious when you use the word Niger in any context other than it being a country
"You behave like a Niger" are you sure what the context is? Can you read that out?
Obviously saying "You behave like an American" wouldn't get me a vio.
you’re going to get a racial slurs vio if you keep trying to push the “Niger” thing
you didn’t even use it correctly grammatically, “nigerien” would’ve been the word to use there, you’re clearly intentionally using in a way that’s similar to the n word to make a point
it’s VERY easy to tell if someone is trying to use these words legitimately vs using them to filter bypass
if you’re using a country name that is one letter off from the n word as an insult in context that does not make sense and is grammatically incorrect you are going to get a racial slurs vio because it’s clear what you mean
Hey, don't threat me with vios, if you really think that's what my intention is, go on give me a vio. I am legit trying to discuss here about a topic, no need to be over sensitive.
I do agree that the grammar is not correct, but that's cause English is not my first language, so once more, you are threatening to give me a vio because
1- The word is close to a Slur
2- The grammar is not correct
Like seriously, don't you see what I am trying to say? The word Niger is different with the N word in ANY context!! You can't just give out vios because a word is close to another word and you feel offended by it.
If you really wanna do that, then change the HC rule to something like
"Any form of severe or excessive hate speech or hateful language, or words which are close to slurs and being used in an offensive context"
Additionally, adding the fact that how the mod team feels about the context.
evading the hateful comments filter to use a slur, even if you misspell the word so the filter doesn’t catch it (which is literally filter bypassing), is against the rules and will result in a vio if it’s clear that you were trying to say a slur
Then why did I get a vio? Is it really that "clear" that I wanted to say a slur? I literally wanted to play around with the fruit filter, why on earth would I bypass the filter in the mafia meeting after we won a game...
I also didn't get an answer, like why do you think "stupid" does not fall under HC and the word which Universal said does? Who decides this? To me it seems it's just a gut feeling and how good the mod team feels on that day. If a mod feels like "nah that's okay", then it's okay. Rules of a website should not be like that. I hope you understand what I am trying to say here.
btw I can't edit or delete the some older comments on this post (idk why). If you feel what I wrote is offensive, please edit or remove the comment, I genuinely just want to discuss about a topic which I feel is unclear to me, I have no intentions to offend anyone here.
star5d 12h
i'm not threatening you - i'm warning you
the spelling of the word does not matter when we look at moderating it. there are filters in place for those slurs for a reason. it is not possible for us to create a list of every possible way that someone could bypass the filter. if someone is using something that's one letter off from the n word in a context that's clearly being used as a way to bypass the n word (e.g. calling someone a country, which doesn't make sense and you would have absolutely no contextual reason to do so) then you're going to get a violation, because you're clearly trying to evade the filter
we've made several announcements that we show 0 tolerance for slurs regardless of context. this policy was put in place at the instruction of the site owner.
i don't think you understand that it doesn't matter what context you use a slur in; it's a violation. playing around with/testing the filter doesn't make it okay.
stupid is not a slur. the r word is a slur, and the word that universalstudios asked about is slang for a slur. hateful comments doesn't mean "mean word". not every filtered word in a mafia game will net you a vio if you bypass the filter. b*tch, c*nt, a/sshole, piece of sh*t, all of these insults will have 0 repercussions. slurs will have repercussions.
like i mentioned in the last post, it's a policy that the site owner himself has put in place
sorry star is me i forgot i was on my alt on my laptop
i believe what you're missing here is context.
lmao the thread should have ended with this
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Principal Remember When
McNaught Judith
Remember When 2 The Sequel
Torrest T
Axler James
Alone on a moonlit balcony at Houston's White Orchid Charity Ball, Diana Foster courageously upheld the sparkling image of her family's Beautiful Living magazine. Recently jilted by her fiancé for an Italian heiress an insult delivered via a sleazy tabloid—Diana was now very publicly unengaged, and surrounded by humiliating rumors. So why was billionaire Cole Harrison closing in on her with two crystal flutes and a bottle of champagne?
The former stableboy had received an ultimatum from his uncle: Cole must bring home a wife—soon—or lose his share of a booming multinational business. Coolly analytical and arrestingly attractive, Cole knew what he wanted in a bride, and Diana Foster—rich, beautiful, and principled—fit the role perfectly. But while a long, slow kiss sealed the bargain that solved both their dilemmas, neither imagined the extraordinary journey that would begin on that unforgettable night…
47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 Epilogue
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Copyright © 1996 by Eagle Syndication, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
First Pocket Books paperback printing October 1997
To St. Jude, Patron Saint of Impossible Things
You put a lot of overtime in on this one— Thank you.
This is the page where, traditionally, authors offer a few words of thanks to those people who have been rather helpful, or extremely tolerant, during the gestation of their novel. In the case of this novel, which has taken forever to write, there is not enough space on this page to properly thank even one of the following people for their enormous help, understanding, and support. I can only hope each of you will realize how important you were, and you are, to me…
Dr. John M. Lewis, protector of hearts;
Keith Spalding, always and ever the dearest of friends;
George Bohnenburger, provider of instant answers to complicated questions on boggling subjects;
Betty Mitchell, builder of dreams;
Bruce Monical, artist, adviser, and dearest friend;
Mark Strickler, most patient friend;
Jim Hime, who redefines the concepts of thoroughness and integrity.
John and Whitney Shelley and Clay McNaught—for being my family and my friends.
Houston, 1979
Diana, are you still awake? I'd like to talk to you."
Diana stopped in the act of turning off the lamp beside her bed and leaned back against the pillows. "Okay," she called.
"How's the jet lag, honey?" her father asked as he walked toward her bed. "Are you exhausted?" At forty-three, Robert Foster was a tall, broad-shouldered Houston oilman with prematurely gray hair who normally exuded self-assurance, but not tonight. Tonight, he looked distinctly uneasy, and Diana knew why. Although she was only fourteen, she wasn't silly enough to think he'd come there to talk about whether she had jet lag. He wanted to talk to her about her new stepmother and stepsister, whom she'd met for the first time this afternoon when she arrived home from a vacation in Europe with school friends. "I'm okay," she said.
"Diana—" he began; then he hesitated, sat down on the bed beside her, and took her hand in his. After a moment, he began again. "I know how strange it must have seemed to you to come home today and find out I'd remarried. Please believe that I would never have married Mary without giving you a chance to get to know each other if I hadn't been positive, absolutely positive, that the two of you will learn to love each other. You do like her, don't you?" he asked anxiously, searching her face. "You said you did—"
Diana nodded, but she didn't understand why he'd married someone he hardly knew and she'd never met until today. During the years since her mother died, he'd dated some really beautiful and very nice Houston women, but before things got too serious, he'd always introduced them to Diana and insisted the three of them spend time together. Now he'd actually married someone, but it was a lady she'd never set eyes on before. "Mary seems really nice," she said after a moment. "I just don't understand why you were in such a hurry."
He looked sheepish, but his answer was unquestionably heartfelt. "There will be a few times in your life when all your instincts will tell you to do something, something that defies logic, upsets your plans, and may even seem crazy to others. When that happens, you do it. Listen to your instincts and ignore everything else. Ignore logic, ignore the odds, ignore the complications, and just go for it."
"And that's what you did?"
He nodded. "I knew within hours of meeting Mary that she was just what I wanted for myself, and for you, and I knew when I met Corey that the four of us were going to be an exceptionally happy family. However, all my instincts warned me that if I gave Mary more than a little time to decide, she'd start thinking about all the obstacles and agonizing over them, and that in the end she'd turn me down."
Loyalty and common sense made that possibility seem entirely unlikely to Diana. Previous women had gone to absurd lengths to attract and hold her father's interest. "It seems to me that practically every woman you've taken out has wanted you."
"No, honey, most of them wanted what I could give them in the form of financial security and social acceptance. Only a few have truly wanted me."
"But are you sure that Mary truly wanted you?" Diana asked, thinking of his statement that Mary would have turned him down.
Her father grinned, his eyes warming with affection. "I'm completely sure she did, and she does."
"Then why would she have turned you down?"
His smile widened. "Because she's the opposite of mercenary and status conscious. Mary is very intelligent, but she and Corey have led a simple life in a tiny little town where no one is wealthy, not by Houston standards. She fell in love with me as quickly and deeply as I fell in love with her, and she agreed to marry me within a week, but when she realized what sort of life we live here, she started trying to back out.
"She was worried that Corey and she wouldn't fit in, that they'd make some sort of inexcusable social blunder and embarrass us. The longer she thought about it, the more convinced she became that she'd fail us."
He reached out and gently smoothed a lock of shining chestnut hair from Diana's cheek. "Just imagine—Mary was willing to toss away all the material things I can give her, all the things everyone else was so anxious to grab, because she didn't want to fail me as a wife or you as a mother. Those are the things that are important to her."
Diana had liked her new stepmother well enough when she met her today, but the tenderness in her father's eyes and the love in his voice when he talked of Mary carried an enormous amount of additional weight with Diana. "I like her a lot," she confessed.
A smile of relief dawned across his face. "I knew you would. She likes you, too. She said you're very sweet and very poised. She said you'd have had every right to get hysterical this afternoon when you walked in the front door and met a stepmother you'd never heard about before. And wait till you meet your new grandparents," he added enthusiastically.
"Corey said they're really neat," Diana replied, thinking back over all the information her thirteen-year-old stepsister had provided during their first day together.
"They are. They're good, honest, hardworking people who laugh a lot and love each other a lot. Corey's grandfather is an excellent gardener, an amateur inventor, and a skillful carpenter. Her grandmother is very artistic and very talented at handcrafts. Now," he said, looking a little tense again, "tell me what you think about Corey."
Diana was quiet for a moment, trying to put her feelings about her new stepsister into words; then she leaned forward, wrapped her arms around her knees, and smiled. "Well, she's different from the other girls I know. She's… friendly and honest, and she says what's on her mind. She hasn't been anywhere but Texas, and she doesn't try to act cool and sophisticated, but she's done lots of things I never have. Oh, and she thinks you're practically a king," Diana added with a grin.
"What a clever, discerning young lady!"
"Her own father ran out on her mom and her when Corey was just a baby," Diana said, sobered by the thought of such an unspeakable act by a parent.
"His stupidity and irresponsibility are my good luck, and I intend to make certain Mary and Corey feel lucky, too. Want to help me pull that off?" he asked, standing up and smiling at her.
Diana nodded. "You bet," she said.
"Just remember, Corey hasn't had a lot of the advantages you've had, so take it slow and teach her the ropes."
"Okay, I will."
"That's my girl." He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. "You and Mary are going to be wonderful friends."
He started away, but Diana's quiet announcement made him turn back and stop. "Corey would like to call you Dad."
"I didn't know that," Robert Foster said, his voice turning gruff with emotion. "Mary and I hoped she might want to someday, but I thought it might take a long, long time before she came around to that." He studied Diana for a long moment, and then hesitantly asked, "How do you feel—about Corey calling me Dad—I mean?"
Diana grinned. "It was my idea."
Across the hall, Mary Britton Foster was seated on her thirteen-year-old daughter's bed and running out of small talk. "So you had a nice time with Diana today?" she asked Corey for the third time.
"And you enjoyed going over to the Hayward children's house and riding their horses when Diana took you there this afternoon?"
"Mom, we're all teenagers; you aren't supposed to call us children."
"Sorry," Mary said, idly rubbing Corey's leg beneath the blankets.
"And it wasn't what you'd call a house; it's so big, it's practically a motel!"
"That big?" Mary teased.
Corey nodded. "It's about the size of our house."
The fact that she'd referred to Diana and Robert's house as "our house" was very revealing and immensely reassuring to Mary. "And do the Haywards have a barn at their house?"
"They call it a stable, but it's the same as a barn, only it looks like a beautiful stone house from the outside, and it's as clean as one on the inside. They even have a guy who lives down at the stable and looks after the horses. They call him a groom, and his name is Cole, and the girls think he's a complete hunk. He's just gotten out of college at—I forget where—but I think he said it's here in Houston."
"Imagine that," Mary said, shaking her head in amazement. "Now it takes a college degree just to get a job looking after horses in a barn—er—stable."
Corey suppressed a laugh. "No, I meant he's just finished the semester, and pretty soon he starts another one. The horses are just awesome!" Corey added, switching to the topic of primary interest to her. "I get to ride again at Barb Hayward's birthday party next week. Barb invited me, but I think Diana asked her to do it. I met a bunch of Barb and Diana's friends today. I didn't think they liked me very much, but Diana said I was just imagining it."
"I see. And what do you think of Diana?"
"Diana's…" Corey hesitated, thinking. "Diana's cool. She told me she's always wanted a sister, and maybe that's why she's being so nice to me. She's not a snob at all. She even told me I could borrow any of her clothes that I want."
"That's very nice of her."
Corey nodded. "And when I told her I liked the way she wears her hair, she said we could practice different styles on each other."
"And… um… did she say anything about anyone else?"
"Like who?" Corey asked with sham confusion.
"Like me, and you know it."
"Let me think. Oh, yeah, I remember now! She said you looked mean and sneaky, and she said you'll probably make her stay home and scrub floors while I get to go to balls and dance with princes. I told her she was probably right, but that I'd ask you to let her wear the glass slipper as long as she didn't leave the house."
"Corey!—"
Laughing, Corey leaned forward and hugged her mother as she finally told the truth. "Diana said you seemed very nice and she likes you. She asked if you were strict, and I said you were sometimes, but then you feel guilty and bake up batches of cookies to make up for it."
"Did she really say she likes me?"
Sobering, Corey nodded emphatically. "Diana's mother died when she was only five. I can't imagine what life would be like if I didn't have you, Mom—"
Mary hugged her daughter close and laid her cheek on Corey's blond hair. "Diana hasn't had a lot of the advantages you have. Try to remember that. Having lots of clothes to wear and a big bedroom isn't the same as having Grandpa and Grandma to love you and teach you all the things you learned when we lived with them."
Corey's smile faded a little. "I'm going to miss them something terrible."
"Me, too."
"I told Diana about them, and she was really interested. Could I take her to Long Valley sometime soon so she can meet them?"
"Yes, of course. Or maybe we could ask Robert to let them come for a visit."
Mary stood up and started to leave, but Corey's hesitant voice stopped her. "Mom, Diana said I could call Robert, Dad. Do you think he'd mind?"
"I think he'd love it!" She looked a little sad then and added, "Maybe someday Diana might want to call me Mom."
"Tomorrow," Corey said with a knowing smile.
"Tomorrow, what?"
"She's going to call you Mom, starting tomorrow."
"Oh, Corey, isn't she wonderful?" Mary said, her eyes filling with tears.
Corey rolled her eyes, but she didn't deny it. "It was my idea that she call you Mom. All she did was say she wanted to do it."
"You're wonderful, too," Mrs. Foster said with a laugh as she kissed her daughter. She turned out the light and closed the door when she left. Corey lay there, thinking about the conversation and wondering if Diana was asleep. After several moments, she scrambled out of bed and pulled on an old plaid flannel robe over her nightshirt emblazoned with "SAVE THE TURTLES" across the front.
The hallway was dark as pitch as she groped her way across the hall toward the door of Diana's room. Her fingertips finally encountered the doorframe, and she raised her hand to knock just as the door flew open, startling a muffled squeal from her. "I was just coming over to see if you were awake," Diana whispered, backing up and beckoning Corey into her room.
"Did your dad have a talk with you tonight?" Corey asked, perching on the edge of Diana's bed and admiring the cream lace ruffles at the throat and wrists of Diana's high-waisted, pale rose robe and the delicate lace trim on her matching quilted slippers.
Diana nodded and sat down beside her. "Yes. Did your mom have one with you?"
"I think they were afraid we weren't going to like each other."
Corey bit her bottom lip and then blurted, "Did you happen to ask your dad about me calling him Dad?"
"I did, and he loved the idea," Diana said, keeping her voice low so that this cozy pajama party for two wouldn't be ended by parental decree.
"Yes. In fact, he got all choked up." Diana looked down at her lap and drew a long breath, then lifted her eyes to Corey's. "Did you mention to your mom about me calling her Mom?"
"Did she say anything?"
"She said you're wonderful," Corey replied, rolling her eyes in feigned disagreement.
"Did she say anything else?"
"She couldn't," Corey replied. "She was crying."
The two girls eyed one another in smiling silence, then, as if by mutual agreement, flopped onto their backs. "I think," Diana said after a moment's contemplation, "this could turn out to be really, really cool!"
Corey nodded with absolute conviction. "Totally cool," she proclaimed.
Yet later that night, as she lay in her own bed, Corey found it hard to believe that things had turned out so well with Diana.
Earlier that day, she would never have believed it was possible. When Diana's father had married Corey's mother after a two-week courtship and brought his new wife and daughter to his Houston home, Corey had dreaded meeting her stepsister. Based on what little she'd already discovered about Diana, Corey figured they were so different they were probably going to hate each other. Besides being born rich and growing up in this huge mansion, Diana was a year older than Corey and a straight-A student; and when Corey took a peek into Diana's feminine bedroom, everything was so neat it gave her the creeps. Based on what she'd heard and seen, she felt sure that Diana was going to be disgustingly perfect and a complete snob. She was even more sure Diana was going to think Corey was a dumb hick and a slob.
Her first glimpse of Diana when she walked into the foyer this morning had confirmed Corey's worst fears. Diana was petite, with a narrow waist, slim hips, and real breasts, which made Corey feel like a deformed, flat-chested giant by contrast. Diana was dressed like a model from Seventeen magazine, in a short tan skirt, cream-colored tights, and a tan-and-blue plaid vest topped off by a jaunty tan blazer with an emblem on the front. Corey was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.
And yet, despite Corey's absolute conviction that Diana would be a conceited snob, Diana had been the one who broke the ice. It was Diana who had admired Corey's hand-painted sweatshirt with the horse on the front, and Diana who'd first admitted that she'd always wanted a sister. Later that afternoon, Diana had taken Corey over to the Haywards' house so Corey could take pictures of the Haywards' horses with the new camera Diana's father had given her.
Diana didn't seem to resent the fancy camera her father had bought for Corey or hate the idea of sharing him with Corey. And if she thought Corey was a dumb hick, she definitely hadn't shown it. Next week, Diana was taking her to Barb Hayward's birthday party, where everyone was going to ride horses. Diana said her friends would become Corey's friends, too, and Corey hoped she was right.
That last part didn't matter nearly as much as having a sister so close to her own age to spend time with and talk to—and Corey wouldn't be doing all the taking either—she had some things to give Diana. For one thing, Diana had led an awfully sheltered life, in Corey's opinion. Earlier that day, she'd admitted she'd never climbed a really big tree, never eaten berries right off the vine, and never skipped rocks across a pond.
Closing her eyes, Corey sighed with relief.
« ^ »
Cole Harrison looked over his shoulder at Diana Foster, who was hovering in the open doorway of the stable, her hands clasped behind her back, watching her new stepsister in the riding ring with the other girls who were attending Barbara Hayward's birthday party. He picked up a brush and a currycomb and stopped on his way into one of the stalls. "Would you like me to saddle a horse for you?" he asked.
"No, thank you," she replied, and her soft voice was so very polite and adult that Cole bit back a smile.
He'd been working as a groom at the Hayward estate for the last two years while he went to college, and during that time, he'd seen and heard enough to form some strong impressions about the teenage daughters of Houston's ultra-rich. Among those observations was that the thirteen- and fourteen-year-old girls who hung around with Barbara Hayward were all crazy about boys and crazy about horses, and they were desperately eager to perfect their skills with both, la addition to their obsession with boys, they were totally obsessed with their looks, their clothes, and their status with their peers. Their personalities ranged from giddy to sulky, and although they could be charming, they were also demanding, conceited, and catty.
Some of the girls were already raiding their parents' liquor cabinets, most of them wore too much makeup, and all of them tried to flirt with him. Last year, their efforts had been amusingly clumsy and easy to deflect, but they were becoming bolder as they grew older. As a result, he was beginning to feel like a sex object for a bunch of single-minded, precocious adolescent girls.
That wouldn't have been nearly as exasperating if they'd restricted themselves to blushing and giggling, but lately they'd progressed to come-hither looks and languishing stares. A month ago, one of Barbara's friends had taken the lead in the "chase" by boldly asking Cole's opinion on French kissing. Haley Vincennes, who was the unchallenged head of the clique, instantly reclaimed her position as lead by informing Cole that she thought he had "a great butt."
Until a week ago, when Diana Foster brought her new stepsister down to the stable to introduce her to Barbara, Cole had rarely seen Diana, but the petite brunette had always struck him as a refreshing exception. Everything about her was appealing and wholesome, and yet he sensed there were depths to her that the other girls lacked. She had hair the color of dark copper and a pair of startlingly large, long-lashed eyes—clear, luminous, mesmerizing green eyes that regarded him, and the rest of her world, with genuine interest. They were expressive eyes, bright with lively intelligence, glowing with wit, and yet filled with a sweetness that never failed to make Cole feel like smiling at her.
When he'd finished brushing the mare, Cole patted her flank and left the stall, closing the heavy oak door behind him. As he turned to put the currycomb and brush on a shelf, he was surprised to see that Diana hadn't left. She was still standing in the doorway, her hands clasped tightly behind her back, her expression anxious as she observed the noisy activities in the riding ring and the practice area outside it.
She was looking so intently at whatever she was watching that Cole leaned to the left to get a better angle of the riding ring. At first, all he noticed was twenty girls who were laughing and shouting as they watched each other trotting in figure eights or jumping low hurdles. Then he noticed that Corey, Diana's new stepsister, was completely alone at the far side of the corral. Corey shouted a compliment to Haley Vincennes as she rode past with three other girls, but Haley stared right through Corey as if a compliment from her was completely meaningless, then said something to the other girls that made them look at Corey and laugh. Corey's shoulders drooped; she turned her horse and trotted out of the ring as if she'd been verbally ejected instead of silently shunned.
Diana's hands tightened convulsively behind her back, and Cole saw her bite down hard on her lower lip, reminding him of a distressed mother bird who knows her chick isn't doing well outside the nest. He was both surprised and impressed by Diana's obvious dismay over her new stepsister's plight, but he also knew her hope of seeing Corey accepted was probably futile.
He'd been present last week when she first brought Corey down to the stables and introduced her to Barbara and several of the other girls who'd come to the stable to see a new foal. He had witnessed the stunned silence that followed Diana's introduction, and he'd seen the expressions of hostile superiority as the young debutantes-to-be discovered Corey's background and judged her an inferior.
That day, Diana had seemed to take for smiling granted that Corey would be made welcome by her wealthy friends. In Cole's opinion, she was in for some sharp and lasting disappointments, and based on Diana's worried frown now, she was arriving at the same conclusion.
Touched by the intensity of the emotions playing across her expressive face, Cole tried to distract her. "Corey's a pretty decent rider. I don't think you have to watch her that closely or worry about her."
She turned partway around and gave him a reassuring smile. "I wasn't worrying just then; I was thinking. Sometimes I frown when I think."
"Oh," Cole said, trying to protect her dignity by pretending he believed her. "A lot of people do that." He thought for something else to say. "What about you, do you like horses?"
"Very much," she said in her strangely adult and oddly endearing way. With her hands still clasped behind her back, she turned fully toward him, obviously willing to continue the conversation. "I brought them a bag of apples," she added, nodding toward a large brown sack just inside the door.
Since she apparently preferred to feed them, not ride them, Cole leapt to the obvious conclusion. "Do you know how to ride?"
She surprised him again by nodding. "Yes."
"Let me see if I have this straight," he joked. "When you come here, you don't ride, even when all your friends are riding, right?"
"And you do know how to ride, and you do like horses very much. Right?"
"In fact, you like horses so much that you bring apples for them, right?"
"Right again."
He hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and studied her curiously. "I don't understand," he admitted.
"I like them much better when I'm on the ground."
There was embarrassed laughter in her voice, and it was so contagious that Cole grinned. "Don't tell me—let me guess. You were thrown and got hurt, is that it?"
"You got it," she admitted. "I rushed a fence and got a broken wrist."
"The only way to get over your fear is to get right back on," Cole lectured.
"I did that," she assured him gravely, but with a twinkle in her green eyes.
"And I got a concussion."
Cole's stomach growled, and his thoughts shifted to apples. He lived on a tight budget, and he seemed to have an appetite that was never satisfied. "I'd better put that bag of apples away before it gets stepped on or someone trips over it," he said. Harrison picked up the bag and started toward the rear of the stable, fully intending to share in the horses' bounty. As he passed one of the stalls near the end of the long aisle, an ancient named Buckshot put his head out over the door, his eyes hopeful and inquisitive, his soft nose aimed at the bag in Cole's arm.
"You can't walk and you can't see, but there's nothing wrong with your sense of smell," Cole told the horse as he dug an apple out of the bag and gave it to him. "Just don't go telling your stablemates about these apples. Some of them are mine."
Cole was putting fresh hay into the empty stalls when several of the girls who'd been riding marched into the stable. "Diana, we need to talk to you about Corey," Haley Vincennes announced. Cole looked up from his chore, took one look at the group, and knew that the all-girl jury was about to deliver their verdict. And it wasn't going to be a good one.
Diana obviously sensed it, too, and tried to head them off, her voice sweet and persuasive. "I know you'll all like Corey when you get to know her, and then we'll all be good friends."
"That just can't happen," Haley decreed with haughty finality. "None of us have anything in common with somebody from a hick town we've never even heard of. I mean, did you see that sweatshirt she was wearing last week when you brought her over here? She said her grandmother painted that horse's head on it for her."
"I liked it," Diana said stubbornly. "Corey's grandmother is an artist!"
"Artists paint on canvases not sweatshirts, and you know it. And I will bet you a month's allowance those jeans she's wearing today came from Sears!"
A chorus of murmured laughter from the other girls was proof they agreed; then Barb Hayward finally added her vote to the majority opinion, but she looked a little timid as she decreed poor Corey's fate: "I don't see how she can be our friend, or yours either, Diana."
Cole winced with empathy for Corey and with sympathy for poor little Diana, who he was certain would buckle under the intense peer pressure, but poor little Diana didn't give an inch, even though her voice never lost its softness. "I'm really sorry you all feel that way," she said sincerely, directing her words to Haley, who Cole already knew was the leader in this and the nastiest of the dissenters. "I guess I never realized you'd be afraid of the competition if you gave her a chance."
"What competition?" Barb Hayward asked, looking baffled but concerned.
"Competition with boys. I mean, Corey is very pretty, and she's lots of fun, so naturally the boys are going to be hanging around her wherever she goes."
In the stall across from the girls, Cole paused, pitchfork in hand, a smile of admiration on his mouth, as he realized Diana's strategy. As he'd learned while working there, boys were the most desirable, most valued of commodities to teenage girls, and the possibility that Corey might attract more boys into their collective lair was almost irresistible. He was wondering if that possibility wouldn't be outweighed in their minds by the threat that Corey might steal their existing boyfriends, when Diana interjected smoothly, "Of course, Corey already has a boyfriend back home, and she isn't interested in having another one here."
"I think we should give her a chance and take some time to get to know her before we make up our minds we don't want her in the group," Barb said in the earnest, hesitant tone of a girl who knows the difference between right and wrong, but who lacks the courage to be a leader.
"I'm so glad!" Diana said happily. "I knew you wouldn't let me down. If you had, I'd have missed all of you—I'd have missed sharing some of my best clothes with you, and missed having you go with us to New York next summer."
"Missed us? What do you mean?"
"I mean that Corey is going to be my best friend. And best friends have to stick together."
When the others left to return to the party, Cole strolled out of the stall, startling Diana. "Tell me something," he said with a conspiratorial grin. "Does Corey really have a boyfriend back home?"
Diana nodded slowly. "Yes."
"Really?" Cole asked dubiously, noticing the guilty laughter in her sparkling eyes. "What's this boyfriend's name?"
She bit her lip. "It's sort of an odd name."
"How odd?"
"Promise you won't tell anyone?"
Enchanted with her face, her voice, her loyalty, and her cleverness, Cole drew an X over his heart with his index finger.
"His name is Sylvester."
"And he's a—?" Cole prompted.
Her gaze mischievously slid away from his, her curly russet lashes casting shadows on her cheekbones as they lowered over the jade of her eyes. "A pig," she confessed.
Her voice had been so low, and Cole had been so certain that Sylvester was a dog or cat, that he thought he had misunderstood. "A pig?" he repeated. "As in oink? As in piglet?"
She nodded. "As in 'hog,' actually," she admitted as she lifted glowing green eyes to his. "Corey told me he's huge, and he tags after her at home like a cocker spaniel. At her old home, I mean."
At that moment, Cole decided that Corey was a very lucky girl to have a diminutive but potent champion like Diana Foster to help her bridge the social gulf. Unaware of his silent compliments, Diana glanced at him. "Is there anything to drink inhere? I'm really thirsty."
Cole smiled. "Deceit is hard work, isn't it? And there's nothing like going to battle against a half-dozen stuck-up girls to work up a thirst, is there?"
Unabashed, she rolled her eyes at him and smiled. She was spunky as hell, Cole decided, but with a unique soft-spoken style that completely belied her determination and courage. "Sure," he relented, tipping his head to the rear of the stable. "Help yourself."
At the end of the hallway, on the right, Diana found a small room that she assumed was Cole's, with a single bed made up with military perfection and an old desk with an ancient lamp. Books and papers were neatly stacked on the desk and one of them was open. Opposite the bedroom, to the left of the hallway, was a bathroom and tucked behind that was a kitchen area containing only a sink, a small stove, and a miniature refrigerator like the one under Diana's father's bar at home. Diana assumed the refrigerator would be stocked with soft drinks for everyone's use, but when she opened it, there was nothing inside but a package of hot dogs, a carton of milk, and a box of cereal.
She was surprised to see that he kept his cereal in the refrigerator and even more surprised that although this refrigerator was obviously for his use he didn't keep much food in it. Puzzled, she closed the door and filled a paper cup up with water from the sink. When she dropped the cup into the little trash can, she saw two apple cores in it. The apples she brought had been old and soft and completely unappetizing, and she couldn't imagine why he would eat one, let alone two of them. Unless he was hungry. Very, very hungry.
The empty refrigerator and the apple cores were on her mind as she paused to pet a pretty palomino quarter horse; then she returned to the stable entrance to see how Corey was doing. Three girls were talking to her near the corral.
"Do you think you should go out there, in case she needs more help?"
"No, Corey will be fine. She's really great, and they'll find that out. Besides, I don't think she'd like it if she thought I was sort of… helping things along."
"You're quite a 'helper outer,' " Cole joked, then realized she was embarrassed, and hastily said, "What if they decide they don't like her?"
"Then she'll make lots of other friends on her own. Besides, these girls aren't really close friends of mine, particularly not Haley. Neither is Barbara. It's Doug I really like."
Cole gaped at her, thinking of Barbara's extremely tall and very gangly brother. "Doug is your boyfriend?"
She shot him an odd look and sat down on a bale of hay near the open doors. "No, he's my friend, not my boyfriend."
"I thought you were a little short for him," Cole joked, rather enjoying her company. "What's your real boyfriend like?" he asked as he reached for a big red plastic glass he'd left on the windowsill earlier.
"Actually, I don't have a boyfriend. What about you, do you have a girlfriend?"
Cole nodded and took a swallow of water.
"What's she like?" Diana asked.
He propped his foot on the bale of hay near her hip and leaned his forearm on his knee, looking out through a side window that faced the house, and Diana had the feeling that he had drifted very far away. "Her name is Valerie Cooper."
There was a long pause.
"And?" Diana prompted. "Is she blond or dark, short or tall, blue eyes or brown?"
"She's blond and tall."
"I wish I was," she confessed with a wistful look.
"You want to be blond?"
"No," she said, and Cole laughed. "I want to be tall."
"Unless you're planning an amazing growth spurt, you'd better aim for blond," Cole advised lightly. "In your case, blond would be a little easier to achieve."
"What color are her eyes?"
"Blue."
Diana was fascinated. "Have you been going together very long?"
Cole belatedly realized he was not only socializing with one of his employer's guests, which was totally unacceptable, but that the guest was fourteen years old and the conversation was entirely too personal. "Since high school," he said briefly as he straightened and turned to leave.
"Does she live in Houston?" Diana pressed, sensing the conversation was over but rather hoping it wasn't.
"She goes to UCLA. We see each other whenever we can, usually during the holidays."
The birthday party continued for hours, ending with a huge cake served on the lawn, where Barbara opened piles of gifts; then everyone went inside while the servants cleaned up outdoors. Diana had started to follow along when she noticed that half the chocolate birthday cake was still left, and she thought about those lonely hot dogs in Cole's empty refrigerator. On a whim, she walked back to the table and cut a huge chunk off the corner because he'd get more frosting on such a piece; then she took it down to the stable.
Cole's reaction to the chocolate cake was almost comically ecstatic. "You are looking at the owner of the world's biggest sweet tooth, Diana," he said as he took the plate and fork.
He was already eating the cake as he headed down the hall toward his room. Diana watched him for a moment, aware for the first time that people she actually knew, actually came in contact with, didn't always have enough to eat. As she turned away, she decided to bring extra snacks whenever she went to the Haywards, but she sensed instinctively that she'd have to find a way to give them to him that wouldn't make him think it was charity.
She knew nothing about college men, but she knew something about pride, and everything about Cole made her think he had a great deal of it.
LIFE is good," Corey announced to Diana two months after Barbara Hayward's birthday party. She'd lowered her voice so they wouldn't be heard by their parents, who had already gone to sleep. The two girls were huddled beneath the quilt on Diana's bed, their backs propped against a pile of feather pillows with lace-edged cases, eating jumbo pretzels and having a gossip session. "I can't wait until you meet Grandma and Grandpa tomorrow. By the time they leave here next week, you'll be crazy about them, you'll see. You'll think of them as if they had always been your very own grandparents."
The truth was that Corey desperately wanted that to be so. She wanted to give Diana something of value to repay her for everything she'd done.
School had started last month, and by that time, Diana had already become Corey's best friend and champion. She helped Corey choose her clothes, helped her fix her hair in different styles, guided her through the social maze at school, and in the end, even Diana's friends—some of whom were snobs—accepted Corey into their inner circle.
Corey spent the first month in a state of gratitude and mounting awe toward her new sister. Unlike Corey, Diana never got flustered, never worried about saying the wrong thing, never made a dumb joke, and never looked like a fool. Her thick, dark reddish-brown hair was always glossy; her complexion was flawless; her figure was perfect. When she climbed out of the swimming pool with her hair soaking wet and no makeup on, she looked like a television commercial. She never even got wrinkles in her clothes!
By then, both girls were already thinking of their respective stepparents as real parents, and now Corey wanted to give Diana some "real grandparents."
"When you meet Gram and Gramps," Corey told her, "you'll see why everybody thinks they're so neat. Gram can figure out a way to make almost anything, and it turns out pretty. She can knit and sew and crochet. She can walk into the woods and come out with ordinary twigs and leaves and stuff, and turn it into amazing things by using just a dab of glue or a little paint. She makes the presents she gives to people, and she makes her own wrapping paper; then she uses things like berries for decoration and everything looks awesome! Mom is just like her. Whenever there's a church auction, everybody in town tries to buy whatever Mom and Gram donated.
"A man who owns a fancy designer gallery in Dallas came to an auction in Long Valley and saw their work. He said they're both really, really talented, and he wanted them to make some things he could sell in his showroom, but Gram said she wouldn't enjoy making things that way. Mom was so tired when she got home from work that she couldn't promise to do what he wanted. Oh, and Gram's a fantastic cook, too. She's really into 'natural,' homegrown stuff— natural food and homegrown veggies and fresh-picked flowers—only you never know whether she's going to decorate with it and put it on the table or put it on your plate. Either way, whatever she makes is just great."
She paused to take a swallow from her can of Coke before she continued, "Gramps loves to garden, and he experiments with ways to grow everything bigger and better. Most of all, he likes to build things."
"What sort of things?" Diana asked, fascinated.
"He can build just about anything that can be made out of wood. He can make little rocking chairs for babies, or garden sheds that look like cottages, or tiny furniture for a dollhouse. Gram usually does the painting for him because she's the most artistic one. I can't wait for you to see the dollhouse he built for me! It has fifteen rooms and real shingles and flower boxes on the windows!"
"I'm really looking forward to meeting them. They sound terrific," Diana replied, but Corey was distracted from that discussion by something that had bothered her since the first day she'd peeked into Diana's bedroom, before Diana came home from Europe. "Diana," Corey teased in a dire voice as she surveyed the relentless orderliness of the pretty room, "didn't anyone ever tell you it's unhealthy to keep a bedroom this neat?"
Instead of making some sort of deserved rejoinder about Corey's sloppy habits, Diana took a dainty bite of her pretzel and thoughtfully looked around the room. "It probably is," she agreed. "It could be because I have an artistic eye that appreciates symmetry and order. Or it could be because I'm obsessive-compulsive—"
Corey wrinkled her brow. "What's 'obsessive-compulsive' mean?"
"Nuts." Diana paused in her explanation to rub her fingertips free of pretzel dust. "Crazy."
"You're not wacko!" Corey stated loyally and emphatically, taking a bite of her own pretzel. It snapped in two, half of it landing in Diana's lap. Diana's pretzels never broke when she bit into them.
Diana picked it up and handed it back to her. "It could be that I have a neurotic need to keep everything tidy as a way of controlling my surroundings, which was brought about because my mom died when I was little and then my grandparents died a few years later."
"What does your mom dying have to do with why you file your shoes in alphabetical order?"
"The theory is that I think if I keep everything in perfect order and as pretty as possible, then my life will be like that and nothing else bad will happen."
Corey was dumbstruck at the sheer absurdity of such a notion. "Where'd you hear that junk?"
"From the therapist Dad took me to after my grandparents died. The shrink was supposed to help me 'work through' the grief of losing so many people so quickly."
"What a jerk! He's supposed to help you, so he tells you all that stuff to scare you and make you think you're crazy?"
"No, he didn't tell me that. He told Dad, and I eavesdropped."
"What did Dad tell him?"
"He told the shrink that he needed a shrink. See, in River Oaks, whenever parents think their kids are getting into trouble, or might someday, they take them to a shrink. Everybody told my dad he should do that and so he did."
Corey digested that and then reverted to her earlier line of thinking. "When I kidded you about being so neat, I was just trying to say that I think it's really amazing that we get along so great even though we're so different. I mean, sometimes I feel like a hopeless charity case who you've taken under your wing, even though I'll never be able to be like you. My grandma always says a leopard can't change its spots, and you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear."
"Charity case!" Diana sputtered. "Sow's ear—but—but it isn't like that at all! I've learned lots of new stuff from you, and you have things that I wish I had."
"Name one," Corey said skeptically. "I know it's not my grades or my breasts."
Diana giggled and rolled her eyes; then she said very seriously, "For starters, you have an adventurous side that I don't have."
"One of my 'adventures' will probably land me in jail before I'm eighteen."
"It will not!" Diana said. "What I mean is, when you decide to do something—like take pictures from the top of that scaffolding on that new high-rise—you ignore the danger and just do it!"
"You went up there with me."
"But I didn't want to. I was so scared my legs were shaking."
"But you did it anyway."
"That's what I mean. I never would have done that before. I wish I could be more like you."
Corey considered that for a long moment; then her eyes began to sparkle with mischief. "Well, if you want to be more like me, we should start with this bedroom." She reached behind her head before Diana knew what she was up to.
"What do you mean?"
"Have you ever had a pillow fight?"
"No, wh—" The rest of her question was cut off by a fat pillow stuffed with goose down that landed on her head. Corey swiveled to the foot of the bed and ducked, expecting retribution, but Diana sat very quietly, munching on her pretzel, the pillow lying on her knees. "I can't believe you did that," she said, studying Corey with fascination.
Caught off-guard by her tranquil tone, Corey said, "Why not?"
"Because it makes me have to—retaliate!"
Diana lunged so swiftly, and her aim was so good, that Corey didn't have time to duck. Laughing, she dived for another one of the pillows, and so did Diana. Five minutes later, when their concerned parents threw open the bedroom door, they had to peer through a blizzard of drifting feathers to locate the two teenage girls, who were lying on their backs in the middle of the bedroom, shrieking with laughter.
"What in the world is going on in here?" Mr. Foster said, sounding more alarmed than annoyed.
"Pillow fight," Diana provided breathlessly. A feather was stuck to her lips, and she started to remove it with her thumb and forefinger.
"No, just spit it out," Corey laughingly instructed her, and then demonstrated, forcing the feathers away from her lips with her breath and the tip of her tongue.
Diana followed suit, then dissolved into giggles at the expression on her father's face. While feathers floated around his head and settled onto his shoulders, he stood stock-still in his robe and pajamas, gaping at them beside Diana's new mom, who was trying to look stem and hide her laughter at the same time. "We'll clean this mess up before we go to bed," Diana promised.
"No we won't," Corey stated implacably. "First you have to sleep in this mess. If you can do that, then there's a slim chance that with more practice you could become a marvelous slob like me!"
Still lying on the floor, Diana turned her head toward Corey and choked back another giggle. "Oh, do you really think so?"
"There's a chance," Corey declared solemnly. "If you truly, truly work at it."
Robert Foster looked taken aback at the plan, but his wife put her hand on his sleeve and drew him out of the room, closing the door behind them. In the hallway, he looked at his new wife with a baffled expression. "The girls made that mess, don't you think they should clean it up tonight?"
"Tomorrow is soon enough," Mary Foster said.
"Those pillows are expensive. Diana should have thought of that ahead of time. It's reckless and irresponsible to have destroyed them, honey."
"Bob," she said softly, tucking her arm in his and marching him down the hall and into their bedroom suite. "Diana, is the most responsible girl I've ever met."
"I've taught her to be that way. It's important for an adult to be conscious of the consequences of their actions and to act accordingly."
"Darling," she whispered. "She isn't an adult."
He considered that while a mischievous grin lifted the corners of his mouth. "You're right about that, but do you really think it's important that she also learn how to spit?"
"It's imperative," his wife said with a laugh.
Leaning down, he kissed the smile off her face. "I love you," he whispered.
She kissed him back. "I love Diana," she answered.
"I know, and that makes me love you even more." He got into bed and pulled her on top of him, his hands shifting over her silk negligee. "You know I love Corey, don't you?"
She nodded, her right hand reaching stealthily for the feather pillow on the headboard.
"You've changed our lives," he continued.
"Thank you," she whispered, lifting off his chest into a sitting position beside his hip. "Now let me change your attitude."
"Pillow fights," she said, laughing as she smacked him with her pillow.
Down the hall, in Diana's room, the sisters heard a loud thud. Both girls jumped to their feet in alarm and ran down the hall. "Mom, Dad—" Diana called, knocking on the door. "Is everything okay? We heard a noise!"
"Nothing's wrong," Mary Foster called, "but I could use a little help in here."
Diana and Corey exchanged puzzled looks; then Diana turned the knob and opened the door. They stopped dead. Openmouthed, they gaped at their parents, then at each other.
And they burst into shrieks of laughter.
On the floor, amid another blizzard of feathers, their father had pinned their mother beneath him and was holding her forearms against the carpet. "Say uncle," he ordered.
His wife laughed harder.
"Say uncle, or I won't let you up."
In response to that arrogant masculine command, Mary Foster looked at her daughters, struggled for breath, and managed to say between laughs, "I think women have to… to stick together… at times like… this."
The girls stuck together. The score that night was 12 to 2; twelve feather pillows that met their demise against two foam-rubber pillows that survived.
Brimming with good news, Diana snatched her schoolbooks from the leather seat of the new BMW her father had given her last month for her sixteenth birthday and raced up the steps of the stately Georgian mansion that had been her first and only home. In the two years since her stepmother, and then her stepgrandparents, had come to live with them in River Oaks, the house and grounds had changed in atmosphere and appearance. Laughter and conversation had filled the empty silences; wonderful smells emanated from the kitchen; flowers bloomed in rampant splendor in the gardens and splashed their colors in beautiful arrangements all over the house.
Everyone was happy with the new look, the new atmosphere, and the new family arrangements—everyone except Glenna, the housekeeper who'd helped raise Diana after her mother died. It was Glenna who was in the foyer when Diana ran into the house. "Glenna, is Corey home?"
"I think she's out in back with everyone else, talking about tomorrow night's party." Glenna finished dusting a walnut console table and straightened, giving it a close look. "When your mama was alive, she called in caterers and florists when she wanted to give a party. She used to let them do all the work," she added pointedly. "That's the way most rich folks entertain each other, but not us."
"Nope, not us," Diana said with a quick smile. "Now we're trendsetters." She headed down the hall, toward the back of the house, with Glenna walking beside her, irritably swiping her dustcloth at nonexistent specks of dust on tables and chairs as they passed.
"Used to be, when we gave a party," Glenna continued doggedly, "that everything only had to look pretty and taste good. But now, that's not good enough. Now everything has to be fresh and everything has to be natural and everything has to be homegrown and homemade. Homegrown and homemade is for country folks. I realize your grandparents are country folks, and they don't understand that…"
Glenna had become perpetually miffed ever since Diana's new mother and grandmother had taken over the household.
Corey's grandparents and Diana had fallen in love with one another during their first visit together. After several months of the girls splitting their time between Long Valley, where Rose and Henry Britton lived, and River Oaks, Robert instructed an architect and a building contractor to renovate and enlarge the estate's guest cottage. The next step was a greenhouse for Rose and a vegetable garden for Henry.
Robert was rewarded for his generosity with fresh fruits and vegetables grown on his own property and mouthwatering meals served in an endless variety of delightful ways and changing locations.
Robert had never liked to eat in the vast kitchen at the back of his house. It had been designed to accommodate the small army of caterers who were needed on those occasions when a large party was being given. With its white tile walls, oversize stainless-steel appliances, and uninspiring view from its single window, it struck Robert as institutional, sterile, and uninviting.
Until Mary and her family had come into his life, he had contented himself with the fiery fare that his cook, Conchita, prepared, which he had eaten as quickly as possible in the rigid formality of his dining room. He would never have considered eating under a tree in his pleasant but uninspiring backyard or dining beside the Olympic-size rectangular pool that his builder had unimaginatively stuck near the middle of the yard and surrounded with an ocean of concrete.
Now, however, Robert was a changed man, living in a greatly altered environment, enjoying savory meals, and he loved it. The kitchen he had once avoided had become his favorite room. Gone was the sterility of white tile walls and blank, gloomy spaces. On one end, Henry had created a solarium by installing skylights in the ceiling and tall windows along the outside wall. In this cozy, bright area were comfortable sofas and chairs for lounging in while dinner preparations were underway. Mary and Rose had hand-stenciled vines and flowers on each piece and covered the thick cushions with fabric of the same pattern. Then they'd filled the area with a profusion of green plants growing in white pots.
At the opposite end of the refurbished kitchen, the ordinary white tiles had been ornamented with a festive border of hand-painted ones. Mellow old bricks gathered from a torn-down building now covered one wall and formed a wide arch over the stoves, above which hung copper pots and pans in every size and shape.
His wife and her family had transformed his surroundings, bringing breathtaking natural beauty to the grounds and inviting charm to interior spaces. Whether their current project was unique place mats, elaborate picture frames, graceful, hand-painted furniture, gilded vegetable centerpieces, or elegant foil gift-wrap, it was created with a wealth of love.
A year after her marriage to Robert, Mary had made her formal debut as his hostess by planning and executing a lavish garden luau for the sophisticated, somewhat world-weary Houston socialites who were Robert's peers and friends.
Instead of calling in professional caterers and florists, Mary and Rose supervised the preparation and presentation of food, which was cooked according to their own recipes, seasoned with herbs from Henry's garden, and served by flickering torchlight on tables covered with hand-appliquéd linens lavishly strewn with Henry's showy blossoms.
In keeping with the luau theme, Mary and her mother gathered hundreds of orchids from their own greenhouse; then Diana and Corey and four of their friends were put to work making elegant leis. Mary and Rose decided that each lady should receive a small lacquered ring box decorated with tiny painted orchids in the same hues as the real ones used for the leis. Clinging to the belief that even jaded Houston millionaires would surely appreciate the merits and uniqueness of her handcrafted table decorations, homegrown edibles, and the changes she'd made to soften and brighten the house's austere formality, Mary and her mother spent many happy hours in the kitchen planning and creating.
Two hours before the party, Mary inspected the grounds and the house, and burst into tears in her husband's arms. "Oh, darling, you shouldn't have let me do this!" she moaned. "Everyone will think I've ruined your beautiful home with homemade j-junk. Your friends are world travelers accustomed to five-star restaurants, formal balls, and priceless antiques, and I'm putting on a—a fancy backyard barbeque for them." Tears dripped from her eyes as she clung to him, her wet face pressed to his chest. "They're going to think you married the Beverly Hillbillies!"
Robert stroked her back and smiled over her shoulder. He, too, had taken a tour of his house and grounds that day, looking at everything through the eyes of an outsider. What he saw filled him with pride and anticipation. He truly felt that Mary and her parents had brought a whole new meaning to the term "homemade." They had redefined and elevated it to a creative act that personalized the impersonal and transformed commonplace things into items of remarkable beauty and significance. He was convinced his guests were discerning enough to recognize and value the uniqueness and beauty of Mary's efforts. He thought they were going to be amazed by her as well as everything she had done. "You're going to dazzle them, Mary girl," he whispered. "You'll see."
Robert was right.
The guests raved about the delicious food, the decorations, the flowers, the gardens, the house, and, most particularly, the unaffected graciousness of the hostess. The same acquaintances who had expressed amused shock months ago when they discovered Robert had plowed up part of his lawn for a vegetable garden tasted the vegetables it had produced and asked to have a look at it. As a result, Henry spent several hours proudly giving moonlight tours of the garden. As he guided them along the neat rows of organically grown vegetables, his enthusiasm was so contagious that before the night was over, several of the men had announced their desire to have vegetable gardens of their own.
Marge Crumbaker, the society gossip columnist for the Houston Post who covered the party, summarized the reactions of the guests in her next column.
As she presided over this lovely party and looked after her guests, Mrs. Robert Foster III (the former Mary Britton of Long Valley) displayed a graciousness, a hospitality, and an attention to her guests that will surely make her one of Houston's leading hostesses. Also present at the festivities were Mrs. Foster's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Britton, who were kind enough to escort many fascinated guests and would-be gardeners and handymen (if we only had the time!) through the new garden, greenhouse, and workshop that Bob Foster has erected on the grounds of his River Oaks mansion…
Now, a year later, Diana thought of all that as Glenna continued her litany of complaints about the upcoming party. To keep from getting angry, she reminded herself that Glenna didn't really dislike her stepmother or grandparents; Glenna simply disliked being replaced as head of "domestic affairs." As far as Diana was concerned, life was wonderful, so filled with people and activities, with love and laughter…
"I'm the last one to point a finger at a person's upbringing," Glenna confided, "but if Mrs. Foster had been from a nice high-society family, instead of from some rinky-dink little town, then she'd know how rich people are supposed to do things. Last year, when your daddy told me he was bringing her parents here to live in the guesthouse, I figured things couldn't get any worse. Next thing I knew, your new grandpa was digging himself a vegetable patch and a compost heap, right in our backyard; then he turned the garage into a—a toolshed and a greenhouse! And before I could catch a breath, your new grandma was diggin' up the grass for an herb garden and making clay pots with her own hands. It's a miracle that gossip-column lady—Marge somebody—didn't call us hicks in her column after she came here for the first party."
"Glenna, that's completely unfair, and you know it," Diana said, pausing to put down her schoolbooks. "Everybody who meets Mom or Gram or Gramps thinks they're wonderful and special, and they are! Why, we're getting famous in Houston for what Mom calls 'Getting Back to Basics.' That's why Southern Living magazine is coming to photograph our party tomorrow night."
"It'll be a miracle if they don't make us look ridiculous!"
"They don't think we're ridiculous," Diana said as she shoved open the back door. "Southern Living saw those pictures of our last party that were in the Houston Chronicle, and the magazine wants to do a story about the way we do things."
Recalling what her father had said about the need to be patient and understanding with Glenna, Diana smiled at her. She knew that she and her father were about all the family Glenna had. "Daddy and I know it's harder for you with four extra people to look after, especially when they're busy with their hobbies and things. We worry about you being overworked, and that's why he wants you to hire someone to help you."
Much of the ire drained from Glenna's face at this proof she was appreciated. "I don't need help. I've managed well enough on my own to take care of this family, haven't I?"
Diana patted her arm fondly as she walked outside, her mind on finding Corey. "You were like a mother to me for years. Daddy and I could never have gotten along without you before, and we couldn't now." The last part of that wasn't entirely true, but Diana felt the small fib was excusable because it brought an instant look of relief and pleasure to Glenna's dour face.
Diana stood beneath the upper balcony, looking for a sign of Corey amidst the chaos and temporary helpers hired for the party preparations.
Originally, the three-acre backyard had been spacious but unremarkable, with a large swimming pool in the middle, a guesthouse at the rear, tennis courts on the left, and a six-car garage on the right that was attached to the main house by a porte cochere. Diana had played out there for as long as she could remember, and it had always felt a little lonely and barren to her, just as the big rambling house had. Now all that had changed.
Despite her pleasure in the changes to her home and her family, Diana felt a little worried at the current state of affairs in the backyard. With little, more than a day before the crew from Southern Living was due to arrive, nothing was ready. Tables and chairs were scattered everywhere, along with umbrellas on the ground, waiting to be put up; her grandfather was on a ladder, trying to finish a gazebo by tomorrow night; her grandmother was arguing with two gardeners about the best way to clip the magnolia branches that were going to be used in the centerpieces; and her mother was reading from a list to two maids who'd been hired for the week.
Diana was still looking for Corey when her father emerged from the garage with his briefcase in hand and his suit coat over his arm. "Hi, Daddy," she said, leaning up and giving him a kiss. "You're home early."
He put his arm around her shoulders, his gaze taking in the elaborate confusion. "I thought I'd come see how the troops are doing. How are things at school?"
"Okay. I got elected class president today."
His arm tightened in an affectionate squeeze. "That's great. Now, don't forget all the ways you were going to make things better." His eyes smiled down at her, then shifted to his wife and his mother-in-law, who'd seen him and were heading his way with warm smiles and purposeful strides. "Well, Madame President, something tells me I'm about to be put to work," he teased. "I'm surprised you and Corey haven't been enlisted."
"Our job is to 'stay out from underfoot,' " she recited. "I came home to get Corey because Barb Hayward invited us over to ride today."
"I think Corey is in her bathroom," their mother offered, "developing some film."
"Oh, I think she'll want to go over to the Haywards'," Diana said, already turning and heading into the house. Actually, she was positive Corey would want to go, not to ride horses, but to see Spencer Addison, who was supposed to be at the Haywards' stable that afternoon.
Corey's bedroom was directly across the hall from Diana's. Both rooms were identical in size and layout, with private bathrooms, separate dressing rooms, and large closets. Beyond that, the bedrooms were as radically different as the personalities and interests of the two girls who inhabited them.
At sixteen, Diana was petite, poised, and charmingly feminine. She was still a straight-A student and an avid reader, with a propensity for neatness, a talent for organization, and a tendency to be a little reserved with strangers.
Her bedroom was furnished in French antiques, including a graceful painted armoire and a canopy bed upholstered in yellow chintz. Against the opposite wall was a French writing desk, where she did her homework. There was not a paper or pen out of place.
Diana went into her room, put her books down on the desk, and went into her closet. She took off her red cotton sweater, folded it neatly, and placed it on an empty shelf amid dozens of other identically folded sweaters that were all displayed and divided according to color hue, rather than style or sleeve length.
She peeled off her pleated navy slacks and hung them on a pants hanger in the section with blue slacks and shorts; then she padded barefoot along the row to the white section and removed a pair of pleated white shorts. From the sweater shelves she took down a navy polo trimmed in white piping and pulled it over her head. After slipping her feet into a pair of white sandals from the neat row of shoes along the floor of her closet, she stopped at her dressing table and ran a brush through her hair. Automatically, she picked up a tube of light pink lipstick, used it, and stepped back to study her reflection.
The face that looked back at her seemed extremely ordinary and unnoteworthy to her, and it wasn't changing in any noticeable way with maturity. The same green eyes and dark lashes were in the same place they'd always been, and even a touch of eye shadow made them look garish, instead of more pronounced, to her. Her cheekbones were high, but blusher made her feel as though she were made up for a masquerade, and liquid makeup didn't seem to make any difference in her skin at all, so she skipped that, too. She had a tiny dent in the center of her chin, which refused to shrink or go away. Her hair was her best feature, thick and gleaming from careful washing and brushing, but she preferred to wear it in simple styles that didn't require a lot of bother or maintenance, and she thought those looked the best on her anyway. After considering the wilting heat and humidity outside, she pulled it back into a ponytail with quick deft movements; then she went to find Corey to impart her news.
Corey's bedroom door was open, but she was nowhere in sight. The door to her bathroom was closed, however, and Diana gingerly picked her way toward it through the jungle of clothing, shoes, scarves, photograph albums, camera equipment, and miscellaneous debris that covered every surface of the room. "Corey?" she called. "Are you in there?"
"Be Out in a sec," Corey answered from inside. "I just need to hang this film up to dry. It looks like I got a great shot of Spence when he was playing night tennis at the club last week! I think I'm finally getting the hang of night photography."
"Hurry up. I have great news," Diana said with a smile as she turned away from the closed door.
Corey's interest in photography had begun two years ago, when Mr. Foster had given Corey her first camera, and it had grown into a full-fledged hobby. Her interest in Spencer Addison had begun one year ago, when she spotted him at a party, and it had grown into a full-fledged obsession. Pictures of him at home, at parties, at sports events, and even at the McDonald's drive-through in his car were taped to her mirror, tacked to her bulletin board, and framed on her wall.
Despite the fact that Spence was a football star at Southern Methodist University, where he dated beautiful coeds who drooled over his good looks and sports prowess, Corey never stopped believing that luck, persistence, and prayer would someday make him hers and hers alone.
"I was right," Corey said, emerging with a strip of wet negatives in her hand. "Just look at this shot of Spence making that serve!"
Diana grinned at her. "Why don't we go over to the Haywards' so you can see him in person?"
Corey's face lit up with joy. "He's home from school? You're sure?" Before Diana could reply, Corey ran back into the bathroom to hang up the film, then raced back out to the mirror over her dresser. "What should I wear? Do I have time to wash my hair?" Sounding as if she would die of disappointment if Diana was wrong, she said, "Are you sure he's going to be there?"
"I'm sure. Doug Hayward happened to mention that Spence was going over to their place after dinner to try out Doug's new polo pony. As soon as he told me, I found Barb and—very casually—wrangled an invitation for us to come over there tonight. I put gas in the car, and as soon as dinner's over, we can go."
Corey knew Diana didn't like to ride horses, and she knew it was boring for Diana to watch everyone else ride when the two of them went to the Haywards', but Diana was always willing to tag along because Corey loved to ride. Now she'd gotten them an invitation to go to the Haywards' because Spence was going to be there. "You're an awesome sister!" Corey said, giving her an impulsive hug.
Diana returned it and stepped back. "Hurry up and get ready, so we can eat and get there before Spence does. If you're already there, then it can't look to anyone as if you're chasing him."
"You're right!" Corey said, impressed yet again by Diana's foresight. No matter what Corey wanted to do, Diana tried to help her accomplish it, but Diana also thought ahead, looking for ways to keep Corey from getting embarrassed or into a mess. Diana excelled at looking ahead and thinking of the risks, but Corey was so impulsive and so persuasive that she still landed in deep water now and then, and Diana usually landed in it right beside her.
It was inevitable that some of their ill-fated escapades would come to the attention of their parents, and when that happened, Corey's mother usually took it in stride and pointed out that there was no real harm done.
Diana's father, however, was less philosophical about such things as having his daughters lost overnight in Yellowstone National Park because Corey wanted to photograph a sunrise with elk in the shot. He was not pleased to discover from the newspaper that his daughters had been rescued from a construction elevator on the thirtieth floor of an unfinished high-rise that was surrounded by an eight-foot fence and posted "Absolutely No Admittance."
"While you're getting dressed," Diana said as she turned and started toward the back stairs that led down to the kitchen, "I'll go downstairs and see what kind of food I can find to bring for Cole."
"For who?" Corey said, her mind fixated on the unexpected thrill of seeing Spence.
"Cole Harrison. You know—at the Haywards' stable. Doug said Cole's back from his vacation," she explained with a smile and a breathless catch in her voice. "Unless something's changed, he'll be short of food, as usual."
Corey watched her walk away, immobilized by the unmistakable undercurrent of excitement she'd just witnessed in Diana. Not once had Diana ever said anything to indicate she had secret feelings for the Haywards' stable hand, but then Diana didn't blurt out every thought that came into her mind the way Corey did.
Once the idea of Diana and Cole had taken root, Corey couldn't seem to shake it loose. In the shower, as she worked shampoo into a thick lather, she tried to envision Diana and Cole as a twosome, but it was just too ludicrous.
Diana was sweet and pretty and popular, and she had her choice among the wealthy guys from backgrounds like her own—guys like Spencer Addison, who never made social blunders and who were sophisticated and well-traveled by the time they were seventeen or eighteen. They grew up in country clubs, where they played golf and tennis, and wore custom-made tuxedos to formal dinners by the time they were sixteen.
Wrapped in a towel, Corey pulled a brush through her long, blond hair, still trying to understand how Diana could possibly prefer someone like Cole, who had none of Spence's polish or charisma. Spence looked like heaven in a navy blue sport jacket and khaki slacks, or tennis whites, or a white dinner jacket. Whatever he did or whatever he wore, Spencer Addison looked as if he was "born to the blue," as Gram often said of wealthy Houston youths. With his sun-streaked, tawny hair, smiling amber eyes, and refined good looks, Spence was handsome, polished, and warm.
Cole was Spence's opposite in every way. His hair was black, his face was tanned, his features were rugged, and his eyes were the cool, unsettling gray of a stormy sky. Corey'd never seen him in anything except faded jeans and a T-shirt or sweatshirt, and she couldn't even imagine him playing tennis with Diana at the club in tennis whites or dancing with her in a tuxedo.
She'd heard the saying that "opposites attract," but in this case the differences were too extreme. It was almost impossible to believe that practical, sweet, fastidious Diana would actually be attracted to all that raw sex appeal and macho ruggedness. He wasn't even very friendly to anyone! He did have a great physique, but Diana was so petite and dainty that he'd tower over her if they went anywhere together.
To the best of Corey's knowledge, Diana had never had a real crush on anyone, not even on Matt Dillon or Richard Gere. It seemed impossible to believe she'd go and get a crush on a guy like Cole, who didn't seem to care what he wore or where he slept. Not that there was anything wrong with how he lived or dressed; it was just that it seemed so wrong for someone like Diana.
Corey paused, a pair of tan riding breeches in her hand, when she remembered that Barb Hayward and the other girls didn't share Corey's indifference to Cole, either. In fact, he was the object of a great many secret fantasies and a whole lot of speculation. Barb Hayward thought Cole made all the other guys they knew look like wimps in comparison. Haley Vincennes thought he was "sexy."
Corey was so bewildered that for a moment she had forgotten she was going to see Spence tonight. When she remembered, she felt the same sharp stab of longing and delight that she'd experienced the first time she had set eyes on him and every time since.
Corey was too excited to eat more than a few bites of her dinner, and when her grandmother remarked on it, the conversation at the large oak kitchen table came to a halt and everyone except Diana turned to her with concern. "You've hardly touched your dinner, Corey. Is anything wrong, dear?"
"No, nothing's wrong. I'm just not very hungry," she said.
"Are you in a hurry?" her mother asked.
"Why do you think that?" she asked innocently.
"Because you keep looking at your watch," Grandpa observed.
"Oh, that's because Diana and I are going over to the Haywards' to ride tonight," Corey said, feeling harassed by all this scrutiny. "Doug has a new polo pony, and we're going to watch him work in the ring. Mr. Hayward had big lights put up so the ring can be used at night, when it's cooler."
"A new polo pony!" her father exclaimed with a knowing smile at her perfect hair and carefully applied makeup. "I guess you're hoping to make a good impression on him when you see him for the first time."
To satisfy everyone, Corey had taken a large bite of chicken. Now she swallowed it and looked at her father with a puzzled smile. "Why do you say that?"
"Well, because your hair looks like you spent the day at the beauty shop, and you're wearing lipstick and that pink powdery stuff on your cheeks, and is that—" Suppressing a laugh, he peered at her eyelids. "Is that mascara I see on your lashes?"
"I don't think there's anything wrong with getting dressed up for a family dinner now and then, do you?"
"Certainly not," he agreed at once. Pretending to address his remarks to his wife, he said, "I had lunch at the club today, and I ran into Spence's grandmother. She was playing bridge in the ladies' card room."
"How is Mrs. Bradley?" Diana asked hastily. Spence had lived with his grandmother since he was a little boy, and Diana had a feeling she knew what her father was getting at. Trying to spare Corey the inevitable teasing, she added, "I haven't seen her in months."
"Mrs. Bradley is very well. In fact, she was in remarkably high spirits today. The reason she was in such—"
"She has so much energy for someone her age, doesn't she, Mom?" Diana asked.
Diana had rushed in, but her father wasn't going to be deterred. "—high spirits was because Spence surprised her by coming home for the weekend to celebrate her birthday with her."
"He's such a nice young man," Gram said. "So charming and thoughtful."
"And so fond of polo, too," Grandpa provided with a meaningful smile aimed straight at Corey. "And such a good friend of the Haywards, isn't he?" Four faces gazed at Corey with identical expressions of knowing amusement. Only Diana abstained.
"The problem with this family is that everybody pays too much attention to what everybody else is doing and thinking."
"You're right, dear," Gram said, giving Corey's shoulder an affectionate pat as she got up to help Glenna clear away the dinner dishes. "It's not good to eat on a nervous stomach. Why don't you run upstairs and fix your lipstick so it looks as nice as it did when you came down to dinner."
Relieved, Corey slid out of her chair and carried her plate over to the sink; then she headed upstairs. Over her shoulder, she said to Diana, "Let's leave in fifteen minutes."
Diana nodded, but her thoughts were on Cole. "Gram," she said, "can I take that leftover chicken to the Haywards'?"
Her grandmother said yes immediately, but at the table, her mother, father, and grandfather exchanged startled looks. "Diana," her father said, sounding baffled, "What would the Haywards do with our leftover chicken?"
"Oh, it's not for them," Diana said as she opened the refrigerator and took out several apples and oranges. "It's for Cole."
"Coal?" He repeated, nonplussed. "As in the black rock we used for fuel in the old days?"
Diana laughed. "No, Cole as in your friend Cole Martins," Diana explained, referring to a wealthy rancher friend of her father's. She opened the pantry doors, surveying the contents as she continued, "This Cole works at the Haywards' stable and lives there, too, but he's thin, and I don't think he wants to 'waste' what little money he has on food."
"Poor old feller," Grandpa said, filled with misplaced sympathy for the plight of the elderly.
"He's not old," Diana said absently as she eyed the rows of home-canned fruits and vegetables on the shelves. "He doesn't like to talk much about himself, but I know he is in college, and he's had to work to put himself through school." Diana glanced over her shoulder at her grandmother, who was already piling broiled chicken breasts and steamed vegetables into a large plastic container. "Gram, could I take some of your canned peaches and a few of these jams, too?"
"Yes, of course you can." Mrs. Britton wiped her hands on a towel and walked into the pantry to assist Diana. She got down a paper bag and put three jars of each item into it.
"The last time I brought Cole some of your strawberry preserves," Diana added, "he said it was better than candy, and he's crazy about candy."
Aglow at this praise from a hungry stranger, Mrs. Britton promptly added four more jars of strawberry preserves to the bag, then headed for an antique blue transfer ware china platter on the kitchen countertop. "If he likes sweets, he should have some of these blueberry muffins. There's no sugar and hardly any fat in them, so they're very healthy." She piled a half dozen of them on a plate. "Oh, and he really ought to have some of those hazelnut brownies I made yesterday."
When she reached for a second paper bag and headed back into the pantry, Diana stopped her. "I don't want him to think this is charity, Gram." With an apologetic grin, she added, "I have him completely convinced that you're sort of a 'compulsive canning addict' and that we always have piles of leftovers after every meal."
Grandpa had gotten up to refill his coffee cup, and he chuckled at Diana's fabrication. Putting his arm around her shoulders, he said, "He must think we're either addled or wasteful."
"I'm sure he thinks both," Diana admitted, blissfully unaware that her parents were eyeing her with barely concealed fascination. "I figured it was better to let him think that than to let him feel like a charity case," she explained with a smile as she picked up the heavy brown paper bag and wrapped both her arms around it.
"I haven't heard a word about this young man before tonight," her father said flatly. "What's he like?"
"Like? He's… well… he's different—from any of the other boys we know."
"Different how?" her father asked. "Different as in a rebel—a renegade—a malcontent?"
Diana considered that from the kitchen doorway, shifting the heavy bag into her right arm for better balance. "He's probably a renegade, but not in a bad way. He's…" She looked at them, and finally added, "… special. He's just special. I can't explain why or how, but I know he is. He's not like the other boys I've known. He seems much older, more worldly. He's—he's just not like any other boy," she finished lamely. She wiggled her hand in a cheerful wave, too eager to be on her way to notice the speculative looks on the faces she left behind. "Bye, everybody."
After several moments of silence, her father looked from his wife to his in-laws. "I happen to like the other boys she's known."
"This one is different," Gram echoed.
"Which is why I feel sure I won't like him."
"Robert," big wife soothed, "this is the first young man Diana has showed a particular interest in, and you're a little jealous. You acted the same way last year when Corey started talking about Spence all the time."
"I'm used to that now," he said, a little disgruntled. "I never thought in my wildest dreams her crush on Spence would last a month. It's lasted a year, and it's gotten worse, instead of better."
"She thinks she's in love with him," Mary Foster said wryly.
"She thought she was in love with him the night she met him. Now she's sure she wants to marry him. Have you looked in her bedroom lately? She's wallpapered her walls with his pictures. She's turned it into a shrine. The whole thing's ridiculous."
Grandpa Britton shared a little of his son-in-law's pique over being replaced in the girls' lives by other males. "Corey will get over it. It won't last. Girls don't fall in love when they're fourteen; they only think they're in love."
His wife picked up a pencil to put the finishing touches on a simple but elegant stencil design she was creating for a border along the top of the guest bathroom walls. "Henry, I fell in love with you when I was fourteen."
Robert Foster had lost the thread of the conversation. Staring toward the doorway where he'd last seen Diana, he said, "Was it just me, or did it look to anyone else like Diana was blushing when she talked about that stableboy?"
"College student," Mary corrected quietly; then she laid her hand over his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He relaxed and smiled sheepishly. "It's just that I have such big plans for the girls. I don't want them to get absorbed with boys and all that too early to realize what they'll miss if they get married too young."
"Don't make any plans for Corey," Gram said dryly. "She's already made her own. She wants to marry Spence, and she wants to become a famous photographer."
"Not, I hope, in that order," Robert said.
Gram ignored that. "As for Diana, I can see her becoming an interior designer, or maybe an architect, or maybe a writer. She has a lot of talent for all of those things, but she doesn't seem too eager to be any of them. I hate to see gifts like hers go to waste."
"Her real gift won't go to waste," he argued. When everyone looked expectantly at him, he said proudly, "She may have gotten her mother's artistic eye, but she has my brain. In time, she'll find her own ways of putting it to use. She's always been interested in business."
"Business is good," his wife said with a nod and a smile.
"Business is very good," Grandpa said.
The women looked at each other and both of them got up. "There's only a half hour of daylight left, Mom. I could use some advice about the table arrangements."
Mrs. Britton hesitated and looked at the men. "Are you both sure you don't want some fresh strawberries with yogurt topping for dessert?"
"I couldn't eat another bite," Mr. Foster said.
"Me, either," Henry Britton agreed, patting his stomach to indicate it was stuffed to capacity. "You're right about these all-natural, low-fat meals, Rosie. They're very satisfying once you get used to them. That broiled chicken hit the spot; it really did. You girls go ahead outdoors and do what you need to do."
The two men sat there in innocent silence, listening for the sound of the back door opening. The moment it closed behind their wives, they got up. Robert Foster headed straight for the freezer and took out French vanilla ice cream, while Henry Britton hurried to a lower cupboard and removed a Dutch apple pie that Glenna had bought at the bakery earlier and hidden there for them.
Henry cut into the deep-dish pie and glanced at his coconspirator. "Large piece or medium?" he asked his son-in-law.
"Large."
Henry cut two hefty pieces of the pie and laid them carefully on plates, while Robert dug the ice cream scoop deep into the container and came out with a heaping portion.
"One scoop or two, Hank?"
"Two," Henry said.
They glanced up at Glenna as she moved efficiently around the kitchen, tidying up. "You're a saint, Glenna."
"I'm a traitor."
"You have job security for as long as I live," Robert countered with a grin.
"Your wives would fire me if they knew what you two make me do."
"We'd hire you right back," Henry said, closing his eyes and savoring the sublime taste of forbidden sugar and fats. He looked at his son-in-law, whose expression of utter contentment matched his. "I thought Mary and Rose were never going to leave us alone in here tonight. I was afraid we'd have to wait until after they'd gone to sleep to raid the kitchen."
Outside on the lawn, Mary stood with her back to the kitchen window, discussing rearranging the tables for tomorrow night's party. "I think we should," Rose said. "I'll get Henry and Robert to help us."
"Not yet," Mary said dryly. "They haven't finished their dessert."
Rose plunked her hands indignantly on her hips. "What is it this time?"
"Dutch apple pie."
"We ought to fire that Glenna. Before Conchita retired, she kept Glenna out of the kitchen."
Mary sighed with resignation and shook her head. "Glenna's only following orders. Besides, they'd just hire her back. Except for the desserts they sneak, we've got them both on a sound low-fat diet, and I know Robert sticks with it at breakfast and lunch." She started to move the heavy table into position a little at a time, and Rose pitched in to help her. "His doctor told him yesterday that his cholesterol level was finally coming down," Mary added.
"What about his blood pressure?"
"Don't ask."
The riding ring was on a slight incline, thirty yards to the right of the stable. It was surrounded by a low, white fence and brightly lit now by huge, new mercury-vapor lights on high poles that shone almost as bright as daylight on the ring and simultaneously cast everything else into shadow.
From her vantage point just outside the stable, Diana watched Spence dismount and begin leading the handsome sorrel around the ring to cool him down. He said something to Corey that made her laugh as she walked along beside him, and Diana smiled with pleasure that Corey's evening was turning out so well.
Instead of having to share him with Doug and Barb Hayward and Doug's father plus one of Spence's innumerable and inevitable girlfriends, as Corey and Diana had expected, Corey had him entirely to herself. The Haywards had at the last minute remembered a relative's birthday party and were attending that, and Spence was by himself.
Diana's evening hadn't turned out badly, either. She'd had Cole entirely to herself. Managing to see him as often as she could without having it seem contrived had been the second hardest thing she'd ever done—second only to keeping her feelings for him a complete secret from him and everyone else.
Nearly all of Barb's friends had wild crushes on him. He was tall, tanned, wide-shouldered, and narrow-hipped. In snug, soft jeans and a short-sleeved shirt, every inch of his muscled body exuded power and raw sex appeal. His complete lack of social standing, his lack of money, and his lowly job at the stable made him off-limits to them. Which made him infinitely more attractive.
He refused to talk about himself to them, which made him mysterious and all the more fascinating.
He was unattainable, which made him even more desirable.
He was immune to their looks, their money, and their ploys. And that made him a challenge.
Since Cole couldn't be coerced or tricked into talking about himself, they spent endless hours speculating about his family and his friends back home and inventing dire experiences that might have made him want to forget or bury his past.
They did everything to get his attention, from trying to flirt with him, to wearing their tightest pants and most revealing tops, to asking him to examine nonexistent ankle sprains and hurt wrists, to pretending to fall against him when they dismounted.
One by one, Diana had watched Cole's reactions to each girl's attempt to flirt with him, and she soon realized that the more blatant the attempt was, the stronger his retaliation. Milder transgressors were treated like children, subjected to his open amusement and spoken to in a condescendingly superior way that made the transgressor squirm. More daring transgressors received a much more unbearable punishment: they were subjected to weeks of cool and distant behavior. Unfortunately, both of his tactics made it necessary to find ways to get back into his good graces, which made him seem even more powerful and desirable.
At one point or another, during the last two years, practically every girl who rode at the Haywards' place had claimed that he'd done or said something to indicate he had some secret interest in her. In April of this year, nine of the girls had each bet ten dollars on who would be the first to kiss him. Diana had abstained, claiming he simply didn't appeal to her, but she volunteered to be the treasurer—and silently prayed she'd never have to hand the booty over to a winner. Earlier that spring, at a sleepover at the Haywards', Barb had claimed she'd won the bet the night before. For a half hour, she provided her girlfriends with dozens of titillating, imaginative, and highly improbable details about the nature of the kissing and the extent of the petting that followed.
Just when Diana thought she would surely throw up if she had to listen to another description of their body positions, Barb had flopped back on the bed and burst out laughing. "April Fools!" she called, and was immediately bombarded with handfuls of popcorn for her joke.
As miserable as Diana had been before Barb admitted to the joke, Diana hadn't betrayed by expression or word how she felt. Not then and not now.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw Cole pouring feed into the bucket in the last stall, and she knew he'd come back outside to join her in a minute. She knew a lot more about him than the other girls did, because she alone had spent substantial amounts of time with him.
She knew exactly how sunlight turned his hair to polished ebony; she'd seen the way his sudden white smile could soften the hard planes of his face and turn his eyes to liquid silver, she'd felt his hands at her waist when he came up behind her and jokingly picked her up to lift her out of his way. She'd heard the awful fury in his voice when he dragged outside one of Doug's friends who was smoking in the stable and verbally flayed him for creating a fire hazard for the horses.
She'd also seen him deliver a litter of kittens while he murmured gentle encouragement to the mother, and she'd seen him revive what had appeared to be a stillborn kitten by massaging it with his fingers.
She'd actually experienced some of the fantasies the other girls could only dream of, but there were two enormous differences between Diana and the others: she was smart enough not to try to make her fantasies into reality, and she was wise enough to understand and accept that this casual friendship she shared with him was all there was ever going to be.
She realized that she would never know how it felt to have his mouth cover hers in a kiss, or his arms close around her, or his hands press her tightly against him. She accepted all that with only a little regret. Because she was also smart enough to know that if he ever made up his mind to kiss her, she probably wouldn't be able to handle it or control him.
Cole wouldn't bother with a lot of smooth talk and rehearsed strategies; he'd expect her to be a match for him in every way. But she wasn't, and she knew it. Even if she weren't hopelessly naive compared to him, they were as different as two people could possibly be.
Cole was blunt, reckless, and earthy. Diana was reserved, cautious, and hopelessly proper.
He was motorcycles and blue jeans and battered duffel bags, with a need to blaze his own trails through life.
She was BMWs and prom gowns and matched luggage, with a need to stay on smooth, paved roads.
Despite her philosophical understanding of the situation, Diana sighed as she watched Corey walking beside Spence. Corey was inviting disappointment and unhappiness by chasing Spencer Addison, but she was willing to take all the risks. Diana couldn't and wouldn't.
Cole finished feeding the horses and walked up silently behind her. "I sincerely hope all that sighing you're doing isn't because of Addison," he said dryly.
Diana jumped guiltily, her senses going into instant overload at his nearness. His voice sounded as dark and sultry as the night; he smelled like soap and fresh hay; he seemed to loom over her—as indomitable and rugged as the mountains in the Texas hill country to the west. "What do you mean by that?"
Moving to a position beside her, he braced his foot on the lowest railing of the fence and tipped his head toward the couple coming slowly toward them. "I mean I'd hate to see anything come between you and Corey. The two of you are closer than any natural sisters I've ever known, and it's embarrassingly obvious that Corey wants him for herself."
"Is it that obvious?" Diana asked, peering at him in the darkness, trying not to notice that his shirt sleeve was touching her upper arm.
"Not at first. You have to watch her for thirty seconds or so when he's around to see what's going on in her mind."
Ill at ease with that topic, and unable to think of a different one when he was standing so close, Diana followed his gaze. "Spence is a terrific horseman," she said.
Cole shrugged. "He's not bad."
Diana had known Spence since she was a little girl, and she couldn't let that slur on his ability pass without argument. "He's better than 'not bad'! Everyone says he could become a professional polo player!"
"What a paragon," Cole said in a scoffing tone she'd never heard him use before. "A college football hero, a 'professional' polo player, and an Olympic-class ladies' man."
"What makes you say that last thing?" Diana asked, worried for Corey's sake.
He shot her a sardonic look. "I've never seen him here when he didn't have a beautiful girl along to lavish him with the sort of hero worship he's getting from Corey and you tonight."
"Me?" Diana burst out, gaping at him and on the verge of laughter. "Me?"
Cole surveyed her upturned face. "Evidently not," he admitted with a slow grin. He looked back at Corey and Spence, who were making their slow way toward the stable now. "I hope Corey doesn't get her heart broken. She's got one hell of a crush on Addison. She used up a roll of film on him tonight."
"That doesn't mean anything," Diana fibbed. "You know how serious Corey is about her photography. She's working on action shots now, and since Spence was riding…"
"He hadn't gotten on the horse yet, Diana."
"Oh." Diana bit her lip, and then hesitantly asked, "Do you think Spence notices how she feels?"
Cole knew the answer to that was an emphatic yes, but he didn't want to distress Diana, and now that he knew she wasn't another one of Addison's army of admirers, he felt charitable enough to give the man some credit. "If he does know, he either doesn't find it annoying, or else he's too much of a gentleman to hurt her feelings."
Cole propped both of his elbows on the fence, and he and Diana lapsed into companionable silence for several moments. Finally, Cole said, "If it isn't Addison, then who's the latest guy who makes your heart beat faster?"
"George Sigourney," Diana quipped.
"And is this Sigourney a jock like Addison? Or is he just a rich preppie?"
"Mr. Sigourney happens to be the dean of admissions at Southern Methodist—he signed my college admission letter and made my little heart flutter."
"Diana, that's wonderful!" he interrupted with a heart-stopping smile. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Because when I'm with you, nothing else seems to matter, Diana thought. "I was waiting for the right moment," she said.
He gave her a puzzled look, but he didn't argue. "Have you decided on a major?"
When she shook her head, he adopted the patronizing tone of a wise old adult counseling a mere child. "Don't worry about it. You have plenty of time to decide all that."
"Thank you," Diana returned with a sideways smile. "And what about you? Have you already decided what you're going to be when you grow up?"
He chuckled at her impertinent question. "Yep," he said.
"Rich," he replied with absolute conviction.
Diana knew that he was a finance major at college, but the details of his objective were unknown. "Do you have some sort of plan in mind?"
"I have some ideas."
In the riding ring, Spence turned the horse toward the stable, and Corey knew her time with him was coming to an end even before Spence said, "I have to get going." She tried to think of something clever or witty to say, but whenever he was near, Corey could hardly think at all. "I promised Lisa I'd pick her up at nine," he added.
"Oh," she said glumly, her spirits plummeting with this new piece of depressing information. "Lisa."
"Don't you like her?" Spence asked, looking surprised.
Corey marveled at the denseness of the human male. She positively loathed Lisa Murphy, and Lisa returned the feeling.
A month before, Corey's family had attended a charity horse show near San Antonio, and Corey had been surprised and elated to see Spence there. Since she'd brought her camera, she managed to get several excellent candid shots of Spence along with some fine shots of the horses. When Lisa led her horse back into the barn after taking a blue ribbon in the gaited-pleasure-horse class, Spence accompanied her, and Corey naturally followed at a discreet distance, hoping for a few more glimpses of him.
The huge barn was crowded with horses, grooms, trainers, owners, and riders, and Corey felt certain she wouldn't be noticed. Pretending to inspect the horses, she moved slowly down the gangway, pausing now and then as if to talk to some of the riders. She was almost directly across from Lisa's assigned stall when Spence passed her en route to get a Coke for his current flame. Corey turned her back quickly, and he didn't see her, but Lisa did. She marched out of her horse's stall and stormed up behind Corey. "Why do you have to be such a pest!" Lisa exploded in a low, incensed voice. "Can't you see that you're making a fool of yourself by tagging after Spence everywhere he goes? Now, go away and stay away!"
Humiliated and angry, Corey had returned to the arena and joined her family in the bleachers, but she'd kept her camera ready in case she saw Spence again. That turned out to be a very good thing because, although she didn't see Spence, she did see Lisa get thrown from her horse in the next round. As Lisa landed on her rump in the dirt with her hat off and her hair in her face, Corey had gotten that shot and several others. One of them became a favorite of hers, and it was prominently displayed in her room even though Spence wasn't in it.
Since Spence was still waiting for an answer, she shrugged and said mildly, "Lisa isn't my favorite of your girlfriends."
"You'd probably think it isn't important."
"Let's hear it," he ordered.
"Okay, she's meaner than a two-headed snake!"
He laughed at that, and in a rare gesture of open affection, he put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. Corey knew it had been a brotherly hug, but she was so ecstatic that she almost overlooked a highly revealing sight: Diana was standing at the fence beside Cole, and his arm was so close to hers that they were nearly touching. What's more, Diana and the Haywards' sexy, uncommunicative stable hand seemed to be completely absorbed in their conversation.
It had seemed incredible to her earlier, but seeing them together that way was enough to convince her that no matter how ill-suited they seemed, or how well Diana had hidden it, she was in love with him. Corey immediately racked her brain for some way to prolong their time together, and in the process she hit upon a possible means to spend a little more ti
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Films, Television and Literature
Non-Saga Movies
Rian Johnson's trillogy is still being made
Thread starter Vicarious_Fan
Trooper31
lister said:
Like frequenting a Star Wars message board where the movie is discussed regularly? Good thinking.
I guess you didn't get the joke.........................
DarkManX
nm wrong thread
DarkManX said:
Oh, man, I thought there was something new to complain about.............
The trailer for his Knives Out is out, if anyone cares.
I think it’s suppose to be clever, witty, stylish, darkly comedic, and irreverent— traits I would never associate with Rian since he’s so unsuccessful at pulling any of these characteristics off. But then again, the always ferocious Toni Colette is in this, so maybe he just might be able to pull it off… But then again— TLJ.
ozzfan84
farmer said:
I've never been so disinterested in an upcoming movie that's starring so many actors and actresses I like. Any one cast member could usually get me in a theater, but then again— TLJ.
Mildoo
Looper and The Last Jedi were great! Definitely interested in seeing Knives Out, especially considering all the talent that is involved.
ozzfan84 said:
If Knives Out works out for him, then good for him. Then hopefully he really will leave SW alone— both his treatment of the film and his attitude of the criticism is the epitome of juvenile toxicity, and he’s become a meme of a petulant, bratty middle-age man. (He really should take a clue from George who’s genuinely gentlemanly with his "If this doesn’t work, I’ll take the blame…” maturity.) On a more positive note about Rian, I’ll always maintain TLJ works as a SW-parody/farce at best. (But in no way would I sit through it ever again straight… )
Glad to see that Bob has called off this nonsense direction of The Sequel, and thus a more classic and timeless redirection that’s truer to the spirit of SW is being explored— or in this case, expanded on: The Mandalorian and Cassian (and the return of CW series) are strong indication of returning to SW’s timeless roots— but hopefully not lazily recycling it as this Sequel has done. And hopefully they're done with the tell and don’t show “strong this’ and “strong that” identity politics and will concentrate on just well-developed characters in a “strong” story.
Post-Sequel, I feel they might just no longer take SW for granted and slap the brand on any subpar generic product to be on-trend, and are willing to put in the effort again.
Masterfett
As I've said before, while he may or may not have been right for Star Wars. Especially not something dealing with or connected to OT characters, as far as I'm concerned. That said, he might be okay for something different in that Universe, heck based on TLJ he could have possibly made a decent Vong interpretation. lol
After all i thought Looper was alright, so he had the potential for something. And he may have it for Knives out.
Once I've had time to forget his transgression on Luke, and most of EP8. I think he could do okay for some weird spin-off that I'm not emotionally invested in. Because if he does wind up ruining another SW movie, at least he wouldn't have ruined any of my favorite or childhood characters.
^^^ He was never right for SW; I mean, just on a purely superficial level— tuxedos in a SW film..??? Horseracing/Muppet in literal nun’s habits…??? And a stereotypical nerd who looks like she should be in Ghostbusters..??? He lacks visual flare, and that should have been a warning sigh. I’ve never seen anything of his and he may very well be a competent director in another genre. But after TLJ— along with his obnoxious behaviour (and that voice…) on full display, I’m not interested in seeing anything he has to offer. I have to suffer enough arrogant, obnoxious, bratty people lackingd talent in my professional life, I don’t need to willingly put up with them when it comes to SW.
One of the most distinct, original and interesting director is Yorgos Lanthimos. Every single one of his film, with the exception of his first only because it’s tooon the nose in its literary adaption for my preference, has been building from strength to strength. But I’d never want to see him take on SW: that combo would be a disaster of unimagined magnitude.
But someone like Jeremy Saulnier, I can see him take on SW successfully. Especially now with the seemingly more adult direction with The Mandalorian and Cassian, Jeremy would be a potentially ideal candidate; with his seedier, grittier feel for tone that’s akin to classic Westerns set in modern times, and his leanings towards moodier, outcast-type anti-heroes. He would need to streamline his sensibility when it comes to a more consumer product like SW, but he’s very much like Gareth in that he avoids trends and would keep to a timeless tone for SW.
Cobalt60
the thing that bothered me most was the treatment of Luke "I Came Here To Die" Skywalker.
Luke is supposed to be the epitome of all "Hope" -- so what's the opposite of Hope..? suicide.
and despair.
Rian basically just held a mirror up to Luke's character and gave us "Anti-Luke", for the sake of it.
that's not "Clever". NO thought went into this.
it was like watching "Bizarro" Superman -- (after paying good money to see Christopher Reeve).
it was a Bait&Switch -- sold to us by a mischievous leprechaun, who THOUGHT he was being "Clever".
Update on Rian's Trilogy.
he's no longer talking about "when" it will happen -- he's talking about "IF" it will happen.
he also says, he's happy to be a SW "fan" again (as opposed to a SW "film maker").
"I am a fan again. I get to JUST be a movie fan. I am so excited. I watched that last trailer and I was just like, squealing at my screen. I cannot wait to get my popcorn, sit down and see the end of this story, man. It's gonna be great."
(Can we expect for you to be walking in the Star Wars universe again?)
"Well, we'll see. I mean I'm still talking to Lucasfilm, they're figuring out what they're doing and we'll see what happens. But you know, I'd be thrilled if it, thrilled IF it happens, and I'm working on my own stuff too."
https://twitter.com/BANGShowbiz/status/1181878285342560256
Reactions: Oofa
https://movieweb.com/star-wars-trilogy-rian-johnson-not-sure/?fbclid=IwAR0Vp5UUholiCB2hIfI83QXCaahdApWHflIbEfgR_4Ne3k9iiMDEeOTDr6w
"Rian Johnson may have just cast some doubt on his planned Star Wars trilogy...
"For the first time since this press tour started, he added just the slightest bit of doubt into the mix when it comes to this project....
"There are two key bits there to focus on, outside of his general tone while speaking in the clip. The "we'll see" and the word "if." Previously, Rian Johnson has been talking as though it's a done deal."
(note: all he ever said was "I'm still working on it" -- which never really meant ANYTHING [IMO] -- it just meant that he was "still working on" his first draft).
^^^ Rian’s “I’m still working on it” whenever asked about this mythical trilogy of his should have been all the warning signs that he was never actually “working” on it. Famous last words and all that...
He was never getting his own Sequel: It was pure marketing to hype TLJ. No director in the history of cinema— no matter how famous they were, was ever promised a 3-film nearly 1 billion dollar production deal before the box-office results of their current hyped film was firmly established to be a phenomenal, runaway blockbuster. Words are cheap, and Disney has consistently taken advantage of this to promote their lazy and banal offering— whether its this Sequel, or their CGI-remake of their animated classics.
Hey, i heard a rumor that they're still "working" on He-Man. How long has that been going on?
I believe when I see in theater.
HothHan
Absolutely agree with you here
Masterfett said:
Years and years, it may head to Netflix.
Oofa
Viborg, Denmark
GNT said:
Someone said since 2007 ...
But with today's environment it can't become what it should be, unless things really are turning around, as with Chapelle and Joker etc.
I don’t despise Rian nor TLJ as much as some you guys do (hello HothHan!), but going back to when the hype for TLJ and his supposed trilogy was to lead us poor dumb commoners into a new golden age of SW-wokeness, I called PR shenanigans back then. It was clearly all to hype TLJ to the high heavens, and on the strength of those suspiciously nonstop raves from all the critics, I do believe that the hype worked and gave TLJ that BO boost. And in the aftermath of such hype, many seem to now be realizing/admitting that TLJ is a SW-farce.
Then Rian consistency saying “Still working on it!” whenever asked about this "trilogy" of his, gave me the impression even he was in on the joke that he was being transparent about never actually “working” on it. Especially now, with Disney begging the old fanbase back that they so arrogantly scorned only a year ago— with all these OT-flavoured series: The Mando, Cassian and now Obi-Wan, there’s absolutely no way they would bring back Rian, the (main) antagonist who has become the ultimate scarlet letter of the grief in fandom, to helm a trilogy.
(I find it almost endearing that Rian will likely defend TLJ as a misunderstood masterpiece until his last breathe.)
https://movieweb.com/star-wars-kathleen-kennedy-lucasfilm-exit-2021/?fbclid=IwAR0uuJ1faVfWg69fj0SY8DOcAA8vkZiiefPxfFtW7bRTGx23YAyk7SDGDNo
in other news, KK might be leaving Lucasfilm, as soon as the new Indiana Jones movie is done. if she leaves in 2021, then there's NO chance Rian's Trilogy will ever happen.
I don't despise RJ. I don't even know the man and frankly that is a strong word to use towards any person. I am certainly not a fan of the work he did on Star Wars. I'm not particularly fond of his social media presence (even though that is kind of petty and stupid). His arrogance and giggly attitude and inability to even ponder any criticism of TLJ puts me off. He's a plonker. But I can't despise a man I don't personally know and even if I did I don't think I would despise him. It's a strong word. Really negative. I've used it before in situations that I regret.
At this point I can't even say I despise TLJ. At one time - yes...definitely. I don't like it for soooo many reasons. I've been over them way too many times by now and it's almost exhausting to think about. But my absolute biggest issue is what it did to the fandom. People suck. It's true. There are awful bigots, racists, sexist dbags out. Unfortunately those schmucks came out of the woodwork and used this movie as a platform to spread hate. But not everyone that didn't like TLJ is one of those people but it seems as if that is the label you get if you don't care for it. You are a manbaby. A fragile white conservative. A racist...etc etc etc. We used to argue here about characters and George Lucas (mostly George Lucas lol). Now we argue about all the awful topics these movies should help us escape from. I don't need Star Wars to be all that thought provoking. I just need to be entertained.
Now I'm not going to downplay the negative aspects of TLJ from a Star Wars standpoint and not a real world view. The ****ing lightsaber over that shoulder. The awful attempt at "Marvel" dialogue. The ridiculous and overly drawn out casino scene. The stupid bronco chase plot. The lightspeed attack thatp existed for a pretty shot. I can go on and on (and for the record I have no issues with Rey being no one).
TLJ broke my heart. I know that's dramatic and I don't care.
Star Wars has always been more to me than a movie franchise. It conjures up feelings of nostalgia and magical emotions. Star Wars has helped me through extremely difficult times in my life. I was a (at the time undiagnosed) depressed high school kid with (at the time undiagnosed) bi-polar disorder. It sucked. All my friends from grammar school went to a different high school. My parents were having a rough time with their relationship. I had acne. I only slept at night because I could throw one of the OT movies in my DVD player and set the volume low enough so that the music was ambient noise. The lead up to TPM and AOTC gave me something positive and exciting to look forward to. By the time ROTS came out I was doing better from a personal standpoint but that doesn't change the fact that that whole PT era meant so much to me.
Star Wars is more than a collection of movies for me. It's a lifestyle and lifesaver.
I'm fortunate enough now as a 36 year old man with a loving wife and 2 beautiful children to not need Star Wars like I once did. But it still means just as much. I share it with my kids. Us older fans are the ones that kept this thing going between 83-99 and again between 05-15. We are the ones that spend our disposable income on toys, t-shirts and toasters. We are the ones passing the legacy to our children. In my opinion TLJ abandoned us. It purposely went out of its way to say "yea...thanks but your time is up".
Today I don't despise TLJ. For me it simply doesn't exist. Besides the visual dictionary and the Luke Skywalker (Crait) figure I don't think I own anything related to that movie anymore. The saga ended at that last sweeping and poignant shot in TFA with Luke and Rey. I hoping that TROS saves the ST for me. I have faith. I'm all in. Got my figures, my t-shirt...I'm ready.
^^^ Good for you for still keeping the faith! I hope ROS turns out well for you. (If it doesn’t, try to take it as a SW-parody. That’s how I see this Sequel. Still wouldn’t suffer through it of course, but it absolutely, perversely works as a total farce/expensive fanfic/parody, take your pick.)
You know, even if The Mando/Cassian/Obi-Wan series all don’t work out for me— and The Mando hasn’t impressed me one bit so far (but who knows…), it’s all good. Out of all this era’s mess, I still have RO. It’s become the best SW film for me. I don’t know if any of the directors involved in any of the series possess that brand of talent of which Gareth and Tom has, and even that is absolultey a personal preference. RO is that one shining dark horse to have come out of this abysmal, although amusingly clueless nuSW era.
If they weren't making a Rian Johnson Star Wars trilogy, they would have announced it, like the Game of Thrones showrunners, deciding to dip in favor of getting their Netflix projects made.
So in other words, Rian Johnson's Star Wars trilogy is still being made. :grin:
Yeah, but in April Kathleen Kennedy said Benioff and Weiss were "working very closely with Rian" on these movies. It sounded like there was some kind of big, overall, interconnected plan.
https://screenrant.com/star-wars-movies-future-johnson-benioff-weiss-trilogy/
Exactly. This along with RJs vague answers lately on his Trilogy make it seem as if he is out as well.
Thankfully...
BoneFett
I believe that Ruin Johnson will get another Star Wars movie. Maybe not a trilogy but one movie.
The GOT guys leaving has left Lucasfilm reeling.
Disney has a release date in 2022 for a Star Wars movie and absolutely no plan for it. Avatar movies and Star Wars movies were supposed to alternate December release dates starting in 2021.
I think Ruin's new film Knives Out, which unsurprisingly is getting rave reviews from the shill critics, will be received well enough that Lucasfilm will go ahead and give him another Star Wars movie.
If for no other reason than they have no other choice.
Of course, it will prove to be a disaster since the hack can't write a decent story but that's another discussion.
BoneFett said:
... and while they are at it, just put Brie Larsson in it too, and throw in Tessa Thompson in it as well.
Cue Benny Hill music.
HothHan said:
I've read rumors saying it's a done deal at Disney that RJ is out. They just don't want to rock the boat before TROS and they're waiting until after TROS has its run to announce that RJ is no longer working on SW.
Some reviewers of Knives Out aren't even trying to pretend to hide the influence of their bias about Rian Johnson's Star Wars movie. Check out this featured caption on Rotten Tomatoes from a critic who counts towards their aggregate:
Original Score: 4/4
What's that I hear? It's 'as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.' The sound of deflated haters never sounded so sweet as seeing Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi followup, the wildly hilarious whodunit Knives Out.
In what way is this a valid assessment of Knives Out?
Anyways, I would be shocked if this movie gets many bad reviews either way. It has an incredible, talented cast. If it were any other writer/director, I would want to see this the day it came out. But I've found all of his work so far to be underwhelming and disappointing.
He might be a good filmmaker overall, but when it comes to SW, he shouldn't be allowed to touch it with a ten-foot pole.
Like I've said before, I don't know if that totally accurate. He, IMO, just wasn't a good fit with existing OT Canon or for telling Luke's life story.
He may well be just fine doing something not related to the OT, like something from Legacy Comics. Considering his bizarre ideas. lol
Though I'm no too familiar with any of his work other than Looper and TLJ. Looper was alright. However, if i were to base is Resume off of the work listed on IMDB profile. I would have never even considered offering him a gig for the main Star Wars Saga. A spin off? Possibly
CellBlock1138
Johnson is just not suited to Star Wars. Besides his ideas for the characters, his basic story was rubbish, from papier mache bombers in space, to the slow speed chase in the stars that made no bleedin sense, to the two most redundant sideplots ever in a Star Wars film, to the final silly moments with Finn and Rose.
It was all just terrible.
He should never be allowed to write anything for Star Wars again.
That being said, he has talent as a director. He just needs to direct something writen by somebody that can write a screenplay suited to the GFFA.
MysterioMaximus
You know the only thing I love about this thread? The fact that Bizarro Superman showed up. Me hated it. Me hate it so much.
But what me ACTUALLY hate...is The Last Jedi. All due respect to those who like it. The way I see it is like Cellblock. I've seen some of his other films and while I will say, even those I wasn't thoroughly impressed by, but at least they seemed more competent to me. If that's all he'd done that I'd seen, I'd say he has potential. But putting Rian into SW was like putting David Lynch on Dune. Say what you want about the movie, but that's NOT Dune.
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The big moment: Nepal releases its first ever captive-reared vultures
November 30, 2017 December 23, 2019 Supertrooper Causes, News, Wildlife
Watch as conservation history is made: six captive-reared Critically Endangered White-rumped Vultures venture out into the wild. This comes at a time when the world is finally waking up to the plight of vultures.
The moment has finally arrived. Bait is placed outside the entrance of the pre-release aviary, and the door is opened from a remote hide.
As wild vultures descended to feed, five out of our six yellow-tagged protagonists are lured outside to join in in the scrum.
A captive-reared White-rumped Vulture takes its first unrestricted flight © Jyotendra Thakuri
Soon they are squabbling and interacting with them as if they’d always been part of the gang.
And, in a way, they had – in the weeks before their release, they had been socialising with wild vultures through the wire while exercising their wings.
Satellite-tagged newcomers gorge on their first wild meal alongside wild vultures © Rajendra Gurung
It’s been a fantastic couple of months for vultures. In October, the ambitious Multi-species Action Plan to save 15 vulture species over 128 countries was endorsed with enthusiasm at the Convention on Migratory Species Conference of Parties in Manila. At almost exactly the same time in India, the Madras high Court ruled to uphold the dosage restriction on vulture-killing drug diclofenac. And last week, in Nepal, six captive-reared White-rumped Vultures were finally released into a wild that, for the first time in decades, could be truly vulture-safe.
On the 9th of November, scientists and officials gathered to watch conservation history being made, with South Asia’s first ever release of captive-reared Critically Endangered birds. For years, Bird Conservation Nepal (BCN, BirdLife in Nepal) and RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), working as part of the SAVE (Saving Asia’s Vultures from Extinction) consortium, had been working tirelessly to rid the area of painkiller diclofenac. This drug, if used on livestock, is fatal to the vultures that clear up the carcasses. But now the area is finally deemed safe enough to release individuals reared in captivity, giving the Critically Endangered wild population a much-needed boost.
Vulture population declines in South Asia have slowed and possibly reversed
“Within the provisional Vulture Safe Zone, we conduct undercover surveys of pharmacies and have found no diclofenac in the last four years,” said Krishna Bhusal of BCN. “We also conduct surveys of vulture populations and have found that the population declines have slowed and possibly reversed.”
And so it seems the perfect time – and the release process went off without a hitch, with five out of the six youngsters emerging from their enclosure. Their first unrestricted flight was slightly more difficult – partly due to the novelty of the activity, and partly due to the enormous meal they’d just consumed – but all of them managed to find a suitable perch for the night. Only one cautious vulture remained inside the aviary – but by the morning, she, too, had plucked up the courage to venture out into the wild.
So what happens now? Well, each of the vultures has been fitted with a solar-powered satellite tag that will track their movements.
“It is time to assess whether the provisional Vulture Safe Zone has become a true Vulture Safe Zone, but only the vultures can show us that,” said Toby Galligan, Senior Conservation Scientist, RSPB (BirdLife in UK) Centre for Conservation Science. “So, we are using satellite telemetry to track wild White-rumped Vultures remotely and in the field. If any die we can recover them, examine them for cause of death and prevent other vultures dying from that cause.”
The tags will also be very useful in discovering whether the captive-reared birds behave normally in the wild. Since this is the first experiment of its kind, such findings will prove vital in future programs.
Vulutres cross the border to India to forage
In the months prior to the release, SAVE had also tagged and tracked several wild vultures. All of them currently remain alive and well, which bodes very well for our six captive-reared novices.
But vultures in this area have been known to cross the border to India to forage. The ability of vultures to transcend national boundaries is what makes global partnerships like SAVE and the Multi-species Action Plan so vital to ensure their safety in the coming years.
This article was first published by BirdLife International on 20 Nov 2017.
birdlife international diclofenac extinction killing vulture
After the crash: how can we rebuild South Asia’s vulture population?
Veterinary diclofenac now completely banned in Iran
Can we bring vultures back to Thailand?
Serengeti’s bone crushers
Results of the Best Photo of the Week Ended 25 Nov 2017
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Intergraph unveils new servers
Intergraph Computer Systems last week introduced two new servers designed for high-end and workgroup customers that want to integrate future storage and networking technology.
Intergraph designed the InterServe 9400 enterprise-class server and the InterServe 90 workgroup server to broaden the company's line of high-performance, mission-critical server solutions. In addition to offering Intel Corp.'s latest Pentium III Xeon and Pentium III processors, the systems include a new storage solution that adds support for clustering, storage-area networking and Fibre Channel technologies.The InterServe 9400 supports four 500 MHz Intel Corp. Xeon processors and up to 8G of memory. The InterServe 90 supports two 500 MHz Pentium III processors and 1G of memory. Both systems support Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT operating system.
Nik Simpson, server product marketing manager for Intergraph, said the new systems are significant because they offer an upgrade path for eight-processor configurations and support cutting-edge storage technologies such as the InterRaid 9-FL system with Fibre Channel networking interface.
Intergraph estimates the price on the General Services Administration schedule will run about $16,000 for an entry-level configuration of the InterServe 9400 and $2,880 for the InterServe 90.
Compaq offers services suites
Compaq Computer Corp. last week announced its new suite of PC Lifecycle Solutions for large customers. The 29 solutions are a combination of solutions from Compaq's PC Products Group and Services Group, designed to help organizations control their costs and integrate and manage their systems.
Solutions include long- and short-term investment planning, deployment and integration, day-to-day management, and software and hardware migration. The company also offers four levels of support, including assisting customers in implementing solutions, augmenting customers' own capabilities, managing customers' entire IT environment and partnering with customers' preferred vendors.
News from AIIM '99
AT&T unveils compression format
ATLANTA - At the annual Association for Information and Image Management trade show here last week, AT&T Labs introduced a new format for compressing digital images designed to make it easier to download these types of files from the World Wide Web. The DjVu format (pronounced like dej& Agrave; vu), packs large documents into files up to 1,000 times smaller than the originals - five to 10 times smaller than commonly used formats such as Joint Photographic Experts Group and Graphics Interchange Format.
Customers publishing documents on the Web can convert them to DjVu format using a utility program that runs on Unix, Linux and all Microsoft Corp. Windows platforms. This product will be available through resellers and integrators. A company spokesman said AT&T has demonstrated it to the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History.
Workflow, sig vendors join forces
Hyland Software Inc., which makes workflow software, and Silanis Technology Inc., which makes signature capture software, announced at the AIIM '99 show that they will offer integrated versions of their products that will enable users of Hyland's OnBase software to sign documents electronically.
Silanis' ApproveIT product enables users to apply a secure, digitized signature to electronic documents. Adding this capability to OnBase will let customers "lose the paper, period," said Sam Babic, a Hyland software developer, because they will no longer have to print out documents to sign them. OnBase works with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Silanis' largest federal customer is the Defense Department's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
ByteQuest to boost fed presence
Also at AIIM '99, ByteQuest Technologies Inc. released a new module for its ByteQuery knowledge management system that will support Defense Department recordkeeping standards for e-mail. ByteQuery for BackOffice manages Microsoft Corp. Exchange messages by storing them in secure directories on an Exchange server.
The company's flagship ByteQuery software, which can be used to classify many types of documents, is being tested along with the BackOffice module, for compliance with DOD's 5015.2 electronic recordkeeping requirements. Yaser Abaza, vice president of the Canadian firm, said ByteQuest plans to use its DOD certification, which is expected this summer, "to move into being more active with the U.S. federal government."
- Compiled by Diane Frank, Elana Varon and Daniel Verton.
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Windurst
Were you looking for Windurst Missions?
Federation of Windurst
Windurst Overview
Port Windurst
Windurst Walls
Windurst Woods
North Windurst Waters
South Windurst Waters
Tribes of Tarutaru from the sweeping grasslands and neighboring islands of southern Mindartia united to form this league of states. It is governed by a council of representatives from the five ministries of magic, legacies of the five founding tribes. Their decisions are based on the prophecies of the mystic Star Sibyl who resides in the fabled Heavens Tower. In one section of the city live the Mithra, a race of natural hunters whose skills have brought a new source of wealth to Windurst.
The capital, Windurst City, was razed in the war twenty years ago, but this prominent center of learning has since been restored to its former glory.
Windurst is surrounded by the vast fields of West Sarutabaruta and East Sarutabaruta, a wild grassland home to many unique species of plants.
Heavens Tower - Administrative Center
Port Windurst - Port District
Windurst Walls - Political District home to Heavens Tower
Windurst Waters - Economic District
Windurst Woods - Mithra District
A highly advanced form of magical energy is used in many aspects of Windurstian life. The doll-like Cardians and brightly glowing fluoro-flora are just a few examples of this power put to practical use. Industry in Windurst also includes the refinement of bronze, but the use of metallic substances is generally not favored.
The individual cultures of the Tarutaru and Mithra tribes are respected and treasured, and evidence of this can be seen in every area of the city.
The Federation of Windurst was the hardest hit by the ravages of the Great War, but with the assistance of the Mithra, the damage has been completely repaired. Tarutaru culture is far from materialistic. In relation to the Tarutaru's small size, their residences are spacious and comfortable. The city always has an abundance of food; Tarutaru magic enhances crop yields, and the Mithra use their hunting and fishing skills to keep the markets overflowing with meat and fish.
The environment surrounding Windurst does not receive large amounts of precipitation, but nevertheless features numerous rivers and streams. The warm climate has encouraged the Tarutaru to grow a wide variety of crops, which they cultivate and harvest with the help of magical techniques. Many of these crops are exported to other countries.
Tarutaru farmers also raise rabbits known as "Rarabs," while the Mithra in Windurst Woods raise towering Dhalmels. This livestock provides Windurst with a source of milk, meat, and leather.
Military Organization
The Federation Forces of Windurst are led by a Warlock Warlord, chosen once a year from the Parliament of Patriarchs, and consist of twelve brigades of War Warlocks and four brigades of Mithra Mercenaries.
The War Warlocks
The body of the Federation Forces is comprised of twelve brigades. Each brigade is led by a Master Caster, who is advised in strategy and command matters by several Wise Wizards. The actual fighting is carried out by the eight Caster Companies, each headed by a Caster Captain who commands thirty veteran soldiers known as Combat Casters. A Caster Company is further reinforced with one hundred Cardians controlled by a group of Tactician Magicians. Combat Casters must undergo several grueling testing procedures before being accepted into the War Warlocks, so their level of expertise in the magical arts is exceptionally high. While the number of War Warlocks is relatively low, their incredible power can turn the tide of a battle.
The Mithra Mercenaries
A mercenary organization comprised chiefly of Mithra. There are four brigades in the Mithra Mercenaries, and, unlike other nations, they are not a permanent part of the Federation Forces. The free-spirited Mithra, despite being the central element of the army, did not wish to become a regimented force; the Mithra selected to choose the looser structural organization of a mercenary force. The Mercenary Major has several Mercenary Companies under her command, but this number can rise or fall depending on the hunting season. Each Mercenary Company is led by a Mercenary Captain, with around one hundred mercenaries assigned to each company. These companies are often joined by an extra fifty or so Freeswords, inexperienced soldiers that come under the tutelage of the veteran mercenaries.
The Patriarch Protectors
A unit charged with the protection and security of the various ministries and the Parliament of Patriarchs. For the sake of security, their numbers and equipment have not been made public, though the unit is thought to hold close to one hundred members.
The Sibyl Guards
An elite unit of Mithra soldiers, created after The Great War to protect the Star Sibyl. This unit, shrouded in mystery, is not officially part of the Windurst military and only answers to the Star Sibyl. Its members are picked amongst the Mithra of Windurst, however their numbers are unknown as they rarely leave Heaven’s Tower, though they are believed to be relatively few as only the best of the best are picked. The Sibyl Guards evoke mixed feelings among the local Mithra tribes - for some, to be accepted in that elite unit is the ultimate recognition of their hunting and archery skills. Others consider The Sibyl Guards to have "lost their way" as they were "raised by Tarutaru" and thus are not true Mithra. Despite the controversy, there are rumors that the Sibyl Guard Commander - Semih Lafihna will become the next Tribal Chieftainess of the Windurst Mithra tribes.
War Warlocks: ~ 3,200
Cardians: 10,000
Mithra Mercenaries: Several Thousand
Patriarch Protectors: ~ 100
Sibyl Guards: Their exact number is a state secret, however believed to be a few dozen at most.
Retrieved from "https://ffxiclopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Windurst?oldid=975285"
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10.4236/eng.2017.97040
Analysis of Waste-Rock Transportation Process Performance in an Open-Pit Mine Based on Statistical Analysis of Cycle Times Data
Samwel Victor Manyele
Department of Chemical and Mining Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Copyright © 2017 by author and Scientific Research Publishing Inc.
Received: May 12, 2017; Accepted: July 21, 2017; Published: July 24, 2017
In this paper, the performance of a waste rock transportation process in an open pit mine was assessed by using cycle time data. A computerized truck- excavator dispatch system was used to record the cycle times. The process was broken into seven steps (or components of the total cycle), durations of which were recorded for a period of 1 month, leading to N = 60,690 data points or dispatches. The open pit mine studied consisted of 12 waste types loaded by 14 excavators and hauled by 49 trucks (at a trucks-to-excavator ratio of 3.5:1) in 75 changing locations. The string-type data was coded using integers to allow a FORTRAN code to extract process performance parameters using statistical analysis. The study established a wide range of parameters including: the waste material generation rate (about 1.73 million t/month, 81% comprising waste rock), truck fill factor, f, total cycle time (Tct), production capacity, theoretical cycle time, non-productive cycle time Tnp, and cycle time performance ratio (CTPR), denoted as Tpr. The factors affecting the process performance include: truck model, excavator model, location (haul distance and road conditions) and material type. For a fixed material type and tonnage, the PDFs of the cycle time components were logarithmic in nature, capable of differentiating performance variations under different factors. It was concluded that the performance of the waste material transportation system in this mine was determined to be acceptable due to mean value of Tpr = 2.432 being closer to unity. Reduction measures were suggested to minimize the cycle time for the process bottlenecks determined from Pareto analysis (that is, full haul, empty haul and loading processes).
Potentially Acid-Forming (PAF) Rock, Non-Acid Forming (NAF) Rock, Truck Utilization, Truck Fill-Factor, Queuing Time, Loading Cycle Time, Full and Empty Haul, Total Cycle Time, Theoretical Cycle Time, Non-Productive Cycle Time, Cycle Time Performance Ratio
Surface mining is the most common mining method worldwide, and open pit mining accounts for highest surface output. Open pit mining consists primarily of the removal of topsoil and overburden, drilling and blasting of ore, and the transportation of material using a system of excavators or excavators and haul trucks. The focus of this study was cycle time analysis including from loading of waste materials (carried out using excavators of different sizes located at several different locations) and transportation to different waste dumps within the open pit mine using trucks, a process carried out using an automatic dispatch system. Truck dispatching problem is one of assigning trucks to excavators in a well designed system on real-time basis so as to ensure the achievements of some goals or minimize the under-achievement of such goals. Ore reserves which exist near the surface are mostly depleted, leading to large amounts of waste rock requiring transportation.
The mining process studied generates two byproducts: waste rock (rock that is non-mineralized, or mineralized rock which contains insufficient gold to process economically) and tailings (the slurry that remains once the gold and silver have been extracted from the crushed ore at the processing plant). The focus of this study was on waste rock transportation, although other rocks are also generated at low rates. A special feature of the waste rock is that some of it contains sulphide and is capable of producing acid drainage when exposed to oxygen and water (referred to as potentially acid forming (PAF) rock). Waste rock without the potential to form acid drainage is referred to as non-acid forming (NAF) waste rock.
The trucks transport waste rock from open pits to the waste dump in cyclic nature. Considering the large number of truck dispatch per month, it is evident that a small reduction in a single cycle time would result in a significant increase in productivity. Thus, this paper will benefit open-pit mine operators since the waste rock transportation cycle time data is critically analyzed in order to highlight where corrective measures should be implemented.
In this study, external dumps were used to dump the waste rocks which are heterogeneous in terms of grain size and structure affecting the loading and dumping times for the trucks in a complex nature. This paper aims at assessing the performance of a truck-excavator system in open-pit mines and focuses on solid mine waste dumped directly with the truck without considering the dozer employed for pushing the materials. The significance of this study is based on the environmental impacts of mine waste, which requires the Waste PAF to be well managed. Because of high cost, mine operators tend to avoid proper management of waste rock leading to environmental impacts especially when potentially acid forming (PAF) rocks are in large quantities.
This study is aimed also at assessing waste rock generation rate based on loading data by establishing daily waste material generation rate and average tonnage per dispatch for different waste categories. The truck utilization efficiency was also determined as a ratio of actual load to the maximum loading observed. This analysis is important due to huge and capital intensive equipment invested in open pit mine, life of which is very important from production and productivity point of view. Truck utilization problem was critically assessed in this study focusing on queuing delay, lower truck fill factor and hang time delays. The use of automatic dispatching system was effectively applied by the open pit mine for performance improvement advantages of which have been described in literature [1] [2] [3] .
In an open-pit mine operation under review, a material handling system comprise of loading, hauling and dumping subsystems using a computerized dispatching system. Such a system is more productive than the non-dispatching mode. The system studied is over-trucked, i.e., many trucks per excavator (at a ratio of 3.5:1), leading to a need for dispatching, although the critical ratio trucks per excavator was not assessed. One of the most important factors affecting the required number of trucks is total cycle time. A cycle time is the time span which includes loading, transportation, dumping and maneuvering processes [4] . This study went deeper on analyzing cycle time data for seven components, using statistical analysis and Pareto principle. Development of effective and efficient material handling systems can only be developed through detailed analysis of these subsystems [5] , such as the work reported in this paper. The effect of road characteristics was assessed via empty- and full-haul cycle time analysis [4] . Waste material transportation from production faces can also be accomplished using rail truck belt-conveyor or hydraulic transport.
2.1. Material Transportation in Open Pit Mines
In this study, cycle times for loading, transportation and dumping of waste rock or uneconomic mineralized rock was studied. The waste rock is normally removed to allow mining of the useful mineral resource. The amount of waste rock is however larger in open pit mine (compared to underground mine) and hence difference in operating costs. The waste rock includes granular broken rock and soils ranging in size from fine sand to large boulders, with fines content largely dependent on the nature of the formation and the methods employed during mining [6] . All these factors, in turn, affect the loading time and dumping time at the waste dump.
There are different types of mine waste materials which vary in their physical and chemical composition, their potential for environmental contamination, and how they are managed at mine sites. Generally, overburden has a low potential for environmental contamination, and is often used at mine sites for landscape contouring and revegetation during mine closure. On the other hand, waste rock is the material which contains minerals in concentrations considered too low to be profitably extracted. Waste rock is often stored in heaps or dumps on the mine site, but may be stored underwater with tailings if it contains a lot of sulphide minerals and has a high potential for acid rock drainage formation. Waste rock dumps are generally covered with soil and revegetated following mine closure, although there are cases of waste rock being re-mined in case of an increase in mineral market prices or improvements in extraction technology.
The waste rock loaded into trucks comprises of materials of different particle sizes and types which affect loading an dumping processes. The fragmentation of such rock is a product of a number of former mechanical processes, like drilling, blasting, ripping, etc. Thus, the waste rocks loaded, hauled and dumped may range in size at a waste dump from clay particles to boulders (e.g., less than 1.0 mm to larger than 1.0 m in diameter), which influence the loading and dumping times. Approaches for selection of haulage trucks, routes to dumps on the basis of minimizing the haulage cost is one of the main parameters in optimization studies conducted in the past [5] [7] [8] , which is supported by availability of cycle time data.
2.2. Cyclic Nature of Waste Rock Transportation System in an Open-Pit Mine
The importance of analyzing production cycle in order to come up with the overall open pit mine performance was emphasized through targeting minimal production cycle times [9] . A number of works consider the impact of machine breakdown on production cycle time [10] [11] , while others proposed an inventory model linked with production cycle optimization when materials flow into the production system [7] . This study focuses on material flow within a subsystem of an open pit mine including loading points and dumping points. While spares, fuel, oils flow into a subsystem forms an important factor, this study did not dwell on such inputs. By concentrating at each component of material transportation system, a detailed synthesis of performance problem was established. A production policy in which the length of the production cycle is kept between lower and upper limits has been explored [12] , while other researchers determined the optimal cycle length of each product through minimizing the cost function [13] .
Total cycle time is a crucial parameter from economic point of view for the calculation of number of trucks [4] , and also throughput or production rate [14] . After loading, the haul trucks transport the waste rockout of the mine to a dumping location where the material will either be stored or further processed. The trucks then return into the mine and the cycle repeats itself. For most surface mines, truck haulage represents as much as 60% of their total operating cost [5] , so that it is desirable to maintain an efficient haulage system. During aexcavator-truck mine operations, trucks cycle between their assigned excavators and dumps or crushers, through a network of haul roads. The total cycle times of the trucks are calculated as the sum of: load time, full-haul time, dump time, hang time, empty-haul time, queuing time at the excavator and spotting time before loading.
Where cycle times (or service times) are exponentially distributed, service rates are the inverse of mean service times [5] . Defining the back-cycle time as the truck cycle time minus the excavator waiting and loading times, leads to another important parameter in cycle time analysis, which require investigation. The mean service time depends on both excavator capacity and truck capacity. On the other hand, the mean back-cycle time depends on travel distance and truck speed.
Dumping of waste rock is a straight forward procedure during which very few operational parameters are believed to be significant. Larger buckets may require longer time to dump or the operator may speed up or retard the process. Based on literature, the dumping phase has been established to depend on bucket size, bucket fill factor and operator preference [15] .
In this study, durations of seven steps of material transport operations were recorded extensively as sample points. The use of such sampling, together with analysis of the associated statistical distributions and equations, was assumed to provide an accurate and valid representation of the wider stochasticity of the processes in question. This technique of separating operational steps and performing detailed observations and analysis has already been extensively demonstrated in both the field of work sampling and broader statistical theory [13] .
A framework for reducing material transportation cycle time is based on identifying the factors that affect cycle time components, and also establishing the actions that can be taken to diminish their impact [16] . Thus, bottleneck control in real time production [17] [18] , prioritizing truck and excavator preventive maintenance [19] , spare parts inventory for maintenance, optimization of initial buffer adjustment [20] , reduction of machine setup time [21] , and predicting order lead times [22] , can lead to production improvement and cycle time reduction as trucks will come back to operations faster following breakdown, thus giving high truck availability [23] [24] [25] [26] . Moreover, the possibility of reducing cycle times in mass production by input and service rate smoothing has also been reported in literature [27] .
2.3. Cycle Time Performance Problem
Cycle time is a direct measure of process and equipment performance in waste material transport for open-pit mines and other processes. Looking at different components of total cycle time, each step will come with a specific average cycle time to compare with other steps of the process. Once each step’s cycle times are known, the bottlenecks are then determined as steps with longest cycle times. The ability to forecast the waste material transportation process is based on cycle time at the narrowest bottleneck. The optimal number of bottlenecks to focus on (due to limited resources) are then determined using Pareto principle [28] [29] [30] . It is important to assess bottlenecks in details based on cycle times of material transport components (to determine root causes) so as to prioritize continuous improvements or lean initiatives. Reduction in cycle time results in making the best improvements with fewer resources.
3.1. System Description
Ore or waste is moved by 49 trucks from different excavator locations along a network of haulage roads, from 14 excavators located in 75 continuously- changing locations of dumping or crusher stations. About 12 waste types were transported from excavators to different dumping areas. Through extensive time studies in the field, data was collected for loading cycle times, the truck travel times, waiting times for the trucks at the excavator and dump locations, and the truck dumping times. Statistical distributions were fitted using SPSS software for the observed data. These distributions permit the computer program to perform random selection and allocation of events for the defined sequence of operations, the so called dispatch system.
This study is based on field investigation conducted at GGM, an open-pit mine utilizing trucks of different capacities (DT Series), waste rock dumps located in different nearby places, different materials types transported, night and day shifts, excavators of different models and capacity (mainly the EX Series), etc. The dispatch data was available for the whole year, but this study focused on dispatches recorded in one month, during which the activities were assumed to be the same.
3.2. The Data Collection Method and Assumptions
In this study, a method of work sampling was implemented [17] , for which cycle times to complete several steps of waste material transportation were recorded for a period of one month, for an open pit mine operating 24 hours per day, leading to N = 60,690 data points. The aim of the work sampling method is to enhance capacity utilization in the production process. The data used in this study was generated and stored using an automated computer-based truck dispatching system. The purpose of such computer application is to improve the equipment utilization and increase production subject to a variety of practical constraints. The basic assumptions used include:
1) All trucks in the same model series are identical (their capacity, motor power, speed, etc., are the same).
2) All excavators in the same model series are identical (in terms of loading capabilities, similar probability distribution types and same parameters for loading process).
3) All material generated is loaded and transported on monthly basis, so that generation rate equals loading and dumping rates.
4) More than one truck can travel along different roads (i.e., trucks are allowed to overtake each other along the haul roads), such that one truck do not affect the travel tie of the other trucks.
5) All excavators and the dumping site can serve only one truck at a time and trucks may form queues at dumping points.
6) All trucks start operation at the parking area near the dumping point at the start of the shift and park there at the end of each shift.
7) Truck dispatch is random depending on the truck availability only.
3.3. Data Coding
The worksheet created in a database comprised of N = 60,690 data points or rows consisting of columns of data of different data types (mainly string and numerical types) as per Table 1. Numerical data like time delays and tonnage hauled were not coded as they could be read directly into FORTRAN arrays. Table 1 shows the study area description of items used for data analysis while Table 2 summarizes the number of items coded and used in creating a computer code. In Table 2, different items were coded to create arrays of integers instead of strings data, to allow manipulations using FORTRAN program.
Table 1. Study area description.
Table 2. Sample of coded data from string to numeric type for implementation of FORTRAN program.
3.4. Determination of Quantities of Waste Rock Generation Rate
The monthly dispatch frequencies for each material type, with the tonnage loaded was used to determine the total frequencies for each material by cross- tabulation. Knowing the tonnage for each dispatch (Li) and frequency for each material type (ni), the total tonnage for each material (Wi) was determined as peer Equation (1):
3.5. Determination of Average Truck-Fill Factor
Given the truck tonnage values, Li = 6, 7.5, 27, 30 and 33 tons, with the maximum tonnage, Lmax = 33 tons of waste materials, the truck fill factor, fi, was defined as per Equation (2):
The average truck fill factor for trucks using loading data is given for N = 60,690, as per Equation (3):
3.6. Cycle Time Analysis
Cycle time analysis was conducted starting with identification of the activities to be analyzed, for which the cycle times of seven activities were determined and recorded. The total cycle time for the truck (also called the actual time) was determined as per Equation (4):
where tq = queuing time at the excavator, tsp = spotting time, tLd = loading time, tfh = full haul time, tdp = dumping time, thg = hanging time and teh = empty haul time. During dispatching, all the seven time delays were recorded automatically and saved as numeric data together with other details (string type data) shown in Table 2, also for N = 60,690 data points. Using the total cycle time and a known tonnage of waste material transported, the production capacity, Pcp, (which is a measure of throughput) for the waste rock transportation system was estimated as per Equation (5):
The theoretical time (total time for value added activities or processes during which material is attached to the machines) was determined using Equation (6):
The cycle time for non-productive time, Tnp = was determined as per Equation (7):
Thus, the productive fraction of the cycle time was calculated based on Equations (4) and (7) as per Equation (8):
On the other hand, the cycle time performance ratio (TPR) was determined using Equation (9):
In practice, Tpr > 1.0 since Tth is shorter than Tct. The objective of cycle time analysis is thus to determine corrective actions to drive Tpr and fp towards a value of 1.0, by reducing or eliminating non-productive activities during engineering design and also during mine operation.
3.7. Normalization of Cycle Time Data
Due to differences in the magnitudes of cycle time components, the values of cycle times were normalized to yield values between 0 and 1, to allow for comparison, that is, Xnm,k using Equation (10):
where Xk = kth value in the original cycle time data, and Xmin,k and Xmax,k = minimum and maximum values in the time series being analyzed, respectively. The normalized values were then determined for selected cycle time components.
4.1. Waste Rock Generation, Loading Rate and Stripping Ratio
The waste material generated during the study period constituted the largest volume of materials generated from the open pit mine per day, relative to the ore extracted. It was observed (based on Equation (7)) that the waste generation rate was about 38,722 and 5740 t NAF and PAF waste rocks per day, respectively, out of the total waste generation rate of 55,772 t/day, as summarized in Table 3. Taking NAF and PAF as the main waste rock components, the dilution factor was estimated to be 80%.
Figure 1 presents the monthly average tonnage for different types of materials generated an hauled from the open-pit mine. The waste rock fraction based on loading data was estimated to be about 81% the rest being other waste materials or estimated total material to waste ratio of 1.25:1, which agrees well with literature data for most mineral types [6] . Comparing the amounts of Waste NAF and Waste PAF and other materials transported in the three-month period (August-October), that is, 3.356, 0.892 and 1.011 million tons, respectively, the fraction of waste material or dilution factor was estimated to be 79.3%, or a ratio of
Table 3. Determination of material generation rate from monthly truck loading dispatch data.
Figure 1. Distribution of material generated and hauled from an open-pit per month.
waste rock to other material of 3.83:1. As mine operations continue, this factor is supposed to decrease as higher grades ores are reached. The ratio of waste-rock to ore (i.e., the stripping ratio) at surface mines may range as high as 10:1 for some areas with typical value ringing from 1:1 to 3:1 for most mineral types [12] , which agrees well with study results. Areas with high stripping ratio will lead to high dumping rate at waste piles, and vice versa.
Figure 1 shows also the distribution of materials loaded and hauled from the open-pit mine per month for the period of four months, presented using both bar chart (in metric tons per month) and pie-chart. The four types of materials loaded at largest amounts include Waste NAF (69.4%), Waste PAF (10.3%), MG Soft (7.6%) and HG Hard (6.2%). The waste materials, however, comprised of the largest part all the time (on daily and monthly basis).Examining the distribution of tonnage of materials loaded and hauled it is evident that waste materials transportation takes the major part of the total cost of mine operations.
4.2. Truck Fill-Factor as Utilization Efficiency in the Open-Pit Mine
By cross-tabulating the tonnage hauled per trip versus the truck codes from Table 2 from monthly dispatch data, it was established that all trucks could carry 33 t per trip as a maximum load observed in this study based on dispatch logs. This data could also be obtained from manufacturers’ datasheets. It was further observed that the percent of dispatch frequency during which the trucks were loaded at33 t of the materials from the open pit mine was higher than 0% for all trucks, which indicates that all trucks could carry 33 t. However, dispatch frequencies with trucks loaded below 33 t were as high as 89%, signifying under-utilization of the trucks. Figure 2 shows the fraction of trips for which the trucks were under loaded (f < 100%). While some trucks were highly under-loaded (f < 10%) for most of the trips, only 9 trucks (or 18.4%) were loaded from 70% to 90%. Figure 2 shows also that all trucks were under-loaded from time to time, with large number of them (22 trucks or 43%) being severely under-loaded (f < 10%).
Figure 2. Variation of truck trips under-loaded in a material transportation system.
Figure 3 shows the variation of the dispatch frequency with tonnage of materials transported by each truck during one month. A linear relationship shows that the higher the dispatch frequency, the higher the tonnage of materials transported, as expected. However, the linear regression line with R2 = 0.9942 (<1.0) indicates that there are cases of dispatch where the trucks are loaded at lower fill-factor, which complements the results presented in Figure 2. The slope of 34.2, higher than 33.0 indicates that there were large number of cases where the fill-factor was higher. Thus, the truck-excavator system was being underutilized by loading the trucks below their respective pay load.
The dispatch-tonnage relationship was established based on data from different locations (meant to assess the effect of locations on truck utilization), different materials loaded and loading data for different trucks. Such relationship led to a performance parameter denoted astons loaded per dispatch, Tpd. Results show that Tpd values differ according to the three scenarios, such that, material-, truck- and location-based values, were observed to be 20.05, 28.90 and 29.97, respectively. The lower value of material-based Tpd shows that there is tendency to underload the trucks when specific materials are being loaded. This is also revealed by data presented in Table 3, from which Tpd values for HG Hard, MG-Soft, LG Soft and IG Soft were lowest compared to other materials, that is, 15.8, 20.4, 20.5 and 21.8 t/dispatch, respectively.
The truck fill-factor is a key performance indicator(KPI) for material transportation system. Other researchers regard fill factor as a quality loss. To establish the maximum load, the truck identification codes were cross-tabulated with
Figure 3. Variation of dispatch frequency with tonnage of materials transported by respective trucks during one month.
the tonnage carried. Given the tonnage loaded at five fixed values (6, 7.5, 27, 30 and 33 t), the values of fill-factor established were also fixed at 18.18%, 22.73%, 81.8%, 90.91% and 100%, respectively. Figure 4 shows the frequency distribution of fill factor levels for dispatch data recorded in one month. In general, higher fill-factors of 100% and 90.91% were observed at higher frequencies of 61.2% and 20.5%, respectively, during which Waste NAF and Waste PAF materials were being transported. This indicates a good performance for waste material transportation. Statistical analysis of fill-factors revealed a mean value of 86.33% with a standard deviation of 26.8%. The values of fill-factors for different material types loaded are presented in Figure 4, which ranged from 1.0 to 0.3, being minimum for IG Medium and maximum for IG-Soft.
The bucket efficiency ratio, a measure of what weight of waste material a bucket of particular excavator capacity can carry, is rated in t/m3 and ranges from 2.0 t/m3 for backhoe to 2.16 t/m3 for rope excavators, based on which, the fill factor is generated during loading. However, the buckets are either under-filled
Figure 4. Distribution of truck fill factors for different material types loaded (bar chart) and overall distribution based on dispatch frequency data (pie chart).
or overfilled similar to trucks with fill factors from 0.4 to 1.2 in practice [31] , which in turn affects loading cyce time and lowers the tons per day presented in Figure 3.
4.3. Queuing Time as a Truck Utilization Challenge
In open-pit mining operations, material haulage trucks form queues on arrival at excavators, crushers, and dump locations and have to wait their turn in line [13] [32] . This study focuses on queues formed at the excavator prior to loading. When representing loading operations with queuing systems, the time a truck spends positioning and spotting at the excavator can be included either as part of the loading cycle time or as part of the time the truck was waiting in the queue for service. In this study, the latter queueing time was assessed. The data comprised of two parts, one with no queuing time at all during which the trucks were loaded after completing the empty haul (40.5% of the time) and another part with varying queuing time (59.5% of the time).
The average queuing time was observed to be 124.1 seconds, showing that the time wasted for queuing is high when compared to loading time. Figure 5 shows the PDF of queuing time data for 32,543 data points with average values observed for queueing time caused by different excavators. While strong variations in the queuing time leads to wide span of values on a PDF from 1 to 1000 seconds, the average values observed for all excavators fall within a narrow span (between 102 and 201.1 seconds only as shown inside Figure 5.
Figure 5. Histogram of queuing time data before loading 33 t of Waste NAF.
The amount of time trucks spend waiting to be loaded, tq, is an indicator of how efficient the truck-excavator system is operating. The larger the values of tq the longer trucks are spending idling at the excavators. It should be noted that an idling equipment due to queuing is still not available and also not utilized during that time [24] , even when the trucks are fit for work [23] [25] [26] . Cycle time reduction for queuing process is critical. To reduce queuing time, operators need to ensure that they are in the correct waiting position prior to reversing for being loaded.
4.4. Analysis of Truck Loading Cycle Times
Figure 6 gives a comparison of statistical analysis results for loading cycle times of waste materials (NAF and PAF) for fixed tonnage loaded (30 and 33 tons). Despite the differences in frequency, the PDFs have the same shape for all loading operations. For the waste NAF, the average loading time decreased slightly from 141 to 134.6 seconds when 33 and 30 tons were loaded, respectively. For the same tonnage of 30 t, the average loading time was slightly higher for Waste PAF (Lt = 137.4 seconds) than for the Waste NAF (Lt = 134.6 sec). The histograms reveal low positive skewness of 1.242, 1.627 and 1.416 for waste PAF (30 t), waste NAF (33 t) and waste NAF (30 t), respectively, and kurtosis values equal to 5.09, 7.60 and 6.30, respectively. All loading cycle time data are positively skewed, indicating presence of cases with very high values of Lt at low frequency. Different from queuing time data, which leads to logarithmic PDF, the loading data leads to linear PDF.
Figure 6. Histograms of the loading cycle time for waste materials in an open-pit mine(for PAF 30 t, NAF 33 and NAF 30 t).
The horizontal axis in Figure 6 shows that loading time spans beyond 400 seconds in all cases, indicating that excavators do not take exactly the same time to load the same trucks even when loading the same quantity of waste materials. The stochastic nature of the loading process is affected by type and particle size distribution of material, which change from time to time even in the same location, while factors like excavator and truck pan design are constant. Higher values of Lt can result from larger particle size of loaded material which in turn affect bucket fill factor. Since the rocks may range in size from less than 1 mm to larger than 1 m, the loading time will vary accordingly.
Loading times depend on excavator capacity, digging conditions and the truck bucket design and capacity. Queues often form at the excavators since many tracks of various sizes are used at individual excavators, making allocation of trucks to the excavators and pits to become a complex engineering problem. The stochasticity of loading times, portrayed in Figure 6 can also be attributed to the difference in loading techniques associated with each type of loading unit, location design, orientation of trucks versus the excavator, and loading area cleanliness and elevation. The loading techniques depend on whether an hydraulic excavator, hydraulic/electric excavator, rope-shovel, front-end loader, etc., is used. Together with damage to the trucks, overloading the trucks leads to extended loading time.
4.5. Analysis of Dumping Cycle Times
Figure 7 presents the histograms of the waste material dumping times for trucks
Figure 7. Histograms of the dumping cycle times for waste materials in an open-pit mine (for PAF 30 t, NAF 33 t and NAF 30 t).
at the waste dumps. When 30 t of waste were loaded, the average dumping time changed from 93 to 116 seconds for Waste PAF and NAF, respectively. For the same waste material, NAF, loaded at 33 and 30 t, the dumping time increased from 88.3 to 116 seconds, respectively, which is rather too long and whih is opposite to the expected trend when tonnage is increased. This can be attributed to several reasons, including dumpsite design, truck load maneuvering prior to dumping, etc. The PDFs differ in shape from those of loading indicating that different factors affect the stochastic nature of the dumping compared to the loading process. Moreover, compared to the loading data, the PDFs for dumping process shows a clear shift from normal PDF curve (shifted to the right) while the peaks of the PDFs for loading cycle time data coincide with those of normal distribution. On the other hand, dumping times are shorter than loading times, as expected. Longer dumping cycle time can be attributed to poor level of dump area in all directions which leads to unstable dumping platform, and longer times for trucks to position before dumping. Moreover, dumping uphill takes longer as greater energy is required to lift the load.
Weather conditions affect the moisture content and hence shear strength of the waste rock which in turn affects the dumping and loading time depending on soil or material type and particle size distribution. Other factors affecting dumping time include dumpsite shape configuration such as valley-fill, cross- valley, side-hill, ridge, or heaped, depending on the topography of the dumping area, leading to increased stochasticity of the dumping process. The dumping method will also affect the dumping time depending on whether it is end- dumping, push-dumping, free-dumping or plug-dumping.
4.6. Waste Material Full and Empty Haul Cycle Times
Figure 8 shows the PDFs for full-haul times for trucks loaded with fixed tonnage (33 t) of waste NAF and also for the empty-haul data (which have no correlation to tonnage loaded or dumped). Both PDFs are logarithmic in nature, and depend on truck characteristics and driver behavior. Considering all trucks loaded with fixed material type at the same tonnage (Waste PAF, 30 t), the average full- haul cycle time was observed to be 892.7 seconds, while the average empty-haul cycle time was 682.8 seconds. The empty-haul cycle time data was analyzed after dumping, so that the results are not related to the tonnage and material type hauled before dumping.
Results indicate that the full-haul process takes longer time than empty-haul, which is obvious for loaded and unloaded trucks, using same roads. The shapes of the histograms show a marked difference in the tails on both sides, with Sk = 0.56 and 5.39 for full-haul and empty-haul cycle times, respectively. The empty-haul cycle time data shows wider variations away from the mean values than full-haul based on wide differences in skewness and standard deviation values (σfh = 271.6 and σeh = 561.3). Thus, stringent control of drivers’ behavior after dumping waste materials should be imposed to improve waste material transportation efficiency.
Figure 9 shows the cumulative functions of the normalized full- and empty-haul cycle time data for different trucks. Comparing the normalized full-haul cycle time data for the four selected trucks, it is evident that there is a marked difference in terms of median values, for instance, reached at increasing cycle time in the order of DT103, DT101, DT102 and DT104. The cumulative function gives a measure for differentiating performance between different trucks, which could not be easily deduced from the PDFs. On the other hand, the empty haul times show similar order of performance using median values. The fact that the empty-haul is shorter than the full-haul time is portrayed by short time to reach median (50%) for the former than the latter times.
Hauling waste material from the excavator production faces to the dumping sites is accomplished through a network of haul roads which is extremely complex, covering large surface areas and passing through extreme elevation changes. Other studies show that haul road grade affects strongly the truck speed [14] , and hence the full- and empty-haul time. Other adverse conditions affecting
Figure 8. Histograms of full- and empty-haul cycle time data for waste material transportation (Waste NAF at 30 t).
Figure 9. Cumulative functions of normalized cycle times for full- and empty-haul data for different trucks hauling 30 t of Waste NAF.
hauling times include dust, slippery wet surface and poor visibility. There are times and circumstances when adverse driving conditions require drivers to take extra care, leading to extended haul times, since vehicles become difficult to control. Haul road conditions (including loading and dumping areas) must be checked to determine whether they are acceptable and ideally suited to the operation, that is, the geometric, structural and functional designs are to standard, together with the correct operating practices.
Haul road design is a stronger factor affecting the empty and full haul cycle times. Wet material 4 - 6 m beneath the road can be easily transformed into a very thick liquid like state by vibrations caused by fully loaded trucks, and cause delays for both full and empty haul operations. A gentle slope from the centre of the haul road helps to drain the rain water away from the road. To enhance and speed up truck cycle time, haul roads should be regularly maintained, especially soft areas (undulation) leading to wet spots on the road. Despite the extended cycle time, haul road undulation may cause damage to truck tyres and suspension system of the trucks.
4.7. Analysis of Hanging and Spotting Time Data
Since these two operations take place when the truck is empty, the two cycle time components are not related to material being hauled, tonnage loaded and haul road, instead the cycle time depends on site design, excavator-truck design features and driver’s experience. Using data collected for one month for all trucks and excavators (N = 60,690 data points), the average spotting and hanging times were observed to be 57.6 and 112.2 seconds, respectively, with hanging time being longer than spotting time. Stronger variability was observed for hang time than spotting time, with σhg = 496.3 seconds and σsp = 73 second, respectively. The flatter PDF for hand time data compared to the spotting time data signifies the higher variability and standard deviation observed. Moreover, the hang time data is more skewed than spotting time data, with Sk = 26.6 and 5.4, respectively, as revealed by high frequency values of thg around 1000 seconds compared to spotting time. The PDFs were both logarithmic in nature (as shown in Figure 10) although their shapes and tails are different.
The variability during spotting is caused mainly by technique used for loading such as spotting for top loading at 45˚, 90˚, etc. There is extended time during spotting because the truck driver must wait until the excavator operator has spotted the bucket in the correct position. That is, this process depends not only on the location or site design, excavator and truck design, but also on the two drivers’ decisions. Further research can be conducted to establish the variations in thg and tsp on excavator models, locations, and excavator-truck combinations.
4.8. Total Cycle Time Analysis
The production capacity data for the waste material transportation system was established using Equation (5), with loaded tonnage, Li = 33 metric tons, for waste NAF, at varying total cycle time, Tct (determined using Equation (4)). The
Figure 10. Histograms of hanging and spotting time data during material transportation in an open-pit mine.
total cycle time depends on haul road length and conditions, tonnage loaded, truck model and capacity (speed in this case), driver’s decisions, number of trucks per excavator, etc. By fixing all other factors, Figure 11 compares the total cycle time data for different trucks and from different locations (3 locations at GHW2 and one location at LCC1). For DT100 series trucks, the values of Tct were observed to drop for a location denoted as LCC1 attributable to differences in distance or haul road conditions compared to GHW2 locations. For DT200 series trucks loaded with 30 t of Waste PAF, there was no trend attributable to differences in distances from excavator to dumpsites.
Figure 12 shows the PDF of the total cycle time for waste material transportation system, comprising of all seven steps of material transport operation. The total cycle time ranged from 400 to 6000 seconds, with N = 32,543 data points loaded with 33 t of Waste NAF. The average value was estimated to be 1300 sec, with stronger variations depicted by high standard deviation (σ = 737.1 sec). In the past, in both theory and practice, increased attention was focused on the level of machine capacity utilization because machines were costly and thus had a greater impact on production efficiency. However, emphasis is currently on material transport efficiency since efficient machines are currently available in the market.
Figure 12 shows also the PDF of production capacity data corresponding to the same Waste NAF loading at 33 t. The average production capacity was 2632 t/day. With the overall average cycle time of 1300 seconds to transport 33 t of Waste NAF from an excavator location to the waste dump and using Equation (5), the corresponding daily production capacity is estimated to be 2193 t waste material per day.
4.9. Analysis of the Total Cycle Time Components
Figure 13 shows the distribution of the delay times for the components of the total cycle time, when the same type of material is loaded (that is, Waste NAF) at
Figure 11. Comparison between average total cycle time values for different trucks (a) loaded with the same material and fixed tonnage (Waste PAF, 30 t for DT200), and (b) data from different locations (for DT100).
Figure 12. PDFs of the total cycle time and production capacity during Waste NAF transportation.
Figure 13. Average cycle time for the seven components of Waste NAF transportation process in an open pit mine.
the same tonnage of 33 t. Full haul time was observed to be the longest among the seven components (as expected when such a large quantity of material being hauled) that is, 578.5 seconds, followed by empty haul time with average of 473.1 seconds. Due to large number of trucks being loaded by a small number of excavators, trucks took longer times waiting to be loaded leading to queue time of 132.0 seconds on average. The hanging time after dumping the waste materials took 94.3 seconds on average, with the shortest time being the spotting time which took 66.7 seconds on average. In terms of percent of total cycle time, the full haul was about 44.5%, while empty-haul was about 36.4%
It should be noted that the total cycle time variations are attributable to the consequences of deterministic factors affecting each component. The machine utilization capacity (for both trucks and excavators) can be increased by eliminating bottlenecks (or unnecessarily extended cycle times). Other production cycle time components are affected by a number of factors that are human-related, which are stochastic in character, but controllable.
The hanging, queuing and spotting operational delays contributed to about 18.5% of the total cycle time (for the case presented in Figure 13). Although the average times for hanging, queuing and spotting were the shortest, the combined total time impacts the mine operations significantly. The total cycle time, based on the average values (for Waste NAF loaded at 33 t) was equal to 1,581 seconds leading to a production capacity of 1803 t/day. However, if the queuing time (8.3% of total cycle time) can be eliminated, the production capacity could rise to 1,968 t of waste NAF per day (that is, 9.15% increase). Hang time, also known as “wait on truck” time, is experienced by a loading unit verses the time lost by the trucks while queuing. The average hang cycle time was 94.3 seconds or 6.0% of the total cycle time.
Figure 14 shows the Pareto chart for the cycle time components during Waste NAF transportation. Results show that the three most critical components or bottlenecks of the waste transportation system were identified as full-haul (44.5%), empty-haul (36.4%) and loading processe (11.4%), which forms mine operation KPIs. Thus, cycle time reduction should focus at these three components which can be reduced by managing drivers’ behavior, good haul road design and improved drilling and blasting efficiency to allow faster loading.
4.10. Analysis of the Productive Fraction of the Total Cycle Time
The productive time, also called theoretical time, comprised of loading, full haul and dumping time (also called value-added activities), as shown in Equation (6). On the other hand, non-productive time involved operations related to empty haul, hanging, spotting and queuing at the excavator as per Equation (7). The productive time component was used to judge the effectiveness of a given material transportation system. The spans of the productive and non-productive time delays are shown in the PDFs in Figure 15.
The average productive time (Tth = 662.1 sec) was observed to be slightly higher than the non-productive time (Tnp = 639 sec). On average, the total cycle time is 54% productive, while the rest comprise of activities which are non- productive. However, the Tnp is still too high, which requires implementation of cycle time reduction strategies. In terms of variability, the non-productive times vary too wide from one dispatch to another with high standard deviation (σnp = 681 sec) compared to the productive time (σth = 241 sec). Although non-productive time is highly skewed to the right (Sk = 16.0) compared to the productive time (Sk = 6.615), the average values of two components of the total cycle time are almost equal. The plot shows also that there are many data points beyond 1000 seconds for non-productive time than on the productive time. Figure 15 shows also that the probability distributions of the productive and non-productive times data are similar.
Figure 14. Pareto chart for the total cycle time components during Waste NAF transportation in an open-pit mine.
Figure 15. Probability distributions of the productive and non-productive time delays during waste NAF material transportation.
4.11. Analysis of Cycle Time Performance Ratio
Figure 16 shows the probability density function of the CTPR values for Waste NAF transportation system. The variability in performance ratio, that is, inconsistence or non-optimized performance, was assessed by using the probability density function of the Tpr values with N = 32,539 data points collected in one month (as shown in Figure 16). The mean value of Tpr was observed to be 2.423, which is higher than the target value of Tpr = 1.0, indicating that performance of the waste transportation system was poor in the open pit mine. Most of the Tpr data are far above 1.0, indicating poor performance, based on cycle time performance analysis. The strong variations in Tpr as depicted by higher values of standard deviation (σ = 8.67) is an indication of poor performance caused by inconsistence between cycles. Furthermore, there was a higher tendency of high values of Tpr up to 10.0 observed at decreasing frequency, supported also by higher value of positive skewness (Sk = 52.8).
4.12. Detailed Analysis of the PDFs from Material Transport Data
Table 4 summarizes the analysis of PDF types of the cycle time components observed in this study. It can be seen from Table 4 that the PDFs for loading process were different in nature from those of the rest of the seven steps of material transportation cycle. This can be attributed to the fact that this step involves a different machine and different driver from the truck (that is, the excavator), operations and characteristics of which differ from the truck. Together with data presented in Table 4, further analysis revealed that the PDFs of total cycle time, production capacity, productive time delay, non-productive time fraction and cycle time performance ratio were logarithmic in nature while the productive time fraction data gives a linear PDF.
Figure 16. Probability density function for cycle time performance ratio (CTPR) during Waste NAF transportation.
Table 4. Characterizing PDFs of cycle time data for major components of the material transport operations.
Based on this study, it can be concluded that:
The Waste NAF and PAF were the major rock types generated and loaded and transported at highest rate in an open pit mine (64% and 17% of the total material hauled), out of a total of 1.73 million tons per month. Due to low truck utilization efficiency caused by under-loading, the average tons per dispatch, Tdp, ranged from as low as 15.8 to 32.6, with more than 43% of the trucks being severely under-loaded below 10%. The dumping cycle times, Tdp, were strongly affected by material types than changes in location or trucks.
Based on a maximum loading of 33 tons, the truck fill factor, f, varied from 1.0 to 0.3 and varied also with waste rock types. Moreover, the maximum fill factor, f = 1.0 was observed at a highest frequency of 61.2% while the higher value f = 0.91 was observed for only 20.5% of the dispatches. The other fill factor values (f = 0.81, 0.23 and 0.18) were, however, observed at lower occurrences (below 10%). Up to 59.5% of the dispatches for truck loading involved queuing at the excavators, with an average queuing time, tq, of 124.1 seconds when 33 t of Waste NAF were being loaded into various trucks. Despite the lower average values of tq (based on 33 t of Waste NAF loaded) and also on individual excavators (tq = 102 - 201 seconds), larger values of tq up to 1000 seconds were observed (indicating wider span of queuing time). Since trucks form ques while idling, a cycle time reduction effort to minimize operations cost was recommended.
The loading cycle time, Lt, varied less between Waste PAF and NAF when 30 t were loaded, PDFs of which were linear, spanning up to 400 seconds with low positive skewness. On average, values of Lt ranged between 134 and 141 seconds, which are low indicating effective loading process. The average dumping times, td, for 30 t were 93 and 116 seconds for Waste PAF and NAF, respectively, which are shorter compared to loading cycle times. The td increased with tonnage dumped for a fixed material type, while the PDFs of td data were logarithmic, different from those of Lt.
Although shorter than full-haul time, on average, the empty-haul time varied widely than the former (with higher standard deviation). The two processes comprised the largest part of the total cycle time, necessitating closer monitoring of drivers’ behavior and haul road conditions to minimize the non-productive component. With exception of loading cycle time data and the productive time fraction data, the rest of the data sets exhibited logarithmic PDFs.
The total cycle time for materials transport process, Tct, varied by trucks and location (or haul distances) when the same material was loaded and hauled at the same tonnage between excavators and dumpsites. The average value of Tct was about 1,301 seconds corresponding to an average production capacity, Pcp, of 2,632 t/day for hauling 33 t of Waste NAF. The PDFs of Tct and Pcp data were also logarithmic.
Based on Pareto analysis of Tct components, three bottlenecks were identified for the material transport system in an open pit mine, that is: full-haul, empty haul and loading operations, which require attention. The productive component of the total cycle time, Tth, was determined to be 662.1 seconds, being 54% of the total cycle time on average. Reducing the non-productive component, Tnp, will improve the productivity and performance of the waste transportation system in the open pit mine. Analysis of the cycle time performance ratio (Tpr) shows that the mean value was 2.423, closer to 1.0 while ranging up to 10, with high positive skewness, indicating that the performance of the waste rock transportation system in an open pit mine was poor.
The author is grateful to the Management Geita Gold Mine (GGM), Tanzania, for permission to conduct this study and providing the technical assistance during data collection.
Manyele, S.V. (2017) Analysis of Waste-Rock Transportation Process Performance in an Open-Pit Mine Based on Statistical Analysis of Cycle Times Data. Engineering, 9, 649-679. https://doi.org/10.4236/eng.2017.97040
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3. Kheiryeh, E. and Osanloo, M. (2012) The Optimal Dispatching Station Site Selection Effective Factor in Open Pit Mines. Proceedings of 21st Int. Symp. on Mine Planning and Equipment Selection (MPES), New Delhi, 28-30 November 2012, 360-372.
4. Ercelebi, S.G. and Bascetin, A. (2009) Optimization of Shovel Truck System for Surface Mining. Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, 109, 433-439.
5. Chanda, E.K. and Gardner, S. (2010) A Comparative Study of Truck Cycle Time Prediction Methods in Open-Pit Mining. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 17, 446-460.
6. Rustan, A. and Nie, S. (1992) New Method to Test Rock Breaking Properties of Explosive in Full Scale. International Journal of Mining and Environment, 6, 191-200.
7. Kun-Jen, C., Kuo-Lung, H. and Shaw-Ping, L. (2009) The Optimal Production Cycle Time in an Integrated Production-Inventory Model for Decaying Raw Materials. Applied Mathematical Modeling, 33, 1-10.
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8. Ta, C.H., Kresta, J.V., Forbes, J.F. and Marquez, H.J. (2005) A Stochastic Optimization Approach to Mine Truck Allocation. International Journal of Mining, Reclamation and Environment, 19, 162-175.
9. Agrawal, A., Minis, I. and Nagi, R. (2000) Cycle time reduction by improved MRP-Based Production Planning. International Journal of Production Research, 38, 4823-4841.
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11. Giri, B.C. and Yun, W.Y. (2005) Optimal Lot Sizing for an Unreliable Production System under Partial Backlogging and at Most Two Failures in a Production Cycle. International Journal of Production Economics, 65, 229-243.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2004.01.004
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18. Lati, N. and Gilad I. (2010) Minimizing Idle Times in Cluster Tools in the Semiconductor Industry. International Journal of Production Research, 48, 6443-6459.
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SHOULD THERE BE DRUG TESTING IN ROCK N' ROLL?
By ZeppFanForever, July 8, 2008 in Ramble On
Broken Levee
Zep Head
i'm surprised no one has posted this yet.. don't click if you don't like offensive material
http://youtube.com/watch?v=xRkA6zugNMQ
http://youtube.com/watch?v=J10w3FuCwfQ
funny. i don't necessarily agree with all of it though.
rob halford doesn't take drugs. he certainly has done himself some rocking. the moody
blues weren't into the drug scene . they made out ok.
Man, I was just skimming through to make sure no one posted this before I did. I was surprised no one posted this yet either.
Jahfin
It's funny seeing some of the musicians who took part in those R.A.D. ads all those years ago now saying they were high during the filming of them. I think I saw that on one of VH1 Classic's RockDocs, most likely the one called The Drug Years which re-aired recently.
I don't have the lowdown on the Pink Floyd thing but I do recall seeing one of those Classic Album specials on VH1 years ago where one of the band members (Gilmour, perhaps?) stated fans thought Floyd were heavy into drugs but in reality they actually were big drinkers. As for someone listening to their music and thinking Floyd were high on drugs, that's perfectly understandable since their music is so psychedelic.
I have to laugh at the Grand Funk Railroad "anti-drug" thing since on Live Album Mark Farner is going on and on about "making up nickel bags all day". Perhaps they eventually became anti-drug (as someone mentioned Farner is a Christian these days, he also isn't in Grand Funk anymore) but I didn't get the impression from that record that they were anti-drug at all.
On the subject of Frank Zappa, I couldn't find the clip online (not to say it isn't out there somewhere) but one of my very favorite SNL skits is one he appeared in called Night On Freak Mountain where he's offered a wide variety of drugs but turns every one of them down. I believe he also appeared in a skit with the Coneheads on that one that was also very hilarious.
ZeppFanForever
The Rock n' Roll Warrior
Location:San Antonio, Texas U.S.A.
No one should ever have to be drug tested by the government.
Now, if employers make it a requirement to drug test their employees thats one thing. If Atlangtic forced Zeppelin to drug test back in the 70s, I have no qualms as that should be their right. But the government should never be allowed to just drug test just for the hell of it...
How's it going "wanna be drummer?" In my opinion, if there is no drug testing for Government employees in the Government, why should there be drug testing at all? ROCK ON!
How's it going "Broken Levee?" THIS IS SOME HEAVY SHIT! Thanks for posting this. ROCK ON!
How's it going "Jahfin?" Its really true that many band members go through many blackout years and don't remember certain incidents or quotes that many have said in the past but don't remember. That's definitely the case with Mark Farner, Keith Richards, Ozzy Osbourne and the late Jim Morrison to name a few. I've never thought or believed for one minute that GRAND FUNK RAILROAD was anti-drug. PINK FLOYD, BIG DRINKERS, I believe that but I also realize that they had to be taking LSD. In my opinion, to really get into their early material, like the late Syd Barrett, you had to be on LSD to really hear and appreciate their music. ROCK ON!
bigzepfan
Location:Upstate NY
I recall hearing an eric clapton interview where he said that he drank constantly. He always saw double. If he didn't see double, then he started drinking again.
Makes you wonder how they're alive! But thank the gods of music that they are.
BUCK'EYE' DOC
I am sure that this was the show where Frank sang Don't You Eat That Yellow Snow.
Brings back memories!
Edited April 7, 2009 by BUCK'EYE' DOC
I'm not sure if it was or not. Funny, I could find his musical performances from SNL online but not the skits. There was one site that had apparently posted Freak Mountain at one time but it had since been removed.
Doc McGee was all over the headlines here back when he got busted as I believe some of his drug smuggling operations took place on the NC coast.
Electrophile
Like Ma Bell, I got the ill communication.
In the beginning, they were into the typical stuff; pot, acid, and booze. Toward the end though....Rick was the one with the drug issues, not the rest of them. He had a well-documented cocaine problem that led to, in part, him being asked to leave the band. He just couldn't perform anymore, it had gotten that bad. The rest of them just liked to drink.
David Gilmour had a cocaine habit in the late 80s-early 90s following his divorce from his first wife, but he quit that soon after meeting his current wife....probably sometime in 1992.
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Lee Min Ho ♥ 이민호 ♥ ィミンホ ♥ 李敏鎬 [UPCOMING DRAMA JULY 2020:: THE KING: THE ETERNAL MONARCH]
By CarolynH, June 21, 2007 in actors & actresses
이민호
ィミンホ
李敏鎬
lmh
Kris Silva 8,540
Hello Soomzies! Just want to say hello and let you know that our boy updated his Facebook account today! Check it out...
And please vote for our boy by liking this IG page for 100 Most Handsome Faces of 2019
r bou
1ouise 3,196
Fan Level: Hooked
CarolynH 4,341
Fan Level: Addicted
Isn't he so cute peeking from underneath the covers?
I'm putting this to a vote--after this final episode of the DMZ, shall we postpone watching mackerel run until the first week in January? It's a busy time of year for many and if The King doesn't air to the end of April, we'll need to find something to keep us occupied. You'll also have time to find a site to watch that drama.
Here's a young LMH-Enjoy!
cr: as tagged
I think this is before his accident, right? Mackerel Run would be after his accident, I think.
CallieP 2,455
2 minutes ago, CarolynH said:
Yes, I vote for first week in January. Take a breather. I think Mackerel Run is before the accident but I am not sure.
syntyche 4,441
Hello, @Kris Silva!
12 hours ago, CarolynH said:
I vote to postpone it to January. It's a busy time, indeed - I'm trying to catch up with my rewatch of DMZ. I'm not yet done with ep 1. Haha
msdot 346
1 hour ago, syntyche said:
'm putting this to a vote--after this final episode of the DMZ, shall we postpone watching mackerel run until the first week in January? It's a busy time of year for many and if The King doesn't air to the end of April, we'll need to find something to keep us occupied. You'll also have time to find a site to watch that drama.
Yep, me too. Let’s postpone. And I still like the idea of submitting our favorite scenes from anything he’s done.
SophieH 176
Fan Level: n00b
9 hours ago, CarolynH said:
Yeah good idea ! I vote for Jan. Life’s been busy and I haven’t complete all the DMZ episodes too.
Korean representative drama writers are coming back next year
Kim Eun-sook, who boasts " Invincible Myth, " is busy filming SBS ' " The King : The Eternal Monarch " with Lee Min-ho and Kim Go-eun. Kim Eun-sook, the author of " Lovers in Paris, " " On Air, " " Secret Garden, " " Gentleman's Quality, " " Descendants of the Sun, " and " Mr. Sunshine " in 2004, have not failed the box office. " Lovers, " which has relatively low viewer ratings, also recorded the highest ratings of 22.6 percent (Nielsen Korea count, national standard), and " City Hall " also recorded 18 percent and 7 percent.
(skipped unrelated)
https://n.news.naver.com/entertain/article/076/0003505288
16 Most Anticipated K-Dramas of 2020
Korean dramas have caught attention of viewers from across the globe. All thanks to the Internet and the streaming services that make their contents easily accessible. Korean Dramas such as ‘The Heirs’, ‘Trust No One’, ‘My Father is Strange’, ‘Descendants of the Sun’ and ‘Love Alarm’ have become international hits.
So, it is not a surprise that there is so much of curiosity about the upcoming Korean dramas. And, there is a fraternity of viewers eagerly waiting for the latest treats by Korean television. We have seen some of the best Korean dramas this year which makes us quite hopeful for the upcoming years. Here’s the list of upcoming K-Dramas scheduled to release in 2020. We can only hope that these new Korean Dramas turn out to be as good as some of the recent ones.
The King: Eternal Monarch (2020)
‘The King: Eternal Monarch’ is a historical fantasy drama that stars popular actors like Lee Min-ho (‘Boys Over Flowers’), Kim Go-eun (‘Tune in for Love’) and Woo Do-hwan (‘Mad Dog’). It begins with a supernatural intervention in the human world. Out of anger on humanity, the deities unleash powerful demons in the world. They can be stopped, but the door between the human and demon world has to be closed. Emperor Lee Gon takes it upon himself to perform the task. This brings him in contact with a detective who is trying to save the world on her own, too.
https://www.thecinemaholic.com/new-k-dramas/
I want to wrap around with him! From Lee Min Ho to Gong Yoo Oppa's scarf style, who do you want to warm up with most?
The weather is so cold and you need a scarf to warm it up. Who are the male gods you want to warm up together with these scarf styles?
A little black scarf or checkered red scarf, I don't know why but Minho's scarf is fragrant
https://www.marieclaire.com.tw/celebrity/news/A46535?atcr=5f139b&__twitter_impression=true
gtLmh0622 26,887
20191206 Fan account by 小小鱼冬123.
One of my friend is a six-year fan of Lee Min Ho. She always told me everything how LMH love his fans, so I have one step to be his fan.
After many troubles, I was finally with her to meet LMH this time. Honestly, he is really handsome and very very polite. He even asked us if we felt cold. I was wrapped up in a down jacket and was cold to die. He wore a thin overcoat and took shooting again and again, but he was still an oppa with a lot of smiles !
His profile looks really like a sculpture ! The shooting was completed around 4:00 am, it's very hard. It's was so heart-attacked when he walked in front of me. What a immortal man he is !
Now I still can't believe that the voice and the face in dramas really appeared in front of me yesterday ! I'm Minoz ! I'm soooooo good.
Hello! Please vote for our boy at AsiaNovelaChannel Facebook Page for Most loved Male Lead.
Unexpectedly, 'handsome white shirt' Lee Min Ho also has such badass moments
The behind-the-scenes series has been shared for everyone to see a very ordinary Lee Min Ho.
Recently, some behind-the-scenes photos of Lee Min Ho have been posted online. In the photo the actor "Legend of the blue sea" unleashed frolicking on the bed. Not only that, fans also have the opportunity to see Lee Min Ho very often through the badass image and barefoot image.
It can be seen that besides the beautiful picture of a white shirt, Lee Min Ho also has unlucky but honest moments in front of the camera lens. Fans especially praised the young and innocent smile of this 32-year-old man.
Currently Lee Min Ho is focusing on filming a new drama called "The King: The Eternal Monarch". This is the work that marks the return of Lee Min Ho after 2 years of military service. The drama is expected to release in the first half of 2020.
https://ngoisao.vn/hau-truong/chuyen-lang-sao/khong-ngo-soai-ca-so-mi-trang-lee-min-ho-cung-co-nhung-khoanh-khac-ba-dao-nhu-the-nay-280969.htm
Which perfume do Lee Min Ho and the male idols use?
The scent creates a unique charm, these male celebrities really know how to impress people around them by the fragrance they use.
Lee Min Ho is extremely fond of Bvlgari Pour Homme Soir. The opening fragrance calms your soul with Indian Darieeling tea leaves, the most prominent scent you will feel during the fragrance period. The second layer is a blend of Papyrus, a high-grade paper-making material from ancient Egypt for the Pharaohs, and the passionate Bergamot. Then settling down to the base layer is the aroma of musk and amber warm and delicate, feels dry and very aristocratic.
https://vtimes.com.au/song-joong-ki-lee-min-ho-va-cac-my-nam-su-dung-dong-nuoc-hoa-nao-3375247-amp.html?__twitter_impression=true
Thanks for posting @syntyche! Love the new pix, what a grin!
The perfume ad didn’t calm my soul; it just gave me the giggles!
Lee Min Ho starrer Kdrama The King: The Eternal Monarch story, release date and more
Lee Min Ho will be back on screens with a new historical drama next year. The series is titled The King: The Eternal Monarch. It will focus on two parallel worlds – the Empire of Korea and the Republic of Korea.
The historical fantasy thriller is one of the most awaited Korean dramas (Kdrama) to be released in 2020 as it is the first project of Lee Min Ho after returning from the military. His last work was The Legend of the Blue Sea, which aired on SBS in 2016.
For the mini-series, the young Korean heartthrob will be reuniting with writer Kim Eun Sook. They have worked together in the popular 2013 Kdrama The Heirs. The new drama will feature Boys Over Flowers star as an emperor named Lee Gon.
Lee Min Ho's character is described as a person who primarily aims at closing the doors between the two worlds. He does that by connecting with a detective from modern-day Korea named Jung Tae Eul. Both the characters will be working together to protect the lives of people by fighting against the devil.
During a live broadcast on Instagram in August, Lee Min Ho disclosed some details about the upcoming historical drama. He told his followers that the series will be a romantic thriller and they can look forward to seeing him as a "King of romance".
The female lead in The King: The Eternal Monarch is played by Kim Go Eun. She will also portray the role of her lookalike criminal from the Empire of Korea named Luna. Her detective character is teased to have a love triangle with the emperor and one of her team members.
Other actors to appear in the Kdrama are Woo Do Hwan, Kim Kyung Nam and Jung Eun Chae. Do Hwan will be featuring two characters in the Kdrama – an ordinary public service worker named Jo Eun Seob and the bodyguard of Emperor Lee Gon named Jo Young.
Kyung Nam will be portraying the role of a detective named Kang Shin Jae. The character is described as a young and handsome person with a cold personality. His expertise in solving cases makes him popular among his team members. He also builds a close relationship with female lead Tae Eul and gradually falls in love with her.
Eun Chae will be playing the role of a young female prime minister of the Korean monarchy named Gu Seo Ryung. Her character is described as an ambitious person, who makes the emperor her new target because of which the onscreen couple will be facing several challenges.
The King: The Eternal Monarch is written by Kim Eun Sook. Some of the popular Kdramas penned by her are Goblin, The Heirs and Descendants of the Sun. She will be reuniting with director Baek Sang Hoon for this work. The two have worked together for the 2016 Kdrama Descendants of the Sun.
The filming of the historical fantasy drama began in North Chungcheong Province on October 24 and is expected to premiere on SBS in March 2020.
https://www.ibtimes.sg/lee-min-ho-starrer-kdrama-king-eternal-monarch-story-release-date-more-35605
Seung Woo Cho vs. Lee Min Ho Home Theater Big Match
'Secret Forest 2'-'The King' Organized in July next year
The dramas targeting the home theater in 2020 are in full swing. TVN 'Secret Forest' Season 2 and SBS 'The King: The Lord of Eternity' will be arranged side by side next July, giving a sign of possible confrontation between the dramas.
Another anticipated drama, "The King: The Eternal Monarch," is also preparing to air in the same period. It initially started shooting in October with the aim of airing in March next year, but is eyeing the timing of next July instead, in line with its willingness to increase its level of perfection as a pre-production. This heralds the possibility of a showdown with "Secret Forest 2."
"The King: The Eternal Monarch" is drawing attention as it is Lee's comeback drama after completing his military service in May and a new work by Kim Eun-sook of tvN's "The Goblin" (2017) and "Mr. Sunshine (2018). It sets the background of the drama as a constitutional monarchy and depicts the romance between the emperor (Lee Min-ho) and the detective (Kim Go-eun) across the dimension.
DMZ episode 4
Finished the last episode. It has grisly pictures of Korean soldiers killed in the Korean War, over one million people. really sad, showed more of the military part of the DMZ and parts of North Korea. The poor soldiers training were so tired. Boot camp is tough. The North Koreans look pretty healthy and eat quite well it seems. The fishermen catching octopus and underwater scenes were interesting and bits about the wild mountain goats and endangered eagles and scope owls. Pretty interesting.
LEE MIN HO 2020 Season's Greetings Teaser
LMH IG Update! 121019
LMH FB Update 121019
https://m.facebook.com/113234875368553/posts/3615832138442125/
20191210 Korean news :
http://www.topstarnews.net/news/articleView.html?idxno=706496#_enliple
Google translation :
The King: The Lord of Eternity' Lee Min-ho, 'Sweeping Fine Dust' Where is the drama filmed?
'The King: The Lord of Eternity' Lee Min-ho revealed his heartwarming routine.
On the 10th, Lee Min-ho posted a photo without leaving a comment on his Instagram.
Lee Min-ho is staring down from a tall building. In addition to his warm appearance, he showed his admiration with his extraordinary side, boasting a high nose and a slender jawline.
The netizens responded, "Too handsome and so cute.
Lee Min-ho is 33 years old this year and has been acting gradually from child roles to leading roles. He has a number of hits, including Gangnam 1970, Run Mackerel, I Am Sam, Personal Taste, City Hunter, Heirs, and The Legend of the Blue Sea.
In particular, he played the role of Gu Jun-pyo in the Korean version of 'Boys Over Flowers', and was loved not only in Korea but also abroad.
Recently, Lee Min-ho announced the next work of Kim Eun-suk's drama SBS “The King: The Lord of Eternity.” Lee Min-ho, Kim Go-eun, Woo Do-hwan and Jung Eun-chae have confirmed their appearances.
After the 'inheritance', he gathered many topics in anticipation of the second meeting with the artist Kim Eun-sook. 'The King: The Lord of Eternity' is scheduled to air in 2020 and started shooting in a village in Chungbuk from the 24th of last month.
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Lee Min-ho, the self-illuminating prince in the cloudy sky 'National Treasure Certification' [SNS ★ Cut]
Actor Lee Min Ho boasted a handsome visual.
Lee posted several photos on his Instagram on December 10.
The photograph shows Lee Min-ho's view of the cloudy sky with fine dust. A stumpy sassy, like Lee Min-ho's sculpture, catches the eye. Lee's eyes are also outstanding.
Fans who saw the photo responded, such as "Really handsome", "Mask required!", "Actor's face shines in fine dust."
Lee Min-ho will appear in the SBS new drama `` The King: The Lord of eternity, '' which will be broadcast next year.
PROMIZ IG Update 121119
[Upcoming Drama 2020] Itaewon Class, 이태원 클라쓰 - Fri & Sat @ 22:50 KST - Premieres on January 31st
[Current Drama 2019-2020] Stove League, 스토브리그 - Fri & Sat @ 22:00 KST
[Current Mainland Chinese Drama 2019] Royal Nirvana 鹤唳华亭
By sugarplum892
Started May 22, 2018
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HomeWoke Jews Are Finding Environmental Meaning In Tu B’Shvat
Woke Jews Are Finding Environmental Meaning In Tu B’Shvat
by Shira Feder
Ask any Jewish elder what Tu B’Shvat is and you might get a confused glance. But ask any younger coastal dweller with a Twitter handle, and they might be able to tell you: it’s an agricultural New Year’s Day for the trees, and the people who appreciate this holiday are trending younger and younger.
Akin to the American Arbor Day, in which people are encouraged to plant trees, Tu B’Shvat is an ancient holiday that once marked the start of spring. Now the younger and more ecologically aware are breathing new life into it as an eco-friendly holiday, complete with a Kabbalistic tradition of having a sit-down meal, or seder, with fruit and wine and thank you’s to friends and fellow trees.
So who is celebrating it? Google Trends show that people are searching Tu B’Shvat in coastal areas more than anywhere else, areas filled with what FOX News would call ‘liberal elites.’ And Jewish non-profit Hazon is capitalizing off the trend, offering a Tu B’Shvat Haggadah bent on reinterpreting tradition into social justice. The American-based Hazon has taken its cue from places like the Israel-based Livnot, a holistic inspiration center that publishes a yearly Tu B’Shvat haggadah as a guide for seders, and The Jewish National Fund.
According to Rabbi Isaiah Rothstein, Hazon’s rabbi-in-residence, “during Temple times in the land of Israel, the Jewish month of Shevat carried significance as the tipping point for the rain-season. During the times of the Talmud, the holiday signified the celebration of the trees.” In Jewish tradition, people have a responsibility to the land, and Tu B’Shvat, the fifteenth of Shvat is a celebration of that.
Mike Tintner is a Teva educator, who has worked at Isabella Freedman, a 400-acre forest retreat in Connecticut belonging to Hazon. In the past Tintner, who is no stranger to activism, created a documentary on Standing Rock and the Dakota Access pipeline protests.
“What I like about Tu B’Shvat is that it’s for the trees,” says Tintner. “It talks about plants’ rights and how we as a humans have an obligation to take care of the plants, and not just use them.” This Tu B’Shvat will fall while Tintner is on a road trip in Florida, but he’s planning to celebrate “by spending time with trees.” “I don’t think you can really separate social justice and environmentalism.”
Having Tu B’Shvat seders is becoming de rigueur among a subset of environmentally aware Jews. A Tu B’Shvat seder is a sit-down meal, held with friends, in which everyone eats at least one food of the seven species native to Israel, which are wheat, barley, grape, fig, pomegranates, olives, and dates. The Chabad of Park Slope has been known to hold these seders, and the Manhattan Jewish Experience is holding one specifically for people in their 20s and 30s.
“I appreciate that it’s a holiday that brings nature into focus,” says Deanna Goldner, a social worker who is going to a Hazon Tu B’shvat seder because she is curious. “I don’t think there is any other holiday like that.” For Goldner, who found herself attracted “to how connecting with nature can make us feel more spiritual,” the prospect of eating a full meal with thought and intention was intriguing.
Tintner recalls having a seder when he lived in Safed, Israel, in which he spent the night trying different fruits, all native to the area. “It’s important to eat foods local to the area you’re in,” says Tintner. “Acknowledging that the land you’re actually on is holy and sacred. It amplifies not one tree or species, but trees as a whole.”
Shira Feder is a writer. She’s at feder@forward.com and @shirafeder
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Relative Quantification or Comparative Quantification in qPCR
Relative quantification determines the changes in steady-state mRNA levels of a gene across multiple samples and expresses it relative to the levels of an internal control RNA. This reference gene is often a housekeeping gene and can be co-amplified in the same tube in a multiplex assay or can be amplified in a separate tube. Therefore, relative quantification does not require standards with known concentrations and the reference can be any transcript, as long as its sequence is known. Relative quantification is based on the expression levels of a target gene versus one or more reference gene(s) and in many experiments it is adequate for investigating physiological changes in gene expression levels. To calculate the expression of a target gene in relation to an adequate reference gene various mathematical models are established. Calculations are based on the comparison of the distinct cycle determined by various methods, e.g. crossing points (CP) and cycle threshold values (Ct) at a constant level of fluorescence; or CP acquisition according to established mathematic algorithm. To date several calculation mathematical models have been developed calculating the relative expression ratio.
Relative quantification models WITHOUT efficiency correction
Relative quantification models WITH efficiency correction - using averaged mean PCR efficiency
Relative quantification models WITH efficiency correction - using single-run PCR efficiency
=> Go to efficiency correction page
Chapter 3: Relative Quantification by Michael W. Pfaffl in: Real-time PCR. (Editor: T. Dorak), p 63-82
Overview: Tools and Technologies for Real-Time PCR Biocompare's qPCR Tutorial presents researchers with an overview of real-time qPCR, identifies the advantages and disadvantages of the various detection technologies, outlines the key issues for optimizing experimental design and offers a brief description of the various methods used for data analysis.
REST-2009 version - Relative Expression Software Tool (REST©)
REST software page
Literature: relative quantification using kinetic PCR
"Absolute" Quantification
Quantification Strategies
Relative Quantification software download
A new mathematical model for relative quantification in real-time RT-PCR
Pfaffl Michael W.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2001 29(9): E45
Use of the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify cDNA products reverse transcribed from mRNA is on the way to becoming a routine tool in molecular biology to study low abundance gene expression. Real-time PCR is easy to perform, provides the necessary accuracy and produces reliable as well as rapid quantification results. But accurate quantification of nucleic acids requires a reproducible methodology and an adequate mathematical model for data analysis. This study enters into the particular topics of the relative quantification in real-time RT–PCR of a target gene transcript in comparison to a reference gene transcript. Therefore, a new mathematical model is presented. The relative expression ratio is calculated only from the real-time PCR efficiencies and the crossing point deviation of an unknown sample versus a control. This model needs no calibration curve. Control levels were included in the model to standardise each reaction run with respect to RNA integrity, sample loading and inter-PCR variations. High accuracy and reproducibility (<2.5% variation) were reached in LightCycler PCR using the established mathematical model.
Download paper PDF version
Absolute and relative real-time PCR in the quantification of tst gene expression among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: evaluation by two mathematical models.
Chini V, Foka A, Dimitracopoulos G, Spiliopoulou I.
Lett Appl Microbiol. 2007 Nov;45(5):479-84.
Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Patras, Patras, Greece.
AIM: Absolute and relative quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) by the use of two mathematical models were applied in order to study the expression of tst gene encoding the toxic shock syndrome toxin-1 (TSST-1), among methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
METHODS AND RESULTS: Thirteen epidemic MRSA belonging to different clones and carrying a variety of toxin genes were selected. tst gene expression was achieved by using absolute and relative quantitative real-time RT-PCR and the SYBR Green I. Absolute RT-PCR showed a statistically significant higher level of tst expression among strains isolated from soft tissue infections. Relative quantification was performed in relation to 23S rRNA expression by the application of two mathematical models, the 2(-DeltaDeltaCt) and the Pfaffl analysis methods.
CONCLUSIONS: tst gene expression was best calculated by the relative real-time RT-PCR analysis applying the Pfaffl analysis method, taking into account the reactions' efficiencies. Level of tst expression was related to patients' infection and did not depend on the MRSA genetic profile.
SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: The results indicate that the application of the Pfaffl analysis method in the evaluation of relative real-time RT-PCR is more adequate.
Real-Time PCR: Current Technology and Applications
http://www.horizonpress.com/realtimepcr
Publisher: Caister Academic Press
Editor: Julie Logan, Kirstin Edwards and Nick Saunders Applied and Functional Genomics, Health Protection Agency, London (2009)
Chapter 4 - Reference Gene Validation Software for Improved Normalization
J. Vandesompele, M. Kubista and M. W. Pfaffl (2009)
Real-time PCR is the method of choice for expression analysis of a limited number of genes. The measured gene expression variation between subjects is the sum of the true biological variation and several confounding factors resulting in non-specific variation. The purpose of normalization is to remove the non-biological variation as much as possible. Several normalization strategies have been proposed, but the use of one or more reference genes is currently the preferred way of normalization. While these reference genes constitute the best possible normalizers, a major problem is that these genes have no constant expression under all experimental conditions. The experimenter therefore needs to carefully assess whether a certain reference gene is stably expressed in the experimental system under study. This is not trivial and represents a circular problem. Fortunately, several algorithms and freely available software have been developed to address this problem. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the different concepts.
Chapter 5 - Data Analysis Software
M. W. Pfaffl, J. Vandesompele and M. Kubista (2009)
Quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) is widely and increasingly used in any kind of mRNA quantification, because of its high sensitivity, good reproducibility and wide dynamic quantification range. While qRT-PCR has a tremendous potential for analytical and quantitative applications, a comprehensive understanding of its underlying principles is important. Beside the classical RT-PCR parameters, e.g. primer design, RNA quality, RT and polymerase performances, the fidelity of the quantification process is highly dependent on a valid data analysis. This review will cover all aspects of data acquisition (trueness, reproducibility, and robustness), potentials in data modification and will focus particularly on relative quantification methods. Furthermore useful bioinformatical, biostatical as well as multi-dimensional expression software tools will be presented.
Real-Time PCR: Current Technology and Applications - Book reviews:
"... a comprehensive overview of the RT-PCR technology, which is as up-to-date as a book can be ..." Mareike Viebahn in Current Issues in Molecular Biology (2009)
"... a useful book for students ..." from J. Microbiological Methods
"provides a dual focus by aiming, in the early chapters, to provide both the theory and practicalities of this diverse and superficially simple technology, counter-balancing this in the later chapters with real-world applications, covering infectious diseases, biodefence, molecular haplotyping and food standards." from Microbiology Today
"a reference work that should be found both in university libraries and on the shelves of experienced applications specialists." from Microbiology Today
"a comprehensive guide to real-time PCR technology and its applications" from Food Science and Technology Abstracts (2009) Volume 41 Number 6
"This volume should be of utmost interest to all investigators interested and involved in using RT-PCR ... the RT-PCR protocols covered in this book will be of interest to most, if not all, investigators engaged in research that uses this important technique ... a well balanced book covering the many potential uses of real-time PCR ... valuable for all those interested in RT-PCR." from Doodys reviews (2009)
"provide the novice and the experienced user with guidance on the technology, its instrumentation, and its applications" from SciTech Book News June 2009 p. 64
"... written by international authors expert in specific technical principles and applications ... a useful compendium of basic and advanced applications for laboratory scientists. It is an ideal introductory textbook and will serve as a practical handbook in laboratories where the technology is employed." from Christopher J. McIver, Microbiology Department, Prince of Wales Hospital, New South Wales, Australia writing in Australian J. Med. Sci. 2009. 30(2): 59-60
Relative Expression Software Tool (REST©) for group wise comparison
and statistical analysis of relative expression results in real-time PCR.
Michael W. Pfaffl, Graham W. Horgan & Leo Dempfle (2002)
Nucleic Acids Research 2002 30(9): E36
Use of the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify cDNA products reverse transcribed from mRNA (RT) is on the way to become a routine tool used in molecular biology to study low abundant gene expression. Real-time PCR is easy to perform, provides the necessary exactness and produces reliable as well as rapid quantification results. But accurate quantification of nucleic acids requires a reproducible methodology and an adequate mathematical model for data analysis. This study enters into the particular topics of the relative quantification in real-time RT-PCR of a target gene transcript in comparison to a reference gene transcript. Therefore a new mathematical model is presented. The relative expression ratio is calculated only from the real-time PCR efficiencies and the crossing point deviation of an unknown sample versus a control. This model needs no calibration curve. Control levels were included in the model to standardise each reaction run with respect to RNA integrity, sample loading and inter-PCR variations. High accuracy and reproducibility (<2.5% variation) were reached in LightCycler PCRusing the established mathematical model.
The reverse transcription (RT) followed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the technique of choice to analyse mRNA expression derived from various sources. Real-time RT-PCR is high sensitive and allow a quantification of rare transcripts and small changes in gene expression. Beside this it is easy to perform, provides the necessary exactness and produces reliable as well as rapid quantification results. The simplest detection technique of newly synthesized PCR products in real-time PCR uses SYBR Green I fluorescence dye, that bind specifically to the minor groove double-stranded DNA. The quantification method of choice depends on the target sequence, the expected range of the mRNA amount present in the tissue, the degree of accuracy required, and whether quantification needs to be relative or absolute.
Generally two quantification types in real-time RT-PCR are possible:
(A) A relative quantification based on the relative expression of a target gene versus
a reference gene. To investigate the physiological changes in gene expression,
the relative expression ratio is adequate for the most purposes.
(B) An absolute quantification, based either on an internally or an externally calibration curve.
link => "absolute" quantification
Using such a calibration curve, the methododology has to be highly validated and the identical LightCycler PCR amplificationefficiencies for standard material and target cDNA must be confirmed. Nevertheless is the generation of stable and reliable standard material, either recombinant DNA or recombinant RNA, very time consuming and it must be precisely quantified. Further a normalisation of the target gene with an endogenous standard is recommended. Therefore mainly non regulated reference genes or house keeping genes like glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (G3PDH or GAPDH), albumin, actins, tubulins, cyclophilin, 18S rRNA or 28S rRNA were applicable. House keeping genes are present in all nucleated cell types since they are necessary for basis cell survival. The mRNA synthesis of these genes is considered to be stable and secure in various tissues, even under experimental treatments. But numerous studies have already shown that the mentioned house keeping genes are regulated and vary under experimental conditions. To circumvent the high expenditure of design and production of standard material, as well as optimisation and validation of a calibration curve based quantification model, and finally the needed normalisation of the target transcripts to an endogenous housekeeping transcript, an reliable and accurate relative quantification model in real-time (RT-) PCR is needed. This study enters into the particular topics of the relative quantification of a target gene in comparison to a reference gene. A new and simple mathematical model for data analysis was established, the application of the new model was tested and compared with available mathematical calculation models. Derived reproducibility, based on intra- and inter test variation of this relative quantification, and accuracy of the model will be discussed.
Real-time PCR amplification efficiencies and linearity
Real-time PCR efficiencies were calculated from the given slopes in LightCycler software. The corresponding real-time PCR efficiency (E) of one cycle in the exponential phase was calculated according to the equation:
E = 10 ^[–1/slope] (Figure 1)
Link => alternative efficiency calculation methods and algorithm
Investigated transcripts showed high real-time PCR efficiency rates for TyrA (E = 2.09), PyrB (E = 2.16) and Gst (E = 1.99) in the investigated range from 0.40 pg to 50 ng cDNA input (n = 3) with high linearity (Pearson cor. coef. r>0.95).
Intra-assay and inter-assay variation
To confirm precision and reproducibility of real-time PCR the intra-assay precision was determined in 3 repeats within one LightCycler run. Inter-assay variation was investigated in 3 different experiment runs performed on 3 days using 3 different premix cups of LightCycler – Fast Start DNA Master SYBR Green I kit (Roche Diagnostics). Determination of variation was done in 20 ng reverse transcribed total RNA (Table 1). Test reproducibility for all investigated transcripts was low in inter-test experiment (<3.91%) and even lower in intra-test experiment (<2.16%). The calculation of test precision and test variability is based on the CP variation from the CP mean value.
Mathematical model for relative quantification in real-time PCR
A new mathematical model was presented to determine the relative quantification of a target gene in comparison to a reference gene. The relative expression ratio ( R ) of a target gene is computed based on E and the CP deviation of a unknown sample versus a control (Equation 1), and expressed in comparison to a reference gene.
This reference gene could be a stable and secure unregulated transcript, e.g. a house keeping gene transcript. For the calculation of R, the individual real-time PCR efficiencies (E) and the CD deviation (delta CP) of the investigated transcripts must be known. Real-time PCR efficiencies were calculated, according to E = 10 [–1/slope] as shown in Figure 1 [Etarget = real-time PCR efficiency of target gene transcript; Eref = real-time PCR efficiency of reference gene transcript]. CP deviations of control cDNA minus sample of the target gene and reference genes were calculated according to the derived CP values [delta CPtarget = CP of control - CP of sample;delta CPref = CP of control - sample]. Mean CP, variation of CP and delta CP values between control and sample of investigated transcripts are listed in Table 2. Beside this, the influence of differing cDNA input concentrations on delta CP are shown. Intended cDNA input concentration variation of control and sample were compared at different levels (low level: 3.2 ng, 4.0 ng, 4.8 ng cDNA; high level: 16 ng, 20 ng and 24 ng cDNA). They resulted in stable and constant delta CP cycle numbers. In Table 3 the correspondent ratios ( R ) of target genes in comparison to the reference gene were calculated, through to the established mathematical model (Equation 1). The expression ratios of target genes remain stable, even under intended –20% or +20% cDNA variation and low and high cDNA input levels, performed in two runs. A minimal coefficient of variation (CV) of 2.50% and 1.74% was observed, respectively.
Reverse transcription followed by PCR is the most powerful tool to amplify small amounts of mRNA. Because of its high ramping rates, limited annealing and elongation time, the rapid cycle PCR in the LightCycler system offers stringent reaction conditions to all PCR components and leads to a primer sensitive and template specific PCR. The application of fluorescence techniques to real-time PCR combines the PCR amplification, product detection and quantification of newly synthesised DNA, as well as the verification in the melting curve analysis. This led to the development of new kinetic RT-PCR methodologies that are revolutionising the possibilities of mRNA quantification.
We focused in this paper on the relative quantification of target gene transcripts in comparison to a reference gene transcript. A new mathematical model for data analysis was presented to calculate the relative expression ratio on the basis of the PCR efficiency and crossing point deviation of the investigated transcripts (Equation 1). The concept of the threshold fluorescence is the basis of an accurate and reproducible quantification using fluorescence based RT-PCR methodologies. Threshold fluorescence is defined as the point at which the fluorescence rises appreciably above the background fluorescence. In the used “Fit Point Method” the threshold fluorescence and therefore the DNA amount in the capillaries is identical for all samples. A linear relationship between the CP, crossing the threshold fluorescence, and the log of the start molecules input in the reaction is given. Therefore quantification will always occur during exponential phase, and it will be not affected by any reaction components becoming limited in the plateau phase. In the established model the relative expression ratio of an target gene is normalized with the expression of an endogenous desirable unregulated reference gene transcript to compensate inter PCR variations between the runs. Is the CP of the chosen reference gene equal in the control as well as in the sample (delta CP = 0), stable and constant reference gene mRNA levels are given. Under this considerations of an unregulated reference gene transcript no normalisation is needed and Equation 1 can be shortened to Equation 2 and 3.
Two other mathematical models are available for the relative quantification during real-time PCR. The “Efficiency calibrated mathematical method for the relative expression ratio in real-time PCR” is presented by Roche Diagnostics in a truncated form in an internal publication. The complete equation is in principle the same and results in identical relative expression ratio like our model (Equation 4).
But, the way of calculation in the described mathematical model is hard to understand. The second model available, the “delta-delta Ct method” for comparing relative expression results between treatments in real-time PCR (Equation 4) is presented by PE Applied Biosystems (Perkin Elmer, Forster City, CA, USA). The model presumes an optimal and identical real-time amplification efficiencies of target and reference gene of E = 2. “Delta-delta Ct method” is only applicable for a quick estimation of the relative expression ratio. For such an quick estimation also equation 1 can be shortened and transferred in Equation 4,
under the condition that
Etarget = Eref = 2
Our presented formula 1 combines both models in order to better understanding
the mode of CP data analysis and for a more reliable and exact relative gene expression.
Relative quantification is always based on an reference transcript. Normalisation of the target gene with an endogenous standard was done via the reference gene expression, to compensate inter-PCR variations. Beside this further control levels were included in the mathematical model to standardise each reaction run with respect to RNA integrity, RT efficiency or cDNA sample loading variations.The reproducibility of the RT step varies greatly between tissues, the applied RT isolation methodology (25) and the used RT enzymes (26). Different cDNA inputconcentrations were tested on low and high cDNA input ranges, to mimic different RT efficiencies (± 20%) at different quantification levels. In the applied two-step RT-PCR, using random hexamer primers, all possible interferences during RT will influence all target transcripts as well as the internal reference transcript in parallel. Occurring background interferences retrieved from extracted tissues components, like enzyme inhibitors, and cDNA synthesis efficiency were related to target and reference similarly. All products underwent identical reaction conditions during RT and variations only disappear during real-time PCR. Any source of error during RT will be compensated through the model itself. Widely distributed single-step RT-PCR models are not applicable, because in each reaction set-up and for each investigated factor individual and slightly different RT conditions will occur. Therefore the variation in a two-step RT-PCR will always be lower and the reproducibility of the assay will be higher, that in a single-step RT-PCR (8). Reproducibility of the developed mathematical model was dependent on the exact determination of real-time amplification efficiencies and on the given low LightCycler CP variability. In our mathematical model the needed reliability and reproducibility was given, which was confirmed by high accuracy and a relative error of <2.5% using low and high template concentration input.
LightCycler real-time PCR using SYBR Green I fluorescence dye is a rapid and sensitive method to detect low amounts of mRNA molecules and therefore offers important physiological insights on mRNA expression level. The established mathematical model is presented in order for a better understanding the mode of analysis in relative quantification in real-time RT-PCR. It is only dependent on DCP and amplification efficiency of the transcripts. No additional artificial nucleic acids, like recombinant nucleic acid constructs in external calibration curve models, are needed. Reproducibility of LightCycler RT-PCR in general and the minimal error rate of the model allows for an accurate determination of the relative expression ratio. Even different cDNA input resulted in minor variations. Relative expression is adequate for the most relevant physiological expression changes. In future it is not necessary to establish more complex and time consuming quantification models based on calibration curves. For the differential display of mRNA the relative expression ratio is an ideal and simple tool for the verification of RNA or DNA array chip technology results.
=> Relative Expression Software Tool ( REST © ) <=
=> download REST © <=
Analysis of relative gene expression data using real-time quantitative PCR and the
2^[ -delta delta Ct ] method.
Livak KJ & Schmittgen TD. Methods 2001 Dec;25(4): 402-408
Applied Biosystems, Foster City, California 94404, USA.
The two most commonly used methods to analyze data from real-time, quantitative PCR experiments are absolute quantification and relative quantification. Absolute quantification determines the input copy number, usually by relating the PCR signal to a standard curve. Relative quantification relates the PCR signal of the target transcript in a treatment group to that of another sample such as an untreated control. The 2(-delta delta Ct) method is a convenient way to analyze the relative changes in gene expression from real-time quantitative PCR experiments. The purpose of this report is to present the derivation, assumptions, and applications of the 2(-delta delta Ct) method. In addition, we present the derivation and applications of two variations of the 2(-delta delta Ct) method that may be useful in the analysis of real-time, quantitative PCR data.
A quantitative real-time PCR method for detection of B-Lymphocyte Monoclonality
by comparison of kappa and lambda Immunoglobulin Light Chain Expression
Anders Stahlberg,1 Pierre Aman, Börje Ridell, Petter Mostad, and Mikael Kubista
Clinical Chemistry 49(1): 51-59
Background: An abnormal IgL kappa / IgLlambda ratio has long been used as a clinical criterion for Hodgkin B-cell lymphomas. As a first step towards a quantitative real-time PCR based multi marker diagnostic analysis of lymphomas, we have developed a method for determination of IgL kappa / IgLlambda ratio in clinical samples.
Methods: Light-up probe based real-time PCR was used to quantify ,IgL kappa and IgLlambda cDNA from 20 clinical samples. The samples were also investigated by routine immunohistochemical analysis and flow cytometry analysis.
Results: The classification of patient samples by Q-PCR correlated well with the routine diagnostic data. To account for sample and template specific PCR inhibition in the biological samples, we developed a method for in situ calibration to determine sample specific Q-PCR efficiencies of the reactions being compared. This increased considerably the accuracy of the Q-PCR method. We also designed an approach to classify patient samples based on average PCR efficiencies. This allowed faster and more cost efficient classification suitable for a first gross classification in high throughput screens.
Conclusions: This work is a first step towards analyzing clinical samples using quantitative light-up probe based real-time PCR. Our results shows that Q-PCR based methods are highly suitable for high throughput screens of suspected tumor samples by determining anomalous gene expression that are characteristic for tumor cells.
Real-Time PCR Technology for Cancer Diagnostics
Philip S. Bernard and Carl T. Wittwer
Clinical Chemistry 48: 8 1178–1185 (2002)
Background: Advances in the biological sciences and technology are providing molecular targets for diagnosing and treating cancer. Current classifications in surgical pathology for staging malignancies are based primarily on anatomic features (e.g., tumor-nodemetastasis) and histopathology (e.g., grade). Microarrays together with clustering algorithms are revealing a molecular diversity among cancers that promises to form a new taxonomy with prognostic and, more importantly, therapeutic significance. The challenge for pathology will be the development and implementation of these molecular classifications for routine clinical practice. in the clinical laboratory. Quantitative real-time PCR can determine gene duplications or deletions. Furthermore, melting curve analysis immediately after PCR can identify small mutations, down to single base changes. These techniques are becoming easier and faster and can be multiplexed. Real-time PCR methods are a favorable option for the analysis of cancer markers.
Approach: This article discusses the benefits, challenges, and possibilities for solid-tumor profiling in the clinical laboratory with an emphasis on DNA-based PCR techniques. Content: Molecular markers can be used to provide accurate prognosis and to predict response, resistance, or toxicity to therapy. The diversity of genomic alterations involved in malignancy necessitates a variety of assays for complete tumor profiling. Some new molecular classifications of tumors are based on gene expression, requiring a paradigm shift in specimen processing to preserve the integrity of RNA for analysis. More stable markers (i.e., DNA and protein) are readily handled.
Summary: There is a need to translate recent discoveries in oncology research into clinical practice. This requires objective, robust, and cost-effective molecular techniques for clinical trials and, eventually, routine use. Real-time PCR has attractive features for tumor profiling in the clinical laboratory.
© editor@gene-quantification.info
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GWC Frak Party: “Crossroads, Part 2”
If you’re not already attending a Frak Party — or hosting one! –join us here for the GWC online ‘party. Or hell, even if you are watching with friends, post their comments, too! There’s room for everyone, though you’ll have to bring your own snacks…
And, since we record the podcast right after the episode, we’ll check in here first to see what you had to say in real-time. Sweet.
Holy frack, it’s the season finale already! First off, I’d like to say thanks to all of you who’ve made this already great show un-freakingly-believeably-great for Audra, Sean and me with your great comments, theories, emails, and calls.
Secondly, if I may, I’d like to offer some advice about watching tonight’s show:
As you’ve heard via the podcast, I was really pissed after last season’s finale. I was angry for a lot of reasons, but mainly I was mad that a full year had passed in the lives of characters that I followed very closely (and held dear) without me seeing it. The chief was married? Why wasn’t I invited?
But after a while — even just a few weeks — I began re-thinking my initial reaction. As I started to wonder how the “resistance” would work — and how each of the characters would participate — I started to see how this storyline would add great depth to the entire cast, and I started to like it.
Eventually, after I saw what we described to Rolling Stone as “the best moment in on-screen sci-fi since the return of the Millenium Falcon at the end of Star Wars” during whatmany of you described as “the best hour of sci-fi TV ever,” I came to see the occupation on New Caprica as a truly brilliant story arc.
My advice: when you watch tonight, be prepared for some major shocks. I’ve successfully avoided the spoilers, so I have no idea what’s going to happen. I have some ideas, and I know you have ideas — because I’ve seen a lot of them via Submit a Theory this week. But one thing’s absolutely certain: whatever happens tonight, it’s going to be big, and it’s going to be controversial in the fan community.
I thnk it was Patton who said, “In war nothing is impossible provided you use audacity.” That’s good advice for the creators of BSG who from all reports have been fighting an uphill battle this season, struggling to expand to fill the new time slot. We’ll likely see some of that audacity tonight.
If I remember correctly, Patton also said, “Do not take counsel of your fears.” That’s good advice to the rest of us in responding to tonight’s episode. Last season I was afraid that we’d just lose that year. I was afraid we’d lose the vigor of the show’s premise with everyone stuck on the planet. In the end, those fears were unfounded.
My point is, whatever happens tonight, remember to give it a chance. Before you crank up your blog or podcast and begin firing shots that’ll be recorded for posterity, give it a chance to sink in.
Now I just have to take my own advice.
See you here tonight!
#GWC Frak Party
672 Responses to "GWC Frak Party: “Crossroads, Part 2”"
I would just like to point everyone to this recent interview with RDM. It says there are spoilers, but it’s not true. They talk a little about last week’s episode. Great interview!
http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2007/03/24/battlestar/?source=whitelist
I’m not even going to check that one out, Joe. I managed to stay spoiler free so far, so I’m not risking it.
OK everyone, see you on the other side of the iTunes release. I hope they get it out quickly this week.
Rich McCarty says:
Right on, Chuck! I came to BSG via seasons 1 and 2 on DVD. Season 3 was the first time I couldn’t just change discs in the player to see what happened next. I was forced this season to “live” with certain plot twists, to fume over them, to be confused by them, to wonder where the frak we were being taken. Now that we’re at the end, I spent the last week or two rewatching season 3 on iTunes, and I was reminded how ‘tight’ of a story this actually is–and what is more, that it is not misplaced faith to trust in the ‘powers that be’ of BSG. What seemed questionable in the midst of the season now makes perfect sense when considering the season as a whole. I’m not only ready for a cliff hanger–I’m ready to get kicked off cliff and into a 9 month free fall! 🙂
Kieltok says:
Can’t wait for tonight’s ep. It’s going to be frakin’ great. Nothing will be the same after this finale. We’re in for a doozy, and I can’t wait for the bomb to drop.
Saberhawk says:
I’m with you Pike. I have managed to remain spoiler free and my speculation continues to run wild. See everyone later tonight.
I had Rich’s problem too. The first ep I ever watched was A Measure of Salvation. I then did a marathon viewing of the entire series in about two days. Now I have to suffer in real-time like everybody else.
Tigh's Eyepatch says:
I just sat through a back-to-back viewing of Season 3 yesterday (initiating and bringing a friend up to date-yes, another new fan!), and I came to the same conclusion as Rich: BSG is much much tighter than it seems when you watch the episodes week-to-week. RDM & Co. know exactly what the frakk thye’re doing.
That said, I can’t wait for the episode to get posted on iTunes. They’d better not have us waiting around like they did for Occupation/Precipice…. I don’t know if I can stay off the internet long enough to not get any spoilers!
Catch y’all on the flipside, have fun tonight!
BoxytheBoxed says:
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/9058/45894912dl1.jpg
my vote for rosilin pic i cant wait ill be at the party
This blog post will reach 500 comments at least, which I’m sure is some kind of record for comments on a simple blog pot, and quite respectable even for a forum. =D
Chomping at the bit. Can barely type my outline for a debate I have tomorrow. =P
at gateworld we have one with 79640 posts
Dan, the Lord of Kobol says:
Hey all! Just checking in on the pre-episode hype.
I’ve got to be totally honest, I frakkin’ psyched out for this episode.
I’ll see everyone back here at 10. Can’t wait. *Twitch*
Flyer Ken says:
2 hours left and i have my snacks and drinks ready so see everyone back here when the shows over.
the 17th cylon says:
I’m pumped for the episode too, I read the spoilers though, which was a HUGE, HUGE mistake. I’m warning all of you, do not read them. It will ruin everything.
Craig, England says:
Damn, you guys are so lucky ! We put out clocks forward 1 hour here yesterday for summer time. If only I could have skipped a couple of days I would be watching the finale on download by now. Gotta keep away from all podcasts and posts until Tuesday before I can join in the praise of what is bound to be another shocking, surprising, frustrating, nail-biting finale ! Don’t spend all night chewing over the episode, get it uploaded ! I got bandwidth twiddling it’s thumbs over here !
Oooops ! Forgot to mention what a great job you guys do with the podcast. You reach far and wide – required listening for me here.
Brian CC says:
It’s about an hour till air, and Scifi.com’s front page has
“Who are the Final Five Cylons? Learn the Shocking truth on the BSG Season Finale”
If that’s a total lie I am going mail them a box of poop.
Brian CC
Jayne Cobb says:
Spoilers… Curseth thee, Willpower!!
Requiem says:
All you East Coast-ers are the luckiest of the lot of us! You’ll be the first ones to watch, and can discuss everything here real time. ^_^ I’m on the West Coast; just under 4 hours to go! Can’t wait to read everybody’s thoughts here and listen to the _amazing_ podcast. 🙂
13th Cylon says:
Whoo! I’m a spoiler virgin going into this one. This is the only BSG site I’ve visited for almost 2 weeks now because of wanting to not get any spoilers.
And I’m calling it- They all find out that they’re daggits or that Boxey is the Cylon god. Maybe both.
Don’t blink! This has got to last us until the fall DVD (?) movie. Ahh. It’s like telling Tigh that he can’t drink for another 7 months. I’ll become a murdering, raving looney.
This is a total guess as I have NOT read any spoilers. I think the final five cylons are Rosilyn, Helo, Bill Adama, Anders and Starbuck. And the radio is going to pick up a broadcast from earth, like the original series when they picked up a broadcast of the Apollo moonlanding.
So is there anything definitive about an off season movie and whether next season is the last and only 13 eps long?
Ziggy, there are a couple sites that have confirmed the movie, and someone also posted that they ordered the last nine eps for next season, so if all is correct, then next season will be a full one.
HailBaltar says:
Ziggy, I completely agree about them picking up a broadcast from Earth. I believe that’s what Tigh has been hearing.
Has anyone else rewatched the episode “Bastille Day†lately? I did and found a few things:
1. Near the end, Adama tells Lee that he is “talking like a lawyerâ€. In hindsight this is hilarious.
2. Roslin tells Lee, in confidence, that she has cancer, but to not tell anyone else because it would “erode hopeâ€. Lee agrees, and she says she has full confidence he will remain silent on the issue. This makes his betrayal during the trial all the more tragic.
I wonder if thats what was meant by “someone will find earth”. By finding a radio signal they will prove that earth exists and they’ll know the direction to go in.
Cavatar says:
The seconds seem like hours waiting.
Retro says:
Ziggy, Why is Tigh hearing the music when there’s no radio?
Ziggy…that is a good idea!
You can say that again Cav. It’s 9:50 and I’m already about to burst with excitement….
Gah! *Twitch*
Becasue “Its in the frackin’ ship” LOL
That is a good question, becaused it seemed Anders heard it too.
I hear ya Dan…what are we gonna do for 10 months in the wait too!!!
I hear it too, don’t you Cav?
Its in my model ship…its in the fracking model ship!!!
Hey anyone out there know where I can find a model ship of the new Pegasus???
A little off subject I know, sorry.
Will somebody turn off that FRAKKIN MUSIC?! Craaaaaap…
6 minutes for us East Coasters. Don’t forget about the extra five minutes of show, everyone!
Blue says:
I haven’t turned on the TV at all this week…I wanted to take NO chances on catching a spoiler to ruin the surprises in store…just a few more minutes till the show!
I for one will be watching DVD re-runs and visiting GWC like a fiend.
…9:55. Last commercial break in the pre-Galactica show, whatever it is. By the looks of it, I’d say it’s a pretty crappy one.
Cavatar, did you hear about the BSG special movie event thinger? It’s a flashback to Pegasus during and after the initial cylon attack. If there aren’t models now, there will be soon enough.
Yeah, maybe Tighes a cylon and thats why he hears the music. Although I don’t know why cylons would hear music.
Of all of the characters, Tighe being a cylon would be the most interesting. I’d love to see how he would deal with that revelation.
Dan I hear ya there…
three minutes left!!!
I’ve come to the conclusion that Limpkin is not Limpkin, but is in fact a con-man who has taken the indentity of Limpkin. Kat can’t possibly be the only one who did that.
Rich Cruz says:
I CAN’T WAIT.
OMG!!!! Is everybody ready?! Only a few more minutes!
*Jumps around and claps like the fanboy he is*
End Dresden Files, END!
2 MINUTES! This is going to be hard to watch. Its the first time in a while that I am not watching it delated on my Tivo. Won’t be able to skip the commercials 🙁
I did not know it was going to be about Pegasus, I thought it was going to take place 40 years before the attack…that would be cool if there was.
Woo! Very exciting! This must be the most comments for a frak party before the show has even started! Here we go!
party time…Galactica style!
And the Lord(s) said:
Here we GO!!!!!
Rube says:
Here we go gang..
IT’S STARTED!!
Its in the frakkin’ ship! Here we go!
I hope we don’t declare war on a country or something tonight.
Let’s ROCK! Here we go….
so in the preview, it was commander Adama who utters the words “we are cylons” Did you hear that?
No opening theme like last week.. too much info to get into this hour.
Oooh.
Bill’s got a little cut there.
Dare I say this….that is almost kinky!
Hey, they’re in high school! Giggling over the phone first thing in the morning….what a crazy couple the Admiral and President make!
LOL – Chief singing the song. Least we know he hears it.
The noise sounds like electrical current…
Music = beacon left behind by the 13th colony?
GWC N00b says:
Bill and Laura sittin’ in a tree…they’re so cute together.
So thats 3 for those keeping track
Chief hears music
Man, I hope GMC comments on that little scene between Adama and Roslin.
TORI AND ANDERS!! WTF
IS IT!?
I guess there is not such a thing as mourning the dead in the Galactica world. I’m sure everyone knows that his wife just died.
It sounds Hindu…
Tigh, the Chief, Tori, and who else hears the music???
I really want a Romo Lampkin Galactica Law and Order show if the Caprica series washes out!
Renegade says:
why is Sam fracking Tori???
Anders has an interesting way he mourns….maybe some of Starbuck’s “vices” rubbed off on him.
I hate Lee…I cant believe he has gone to the dark side
Anders hears it
I am starting to like Lee as a lawer.
Looks like losing Kara hit Sam harder than I had thought. What was it that Sean said about Anders being a good-hearted, stable dude?
Here is the Chief following some noise again.
So Racetrack looks like she is offical the new Starbuck.
thats five who have heard the sounds…. :^(
Yup, Racetrack is the new “pilot w/ a ‘tude”
Bah Humbug!
Sam doesn’t fit in the shoes of a Viper pilot well. I’m tellin’ ya, he’d make a non-pilot officer, or better than that, a marine.
Is it just me, or is this the calm before the “storm” I mean its kinda boring.
If the Chief is a Cylon…that would be why Boomer and him never were able to have a child.
I think it is implants (inserted on NC) that allow them to hear – not that they are cylons. That is someone else’s theory – I’m just agreeing atm.
Tori, Sam, Chief, Tigh I only have four that hear the music.
so is it only 4 ppl who hear the melody???
in the original series, it was a radio signal that help them find Earth, this could be the twist, but why just those five, unless they aren’t the only ones. It would suck if they were cylons. That makes the Chiefs son a hybrid.
yea only those four, so who is 5???
Techie says:
But Tigh heard the music and he can’t be a cylon, he’s too old, he was around during the original cylon war.
I agree, Dan.. Anders doesn’t strike me as pilot material, much less officer material – too emotional and too mutinious. He’s use to being in charge would have a problem following orders that he didn’t necessarily agree with.
I don’t think Lee has changed at all in this new role. I’m just waiting to see where Zarek is in all of this.
I thought Sam likes being on top of a Viper more than being in one. lol
YES! The text message! The worst one yet!
BOOOOO for text voting!!!
I vote D for tonights poll-Who the Frak cares its a lame poll question!
Text question isn’t that bad this week. Still a stupid concept though!
I’ve had a crush on Racetrack ever she she discovered….well, everything. So glad she has more to say these days than, “Holy Frak, look everybody, there’s some ________!”
is it me or are the questions getting worse???
Rorlins and Adeldia says:
I have to admit I respect Baltar’s commitment to having a verdict….
They’re crazy to think anyone will txt a, b or c.
um what was that all about?
Gaius back at the door…. How is laura and athena connected
this will be good…
LOL….that was great…”your both feaking out at the same time!”
Holy crap…They mixed blood…they’re connected now.
I don’t see the place on scifi’s site to cast my vote for C – 3rd party to be revealed…
Renegade.
I remember seeing something about that somewhere. How in the original series, Galactica located Earth by picking up a radio signal.
It’d be interesting if something similar happened in this series.
there all having a joint vision 3some?
the theory of having implants wouldn’t be a bad plan
Athena, Six and Roslin all have the mission to protect Hera. What’s going on?
Uh oh.. Gata’s on the stand… Baltar is a dead dagget…
Felex is lying!!!
Zack said “3some” hehehehe
Oh great…he is gonna get off >.
Anybody see how pretty Roslin’s hair was in the Opera House vision?
Daaaamn, that was stylish. Pretty too.
That quote was amazing
GAETA! For all that I loved you…now you go and lie on the stand.
Butterfingers Awwww love it……..
and yes I did Tehehe 😛
Felix isn’t a lair, why is he doing this
Felix Butterfingers! Hahahaha
Wow, he’s lying on the stand.
Steve B says:
I hope Tigh doesn’t space himself looking for a way to get away from the music.
I dont like that music business so far, reminds me too much of the last episode of “The Prisoner”. That was such a disapointment.
ok…why is Sci FI showing ads for the film Saw???
I love Gaeta. Great character.
butter’fingers. He called him buttedfingers. That man needs to expand his bad words vocabulary. I don’t think “butterfingers” offended anyone, or even made Felix feel bad.
Oooohh! Gaeta not being his usual boy scout type. Cool and collected on the stand… Interesting
Gaeta will regreat that when they put six on the stand and she refutes what he just said.
Chucksax says:
The episode’s only an hour five, right? They’re not really trying to resolve stuff too quickly, are they?
Wow! This court stuff got crazy. Clever bastard for lying on the stand. It was kind of what happened and they’re going to believe him before they believe Baltar.
For some reason I keep typing in “Batlar”. lol!
Wow, Gaeta lying to get Baltar convicted… Gaeta is not someone to fuck with.
“…You’re the one who tried to stab me through the neck– and you missed! Butterfingers!”
Was Tigh’s qoute “There must be some kinda way outta here” a Jimi Hendrix referance?
But then craaaaap will hit the fan when the cylon(s)z attack and all will be forgotten…..for now.
Anybody else think that this current round of commercials came awfully fast? Must mean a long sequence somewhere in the future of this episode.
I could see Gaeta trying to kill Baltar, but not lying on the stand. He’s one of the few people that I thought had integrity (the willingness to commit murder doesn’t automatically take away his integrity, ya know!).
Saw is coming to Sci-Fi
oh crap this should be good with Lee
He is just putting Adama vs Adama again!
oh man, calling Lee to the stand…Badger’s the best lawyer ever.
HOLY SHIT!!! Lee is going to lie and redeem himself!
Wow… the Admiral’s about to send Lee shooting out of the nearest Viper tube, sans plane…
Lee might find himself in an airlock next season
No he isnt. He believes strongly in the law. He will unfourtunatly tell the truth.
Adm. Adama should never have been eligible to be on the panel in the first place.
Is one of the judges the guy who played Q in TNG?
John De Lancie? I don’t think so…
What??? Adm Adama wants to hear what Lee has to say??
Here is the healing between father and son…
Lee the whiner… “It was someone else’s fault!” Sorry, dude – but being the President means that you’re responsible for bad decisions.
ITS ABOUT TIME the pardon came up
BALTAR IS GOING TO GET OFF! NOOOOO!!!!!
Wow. Rousing speech.
Lee’s making some great arguments. I knew that pardon was going to come back to haunt them.
Of course, Lee was off planet getting fat while the others suffered.
“We don’t like you very much”
Wow, Lee has some very good points. I did not see this coming.
Enough with the trip down memory lane. OH SNAP WAIT! Lee is redeeming himself now!
Where’s Tigh when we need a good “What’s this cccrrrrraaaaaaaaaapppppppppppp?????? ” ????????
Baltar deserves to swing but for only things that we as 3rd party spectators know, not what the characters would know.
Damn. Lee really is his grandfathers progeny! This is a hell of a good closing argument (uh…except it’s not a closing argument, it’s testimony on the stand…but you know what I mean).
Good job, Lee.
Baltar is going to walk, i believe in this, Apollo is right
NO Baltar…I wanted him to testify
Unfourtunatly Renegade you might me right. This is some screwed up Craaaaaaaaap to me.
Some really nice acting by Bamber, his best yet. Convinced me.
he will testify… in the end
Wow, I would acquit Baltar with that.
Can someone find a transcript of that speech that Lee just made and link it or type it in a post? Thanks.
And when Baltar walks……..I say again – who is president? I believe it is Baltar – thus the hurricane begins…..
Rube…what we know is that everything Lee just said was right.
Lee for President!!!
That entire act was Lee talking. Wow. Lee is coming full circle and discovering himself. Wow. That was powerful and truthful.
its true, by law, he should walk
And he gave the Old Man props…
dharmabum says:
Free Baltar! Free Baltar!
Holy crap. This trial is a joke. How the frak did Lampkin get away with that? He’s good… too good. Baltar the traitor is going to get off? After letting the Cylons destroy humanity, stealing a nuke and giving it to a Six, and surrendering on Caprica? Why didn’t the prosecution mention how Zarek, the VP, refused to collaborate? Bah.
ive posted like 4 times in some other post damnit
baby jesus, baby baltar
Bill! That move just got Baltar off. “Violence is going to ensue.”
It would have been nice to see Baltar squirm on the stands.. but Lee’s little stroll down self-righteous lane will keep him from the gallows/air lock.. plus it has the effect of exorcising his (Lee’s) demons…. “Captain America (Apollo) to the rescue once more”
They should have pulled a Nixon…recordings from inside the presidential ship.
mCombs says:
there wasn’t any closing arguments… just Lee’s “testimony”
Whiny Lee just manned up and said what everyone else was thinking, but were too affraid to admit.
The wife still thinks that Baltar’s headed out the airlock, even though Lee made some nice points.
But, who’s the Cylon? The “music-hearers” are Anders, Tori, Chief & Tigh… maybe those four & Roslin?
I CANNOT wait to hear “Lawyer Bill’s” comments on that little play by Lampkin.
Lee was the only one that wasn’t self righteous…he even called himself out.
Nice trick to get Lee on the stand like that, but it seems totally implausible. The speech should’ve been delivered in closing and would have been just as effective.
But he has a good point. Taking into account the limited amount that the fleet knows about Baltar’s actions and the specific charges against him, he should walk. Can’t believe I said that!
not Roslin, no reason for her to be a cylon
Did you see the look Rouslin gave to the chick who brough in the picture to Baltar? They looked at each other, as if they shared something.
Alright boys and girls the moment of truth.
Isn’t what lee just said about a new system the same thing Zarek said when he was running for President
Lee getting to testify is a bit odd; but being a former officer (especially a commanding officer) there’s something to say there. Looks like baltar is totally off.
3 to 2 , baltar walks i know it
Baltar deserves the airlock just for giving a “6” a nuke
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS
So who is the president now???
YEA LEE
the marchmellows i was eating just fell on the floor
haha like OJs trial both were really guilty
Whoa! Roslin shot Lee one HELL of a dirty look.
And holy crud… Talk about your courtroom riots…
Jesus… no wait, Baltar wept.
So where does Lee go from here???
the cell has cut corners
Romo don’t play that.
Guess who’s a prime candidate for assassination? I’ll give you a hint…he used to be the president.
he’ll get reinstated
Typical Baltar.. ‘what about me?’
“if i had killed the humans this i show i would have done it” by baltar
Cat metaphor, Lampkin ROCKS
sorry, Lee is going to be reinstated, not Baltar
Oh great, now I have a vision of Baltar with green curtains and a big old curtain rod behind his shoulders (channeling Carol B doing Scarlet)
No fracking way that was crazy.
OMG.. the cane!
So much for the cain!
More CYLONS!!!
HOLY MIND FRAK! Romo just walked away without his cane…and NO LIMP! I don’t trust a thing that dude says or does!
cane I mean
Adama voted not guilty
laua and Adama sitting in CIC k-i-s-s-i-n-g whel i thought it was funny
CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP! I KNEW HE WOULD GET OFF! WAIT WTF ADMIRAL!
OMG….Good for the Admiral
Adama is going to fight with the President
Good question, Blue – what does happen to Baltar, now? Since he was found not guilty, does he have a legal claim to the presidency?
The old man helped him at go free
TO EARTH
Well.. so much for the love between Roslin and Adm Adama.
and now the cyclons… hehe
So much for the potential love affair…
cylons r gonna vmoe
noce animation
High speed action from now on!
cylon attack
Oh Craaaaap
Ut oh!
NOOOOOOOOOOOO that ships are dead
the jump set and EMP and now they are drifting
boom boom…out went the lights
So, is it now that the Cylon fleet will appear being led by a familiar pilot?
to 500 posts!!!
That was some of the best ship cgi in a season
Roslin acted like she was hit by an EMP and rebooted like a cylon, crrraaapppppp
I love ROMO – still one of the best BSG characters ever. I know someone said he has signed on for Bionic Woman – wish he was in line for Caprica. He would be awsome to see every week.
That would be one Craaaaaaaaaaapping twist Steve B
The Cylons could lose power too.
Wow, it’s going to suck if the ships start bouncing off each other… craaaaaap.
Bill! You really did get Baltar off. Ahh!
Alright folks, last 12 minutes or so of BSG for a long time. Still have to have someone find Earth and we discover a Cylon (or 5).
Renegadr nice your totaly right
that was the “best ship cgi” ever
I think Baltar is going to be in more of a prison now that he’s free… he’s going to have to look over his shoulder at every moment. Where’s he going to go, Zarek’s old prison ship?
Saberhawk’s right…we need a heartfelt “CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP” from Tigh right about now. It would’ve been cool if when we saw the fleet lose power and start drifting we heard Tigh in the background saying “craaaaap”…
and now for something different.
TGH says:
Does anyone think the cane was Grandfather Adama’s cane
it says on sciFi.com all 5
Where’s Racetrack, 13th Cylon? Bet she’s already parked in traffic outside NYC…
extra3 mins at end of ep. toinght
You know, I was just thinking that Chuck.
Like Cavatar and you said, now that Baltar has been exonerated of his New Caprica charges, can he legally challenge Roslin for the Presidency? Although practically speaking, he’d NEVER become President after what happened on New Caprica, he might still reclaim the Presidency from that legal technicality.
I think Baltar may move towards the Jesus thing and start a religious faction. He’s already got the look and some followers and he believes (or did at once) in the Cylon god.
I can’t keep up with these comments guys! Wow, this is just so intense. EMP! OH NO!
Now would be a good time to kill Baltar
I think that despite the explosion, he didn’t need the cane. He may be a cylon.
creepy Baltar followers
13th Cylon, I think you’re right about the jesus thing
here comes the final five!!!
I thought they were gonna put Caprica 6 on the stand.
Jesus Baltar. THE FINAL FIVE!! OH BOY. DAMN!
Dan, its good to see someone is reading my posts…lol
I knew it was Hendrix
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE SHITTING ME!
It is in the frakin ship! How did he get out of his loony box anyways?
oh ccccrrrraaapppppp, they are cylons
If Chief is a Cylon I’m going to be so fracking pissed
They’re HEARING HENDRIX!!!!
The Rolling Stones are Cylons!
somebody barfing, I bet they have implants.
Saul, Anders, Chief and Tori.. and BALTAR??
Oh craaaaap they are singing all along the watchtower!
Its a loony party ladies and gentlemen.
jimi hendrix, yeah baby!
Okay, this is some crazy crap happening!
yet those four were the one who fought the cylons on NC, the chief already knew ever since the beginning
mi crying hones t o god
Wow… Tigh a Cylon?
IS IT ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER!!! HAHAHA
noooooooo…
Guys…three of them were part of the “Circle” when they got off of new caperica
Timbuck says:
All along the watchtower? Why? I love the Hendrix version more.
sorry 40 gesus
here comes Tighs speech
tinught Boxy cries himself to sleep
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
um…k…no they better not be!
I told you it was the chief.. and I told you we had a second hybrid
What is this craaaaaaaaaaaap? What about Nicky?
I don’t think so. The music is a marker. They just mind fraked themselves.
CLIFFHANMGAR
Never jump to conclusions…
o damn tigh
who saw the watercooler
Good for Tigh!!!
Did Baltar hear the music?
Where the hell would Cylons get Hendricks.
I called Tigh from the moment he was returned to “general population”
They’re not cylons. This is something else. A decoy or something else to keep the focus away from (for example) from whoever coordinated the power outage. What do you think?
Go get ’em Tigh!
cally wow dude lee STARBUCK IS COMMING I CAN FEL IT
Lee goes to war wearing Brooks Brothers…
i guess lees back in the army
Torrie a cylon. This keeps with the all Cylon women are hot rule!
*laughs at Rube’s comment* Women go crazy for a sharp dressed man.
Okay, Sean, if you’re reading this….HERE COMES SOME VIPER ACTION, JUST FOR YOU!
WOW Cool Sequence! APOLLO YAY!
I still don’t like Tori
baby its starbuck o god
Lee’s going to find Starbuck.
is the unknown starbuck…does lee find earth?
I can’t wait for the conversation with Cally and Chief…guess what honey I am a cylon and Nicky is a hylon
Whoah! Good thing they got renewed. Had the show ended on this I would need therapy.
Hello Starbuck.. in the stealth ship
Dont die Apollo!
To keep important people away from their jobs when the attack happens?
Jayne Cobb-are you saying this is a copy of Tigh – not the real Tigh? I don’t get why you would think he was a Cylon after he was returned to the general population.
Starbuck????
I knew Lee would don the Colonial Navy’s uniform once again!
What is that? STARBUCK!! WHAT THE FRAK!!! AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
Starbuck is leading Lee to Earth!
HNOLY FUCK! STARBUCK!! AIKJHGLIAUJKGHOL”J!UOOJKMAAAASJHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Hell’s yeah!!!!!!!!!!!
STARBUCK FOUND EARTH!!! WHAT THE HELL!!
OMGOMGOGMGOGMg
tory seriously thats craaaaaaaaaaap what a waste of a spot if that is in fact the final 5
So do we know have head Starbuck?
TEN MONTHS! WE HAVE TO WAIT TEN MONTHS FOR THE REST OF THIS!
whattttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
CRAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Craaaaaap
AWESOME!!!!!
HOLY FRACK
what the frak?
Yeah!! There’s my girl!! She looked all glowy and stuff.
i know that planet omg
Man, STARBUCK! My TV-girlfriend is back… does this mean she’s a Cylon?
THAT WAS AWSOME! I’m totally freaking out right now! YES!!! Oh my gosh this is awesome!!!
Shes dead. Damn! They really did the orb of white light thing! The cheesiest part of the 78 series!
anyone know that song’s title and artist??? need to know
Starbuck, that is going to take some ‘splainin to do
So help me if they go to earth and find the statue of liberty on the sand and apes running around I will be mighty Frakked!
nooo ten months fralfrak
lol@Cav
Yeah, I feel the same way. Sometimes there’s so much going on in the posts that it’s hard to keep track of.
Oh, and 13th, some thoughts on the Jesus Baltar. I’m starting to agree with that theory. There are more and more similarities between Baltar and Biblical Jesus, and although I used to pass it off as just a coincidence, I’m starting to think it might be intentional.
All sorts of goosebumps!!
HOLY FRAK!!!
They showed earth. Not fair. WHAT’S GOING ON? These people have a lot to explain. That RDM podcast better be the best podcast, ever!
BEST EPISODE EVER!!!!!!
oh this podcast will rock tonight
Oh my God! I was on the floor jumping up and down! Stay tuned folks! Holy FRAKKK!
And ten frakking months ARGH!!! CRAAAAAAAPPP
there gonna fond it and its gonna be akn over by transformers goning to bed bye
Did anyone else wonder why there were six white glowing strips behind Six and Baltar. A clue…or a set director with OCD.
Is it gong to be like the 1980 Galactica where earth is primitive compared to galacitca?
They did not definitively show us the five cylons.
Does this mean Starbuck is a Cylon also?
Thanks the goda shes back or did lee die after splitting fom the fleet and went to where she is.
Well I’m totally going to watch the rerun in an hour. My brother watches it later in the week and he’s been complaing about why they killed Starbuck, well I can’t wait to talk to him after he’s seen it! OMG OMG! That was such a satisfying season ender. Man that was great.
Wahoooo…. good thing we know that they got renewed. But man it is going to be a long, long, long dry spell
This song is so totally going on my iPod
Hey what happened to 5 minutes over?
SO LONG!! LOL THE END CREDIT!
Is there a way that i can go to sleep and wake up when the show is back on?
Ahahahaha! Screw you David Eick and RD Moore!
that is so true…it is hard to follow at time.
gotta love the music.
HOLY FRAKKING FRAK!
I need a cigarette and I don’t smoke!
Joe- I was cheering when they showed her, too. This was right up there with the Pegasus coming to save the day back at New Caprica. I even got a little teary eyed.
Ok, can anyone tell us what that song was? Is it a real song or did they make it for the episode?
Oh my gods…!
WTF just happened!?!?!? We have to wait till JANUARY 2008 for more BSG? (By the way, the “F” in WTF is for Frak).
WHo sang that version of Watchtower??? It was sweet.
Mediator88 says:
I believe we have been misled. I do not believe we’ve seen the final 5 cylons… but Six has.
Excellant. Let the pondering begin as to why the 7 never speak of the 5…..
Did everyone else notice that the nebula was revealed to be part of the Milky Way?
what the frak!!! Tigh, Tyrol, Anders, and the president’s aid all cylons; it can’t be true. Also, why is Anders a nugget with his broken leg. Wasn’t Starbuck grounded when she broke her leg?
Great way to wrap it up. Starbuck sounded so relaxed.. almost devine
well if someone was supposed to die ,be a cylon and find earth then kara can’t be a cylon if she is then she didn’t die unless there getting into semantics.
This was my first Frak party on here. It was fun to see all your comments. My wife says I am a dork but she is sitting here watching me type this. LOL. See ya all in 10 month FRAK ME!!! 10 Months Craaaaaaaaaaaaaapp!!!
Shaun, this was my first one too 🙂 I look forward to attending more…*WAIL* in 2008!
All Along the Watchtower? That’s so odd. That’s so modern. That must be a clue that they are indeed in the future. Thousands of years in the future?
And Tigh is so totally the man or Cylon, whatever he is. He’s staying true to what he is.
Caleb- Starbuck was actually piloting, I think Anders was a backseat Dradis watcher for a Raptor.
Agree@Rich
All Along the Watchtower, heavy metal style, as Starbuck comes flying in her super-Viper-that-was-apparently-not-so-vaporized-after-all.
Perfect. Except for having to wait ten months… That’s not so perfect.
This was my first Frak party as well! Take heart though, there will be the 2 hour made for TV/DVD movie in the fall to give us a small fix!
Yea I have listened to the podcast all season. Does anyone know when season 3 DVD will be released?
i just recently found the show for the second part of season 3 and then they go and do this to me frak i’m gonna be in serious withdrawal
the Final “four” said that they are cylons, but that just their idea, they might not be the final 5, they could be just freakin out, its not official
She might actually be dead guys. Like She could be a vision, or like a ghost.
Shaun- the season 3 DVD will likely be released just before this movie or at the very end of the year. They like to release BSG about a month before the next season starts to get people talking and stuff.
Maybe there is something about Starbuck in the Scrolls of Pythia. Not that they have been mentioned in awhile
Boomer "The Brother" says:
I’m pissed. This was like a throwaway season. Besides Malestrom and Crossroads II, this season was underwhelming. I still don’t know if any questions have truly been answered. How the hell are these guys Cylon? I want to know the backstory.
By the way, Tori is frakking hot!!!! I want to comb her hair and get her out of the cheap Ann Taylor suit.
The cylons are active tonight my BSG podcast commentary has gone missing off of my Itunes and IPOD-CRAAAAPPPP!!! Goign to look for All along the watchtower after I reload the RDM commentaries!
i still like the idea posted earlier head starbuck
PhoenixP3K says:
I guess Earth might be closer than what they though. I felt Kara would be back but this is just crazy. So we have sorta 4 cylons confirmed… could Kara be one?
Roslin connects with Six, Era and Athena because she was injected with baby Era’s blood (my guess).
Was the shutdown caused by the Cylons or is it related to Saul, Tyral, Anders and President’s aid?
I cheked VideoETA yesterday and there is no date for season 3 yet. It has an email alert you can sign up for. Good site.
Awww, that really sucks. I have watched my season 1 and 2 dvds so often they are starting to scratch. JK
the withdrawl was begun.
I don’t think she’s simply a vision.
Maybe it’s….HEAD STARBUCK!!!! LOL
Nah, Zack.
I agree she might be a vision or hallucination or something, but not a ghost or anything supernatural. It’s too unlike RDM to do something like that.
Boomer The Brother at least Anders or Lee didn’t find Starbuck with Boxey in the shower saying it was all a dream!
head Starbuck…awesome
Switchblade says:
I honestly do not think that Starbuck is a cylon. I think that when her viper exploded, she was so close to the core of that planet, that she was somehow transported (like a wormhole, or blackhole style even) to Earth, and her viper was sent with her. Lee saw her viper explode, but maybe that is just how the worhole theory worked. She also was sent Earth, BUT it is Earth in the 1960’s, and thus, will not provide ANY help to the fleet at all.
Nuggets are military in training.
Nice season end. There’s lots of story potential for next year. Where did Baltar’s harem take him? Will Callie plug Galen in a fit of pique? Why does 6 think Hera needs protection? How do they ‘splain Saul? Oh, the irony about him killing Ellen for collaborating w/Cylons. Still not happy that Sam is boffing Tori. Lee was good today. What will his next career be? Will he and Papadama make up and then be re-instated? Roslin is all pissed off at both Adama boys now, quite a killing glare. Delighted Kara is back, in some form. Apparently getting to Earth is coming soonish, which will be a whole ‘nother ball of wax. Still fresh, still lots of potential. Hope next year isn’t the last.
For now – I am holding the same thought I had earlier – which agrees with Renegade – I believe that there were implants put in on NC. I also think we are supposed to believe that Roslin is the 5th since she can project with six and Athena. Here again, I think this is suspect as she has Hera’s blood which could account for the projcetions.
Until someone wakes up in goo…..I am just not convinced. I think the writers are having a big laugh with this one……
Pike – when you get on and read this – I would be interested in your thoughts.
Proton says:
MY HEAD EXPLODED!!
BEST EPISODE EVER.
I’m blasting Hendrix right now.
Browncoat Bryan says:
AAAAARGH!!!!
2008?!?!?!? Damn them!!! Damn them to HELL!!!! (Well, they can go there after Season 4). I don’t know how I will survive…. Now all I have left is Heroes.
Even with the spoilers, this was one HELL of an episode. I was SO happy to see Starbuck. She looked… different.
Scargums says:
I still think we are being pulled around as Mediator88 said, and that just because those four believe they are Cylons does not mean they actually are, and could have things implanted in them from the occupation, or some unexplained phenomenon via a third party as I’m sure 12 people voted for with their cell phones. Having only four also suggests that Starbuck is the fifth of the final five as well, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Does anyone else think Starbuck might be the 5th? Perhaps they were limited edition Cylonz and part of the reasons why the 7 couldn’t mention them. At least we know what her destiny was to do.
Were there spoilers saying Starbuck would be back? If so, THANK THE GODS I was spoiler free.
Hey if tyrol is a cylon, does that mean, that “his” baby is not his? But his wife looks so innocent. Or maybe it makes perfect sense, all that represed anger from the time he beat her…
Scott Palmer says:
What the… I’m going to have to watch that again just to make sure they are playing around with us to the extent I think they are.
Adama voted for Baltar? Everybody’s a Cylon? Lucid dreaming between Roslin and the Cylons? I’m all for cliffhangers, but this was a frak with our heads special. I loved Starbuck and threw things at the TV when she died, but it’s too soon. Don’t show me ten seconds of her and then not say a word for ten months. That’s just cruel.
My head is spinning. I cant wait for the podcast and then watching this episode about 3 more times this week. This was first frak party. I should never have looked away from the TV. Something was always happening.
Who sung that cover of Watchtower??????
I think she may be the 5th, but I hope she’s not.
And was I the only one thinking that she’d fly above him, upside down?
That last fifteen minutes or so was so creepy. And I’m way too nervous to scan through all the posts before mine. But I’ve gotta talk about the return of the Buck.
The scene with Lee was so similar to her chase after the Heavy Raider that I’m really reluctant to pass judgment. In what capacity is she back?
KS’s name at the end credits kind of freaked me out because it was so big and alone and she was credited “as Starbuck” which seems very guest star esque but could also have been their attempt to be like “She’s back!!!”
I don’t know about all this but I guess we’ll all have ample time to cogitate.
The episode was pretty tight but I really wish the trial had been cut down. And Lee’s speech, while impassioned, belonged in closing arguments. It was not in any way, shape or form a testimony.
Aside from that though, the episode had me so tense. And I’m really gonna have to think about the Roslin/SHaron/6/Hera Quad of Doom part deux.
Loved: Tigh channeling Keanu. “Whooooooaaaa”- Better than “crraaaaappp”
Oh, and Chuck, Sean and Audra?? Don’t feel constrained to 1 hour! This is worth at least 2, eh????
Agreed…Starbuck was different, not so weighed down
I think three hours at least!
Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower, not Hendrix. Hendrix only covered the song – although Dylan considered Hendrix’s interpretation the definitive version.
I was waiting for her to pull a “Top Gun” too
If they had a beacon that killed the other cylons, they might as well have a different beacon that does something else. Also, I wonder if anyone else could see Kara, or will she be in Lee’s head from here on. I wonder if Leoben knows she is talking to Lee again. That may just escalate the cylon/human conflict to a completely, more messy level.
Ok, so everyone is making a big fuss over Hera because she’s a half human half cylon… What about Nicky? He’s one too! What’s so special about Hera?
So many, many, many questions.
Starbuck is Head Starbuck. Just like there is no explanation for the two other head people, there is not yet an explanation for Starbuck.
Does anyone else feel they are getting no sleep tonight?
Devo says:
Does that make Chief’s baby a Cylon too?? Has anybody considered that? So that means there is another Hera….Nicky is a special baby as well!
That was Dylan’s version?
This should get a miniseries podcast!
Imagine the cylon men complaining how the humans males are taking our women.
kittenbiscuits says:
First time poster-hey Joe…it’s a Bob Dylan song called “All along the Watchtower”. Many people have covered it, with the most popular version being the one done by Hendrix. I have no earthly idea who did this version-it kinda sucked, but I really love the fact they used this song at least for the lyrics
Hahaha, Carol. I thought she would fly above him upside down too!
No. I meant only to say that people forget Dylan wrote the song – just to give credit where credit is due. The song was definitely not sung by Dylan
So does anyone know who’s cover of the song that was?
Ah, thanks for the clarification kitten. I loved it too. I have Jimmie’s version on my iPod already, guess I’ll get a few more.
You know All Along The Watchtower is going to be in the top 10 on itunes tomorrow.
For all itunes fanatics, download All Along the Watchtower by Bob Dylan!
I’m sure that it’s something to do with Bear McCreary or his Oingo Bingo mates. Hopefully it’ll be on the Season 3 soundtrack.
So who sings this version tonight?
bob Dylan rules the world
My theory…comes next season, there will be no fight scene. Those cylons following them will likely be copies of the ones on the ship, and are looking to join them on the road to earth. Can’t wait for a good cylon-bad cylon dog fight. Imagine the skies littlered with them, millions maybe, all fighting each other.
And yes, the CGI last episode and this one have been amazing.
IF, and it still is a big if to me…Chief is a cylon – then yes, nicky would be a Hylon.
Chuck, Audra, Sean – you simply have to explore the “what if the writers are fracking with us” theory.
I would have readily believed it if they appeared in the opera house in their white robes or awakened in goo. This just all seems to suspect to me. Perhaps I am just to cynical.
I still can’t get over the feeling that the fleet is not being chased but is being corraled…like they are being pushed towards Earth.
I have an idea what if the power outage in the fleet happened because they hit an early warning defensive line for the 13th colony. I you think about it the members of the 13th colony had to of had more advance technology then the other colonies to be able to travel so far away from the other colonies. And one more thing why was there the Ceylon fleet in the last episode and nothing in this one was it just a head faint from the writers to keep us thinking.
Re-watching episode now.. but one thought comes to mind as I think about Lee charging off to check out the dradus contact on his “10”. Did that same contact show up in Galactica’s CIC?
The case for a “Head Starbuck” would be made real quick if Kara’s viper didn’t show up in CIC.
She did look very at peace with herself in her Mark II viper..
Will we ever find out if the Cylonz have a plan? That’s the real question.
i dont think tigh, tori, anders, and chief are cylons. i think they may be hearing signal from earth. i think they are all going crazy from stress and they are using the “I’m a cylon” bit to explain why they are going insane.
Starbuck:
here are two possible thoughts-
1. She is dead and Lee saw her in a vision
2. When Starbuck blew up, she really didn’t, she entered some kind of black hole which caused it to look like she blew up…so she went on to find earth, which was her destiny, and now she is back to lead them
Just before they showed earth, did you notice that they are somewhere near the center of the milky way Galaxy? They also showed what I think is the right location of the solar system and earth in modern time, which is in one of the spirals. Interesting. I wonder if they’re clues there…
Antillies says:
Now that you mention it, I think I’m a cylon too…
So does this mean that Bob Dylan is the Cylon god?
I am not exactly sold either, Saberhawk, it is just too easy. But if they are Cylons then they are in perfect position to seriously compromise the fleet. Chief is the engineer and works on the Vipers…Tori advises the president…Tigh is the trusted friend of the admiral…not really sure what Anders does though
TheOtherCylon says:
What if Earth is responsible for the Cylon?
possibly Rich, but Earth’s solar system has been in the same area of the Milky Way for a very long time. The galaxy takes about 250 million years to spin once. So even if it was 10,000 years ago, it would be pretty much the same place.
But I’m sure there are a lot of clues in the quick scene. Hense, I’m now Jealous of everyone with TiVo.
So now we know Starbuck’s destiny-show them the way to earth.
Devo, I think Anders was Kara bait. They’ve been saying for 3 years how important she is, and Anders was a way to get someone close to her.
CB says:
We need you guys to talk unitl your throats bleed on the podcast. Why was Starbuck “unknown”? Do you think the chief is really going to tell his wife about the final meeting?
Don’t discount the VCR. That’s the ticket. Low tech needs for quality scrutinizing
I’m glad to see the series take this direction. It was a very satisfying closure to the third season. I’ve read a post on here a few weeks ago, and how the final five cylons are supposed to support the humans so that they do reach earth and rebuild relations with the cylons. But over all I’ve been very impressed with this finale’, I was very skeptical and began to lose faith in the series, but I stand corrected.
To answer a previous question, the spoilers I read did mention that Starbuck would be back at the end of this episode.
Is it me, or is anyone else thinking that LAURA is the fifth Cylon? She’s the one having Bluetooth dreams with Six and Sharon. The only person in the dream who’s NOT on the dream party line is Baltar. Starbuck is something different… Kinda like Dave in “2001” and “2010” after going into the Monolith.
Damn them… no frakking answers until 2008.
I believe they are cylons. Either Anders or Chief mention a key being turned. They all knew, not because of the music, but because somethign clicked in their heads after the final jump. I’m convinced.
Dag2000 says:
Could it be that the cylon (sss) are the thirteen tribe and Earth is the Cylon homeworld?
Somehow Earth is involved in the Cylon transition from Chromedome to Skinjob?
Okay.. so did anybody else notice that one of the women that “abducted” Baltar was the same one that asked for his (Baltar’s) blessing on her sick child? Was the picture that was passed over concealing something – a chemical of some sort that allowed those three to home in on Baltar?
Who are these ladies?? Obviously not any of the known 7 – three of the five?
WOAH Dag2000 that’s a great observation. I would love to see it unravel.
this just in, Callie is a cylon lover…. what a hypocrite
hahah renegade, you’re right
well it comes on again in 20 minutes…gonna go watch it. Enjoy your evening everyone…
A scene from season 4
Tyrol turns to Callie.
Tyrol:”I’m a cylon.”
Callie:”I want a divorce. How dare you seduce me!”
Tyrol:”What?!? You pratically threw yourself at me. I kicked your ass in my sleep and that made you more attracted to me.”
Callie:”That was before I knew you were a cylon. And I’m keeping the house.”
Tyrol:”It’s a room on a ship you crazy frak.”
Don’t you insult Callie like that! She’s awesome!
Carol, that is a great point and makes absolute sense. Thanks for the revelation!
I’m sorry, I just have to say this about Starbuck.
As cool as a Head Starbuck would be, I only like the idea if we have a real Starbuck too. Knowing that there would be no forward motion for the character’s development would suck for me.
I’m hoping she looked glowing and ethereal cause she’s just so damned enlightened and happy to see Lee.
And if she is real, how awesome was it to see her flyin’ around all Starbucky and badass like she was kinda playin with Lee. It was so Blackbird and so You Can’t Go Home Again. Just vintage Starbuck.
so were looking at almost every couple on the show being part cylon and if laura is one then i can’t think of one human/human couple
I had a feeling that those who heard the music would turn out to be cyclons but if i figured that out i wanna think that its what the writers want us to believe.
We never saw the faces behind the white robes. so it could turn out that those who heard the music arent the final 4 out of 5 cyclons.
ps: even though everyone knew starbuck wasnt dead im just glad they revealed it in the last episode instead of dragging it on until next season 🙂
now to wait till 2008 *sigh*
I think my wild guess about Baltar as the new religious leader was maybe right. Kinda funny since I posted that during the commercial break right before they showed that happen.
Man oh man! Hurry up Harry Dresden, you wacko wizard, I want to see BSG again.
There were 5 cyclons revealed to us…
Thigh, Chief, Anders, Tori and the first one to reboot … Rosilin..
and BALTAR will be the one to suss them out..or at least Rosilin. clearing the way for Zarek to take the reigns of power.
SkyWalker4 says:
All Along the Watchtower, written by Bob Dylan, and performed this time by the group “Bt4”. It was in the credits.
Enjoyed it immensely.
Apollo and Dee would be the only human/human couple…….. and look how that ended
Lee and Dee are a couple. Estranged with Dee hating Lee with the power of a battlestar, but they are still a couple.
If starbuch is head starbuck then that would also make her a cylon. However, I do not think it would have showed up on Apollo’s dradis if she was just head starbuck. So I think she is back for real. Of course you could counter argue that he might have imagined seeing her on dradis. To this argument I draw a parralel to Maelstrom. Kara never saw the heavy raider on Dradis, just visually.
Also, I would like to point out the similarity between the shot from above of starbuck and apollo’s vipers and a very similar shot from You Can’t Go Home Again, that is the one where Starbuck gets marooned on a planet and then uses a light raider to get off of it. I do not think there is any meaning to this, just a really nice and poetic job on the part of the vis effects team.
You would think that when Anders broke his leg Doc Cottle would recognize that he was a Cylon….perhaps?
I don’t understand the timeline. I thought there were no skinjobs during the first cylon war. How could Tigh be one? Does anyone have any ideas?
Are Anders and Company going to form a support group? Something like Cylons Anonymous…..Six could be a sponsor.
I’m not sold on the music-hearers being cylons. Where’s the evidence that the music means they are dylons? Six and Athena weren’t hearing it. I realize the final 5 are different but why assume the music makes them cylon. Maybe they all had the same dentist and they are receiving earth broadcasts through their teeth. Or maybe they are some kinda special humans?
well i’m thinkin they’ll be back together. it may take a few episodes but my bet is that lee falls back into his old role. he’ll go out and fight the impending battle with starbuck… maybe then he’ll pull some heroics and his father will reinstate him in the military because he convinced him that you must uphold the legal system right or wrong because if you don’t theres no point in having one.
anyone else notice the theme of admiral adama’s guilt keeps coming up anyone think there goin some where with this
pkell1 says:
All Along the Watchtower is a Bob Dylan song that Jimi Hendrix sang.
Zoe Connolly says:
I’m soooo looking forward to this the finale. Please please have many podcasts between seasons….please?
Your BSG and Galactica Watercooler fan in Second Life,
Okay, so one of the loosest threads for me personally, is the mythology. I can’t seem to get my head around it at all. Way too abstract–but Chief and Sam were so in sync with each other regarding the music and they were finishing each others sentences. They both chose to characterize the feelings brought up by the music as like “something from childhood”.
This could be kind of a throwaway line but I think it’s significant. So…and keep in mind this is wild conjecture (the kind that will keep me warm for ten months), but if in fact it has all happened before, couldn’t the original founders of the thirteenth colony have been cylons on the run? The roles could have been reversed, just like Leoben said.
I don’t know. I just lost my train of thought.
What was Laura’s fainting thingy just before the lights went out? Was that a cancer thing or something more sinister?
tigh could have been replaced inbetween wars but i think its kind of a sell out weren’t there no cylons based on real people so tigh couldn’t be one with the information give to use as of now
i believe that all four were taken into the prison in NC and were implanted with some sort of device, and when they got close they were able to hear radio singals which came from Earth. SO that means that they are not Cylons, their programing hasn’t been actived and Tigh is fracking old to be on of the five.
as for Starbuck, i knew she would come back but that was one messed up ending, not sure what up with that.
perhaps the Cylon God Bob Dyan is calling out to his remaining cyclons to hurry the frak up and realize what they are?
Well I think someone posted it back when we were in the double digits, but the return of Admiral Cain will be really fun for the movie. At least we’ll get some answers from that one lol.
maybe implanted with something so the cylons could track or communicate with them but i don’t know about from earth that has some serious implications on the 7 known cylons and there knowledge of earth
I really like Renegade’s theory about the cyclons implanting some chip that makes “the final 4” hear radio waves.
Here’s the full lyrics. Anyone care to analyse and interpret?
“There must be some way out of here” said the joker to the thief
“There’s too much confusion”, I can’t get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.
“No reason to get excited”, the thief he kindly spoke
“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late”.
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
Perhaps season four will open with “Everybody must get stoned”
You gotta be frakking me… it is like the BSG writers took the song and used it as a basis for the script
Gray, I agree, the ‘from childhood’ line is, I think, significant. Training before inserting into society?
Dag2000, Ok, here’s a wacky theory about why Laura got all fainty right before the lights went out. What if Hera’s blood has some mechanical something or other in it and the lights out thing was something the Cylons were instigating to disable the ships? Probably a dumb idea, since we didn’t notice any problems with the Cylons on board, but grasping a bit at straws here.
it would appear so
Implants are my theory, it has to be, the Colonel is too old, and they were all on NC, they all had a big part in the resistant which gives the Cyclons a reason to put them in prison, and tracking devices would be a good idea to find them,
In the beginning with the trailer about one will find this and one will find that, it said one will find out that they are a Cylon, One not four. Starbuck died, found put she was a cylon, and found Earth, lol 3 for 1.
no really, Kat did die, Starbuck found Earth, and the “one” that is a cylon wasnt really revealed, damn
So if I remember the promo it said… “One will die. One will realise they are a cylon. One will find earth”
Instead of each of those statements describing a seperate person, as we’ve assumed, perhaps they mean “one” and that one is Starbuck – has she done all three things?
I don’t know if you got this yet, but the original “All Along the Watchtower” was written by Bob Dylan. It’s been covered by Jimi Hendrix and Dave Matthews. I’m not sure which version was in the episode tonight.
Also, a blurb on the BSG site says the 2 Hour “movie” is coming out during the “fourth quarter of 2997.”
Well you know, they said that one would die, realize they’re a Cylon, and find Earth – but they didn’t say they’d tell *us*. BTW the Starbuck thing makes total sense. I am totally not sold on the Galactica 4 being Cylons, either.
fourth quarter of 2997???? what does that mean
Any signifigance to the power fluctuation that caused Adama to cut himself shaving?
Sissypoo says:
If I was the Chief, the last person I would tell I am a Cylon is Callie. Not without ALOT of Kelvar on.
Assuming that Lee just like the rest of us saw Starbuck’s ship go boom…how did she get a new Viper…sans hole in the windshield? That ship looked a clean and not banged up to me…
Just for the record…the thought of Samuel Anders being a Cylon is absolutely not a bad thing…After all, now Starbuck cant horde him all to herself…with all those copies, there are plenty to go around and as soon as they get here, I am ordering my own model from the Cylons R Us catalogue.
Nugget G says:
Don’t know how legal this is, but here’s the wikipedia entry for the song. I think it might give some clues as to the show. Any thoughts?
Dylan, recovering from a motorcycle accident which had marked a shift in his career, had been seen reading the Bible on a daily basis.[1] As with many of the lyrics to the songs on this album, the words to “Watchtower” contain biblical and apocalyptic references. The Watchtower is a term used several times in Old Testament and is the name of the official magazine of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The song depicts a conversation between two people, a “joker” and a “thief”, about the difficulties of getting by in life (“There’s too much confusion”). Ironically, the joker is concerned about losing his property, and it is the thief rather than the joker who observes that some individuals among them that aren’t taking life as seriously as they should: “There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.”[citation needed] It has been said that Dylan was complaining about record company executives cheating him out of royalties with the lines “Businessman they drink my wine/Plowmen dig my earth”.[citation needed] The joker then suggests that time is running out, which may hint of their own mortality or foreshadow a change in society. In the last verse the viewpoint of the song switches abruptly. The ruling princes stand guard in a watchtower over their women and servants as an unnamed pair approach amid ominous sounds.[citation needed]
2997? Wow…hope it’s worth the waiy
I like that phrase – the Galactica 4
Free the Galactica 4!
You know…maybe that is the plan. The Cylons want to come to earth to market hot Cylon’s to the populace. That is one way to control the population with millions of Hylons…
Free the Galactica 4!!
Bear McCreary’s website says that All Along the Watchtower wil definitely be on the Season 3 soundtrack due out in August. We won’t be able to find it anywhere because it was composed specifically for the show by his band Bt4. McCreary also says the dvds are due in August as well. bearmccreary.com
Frakking SciFi boards. Last time I was able to get on during the past hour there were 2500 users on the BSG section alone. It’s crashed and burned, though.
Devo- Great find! I forgot about Bear’s site. Right before Exodus Pt II he told us all that the episode was one of the best yet and that one specific scene would blow our minds. So nice to know that we only have to wait until August for the set. I’m guessing it’ll be a 6 DVD set.
And I think Roslin’s wacko thing with Sharon and Six and then the power shutting off was due to the chammalah extract, not her being a Cylon.
Ahahahah rewatching & seeing Tigh telling Adama early on that “there’s too much confusion”!
Scifi’s website says that they ordered 22 episodes!!!! Oh wow.. it’ll be like a real tv season
When tigh is telling Adama about hearing the music he says he doesn’t quite understand it, there’s too much confusion. Great foreshadowing!
Holy Frak! Tigh’s lines in this episode were straight out of the song! He was quoting the song.
“There must be some way out of hereâ€
“There’s too much confusion”
I am watching the episode again as we speak. gosh I so tempted to waste my money and buy the whole season on iTunes to hold me over. Thank the gods, but I think iTunes has kept this tv show on the air. To me it sounds like season 4 will be the last. What am I going to do for 10 months?
It’s just brilliant tv, we sooo deserve an Emmy! Does television get any better?
I’m trying to figure out this whole ‘Along the Watchtower Thing’. The song obviously has meaning, or they wouldn’t have chosen it. After reading the lyrics I think Starbuck is the joker. Obviously a joker for most of her life, and was constantly confused and always trying to “get relief” which she eventually found by killing herself and then finding Earth. Along the way when she was ‘confused’ she found lots of businessmen “drinking her wine” and plowmen “digging her earth”. Sounds kinda naughty, but maybe? I just can’t figure out who the thief is. Ideas?
Nugget G, my obvious guess is Romo Lampkin but I truly doubt he will be on the show much more. Everything I have heard suggests he is a part time character.
Not sure at all about how the song relates – but Romo was the only “thief” I can think of in this show recently.
Joker =Lee?
Is anyone else worried about the Cylons?
Speaking of Romo, what a great conclusion for that character. Very statisfying send off for that character. Oh yeah, I loved the part where Baltar said that he’d go back and do whatever it was that he was doing before the trial lol.
Did we see much of what Tory did on New Caprica? Was she around?
I don’t think Romo is the thief in the song cuz in the song he’s a calming influence on the joker. Who was a calming influence on Starbuck throughout her life? Someone who takes life seriously. Adm Adama? He was a father figure for her.
Hmm I don’t know. I think it was all too easy. Tigh is an incredibly hard sell to me. As is Anders because he served in the resistance on both Caprica and New Caprica. As did Tyrol…this means that the main players in the resistance were all Cylons??? Wouldn’t that do more harm than good to the Cylons considering they were so worried about the resistance? I mean Anders led the resistance on Caprica!
13th Cylon, I couldn’t agree more. It was the best ending a character could ask for..not drawn out.. and he lived up to his own standards. He did his job and he did it perfectly!
Take a look at this image – I think it’s a screencap from this episode. Are these supposed to be the faces of the five, or just standins they used for now? One looks like Cally and the one in the middle could be Starbuck.
http://media.battlestarwiki.org/images/4/42/Final_Five.jpg
I think we’re about to get our heads completely turned upside down. What if there are ‘good’ cylons and ‘bad’ cylons. The resistance is more of a good cylon scene whereas the skinjobs are more of a bad cylon type. Maybe Earth is populated with good cylons and we’ve just witnessed over the last 3 seasons the struggle between the good & bad cylons. Or maybe the humans and the cylons were not at war on Earth, but were divided between good & evil, not toaster & human.
Well, let’s remember that the Final Five and the Cylon Seven aren’t necessarily friends – the Final Five are almost gods to them. Who knows what the gods will want for them? Also, obviously they might be sleepers.
BTW I don’t think they used real people for the Final Five shot in the temple – just standins.
The person who is standing with her back to us is Lucy Lawless’ character who got boxed.. but yeah one of the robed ones looks like Cally
I am reminded, as the episode plays again, how magnificant James Callis was in this episode Just watch him, he’s so expressive and he covered an amazing gammit of emotions. I love how when Lee suggested a mistrial, Baltar didn’t even look at him, he looked at the lawyer and spoke to him first, like Lee was just a stray barking dog that was annoying him. Amusing that he’s been so dismissive of Lee, when Lee saved his ass. And that bit after the verdict and he’s been shunted away back to somewhere ‘safe’ and he gets all hoity toity again, I could just image 6 marveling at his resilience. Laura should not be too quick to be angry with Lee and Papadama, since her blanket pardon was a factor, as well.
Dag2000, those are stand ins from Eye of Jupiter.
Dag- That episode would’ve been the one back when 3 gets boxed.
The Final Five in white are actually pretty creepy to me. It’s got this whole “Klansman” feel to it.
Tigh as a Cylon explains why he’s able to drink sooo much. He’s got a specially designed liver.
Papadama. Funny. I like.
Shaymus22 says:
I know that no one is going to believe me, but I SWEAR TO YOU that I TOTALLY CALLED IT! I TOTALLY 100% knew it (and I didn’t read any fracking spoilers, either).
I sent in my theory via the “Contact Us” link in the sidebar, and didn’t feel like writing it again when I sent the message and then noticed the “Submit a Theory” link. I’m serious! Check for the fracking email!
THERE’S GOT TO BE A WAY OUT OF HERE
THERE’S TOO MUCH CONFUSION HERE
I CAN’T GET NO RELIEF
Carol, technically it was a pardon to anyone “in the fleet”. Baltar as in a fleet, too, just not the human fleet. Not that it would’ve gotten him off.
*SOME WAY (are these the lyrics to an actual song? If so, please don’t be mad at me for not knowing; I listen to plenty of songs, but don’t really pay attention to the lyrics too intently) 😛
I find it remarkable how defensive Lee gets for his father when on the stand and facing Baltar after the trial. Lee is clearly bipolar!
NuggetG, perhaps the ‘thief’ is Roslin. She stole a baby. She tried to steal an election. She ‘stole’ getting the presidency back again.
Or, the ‘thief’ would be Lampkin, Mr. Klepto, himself.
Also, Laura is SO the 12th – three characters had the same vision at the same time during the episode. Besides that, another thing that they have in common is that they’re Cylons.
Ressa says:
Wow I see I waited to long to visit here. 550+ comments??? O__O Overwhelming but I’m happy to see GWC getting the attention it deserves!
I like the Roslin as the ‘thief’ theory. If there were anyone who knows that life is not a joke it would be the woman with cancer.
So what does Baltar do with his life? Lead a rebellion with all those crazy followers? Did you all notice how Roslin predicted the massive power outage? How can that be explained?
Thank for the fun, all! See you after the podcast!
Any significance that Adm Adama orders all the nukes armed and loaded?
Also.. kinda neat that Apollo finds Starbuck in a background similar to which he lost her.. in the “clouds”.. blue sky (albiet the second “blue sky” was from the flames of Lee’s engine/exhaust
So on rewatching, Laura’s moment of wooziness seems connected to the power outage. They complete the jump, the ships all report in and then, as they commence Dradus scan, she gets woozy. As Adama notices and turns to her, the lights go out.
BTW Tigh is great. I was waiting for him to start raving about the White Whale!
You know, if something happens to Hera, Tyrol could always have a Yoda moment – “No, there is another!”
Tory looks great in this episode! It’s her biggest part yet!
What DOES Baltar do with his life. It’s a good question. I could imagine him being whisked away by his cult babes onto a different ship, and he could be the Queen Bee in that hive, having all his babes come to him with their children for blessing. He clearly needs to nest, in some way, for his own protection. It’s going to be a hard sell to convince the people who hate him that he still bring value to the table. Is he going to completely abandon Caprica 6? He seems to be on his writing kick, I don’t see him stopping that, anytime soon. He’s too in love with his own words/thoughts. Perhaps he’ll start some sort of rebellion to get Laura ousted. He’ll be like royalty kept safe in another country until support builds up enough that he returns to take back his ‘throne’. Though, frankly, I can’t imagine that he’s WANT the presidency back. It would be more the principal of the thing. And where was Zarek in all this?
*cackle* Good one, HailBaltar.
If you remember, Carol, Zarek wanted NO PART
Zarek has got off the hook im sure.
Very good point, Carol. He has to be intent on revenge, but he’ll use his mind to get it. I find it so hard to believe that Chief was so accepting of his Cylon-hood. He didn’t want to report to duty. I got the heebie-jeebies when tigh and tory reported for duty!
Callie is so gorgeous!
ha upon reading the commentary during the show, I literally laughed out loud at all the “CRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAPS” posted at the end squence. My thoughts exactly!!!
I think the final 5 are not evil cylons, but ones who are protecting the humans. If you noticed the way Tigh and Tori looked at Adama and Roslin respectively at the end, you could interpret it as dormant EVIL but I think they saw it as their duty to stand guard by these two important people for some reason…
As for Anders and Chief (I can’t believe Chiefs a cylon! ;_;) I don’t know what thier role would be yet…
of a Baltar trial (ack, hit the return key by mistake). I’m sure that with the results of the trial he is reformulating his plans. He could be the one that is providing support to the Baltar Babes and giving them a place to hide.. stashing Baltar away until he is needed again to oust Rosilin. (Of course, Zarek isn’t aware of the reboot)
Tonight only at Joe’s, the acapaela group “the Galactica 4” singing their hit All Along the Watchtower!
If they are cylons then the cylons really did their homework regarding infiltratingthe fleet. Anders has free access everywhere, tigh with Adama, Tory and the president, Chief and all the ships in the fleet!
Are cylons just attracted subconciously to each other then?
Starbuck + Anders
Chief + Boomer
Anders + Tori
Well, looking at Earth on the final shot I think this:
1. It’s not ancient Earth (ie Dinosaurs). The continents are in the contemporary place, and it’s not far-future Earth for that reason, either. It has to be the modern era, give or take a few thousand years.
2. The Cylon fleet may have brought Starbuck (assuming she’s not in Lee’s head). If so is it a “good” Cylon fleet? Are there already Cylons on Earth?
I didn’t interpret the shared look between Tori & Tigh as dormant evil but more like irony that they both said the same thing to the fleet leadership – and then a mutual “OMG” type realization of what they said and the implications of their recent reboot and just what sort of power they each have and why the thought of either of them being cylong is scary as all get out.
What is the cylon plan anymore anyway? Maybe the cylons retreated to Earth to escape after the Cylon War? Perhaps all humans are cylons in the end?
Well I say we get Doc Brown’s De Lorean and go to the fall so that we can have the movie and be a lot closer to Season 4.
I saw four basestars in the pull-back to earth and there were definitely enemy fighters on Lee’s dradus screen.
At least 4 basestars, if not more. The fleet is frakked unless they use nukes, find a way to quick jump, or Starbuck has a wormhole for them to go through.
I’m guessing Starbuck’s gonna be the new Obi Wan. She’ll show up every so often to help our heros out. Perhaps she will also have a greater impact after her death. Shadowy dead people/ head versions can do a lot of things us regular living peole can’t.
I’m pretty open to the idea of two camps of Cylons and that both the Final 5 and the Basestars that showed up at the end of episode are the “good guys”… that would imply some sort of rebelion. Now comes the question of which side is in rebelion? And was the attack on Caprica (not NC) a result of said rebelion or was the rebelion a direct result of the attack?
Here’s a question – didn’t Pegasus have nukes? Why didn’t Lee use them in the fight above New Caprica?
Hail,
That is a good question… He really did not need to ram the ship to save the Galactica….
Good question, Hail.. only “excuse” I can come up with is lack of experience in a capital ship. Lee is use to thinking in terms of a Viper Pilot and not as commander of a Battlestar.
Anyone still posting…I had to go out for a while?
looks like just a few of us left
J_Aucat says:
Ok first time poster but I have to float a couple of theories:
1. Tigh is a cylon and he served in two wars. The first as a old model toaster head. He evolved into the first skin job.
2. Laura is becoming a hybrid. She is connected to the ships and thus her reaction during the blackout.
3. Leoben was right. The twelth cyclon yet to be revealed is Zak Adama and he’s not around because he was boxed.
Rube,
Dont forget that there was not a full crew abord Pegasus…that might have had something to do with that..,
However, they took out that first basestar with almost ease…I liked the Pegasus. I miss her.
john patrick says:
It’s 10:30 on the west coast; Apollo just gave his monologue. I haven’t read any of the comments yet.
All I have to say: Jamie Bamber gets an Emmy tonight.
Yea, but it gets me to thinking since Adama’s armed his nukes – why didn’t Lee above New Caprica? He might have bought the fleet even more time, even if Pegasus were still lost.
I’m excited for Johnny boy here, things are about to get crankin’. Man, I’m still blown away with those last 15 minutes.
I also felt the Pegasus gave the show a better dinamic, I know that RDM liked the “last battlestar” idea better…but I felt it was just another item that kept it different than the old show, the fact that the Pegasus remained.
The Roslin as a Hybrid theory is really starting to blow my mind a bit.
I don’t think Nukes can take out a ship. They certainly damage a ship as we saw in the miniseries, but remember that to destroy the basestar at Kobol, boomer and racetrack had to bring it inside the basestar.
Well Hail, the Pegasus should have been in the role that Galactica had…it was more powerful and better armored that Galactica.
If you remember when the Pegasus charged that one Basestar with Lee in command, it only took several follies of whatever it fires from the ford guns to take out the basestar.
Perhaps it isn’t cancer that has reurned but a cylon preapring to burst from here chect! Where’s Ripley?
This has probably been mentioned but in the link posted earlier that’s a screencap of 3 with the FF, you can hardcore see their faces and none of them appear to be anyone we know.
SO it’s gotta be stand-ins with careful attention paid to their height. Two really tall guys, one extremely short person and a couple of slightly built females.
Ha ha, Baltar really thinks this is about him; it was humanity that was on trial.
Yeah Cavatar that was way cool but Galactica isn’t Pegasus. I think they are in trouble.
Yeah, but then they’d have to change the name of the show to “Battlestar Pegasus”.
And Dag, you hit the nail on the head. The key isn’t nukes- it’s Racetrack. She’s the secret weapon for the humans.
600 posts tonight…WOW!!!
Shinobumono says:
Good Cylons and Bad Cylons…
Does seem really possible. Does that mean the cheesy white ones who bring Lee back to life from the original series are the “good five”?
One question?
Has anyone talked about the similar pronunciation of Cally and Kali by the way? No reason for the mythology to be limited to the greek after all, eh?
The cain! he left the cain! and the glasses came on. Sweet. Romo for president.
HAHA Dag that’s funny. But actually I can support it. Pythia is thought to be a strange truth sayer sprouting ramblings from a bowl of water. Sounds like a hybrid to me. And isn’t Laura thought to be from the religious sect to be a reincarnation of Pythia? Also I like it because Laura can die as the leader and still be around as something else. (Gotta keep Mary!) But if she jumps the fleet just by thinking about it, I’ll freak!
Oh that would be so cool is she did that J_Aucat
Oh that makes SENSE. Roslin as a hybrid, and because the fleet can’t jump for 20 more minutes, she jumps them instead. Crazy, but it works!
Full crew or no full crew, Cavatar – Lee is not a capital ship commander. He was sent over to be Pegasus’ XO and do his apprenticeship but that got accelerated when the then CO (ex chief-engineer) chose to take the easy way out of his dilema (well played role by James Heard, btw).
Admiral Cain would NOT have let one of her best weapons against a Basestar be in a state of disrepair for long. It wouldn’t take a full crew to raise the nuke tubes into firing position and to let ’em fly. Same arguement for during the year of train up prior to the rescue/evacuation of New Caprica — Lee was to take Pegasus and lead the remants of the fleet to Earth. No way that any trained capital ship commander let his best and easiest weapons to fire go to waste.
The only other “excuses” for Lee not using nukes when coming to Galactica’s rescue above New Caprica were
1. Pegasus class Battlestars weren’t built to handle nukes (Pegasus in my mind was obviously built post 1st cylon war).
2. Adm Cain shot off all the nukes that Pegasus had
3. When Pegasus fled the cylon attack, she had offloaded them (she was about to undergo major re-fit) and didn’t have a chance to reload.
IF reasons 2 or 3 are valid, then it would stand to reason that Cain would have had Galactica trans-ship a few of hers but the opportunity never availed itself due to other circumstances that arose.
really interesting theory guys. Something is up with the president, that’s for sure.
Thank you! I just thought about it and it made sense. That and Cally as Kali, TOTALLY! This show is so imbedded in mythology. I bet if you try you can find a corresponding character in Greek or Roman mythology for everyone. Yea I have a project to get me to 2008!
It is true that the Pesasus nukes may have been off loaded before the attack or they were used by Cain, but would to believe that the Mercury Class Battlestar (which the Pegasus was) normally had nukes.
Rube…
He did ot do a bad job against 3 basestars in episode the captain’s hand.
I wasn’t implying Lee did a bad job as Pegasus’ CO.. was just saying he was inexperienced. He never had the luxury of a “formal command course” (How to fight a Battlestar 101) like his father did.
Random question everybody…but if you buy the episodes off of iTunes can you burn them onto a dvd and watch them on your television?
Dainin says:
Just finished it here on the west coast > OMG BGS drops acid! I haven’t felt this way since 1969, and have you ever really lloked at your hands…wheeeeeee
I understand, I get all choked up thinking of the Pegasus being destroyed like that….I was jumping up and down yelling NOOOOO when I saw it.
OK I’m going to suggest it. To our wonderful podcasters: How about having an expert in Mythology come in for a podcast during the break?
Devo,
I have a device that allows me to plug my ipod into my TV…anything I download from I tunes I can watch.
ohh thanks Cavatar! How’s the quality and what is this device called?
The quality is good…let me check real quick.
No, you can’t burn itunes video to DVD, unfortunately. With the apple video cable, or even a non-apple version, you can plug your ipod into the Audio and video inputs of your TV. Looks fine on my 42 incher. (heh, heh he said 42 incher)
Thanks for the effort, Cavatar, I appreciate it!
go here…this is what I have.
http://www.dlo.com/Products/homedoc_Prod.tpl?command=showpage
I also have 2 DLO’s for my cars and have not had any issues with them.
The episode should have been titled “A Few Good Cylons”. Can you handle the truth? – there are good Cylons and there are bad Cylons. My guess, next season, values and loyalty will define the new alliances, not tribal origin,and the good Cylons (yes, Tigh, Tori, Anders, and Chief) , along with Starbuck, will have to build a bridge between the Colonists and other good Cylons among the Cylon fleet, maybe the Leobon models. We’ll see….
2008??! What happened to the Summer movie?? I wonder, does darling Nicky have the happy blood??
I was disappointed as well Cavatar – losing Pegasus was a major blow to the Fleet.
If you know anything about military history, Cavatar, imagine the Battle of Midway being fought without the Yorktown. It would have been entirely different in my mind. That is what happened when the Pegasus was lost.
However, I do think that without Lee disobeying orders and ramming Pegasus down the middle of Cylon alley and covering Galactica, we wouldn’t be debating this issue.
Thanks Dag and Cavatar!
Don’t mention it. I have a 50 inch DLP and it looks great on it. The quality is better than watching the itunes on my computer.
Seriously, thank you Cavatar!
This is very ture…It was also a big deal with Lee got the promotion…him being returned to Major was also hard to watch…I did not like it. I also posted about it several times.
No problem, its a 100 bucks but I am happy with it.
I’m gonna post this again because I think that it got lost in the flury of some of the other posts..
on March 22nd.. Scifi ordered 22 (more than we had been led to believe) episodes of BSG… and we can expect the TV/DVD movie in Aug/Sep/Oct time frame (my guess at least) .. bittersweet pill folks but there is light at the end of the wormhole.
so they only order one more season so far?
penpen says:
I feel like such a sissy. I had teary eyes when Starbuck showed up. So much insanity going on.
The only difference between the apple video cable and a standard A/V cable is that apple switch the red and yellow cables. So you can use a standard cable and just remember to plug red into the yellow video socket
http://www.amazon.com/3-5mm-PLUG-POLE-RCA-CABLE/dp/B0007V6JCK
about $14 cheaper than apple’s cable. You can probably find one at your radio shack. They are sometimes called camcorder cables.
Exactly, Rube, what do you think the movie will be about? related or unrelated? How about this spinoff called “caprica”?
For those of you still up with us, I thought I’d just let you know that the podcast is finally in post and will make it out ASAP in the overnight. This one’s quite long, so by that time it outputs and I tag and upload it, I’d imagine it’ll be right around 4 a.m. central when it hits.
Since it was a Bob Dylan song, maybe Bob Dylan is a Cylon. That would expalin why he talks so funny; “Yeah man like by your command” with that raspy slur.
Maybe all those rock stars that never seem to die despite every logical reason to do so are Cylons. That would make Keith Richards the Imperious Leader!
and Johnny Depp could play him in Season 4!
thanks Chuck! I really appreciate the podcasts and all the hard work you all put into it!
Cavatar,
Lee should have never been given command of Pegasus, imho, because of his inexperience in fighting a capital ship. Tigh should have gotten the nod but realistically, his alcoholism warrented keeping him under Adm Adama’s thumb; therefore Lee was the next senior officer (except maybe whoever happens to be chief engineer on Galactica – there’s job Helo hasn’t had – YET!, hehe).
As for Lee getting demoted, it wasn’t unheard of in the American military that during times of war that “regular” officers getting promoted to higher ranks and then during the drawdown in forces that follows aka peacetime, the same said regular officers be reduced in rank – their higher rank was just because they were filling a position that called for higher rank and their reduced rank was considered their permanant rank (what their retirement pay would be based on).
At the time of his death, George Armstrong Custer was wearing the rank of General but his permanent rank was Lt Col (or maybe even full bird Col). The word for that is beverat (sp?).
Anyhow.. with Pegasus gone, Lee was reduced to his “permanent” rank of Major.. that’s the way I look at that.
Of all the characters on Galactica, Helo to me is the most unrealistic in that he has held every job on Galactica but Chief Eng but I realize that his character in alot of the arcs/storylines is just to keep from having to introduce a new character to us – his main purpose in the storyline was to bring us Athena and father Hera, imho.
Thank you Rube. We need to be reminded of that.
well all I need to turn in…I normally state up and wait but I have to be up in the morning..
night all.
thanks chuck
Can’t wait to hear it!
Thanks again Cavatar and Dag for your help! Nice talking with you all!
Rube, I am aware that when Lee was promoted it was there version of Field Commission and he was brought back down to this last regular Commission…but I can still not like it….hehe
You bring up some good points and it was fun talking with you…
Devo enjoy the ipod acessiories….
Night again all, Cavatar
I enjoy the conversation as well, Cavatar – night all!
Did you notice that in the “coming to you in 2008” moment at the end, that they showed a shot of Number 3? If true, the story around that is going to be amazing.
Mikegyro says:
The cylon fleet was on an intercept course, but I don’t recall anyone stating that the fleet was launching raiders, or any weapons towards the RTF.
Starbuck is a cylon, the 5th one, and she says that everything is going to be ok. Why would she say something like that knowing the situation of the fleet, and the cylon forces that were closing in unless she knew the intentions of that Cylon fleet?
There are 12 models, and 7 of them voted to attack the colonies, and the other 5 were outcast. I’ve read some other posts here mentioning that these may be ‘good’ cylons. Perhaps there are some Cylons who remember their original programming and are not of the mutinous lot that make up the 7 that we already know. For the purposes of the 7 we already know who carried out the attacks against the colonies, any knowledge of the other 5 cylons could have been deleted because of their differing directives. Similarly, the hybrid between Helo and Athena may be considered a threat to this faction of the cylon due to the fact that Hera is a product of an 8 which would carry the directives of the same group of Cylons which attacked the colonies in the first place. Hence, the protection that the 6 and 8 were feeling. And Rosilyn is being dragged along in the dream because she has some of Hera’s blood. Similarly the beneficial effects of Hera’s blood may be wearing off because of the proximity of this other group of Cylons causing the cancer to return. (In a leap of faith here, I believe that the cylons from last weeks episode which nearly killed racetrack were of the usual variety, and that the ‘fix’ on the fuel ship actually served in keeping them off the RTF’s tail. This group of Cylons were lying in wait)
The power outage was probably a reboot for Tigh, Anders, Tory and Tyrol, and also serves the purpose of this group of Cylons to keep the fleet from jumping away immediately.
This is just my theory, but I cannot wait till 08…..This is torture!!
MikeTheCAG says:
Hello all! I’m a first time poster but long time listener of the podcast! and I love it!
This episode was amazing and left me speechless! I have TiVo’d it and am rewatching it. Found something interesting:
In the scene right before the Galactica 4 meet, while the power is out, this happens:
Chief is on the hangar deck with all the comotion going about around him. Time is almost slowing down and then back to normal.
Chief says “There must be some kind of way out of here.”
Cut to Tigh listening against the wall, he says “Said the Joker to the Thief.”
To Anders, says “There’s too much confusion here.”
and then Torry, “I can’t get no relief.”
They all quote the first verse of the song!
Another thing, as Tigh and Torry enter CIC, you hear Adama say “Arm and load all Nuclear Weapons.”
to Mike The CAG–thats scary re: arming the nukes. What could happen? I know. We get to wait 10 frakkin months. Thats what happens. Time for bed.
Deemetrius says:
Some random thoughts that may or may not relate-
Chief has had bad dreams before, simliar to Sharon, before beating his wife within an inch of her life.
While re-watching Occupation, President Baltar insists to Roslin, while in captivity, that no one has been totured. Could Saul Tigh possibly rip out his own eye?
And Starbuck emerging just as the cylon raider appeared that she chased. Did you notice how bright the clouds were when Lee saw her? Is it really Starbuck? Or is it something else, just as Leoben told Kara he was not Leoben in Maelstrom? Could this Kara be a clone from her ovarie?
Too many questions!!!!
somebody owes me 10$ for guessing that the show would end like Pegausu in a cilffhangar with all vipers ready
Cretos says:
Wow this was amazing. IF you put aside all the Starbuck is a cylon ideas for a min, think about this. When her ship exploded, she could have ejected and been thrown to another part of the galaxy, and was picked up by people from earth. Got a new ship and came back to find her former fleet.
Then again she could have just died and been resurrected. Then made her the 5th model.
Since we only did see 4 in the end.
Timbuck…the nukes are out because in Adama’s mind this is the final showdown.. he’s got 1 Battlestar vs 4 Basestars and he can’t jump away because all the FTL computers were down and therefor it’ll take 20 minutes to jump out. If he nukes a Basestar or two.. maybe he can get out of this…
ShinyFab says:
What the frak?! I have to reboot . .
I still don’t think Starbuck is a Cylon. What if she’s like a special representative from God/the Gods?
I’m liking the idea of “good” Cylons and “bad” Cylons. However, I think the distinction is a little too simple. But, I would go further to think that the Cylons and the Humans are related… What if they are the same race?
The key question is, I believe, what makes a Cylon? What makes a human? Is there really a distinction between the two? Anders and Tigh got drunk. Why would machines model themselves physiologically to make themselves susceptible to human issues (drunkenness, depression, etc.)? What if both races are victims to a great lie, which is that they are truly different? Who would cause such a lie? Think about racism. All of us are human, yet there are some who truly believe they are better than others, in terms of evolution and so forth. Yet, that is a huge lie.
Finally, it would appear that Baby Hera is not the only “hybrid” child out there. Now we have Baby Nicky, who is also a hybrid. Yet, Roslin, Six, and Sharon are only dreaming about Hera. What about Nicky? Why is Hera so special, yet Nicky is not?
So many questions, so long to wait for answers.
God bless the Anglo-US special relationship thing ! Must be one hell of an episode as I will have gotten it all in half the normal time. Managing to avoid reading the postings but had to scroll a hell of a way down to get to the Reply Box to type this. Looks like it provoked a lot of discussion – must be theories-a-go-go ! Guess this is why they call it a cliffhanger !
Frakin’ A!
OK, I gave up on iTunes and went to the torrents. (SciFi, I’m willing to throw money at you, but you have to put a product up!) Too frakin’ cool. Now I’ve got to wade through six hundred-odd comments while listening to the ‘cast.
I’m definitely leaning toward the theory I posted earlier and that others seem to be sharing.
I wish Pike or somebody would come along and refine it because I’m still too fried from last night. Oh well- 10 months.
But yeah, I think the Great Shock when they find Earth is gonna be related to it being inhabited by Cylons or Cylon- Human descendants.
Okay. I think I’m getting myself together enough. And I’m sorry, I tried to read as many posts as I could along the way, but there’s just so many! There were a few questions I had which were cleared up by this interview w/ RDM about last night’s ep here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07085/770732-352.stm. So Lee. Oh Lee. First point of interest – he’s still wearing his wedding ring. Guess he’s not giving up just yet. He reminded me of a small child when he ‘tattles’ on the Admiral’s feelings for Baltar. I think Lee has needed to get the guilt out for a VERY long time. He’s right though. Everyone has made decisions or mistakes which cost the lives of people and further illustrate how the Fleet is no longer Colonial society. I think its been mentioned here more than once that the Fleet is an extreme microcosm of what the Colonies WERE like. And I’m still darn confused about the Admiral’s decision to acquit Baltar. Was it his own guilt? Did he want to agree with Lee? Or did I miss something and there really wasn’t a supported case? I think it was probably not a good enough case to convict, but I just don’t know. The FabFinal4? Well, okay. It was a little weird to hear them quote Jimi Hendrix. But as for little Nicky the Hylon – if the Chief IS different from the other Cylons some way, wouldn’t that make Nicky a different kind of Hylon in comparison to Hera? I don’t question whether or not the FF4 are Cylons. I just don’t know how RDM will explain them. And who is FF5? Is it Starbuck? Or is it Lee? Or – the cylon is Lee and Kara is a Hylon herself. Tigh’s been through a few wars, Tyrol remembers his parents (didn’t they die in the Cylon attack?). I can see Anders being a cylon. Tori came out of left field. And how the FRAK did Tori meet Anders in the first place? And why the FRAK is Anders a pilot? From what I’ve seen of him, it doesn’t seem like he would fit in well as a pilot. I have to agree with Shaun (I think?) who said Anders would be a good Marine.
Max Peck says:
I know this is late… don’t think the final four are cylon… don’t trust RDM and DE… almost stage magic type of sleight of hand…think it is some form of cylon torture side-effect/ proximity to Earth combo…
Someone had to coin the phrase:
The final four have
Head-Jimi
OMG, how good was that episode ! They better get a whole stack of awards for the visuals this series.
Guess we can expect a flood of creative juices on YouTube to the soundtrack of All Along The Watchtower ! Who would have guessed that Bob Dylan was a Cylon broadcasting a beacon out into space huh !
Posted this in the other thread but EW has post-finale interviews with EJO, MM, and RDM up on their homepage.
I’d link it but I’m pretty computer illiterate.
okay, thanks to Pike for the advice. Here’s the link:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article
fine. it’s sort of the link. just click HOME on the website menu.
Aaaaah, 666 comments!! I’m adding one, quick!!!
Mike the CAG I noticed them quoting the song too, but only after Tori said “I can’t get no relief.” I thought that sounded like a really akward thing for her to say.
RPA says:
the question of why ander? What is specail about anders is what he was. He was a superstar sportsplayer. think of him as John Elway, Micheal Jordan, He is an icon from the past. He has shown leaderships as much as the ty or chief.
Six, athena, roslin they are the Fiathes
Just a thought on the way Tigh and Tori behaved back in CIC. The looks they gave each other was very reminiscent of the way the first 6 cylons often behave. Like they know they are Cylon, they have a role to play but they aren’t quite sure what that role is. The first six tend to have that same confusion often.
If the humanlike Cylons evolved from the non-sentient machines this is very realistic. They would be aware that the machines want to destroy the humans, but do they really want to do that?
Not the watchtower version from last night, but eerily prophetic none the less..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7da3iwxMUjU
OK, FINALLY got through all the comments.
Carol, “Papadama” That’s classic. And yeah, I figured out it was Starbuck and was waiting to see if she taped that on the bottom of her viper.
Saber, I would be fine with an “implant” explanation (although, that raises the ‘why’ question), but my gut says that’s not how RDM rolls…
I’m thinking Niki IS important, it’s just that nobody’s realized it yet. (I’ve mentioned that possibility before, when I thought that Cally was going to be the reveal.)
Browncoat, Roslin having “Bluetooth dreams” LOL
C J says:
hey. ive been digging around a little bit but cant seem to find much. is there an archive with the ancient scripts kicking around somewhere..?
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GAMING TREND
Steady hands required – Doctor! Doctor! Review
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Not to toot our own horn, but Ride the Rails pre-orders are available this week, will ship early
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The Age of Artisans is upon us! New expansion for Architects of the West Kingdom coming soon
Wargaming is rebooting Master of Orion
By Kenneth Shepard
Wargaming has announced that it will be rebooting the strategy series Master of Orion.
The original game was released in 1993, and spawned two sequels that launched in 1996 and 2003. The new Masters of Orion will be developed by NGD Studios and key members of the original game’s team.
Lead one of 10 playable races in your bid for galactic domination, each with several unique advisors, racial advantages, technologies and specialized ship designs. Will you choose the fearsome Alkari warriors, savvy Gnolam traders, the sentient Meklon robots, or a race closer to home: humans?
Colonize planets; grow your army; befriend nations or battle them. With Master of Orion’s massive galaxies ranging from 20 solar systems to over 100 with unique stars, new and untamed worlds are all waiting to be seized in your fight for supremacy.”
Master of Orion is a game that brings Wargaming truly back to its roots, not only as a company but also in how it influenced my personal interest in both games and making them,” said Wargaming’s Victor Kislyi. “The series’ iconic gameplay has stood the test of time and working with NGD Studios to bring the series back to life is a truly exciting moment for the team.”
“As longtime fans of the Master of Orion, the opportunity to help breathe new life into this acclaimed game has been a dream come true,” says NGD Studios’ Andrés Chilkowski. “While we’ve made many improvements overall to the game, we’re confident that its classic and addictive gameplay will appeal to gamers no matter if they played the game years ago or are now just experiencing it for the very first time.”
Check out the first screenshots of the Master of Orion reboot below:
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Abbott govt threatens unis with further research cuts
Lee Rhiannon 11 Sep 2015
The Australian Greens are calling on the Abbott government to stop jeopardising the future of public education after reports that universities are bracing for a further 10 percent cut to research funding.
Greens spokesperson for tertiary, technical and further education said: "Yesterday's news was that the Abbott government may go ahead with its 20 per cent cut to university funding despite the legislation being blocked, and today it's the 10 per cent cut to the Research Training Scheme.
"It is shameful that Australia is ranked 34 out of 35 in the OECD when it comes to tertiary education funding.
"Education Minister Christopher Pyne has realised he is not going to get his way through the democratic process and so is pressing ahead with his reckless policies that damage the future of our universities via other ‘options'.
"The Abbott government needs to immediately rule out any further cuts to public universities including research as long as the legislation remains stranded in the Senate.
Contact - Brami Jegan for Lee Rhiannon 0487 350 880
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Terrorist Bomb Almost Kills Greg 20170130
Don’t miss this show. ISIS A Western/Jesuit Creation.Greg presents a third view to Trump’s immigration ban, saying the liberal left and conservative right, fighting tooth and nail, are horribly misinformed. Greg recounts his journey to get at the truth behind terrorism when he was almost killed by a terrorist bomb in 1982 in Rome. The mainstream media is covering up the truth about ISIS, refusing to deal with why and how it was created as well as refusing to follow the money trail beginning in the west.
Greg Anthony, http://ArcticBeacon.com, gregbeacon@gmail.com
Click below for entire show
IMMIGRATION BAN CREATES HYSTERIA
By Greg Anthony, JD
President Trump this week signed an executive order putting a moratorium from anyone entering our country from 7 middle eastern countries.
There are essentially two views coming to the forefront on the immigration ban. I will present a third view which is overlooked by everyone, a view that gets to the root of the problem.
First , however, liberals say the ban is unconstitutional on religious grounds because it is directed at Muslims.
Secondly, Conservatives support the ban, saying it is needed to prevent radical islamists from entering our country.
But, look closely, both views do not question my third position which is ….before taking a position we must consider who really created ISIS. It shpuld be noted both mainstream views whether conservative or Liberal assume terrorism is a homegrown Middle eastern radical movement, never considering that ISIS could be a Western creation funded by the West, instigated by the Jesuits and molded and put into to action by the CIA, Mossad and other Vatican intelligence agencies.
Before we go further, let’s look at the President Trump’s order:
The president’s order, enacted with the stroke of a pen at 4:42 p.m. Friday, suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely, and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. There are a few exceptions, including green card holders.
When the executive order took effect it is estimated 109 passengers from these countries were already enroute to the States. When they detained at US airports, protests immedia4tly broke out. The ACLU filed a motion to have the passengers released, many carrying visas or green cards.
Then a federal judge in Brooklyn came to the aid of the refugees and others who were trapped at airports across the United States..
The judge’s ruling blocked part of the president’s actions, preventing the government from deporting some arrivals who found themselves ensnared by the presidential order. But it stopped short of letting them into the country or issuing a broader ruling on the constitutionality of Mr. Trump’s actions.
What that means is people from the countries mentioned above will not be allowed to board planes or enter the US by any other means for 120 days until a plan can be worked out to put into place extreme vetting to make sure terrorists don’t filter.
Trump’s actions immediately created a firestorm with liberals on the left, the democratic party and the opposition mainstream mostly liberal press.
They claimed Trump was preventing Muslims to enter because of their religion which they claimed was unconstitutional.
President Donald Trump defended his executive order on immigration and refugee policy Sunday afternoon in two tweets, posted at around the same time the White House released a statement from the president.
The statement stressed the importance of keeping the country safe and denied that the order amounts to a Muslim ban. But the tweets were a more direct response to criticism from Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), two outspoken Republicans.
“The joint statement of former presidential candidates John McCain & Lindsey Graham is wrong – they are sadly weak on immigration,” Trump said.
“The two … Senators should focus their energies on ISIS, illegal immigration and border security instead of always looking to start World War III.”
The purpose of the immigration ban `is as stated directly from the executive order
Purpose. Interior enforcement of our Nation’s immigration laws is critically important to the national security and public safety of the United States. Many aliens who illegally enter the United States and those who overstay or otherwise violate the terms of their visas present a significant threat to national security and public safety. This is particularly so for aliens who engage in criminal conduct in the United States.
Sanctuary jurisdictions across the United States willfully violate Federal law in an attempt to shield aliens from removal from the United States. These jurisdictions have caused immeasurable harm to the American people and to the very fabric of our Republic.
Tens of thousands of removable aliens have been released into communities across the country, solely because their home countries refuse to accept their repatriation. Many of these aliens are criminals who have served time in our Federal, State, and local jails. The presence of such individuals in the United States, and the practices of foreign nations that refuse the repatriation of their nationals, are contrary to the national interest.
I believe this issue will divide the country, create chaos and perhaps civil war. However, There is no answer, no solution if you stay within the perameters of the left and the right paridyme. if you do not understand how the hidden hand behind the scenes of government — the Jesuits and their minions in gov and secret societies – wants to dissolve America from within, leading towards there goal of a one world order, one world religion. Terrorism is now the war of Jesuit choice and they have been preparing and practicing it for a long time. How can terrorism be stopped if it is created from within. In essence, it is a hidden government policy not on the books but understand by high level officials, knights of malta and the Jesuits.
Let me explain. Let me go back to Rome Italy in 1982 and listen to my radio show above for the entire story.
Posted in 2017, Audio, Headlines | Leave a comment
Italian Priest caught in Bestiality, Pimping. guest Leo Zagami, 20170127
Greg interviews Leo Zagami from Rome about the Knights of Malta, The Pope’s hypocrisy and the sick story about the perversions of Italian priest Don Andrea Contin caught and taken into custody for pimping women on the altar of his church as well as forcing them into acts of bestiality with dogs, horses and pigs, to name only a few of the animals. Leo talks about this story in the second half of the broadcast. The story has only appeared and it has been front page news there for several weeks. The Vatican has remained silent but word is other priests, Bishops and even a Cardinal may be involved. Here is a link to an Italian story that hit the news stands today.
http://www.liberoquotidiano.it/news/s…
Click here to listen to the entire show
GREG.FRI 1-27-17
Death Our Common Denominator 20170126
Greg looks at death in many ways, from the physical to being reborn again while living in so many different ways. He also looks at how history and Jesuits have covered up the true purpose for Islam. Lastly, he looks at the Trump tornado and how it all works together.
GREG.THU 1-26-17
Hollywood Says NO To Dr Monster Abortion Dr Movie 20170125
Greg interviews Bert Krantz of The Alamo Ministry about the Right to Life, the persecution of the ministry and the petition to free imprisoned Pastor Tony Alamo. Greg also discussed Roe v Wade, Trump’s Pro Life stance and the grizzly case of Kermit Barron Gosnell, an American former abortion- provider, who was convicted of murdering three infants who were born alive during attempted abortion procedures. Gosnell owned and operated the Women’s Medical Society clinic in Philadelphia. Gosnell was also convicted of 21 felony counts of illegal late-term abortion.
GREG.WED 1-25-17
Vatican Money Laundering Still Goes On 20170124
Greg interviews international attorney Jon Levy about Vatican involvement in genocide, money laundering and much more. Don’t miss this show also for a look at who Trump will appoint as Ambassador to the Vatican.
GREG.TUE 1-24-17
Vatican Involved in WWII Genocide 20170123
Greg discusses how Vatican is protected against crimes against humanity by US government. He also looks the petition to free Cristian Pastor Tony Alamo as well as talking about the Trump Effect Worldwide.
GREG.MON 1-23-17
Truth Hidden By Jesuits 20170120
Greg interviews Bert Krantz of the Alamo ministry highlighting 50 years of Christian Persecution of the Ministry.
Location of Vatican-NaziDeath Camps in PolandHave Hidden Meaning
Len Horowitz, a dark doctor in disguise, remains a Vatican Shill
The Founding Fathers and Lorenzo Ricci 7-29-14
Leo Zagami talks about Pope Francis, The Turkey Coup, Pope Benedict XVI, Current Events 8-1-16
Leo Zagami talks about the Earthquake in Italy and Current Events at the Vatican and the USA 8-31-16
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You've already won
Announcements: Women's Support
Chizuk: Go For the Gold!
Announcements: SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY RABBI DONIEL KATZ
Daily Dose of Dov: You've Already Won
Miriam is celebrating 10 years of being of service for Guard Your Eyes and as a token of appreciation to the community of S-Anon and SA, she would like to give back by interviewing ladies who can not afford her full price fee and let them get her service of support and recovery by paying a minimal fee of $40 instead of $125. For 3 ladies only.
To see if you are eligible to get this gift you may call directly to Miriam 214-446-1828 or email and she will get back with you.
Go For the Gold!
Part 1/2
Baal Shem Tov (the original below) advises us about a change of paradigm when we are triggered by an object of our lust. Contemplate about the source of this person's beauty: Isn't it G-d Himself? And if so, why settle for a mere part (chelek), why lust after an external beauty or pleasure, when I can choose to lust after the Source of All pleasures?
When we lust, we are really looking for "connection" with something beautiful. But we will never find it in flesh and blood, it's like a mirage in the desert that the thirsty person is sure that it's water, but when he gets closer and tries to take it, there's nothing but hot-air there.
The beauty and connection we seek are really the vibes of our souls, yearning for connection with the source of all beauty. Yes, this isn't always an easy frame of mind to maintain, it takes EMUNAH. But the more we work towards this Emunah, the more success we'll have in staying away from looking at things we shouldn't and lusting after them.
As I was contemplating this idea, Hashem showed me this Mishna:
SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY RABBI DONIEL KATZ
A VERY RARE AND SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY A WORLD RENOWNED GUEST SPEAKER
RABBI DONIEL KATZ
“Serenity - We have a Prayer for it…
How do we get it and how do we keep it?"
on this Wednesday January 17 at NOON (EST) GYE
Conference Call with Duvid Chaim.
Call (641) 715-3836 Access code 637207#
For both Men and Women
Why is Serenity so elusive??
I may find Serenity and enjoy it for a short time, but why won’t it stay with me?”
“WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN SERENITY AND SOBRIETY??"
MEET RAV DONIEL KATZ
Rabbi, Visionary, Master Educator, Fellow Seeker
For more than a decade, Rav Doniel’s open and compassionate teachings have been a catalyst for change in the lives of thousands of people worldwide. Born and raised in Australia, Rav Doniel abandoned his award-winning film and theatre career in his mid-twenties after a year of intensive spiritual awakening.
Rav Doniel has lectured extensively around the world for the last 10 years, during which time he was also a faculty member at Neve Yerushalayim and Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem. In addition, he spoke at a 2015 symposium on science and the meditational tools of Abrahamic traditions at the Mind & Life Institute in Massachusetts; was invited by the Chief Rabbi of South Africa to speak at the Sinai Indaba conference in Johannesburg and Cape Town, during which over 5000 people attended his Elevation Project sessions; and presented at the 2016 Wisdom 2.0 conference in Tel Aviv.
The Elevation Project brings together Jews and seekers from all walks of life with a single goal: to explore the Torah’s definitive map of human psychology and consciousness on an experiential level. We’ve synthesized and systemized the most transformative teachings of Kabbalah, Chassidus, Mussar and Talmud into an easy-to-follow, step-by-step learning experience that combines to create a profound path of accelerated spiritual development.
YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS LIFE CHANGING MESSAGE
FROM A MAN WHO HAS GUIDED OTHERS TO REAL SERENITY
Please mark your calendars now - you won't want to miss this Event!
Daily Dose of Dov
To someone who wrote that he feels like he is in a slippery place:
By Dov
Ashrecha! You have an ongoing, open-ended license to 'fall'. That will not go away. Even cutting off body parts will not take it away, cuz there will always be a way...
So, ashrecha v'ashrecha that you are reaching out in time of pain or trouble... What else do you expect to really do after so much practice with hiding? You have 'won' already, in my opinion.
Anyone can wish he'd "finally quit and get better", but people make this giant leap from the "silently aching and wishing stage", to the "really wanting freedom" stage, and some even expect to just automatically find themselves at the "totally through-with-it and giving-the-stupid-lust-up already" stage. I think that's totally unrealistic, really.
It seems obvious to me that had I not gone to meetings and talked out the facts about myself and what I really want, they'd have remained bottled up in my head and never, ever had a chance to become real - i.e. to become attached to my behavior. Feelings are cheap. And while talk is cheap as well, there is something to 'hearing my own mouth describe me' that does something. It brings it a little step closer to the real reality: my actions. When I consistently see it in my actions, I will know that it is coming at least a little bit from my heart, my ikkar - not just from my brain. Having a pretty brain is nice, but anyone can be no'eh doreish, right? For addicts and the like, no'eh doreish was where it all stopped. Here on GYE, we can share the unattractive stuff about ourselves - the stuff about us that scares the h--- out ourselves. (And sharing it with real, live people helps us out even more! Machshova, then dibbur, then ma'aseh... As it says: "b'ficho - then bilvov'cha la'asoso".
So take it easy, trust Him to help you, and keep trucking (not 'fighting', trucking!)
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Part 1: Allison Mack Through the Looking Glass – Testimony About Her During Raniere Trial Gives Insight Into Her True Role in Sex Slaver Cult
Throughout the six weeks of the trial of Keith Alan Raniere – that led to his conviction by a jury in less than four hours – the name Allison Mack came up frequently. Hundreds of times in fact.
She was not on trial herself. Neither did she testify at the trial. And she did not attend any of the trial. She was at home in California under home confinement – as part of her bail conditions. She must also wear an ankle monitor.
Stealth photo by the Daily Mail of Allison Mack at her home [actually her parents’ home] in Los Alamitos, California.
She was arrested on April 20, 2018 and almost one year later, the lady pleaded guilty, prior to trial, with a plea deal that included two felonies – racketeering and racketeering conspiracy. The maximum prison sentence for each count is 20 years. There is no minimum. The judge can sentence her to – if he wanted to give her the maximum – 40 years.
He can also give her a sentence that includes no prison time if he wants to.
This is a case where the judge has almost total discretion. However, there are non-binding federal sentencing guidelines and, from what I understand, those sentencing guidelines suggest a sentence in the 3-5 year range for the former stooge of Keith Raniere, his first line DOS slave, an actress who had fame, money and success and threw it all away to be Raniere’s fool.
Unhappily for Mack, she does not appear to be a particularly pleasant person from the testimony at trial. At times she appears to be a victim, true – but she often appears to be an eager co-conspirator in the racketeering and perhaps even in the sex trafficking aspects of this criminal enterprise called Nxivm.
She was fortunate indeed to have made a plea deal that allowed her to avoid sex trafficking charges, which would have come with a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison.
Since her sentencing is likely to be scheduled soon – most likely she will be sentenced before the end of the year – it might be a good idea for readers to become acquainted with some of the things said about her at trial.
The judge – Nicholas G. Garaufis – heard it all – and he is the one who is going to sentence her.
How much impact the testimony from others about Allison – who was not on trial – will have on the judge and his sentencing decision is anybody’s guess. I can imagine that technically it should not figure into his decision-making process at all because she pleaded guilty and whatever was said about her – negatively – was not something she had the opportunity to rebut or to have her attorneys cross-examine the witnesses making those statements.
Still, Judge Garaufis heard a lot and it might impact, on some level, his opinion of her and hence factor into – however subtly – what sort of sentence he metes out to her.
The trial of Keith Alan Raniere began on May 7, 2019. It began with opening statements by the prosecution and the defense.
The second day saw the first witness on the stand, a woman named Sylvie.
First Mention of Allison Mack
At the trial, the first time we heard about Allison Mack was from Sylvie, a DOS slave – and an employee and friend of Clare Bronfman. Sylvie’s master was Monica Duran. But Sylvie also came into contact with Allison and her slaves.
Monica Duran, an assistant to Clare Bronfman. She became a first line DOS slave and Sylvie became her slave. Both Sylvie and Monica worked for Clare – which suggests that Clare Bronfman may have been more involved in DOS than she let on.
Pam Cafritz had died in November 2016. And Sylvie was assigned to help with the memorial service that Keith and Clare had planned.
The late Pam Cafritz. She purportedly died of renal cancer. But new evidence I am currently reviewing suggests she may have been murdered by Keith Raniere. A weepy Raniere nevertheless staged a memorial service for her several months after she died.
The trial date is May 8.
Sylvie is on the witness stand. She is being examined by the government, by Assistant US Attorney Moira Penza. It is the second day of the trial and Sylvie is the first witness called by the government.
Penza: As part of her [Cafritz’s] memorial service, were there any tasks that came up related to DOS?
Sylvie: Yeah, … I was being paid by Clare Bronfman to help the memorial… I was doing logistical stuff for her because they were arranging a big memorial event…. as part of that there was all these things that they [Keith and Clare] wanted transcribed …. I got the task from Clare because it was Clare who was paying me but it was a lot of work… I would have never got it done in the deadline… [Clare] told me there was some people that I could ask for help….
Q And who did she tell you you could ask for help?
A …. they were girls that were all staying with Allison Mack… Nicole and Jaye …helped, I think India helped and Michele [Hatchette] as well. They were all working on it for me because it had to be done in a really tight time frame, it was like 48 hours or something and there was hours of transcription to get done.
Q Do you know whether they actually did that transcription?
A Yeah, I got most, if not all of the work back…
Q And do you know whether they were paid for that work?
A I don’t believe they were, at least not that I was aware of.
Q And you were paid for work you did on the memorial?
A I was, yeah.
So the first mention of Allison Mack at the trial of Keith Alan Raniere – is that a number of girls are living with her. They did some free work of transcribing, among other things, Raniere’s precious words – for Pam Cafritz’s memorial.
The girls who lived with Allison [which we later learn were her slaves] helped Sylvie get this transcription done. It was Sylvie who assigned the work to them. The point of this – which becomes evident later in the trial – is that these DOS women – particularly Allison’s slaves – had to do – were forced in fact to do – free work for Raniere. This is part of the evidence against Raniere of forced labor conspiracy.
Mack evidently is at least tangentially involved since it was her slaves who had to do the free labor, slaves of hers that Allison had collected damning blackmail worthy “collateral’ on. [As we shall see, Nicole who was a slave under Allison would later testify about some of the free work she had to do for Allison, including working for free on Pam Cafritz’s memorial.]
Second Mention of Mack
Sylvie was a DOS member and Raniere had plans for her to be branded. Monica Duran was her slave master and she told Sylvie that someone would arrange for her branding. That turned out to be one Allison’s slaves, Michele Hatchette. It is interesting and further points to Allison’s more vigorous role in DOS that one of her slaves would be making the arrangements for the branding of Monica’s slave. It should also be pointed out here that the woman who was going to do the branding was Dr. Danielle Roberts – who was also a slave of Allison Mack.
Now it becomes more evident as the trial progresses that Allison may have been the most active and efficient of the DOS first line slaves.
Of all the first line slaves who worshiped their glorious and wondrous master [center], Allison Mack was a true first liner – she worked hard for the golden one.
Penza: At some point was your own branding ceremony or your own branding being planned?
Sylvie: Yeah, Monica Duran told me that I would be contacted by another slave that was not her slave that would be arranging my branding.
Q Okay. Who was that?
A I got contacted by Michele [Hatchette]. She set up a private – secret chat with me in Telegram and … tried to arrange the branding with me.
Q At that point, what was your understanding of Michelle’s role in DOS?
A I had a suspicion that she might be in DOS, I thought maybe she was a slave of Allison Mack just because I had seen her spend a lot of time around Allison and also she had been acting in ways that I thought was unusual but seemed similar to things I’d seen … or experienced myself… I had a suspicion that she was in DOS but … we weren’t allowed to talk about it so I didn’t know for sure…. I knew for sure [she was in DOS] …. because she contacted me.
Q Did you have any conversations with Allison Mack about Michele?
A At one point, Allison made a comment …. ‘if you ever have any problems with Michele, just tell me … because I [am] Michele’s coach… in ESP’ …. [I thought] ‘that’s weird’, it didn’t sound right to me, it didn’t feel right.
[As readers know, Sylvie was spared the branding because she read about it on the Frank Report and it caused her to run away from the ceremony. Court Testimony Reveals Frank Report Helped Save Sylvie From Being Branded.
The jury’s second introduction to Mack at trial is somewhat innocuous – that she seems to be Michele’s coach but it sounded weird to Sylvie, who suspected that Michele was in DOS and perhaps was Allison’s slave.
Third Mention of Mack
After the New York Times article came out about the DOS branding – Inside a Secretive Group Where Women Are Branded – an article that credited Frank Report with first breaking the branding story – Keith Raniere wound up leaving the Albany area – for good. He went to Mexico – although evidently, Sylvie did not know that. Allison also wound up in Mexico and was there when the distinguished one was arrested. [He was hiding in a closet, brave lad that he is].
A skinny Allison Mack is captured by Nicki Clyne’s phone camera looking on as the great one is arrested near Puerto Vallarta Mexico on March 26, 2018.
Sad sack Keith Alan Raniere fled to Mexico thinking he could avoid arrest in the USA. When Mexican federal police came to his villa, the brave one hid in the closet.
Penza: Do you know whether the defendant [Raniere] ended up staying in the Albany area?
Sylvie: No, I know at some point he left. I think it was towards the end of that year, maybe November, [2017] … I just knew that he had left the area.
Q Did you know where he went?
A No.
Q Did anyone else leave the area?
A People started spending a lot of time away. So the people I remember were Nicki Clyne and Allison Mack. Clare Bronfman was traveling a lot more. People just seemed to be away a lot and actually, Monica [Duran] left around that time too. She went back home to Mexico, to her family home.
Q At some point did DOS garner national media attention?
A Yes.
Q Do you remember approximately when that was?
A I’m not sure when the New York Times article originally came out [it came out October 17 2017]….
Q At that time, did the defendant release a statement about DOS?
A Yes. A statement went up on the website… and there was a community meeting too.
Q What do you remember about the statement?
A On the website, it said something –[Raniere] … stated that he had no association to the group [DOS] and I remember that I just thought that was cowardly, honestly, because it was a lie.
So, the third mention of Allison is, once again, rather innocuous. That she left Albany and, as we will see, fled to be with her imperial lord, the Vanguard. Indeed, as Frank Report readers know, the first line slaves were planning a group blow job – as part of a commitment ceremony on the august one – where no doubt they would compete to gobble up and slurp up his magical semen. it never came off because the kingly one was arrested.
This is all the testimony from Sylvie about Allison Mack.
Overall, it is not much.
In our next part of this series, we will hear the testimony of Mark Vicente. He has much more to say about Allison. And we get a clearer picture of the actress who became a cult member and a slave to Keith Alan Raniere.
Bangkok Compares Lauren Salzman and Kristin Keeffe
Bangkok: Lauren Salzman Deserves to Be Forgiven
Shivani: Is Kristin Keeffe Still Caught up in Keith Raniere’s ‘organized misdirection’?
Frank Report’s founder and lead writer Frank Parlato is one of the internet’s most acclaimed investigative journalists. His writing and investigations have helped expose major criminal organizations and scandals.
Frank’s work has been cited in major publications all over the world, including The New York Times, New York Post, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CNN, Rolling Stone, and more.
He is also the publisher and editor-in-chief of Artvoice, The Niagara Falls Reporter, Front Page and the South Buffalo News.
Leave a Reply to shadowstate195 Cancel reply
Subes says:
For such a prurient story, the details are actually quite boring.
Heidi Hutchinson says:
IDK what how often someone is mentioned at trial has to do with their guilt or innocence but since Allison (and Kristin Kruek, too, but Ally in particular) was put up to be the front woman and fall girl from the get-go — down to the false publicizing of the alleged “AM” standing for her initials in the brand — it’s not surprising she was popular and/or envied within the cult.
It’s also possible that defense questions we’re strategically asked to invoke her name and slant more guilt toward her to lessen that on other defendants.
I think Frank’s counting clicks on Allison’s name in FR headlines along with mentions of it at trial, frankly.
And I will forever be astonished that Lauren’s charges are equal to Allison’s, that President & owner Nancy Salzman’s are less than them both and CEO owner Clare Bronfman’s are negligible by comparison to an 18 year old black kid smoking a joint in Georgia.
Heidi,
I agree with your last paragraph wholeheartedly!
shadowstate195 says:
Allison Mack set herself up by acting like a gangster.
And when one acts like a gangster, one gets treated like a gangster.
Which gangster does she most act like? Bugsy Siegel? Carlo Gambino? You thinking Arnold Rothstein cause of your poor Black Sox? Or you going the female route with Griselda Blanco?
How about Deborah Jeane Palfrey who was convicted of racketeering.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Jeane_Palfrey
SalientTruth says:
see how they just want to make a joke of child sex traffickers?
no wonder there is no justice. probably child molesters themselves.
I thought it was a terrible mistake to allow Allison Mack to plea bargain out of sex trafficking charges in the EDNY.
Mack’s supporters are too stupid to understand the evils she perpetrated.
If the NDNY indicts Mack on either sex trafficking or child sex trafficking charges I hope they refrain from cutting any plea bargains.
I agree. Totally out of line for shadow to continually call Allison a gangster. What a joke. Would be like me calling you “fun”.
AnonyMaker says:
Heidi, I think that Mack was picked for her prominent if not pivotal role because she was suited to it for some reason, though her sort of celebrity was probably a factor as well. I don’t think the NXIVM leadership were thinking as far ahead as having people to take the fall if things collapsed, though; my observation about such groups is that they are based around maintaining a sort of irrational optimism – it’s one of the reasons that people involved often do work related to sales and promotions, where that can be a useful quality – and make no provisions for any reversal of fortune.
That does make Mack a sort of curious type of example that I think we want to understand better, though that doesn’t entirely justify the inordinate amount of attention that she gets. I do appreciate this series, though, because I hope it will help blunt the tiresome continual attempts of “Frenchy” to try to paint her as just a hapless victim no different than any of the other slaves.
Anonymaker: You are back at not using your brain…please turn it back on.
She was not pivotal at all unless you consider her being the “scapegoat” being a pivotal point of the case…Which could be in a way…Once he had someone to blame, he could commit the crimes he wanted.
You try to give a role to Allison that never existed…you accused her many time but without the slightest proof (and always while asking proof of the contrary…while it’s not the way things work, you accuse, you gotta prove)
It’s not disputable that she was the scapegoat…
“because I hope it will help blunt the tiresome continual attempts of “Frenchy” to try to paint her as just a hapless victim no different than any of the other slaves.”
Because i stick to the Truth ,it’s NEVER GONNA HAPPEN…Or atleast as long as the liars around here (you included) stop making their own stories about who she is and her false role in the cult…
She is a victim and it’s UNDISPUTABLE !
Only the idiots Believe she is the mastermind behind the crimes…
Funny things is how those same idiots (and i regret saying that you were not Always stupid because you are definately one of them) say that she was dumb but she is the mastermind…
All this while the court case say the opposite.
Mack was a victim and then became a perp. Simple as that. The “court case” wasn’t against Mack, we don’t know more than skimming the top of what she did.
By your reasoning, Adolf Hitler was a victim.
Adolf Hitler’s father and mother were also uncle and niece.
They only married with a Papal dispensation.
Children born of incestuous unions suffer more from medical problems.
On top of that Hitler’s father, Alois Hitler, was a violent man who often beat the family dog in front of the child, Adolf Hitler.
Everyone is a victim.
And no one is responsible for his or her behavior.
I understand that English is not your first language – so you might want to be careful about making accusations of misunderstanding.
I did not say that Mack was the “mastermind,” just that she had a pivotal role. It looks like I’m going to have start keeping a list of all the things that set her actions and level of involvement apart from others.
Here’s just some of what we know so far about her unusual role in DOS. Mack:
* kept the DropBox used for collateral for all the slaves in all the pods
* was tasked by Raniere with coordinating the designing of the branding ceremony
* calculatedly went around to her neighbors telling them not to mind screams coming from “yoga”
* had slaves branded at her home, including those from others’ pods
* had some of her slaves staying with her
* was indicted along with 4 other key players, by a grand jury that reviewed extensive evidence and took testimony from many more witnesses than we heard at trial
She clearly was in a role above all the slaves and even other pod leaders; and unlike others from Kristin Keeffe to Dani, she didn’t object to, resist or escape from the situation. We still don’t have good enough information to properly assess to what extent she was a victim or a perpetrator, but we do know that she was involved in perpetrating actual harm against her fellow human beings, as well as real crimes, and never tried to step away from such misdeeds.
As was established at Nuremberg, the “I vas chust followink orders” isn’t a valid defense. The Patty Hearst trial also set a precedent that even “Stockholm Syndrome” doesn’t absolve people of responsibility for crimes committed.
You have consistently either misunderstood or misrepresented facts, in ways that downplay her involvement, such as having claimed quite recently that her having roommates meant that Mack couldn’t have held brandings at her home – though among other things, there is sworn testimony from Lauren Salzman that slaves from her pod were taken to Mack’s for branding.
Seriously, HH. That Ms. Nancy Prefect comes out of this as “hapless” is astounding. By their nature, EMs were intrusive, and call me a skeptic, and Nan, the Queen of EM, knew much, much more than the trial indicated. Like, yeah! There was a reason to protect the owner of all secrets. Right? Like there are still so many relationships and obvious ins and outs here that are being brushed under the carpet. It bugs me.
I’d say this bs, “Clare was in charge of Nan”, for one, was a joke. All she was is $.
Eh, I am still waiting for an article about Nancy.
Shivani33 says:
Judge Garaufis will have more of the opportunity to evaluate Allson Mack’s current state of mind than bystanders have, due to the info in pre-sentencing reports, etc. He would have a fuller impression of her recent behavior and of her mental and emotional condition than most onlookers would have. Certainly his view would be less subjective and more based upon an assessment of real information.
Allison made a guilty plea with the explanation that she had been “wrong” to trust Raniere and his “methodologies.” Hopefully Judge Garaufis has a sense now of how sincere or insincere that expressed remorsefulness of Mack’s was and has been, ever since she copped that plea.
That sincerity, or lack thereof, could be a very strong consideration, so far as sentencing goes, for each Nxivm defendant. What is the evidence gleaned from their actions and behavior since the guilty pleas were entered, amongst the women who were co-defendants? Who remains a cultic risk to re-offend? Who, if any, has separated from the sado-masochistic conditioning and the criminal enterprises, which were disguised as being authentic self-help guidance?
It is ironic that Raniere is chipping away at whatever his sentence turns out to be, but the women who surrendered with guilty pleas don’t get time lopped off for vegetating outside of jail, festooned with rigorously rechargeable ankle monitors. The Catholic church cancelled limbo as a spiritual dimension of indefinite “suspension,” but staying home awaiting a criminal sentence of indefinite length, to be doled out at an indefinite time, is kind of limbo-like. However, living in partially suspended animation beats the hell out of what is happening to innocent people right now in the Bahamas. Just looking at that ongoing sorrow puts many things into a different perspective.
Everytime I sip water, I keep praying that someone else who needs liquid more than I right now receives every drop.
Suuure…well actually, if you weren’t trying so much to prove that she was more implicate, you would have seen that it was WAY LESS often than many more interesting names…
Like Lauren , for example…
Allison was also brushed by the firsts witness as a victim, so her name was cited to explain the situation.
The only moment she was criminally implicate is during the testimony of Nicole (and it was mostly about the collection of collaterals) and when she was insulted by Jayes.
In between, she was cited in the “messages” but nothing special came out.
Except that Allison was not close enough to the inner circle to know what was the purpose of what Raniere did…
In camilla’s text, it was stated and they pointed that Allison believed it was to heal them…She wasn’t in a position to make any decision, this isn’t disputable.
All the assignments she gave have been given by other members of DOS under RANIERE’s direction.
That is because you are biased…you took her as a target since the beginning…the reality is SANE people see that she was in the same position as all the other while FULLY COLLATERALIZED.
The victim themselves seem to accept to do whatever Raniere is saying…They even thank him for his abuse!
This is EXACTLY WHAT ALLISON WAS DOING.
“perhaps even in the sex trafficking aspects” is stupid, you are trying to indirectly defame her (while using perhaps…) but the fact is THIS CASE WAS DROPPED FOR HER!
So how about you stop with this BS, if it was dropped, it’s because it’s not demonstrate a bit.
Allison received the same orders as all the others and if Allison was linked (just by the action she did which do not fit the accusation), everybody else would be…including some of the “victims
True but also , he isn’t biased…he will stick with what is a fact, not opinions.
Also, you forget that while she will not have the trial , she has the right to present her story and they will verify it.
It’s not disputable that Allison was a good person before she was forced into all this…and she committed minor crimes compared to what you tried to put on her back.
She collected the collateral, that’s all that was demonstrate in court.
Sylvie’s testimony:
What was said about the memorial is the same things said during Nicole’s testimony…what is the point? Nobody said that what Nicole said was not the truth? those who dispute the forced labor point that it was a simple service and Allison was also giving an hand to Nicole and considered she should not pay…
The forced labor is a BS argument and it’s debunked in court (for Allison)…She asked for a service while she helped Nicole…
If you believe it’s forced labor: 1 you are stupid, 2 you must not help your friend often…
No it doesn’t…Many other people were cited WAY more than Allison…What was evident is that Raniere demanded to Allison to do WAY MORE then the other DOS masters…
Obviously (and confirmed by Lauren) so that Allison would be his scapegoat.
Plus the material proof show that Allison was, once again, just following orders…SHE WAS COLLATERALIZED! hardly doing it from her own will.
What an idiot, you read what you want…she didn’t leave Albany to go far…She had an appartment in NY and she even took pictures of it several time after november…She was during holiday with her parents in LA but then she was back in NY…
The fact is Allison was always travelling a lot (way before DOS happened) and she was barely travelling toward the end…
There is also a serious witness (and pics to prove it) that Allison was in Mexico for a COUPLE OF DAYS only as she was seen with her mother in LA a few days before the arrest and was with a friend the day before…
The friend even called her after the arrest to verify if she was fine and Allison replied “I’m fine, i’m at home”.
SHE DIDN’T FLEE, you idiot.
So you are back at you old lie mixed with a bit of truth…Some people never change…
Again with the lies.
Allison Mack collected blackmail material.
Allison Mack collected pictures and videos of naked women to use against them and coerce them into engaging in sex against their will.
That is the essence of both blackmail and sex trafficking.
Those are not minor crimes.
“I was just following orders” did not work well for the Nazis in the Nuremberg Trials and it will not work well for Allison PIMP Mack.
And what was the nature of Allison Pimp Mack’s (collateral) Blackmail material.
Bogus stories that Mack made up from thin air about a relative sexually molesting her nephews.
What kind of woman makes up bogus stories about her nephews being molested?
A depraved, demented woman.
And while we’re at it let’s talk about the allegation that Allison Mack was a victim.
In the Chicago Mob many people are both victims and perpetrators.
Anthony Tony Spilotro was murdered in 1986 and his body buried in an Indiana corn field.
So Anthony Spilotro was a victim. Right?
Tony Spilotro was a vicious sadistic brutal cold blooded murderer.
“Suspect in gangland slayings
By the time of his death in 1986, the FBI suspected Spilotro was responsible for at least 22 murders.
According to former Willow Springs, Illinois, police chief Michael Corbitt, statements by Outfit Capo Sal Bastone implicated Spilotro in the murder of former Chicago Outfit boss Sam Giancana.[14] The FBI believes Spilotro was also involved in the torture murder of loan shark enforcer William “Action” Jackson,”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Spilotro
The FBI deals all of the time with people who are both victims and criminals.
And do you know what the rank and file FBI agent thinks of bums like Allison Pimp Mack?
The rank and file FBI agent regards Allison Pimp Mack as a pervert, moron and scumbag.
The sex trafficking wasn’t dropped, it’s called horse trading. Guarantee a conviction on some counts while not prosecuting others. That’s why it’s called a plea deal.
Frankly, if I was a member of an organization and was asked to help out with a memorial for someone who died, I would consider it a privilege and an honor to be a part of it and wouldn’t expect to be paid. This is the least of the forced labor issues.
And that is the problem of the forced labor…actually, it’s the only case pointed, the only time they say “it’s forced labor”…
It’s obvious that the forced labor charge are absurd…
They clearly were debunked in court …
I repeat it a lot but many forgot it:
Nicole pointed this “forced labor” and how she felt she should be paid…Agnifilo asked her if she felt like she should pay Allison for the several services Allison provided her and she said ‘no, she was my mentor…’
That is enough for anyone to be like “ok so no forced labor here…”
And that is most of the “forced labor” case!
There were plenty other examples of forced labor on this website.
…Where? And if true, was it related to Allison?
During the trial (the most important place to talk about those examples), none were given…
The forced labor is inexistent (at least for Allison, it is)
Now if you consider the poor rating in payroll, that is not forced labor anymore.
The reality is there is no forced labor.
Asking for a service to someone you know (because friend would be a big word in this case), it’s not forced labor.
If for you it is, I pity your friendless life.
Mack wasn’t on trial, so little would have been said about her. The forced labor came as a result of the blackmail, which meant anything Mack asked her slaves (her term) to do was done under the cloud of blackmail. There are plenty of examples of this throughout the Frank Report. I suggest you find them, or perhaps Mr. Shadow can list them for you.
Herman Cardon says:
Despicable, sick people! Some rich spend their lives fucking each other, oblivious to life around them.
Off Topic Jeffrey Epstein & Bill Gates & MIT:
Why would Bill Gates with a net worth of 103 billion dollars waste time socializing with the scandalous Jeffrey Epstein(net worth 500Mill) ?
I find it puzzling…..
What is the missing piece to the puzzle?
Article link with added info below
https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-connections-jeffrey-epstein-mit-donations-ronan-farrow-2019-9
Clare Bronfman & Mack’s sentencing should be interesting…..
Will Claren Bronfman get the rich girl slap on the wrist treatment?
The soliciting of a comparatively small donation doesn’t necessarily mean “socializing” involved – and Gates indeed, and plausibly, denies any social relationship with Epstein. Epstein did apparently get a meeting with Gates to pitch some philanthropy, but had to work his connections with people who might actually have rubbed elbows with Gates:
Jeffrey Epstein directed allies to aggressively lobby for a meeting with Microsoft’s Bill Gates – he eventually got one
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/09/jeffrey-epstein-got-bill-gates-meeting-after-aggressive-lobbying-campaign.html
For Gates $2 million is literally like $2 to the average person* – the sort of money you’d give to a bum to get them to stop bothering you. It does seem to illustrate how Epstein worked, however, worming his way into the sort of circles where that kind of money is the type of small change that people wouldn’t bother to chase after if the wind caught it – pick up some of it yourself, and before long you’ve got real money by most people’s standards, if not Gates’.
* The average American’s net worth is just under $100K, so that’s actually the proportional representation
I’m not sure if I responded to another place where you mentioned Gates’ donation, or a if a reply went missing, so here goes again:
Gates and Epstein did not socialize; Epstein apparently had to work all his connections including people who maybe did actually know Gates, in order to get a meeting to pitch a donation to the MIT lab, which sounds like the sort of philanthropy Gates would be amenable to anyway. I knew people who worked for Gates and that was how he ran Microsoft; people submitted written proposals that were vetted, and the proponents of the best of them would get a meeting for a final pitch directly to Bill himself. And $2 million for Gates is literally like $2 for the average person ($100B net worth compared to the average of $100K), the kind of money you stick in a donation jar just to be nice.
And that seemed to have been part of Epstein’s strategy in general, worm his way into the circles of the ultra-wealthy for whom amounts like that are just change lost between the cushions, and grab enough of it to amount to real money by normal measures.
While true point for Bronfman, why bring Allison in it?
She is completely broke…She will likely lose the little that she still had for the restitution…
And if it’s for her career, what was the last project she worked on (no, Don’t peek, try to remember from your memory)…
She had no career for quite some times…her only success was Smallville and it was almost 10 years ago.
Now she could get a lenient sentence….because it’s what she deserves.
Cloud Empire says:
“Insight Into Her True Role in Sex Slaver Cult”
What a joke, you’ve done your damnedest to make a CHILD sex slaver look like a innocent victim for over a year.
Youre a real pos Frank.
fck off you child sex slaver apologist.
Looks like TWO flew over the Cuckcoo’s nest. LOL
She’s not a “lady” and youre not a journalist.
Allison the Victim, The True Story Unfolds…
No just the same shame diverting sexist bigoted tripe youve been publishing from day one.
Where do you get the impression that Frank thinks Mack is a “lady?”
Actaeon says:
I’m thinking that Judge Garaufis is going to be hard on Mack when it comes to sentencing. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s sentenced to a decade in prison. Garaufis seemed to have an emotional reaction to the tales of DOS abuse of women and it was pretty clear at trial that Mack was central to the operation of that organization. She was Raniere’s direct agent in it, its prime facilitator. Mack suckered women into DOS, deceived them as to its nature and purpose, collected collateral from them in quite harsh manner. She was an enthusiastic agent in building and running DOS. And DOS was branding women on their lower abdomens. That audio segment played in court of Mack and Raniere planning of the branding ceremony made a big impression in the courtroom. Not least on the judge. I think that damned her.
She was no mere cog in the machine. She was an enthusiastic leader. I think Judge Garaufis fancies himself a bit of a white knight, he showed himself protective of women he thinks are being abused. He had zero tolerance for defense counsel badgering a female witness. I can only imagine his temperament toward Mack who willfully had women tortured with hot steel. In the most professional, rational, and steadfast way, he’s going to crucify Allison Mack.
After hearing the sworn testimony of her misdeeds, and the physical evidence such as that audio recording, and reading her half-sincere allocution, I think she deserves a long prison sentence.
yeah… there is ZERO historical precedence of females getting anything than half the charges they deserve and little to ZERO time.
your wish for justice is simply that. It’s not whats going to happen.
The most relevant precedent is probably actually the Manson girls, who were effectively sentenced to life without parole – they have been continually denied paroled, even when men who committed similar crimes were release after a decade or two, including one of the male Manson followers (“Clem” Grogan) involved in a later murder. It doesn’t always work that women get lighter sentences, even if it’s common.
Faulty generalization is one of the characteristics of culty thinking.
We don’t know what the judge is thinking or what information he is receiving. Keep guessing though.
Actaeon:
If Judge Garaufis takes my letter to heart, he’ll throw the book at Allison, Lauren and Nancy.
I’ll publish the letter after the sentencing.
Shadow, If the judge read your letter, he’ll send the book at you…or a team to get you to your rightfull place…a mental institute.
I can’t wait to read shadow’s letter. I’m sure it’s garden-fresh, unembellished, and riveting material. Or not…
“I can’t wait to read shadow’s letter. I’m sure it’s garden-fresh, unembellished, and riveting material.”
It’s based on a story from the Frank Report.
Nutjob,
1. You should know that SalientTruth is not
Shadowstate1958. 😉
2. It’s an accepted valid academic journalistic practice for Shadowstate1958 to site his own research and paraphrasing himself as journalistic fact…..
……In the third and second person thus proving his own logical moral position and moral equivalency of the hierarchical order of life. 😉
What an idiot you are Actaeon…first off, he doesn’t have the reputation of being harsh.
Second, contrary to you, he isn’t blindfolded by stupidity…he will consider the facts.
Third, PROSECUTION PROPOSED 3 to 5 …PROSECUTION ALWAYS GO HARDER THAN THE JUDGE.idiot
mexican lady says:
Why did they want Pam dead? I think she died of not getting treatment?
she looks so creepy in her latest photos 🙁
Raniere wanted her money. She was dying of cancer in the photo.
Re Evidence against Raniere:
If Raniere had not kept “Collateral”, blackmail material and had not taken the photos of Cami, he may not have ended up in prison for life.
The branding ceremony would have been an example of free will if the collateral had not been taken prior to the ceremony.
Raniere was his own Achilles heel.
Allison Mack should be a case study in brainwashing. This woman had money and a life many struggling actresses dream of only to flush it down the toilet for a conman old enough to be her father with no recognizable real talent at all.
She wasn’t brainwashed because there is no such thing as brainwashing, it’s fictional. Mack got involved because she’s a gullible fool, and she would appear to have a rather vicious side to her personality that she gave full rein to once she was comfortably installed in this nasty cult. She was a willing henchman in the organization, an eager minion of the man she loved– Keith Raniere. Call it loyalty, perhaps, I’ll grant she was loyal to her once upon a time lover. Loyal to him even after he dumped her for a series of younger babes with better bodies. Her loyalty was akin to that of any mafioso, it’s an old story, as old as the hills.
Yes there is. It’s definitely not the “turn a person into a zombie or robot to do my bidding” kind of thing, but it certainly acts at the subconscious level via triggering and other mechanisms to place a person into a more suggestive state of acceptance that makes the person easier to convince to do so. Otherwise, tools like hypnosis and cognitive behavior therapy would not work at all. That’s why legitimate practitioners of these methods are well regulated by the law.
Anonymous: you lose your time, if you spend time to read Actaeon, you’ll see that kind of personnality he/she has…
When he is not trying to twist the fact, he ignores the reality…
Brainwashing does not exist.
And US courts do not accept brainwashing as a defense.
Brainwashing is not a “Get Out of Jail Free” card for Allison Mack.
There’s No Such Thing as “Brainwashing”
By Rebecca Moore
Nearly 40 years ago, my two sisters, Carolyn Layton and Annie Moore, were among those who planned the mass deaths in Jonestown on Nov. 18, 1978.
Part of a movement called Peoples Temple, which was led by a charismatic pastor named Jim Jones, they had moved with 1,000 other Americans to the South American nation of Guyana in order to create a communal utopia. Under pressure from concerned relatives and the media, however, they implemented a plan of group murder and suicide. Jonestown is remembered in the phrase “drinking the Kool-Aid,” because more than 900 people died after drinking poison-laced punch. My two sisters and nephew were among those who died.
In the wake of this tragedy, you might think that I would be amenable to the idea that they had been brainwashed. It would absolve their heinous actions and offer an easy explanation for their behavior.
Many argue that people join “cults” – or “new religious movements,” the term scholars prefer – because they’ve been brainwashed. The thinking goes that they’ve undergone some sort of programming that allows others to manipulate them against their will.
How else to explain why people become immersed in fringe groups that seem so alien to their previous, more socially acceptable lives? How else to account for the fact that – in some cases – they’ll even commit crimes?
But like the word “cult,” the term brainwashing seems to only be applied to groups we disapprove of. We don’t say that soldiers are brainwashed to kill other people; that’s basic training. We don’t say that fraternity members are brainwashed to haze their members; that’s peer pressure.
As a scholar of religious studies, I’m disheartened by how casually the word “brainwashing” gets thrown around, whether it’s used to describe a politician’s supporters, or individuals who are devoutly religious.
I reject the idea of brainwashing for three reasons: It is pseudoscientific, ignores research-based explanations for human behavior and dehumanizes people by denying their free will.
https://www.realclearscience.com/articles/2018/07/19/theres_no_such_thing_as_brainwashing.html
Getting slow boiled into believing the increasingly manipulative lies is a much better description of what happens to people involved in cults and MLM scams.
You just had to.
I just had to WHAT?
You are mischaracterizing “brainwashing doesn’t exist”…i am paraphrasing..
in terms the the brainwash-EE, brainwashing does exists in the DSM-5, it is a mental disorder. only small amount of people exposed to the manipulation, actually fall for it.
In terms of the brainwash-ER…it is true, it does not exist, they have no magic brainwashing abilities. Just the ability to be charismatic and manipulative. Brainwashing it’s not a special ability, it’s manicured over time.
The most influence comes from the people/friends around them suggesting someone get involved in the manipulation is key.
https://news.psu.edu/story/141191/2009/11/03/research/probing-question-does-brainwashing-exist
A reasonable and plausible contribution by KC.
very true, and much more educational than shadow
beware the sex trafficker apologists, who believe in the immutable innocence of the female sex.
you are a sick person kc
your apologetic to human slavers is disgusting. you are simply a sexist.
What are you talking about? Be specific.
HEY LOOK. MORE DIS-GUST-ING SEXIST COMMENTARY.
I BET YOU RAPE CHILDREN. AND YOU HOPE YOU CAN ALWAYS SAY YOU ARE VICTIM OF SOMETHING.
Pyriel says:
Here’s a question that’s been bothering me. Was Pam Cafritz part ostrich?
Who fainted more convincingly – Clare or this dog?
https://mol.im/a/7440547
It was an opportunity missed, they should have defanged Bronfman while she was passed out.
It’s either that or a giraffe. More study is needed, look closely for feathers or mottled skin.
Ms. Mack, the self-proclaimed “bad ass warrior bitch” did not go to trial because she chickened out.
She knew what evidence the Feds had against her and chose to cut a plea deal rather than face the music.
Had Raniere’s operation not been shut down the sadistic Allison Mack would still be recruiting new sex slaves, supervising brandings and collecting blackmail information from the slaves.
“Unhappily for Mack, she does not appear particularly pleasant from the testimony at trial ”
Let’s be blunt.
Allison Mack is a cruel, brutal, sadistic person who enjoyed demeaning other people.
Allison Mack is a narcissist who puts her own self first and has little empathy for others.
Allison Mack’s “girl next door” persona is a sham.
And Allison Mack directed her “slaves” not to talk about her because Allison wanted to keep her innate cruelty under wraps.
Last October “Slave” Jane stated that Allison did not want the women slaves under her talking about her.
Allison was very specific about that rule.
“A skinny Allison Mack is captured by Nicki Clyne’s phone camera looking on as the great one is arrested near Puerto Vallarta”
Wasn’t it convenient that Nicki Clyne happened to be on hand with a dazed and confused Allison Mack when Mack’s Vanguard was arrested?
And Nicki, being an experienced actress who knows about camera angles, made sure that Allison was clearly in the frame.
And Nicki provides some very helpful commentary being sure to name Lauren Salzman by name.
“Lauren is going to get the car.”
But while Nicki’s voice is in the video Nicki never appears in the frame and Nicki’s name is never mentioned.
Well done, Nicki!
Can you spell “Set Up”?
Do you suppose that Nicki is somewhat jealous that Allison horned in on her show and stole the Vanguard from her?
Naw. Nicki is not the jealous type!
Here is the latest picture of the Luciferian Allison Mack posted on her Tribute Page only six hours ago.
Do you suppose that she sharpens her teeth like a vampire?
charger426hemi1
❤❤❤ #allisonmack #chloesullivan #smallville #powergirl #inspiration #beautiful #gorgeous #amazingwoman #greatactress #blessed #caring #gentlesoul #unique #extraordinary #exceptional #angelic #heavensent #captivating #majestic #devine #freeallison #goddess #queen #phenomenalwoman #intelligent #compassionate #hero
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2JjlEzAgKh/
All of Them Witches says:
I think it is very creepy that you are monitoring Allison Mack’s Tribute Page
What is more disturbing and DISTURBING, about shadow is that no matter how much evidence or testimony, it is presented to prove that most of its arguments are wrong or not very objective when it comes to judging Allison, even so he goes on and on and on repeating them again and again, here we see a couple of examples.
1-Last October, “Slave” Jane declared that Allison did not want the slave women under her to talk about her.
– Ask, for shadow, who is supposed to be this slave Jane you mention, perhaps the same as Frank. I declare NOT to have been able to confirm his story and therefore did not follow that line of investigation, perhaps it is the same jane who said that allison had a tattoo and not a mark, history that Lauren’s testimony at the trial denied by making it clear that the 8 Frontline slaves were marked by a professional and that said brand were also filmed and said recording served as a guide for Daniel Roberts and the other slaves who helped in the ceremonies.
2-Let’s be frank.
Allison Mack is a cruel, brutal and sadistic person who enjoyed degrading other people.
Allison Mack is a narcissist who puts herself first and has little empathy for others.
-shadow if your best examples of allison’s cruelty, brutality and sadism are, do the same as the other slave teachers in the pyramid, then you leave no place to separate victims and victimizers, or perhaps you can say that Lauren, Nicki, Rosa Laura, Monica, Loretta, Daniella Padilla and Camila, were doing something very different, Lairen’s testimony made it clear that the orders came directly from Raenier, therefore I make it clear that if Raenier asked Lauren to do anything he has asked to do allison lauren would too.
-oh and you’re right allison is so narcissistic that she puts herself first.
-that must be why he gave his goods and money to KAR and lent money to brandon porter, other than that he trusted his slaves so much that he gave them the key to the Droopbox account.
It’s on the internet for anyone to access.
I think it’s creepy that some NXIVM troll collected about 150 photos of Ms. Mack to sell this sadistic gangster as some kind of hero.
YES! THANK YOU SS! ITS DIS-GUST-ING!
Those must be bell-bottoms. Otherwise, her cankles would be stretching the lower pant legs.
Moira Penza Did Great Job Prosecuting Raniere – and Deserves Her Big Payday
Robbie Chiappone Was Another Victim of Keith Raniere
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Front Nordic
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Type here & click enter
DR, (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) is the state-owned Danish media company which issues news, culture, entertainment and information via television, radio, internet and mobile platforms. DR is a Public Service media provider with broad coverage and audience connection.
As creative team leader Masoud directed the visual re-shaping of DR including its subbrands of DR1 and DR2 and their most important productions; TV Avisen and Deadline – the two leading national news programmes. The design work included both graphics and motion graphics for the areas connected with television work. The result was a series of stunning award winning designs that are still setting the standard for the world of television communication.
Masoud’s primary focus of the design work, was to maintain, invite and entertain the viewers in order for them to remain watching the channel in between the programs and at the same time send the desired brand signals.
DR1 represents the values of the majority of the Danish people and, in a design context, it should embrace and meet the audience at eye level, with care and respect. The graphics aired between the programs set a tone for the entire portfolio of the channel and invites its audience to participate.
The project also included a re-branding of DR2, the sister channel of DR1. DR2 is a “niche channel” that addresses itself to a more dedicated and critical audience.
Being the counterpart to the red/orange public and emotional DR1, DR2 wishes to appear as blue and analyzing, thus appealing to a more intellectual market. He used this fundamental conception when developing their visual expression.
Lousiana Museum of Modern Art
1997 — Front Nordic — 2019 Copyright ©
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Pitch Slam
Financing Fair
Chefs For Change Reception
Carlotta Mast
Carlotta Mast is senior vice president of content and insights for Informa’s Global Health & Nutrition Network, which includes the New Hope Network in Boulder, Colorado. The organization produces internationally renowned events such as the Natural Products Expos (West and East) and the Esca Bona thought leadership conference. She is also is playing a leading role in advancing regional markets for Good Food as board president for the Naturally Boulder collaboration, and sits on the boards of Naturally Bay Area, the Climate Collaborative and the Supplement Online Wellness Library (OWL). In 2013, Carlotta co-founded a paleo snack company called Wholly Bites, which was sold to 1908 Brands in 2016 and is now marketed under the Thrive Tribe brand.
By Pete Salerno|2018-04-26T00:00:00+00:00April 26th, 2018|0 Comments
FamilyFarmed | 225 W. Hubbard Street, Chicago, Illinois 60654 | 312-874-7360
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Goosed Letter
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Home Irish entertainment news Gaming NES Classic Ireland: Where to buy and how much it will cost...
Irish entertainment news
NES Classic Ireland: Where to buy and how much it will cost you
Let’s not beat around the bush. We all know Christmas is right around the corner. Nintendo has also positioned themselves nicely as the NES Classic is now available in Ireland.
What is the NES Classic?
Back in July, we brought you the news that Nintendo hoped to relaunch one of their best-loved consoles. Indeed, what is expected to be a hot property this Christmas, demand for the Nintendo Entertainment System is high.
The two spikes in Google searches are around the date it was announced and today – the day it became available.
How many controllers comes with the NES Classic?
You only get one controller in the NES Classic box, so if this is a Christmas present you should consider picking up a second. Another thing to watch out for is the power adaptor. You do get a cable in the box, but no wall adapter. It should also work with any standard mobile phone wall adapter.
Where can I buy the NES Classic?
Once you’re happy enough to give away your first born, you won’t struggle to get one. Those of you who remember trying to buy the Wii a few years back know what to expect. Here is a list of places you can hope to pick up the NES Classic:
Smyths – €64.99
With over twenty stores dotted around the country, Smyths are the best-known toy store. This means they are taking the launch of the Irish launch of the NES Classic very seriously. So seriously, in fact, they are doing a pre-order. Smyths are hedging their best, refusing to promise all pre-orders will be fulfilled in the first wave but also stating they expect all to be completed by December 9th. If it’s a Christmas present, Smyths seems like a reliable place to shop. Also worth noting that they offer free delivery on orders over €49.
Littlewoods Ireland – €54.99
Many may believe Littlewoods are only interested in frilly underwear and what not. They actually sell quite a selection of cool electronics now too. Littlewoods Ireland are even undercutting Smyths when it comes to the NES Classic, offering it for a whole €10 cheaper. You also get free four-day delivery and free returns.
Amazon.co.uk – €140.00+
Along with overpriced hen’s teeth, you’ll find some NES Classics on Amazon.co.uk. Unfortunately, these are being sold by third parties and cost a fortune. So unless you’re going full Arnie in the lead up to Christmas, steer clear.
Check back here if you can’t find any consoles in the lead up to Christmas as we’ll have more updates in our Retro Gaming section.
What did you think of that?
Christmas Gift Ideas for under €100
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The Goosed Podcast
The guys of Goosed know a bit about tech but they hate the jargon that comes with it. In "The Goosed Podcast", Jon, Dean and Martin sit down to discuss the tech you'll get. So get the latest tech news with a bit of craic along the way.Check out the latest podcast, subscribe or visit Goosed.ie for updates and more of that lovely techy stuff.
Keep Appy – The app helping people struggling with mental health
by Goosed.ie
With Dean away on his holidays, this week Jon has a very special guest for The Goosed Podcast! Aimee Louise Carton, the Founder and CEO of Irish Tech For Good Company Keep Appy joins us to discuss all things mental health, what they’ve done since we met them 2 years ago at Dublin Tech Summit and what it means for them to be an Irish Startup in the Tech For Good space.
We talk about everything from how picking up dog shit was an inspiration for their Keepies to their upcoming appearances at WebSummit and TechStars. So check it out because this app is something special.
Technology is awesome. We love it and because of that we've made it our goal to bring tech to the people of Ireland. Goosed covers the latest apps and gadgets that you can actually use. For good measure, we sprinkle some.ie entertainment banter on top too.
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Tag Archives: Forest Whitaker
Tonight I wept
There are places I remember all my life
Lennon and McCartney got that right.
But there are also people I remember. And moments.
Moments I will remember as long as memory lasts. Moments that not only fill my mind as memories. Moments that fill my soul and spirit as the sights, sounds, feelings wash over me as though the moment had never ended.
The births of my sons.
The death of my father.
The murders of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Bobby Kennedy.
The fall of the Berlin Wall.
The release of Nelson Mandela.
Tonight I wept as I relieved such a moment.
I finally watched Lee Daniels’ The Butler. I had not seen it in the theater, but I added it to my Netflix list and it arrived this week.
The film provides much to ponder. Alan Rickman as Ronald Reagan? Seriously?
The scene that touched me came near the end.
Cecil Gaines, played by Forest Whitaker, has retired from his position as a butler at the White House. He has reconciled with his son, Louis, played by David Oyelowo. His wife, Gloria, played by Oprah Winfrey, has died.
Cecil and Louis are in his house on November 4, 2008. The votes in the Presidential election are being counted. As the moment nears when the media will declare a winner, Cecil calls his son to come to the living room and watch. Louis arrives in time to see history happen.
As the newscaster in the film announces Barack Obama’s election as President of the United States of America, I found myself transported back to the night it happened. And I wept.
I wept in joy at Barack Obama’s victory. At progress made. At hopes realized. At the possibilities before us then and now.
I wept in sorrow at how much work remains to achieve racial justice. At the oppression, discrimination, and injustices my sisters and brothers endure.
I wept in frustration at shortcomings and failings of President Obama’s administration to meet the expectations of the moment. At potential unfulfilled.
But most of all, I wept remembering my friend Merdine T. Morris. Shortly after the media announced Barack Obama’s election, I called Merdine T. Together we laughed and cried and prayed.
The film scene transported me through space and time and as I heard again the joy and hope and pride and concern Merdine T. expressed that night.
Merdine T. recognized the historic significance of President Obama’s election. She also understood the arduous work that lay ahead for him and for our country as we continue to come to terms with the racism and other systems of oppression and discrimination dividing us. Merdine T. knew first-hand racism’s bitter sting and enduring power. She knew Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. personally as our mutual friend Carol reminded me. She knew hopes shattered and dreams, not only deferred, but devastated. She knew the tears that water and the blood that mark the road to justice.
But Merdine T. Morris never gave up. She held to faith. She held to hope. She held to love.
And so I wept tonight because Merdine T. and her husband Luke trusted me and were my friends, because Merdine T. and Luke welcomed me with grace, because Merdine T. and Luke accompany me in the Communion of Saints, because, to paraphrase Bruce Springsteen, writing about another unforgettable moment:
Her strength gives me strength
Her faith gives me faith
Her hope gives me hope
Her love gives me love
Tonight I wept in gratitude. And my tears were good.
Filed under Friends, Movie
Tagged as Berlin Wall, Bobby Kennedy, Bruce Springsteen, David Oyelowo, faith, Forest Whitaker, hope, John F. Kennedy, John Lennon, Lee Daniels' The Butler, love, Malcolm X, Memory, Merdine T. Morris, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, Paul McCartney, President Barack Obama, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., strength, tears
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CZ 557 American
A bolt-action built for rugged use
Written By Dave Workman
One look at the CZ-USA 557 American and American Synthetic bolt-action rifles is enough to convince anybody these modern sporters were obviously designed by people who know a few things about hunting and shooting.
From butt to muzzle, there are many features American hunters want, and none they don’t need.
Available in seven cartridges — 6.5×55, .270 Win., .30-06 Sprg., .243 Win., 6.5 Creedmoor, 7mm-08 and .308 Win. — CZ designed the 557 American with a 24″ cold-hammer forged smooth barrel to get even more velocity out of the chosen calibers. The barrel, incidentally, is lapped. The CZ 577 American action features integrated 19mm dovetails on the receiver for scope mounts. It has a fully adjustable trigger and two-position safety at the right rear just behind the bolt. Magazine capacity is five rounds, and it has a hinged floorplate.
The American wood stock is crafted from Turkish Walnut with a straight comb, grip and forearm checkering, rubber butt pad and an oil finish. There are QD sling swivel studs fore and aft, and a slight palm swell on the grip — which I happen to prefer on a big game hunting rifle. Length of pull is 13.75″ and overall length is 44″. With the wood stock, the rifle in 6.5×55 hits the scale at a comfortable 7.05 lbs.
The black synthetic stock model is just a bit different. No doubt a growing number of outdoorsmen and women prefer a synthetic stock because their hunting seasons unfold in unavoidably wet environments, whether we’re talking rain or snow. This is particularly true along the northern tier states and in Alaska. Synthetic stocks take the worry out of scratches, and the one fitted on the CZ 557 American is not only handsome, it’s functional.
The synthetic model is a bit lighter, too, weighing 6.83 lbs. in the 6.5×55 chambering. It has a straight comb, a more pronounced grip shape and thicker butt pad. Other features remain the same, including the two-position safety, dovetailed receiver, QD sling swivel studs and caliber selections. The American Synthetic model also has the same length-of-pull and overall length.
The CZ 577 American with Turkish walnut stock has an MSRP of $871, while the synthetic model carries an MSRP of $792.
For more info: www.cz-usa.com
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Ottawa-Locks-ONT-0224.jpg
Pleasure Boats in "Ottawa Locks" on Rideau Canal, Rideau Canal National Historic Site (UNESCO World Heritage Site and Canadian Heritage River), in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - Parliament Buildings on Parliament Hill beside Locks
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GoodsGoods
How to Make a Paracord Rock Sling
Slings are an ancient weapon. Often called shepherd’s slings or rock slings, these primitive devices may date back as far as 40,000 years, when bows, arrows, and spears were first making their debut. Perhaps most famously, it was a sling that allowed a pint-sized David to take out Goliath. But they weren’t just for taking out giants and other human enemies; they were also used for hunting small game.
The mechanics of a sling are relatively simple. At the center is a piece of woven cordage or fabric, like leather, that forms a pouch. Attached to each side of the pouch are two lines. One line ends in a loop that goes over your finger, the other line ends in a knot that you hold onto while swinging.
After loading the sling, you swing it to build up momentum. When you’re ready to fire, you release the line with the knot, which opens the sling and allows the projectile to release. With the right technique, a sling can send a projectile well over a thousand feet. That’s a huge improvement over your average arm toss.
Making your own sling is easy. While various materials can be used in its construction, you can create one in which both the lines and the pouch are made of something that has a bunch of other survival uses to boot: paracord. Below we’ll show you how.
15 feet of paracord
Scissors (for cutting paracord if you have more than 15 feet)
Lighter (for singeing the end after cutting)
Making a Paracord Rock Sling
Tie a simple overhand knot about 30 inches from one end of your paracord. This knot will serve as a marker for where your sling pouch begins.
From your knot, make a loop that’s about 5 inches long. The length of this loop determines the size of your pouch. You can make your pouch bigger or smaller, depending on the type of projectile you plan on using.
Make another loop of the same length, directly “below” the first one (that is, with the paracord that comes after the first loop). You should end up with an “M” shape, starting from your overhand knot and ending with the long side of your paracord.
While holding onto the base of your loops, take the long end of your paracord and bring it under the bottom loop, and over the top loop.
Now take the long end and pass it back through the loops, alternating your weave over and under each piece of paracord as you go. Once you’ve pulled the paracord through your first weave, start weaving back, following the over-under method.
If it feels like you’ve got a huge tangle of paracord in your hands and nothing is taking shape, don’t worry. Keep weaving, focusing on keeping your paracord untwisted and untangled. It also helps to pull your loops straight every once in a while to remember your over-under pattern.
After making a few passes, pull your weaves tight against your original overhand knot. This will keep your pouch weave tight, and make it easier to hold everything together.
The method I found most useful was to use one hand to pull on the loop ends and the other hand to pull the weave tight to one side. See the video for more detail.
Continue weaving until you can no longer pass your paracord through the loops.
With your pouch fully formed, end your weave by passing the paracord through the hole in the center of the pouch.
Take one end of the paracord and make a loop with a scaffold knot. The video above demonstrates how to tie it.
Take the other end of your paracord and make a simple figure-eight knot. The video above demonstrates how to tie it.
How to Use a Rock Sling
Now that you’ve got your ancient projectile hurler all set, it’s time to head outside, load up your pouch, and start slinging. Here are a few basic steps to get you started.
Load your pouch with a projectile. You may have to pinch the pouch shut for the first few uses until it begins to soften and break in.
Put your middle finger through the paracord loop and then hold the knotted end between your thumb and forefinger.
Begin swinging the sling in a circle next to your body, like a jump rope.
Release the knotted end as the sling swings out in front of you, pointing your finger in the direction you want the projectile to go. Pro tip: marshmallows are great ammo to get started with, and for kids. They still fly far and make it less likely that you’ll accidentally break a window.
The post How to Make a Paracord Rock Sling appeared first on The Art of Manliness.
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← THE STALKER By Henry Miles
JUST DESSERTS By John Lary →
There had been four letters over the past fortnight, and I was very frightened.
They were all the same – a typed address label on a plain envelope containing a short
typed message. “ You lied – Danny is Innocent” .
I had felt I had no option at the time, and my lie under oath put an innocent
man in prison for fifteen years. I have regretted it since, but what could I do about it
without being charged with perjury?
When we first married, Ed was the ideal husband, but he gradually changed.
He first hit me six months after our wedding. He was drunk, and he was so sorry the
next day, pleading for forgiveness and promising never to do it again. Some hopes. I
began lying about the bruises, saying I bumped into things, hoping people believed
me. When he began stopping me going out to meet my friends I lied about why I
couldn’t go. If he was invited it was a different matter, he was the life and soul of any
party, everyone liked him. Except me. When drunk he was an absolute beast, and I
was too scared of him to leave, besides which, I had nowhere to go. He controlled all
our money, I had to account for every penny I spent, and he constantly condemned me
for being wasteful. I didn’t think life could get any worse – until the accident, that is.
Danny, Ed’s business partner, said he had been with a married woman when someone
driving the firm’s transit had run down and killed three teenagers then fled, but the
woman didn’t come forward to support him, and he refused to name her. Under
threats that he would kill me if I refused, and promises of this being the watershed in
his life, aiter which he would be a changed man, I stood up in court and gave Ed a
false alibi. There were only two sets of fingerprints in the van, Danny‘s and Ed’s, so
as Ed was with me, and Danny had no concrete proof otherwise, the jury convicted
him.I was two months pregnant at the time of the accident, and Ed’s promises lasted three
Weeks before he came home drunk and beat me up so that I miscarried. Another lie,
telling the paramedics I had fallen downstairs to account for my bruises and a cracked
rib.
This all happened two years ago, and I’d been stricken with guilt ever since,
hating Ed for What he had made me do. He still hit me regularly, and I had spent many
sleepless nights trying to think of a way out of it for all of us. Now these letters had
started to arrive. Danny, Ed and I are the only people who know the truth, so who
could be sending them?
Afier yet another sleepless night, caused mainly by the pain in my leg
following another brutal kicking, I was limping so badly I rang in to work reporting
sick. Another lie. It Was Ed’s birthday, and as he left for Work, he said “I’ll have fillet
steak tonight.” – ‘I‘ not ‘we’.
I tore the envelope for his card, so I went into his office to see if I could fmd a
replacement. What a shock when I discovered a sheet of labels, quoting my name and
address ~ with four labels missing l It was him, Ed, the hateful, evil brute, who was
sending the letters, not satisfied with breaking my body and spirit, he was now
starting on my mind. Also in the drawer I found a letter from the Prudential regarding
a policy he had taken out on me three months ago for £50,000, including suicide
cover after two years. He was obviously planning to kill me and maybe make it look
like suicide so that he could claim the money. How low could he sink, What an
absolute mug I had been all these years, putting up with being his punchbag. As IWent back into the kitchen, I determined that he had hurt me for the last time. By
lunchtime I had fonnulated a plan which I was confident would work, and would get
Danny released. Of course I would be charged with perjury , but I would plead
mitigating circumstances.
When Ed came home he enjoyed his fillet steak dinner, and he was in a good
mood. He even thanked me for my cardl. He asked for a Bells whisky afterwards, but
I suggested as it was his birthday, he had the Wild Turkey bourbon instead which is
101% proof, against the 43% proof Bells, so would make him very drunk very
quickly. I pomed him a large measure, and topped it up four times, knowing that his
mood was becoming blacker the more he drank. I offered to go up and run his bath,
and as I passed his chair he lashed out and punched me hard in the ribs, winding me. I
sobbed as I went upstairs, but inside I knew the bruises would help me this time. I
tipped most of my expensive bath oil, which I knew he liked the smell of, into the
water and called him upstairs when the bath was ready. He staggered drunkenly up,
carrying the almost empty bottle and his glass. From our bedroom I heard him
blundering about, and the splashing as he got into the Water. I crept downstairs, took
my rubber gloves from the kitchen, then went to his office, Where I typed a quick
message on his computer, leaving it switched on. As I went back upstairs I heard the
sound of snoring coming from the bathroom and peeping round the door could see Ed
was asleep. The glass was in the water and the bottle on its side on the floor. He was
slumped down in the bath with his mouth open, the waterline just below his shoulders.
Standing at the end of the bath I took hold of his ankles and lifted his feet as high as I
could into the air. Due to the bath oil he slid down easily, but of course when his head
went under the water he woke up and started to struggle. He couldn’t get a gripthough, the bath was too slippery, and all my pent-up hatred gave me the strength I
needed to hold his feet up. He gradually stopped struggling and lay still. I counted to a
hundred before I let go, and I stood looking at him for another couple of minutes to
make sure there were no bubbles coming from his mouth, then I took off my wet
clothes, put on my dressing gown and went down to the kitchen, where I put the
rubber gloves back in the drawer and my clothes in the washing machine, then I
phoned for an ambulance, yelling hysterically that I had found my husband drowned
in the bath.
The paramedics and police spotted the message on the computer. It said “I
can’t live this lie any longer, Danny is innocent, I was driving the van. I forced
Angela with violence and threats to give me an alibi. Please be lenient with her.”
At the inquest, the conclusion was that Ed had drowned while under the
influence of drink, unable to save himself because of the slippery bath oil in the
water. It would have been accidental death if he hadn’t left the message but that
showed that he intended to do himself harm.
The message was also treated as proof that Danny was innocent, rather than
the police just taking my word for it, and I showed them my bruises, and told them
what my life was like. I was supported by hospital records and my workmates, who
had long ago worked out what was going on, but no one knew what to do about it.
The police even suggested he used my bath oil to spite me. When I was charged with
perjury, the judge took everything into account, and I received a suspended sentence,
as I had hoped I would.
When Danny was released from prison he was a changed man, naturally, and
although he understood my reasons, he wasn’t prepared to carry on our affair wherewe had left off, because I had betrayed him by swearing I was with Ed when in reality
I had been with him. He will never know about his child that I miscarried. I sold Ed’s
business and gave Danny half the proceeds, and yesterday he came to say goodbye as
he was leaving to settle in New Zealand. I wished him well and I truly meant it, there
would be no more lies, the chain was at last broken. After all, I have a wonderful new
life, it’s only right he should have one too, it’s just a pity they will be separate.
This entry was posted in Marion Twyman. Bookmark the permalink.
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High Fives & Stage Dives
Gig Reviews | Interviews | Music News
By: High Fives & Stage Dives May 27, 2019
Gig reviewsGig reviews, News
Dave Hause delivers the ultimate Friday night at Scala
Politically charged songs, dad vibes and all the rock’n’roll love in the world in one room as Dave Hause takes over London’s Scala with The Mermaid.
Just a month after the digital release of his brand new record KICK, philly rocker Dave Hause returned to the UK capital with a new found love for life and a much bigger love for talking about the things that sometimes make it hard.
Having just become a father to twins earlier this year, 2019 is already looking likely to be one of Dave’s best years yet. With KICK Hause released a very personal and deep-reaching record that talks about mental health, political and societal issues but also the ups and downs of relationships. One of those tracks is The Ditch which kicks off the night. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Hause said about the single: “If you can’t change the circumstances around you, sometimes the only thing left to do is to try to make a home out of the wreckage. If all you do is shake in fear and you can find someone else who is maybe willing to do that with you, there’s a beauty in that struggle.”
A similar theme continues as he charges into Weathervane later on by explaining “Tim wrote this song about the inside of my brain, and the inside of his brain.” KICK is the first record where the brothers openly talk about their struggles with mental health.
And it’s a family affair on this night in central London as Dave and Tim’s dad join the duo on stage for a handful of songs including Divine Lorraine and Warpaint. Now, let’s talk about Warpaint for a minute, because we absolutely adore this track off Dave’s new album. It’s not often male artists take on female issues and make it work because let’s be honest, even the most understanding man in the world doesn’t “get it”. But somehow Dave Hause dug deep for this one and delivered a track that harshly critizes the war on women’s rights in the US and the general issues women face that men don’t. “You’ve got your keys between your fingers as if you had a choice. Keep your keys between your fingers, your mother’s blood in your voice.” Goosebumps and so many feelings, but mostly a glimmer of hope that if we have more men speaking out like this, we may just have a chance.
Amongst some of the heavy hitting lyrics on the new record is also one of the best love songs Hause has ever written. Fireflies is a beautiful Springsteen-esque track that makes you want to take your love by the hand and head down to the lake for a dance in the dark (pun intended).
A cover of Drew Thompson’s Stay with the help of, well Drew Thompson along with fan favourites C’mon Kid and Father’s Son close the set for the night, or at least for a few minutes until the band swiftly return to the stage for a five-star encore.
Joined one last time by their dad, Dave, Tim and band play a rockin’ performance of recent single Saboteurs, which is a ride-or-die love song off the new record. Just after Time Will Tell, Dave and his band give a massive middle finger to the leader of their home country as they launch into Dirty Fucker with a cheeky “This one goes out to you know who!”. We know, and we’re here for it.
Sealing off an emotional, cathartic punk-tastic night of music with Dave Hause and The Mermaid (and Dave’s dad) with the absolute anthem that is We Could Be Kings, Dave Hause proves to us once again why he is one of the best live rock acts around.
Rhys Lewis plays his sophomore EP at OMEARA
Slam Dunk 2019 – Every Summer Forever, please
Follow High Fives & Stage Dives on WordPress.com
#instafun
Love like that don’t need a match just watch it burn like Wildfire 🔥
What’s so funny ‘bout love, peace and understanding ♥️✌🏻
The icon, the legend, the god - here in the church of @springsteen it’s always Sunday and if he doesn’t win the BRIT awards it’s rigged. Don’t hate 🤷🏼♀️
With Springsteen in my headphones singing mockingly away. Oh Brucey baby, I've seen better days. These are not better days 🎶
January blues in full swing - how long til summer ☀️
Baby seasons change but people don’t 💜 . . . . . . . #falloutboy #fob @falloutboy @theo2london #mania #sugarweregoingdown #fromunderthecorktree #patrickstump #petewentz #poppunk #emo #holyemotrinity #thetakeoverthebreaksover #arena #gigphotography #crowdshot #purple
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Job Directory Google (USA-CA-San Francisco) Software Engineer, Embedded Systems - Bay Area
(USA-CA-San Francisco) Software Engineer, Embedded Systems - Bay Area Google
Google is a multinational corporation that specializes in Internet-related services and products.
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Google's software engineers develop the next-generation technologies that change how billions of users connect, explore, and interact with information and one another. Our products need to handle information at massive scale, and extend well beyond web search. We're looking for engineers who bring fresh ideas from all areas, including information retrieval, distributed computing, large-scale system design, networking and data storage, security, artificial intelligence, natural language processing, UI design and mobile; the list goes on and is growing every day. As a software engineer, you will work on a specific project critical to Google's needs with opportunities to switch teams and projects as you and our fast-paced business grow and evolve. We need our engineers to be versatile, display leadership qualities and be enthusiastic to take on new problems across the full-stack as we continue to push technology forward.
You have experience in lower-level computer systems, computer architecture, embedded systems and kernel development. Areas of development may include BIOS, Linux kernel, device drivers, embedded firmware, performance tuning, debugging tools, tests and release management.
As an Embedded Software Engineer at Google, you will have the opportunity to pioneer, develop and build out our footprint in consumer hardware/software. You will design and develop the fastest fiber optic internet and data center networks, engineer and build products that contribute to the Android-Chrome ecosystem, and help develop new technology tools for physicians that can integrate easily into daily life and help transform the detection, prevention and management of disease. You will build and launch smart wearables and other related products in line with Google's ambitious and visionary objectives, and lay the low-level groundwork for moonshots across the company!
Google is and always will be an engineering company. We hire people with a broad set of technical skills who are ready to take on some of technology's greatest challenges and make an impact on millions, if not billions, of users. At Google, engineers not only revolutionize search, they routinely work on massive scalability and storage solutions, large-scale applications and entirely new platforms for developers around the world. From Google Ads to Chrome, Android to YouTube, Social to Local, Google engineers are changing the world one technological achievement after another.
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Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961–1963, Volume II, Vietnam, 1962
IV. Further U.S. Efforts To Strengthen the Government of South Vietnam, March-April 1962
98. Paper Prepared for the Special Group (Counterinsurgency)
Washington, March 7, 1962.
Source: Department of State,INR Files: Lot 75 D 378, SV 23613, Civic Action. Secret. No drafting information appears on the source text. The date is penciled in at the top. In the margin is written: “This was tabled and revised.” At the March 1 meeting of the Special Group, General Taylor under agenda item 3 asked about the status of economic programs. The minutes of that meeting reported that: “Mr. Coffin was asked to prepare a special report on this for next weekʼs meeting, which would outline specific programs and show the emphasis being placed on support of counterinsurgency.” (Ibid., Special Group Counterinsurgency Files: Lot 68 D 451, 1/1/62-7/31/62) Presumably the paper printed here is that report. No specific reference was made to this paper in the minutes of the March 8 meeting, although they indicate that General Taylor “made the general observation that it was very difficult to get hold of civic action programs which were contemplated for South Vietnam.” U. Alexis Johnson promised to have the Vietnam Task Force examine civic action programs and report its findings. (Ibid.)
99. Telegram From the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State
Saigon, March 9, 1962—noon.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/3-962. Secret; Priority; Limit Distribution. Repeated to CINCPAC and Manila. A note by Bundy on a copy in the Kennedy Library instructed the Communications Center to forward the telegram to Salinger in Miami.
100. Telegram From the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State
Saigon, March 9, 1962—7 p.m.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/3-962. Confidential. Repeated to CINCPAC for Polad.
101. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam
Washington, March 9, 1962—6:37 p.m.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/3-962. Secret; Priority. Drafted by Magathan and Cottrell, cleared with Heinz, and approved by Cottrell. Repeated to CINCPAC for Polad and to Baguio for Harriman. Harriman, Nolting, and the other U.S. Ambassadors in the Far East were in Baguio, March 10-11, for the Far East Chiefs of Mission Conference. A complete record of that conference is ibid., Conference Files: Lot 65 D 533, CF 2056.
Saigon, March 10, 1962—6 p.m.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.00/3-1062. Secret. Repeated to CINCPAC for Polad, CINCPACFLT, CINCPACAF, CINCUSARPAC, Baguio for Ambassador Nolting, Clark Air Force Base, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, Vientiane, Manila, Paris, Singapore, New Delhi, Taipei, London, Hue, Hong Kong, and Fuchu. It also requested that the Department of State pass the cable to the Department of Defense for various military units. to CIA. and to AID.
103. Memorandum From the Naval Aide to the Presidentʼs Military Representative (Bagley) to the Presidentʼs Military Representative (Taylor)
Washington, March 10, 1962.
Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, T-133-69. Secret.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.00/3-1162. Confidential; Priority. Repeated to CINCPAC for Polad, Baguio for Harriman and Nolting, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, and Vientiane.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.00/3-1362. Confidential, Priority; Limit Distribution. Repeated to CINCPAC for Polad, Baguio for Harriman and Nolting, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, and Vientiane.
107. Editorial Note
108. Letter From the Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations (Dutton) to the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (Fulbright)
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 611.51K/2-2162. Secret. No drafting information appears on the source text, but a copy of a similar letter that was not sent is attached, listing Wood as the drafter with clearances by Aldrich and Vance (DOD) as well as Oakley, Chayes, Rice, Cottrell, and Sarris in the Department of State. The source text lists as attachments: (1) Questions and Answers on Vietnam; (2) Letter to [from] Senator Morse, (3) Letter from President Kennedy to President Diem; and (4) “The Economics of North and South Vietnam.” Only the first two are attached and only the first is printed. The letter from Senator Morse, February 21, submitted additional questions to Harriman, which are included in the attached Questions and Answers.
109. Letter From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (Bundy) to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Johnson)
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/3-1562. Top Secret.
Saigon, March 15, 1962, 7 p.m.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/3-1562. Secret; Limit Distribution. Repeated to CINCPAC for Polad and Manila for Ambassador Nolting. A memorandum recording the conversation with President Diem is in Washington National Records Center, RG 84, Saigon Embassy Files: FRC 67 A 677, 361.1, Chief Executive—Vietnam.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/3-1662. Secret. Repeated to CINCPAC for Polad.
112. Memorandum From the Vice Presidentʼs Military Aide (Burris) to the Vice President (Johnson)
Source: Johnson Library, Vice Presidential Security Files, Memos from Colonel Burris. Secret.
113. Decree by the President of the Republic of Vietnam
Saigon, March 16, 1962.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/4-1662. Secret. Transmitted as enclosure 1 to despatch 431 from Saigon, April 16, which described some of the changes made in the Delta Plan from the time Thompson originally submitted it until its final approval by Diem. For original plan, see Document 51. Also enclosed with the despatch was a decree of March 23 that appointed Hoang Van Lac as Special Commissioner responsible for carrying out the Delta Plan.
114. Memorandum From the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman) to the Presidentʼs Military Representative (Taylor)
Source: Department of State, INR Files: Lot 75 D 378, SV-236, 12 Delta Plan. Secret.
115. Memorandum for the Record by the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (Hilsman)
Saigon?, March 19, 1962.
Source: Kennedy Library, Hilsman Papers, Countries: Vietnam, 3/1/62-7/28/62. Secret. Copies were sent to Allan Evans, Thomas L. Hughes, and Joseph W. Scott, all of INR.
116. Letter From the Officer in Charge of Vietnam Affairs (Heavner) to the Deputy Director of the Vietnam Task Force (Wood)
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.S/3-1962. Secret; Official-Informal. Heavner was in Vietnam to assist with provincial surveys. Two handwritten notations were on the source text, one requesting that a copy be sent to Stoneman, the other indicating that it had been done. Stoneman was the AID officer responsible for Vietnam.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.00/3-2062. Secret; Limit Distribution.
Washington, March 20, 1962—2:40 p.m.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751G.00/3-162. Secret. Drafted on March 16 by Wood; cleared by Hubbard, Morgan, Salans (State), and Heinz (DOD); and approved by Cottrell. Also sent for action to Ottawa and New Delhi and for information to London, Moscow, and CINCPAC for Polad.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/3-2162. Secret; Niact; Limit Distribution. Received in the Department of State at 6:07 a.m. on March 21. Repeated to Bangkok for Harriman; CINCPAC for Polad, Nolting, and Harkins; and Clark Air Force Base. Nolting and Harkins were in Honolulu for the March Secretary of Defenseʼs Conference. The message also requested that the Department of State pass it to the Department of Defense.
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.5/3-2162. Secret. Drafted and approved by Johnson.
122. Memorandum From the Secretary of Defenseʼs Assistant for Special Operations (Lansdale) to the Deputy Secretary of Defense (Gilpatric)
Source: Washington National Records Center, RG 330, Lansdale Files: FRC 63 A 1803, Vietnam 7. Secret.
123. Briefing Paper for a Presentation by the Director of the Vietnam Task Force (Cottrell) Before the Special Group (Counterinsurgency)
Source: Department of State, State-JCS Meetings: Lot 65 D 172, March 23, 1962. Secret. Drafted by Cottrell on March 22. The briefing memorandum was part of a package delivered to Under Secretary of State Johnson in preparation for a meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on March 23 (see Document 126). A typewritten notation indicates that Cottrell presented the information orally to the Counterinsurgency Group meeting on March 22. The minutes of that meeting read in part:
“Mr. Cottrell stated that, although he is encouraged by progress in the civic action programs, it is necessary to remember that we are engaged in an eight to ten year struggle. The MAAG is giving emphasis to the Strategic Hamlet concept in its civic action programs, as is USOM and the Government of South Vietnam. CIAʼs program is more in the field of security than civic action, with emphasis on paramilitary training for youths and villagers.” (Department of State, Special Group (C.I.): Lot 68 D 451, 1/1/62-7/31/62)
125. Memorandum From the Naval Aide of the Presidentʼs Military Representative (Bagley) to the Presidentʼs Military Representative (Taylor)
Source: National Defense University, Taylor Papers, T-133-69. Top Secret.
126. Memorandum on the Substance of Discussion at a Department of State-Joint Chiefs of Staff Meeting, Pentagon, Washington, March 23, 1962, 11:30 a.m.
Pentagon, Washington, March 23, 1962, 11:30 a.m.
Source: Department of State, S/P Files: Lot 69 D 121, State-JCS Minutes. Top Secret. The meeting was held at the Pentagon. A note on the source text reads: “Department of State draft, not cleared with DOD.” U. Alexis Johnson led the Department of State delegation; Mr. Amory represented the CIA; Messrs. Nitze and Bundy, DOD; and Bromley Smith the NSC.
127. Airgram From the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State
Source: Department of State, Central Files, 751K.00/3-2362. Secret. Drafted by Mendenhall and cleared with Gardiner, Fippin, and Bogardus. Repeated to all Asian posts, and CINCPAC, London, Paris, and Ottawa.
Vietnam, 1962
Vietnam (Documents 1-334)
IV. Further U.S. Efforts To Strengthen the Government of South Vietnam, March-April 1962 (Documents 98-170)
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Radical Ideas Welcome
What Should the Latinx Theatre Commons Do Next?
On Monday, the Latinx Theatre Commons (LTC) announced an open call for ideas for our next round of programming, which runs March 2020 through December 2023. Over the past six years, the LTC has produced eleven convenings for regional, national, and international cohorts of participants, edited the online journal Café Onda (which has now been incorporated into the HowlRound Journal), hosted the María Irene Fornés Institute to celebrate the living legacy of one of the American theatre’s greatest playwrights and teachers, created a production initiative called El Fuego, and put our Steering Committee members through the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s Undoing Racism® Training. We are currently publishing our first book with Northwestern University Press (our second book overall), and on 24-26 January 2019, we will produce our first event focusing on work for young people: the 2019 LTC TYA Sin Fronteras Festival and Convening. We’ll also be focusing on the South Florida Latinx theatre community at our thirteenth convening, the 2019 LTC Miami Regional Convening in July 2019 (exact dates TBA).
What’s after that? That’s where we need your help.
2013 LTC Boston convening. Photo courtesy of the LTC.
The LTC has always been an open movement for Latinx and allied theatre practitioners of all stripes to come together, gather resources, and put those resources towards radical actions that cultivate, celebrate, and challenge our community. We try to be as decentralized as possible and spread the power that comes with access to foundation funding, relationships with gatekeepers, and name recognition. The exact number of people “in” the LTC is hard to track; there are no dues or membership pledges. If you want to be in the Commons, you’re in. And once you’re in, we simply ask that you change your approach from, “Look at what they’re doing!” to, “What can we do better?”
The LTC has always been an open movement for Latinx and allied theatre practitioners of all stripes to come together, gather resources, and put those resources towards radical actions that cultivate, celebrate, and challenge our community.
The LTC has a Steering Committee (which anyone can join), which does the lion’s share of gathering resources and engendering impact via our projects. Over the past six years, the LTC has selected a suite of programming two and a half times. The first was in May 2012 at the first gathering of the “DC Eight.” At that gathering, the LTC had not yet been formed, but the eight practitioners present (Kristoffer Diaz, Dr. Anne García-Romero, Lisa Portes, Tlaloc Rivas, Antonio Sonera, Enrique Urueta, José Luis Valenzuela, and Karen Zacariás) knew they could marshal their collective resources to create opportunities for connection. They decided to raise money for a larger gathering of Latinx artists, which became the 2013 LTC First National Convening. Tlaloc Rivas and Anne García-Romero had been collaborating on an online journal on Latinx theatre called “Café Onda,” which they decided to continue with greater infrastructure alongside HowlRound’s journal. Jose Luis Valenzuela already knew he and his company, the Latino Theater Company, were set to produce a national Latina/o theatre festival in fall 2014; would the LTC like to produce a convening alongside it? And Lisa Portes, head of the MFA Directing Program at The Theatre School at DePaul University, had access to DePaul’s new theatre building; could this nascent alliance of Latinx theatre practitioners produce a new play “Carnaval” celebrating Latinx voices?
And we did! By July 2015, all of these projects had been completed, which left the Steering Committee asking, “What do we do next?”
The lobby of the 2015 LTC Carnaval of New Latinx Work. Photo by Michael Courier.
Up to that point, the LTC had been operating at lightning pace, but without a clear sense of how to bring new people in. We had been focused nationally, leaving some regions behind. In early summer 2015, the Steering Committee decided to remedy both of these issues by hosting two regional convenings in areas previously overlooked by the LTC—the 2015 LTC Texas Regional Convening and the 2016 LTC Pacific Northwest Regional Convening—and use some of this time to gather as a Steering Committee. I’m counting the addition of these two regional convenings as the “half” in the decision making process—while the need was real enough that the Steering Committee came to consensus on planning these events, we did not go through a formal selection process for them.
Flash forward to spring 2016. We put out a call for formal proposals for future LTC Programming. We discussed these proposals at our 2016 LTC Pacific Northwest Convening in Seattle in a consensus-based model, going back and forth to figure out how to make the most events happen. Nearly all of the proposed projects came out of the LTC Steering and Advisory Committees, and for where the LTC was in our development that time, that was probably the right decision. From this process, we agreed to a series of projects, including the 2016 LTC NYC Regional Convening, the 2017 LTC International Convening at the 2017 Encuentro de las Américas International Theatre Festival, the 2018 LTC María Irene Fornés Symposium, the 2018 LTC Carnaval of New Latinx Work, the 2019 LTC TYA Sin Fronteras Festival and Convening, the 2019 LTC Miami Regional Convening, and the publication of Encuentro: Latinx Performance for the New American Theater edited by Dr. Trevor Boffone, Dr. Teresa Marrero, and Dr. Chantal Rodriguez. It was an ambitious plan, and we are currently over two-thirds of the way through it. Now, it’s time to think, once again, about the future.
Our community is rich with resources, but we don't always utilize them to their full potential. How does your idea celebrate and benefit from the abundance around us?
And that’s why we come to you. We’re opening up the submission process to all in our growing community, because by this time, our mission is clear. We’re casting a wide net to garner the strongest, most radical ideas. The LTC does the work that one company or individual cannot do alone. We’re intentionally asking for ideas, not proposals, though we are open to fully developed proposals. We hope that through your ideas, we can continue collaborating across the continent and across traditional "roles" in the theatre to fill in the gaps, to create opportunities, and to cultivate and unearth the wealth and abundance of our community.
If you want to submit an idea, you do not need to be a current LTC Steering Committee member, and you can submit multiple ideas. We want the widest breadth of our community reflected in our work. We encourage you to think expansively and outside the box. Do not worry about whether the "format" of your idea fits the LTC; focus on content. Consider the resources you already have access to, including organizations, spaces, people, and potential partners. Our community is rich with resources, but we don't always utilize them to their full potential. How does your idea celebrate and benefit from the abundance around us?
Finally, we’re particularly curious to hear why the LTC should be the group to carry your idea forward. To learn more about us and our programmatic strategies, read our mission, vision, and values. To submit your idea by October 15, click the link below. We look forward to hearing from you!
Submit an Idea to the LTC today
Commons-based Approaches
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Home / Tips and Tricks / iPhone photos have just gotten a big update: what you need to know
iPhone photos have just gotten a big update: what you need to know
Apple has redesigned the Photos app on iOS 13.
Jason Cipriani / CNET
With all the new camera features available for the iPhone 1
1 iPhone 11 Pro and the iPhone 11 Pro Max it's not surprising that the company made major changes to the Photo app in iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 which also work for many older devices. The Photos app has a new look and editing tools that make your photos – and for the first time videos – look better than ever.
Aside from the new editing tools, the Photos app now offers a more interactive approach to curating previous photos and videos. Improved search tools give the app a more personal touch.
The photo app update adds a new swipe keyboard a lot hidden functions and the ability to block all unknown callers . [19659007] http://www.cnet.com/ "height =" 110 "width =" 196 “/>
iPhone 11: 3 phones under test. Which one do you choose?
After using the new photo app, one thing is clear: Apple wants you to see photos as an app that you should visit every day to discover old pictures and videos that you almost forgot. Oh, and there are some fancy new video editing tools that you should probably use.
Let's take a look at what's new in the Photos app in iOS 13.
Screenshots of Jason Cipriani / CNET
You can use the new features on the Photos tab to organize your pictures.
The Photos app has a whole new look and is most visible on the new Photos tab. When you view the Photos tab, you'll find four options at the bottom of the screen: Years, Months, Days, All Photos. You can switch between the different options to set a specific time frame for viewing your pictures.
Each option has its own way of displaying photos of that particular time. For example, if you select Years, only photos that have been taken up to date (2018, 2017, and so on) will be displayed. It's similar to Timehop, but it's built into your iPhone or iPad.
Here's another example of the photo app that lets you create special views. If you use the People album to identify friends and family and have their birthday entered in the contact information card, on the Photos tab, the person on their birthday will be highlighted with various photos of that person.
Editing an image on iOS 13 is known but slightly different from iOS 12.
photo-editing tools you should be interested in
Apple has updated the tools you use to edit a photo. The new look and layout of the tools requires some adjustments, but should not be too annoying.
When you view a photo that you want to edit, the Edit button is still in the upper-right corner. Selecting Edit opens the default editing tool where you can select automatic adjustments or scroll through various settings such as brightness, brilliance, exposure, and so on.
To customize one of the options, you can move the bar line to the left or right just below each button.
The filter tool still works the same as in iOS 12, except that you can now adjust the intensity. If you have selected a filter, drag the bar line to the left to reduce the effect of the filter on your photo.
You can not just crop a photo with the Crop tool. You can now also change the perspective of an image, ie you can adjust the viewing angle of the photo. That way, you have complete control over what the image looks like, and it's similar to a popular Instagram tool.
The biggest change to the Photos app in iOS 13 is the addition of video editing tools.
Totally New Video Editing Tools
Probably the most notable addition to iOS 13 photos is video editing. I'm not just talking about cropping and saving a clip, but the ability to adjust everything from brightness and exposure to applying a filter or cropping and perspective.
With the real video editing tools now included in the Photos app, you do not have to find a more complicated (and often expensive) video editing tool on the App Store or on your laptop. Instead, you can quickly and easily edit a video in this built-in app that you're probably already familiar with.
The video editing tools work the same way as the photo editing tools. You can only crop the clip on the first screen. The crop tool works the same way: Drag the yellow ends of the video to set the start and end time of the clip you want to save. This is ideal to exclude false starts and unpleasant endings.
Once you've cropped your video, you can customize the overall appearance of your clip, tweak it, and save it to the photo album.
Also, any changes you make to a video are not destructive. So if you add a filter and crop the video, you can go back a few days later and undo everything to decide that you're not satisfied with the changes. The original video is retained.
iOS 13 offers much more than just updates to the Photos app. Be sure to read our Complete Guide for iOS 13 for the latest information.
Originally published at the beginning of this year. Updated with new information.
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The Global Atlas of AIS-based Fishing Activity
Data and technology, Fisheries, News & Views, Research and analysis
In 2018, Global Fishing Watch (GFW) published the first ever global maps of fishing activity using AIS data. These fishing maps drew on billions of GPS positions broadcast by over 60,000 fishing vessels, and they revealed fishing operations in all oceans in incredible detail. Click on the image to access the atlas. [...]
By David Kroodsma| 2019-12-09T09:03:21+00:00 November 19th, 2019|Data and technology, Fisheries, News & Views, Research and analysis|
Does iron supply play a role in wild fish?
Fisheries, Research and analysis
Eric D Galbraith, professor at McGill University and associate faculty at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, shares his journey to a new paper, Growth Limitation of Marine Fish by Low Iron Availability in the Open Ocean, that harnesses Global Fishing Watch data with a healthy dose of collaboration and curiosity. The story of this [...]
By Sarah Bladen| 2019-08-29T11:16:57+00:00 August 29th, 2019|Fisheries, Research and analysis|
Breakthroughs in Science: The Global Fishing Watch Research Program
Data and technology, Fisheries, Research and analysis
Why is Global Fishing Watch (GFW), a non-profit organization, investing so much effort into collaborating with scientists to publish research papers? And why has the program been so successful in doing so? In this blog, GFW Research and Innovation Director, David Kroodsma outlines why we are pursuing this work, why he believes it has [...]
By David Kroodsma| 2019-08-23T11:05:21+00:00 August 21st, 2019|Data and technology, Fisheries, Research and analysis|
Tracking where sharks and ship overlap
Nuno Queiroz and a team of over 150 scientists recently published “Global spatial risk assessment of sharks under the footprint of fisheries” in the journal Nature. Tim White, Global Fishing Watch Fisheries Scientist, was a co-author of this study. Sharks of the open-ocean are some of the most threatened fish in the sea; around [...]
By Tim White| 2019-08-29T06:36:54+00:00 August 16th, 2019|Research and analysis|
Rhythms of the wild in global fisheries data
Fisheries, Partner, Research and analysis
Eric Galbraith is an ICREA research professor based at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Jerome Guiet is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles. Read their new study. Most of the activity that Global Fishing Watch monitors is carried out by industrial fisheries, [...]
By Eric Galbraith and Jerome Guiet| 2019-08-29T06:57:51+00:00 May 21st, 2019|Fisheries, Partner, Research and analysis|
Predicting overlap of tunas, sharks, and ships at sea
Tim White is a PhD candidate at Stanford University’s Hopkins Marine Station. His recent publication in Science Advances, Predicted hotspots of overlap between highly migratory fishes and industrial fishing fleets in the Northeast Pacific, focuses on how vessel tracking and fish habitat models can help inform management of sharks and tunas. How do you [...]
By Tim White| 2019-08-29T06:04:38+00:00 March 13th, 2019|Research and analysis|
The Tale of the Albatross and the Algorithm
Impacts, Partner, Policy & Compliance, Research and analysis
The first-ever satellite mapping of fishing vessel behaviours has identified that very few vessels are using one of the key techniques to avoid accidentally killing albatrosses. Researchers hope a new analytics tool demonstrates that satellite data can help monitor efforts to reduce seabird mortality in fishing operations, and drive more transparency in general in the global fishing [...]
By Sarah Bladen| 2019-01-28T04:19:27+00:00 January 28th, 2019|Impacts, Partner, Policy & Compliance, Research and analysis|
More fishing inside, more sharks outside marine protected areas
Impacts, News & Views, Partner, Research and analysis
Manuel Dureuil is a PhD student researching sharks and Kristina Boerder a postdoctoral fellow working on marine protected areas at Dalhousie University, Canada. In a recent publication in SCIENCE, Elevated trawling inside protected areas undermines conservation outcomes in a global fishing hotspot, Manuel, Kristina and a team of researchers from Dalhousie University, GEOMAR Helmholtz [...]
By Kristina Boerder and Manuel Dureuil| 2019-08-29T04:23:50+00:00 December 20th, 2018|Impacts, News & Views, Partner, Research and analysis|
Global Fishing Watch 2018 – the year in transparency
Data and technology, Fisheries, Impacts, News & Views, Research and analysis, VMS transparency
After just over a year at the helm, Global Fishing Watch CEO, Tony Long, reflects on how a freely accessible and near real-time digital map of the global ocean is exposing illegal fishing and changing the rules of the game, and calls on all governments to contribute data and join the movement for universal [...]
By Tony Long| 2019-10-31T13:05:09+00:00 December 18th, 2018|Data and technology, Fisheries, Impacts, News & Views, Research and analysis, VMS transparency|
Oil rigs alive: marine life abounds in unlikely places
Impacts, Research and analysis
Amber Jackson, Blue Latitudes There comes a time when the useful life of an oil platform comes to an end, at least when it comes to drilling for oil, and that’s when we dive in. Blue Latitudes, founded by Emily Hazelwood and myself, is a women-owned environmental consulting firm on a mission [...]
By Amber Jackson, Co-Founder, Blue Latitudes| 2018-12-07T07:41:16+00:00 December 7th, 2018|Impacts, Research and analysis|
How can vessel tracking technology help to create true shark sanctuaries?
News & Views, Research and analysis
Darcy Bradley is a postdoctoral researcher at University of California - Santa Barbara's Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. Her recent publication in Conservation Letters, Leveraging satellite technology to create true shark sanctuaries, examined how advancements in tracking technology can help us better understand illegal fishing activity and therefore improve fisheries management. What do [...]
By Darcy Bradley| 2019-08-29T04:24:32+00:00 October 18th, 2018|News & Views, Research and analysis|
“The blue paradox” published in PNAS
Can you actually make a problem worse by promising to solve it? That’s a conundrum that policymakers face — often unwittingly — on a variety of issues. A famous, if controversial, example comes from the gun control debate in the United States, where calls for tougher legislation in the wake of the 2012 Sandy [...]
By Grant R. McDermott and Kyle C. Meng| 2018-09-25T13:54:52+00:00 September 25th, 2018|News & Views, Research and analysis|
Machine learning and satellite data provide the first global view of transshipment activity
Data and technology, Research and analysis
Nate Miller, Data Scientist, SkyTruth This week marks the publication of the first-ever global assessment of transshipment in a scientific journal. Researchers at Global Fishing Watch and SkyTruth, in the journal Frontiers of Marine Science, published “Identifying Global Patterns of Transshipment Behavior.” What is transshipment? Why does it matter? What have we [...]
By Nate Miller| 2019-08-28T17:54:59+00:00 July 23rd, 2018|Data and technology, Research and analysis|
Identification of ‘dark vessels’
Data and technology, Partner, Research and analysis
Using bright lights to reveal the 'dark' fleet Christopher Elvidge with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Earth Observation Group writes about matching night-time imagery with monitoring data from fishing vessels to shed new light on the ‘dark’ fleet. The challenges with tracking vessels Vessel tracks from Automatic Identification System (AIS) and [...]
By Chris Elvidge| 2019-12-16T14:01:44+00:00 June 8th, 2018|Data and technology, Partner, Research and analysis|
Satellite tracking shows the economics of much high seas fishing does not add up
Kristina M. Gjerde, Senior High Seas Advisor. IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme As the countdown continues to September’s historic first round of United Nations treaty talks on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in the high seas, science and technology are shedding increasingly compelling light on what is currently [...]
By Kristina M. Gjerde| 2018-06-26T11:26:33+00:00 June 6th, 2018|Data and technology, Fisheries, News & Views, Research and analysis|
Categories Select Category Data and technology Data blog Fisheries Impacts Policy & Compliance Map Markets Media Kit News & Views Press Release Research and analysis Partner User translation VMS transparency
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PCMag India | Software Reviews | Internet - Products | Sling Television | Feature
YouTube Premium vs. YouTube TV: What's the Difference?
By Eileen Calabro
Are the for-pay versions of the most popular video service on the planet worth your money? We compare the options side by side.
YouTube has expanded to offer so many different premium subscription services that it can be hard to tell them all apart.
If you like the basic YouTube platform but wished it featured fewer ads, YouTube Premium (previously YouTube Red) offers an ad-free YouTube experience. YouTube TV, on the other hand, offers live streaming television to compete with the likes of Sling TV and Hulu with Live TV. The two services are fundamentally different, but are either of them worth your money?
SEE ALSO: TiVo Stream 4K Dongle Aims to Solve Streaming Confusion
Premium is $11.99 per month after a 30-day free trial, and allows members to watch their favorite videos without ads. You can also download videos for offline viewing, listen to audio in the background with the YouTube Music app, and access exclusive content on YouTube and YouTube Music.
The original content you get with YouTube Premium includes scripted, reality, documentary, and animated programming, as well as content featuring some of YouTube's most popular personalities. Additional television and film content is set for release in 2019, and many other projects are still in development.
If you upgrade to YouTube Premium, your new features will work across the family of YouTube services, including YouTube Kids, YouTube Music, and YouTube videos on YouTube TV. While Premium can be accessed through the web and the app, features like offline playback and background play are limited to the YouTube apps.
Rented or purchased movies/TV shows, paid channel subscriptions, and related bonus material are not compatible with YouTube Premium, so if you buy or rent movies through YouTube, you might still see ads or promotions.
YouTube TV is a robust streaming service aimed at cord cutters. The service includes cable network streaming and live broadcast television from local affiliates, along with YouTube original content. There is no original content exclusive to YouTube TV at this time.
The service recently got a price hike, from $39.99 per month to $49.99, but YouTube also added several new channels: Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, and MotorTrend. The Oprah Winfrey Network will also be added at a later date, while Epix is now an add-on option.
Otherwise, the network availability is on par with other streaming services. You'll get live programming from the four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox), plus popular sports, news, and entertainment networks based on your location, such as AMC, BBC America, BBC World News, Bravo, The Disney Channel, ESPN, FX, MSNBC, Telemundo, and others. AMC Premiere, Showtime, Starz, and NBA League Pass can be added at additional charges. And most networks offer some on-demand content.
YouTube TV also boasts the ability to share the service with six users at once and unlimited cloud DVR functionality. You can view YouTube TV on your Android and iOS devices, Google Chromecast, and via Apple AirPlay. The service is also compatible with Roku, Apple TV, Xbox One, and many different smart TV brands.
After launching in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, YouTube TV has gone nationwide in the US. Enter your ZIP code on the website to see which stations are available in your area. At this time, YouTube TV still does not work internationally.
Despite the service's wide reach, it still has a few shortcomings. YouTube TV isn't available on Amazon Fire TV thanks to an ongoing battle between Google and Amazon. It's also notably missing TBS and Viacom cable networks, such as MTV and Comedy Central, plus CW on demand is only available in certain markets.
How Do Other Streaming Services Stack Up?
While YouTube Premium is mostly meant to be an ad-free version of the free YouTube platform, the original content puts it up against other video-streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Video, and Hulu. However, since YouTube Premium does not include access to network content, it doesn't stack up extraordinarily well.
Still, YouTube has its own universe of stars, so if you have tweens or teens who spend hours with their favorite YouTube personalities, YouTube Premium might appeal to them more than the latest Netflix original. And the ability to download "Baby Shark" to your smartphone for car rides could also save the sanity of toddler parents. (Just make sure to snag one of our picks for best kids' headphones.)
YouTube TV, on the other hand, is intended for those who want to stop handing over $200 per month to their cable provider while still tuning into certain pay TV favorites.
Sling TV offers two packages at $25 apiece: Sling Orange includes Disney and ESPN, while Sling Blue includes Fox and NBC. But extras will add to the price.
FuboTV has several different packages to choose from based on the amount of channels provided. Pay $44.99 for 90 channels, $49.99 for 105 channels, or take on one of Fubo's international packages.
Hulu with Live TV is in a unique position to offer both streaming and television services in one package. While the basic Hulu package costs a mere $5.99, live TV is $45 as of Feb. 26. Subscribers have access to all the content on Hulu, plus live and on-demand television from over 50 channels, including local broadcast stations.
Can I Bundle YouTube Premium and YouTube TV?
YouTube Premium and YouTube TV are separate services and not bundled together. However, YouTube TV subscribers do get access to YouTube originals.
YouTube TV does not offer ad-free YouTube, but if you subscribe to YouTube TV and YouTube Premium, YouTube videos you watch on YouTube TV will be ad-free.
Which YouTube Is Right for You?
So are they worth it? YouTube Premium is still the YouTube you know. It doesn't have the content volume of a Netflix or Hulu basic package, but at $11.99 per month, it's a convenient, flexible option for those who want to nix ads in YouTube, listen to YouTube Music's library of music, or access content while using other apps. Plus, if you're already a fan of YouTube stars and eager to seek out new programming, you'll have that, too.
If you're in the market to replace your current cable bill and want local news coverage, YouTube TV is just as good a selection as some of the other services out there. It's certainly worth the free trial if you want to give it a shot.
TiVo Stream 4K Dongle Aims to Solve Streaming Confusion
Sling Orange vs. Sling Blue: Which Video Streaming Plan Is Better?
Sling TV Raises Prices, Introduces More Channels, Free Cloud DVR
Eileen Calabro
More From Eileen Calabro
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Can Avataar.Me Convince Indian Digital Marketers About The Power Of AR?
Kopal Cheema
Avataar.Me helps businesses convert 2D design assets into 3D campaigns with augmented reality on social media
A Facebook study showed a 53% uptick in clickthrough rates for immersive AR brand campaigns
The AR/VR company has raised close to $3 Mn in funding from angel investors
Before PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds or PUBG got Indians hooked, finding Pokemon and catching them on smartphones had caused a frenzy among Indians.
Young Indians were seen thronging beaches, parks and malls searching for Pokemon. While Pokemon Go mania died out soon after, it introduced many to what augmented reality can do.
According to the TechSci Research report, the augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) market in India is projected to register a CAGR of 55.3% from 2016 to 2021. The rising applications of AR and VR in education, defense, healthcare, finance and shopping along with the ecommerce industry and many other sectors are anticipated to give rise to business demand for these technologies in the Indian market.
Many believe that AR and VR can have the same impact that the internet had on retail businesses, that Amazon effectively leveraged to score one over Walmart. Similarly, AR and VR are expected to be disruptive technologies that will lead to a shift in how consumer demand is generated and business models. For example, AR applications can enable consumers to make more informed buying decisions while for retailers, the technology will make it easier to engage with the target audience.
With AR in retail or even ecommerce, a customer can juxtapose various products next to real-world elements in a 3D view. This has a major impact on which product is finally purchased.
“Human sensory perception is highly visual in nature and humans experience the world with strong depth perception. However, digital consumer experiences are severely limited to 2D digital screens on mobile phones and desktops. This creates a huge experience gap between offline and online retail.” said Sravanth Aluru, CEO & cofounder of Avataar.Me
An AR marketing platform, Avataar.Me was founded in 2014 by Gaurav Baid and Sravanth Aluru. The company provides solutions to ecommerce players to convert 2D photos and videos into life-size 3D visual discovery experiences on social media platforms. This helps bridge the online-offline experience gap in online shopping.
Avataar.Me claims to be running such AR campaigns in partnership with Instagram and Facebook, offering direct integration onto its partner brand’s social accounts globally.
Related Article: Current Reality Of Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality In Indian Market
“Today, there are about 1.5 billion smartphones with in-built AR capabilities, but the projection is that it would more than double to 3.4 billion smartphones by the end of 2022, opening a big opportunity for the 2D to 3D visual discovery shift.”
Aluru told Inc42 that the AR advertising is projected to grow from $453 Mn in 2018 to over $8.5 Bn in 2023 and that Avataar’s partnerships with social platforms help them target over 50% of this ad spend. He attributes this growth to the increasing camera AR engagement happening on mobile devices. “The graphics compute power of mobile phones has also helped us a lot, enabling us to do a lot more on mobile devices now than just two years back.”
What Avataar.Me’s AR Platform Brings To The Table
So what do companies gain by having the AR/VR model as a part of their business? Aluru said that as per consumer tests conducted by Facebook, there is a 53% uptick in clickthrough rates for a brand campaign when consumers are interacting with immersive content.
Decoding market trends and feedback from customers, Aluru stated that brands understand the power of interactive content in terms of higher engagement and conversion and have been eager to bring such experiences to their end consumers. “What seemed to be critical, however, was to present a feasible working AI platform that caters to the consumer base realities/constraints in India.”
The high bandwidth requirement for such applications is down to the realism in the AR campaigns. Aluru added, “At Avataar, photo-realism has been the primary focus of our platform R&D. This applies to our personalization AI (life-size 3D avatars) as well as our 3D Fashion AI (2D website apparel images converted to 3D life-size renders) with fabric realism, realistic folds and drape, etc.”
Avataar has clientele primarily in the US and in Asian countries outside India at present. The company is focusing on building penetration into digital volumes in these markets while eyeing possible expansion to European markets in the future. The company currently works with Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Google ARCore, and Apple ARKit, which gives it wide acceptability.
The startup generates revenue from two channels. One is AI-led content creation from the brand’s existing 2D product catalogue and the other is the platform’s end-user reach in terms of actual AR/VR engagements. While the first is a fixed cost as per the AI render cost, the other is a volume-dependent platform pricing for customers based on the number of end-consumer impressions the campaign ends up driving.
“We have profitable unit economics and do not have to incur heavy customer acquisition costs – our revenue model is geared towards scaling up with profitable growth,” said Aluru.
Avataar.Me has raised close to $3 Mn in funding from angel investors in the USA and India and is looking at a Series A round in 2020, which Aluru said will be primarily geared to expand its global client base and R&D for the product roadmap.
The Challenge Of Bringing AR To India
Even though Indian businesses have been slow in adopting this 3D marketing tech, Avataar claims its AI platform has been developed with the Indian market’s constraints and realities in mind, and its AI-powered campaigns can effectively run on high-latency internet connections and device configurations that are most common here in the Indian market.
One of the biggest challenges Avataar.Me faces is that of financial constraints mostly driven by intensive manual labour involved in 3D asset creation. Aluru told Inc42, “While Hollywood movies can afford to pay such exorbitant manual effort for each video, digital marketers and commerce players simply would not be able to justify it on a unit-economical ROI basis.”
Low internet bandwidth is another pain-point. India as a consumer market is riddled with low internet bandwidth — while 4G works quite well now, 5G would be a real game-changer for innovative experiences and allow for far more immersive experiences that are possible today, said Aluru.
“The USP of our fully automated 3D AI platform is that it can manage huge scale and product inventory volumes at “no-manual-labour” AI compute costs. This makes financial unit economics viable for interactive life-size 3D visual experiences on digital discovery platforms, and more importantly viable at scale to drive a holistic adoption of the experience upgrade from static 2D video engagement,” he added.
Key players of the industry include names like Google, Facebook, Atracsys, Augmented Pixels, Blippar, COSY, liateR, Holition, Infinity AR, NavVis and Quytech. However, Avataar claims that the rigorous bar it sets for its visuals helps it outperform competitors in terms of responsiveness and drives better user experience eventually.
The Indian market has the potential to have a billion users online before the middle of the next decade. The current issues of a low addressable base for ad-spend and commerce volumes will be solved in the near future with newer models and the rise of the regional language internet ecosystem. India’s unique position as a predominantly mobile-first internet economy is another advantage for AR/VR applications for mobiles.
Aluru said, “India’s technology sector is shaping up well, driven by our high-quality talent pool – we are perhaps one of the leading geographies along with Israel and China on AR/VR innovation. Digital bandwidths, online consumption, user growth rates are all tilted in favour of India becoming the next big technology hub globally.”
The number of startups working in the field of virtual and augmented reality in India is growing steadily and attracting the attention of conglomerates such as Reliance, which acquired VR startup Tesseract earlier this year. However, the ecosystem is still emerging and the domestic market is still a niche category, so both startups and venture capitalists face challenges in navigating the space. As the VR/AR ecosystem takes hold and as technology penetration grows, it remains to see how quickly such technology is infused with the existing advertising and marketing models so that they not only become mainstream, but also cost-effective for businesses.
Augmented Reality Deeptech
Passionate about the fast-paced media industry with a constant endeavour to deliver impactful content. An ambitious, enthusiastic and optimistic soul with a persistent hunger to learn. Reach her on [email protected]
https://inc42.com/startups/masalabox-home-cook-aggregator-looks-to-spice-up-indias-crowded-foodtech-space/
https://inc42.com/startups/creditmate-is-using-ml-to-solve-debt-collection-and-digital-lending-npas/
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Home news Gary Player son arrested for deposit account fraud
Gary Player son arrested for deposit account fraud
Gary Player son arrested for deposit account fraud.
Wayne Player, a former professional golfer and son of the legendary South African Gary Player, spent five nights in jail over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend after being arrested for deposit account fraud dating back to the 2018 Masters weekend. The 56-year-old also faces a civil suit for another case from the same weekend.
According to a report in The Augusta Chronicle, Wayne Player had rented a residence in Evans, Georgia, but paid with a check that was returned for insufficient funds. The homeowner tried to get in contact with Player but never received the remaining payment.
Wayne Player was stopped by customs agents at a layover at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Jan. 18 and was informed he had an outstanding warrant. However, because it was a holiday weekend, Player could not be processed and had to stay at a Clayton County detention center until the following Wednesday, when he was released on bond.
Player claims that the unpaid rent – which reportedly amounted to $2,000 – is all a misunderstanding, as he told Golf Digest:
As for the arrest itself, Player said he originally gave the homeowner a check but the bank rejected it because it wasn’t properly filled out. Player said he was contacted by the homeowner’s lawyer but merely forgot to send it back. “I’m not trying to make excuses, but that’s what happened, and it’s on me,” Player said. According to Player, all the money has now been returned, with his son footing the bill.
Beyond the arrest for fraud, Wayne Player also faces trouble from that same weekend as he and Wayne Player Enterprises LLC are facing a civil suit for selling “Green Jacket Masters Experience 2018″ in bad faith. The suit, filed by Todd Feltz, lays out what Player promised and did not follow through on, via The Augusta Chronicle:
According to court documents, the customized experience included dinner and open bar with Player, breakfast or lunch at the Founders Club on April 4 and 5, one ticket each for the Par-3 Contest, one series badge each for the opening Masters round, a daily 9:30 a.m. walk of the back nine with Wayne Player, and a meet-and-greet with Gary Player and other Masters champions at Augusta National, among many other things. The cost was $6,850 per person and all sales were final, with a 50 percent nonrefundable deposit required.
Despite the heavy price tag, Wayne Player was allegedly not able to come up with badges, which angered Feltz. According to the court documents, Feltz claims that Player head-butted him to the ground when he confronted the former golfer about the unfulfilled promises, although Player disputes that claim.
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Home / Stock Picks / Hot Stocks / A Detailed Look Into Daniel Loeb’s Stock Portfolio
A Detailed Look Into Daniel Loeb’s Stock Portfolio
By Matt Hogan, Founder, Finbox.io Nov 16, 2017, 9:20 am EST November 16, 2017
Daniel Loeb has made a name for himself generating impressive, and consistent, returns over the last two decades. In the process he has amassed a fortune of $3.2 billion, putting him at number 240 on the Forbes 400 list.
Loeb founded Third Point in 1995 that now runs two hedge funds. He started the company with $3.3 million from family and friends, in office space borrowed from David Tepper’s Appaloosa Capital. The Third Point Offshore Limited fund has generated annual returns of 15.8% since inception (1996) while the Ultra Limited fund has generated returns of 23.7% since its inception in 1997. This compares favorably to the S&P500 which has averaged less than 8% per year since 1997.
His investment style involves shareholder activism meaning he invites controversy. Loeb, therefore, finds himself in the media often and is not afraid to get into public arguments with those he disagrees with. Warren Buffett, George Clooney, the CEOs of Sony and Yahoo, and fellow activist investor Bill Ackman have all found themselves on the receiving end of his verbal attacks.
Activist Investing: Creating the Catalyst to Unlock Value
Third Point’s website defines its investment approach as flexible and opportunistic, as well as event-driven and value-oriented. It goes on to say that “the Firm seeks to identify situations where we anticipate a catalyst will unlock value.”
Very often the catalyst is Loeb’s shareholder activism. He looks for companies that are in trouble, and that he believes are badly managed. He likes to buy enough stock to gain influence, and then convince other shareholders to push for changes in management and strategy.
Over the last few years, Loeb has become increasingly active in Japan. He believes that Japanese corporate structures are ripe for restructuring, and that value can be unlocked by spinning off profitable subsidiaries.
The following are some of Loeb’s most prominent investments of the last decade.
Loeb and Third Point Partners were major players in the drama that unfolded at Yahoo in 2011. He and other shareholders were instrumental in replacing CEO Scott Thompson with Marissa Meyer, and in introducing a new corporate strategy. In the process, Loeb negotiated for Yahoo to buy back part of Third Point’s stake.
In 2013 Loeb tried to force Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE) to separate its electronics and entertainment divisions. He argued that too much value was locked up in the entertainment division, while the electronics division generated all the profit. Sony refused but did make major changes to its entertainment division. Loeb’s firm sold out the following year for a 20% profit.
Loeb has been a major shareholder of the auction house Sothebys (NYSE:BID) since 2011. Sotheby’s has lost its place in the art world (to Christie’s) and has experienced dwindling margins for some time. Loeb spent years trying to oust the CEO, William Ruprecht, who eventually retired in 2015.
Third Point’s latest target for corporate change is Nestle SA (OTCMKTS:NSRGY). Third Point invested in the company earlier this year and Loeb made his thoughts known in June. Loeb wants Nestle to sell its shares in L’Oréal, increase its debt to buy back shares, and increase its margins. As of September 2017, Nestle had given in to most of Loeb’s demands.
Third Point’s Latest Form 13F Filing
On November 9, 2017, Loeb’s firm Third Point LLC filed its quarterly Form 13F regulatory filing. I reviewed the 13F filing to get a sneak peek at holdings in Third Point’s massive portfolio.
Portfolio Overview and Statistics
Third Point’s stock portfolio totals nearly $11.9 billion according to the latest filing. The list value of stock holdings is up 5.4% when compared to the last quarter. As a benchmark, the S&P 500 was up 3.9% over the same period.
Quarter-over-Quarter Turnover (QoQ Turnover) measures the level of trading activity in a portfolio. Third Point’s QoQ Turnover for the latest quarter was 21.8%, so the firm appears to trade a significant percent of its portfolio each quarter.
Third Point’s Largest Holdings
The Ideas section of finbox.io tracks top investors and trending investment themes. You can get the latest data on the holdings discussed below here. The following table summarizes Third Point’s Largest Holdings reported in the last filing:
Holding ($mil)
% Of Portfolio
BAX BAXTER INTL INC 2,572.8 21.6%
BABA ALIBABA GROUP HLDG LTD 1,139.9 9.6%
DWDP DOWDUPONT INC 1,041.1 8.8%
BLK BLACKROCK INC 693.0 5.8%
FB FACEBOOK INC 581.0 4.9%
STZ CONSTELLATION BRANDS INC 498.6 4.2%
BAC BANK AMER CORP 310.4 2.6%
The seven positions above represent nearly 60% of the hedge fund’s total portfolio.
It was also interesting to see what sectors Loeb is most exposed. Stocks in the Healthcare sector make up 29.0% of Third Point’s portfolio while Information Technology, Materials, and Financials make up 23.3%, 14.6%, and 12.0%, respectively. No other sector makes up more than 7.5%.
Third Point’s 7 Biggest Buys
I also used finbox.io to find Third Point’s largest buys last quarter. Here’s the list of biggest buys determined by comparing the last two filings:
Third Point’s Stock He’s Buying
Purchased ($mil)
BABA ALIBABA GROUP HLDG LTD 362.7 9.6%
VNTV VANTIV INC 193.8 1.6%
SHPG SHIRE PLC 183.8 1.5%
MPC MARATHON PETE CORP 154.2 1.3%
DOV DOVER CORP 150.8 1.3%
MAC MACERICH CO 94.9 0.8%
Third Point’s 7 Most Undervalued Holdings
To determine which stocks are trading below their intrinsic value, aka “fair value” I used the finbox.io Fair Value estimates. I also wanted to blend in some indication of which stocks might be ready to make a move up soon because they’re popular with Wall Street analysts.
I calculated an average using the finbox.io fair value upside and analyst upside to create a blended upside which I then used to rank the most undervalued holdings.
Here are the Top 7 stocks based on my calculations:
Third Point’s Most Undervalued
Upside (finbox.io)
Upside (Analyst Target)
Blend Upside
SHPG SHIRE PLC 28.4% 56.3% 42.3%
ALXN ALEXION PHARMACEUTICALS INC 26.5% 44.6% 35.6%
KDMN KADMON HLDGS INC -40.1% 111.1% 35.5%
TMUS T MOBILE US INC 23.2% 26.7% 24.9%
PAM PAMPA ENERGIA S A 26.0% 14.4% 20.2%
PE PARSLEY ENERGY INC -11.7% 42.4% 15.4%
DWDP DOWDUPONT INC 19.7% 9.4% 14.6%
It was interesting to see that two of Loeb’s most undervalued stocks were also new positions: Shire plc and DowDuPont Inc. Value investors may want to take a closer look at both of those names.
Daniel Loeb: an Activist and Passive Investor
While Loeb is well known for activist investing, his funds also invest in companies where he believes he doesn’t need to change the direction of the company. As his latest portfolio holdings show, Loeb is happy to invest in any company he believes can generate superior returns, including growth companies and undervalued companies.
Analyzing thousands of stocks listed on U.S. exchanges is likely impossible for smaller investors. That’s why it is wise to leverage the resources from distinguished money managers, such as Loeb, in order to help narrow down a watch-list.
Investors should take a closer look at the stocks mentioned above.
As of this writing, I did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities and this is not a buy or sell recommendation on any security mentioned.
Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/11/detailed-look-daniel-loeb-stock-portfolio-ggsyn/.
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As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 25, 1994
Registration Statement 33-23203
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
Ohio 34-0963169
(State or other jurisdiction (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
of incorporation or organization)
1985 RESTRICTED STOCK PLAN
(as amended and restated
April 24, 1992)
(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code,
of registrant's principal executive offices)
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code,
of agent for service)
Amending the Registration Statement to remove from registration the unsold
securities offered thereby.
TERMINATION OF REGISTRATION
This Post-Effective Amendment No. 2 to Form S-8 Registration Statement (No.
33-23203) ("Registration Statement") is filed by The Progressive Corporation
("Registrant"). The Registration Statement covers 3,878,226 shares of the
Registrant's Common Shares, $1.00 par value ("Common Shares") in connection
with The Progressive Corporation 1985 Restricted Stock Plan ("Plan"). The
Registrant has issued pursuant to the Registration Statement a total of -0-
Common Shares. Pursuant to the terms of the Plan, no Common Shares may be
issued under the Plan after December 31, 1993. Accordingly, the Registrant has
terminated the offering of the balance of 3,878,226 Common Shares covered by
the Registration Statement and remaining unissued under the Plan as of December
31, 1993 (the "Unissued Shares"), and, pursuant to Undertaking A.(3) in Item 21
of the Registration Statement, hereby gives notice of its removal from
registration of the Unissued Shares.
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the
Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets
all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this
Post-Effective Amendment No. 2 to Registration Statement to be signed on its
behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in the City of Mayfield
Village, State of Ohio, on the 25th day of May, 1994.
BY: /s/ David M. Schneider
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this
Post-Effective Amendment No. 2 to Registration Statement has been signed below
by the following persons in the capacities indicated on May 25, 1994.
- --------- -----
* Peter B. Lewis President, Chief Executive Officer,
-------------------------------- Chairman of the Board and Director
Peter B. Lewis (principal executive officer)
/s/ Charles B. Chokel principal financial officer
/s/ Jeffrey W. Basch principal accounting officer
* Milton N. Allen Director
* B. Charles Ames Director
* Stephen R. Hardis Director
SIGNATURE TITLE
--------- -----
* Norman S. Matthews Director
* Donald B. Shackelford Director
* Paul B. Sigler Director
*David M. Schneider, by signing his name hereto, does sign this document on
executed by such persons and filed as exhibits to the Form S-8 Registration
Statement (Registration Statement No. 33-23203).
By:/s/ David M. Schneider
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You are here: Home / News - Notes / Marion Davies Clippings – Runaway Romany (1917) Troubles
Marion Davies Clippings – Runaway Romany (1917) Troubles
January 3, 2013 By Cliff Aliperti Leave a Comment
Good morning! Nodded off early last night and awoke to The Squall (1929) on TCM. Like Robert Osborne said in his intro, I don't think they intended for this one to be so funny.
So glad they tucked it in the middle of the night for Loretta Young's sake. The poor 16-year-old got off her dialogue so badly I'm almost surprised she got another chance at talkies! Pretty ugly stuff from her elders as well, especially Richard Tucker, though Alice Joyce was semi-passable. At least vampy Myrna Loy looked like she was having a good time, though after having watched her do the same in her next film, The Great Divide (1929), I'm left wondering who fell for that terrible accent she uses in each of them.
TCM's first Loretta Young Star of the Month marathon continues until 11:15 this morning when they stop to pay brief tribute to Marion Davies, who was born on this date in 1897. The four Marion Davies titles for those who are interested:
11:15 am - The Bachelor Father (1931)
1:00 pm - Polly of the Circus (1932)
2:15 pm - Page Miss Glory (1935)
4:00 pm - Ever Since Eve (1937)
Note: All times EST
After finding myself wide awake near the end of The Squall (I laughed so hard when Alice Joyce caught Richard Tucker hoisting a chair to smack their son with that there was no going back to bed for me!) I brewed the coffee and opened up the newspaper files with an eye towards Miss Davies' birthday.
I think you know I like the early stuff, so my search eventually wound up zeroing in on Davies' 1917 film debut Runaway Romany. Since this one has zero IMDb votes and barely a word written about it in 95 years I'm going to assume it is lost.
Marion Davies was not an unknown quantity when she came to the movies, having already been in the Ziegfeld Follies and just then riding high on Broadway in the musical Oh, Boy. Her older sister Reine was also known in show business and it was Reine's ex-husband, George W. Lederer, a well-known musical comedy director on Broadway himself, who directed and produced Marion's movie debut.
Early 1920s Tobacco Card from Cuba
Runaway Romany appears to have been produced just prior to Davies' beginning her long term relationship with the publisher William Randolph Hearst. I bumped into varying accounts this evening, but I'm always happy to settle on film historian Jeanine Basinger who writes that Davies and Hearst met sometime between 1915 and 1918.
"Marion Davies made her film debut in 1917 in Runaway Romany, which was shot in Florida and released by Pathe. She played a Gypsy girl who turns out to be the long-lost daughter of an important man. The film was not particularly successful, and Davies was in it only because it was directed by her brother-in-law, George Lederer. According to Davies herself, years later, Hearst saw the film and signed her for his film company for $500 per week" (316).
The production was not without its difficulties. A June 1917 article, which also claims Davies wrote the script, notes how Marion did not balk when the title had been changed from The White Gypsy to Runaway Romany. She did draw the line however "when she discovered that the scenario had been changed to introduce real gypsies and a trained bear, and that she was expected to climb a tree with the bear pursuing her" ("The Passing").
It's claimed that Marion went on strike to protest and given the film's lack of availability I don't know whether the bear got to chase her around on screen or not.
While Basinger wrote that Runaway Romany was filmed in Florida, it appears that at least part of it was shot in Yonkers, NY. This August 5, 1917 clipping from The Dramatic Mirror was just too good not to reproduce in full:
Runaway Romany released at the very end of 1917 by which time Marion Davies was sold on motion pictures:
1925 UK Tobacco Card
"Marion Davies, now completing her first film play, 'Runaway Romany,' is reported to be wavering in her determination to return to the speaking stage after her brief excursion into the picture field. She is most enthusastic over the co-operation of her association in the production, all of whom, she says, have made her feel at home in her new surroundings" (Dean).
In Hollywood On the Hudson Richard Koszarski refers to Runaway Romany as "a screen test clearly designed to impress Hearst" (115). One which worked. Cecilia of the Pink Roses (1918), her next film, was produced by the Hearst created "Marion Davies Film Corporation."
While Hearst certainly aided Davies at this point in her career it should be stated that his backing is now seen as actually having held back the overall career of the very talented Marion Davies. TCM airs four quality talkie comedies today which show Davies off to great advantage.
Set your DVR to go if I caught you in time.
Basinger, Jeanine. Silent Stars . Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press, 1999.
Dean, Daisy. "News Notes from Movieland." Hutchinson News 3 Aug 1917: 4. NewspaperArchive. Web. 3 Jan 2013.
Koszarski, Richard. Hollywood On the Hudson: Film and Television in New York from Griffith to Sarnoff . Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2008.
"The Passing Show." Syracuse Herald 24 Jun 1917: 96. NewspaperArchive. Web. 3 Jan 2013.
Filed Under: News - Notes Tagged With: clippings, film debut, Marion Davies, runaway romany, TCM, Turner Classic Movies
← January 2013 TCM Preview – A Look Inside My Now Playing Guide Tossing Darts at History to Discover Then as Now →
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Site C – building a cesspool, not a reservoir
By Norm Farrell on October 16, 2017 • ( 13 Comments )
There are reasons why proponents of Site C, including utility executives and members of the former BC Liberal Government, continue to promote the project despite much evidence that it was the wrong choice three years ago and remains that today.
Read through the linked report or just consider the following extracts and measure the possibility that corruption motivated the political decision to proceed with the most expensive public project in BC history.
To ensure the project began, Liberals made sure they populated the board room and the executive suites at BC Hydro with loyal supporters. Then they sidelined BCUC, the independent body that was established to review this and other utility projects. Further, Liberals and their loyal friends ensured that Site C financial reports were either delayed or hidden and they employed spin doctors to manage their version of truth.
In other words, everything was done by Liberals to ensure that Site C was not subject to due diligence.
Even after the new government’s review process began, the utility was hiding and manipulating information. Despite the Horgan government’s expressed desire for an honest, open and transparent examination of Site C, Minister Michelle Mungall appears not to have imposed that will on the present management of BC Hydro.
This is a test of strength for the Horgan Government. They ought not to surrender.
From ScienceDirect.com:
Corruption is one of the key issues for public policies. It is one of the major impediments to the development of emerging countries and to further improve the quality of life in developed countries… The eradication of corruption is one of the key challenges that the world faces. Scholars agree that corruption might be eradicated by enhancing education and with cultural changes leading to a better government capable of producing policies tackling this issue.
Government policies can reduce corruption “increasing the benefits of being honest, increasing the probability of detection and punishment, and increasing the penalties levied on those caught […] Such measures usually require substantive law reform and the introduction of more transparency. [Research] indicates transparency in public procurement as a key practice for fighting corruption.
…corruption is particularly relevant for megaprojects because of their intrinsic characteristics. Megaprojects are projects characterized by: large investment commitment, vast complexity (especially in organizational terms), and long-lasting impact on the economy, the environment, and society…
Transparency International defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. There are three conditions favouring corruption:
Discretionary power: public officials must have the power of design or administer regulations and policies in a discretionary manner.
Economic rents: the manipulation of decisions must derive some return for the decision-makers.
Weak institutions: the structure of government institutions and the political processes are very important determinants of the level of corruption…
Corruption:
Reduces public revenue and increases spending, contributing to the fiscal deficit.
Increases income inequality because it allows well-positioned individuals to take advantage of government activities at the cost of the rest of population.
Imposes regulatory controls and inspections for market failures.
Distorts incentives.
Acts as an arbitrary tax.
Reduces the role of government in the enforcement of contracts and on the protection of property rights.
Reduces the legitimacy of the market economy and a democracy.
Acts as a barrier to entry in the market for small size and emerging firms.
Specific features characterize projects and make it more or less susceptible to corruption. These characteristics are:
Size: this is the most important feature because it is easier to hide bribes and inflated claims in large projects than in small projects.
Uniqueness: this makes budget costs difficult to compare and therefore it is easier to inflate.
Government involvement: public administrators can use their arbitrary power especially where there are insufficient controls on how government officials behave.
Number of contractual links: each contractual link provides an opportunity for someone to pay a bribe in exchange for the contract award.
Project complexity: when projects are very complex, factors like mismanagement or poor design can hide bribes and inflate claims.
Lack of frequency of projects: winning these projects may be critical to the survival or profitability of contractors, which provides an incentive for contractors to use bribes.
Work is concealed: subsequent processes cover the basic components of the work. The quality of the components can be very costly or difficult to check.
Culture of secrecy: even if public funds subsidize the projects, costs could be kept secret.
Entrenched national interests: the government selects local and national companies justifying the choice to favour national interests. These positions have often been cemented by bribery.
Lack of ‘due diligence’: frequent lack of due diligence on participants in construction projects allows corruption to continue.
The cost of integrity: in several cultures bribery and deceptive practises are often accepted as the norm: not paying these bribes means not doing the project.
In particular the procurement is critical, since corruption can be associated with:
Invitation: the public officials may have the power to decide which enterprises to invite to the tender.
Short listing/pre-qualification: limiting the number of competitors according to previous experience.
Technology choice: aiming to require particular characteristics for the tender.
Confidentiality of information: there are numerous ways for public officials holding confidential information to misuse their position…
Categories: BC Hydro, Site C
R.I.P. Rafe Mair
Minimum transparency
The B.C. Liberals are interested in building political friendships more than building environmentally friendly projects supported by the taxpayer’s ATM. Until they are willing to openly admit the corruption, secrecy, deletion, hidden documents, offshore/out of province campaign donations, and environmental negligence … they will continue “the Christy Clark dream” that all the bad things under her watch just never really happened. It was all just a bad dream. They still have not woken up.
If they were to check their baggage at the airport, they would need a second airplane to to transport “the baggage”. There was a lack of business ethics, hidden behind the smile and the odour still lingers.
The BC Hydro, ICBC and Ministry of the Environment executives should be removed without severance packages and should be made to pay for the mess they created. Some should face the Judge and deserve fines with public humiliation.
John Horgan and Andrew Weaver must lead by example … using the B.C. Liberals as the bad example.
Mike Flynn says:
I have commented before and I repeat again that the Board Directors of BC Hydro and all former Liberal Cabinet Ministers should be charged with Breach of Trust and Breach of Fiduciary Respossibilities with their mismanagement of BC Hydro. I’m sure that submissions to the Utilities Commission on BC Hydro would give any prosecuter enough ammunition to proceded with charges. I’m sure that Norm has enough too.
Chris Aikman says:
Don’t confuse the corruption of BC Hydro by the previous government with what we really need to move forward with decarbonization of our energy supply. Yes, these issues are interrelated, but do not supply an answer.
Do you really believe we can generate the 35 to 70 GWH of ADDITIONAL electricity per year needed to electrify ground transportation from sun & wind alone? That’s an amount comparable to BC Hydro’s current annual production of 57,652 GWH. Electric vehicles will approximately double demand.
“Sorry, boss. I can’t drive in to work today. The sun didn’t shine last night & my auto battery is discharged.”
Norman Farrell says:
I wonder how you calculate that we’ll need more electricity than we presently consume in British Columbia to power a fleet of electric cars? What is the timeline?
Because I’ve been looking at cars recently, I’m aware that the all-electric cars available for immediate purchase on the North Shore would fit in my driveway. Sales are miniscule and they’re likely to remain that way for years to come in Canada where driving distances are long.
The advertised ranges of available cars do not reflect real world experience in the Canadian climate. A study conducted by the AAA Automotive Research Center shows electric vehicle driving range can be nearly 60 percent lower in extreme cold and 33 percent lower in extreme heat.
I’d been thinking about a plug-in electric car until I was trapped twice in one week in gridlock after collisions on the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. I wondered, jf it had been freezing weather and many were driving EVs, how long it would have taken to clear away cars gone dead after exhausting battery power to keep occupants warm.
That’s not to say that EVs won’t become more popular but it is not going to happen quickly. That provides time for alternative clean power sources to evolve further, likely a mix of solar, wind and geothermal.
It is foolishness to spend billions on Site C when it would create only a small amount of power at a price that is a multiple of current alternatives. It’s a bit like a young couple buying a 10 bedroom house today because their family might grow in the future.
With the rate of technological change now occurring, we should not lock into old-style solutions for future needs anticipated. Look at the cost trends of solar and wind power generation over the past five to ten years and consider new improvements in the pipeline. Additionally, think of the potential for future efficiency improvements in lighting, motors and other items that use electricity.
People who think Site C is an appropriate solution to energy needs might have invested in cathode ray tubes in the late 20th century because they correctly believed the numbers of TV sets in use was going to soar.
Hi Norman,
Here are the dates that European countries are planning to ban sales of gas & diesel automobiles, according to recent news: Netherlands by 2025, Norway before 2030, India by 2030 (partial ban), in UK and France by 2040. Paris plans to ban all but electric vehicles from the city by 2030.
But what about North America?
If NAFTA is trashed, as appears increasingly likely, free trade in automobile parts between US & Canada which we’ve enjoyed since 1965, will be over. Both countries will have to rebuild separate industries. Electric vehicles (EV) contain far fewer parts than those with internal-combustion engines (ICE). There probably would be a huge surge in electric vehicle manufacturing in North America, as well as already indicated in Europe. Is it possible that retail prices of EVs could fall below that of ICE vehicles? Over their life cycle, they are already competitive.
According to StatsCan, fuel sales by province: https://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/trade37c-eng.htm In BC 2016, gasoline sales were 5,770 million litres (1528 million US gallons), diesel sales 1,747 million litres (460 million US gals). To convert these to GWH:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_gallon_equivalent
gives us values of 51,000 gigawatt-hours for gasoline sales, 17,500 GWH for diesel, 68,500 GWH total.
According to BC Hydro, 2016 domestic sales of electricity were 57,300 GWH: https://www.bchydro.com/content/dam/BCHydro/customer-portal/documents/corporate/accountability-reports/financial-reports/annual-reports/bchydro-2016-17-annual-service-plan-report.pdf
In other words, it would take MORE electricity than BC hydro presently distributes in BC to power our passenger vehicle fleet if all were electric, and if the efficiency of petrol-powered and electric powered vehicles was the same. Fortunately, EVs are about twice as energy efficient as ICEs. So approximately ~34,000 GWH MORE electricity is required to replace fossil energy for passenger vehicles. Most of this new energy will surely come from solarPE and wind generation. Still, these must be assurance of supply for this transition to occur. That means we must increase our stored hydro capacity.
Lots of stored hydro is already behind WAC Bennett dam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline_gallon_equivalent Assuming it holds >2 years of water flow, Williston Reservoir holds >26,200 GWH. The rate of discharge of this energy is limited by the fact that dinosaur lake only holds 2 days of river flow; more discharge will cause downstream flooding. With Site C, the reservoir holds ~22 days of river flow. This permits rapid discharge of the upper reservoirs on time scales of minutes to months, if extra generation capacity is added as needed.
It’s really hard to produce this kind of power flexibility any other way. That’s why I believe SiteC is essential for replacement of fossil energy by solar+wind+hydro, while still ensuring the security of supply we have enjoyed with fossil fuels.
Sincerely, Chris Aikman http://dreamgreen.ca/
Your calculations are flawed according to the European Environment Agency. They did a detailed examination of the potential impact of EVs and reported this:
“Additional electricity generation will be required in the European Union to meet the extra energy demand arising from an 80% share of electric vehicles in 2050. The share of Europe’s total electricity consumption from electric vehicles will increase from approximately 0.03% in 2014 to around 4-5% by 2030 and 9.5% by 2050.
“The additional electricity demand due to the high rates of electric vehicle ownership assumed for the future will need to be met by additional power generation. Furthermore, this additional energy needs to be integrated into the grid infrastructure across Europe. Critical questions are therefore how much electricity is needed, what type of generation is used to cover this additional electricity demand and how are charging peaks managed?
“Until 2030, the additional energy demand by electric vehicles will be limited and will not significantly influence the electricity system. But, in the longer term, with high market shares of electric vehicles assumed in 2050, the required electricity demand will have more significant impact on power systems in Europe.
“The share of electricity consumption required by an 80% share of electric vehicles in 2050 will vary between 3% and 25% of total electricity demand across the EU-28 Member States (Figure 1), depending upon the number of electric vehicles anticipated in each country…”
The fact remains that Site C is intended to have 1,100 MW capacity and, if it performs according to BC Hydro facility averages, it would produce about 4,500 GWh of electricity or roughly 10% of BC Hydro’s current production. At $10 bn to $12 bn capital cost, it is very expensive power, about 4 to 5 times current market values. With increased production by IPPs and flat demand for the 13th consecutive year, we have a growing surplus so it is bad policy to create even more surplus electricity on the basis of something that might happen 20 or 30 years from now. In addition, this Peace River project imposes large cultural and environmental damages.
The potential for solar power in western Canada is huge and cost effective generating technology is available now. In addition, the prospect of huge efficiency improvements is very high. We also have great potential for geothermal power, the development of which was sidetracked when the Campbell Government chose to put private hydro power producers on easy street.
Large mistakes were made in the past. Now we need to go forward with financial prudence guiding us.
And what did the BC Liberals know about size? The Port Mann bridge is “currently the second longest cable-stayed bridge in North America and was the widest bridge in the world until the opening of the new Bay Bridge in California.” (Wiki)
As well, Site C: “the largest public infrastructure project in the province’s history.” These words must make contractors drool. So many ways to go cost plus + — with taxpayers paying the bills.
John's Aghast says:
I heard from one of the contractors that Hydro’s specs are wide enough to drive a truck through. He, of course, is an ardent Site C supporter so further discussion was fruitless. However, an unbiased examination might yield interesting results.
Stack the deck and maufacture the consent.?
Off the books communications,post it notes ,triple delete?
Only auditor general should be legally allowed to comment on final time and cost puffery boasting
Not party party poli propa press pieces and cut copy paste media releases.?
I agree with you Mr. Flynn. Nothing but those charges “as a start!” should be accepted by BC taxpayers. But, let’s not narrow the scope so…it must also include Gordon Campbell and Christy Clark, as well as the ministers of environment and finance throughout the reign of BOTH premiers. If nothing else, it may help to serve as a warning for future troughers that the taxpayers have had enough of their crap, and there will be consequences for their inability to be honest, forthright and worthy of their so-called titles.
Mr. Horgan; Mr. Weaver: Enough is Enough. Clean up this cesspool known as British Columbia.
Lew Edwardson (@valtamtech) says:
My dictionary defines a mastermind as someone who plans and directs an ingenious and complex scheme or enterprise. It also defines a puppet as a person, party, or state under the control of another person, group, or power.
Setting the table as outlined in Norm’s third paragraph would require considerable forethought and planning. Whether it would require true mastermind status might be open to question, but it would require considerably more intellect than shown by any of the elected BC Liberals. Even the old proverb about two heads being better than one wouldn’t explain it. I doubt six of those elected heads working together could conceive and pull it off without external direction.
The BCUC wasn’t only sidelined for Site C; it was also kicked out of the room by the Clean Energy Act in order that other private milking machines like the Northwest Transmission Line and IPPs could nurse on the public teat with some degree of privacy.
Given the recent revelations that BC’s Climate Leadership Plan was crafted by the oil and gas industry in the Calgary boardrooms of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, we might ask whether a similar model was used to mastermind BC’s energy policies, including the Clean Energy Act. https://www.desmog.ca/2017/09/17/b-c-s-last-climate-leadership-plan-was-written-big-oil-s-boardroom-literally
We might also ask whether puppets have pockets.
gino natola says:
get out of the pool now … it’s full of poo
lets wite out burrard thermal so we cant even use our own resource but let another region use it instead.?
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TOWNIE: UMB DRUBBING, PAWSOX GRUBBING
University cuts and a (possible) corporate scam just in time for the holidays
UMass Boston admin lays off more staff, unions push back
The neoliberal war on public higher education continues unabated in Massachusetts as the UMass Boston administration announced the layoff of 36 personnel last week, and a reduction in hours for seven more. According to the Boston Globe, all of them are “staff who clean the school, help run academic programs, work in the student health office, or in other ways support the daily operations of the university. Some have worked there more than 30 years.” UMB had 2,095 employees in 2016, but has cut 130 jobs so far this year. The university serves over 16,000 students.
As of this writing, campus unions are planning protests. Hopefully, such actions will ultimately build a political movement capable of operationalizing the prescriptions of the fine report a coalition of UMB “students, staff unions, and faculty” released in September. Entitled “Crumbling Public Foundations: Privatization and UMass Boston’s Financial Crisis,” it lays the responsibility for the budget crisis currently engulfing the university at the feet of the UMB administration, the UMass Board of Trustees, and the state legislature.
As well it should. The legislature has been slashing the state higher ed budget since the 1980s. The board keeps raising the tuition and fees paid by students and families to cover the resulting gap. And the UMB administration continues increasing the number of high-level administrators with questionable job descriptions and fat paychecks who somehow rarely face layoffs—despite costing the school far more per capita than each of the low-level employees who keep getting axed of late. All while expanding the campus in ways that don’t always benefit the urban students that institution was built to serve… running up unsustainable debt loads in the process.
The report calls for five major reforms that its authors believe would set the campus to rights:
UMass Boston should not be required to show a positive net income in its budget. Instead, it should be allowed to make debt payments using the reserves it’s been forced to build up for the last few years—and the Board of Trustees should “release Central Office reserves” to help with those payments. Rather than compelling students and their families to shoulder such costs through ever-increasing tuition and fees.
The UMB administration should engage in an open and transparent planning process with faculty, staff, and students that will “ensure that the campus can continue to provide an affordable and diverse education along with appropriate support services to its students,” review interest and principal payments, and review the rapid increase in high-level administrator expenses.
The UMass Board of Trustees should endorse the Fair Share Amendment that will levy an additional 4 percent income tax on millionaires and spend the money on public higher education, pre-K-12 education, and transportation if passed by binding statewide referendum next year.
The Mass Legislature should cover the cost of rebuilding crumbling campus infrastructure.
The Mass Legislature should annually increase appropriations for public higher education until we are at least on par with the national average based on our state’s wealth. The Commonwealth is presently at the bottom of the pack for state appropriations for public higher ed.
The white paper concludes with a visionary sentiment that’s worth reprinting in full: “In considering these recommendations, we ask that we all—members of the Massachusetts legislature, the UMass Board of Trustees, UMass Boston’s administration, and the larger community of Boston—remember the purpose with which we are tasked. Chancellor John W. Ryan, at UMass Boston’s 1966 Founding Day Convocation, reminded those gathered that ‘we have an obligation to see that the opportunities we offer… are indeed equal to the best that private schools have to offer.’ This is the expectation that the citizens of our Commonwealth have for themselves and their family members when they come to UMass Boston. This is the responsibility that UMB staff, faculty, and administrators take on each day on behalf of our students. This should be what guides the decision of the Board of Trustees and the Mass legislature as we work to address the crisis at UMB.”
PawSox Worcester visit: boondoggle in the making?
Meanwhile, in faraway central Mass, my Worcester Magazine colleague Bill Shaner is tracking what could be another big giveaway of local and state money. Seems that the Pawtucket Red Sox—the BoSox Triple A affiliate team—have been courting Worcester for a few months and might be looking to move there in exchange for lashings of public lucre. Shaner reports that multiple sources said that Jay Ash, secretary of Gov. Baker’s Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, attended a meeting last week between Worcester officials and PawSox bigs. Though “City and PawSox officials both declined to comment on the meeting, or whether or not it took place.” While “Ash’s staff confirmed he was in Worcester Monday but couldn’t say what for.” All I can say for now is that, like some capitalist Santa Claus, whenever Ash appears corporate leaders can virtually always expect a yuuuuge present from the Bay State and any municipal government in range in the near future. So this nascent Woo-town deal is definitely worth watching.
Boston, Budget, debt, economy, giveaway, Jason Pramas, legislature, Massachusetts, neoliberal, PawSox, politics, public, taxes, TOWNIE, trustees, tuition, UMass, Worcester
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Who Are The Characters In Anna H's Short Stories?
Posted by Anna H. on October 18, 2019 at 3:00 AM
How's it going my gumdrops? Is it just me, or does that gif look creepy? Staring at the illustration of those hands typing and the texture of the hands somewhat makes my skin crawl. It appears that I managed to creep myself out.
Since I write Psychological Horror, Crime, and Psychological Thriller Short Stories, it would only be fitting to have a creepy-looking gif to help set the tone for this blog.
Recently, I realized that I never published a character list for any of my short stories. You already know, that I self-built my Horror/Thriller page with excerpts of my short stories. That's along with publishing blogs explaining about some of them. However, I have NEVER published a character list on It's Not All Gumdrops & Unicorns. At least, not to my recollection.
Before publishing today's blog, listing the characters for my Flash Fiction piece, "Across The Street" was impossible. How? How could I?
Feeling stumped, how could I POSSIBLY create a character list for this particular story, that I originally wrote in 2005?
When I originally wrote the story, it was titled "Dolls" and mostly in homage to Octavio Paz's "The Blue Bouquet." It was really surprising that my Creative Writing Professor at the time enjoyed my horrifying version of the late author's Flash Fiction piece.
In "Across The Street," the characters are nameless. A young, female author is the narrator. After taking a break from writing on a dark and stormy night, she goes to bed and begins to have what are called, "false awakenings."
False awakenings are dreams within a dream. In this particular situation, the narrator's dreams are nightmares within a nightmare.
Hearing a monstrous thunderclap and a domestic disturbance from across the street break her nightmare. Being an interloper, the narrator walks across the street to her neighbors' house only to discover a domestic murder.
The husband's mutilated corpse is found propped on the floor by the narrator, inside the garage, after he attempted to rape his deranged wife. The narrator is soon held hostage by the widow.
Aside from "Across The Street," the characters in my other short stories can be viewed as darker as well as more depraved and sadistic than in the preceding piece.
Some feedback was given about the characters in "Maliciousness," "The Bill Collector," and "Psycho Vs. Psycho," over the last year or 2.
I've always considered those 3 short stories to be a "short story trilogy." According to a writing coach, "Maliciousness," "The Bill Collector," and "Psycho Vs. Psycho" would be considered a so-called "novel-in-short story."
So, why is that?
Well, all 3 short stories read like a fast pace novel and have the same recurring characters.
Anyway, here are the lists of all the characters found in "Maliciousness," "The Bill Collector," and "Psycho Vs. Psycho."
Part 1: "Maliciousness" Character List
Terry- 1st person narrator/bully explaining about his 1-sided friendship with Alice
Alice- Victim with a past vendetta against Terry, Tiffany, Carrie, Drew, and Michael
Tiffany- Terry's ex-girlfriend, who he cheated on with Carrie
Carrie- Terry's former friend/one night stand
Drew- Terry's former friend and Carrie's ex-boyfriend, who she cheated on with Terry
Michael- Terry's former high school jock best friend and Alice's scumbag crush/prom date
Part 2: "The Bill Collector" Character List
Alice- 21-year-old petite, chunky blonde protagonist, and a Capricorn
Damon- Alice's recently unemployed live-in boyfriend, who could pass as LL Cool J's young doppelganger and spoils her with expensive birthday gifts
Alexis- Alice's feisty, Rottweiler/Doberman Pinscher that Damon bought her as a birthday gift
Greg- Somewhat resembles actor/voice actor Seth Green and is Americana's clerk and Alice's love-struck stalker with jaw dropping secrets
Gwendalyn- Americana's clerk and Greg's co-worker, who helps Alice and Damon with Alice's 21st birthday gift
Part 3: "Psycho Vs. Psycho" Character List
Alice- 21-year-old protagonist being objectified and stalked by 3 scumbags
Damon- Alice's unemployed, live-in boyfriend, who rushes to her rescue with Alexis
Greg- Americana's clerk, Gwendalyn's co-worker, and Alice's love-struck stalker going under the guise of "Larry" with jaw dropping secrets
Michael- Terry's former jock best friend and Alice's antagonistic, deranged, scumbag crush/prom date from the past with a 3-year-old high school vendetta
Tony Sausalito- Sleazy, opportunistic, Spanish American, security guard at the gas station, who is titillated by Alice
The preceding character lists are only lists for 3 of my 6 short stories. Have any thoughts regarding these 3 character lists? If so, let me know what you think!
Categories: About Me/My Writing/MORE
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How to Record a Conversation on an iPhone
by John Lister
Mike Flokis/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
While the iPhone does not have a built-in recording option for telephone calls, you can record face-to-face conversations using the Voice Memos app, which by default is located in the Utilities folder. However, you can still record incoming and outgoing calls by using a third-party solution.
You can record incoming calls when using the Google Voice service. This service allows you to get a single phone number from Google, and then decide at any time where you want to receive the calls, such as on your iPhone. If you receive a call through Google Voice, tap "4" on your iPhone to start or stop recording. The recording will then appear in your Google Voice inbox, accessible through the iPhone app or the Google Voice app. As of October 2013, you cannot record outgoing calls on Google Voice.
Several apps allow you to record phone calls. Examples include Recorder, We Talk and ipadio (see Resources). Such apps usually carry a charge, either to buy the app or as a subscription service fee, such as a monthly fee or a per-minute fee for the time you actually use it. Check reviews and details before buying, as some apps have limitations such as only recording outbound calls. Also check how you can retrieve and transfer recordings, as some apps may make stored calls inaccessible once you cancel the subscription.
Creating a hardware solution for recording iPhone calls is a complicated task. The way the phone is designed means that trying to connect recording equipment directly to your phone's earphone socket usually means you either can only record the other person's voice, or you wind up with an echo of one or both voices on the call. Professional third-party hardware does exist, but can be very expensive, be subject to distortion or interference in the recording, and make it less practical to hold the phone. If you do not require perfect audio quality and are calling from a private location, the simplest hardware solution may be to put the iPhone onto speakerphone mode and place it next to a digital voice recorder.
Check local laws for any legal restrictions on recording a phone call. The state and/or country in which you live may disallow recording calls without the consent of the other party. You may also be affected by the laws prevailing in the place where the other party is physically present at the time of the call, or where the other party legally resides.
Google Voice: Recording Calls
Gizmodo: iPhone Call Recorder: There Is an Fugly Piece of Hardware for That
Amazon.com: ESONIC Cell Phone Call Recorder
How to Record Conversations on an iPhone
How to Document a Phone Conversation
How Can I Save Recorded Memos From an ...
How Can I Record My Landline Phone ...
How to Convert Cassette Tapes to Digital
How to Use a Computer As an EVP Recorder
How to Record From USB Audio
How to Send Recorded Voicemail
How to Eavesdrop on Phone Conversations
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Zoho respects user privacy and does not have an ad-revenue model in any part of its business, including its free products. More than 45 million users around the world, across hundreds of thousands of companies, rely on Zoho every day to run their businesses, including Zoho itself. Zoho Corporation is privately held and profitable with more than 7,000 employees and offices in Austin, Texas (U.S.); Renigunta, India; Tenkasi, India; Yokohama, Japan; Beijing, China; Singapore; Queretaro, Mexico; Byron Bay, Australia; Utrecht, Netherlands; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
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Zoho One is offered under a friendly subscription model with flat per-user pricing, that is also surprisingly affordable. It is available globally and is supported by a global network of training and implementation partners and certified developers. Companies using Zoho One replace much of their existing software, saving money and reducing complexity, all while responding better to the market.
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JC Consultancy
Editing & Literary Consultancy
About Janette
Book Blethers
Do I Own My Story? But What If It’s Also Your Story, and You Don’t Want Me To Tell It?
From Laurie Hertzel, senior books editor at the Minneapolis Star Tribune and memoirist of News to Me: Memoirs of an Accidental Journalist (U. Of Minn. Press), some sound advice on publishing your memoirs. They are your memories, but how do you separate your life from the lives of those around you? Can you write your memoirs without offending anyone?
Laurie H. offers clear thinking without proposing a clear or ‘right’ way (as expected; it’s writing, after all). But she shares one solid piece of advice worth passing along:
“Beware the small, gratuitous hurt.”
The whole piece over on Brevity Magazine’s Non Fiction Blog is worth a read if you’re struggling with the same issues as Laurie H. Follow the link below.
Source: Do I Own My Story? But What If It’s Also Your Story, and You Don’t Want Me To Tell It?
Author Janette CurriePosted on 09/01/2016 09/01/2016 Categories WritingTags memoir, writing
Publishing News: Success for Emma Viskic
Congratulations go to [WoMentee] Emma Viskic for securing a book deal with Echo Publishing. The Melbourne-based publisher announced today that it will publish Emma’s debut crime novel in September. Echo Publishing, part of the Bonnier Group, opened earlier this year.
You can read the full announcement on their Facebook Page
and find out more about Emma’s writing on her website
Details about the WoMentoring Project <<
(c.) E.Viskic
Author Janette CurriePosted on 29/04/2015 29/04/2015 Categories WritingTags debut novel, Echo Publishing, Emma Viskic, Womentoring
Éireann Lorsung on Creative Productivity and Fear of Failure
As a writer, what holds you back from completing your novel? What are you afraid of?
I urge you to listen to Éireann Lorsung’s terrific talk, given at the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival, on the links between creativity and writing, fear of failure and unproductivity. For first time novelists, especially, she speaks to the fear of spending a long time writing into the unknown and the fear that impedes our forward momentum. We are afraid that we will fail, that it is all a waste of time. She offers comfort and strategies for overcoming fear and taking risks, and explores the tension between writing and not writing; how taking a walk, watching tv, cooking, knitting … living, are an important part of the writing ecosystem, part of what makes our writing unique.
The talk is full of insight and wisdom, good humour and empathy.
I love the image she paints of failure as a ghost that follows us, watches us, holds us back while we strive to complete a writing project.
Over and over I hear my students, my peers, and my own interior voice talk about failure as writers. Often this is linked to an idea of ‘productivity’, and in particular to a perception of others as ‘more productive’. As publication online increases the speed at which writing can appear in public, the distance between writing as a process and writing as a product closes. Consequently, the concept of productivity is measured more and more in terms of visible, finished objects, muddling the relation of publication to the act/process of writing.
Click through to the podcast
*University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival
**With thanks to Will Buckingham for leaving the trail
Author Janette CurriePosted on 14/08/2014 Categories WritingTags Creative Writing, Eireann Lorsung, Iowa Summer Writing Festival, Will Buckingham
The WoMentoring Project
I’m pleased to announce my involvement with a new initiative called The WoMentoring Project, which is being organised by the author Kerry Hudson. The project is bringing together women writers, agents, and editors, to offer free mentoring to up and coming female writers. Details of the project and how to apply are given below and can be found on the new website which is launching today: 15th April.
If you’re a female writer and you think you’d benefit from free mentoring, do take a look at the website for full details about how to apply.
The WoMentoring Project Website – http://womentoringproject.co.uk/
Image (c.) Sally Jane Thompson
The WoMentoring Project exists to offer free mentoring by professional literary women to up and coming female writers who would otherwise find it difficult to access similar opportunities.
The mission of The WoMentoring Project is simply to introduce successful literary women to other women writers at the beginning of their careers who would benefit from some insight, knowledge and support. The hope is that we’ll see new, talented and diverse female voices emerging as a result of time and guidance received from our mentors.
Each mentor selects their own mentee and it is at their discretion how little or much time they donate. We have no budget, it’s a completely free initiative and every aspect of the project – from the project management to the website design to the PR support – is being volunteered by a collective of female literary professionals. Quite simply this is about exceptional women supporting exceptional women. Welcome to The WoMentoring Project.
Like many great ideas the WoMentoring Project came about via a conversation on Twitter. While discussing the current lack of peer mentoring and the prohibitive expense for many of professional mentoring we asked our followers – largely writers, editors and agents – who would be willing to donate a few hours of their time to another woman just starting out. The response was overwhelming – within two hours we had over sixty volunteer mentors.
The WoMentoring Project is run on an entirely voluntary basis and all of our mentors are professional writers, editors or literary agents. Many of us received unofficial or official mentoring ourselves which helped us get ahead and the emphasis is on ‘paying forward’ some of the support we’ve been given.
In an industry where male writers are still reviewed and paid more than their female counterparts in the UK, we wanted to balance the playing field. Likewise, we want to give female voices that would otherwise find it hard to be heard, a greater opportunity of reaching their true potential.
In an ideal world we would offer a mentor to every writer who needed and wanted one. Of course this isn’t possible so instead we’ve tried to ensure the application process is accessible while also ensuring that our mentors have enough information with which to make their selection.
Applicant mentees will submit a 1000 word writing sample and a 500 word statement about how they would benefit from free mentoring. All applications will be for a specific mentor and mentees can only apply for one mentor at a time. Selections will be at the mentor’s discretion.
>> And check out the press release on BookTrade
[note: all images copyright of Sally Jane Thompson (c.)]
Author Janette CurriePosted on 15/04/2014 15/04/2014 Categories WritingTags Kerry Hudson, WoMentoring Project, writing
Amy Einhorn Interview at P&W
From Poets &Writers
(c.) Christy Whitney
Michael Szczerban is to be congratulated on this insightful, packed interview with Amy Einhorn, the editor of Amy Einhorn Books (an imprint of Putnam at Random House Group) in the current issue of Poets & Writers. His questions tease out the important facts about editing that beginning writers overlook in their eagerness to submit their precious manuscript. I’m not surprised to hear she undertook four major developmental edits on The Postmistress (I still think it needed more) but I’m pleased she took a chance on Sarah Blake when other editors passed on her new book. Amy explained her process of acquiring the book:
Not only did I pass on that novel originally, everyone in town passed on it. Sarah Blake’s sales track was not great, and when I got to page 100 of this novel, I knew I was going to reject it. But I read the whole thing. I never do that.
Then I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I was at a Riverhead sales conference presentation, and one of the reps got up and talked about how one of the books made them feel. I had this visceral reaction. I thought, “Oh, I just felt that. What was I reading?” It was that book I passed on from Stephanie Cabot. I went back to her and said, “Did you ever sell that novel?” And I had a very long conversation with Sarah. My first editorial letter to her was seventeen pages long.
Have a coffee and indulge fifteen minutes of your time with this fascinating insight into the editor’s role on the path to publication. It’ll open your eyes to how an editor will assess and work on your manuscript. It’s not just whether it’s a great story, but lots of other decisions are in play: will it sell, what do other editors think of it, what’s the author’s track record (with this kind of book), can my editorial experience and input ensure its success – and choosing a market-pleasing jacket cover. Amy says she took seventeen attempts to get it right for The Help, – now that’s attention to detail!
Amy Einhorn Interview
Here’s the Penguin/RH introduction to Amy Einhorn Books
Amy Einhorn Books / Putnam was founded in 2007 by Amy Einhorn and launched in February 2009. The imprint publishes fiction, narrative nonfiction, and commercial nonfiction. The overarching tenet of Amy Einhorn Books is to hit the sweet spot between literary and commercial—intelligent writing with a strong narrative and great storytelling. The first title published in the imprint was the number-one New York Times bestseller The Help by Kathryn Stockett, which has sold more than 10 million copies in the United States. It has been translated into more than forty-one languages and made into an Academy Award–nominated movie. Other New York Times–bestselling titles from the imprint include The Postmistress by Sarah Blake, The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown, Bad Things Happen by Harry Dolan, and The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha, which was also a number-one international bestseller. Upcoming titles include A Good American by Alex George, the number-one Indie Pick of February 2012; The Gods of Gotham by Lyndsay Faye (March 2012), which has already received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal; and the eagerly awaited debut of Jenny Lawson, the Bloggess’s memoir, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened.
And here’s my 2011 Bookrambler review of The Postmistress
Author Janette CurriePosted on 03/03/2014 Categories publishing, WritingTags Amy Einhorn Books, Michael Szczerban, Poets & Writers Interview, Sarah Blake, The Help, The Postmistress
Top Tips on Writing for Children
Writing tips and clear-sighted, informed advice on the children’s book market – via the Writers’ & Artists’ website:
Just up on the W&A site today is an impressive link list of useful writing tips from top children’s writers and publishers,- including, Children’s Laureate, Malorie Blackman; Emma Blackburn, who is editorial director for picture books at Bloomsbury Publishing; and from Alison Stanely, who has commissioned books for Puffin and HC Children’s. [note- the Debi Glori link is broken today but may be sorted by the time you link].
Top Tips & Advice on Writing for Children
Author Janette CurriePosted on 25/02/2014 Categories WritingTags Bloomsbury, HC Children's Publishing, Linda Strachan, Malorie Blackman, Puffin, W&AYB, writing advice, writing for children1 Comment on Top Tips on Writing for Children
What Editors Are Looking for in 2014
Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook 2014
Are you writing the NEXT BIG THING? Are you starting to think about where to send it, to wonder who will be interested in your book?
You know all about the pages and pages of listings in the Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook – they’re seared into your memory. You know how to compile a list of suitable agents and publishers and to target those people and places where your book will find sympathetic readers; people on the same wave-length, people who ‘get’ it.
But wouldn’t it be more helpful if you knew the kinds of books that editors and publishers were looking for right now? Wouldn’t it be helpful to know where your book fits into their current list?
c. Andrew Lownie website
Andrew Lownie Literary Agency posts an annual round-up of what editors are looking for in the year ahead. Once again, they’ve very helpfully asked a range of UK and US editors what they’re looking for, and have compiled a “wish list” of the books that editors are looking to commission in 2014.
If nothing else, take fifteen minutes out of your WIP and read through the entries. What have you got to lose? Does your book fit into any of their plans?
Check out the different lists on Andrew Lownie’s site – links below:
What UK Non-Fiction Editors Want in 2014
What UK Fiction Editors Want in 2014
What US Editors Want in 2014
Author Janette CurriePosted on 14/01/2014 Categories publishing, WritingTags Andrew Lownie Literary Agency, getting published, writing
Writers on Writing: J. K. Rowling
Whatever you think of J. K. Rowling, it’s fascinating to learn how she writes. I’m waiting for the advertisement from Apple using her admission that “The Mac Book Air changed my life”.
Christine A. Hurd‘s report on Rowling’s talk with Ann Patchett at the Lincoln Centre in New York gives a glimpse into her working methods on The Casual Vacancy (and what imaginative event planning to put them together!).
Rowling said:
“The challenge [with “The Casual Vacancy”] was the structure of the book, and I put a huge amount of work into that … The tricky thing is not showing your workings, for the reader never to realize how difficult it was. And that’s what took me the better part of five year…. I had complicated diagrams, strange little notes…cryptic things…I had to remind myself what the hell I was talking about.”
Read the full article at The Harvard Crimson
Author Janette CurriePosted on 28/10/2012 Categories WritingTags Ann Patchett, Christine A Hurd, Harvard Crimson, J K Rowling, Lincoln Center, New York, The Casual Vacancy
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The Scarlet Widow Gang Entraps Victims Using Romance Scams
Originally seen on: Bleepingcomputer by Lawrence Abrams, Febraury 13th, 2019
We often hear about sextortion, business email compromise (BEC), and inheritance scams, but the often overlooked “Romance Scams” could be the most insidious of them all. Not only do victims lose money, but the emotional entanglement ultimately leads to heartbreak.
Romance scams are months long, if not year long, campaigns where bad actors catfish, or pretend to be in love with, an unsuspecting victim in order to steal money from them. They do this by creating fake romantic relationships that the victims become invested in and are willing to help them with fake financial troubles.
In a report shared with BleepingComputer, the Agari Cyber Intelligence Division (ACID) outlines how a criminal gang out of Nigeria called “Scarlet Widow” targets those who are more likely to be lonely such as farmers, elderly, the disabled, and divorced.
This catfishing is done through the creation of fake personas that utilize stolen pictures of attractive people, fake names, personalities, and back stories where they were victimized in the past, but still believe that love is possible. They then create accounts on social media and dating sites, including ones that may attract those looking for love or are lonely such as Dating4Disabled.com, Farmers Dating Site, and DivorcedPeopleMeet.com.
For example, one of the fake personas discovered by Agari is a person named “U.S. Army Captain Michael” who is serving a tour of duty overseas, but is looking for love after he lost his wife.
“According to one of his fake dating site profiles, Captain Micheal is a 43-year-old Catholic man from Austin, Texas, who is currently serving a tour of duty overseas in Kabul, Afghanistan. His profile indicates that, like most of the other personas created by Scarlet Widow, he has lost a loved one in his past. In this case, Captain Micheal lost his wife, as his status describes him as “Widowed.” Since the death of his wife, he has been “searching for so long” for the perfect woman and hopes the women has a trusting mind to fall in love.”
The fake persona for Captain Michael was posted to dating sites such as MilitaryCupid.com and MarriedDateLink.com during a 6 month period in 2017.
Captain Michael Persona
Agari states that each of the personas created by Scarlet Widow have different personalities and ways of communicating that reflect their backstory and who they are targeting. For example, the researchers state that Captain Michael’s messages are usually short and to the point, while the gang’s female personas have a “softer, inquisitive, and more verbose tone”.
Example of email from Captain Michael
It’s all about the money
Ultimately, though, these scams are not about making true romance, but about stealing as much money from the victims as they can.
Once a “relationship” is established, the scammers tell their victims that they are having financial difficulty and need financial assistance. This assistance is usually in the form of money for plane tickets, travel assistance, or accommodations.
If the victim is shown to be willing to send money, then the scammers continue with their relationship while continuing to siphon money over a long period of time.
Such is the case with Texan man who was going through a painful divorce and met one of the gang’s fictitious characters named “Laura Cahill”. Over a period of one year, the Scarlet Widow persona was able to scam the individual out of $50,000.
This person was so firmly hooked that when the scammers didn’t reply to him in over a week, he sent a distraught email to her pleading for a reply.
Distraught email from victim
It ultimately got so bad, that this individual stole $10,000 from his father to send to the scammers. This “relationship” ultimately ended when the scammers stopped replying, but it shows how deeply entrenched victims can get in these fake “relationships”.
While this sounds like something that few would fall for, according to Agari it is not that unusual.
“We are tracking a number of Nigerian scammer groups that continue to engage in romance scams and seek out new victims. In 2018, Agari documented a long-running, $500,000 swindle of a divorced American woman with children who refinanced her home to send money to the con artist. Eventually the creditors closed in, and she was forced to sell her house, pull her children out of school, and move the family in with a friend. She continued to believe he was real until Agari presented her with irrefutable evidence of the truth, enabling her to finally break free in 2018. “
Unfortunately, protecting yourself from scams like this can be difficult, especially if you are the type of person that they are targeting. That is because lonely people crave love and camaraderie in their life and may miss warning signs.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged computer, email, internet, love, love emails, love letters, online dating, romance, romance scam, scam, tech, technology.
E-ticketing system exposes airline passengers’ personal information via email
Originally seen on CYBERSCOOP by Jeff Stone: February 6, 2019
At least eight airlines, including Southwest, use e-ticketing systems that could allow hackers to access sensitive information about travelers merely by intercepting emails, according to research published Wednesday by the mobile security company Wandera.
The systems fail to secure customers’ personally identifiable information, including names, boarding passes, passport numbers and flight numbers, Wandera said.
The email vulnerabilities still exist, Wandera found, even though researchers notified affected companies weeks ago, and despite growing corporate awareness about the risks associated with sacrificing security for convenience.
The weakness is a check-in link that is emailed to customers, Wandera researchers found. Customer information is embedded in the links, allowing travelers to travel from their email to a website where they check in for a flight without needing to enter their username and password. However the links are unencrypted and re-usable, presenting a tempting target for hackers, according to Michael Covington, vice president of product at Wandera.
“The airlines, in an effort to make it easy for their passengers to check in, have taken shortcuts that have led to the potential exposure of personal information,” he said.
Affected airlines include Southwest, Air France, KLM, Vueling, Jetstar, Thomas Cook, Transavia and Air Europa, Wandera found. Wandera has reported the vulnerability to each company and received responses, though none appear to have fixed the vulnerability, Covington said.
The airlines appear to be using unique servers for automated marketing that fail to protect user information.
“It’s not just the personal information they could get into, but the e-ticketing systems are basically allowing people in without authentication, which would allow you to change details about people like seat assignments and bags checked,” Covington said. “In some cases you can change existing bookings.”
There is no evidence outsiders have exploited the vulnerabilities.
Southwest Airlines is perhaps the best known low-cost airline operating in the U.S., with a 5 percent capacity growth planned for 2019, according to industry analysts at the Center for Aviation. Air France and KLM, which merged under a single holding company in 2004, jointly form one of the world’s largest airlines. Other companies named in the report — Vueling, Transavia and Air — are based in Europe. Thomas Cook is a British charter airline and Jetstar is a low-cost airline in Australia.
CyberScoop sought comment from each of the airlines named in this report. Several acknowledged receiving a request for comment. All except three failed to provide a statement or answer questions by press time.
In a statement, a Thomas Cook spokeswoman said, “We take the security of our customers’ data very seriously and have investigated this matter as a priority. We have looked into the questions raised and have taken immediate action to further increase the security of our customer data.” A Southwest spokesman said, “While we don’t have a comment on this specific issue, the safety and protection of our customers and their data privacy is our highest priority.”
A spokesperson for JetStar said the company takes data security and privacy “extremely seriously” and that the airline has “multiple layers of security in place.”
Air travelers anxious for a web connection in an airport, hotel or elsewhere on their journey are especially at risk because they could be more likely to connect to public WiFi, ignoring security precautions, Covington said.
“If you’re on a Wi-Fi network or a physical network that uses encryption, this would not be a problem,” he said.
“I can’t speak for the airlines individually,” he said. “We’re not a vulnerability testing company, and it’s not our business to go out and find this. But I can tell you the airlines we’ve engaged with have been keen to listen and are open to hearing more.”
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged airline e ticket, airlines, computer, e-tickets, email, hacked airlines, hacking, hacking airlines, internet, tech, technology.
Clever Phishing Attack Enlists Google Translate to Spoof Login Page
Originally seen on ThreatPost by Lindsay O’Donnell: February 26th, 2019
A tricky two-stage phishing scam is targeting Facebook and Google credentials using a landing page that hides behind Google’s translate feature.
Recently-discovered phishing emails scoop up victims’ Facebook and Google credentials and hides its malicious landing page via a novel method – Google Translate.
The phishing campaign uses a two-stage attack to target both Google and Facebook usernames and passwords, according to researchers at Akamai who posted a Tuesday analysis. But in a tricky twist of events, the scam also evades detection through burying its landing page in a Google Translate page – meaning that victims sees a legitimate Google domain and are more likely to input their credentials.
“When it comes to phishing, criminals put a lot of effort into making their attacks look legitimate, while putting pressure on their victims to take action,” Larry Cashdollar, with Akamai, said in a Tuesday post. “This is an interesting attack, as it uses Google Translate, and targets multiple accounts in one go.”
Google Credentials
Cashdollar said that he first noticed the attack on Jan. 7 when an email notification on his phone informed him that his Google account had been accessed from a new Windows device.
The message, titled “Security Alert,” features an image branded with Google that says “A user has just signed in to your Google Account from a new Windows device. We are sending you this email to verify that it is you.” Then, there’s a “Consult the activity” button below the message.
Interestingly, the message looked much more convincing in its condensed state on his mobile device, rather than on a desktop where the title of the email sender is more apparent, he said.
Upon closer look at the email, Cashdollar found that the “security alert” was sent from “facebook_secur[@]hotmail.com.”
That triggered two suspicions: Firstly, the email is from a Hotmail account, raising red flags – but also, the entire address had nothing to do with Google, instead referencing Facebook.
“Taking advantage of known brand names is a common phishing trick, and it usually works if the victim isn’t aware or paying attention,” he said. “Criminals conducting phishing attacks want to throw people off their game, so they’ll use fear, curiosity, or even false authority in order to make the victim take an action first, and question the situation later.”
When clicking on the “Consult the activity” button, Cashdollar was brought to a landing page that appeared to be a Google domain, prompting him to sign into his Google account.
However, one thing stuck out about the landing page – it was loading the malicious domain via Google Translate, Google’s service to help users translate webpages from one language to another.
Using Google Translate helps the bad actor hide any malicious attempts through several ways: Most importantly, the victim sees a legitimate Google domain which “in some cases… will help the criminal bypass endpoint defenses,” said Cashdollar.
Using Google Translate also means the URL bar is filled with random text. Upon further inspection of that text, victims could see the real, malicious domain, “mediacity,” being translated.
Luckily, “while this method of obfuscation might enjoy some success on mobile devices (the landing page is a near-perfect clone of Google’s older login portal), it fails completely when viewed from a computer,” said Cashdollar.
For those who fail to notice red flags regarding the landing page, their credentials (username and password) are collected – as well as other information including IP address and browser type – and emailed to the attacker.
“We are aware of the phishing attempts and have blocked all sites in question, on multiple levels,” a Google spokesperson told Threatpost. The spokesperson urged users to report them if they encounter a phishing site.
Facebook Credentials
However, the attack didn’t stop there. The attacker then attempts to hit victims twice, by forwarding them to a different landing page that purports to be Facebook’s mobile login portal as part of the attack.
These type of two-stage attacks appear to be on the rise as bad actors look to take advantage of victims who already fell for the first part of the scam, Cashdollar told Threatpost: “It seems this is becoming more common as the attacker knows they’ve gained your trust and try to steal additional credentials.”
Like the Google page, this Facebook landing page has some red flags. It uses an older version of the Facebook mobile login form, for instance.
“This suggests that the kit is old, and likely part of a widely circulated collection of kits commonly sold or traded on various underground forums,” said Cashdollar.
Despite these mistakes, the two stages of the phishing attack suggest a certain level of sophistication on the part of the attacker.
“It isn’t every day that you see a phishing attack leverage Google Translate as a means of adding legitimacy and obfuscation on a mobile device. But it’s highly uncommon to see such an attack target two brands in the same session,” he said.
Phishing Scams on the Rise
Phishing attacks have continued to grow over the past year – and this particular scam is only one example of how bad actors behind the scams are updating their methods to become trickier.
According to a recent Proofpoint report, “State of the Phish,” 83 percent of respondents experienced phishing attacks in 2018 – up 5 percent from 2017. That may not come as a surprise, as in the last year phishing has led to several massive hacks – whether it’s hijacking Spotify users’ accounts or large data breaches like the December San Diego Unified School District breach of 500,000.
Other methods of phishing have increased as well. Up to 49 percent of respondents said they have experienced “voice phishing” (when bad actors use social engineering over the phone to gain access to personal data) or “SMS/text phishing” tactics (when social engineering is used via texts to collect personal data) in 2018. That’s up from the 45 percent of those who experienced these methods in 2017.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged attack, email, google, internet, phishing, spam, tech, technology.
Microsoft: Russians targeted conservative think tanks, U.S. Senate
Originally Seen: Cybersecurity.com on August 21, 2018 by Sean Lyngaas
The Russian intelligence office that breached the Democratic National Committee in 2016 has spoofed websites associated with the U.S. Senate and conservative think tanks in a further attempt to sow discord, according to new research from Microsoft.
The tech giant last week executed a court order and shut down six internet domains set up by the Kremlin-linked hacking group known as Fancy Bear or APT 28, Microsoft President Brad Smith said.
“We have now used this approach 12 times in two years to shut down 84 fake websites associated with this group,” Smith wrote in a blog post. “We’re concerned that these and other attempts pose security threats to a broadening array of groups connected with both American political parties in the run-up to the 2018 elections.”
The domains were constructed to look like they belonged to the Hudson Institute and International Republican Institute, but were in fact phishing websites meant to steal credentials.
The two think tanks are conservative, yet count many critics of U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin among their members. The International Republican Institute lists Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney as board members. The Hudson Institute and International Republican Institute also have programs that promote democracy and good governance worldwide.
There is no evidence that the domains had been used to carry out successful cyberattacks, according to Microsoft. The company says it continues to work with both think tanks and the U.S. Senate to guard against any further attacks.
The attacks come as more and more instances of cyberattacks directed at the 2018 midterm elections come to light. Last month, Russian intelligence targeted Sen. Claire McCaskill, a critic of Moscow and a red-state Democrat who faces a tough reelection bid in Missouri. Additionally, a number of election websites have been hit with DDoS attempts during their primary elections.
“We are concerned by the continued activity targeting these and other sites and directed toward elected officials, politicians, political groups and think tanks across the political spectrum in the United States,” Microsoft’s blog post read. “Taken together, this pattern mirrors the type of activity we saw prior to the 2016 election in the United States and the 2017 election in France.”
Smith also announced that Microsoft was providing cybersecurity protection for candidates, campaigns and political institutions that use Office 365 at no additional cost.
Greg Otto contributed to this story.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged computer, email, hacker, internet, it, network, privacy, security, tech, technology.
SMARTPHONE VOTING IS HAPPENING, BUT NO ONE KNOWS IF IT’S SAFE
Originally seen on Wired by Emily Dreyfuss
When news hit this week that West Virginian military members serving abroad will become the first people to vote by phone in a major US election this November, security experts were dismayed. For years, they have warned that all forms of online voting are particularly vulnerable to attacks, and with signs that the midterm elections are already being targeted, they worry this is exactly the wrong time to roll out a new method. Experts who spoke to WIRED doubt that Voatz, the Boston-based startup whose app will run the West Virginia mobile voting, has figured out how to secure online voting when no one else has. At the very least, they are concerned about the lack of transparency.
“From what is available publicly about this app, it’s no different from sending voting materials over the internet,” says Marian Schneider, president of the nonpartisan advocacy group Verified Voting. “So that means that all the built-in vulnerability of doing the voting transactions over the internet is present.”
And there are a lot of vulnerabilities when it comes to voting over the internet. The device a person is using could be compromised by malware. Or their browser could be compromised. In many online voting systems, voters receive a link to an online portal in an email from their election officials—a link that could be spoofed to redirect to a different website. There’s also the risk that someone could impersonate the voter. The servers that online voting systems rely on could themselves be targeted by viruses to tamper with votes or by DDoS attacks to bring down the whole system. Crucially, electronic votes don’t create the paper trail that allows officials to audit elections after the fact, or to serve as a backup if there is in fact tampering.
But the thing is, people want to vote by phone. In a 2016 Consumer Reports survey of 3,649 voting-age Americans, 33 percent of respondents said that they would be more likely to vote if they could do it from an internet-connected device like a smartphone. (Whether it would actually increase voter turnout is unclear; a 2014 report conducted by an independent panel on internet voting in British Columbia concludes that, when all factors are considered, online voting doesn’t actually lead more people to vote.)
Thirty-one states and Washington, DC, already allow certain people, mostly service members abroad, to file absentee ballots online, according to Verified Voting. But in 28 of those states—including Alaska, where any registered voter can vote online—online voters must waive their right to a secret ballot, underscoring another major risk that security experts worry about with online voting: that it can’t protect voter privacy.
“Because of current technological limitations, and the unique challenges of running public elections, it is impossible to maintain separation of voters’ identities from their votes when Internet voting is used,” concludes a 2016 joint report from Common Cause, Verified Voting, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. That’s true whether those votes were logged by email, fax, or an online portal.
Enter Voatz
Voatz says it’s different. The 12-person startup, which raised $2.2 million in venture capital in January, has worked on dozens of pilot elections, including primaries in two West Virginia counties this May. On a website FAQ, it notes, “There are several important differences between traditional Internet voting and the West Virginia pilot—mainly, security.”
Voatz CEO Nimit Sawhney says the app has two features that make it more secure than other forms of online voting: the biometrics it uses to authenticate a voter and the blockchain ledger where it stores the votes.
The biometrics part occurs when a voter authenticates their identity using a fingerprint scan on their phones. The app works only on certain Androids and recent iPhones with that feature. Voters must also upload a photo of an official ID—which Sawhney says Voatz verifies by scanning their barcodes—and a video selfie, which Voatz will match to the ID using facial-recognition technology. (“You have to move your face and blink your eyes to make sure you are not taking a video of somebody else or taking a picture of a picture,” Sawhney says.) It’s up to election officials to decide whether a voter should have to upload a new selfie or fingerprint scan each time they access the app or just the first time.
“We feel like that extra level of anonymization on the phone and on the network makes it really really hard to reverse-engineer.”
NIMIT SAWHNEY, VOATZ
The blockchain comes in after the votes are entered. “The network then verifies it—there’s a whole bunch of checks—then adds it to the blockchain, where it stays in a lockbox until election night,” Sawhney says. Voatz uses a permissioned blockchain, which is run by a specific group of people with granted access, as opposed to a public blockchain like Bitcoin. And in order for election officials to access the votes on election night, they need Voatz to hand deliver them the cryptographic keys.
Sawhney says that election officials print out a copy of each vote once they access them, in order to do an audit. He also tells WIRED that in the version of the app that people will use in November, Voatz will add a way for voters to take a screenshot of their vote and have that separately sent to election officials for a secondary audit.
To address concerns about ballot secrecy, Sawhney says Voatz deletes all personal identification data from its servers, assigns each person a unique but anonymous identifier within the system, and employs a mix of network encryption methods. “We feel like that extra level of anonymization on the phone and on the network makes it really really hard to reverse-engineer,” he says.
Experts Are Concerned
Very little information is publicly available about the technical architecture behind the Voatz app. The company says it has done a security audit with three third-party security firms, but the results of that audit are not public. Sawhney says the audit contains proprietary and security information that can’t leak to the public. He invited any security researchers who want to see the audit to come to Boston and view it in Voatz’s secure room after signing an NDA.
This lack of transparency worries people who’ve been studying voting security for a long time. “In over a decade, multiple studies by the top experts in the field have concluded that internet voting cannot be made secure with current technology. VOATZ claims to have done something that is not doable with current technology, but WON’T TELL US HOW,” writes Stanford computer scientist and Verified Voting founder David Dill in an email to WIRED.
Voatz shared one white paper with WIRED, but it lacks the kind of information experts might expect—details on the system architecture, threat tests, how the system responds to specific attacks, verification from third parties. “In my opinion, anybody purporting to have securely and robustly applied blockchain technology to voting should have prepared a detailed analysis of how their system would respond to a long list of known threats that voting systems must respond to, and should have made their analysis public,” Carnegie Mellon computer scientist David Eckhardt wrote in an email.
Ideally, experts say, Voatz would have held a public testing period of its app before deploying it in a live election. Back in 2010, for example, Washington, DC, was developing an open-source system for online voting and invited the public to try to hack the system in a mock trial. Researchers from the University of Michigan were able to compromise the election server in 48 hours and change all the vote tallies, according to their report afterward. They also found evidence of foreign operatives already in the DC election server. This kind of testing is now considered best practice for any online voting implementation, according to Eckhardt. Voatz’s trials have been in real primaries.
“West Virginia is handing over its votes to a mystery box.”
DAVID DILL, STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Voatz’s use of blockchain itself does not inspire security experts, either, who dismissed it mostly as marketing. When asked for his thoughts on Voatz’s blockchain technology, University of Michigan computer scientist Alex Halderman, who was part of the group that threat-tested the DC voting portal in 2010, sent WIRED a recent XKCD cartoon about voting software. In the last panel, a stick figure with a microphone tells two software engineers, “They say they’ve fixed it with something called ‘blockchain.’” The engineers’ response? “Aaaaa!!!” “Whatever they’ve sold you, don’t touch it.” “Bury it in the desert.” “Wear gloves.”
“Voting from an app on a mobile phone is as bad an idea as voting online from a computer,” says Avi Rubin, technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins, who has studied electronic voting systems since 1997. “The fact that someone is throwing around the blockchain buzzword does nothing to make this more secure. This is as bad an idea as there is.”
Blockchain has its own limitations, and it’s far from a perfect security solution for something like voting. First of all, information can be manipulated before it enters the chain. “In fact, there is an entire industry in viruses to manipulate cryptocurrency transactions before they enter the blockchain, and there is nothing to prevent the use of similar viruses to change the vote,” says Poorvi Vora, a computer scientist and election security expert at George Washington University.
She adds that if the blockchain is a permissioned version, as Voatz’s is, “It is possible for those maintaining the blockchain to collude to change the data, as well as to introduce denial of service type attacks.”
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged abroad, armed forces, cellphone, cybersecurity, elections, internet, mobile, november, safety, tech, technology, votes, voting.
Click on this iOS phishing scam and you’ll be connected to “Apple Care”
Posted on August 29, 2018 Updated on August 29, 2018
Scam website launched phone call, connected victims to “Lance Roger at Apple Care.”
Originally seen on ArsTechnica by: SEAN GALLAGHER – 7/30/2018, 11:15 AM
India-based tech support scams have taken a new turn, using phishing emails targeting Apple users to push them to a fake Apple website. This phishing attack also comes with a twist—it pops up a system dialog box to start a phone call. The intricacy of the phish and the formatting of the webpage could convince some users that their phone has been “locked for illegal activity” by Apple, luring users into soon clicking to complete the call.
Scammers are following the money. As more people use mobile devices as their primary or sole way of connecting to the Internet, phishing attacks and other scams have increasingly targeted mobile users. And since so much of people’s lives are tied to mobile devices, they’re particularly attractive targets for scammers and fraudsters.
“People are just more distracted when they’re using their mobile device and trust it more,” said Jeremy Richards, a threat intelligence researcher at the mobile security service provider Lookout. As a result, he said, phishing attacks against mobile devices have a higher likelihood of succeeding.
This particular phish, targeted at email addresses associated with Apple’s iCloud service, appears to be linked to efforts to fool iPhone users into allowing attackers to enroll them into rogue mobile device management services that allow bad actors to push compromised applications to the victim’s phones as part of a fraudulent Apple “security service.”
I attempted to bluff my way through a call to the “support” number to collect intelligence on the scam. The person answering the call, who identified himself as “Lance Roger from Apple Care,” became suspicious of me and hung up before I could get too far into the script.
Running down the scam
In a review of spam messages I’ve received this weekend, I found an email with the subject line, “[username], Critical alert for your account ID 7458.” Formatted to look like an official cloud account warning (but easily, by me at least, discernable as a phish), the email warned, “Sign-in attempt was blocked for your account [email address]. Someone just used your password to try to sign in to your profile.” A “Check Activity” button below was linked to a webpage on a compromised site for a men’s salon in southern India.
That page, using an obfuscated JavaScript, forwards the victim to another website, which in turn forwards to the site applesecurityrisks.xyz—a fake Apple Support page. JavaScript on that pagethen used a programmed “click” event to activate a link on the page that uses the tel:// uniform resource identifier (URI) handler. On an iPhone, this initiates a dialog box to start a phone call; on iPads and other Apple devices, this attempts to launch a FaceTime session.
Meanwhile, an animated dialog box on the screen urged the target to make the call because their phone had been “locked due to illegal activity.” Script on the site scrapes data from the “user agent” data sent by the browser to determine what type of device the page was visited from:
window.defaultText='Your |%model%| has been locked due to detected illegal activity! Immediately call Apple Support to unlock it!';
While the site is still active, it is now marked as deceptive by Google and Apple. I passed technical details of the phishing site to an Apple security team member.
The scam is obviously targeted at the same sort of audience as Windows tech support scamswe’ve reported on. But it doesn’t take too much imagination to see how schemes like this could be used to target people at a specific company, customers of a particular bank, or users of a certain cloud platform to perform much more tailored social engineering attacks.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged apple, applecare, cellphone, hack, internet, ios, it, phone, security, support, tech, technology.
AT&T mobile 5G network falling short
Posted on August 2, 2018 Updated on August 2, 2018
Originally Seen: TechTarget April 2018
The latest update on AT&T’s mobile 5G network trials indicates the company will need to work faster to meet its goal of launching a commercial service by the end of the year.
AT&T’s latest update on its mobile 5G trials indicates the carrier has significant hurdles to clear to achieve its goal of launching by the end of the year a commercial service based on the high-speed wireless technology.
AT&T published this week a blog describing its progress in the mobile 5G network trials in Austin and Waco, Texas; Kalamazoo, Mich.; and South Bend, Ind. The company started the tests roughly 18 months ago in Austin, adding the other cities late last year.
AT&T, along with Verizon and other carriers, is spending billions of dollars to develop fifth-generation wireless networks for business, consumer and internet of things applications. But the latest metrics published by AT&T were not what analysts would expect from technology for delivering mobile broadband to smartphones, tablets and other devices.
When I look at how AT&T is characterizing these tests, it doesn’t look like mobile 5G to me.
Chris Antlitz, analyst, Technology Business Research Inc.
“When I look at how AT&T is characterizing these tests, it doesn’t look like mobile 5G to me,” said Chris Antlitz, an analyst at Technology Business Research Inc., based in Hampton, N.H.. “It seems like there are some inconsistencies there.”
AT&T plans to deliver mobile 5G over the millimeter wave (mmWave) band, which is a spectrum between 30 gigahertz (GHz) and 300 GHz. MmWave allows for data rates up to 10 Gbps, which comfortably accommodates carriers’ plans for 5G. But before service providers can use the technology, they have to surmount its limitations in signal distance and in traveling through obstacles, like buildings.
AT&T’s mobile 5G network challenges
AT&T’s update indicates mmWave’s constraints remain a challenge. In Waco, for example, AT&T delivered 5G to a retail business roughly 500 feet away from its cellular transmitter. That maximum distance would require more transmitters than the population outside of major cities could support, Antlitz said.
AT&T, however, could provide a fixed wireless network that sends a 5G signal to residences and businesses as an alternative to wired broadband, Antlitz said. AT&T rival Verizon plans to offer that product by the end of the year.
Other shortcomings include AT&T’s limited success in sending a 5G signal from the cellular transmitter through the buildings, trees and other obstacles likely to stand in the way of its destination. In the trial update, AT&T said it achieved gigabit speeds only in “some non-line of sight conditions.” A line of sight typically refers to an unobstructed path between the transmitting and receiving antennas.
Distance and piercing obstacles are challenges for any carrier using mmWave for a mobile 5G network. Buildings and other large physical objects can block the technology’s short, high-frequency wavelengths. Also, gases in the atmosphere, rain and humidity can weaken mmWave’s signal strength, limiting the technology’s reach to six-tenths of a mile or less.
AT&T’s achievement in network latency also falls short of what’s optimal for a mobile 5G network. The carriers’ 9 to 12 milliseconds seem “a little high,” Antlitz said. “I would expect that on LTE, not 5G. 5G should be lower.”
While AT&T has likely made some progress in developing mobile 5G, “a lot of work needs to be done,” said Rajesh Ghai, an analyst at IDC.
Delays possible in AT&T, Verizon 5G offerings
Meanwhile, Verizon is testing its fixed wireless 5G network — a combination of mmWave and proprietary technology — in 11 major metropolitan areas. So far, the features Verizon has developed places the carrier “fairly far ahead of AT&T in terms of maximizing the capabilities of 5G,” Antlitz said.
Nevertheless, neither Verizon nor AT&T is a sure bet for launching a commercial 5G network this year.
“Some of this stuff might wind up getting pushed into 2019,” Antlitz said. “There are so many things that could throw a monkey wrench in their timetable. The probability of something doing that is very high.”
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged 5g, att, Commercial, fast speed, internet, mobile, network, phones, services, slow speed, tech, technology, update.
HP keylogger: How did it get there and how can it be removed?
Originally seen: October 2017 TechTarget.
keylogging flaw found its way into dozens of Hewlett Packard laptops. Nick Lewis explains how the HP keylogger works and what can be done about it.
More than two dozen models of Hewlett Packard laptops were found to contain a keylogger that recorded keystrokes into a log file. HP released patches to remove the keylogger and the log files. How did the HP keylogger vulnerability get embedded in the laptops? And is there anything organizations can do to test new endpoint devices?
When it comes to security, having high expectations for security vendors and large vendors with deep pockets is reasonable given that customers usually pay a premium believing the vendors will devote significant resources to secure their products. Unfortunately, as with most other security teams, companies often don’t have enough resources or organizational fortitude to ensure security is incorporated into all of the enterprise’s software development.
But even the most secure software development can enable security issues to slip through the cracks. When you add in an outsourced hardware or software development team, it’s even easier for something to go unnoticed.
So while vendors might talk a good talk when it comes to security, monitoring them to ensure they uphold their end of your agreement is absolutely necessary.
One case where a vulnerability apparently escaped notice was uncovered when researchers at Modzero AG, an information security company based in Winterthur, Switzerland, found that a bug had been introduced into HP laptops by a third-party driver installed by default.
But even the most secure software development can enable security issues to slip through the cracks.
The vulnerability was discovered in the Conexant HD Audio Driver package, where the driver monitors for certain keystrokes used to mute or unmute audio. The keylogging functionality, complete with the ability to write all keystrokes to a log file, was probably introduced to help the developers debug the driver.
We can hope that the HP keylogger vulnerability was left in inadvertently when the drivers were released to customers. Modzero found metadata indicating the HP keylogger capability was present in HP computers since December 2015, if not earlier.
It’s difficult to know whether static or dynamic code analysis tools could have detected this vulnerability. However, given the resources available to HP in 2015, including a line of business related to application and code security, as well as the expectations of their customers, it might be reasonable to assume HP could have incorporated these tools into their software development practices. However, the transfer of all of HP’s information security businesses to a new entity, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, began in November 2015, and was completed in September 2017, when Micro Focus merged with HPE.
It’s possible that Modzero found the HP keylogger vulnerability while evaluating a potential new endpoint for an enterprise customer. They could have been monitoring for open files, or looking for which processes had the files open to determine what the process was doing. They could have been profiling the individual processes running by default on the system to see which binaries to investigate for vulnerabilities. They could even have been monitoring to see if any processes were monitoring keystrokes.
Enterprises can take these steps on their own or rely on third parties to monitor their vendors. Many enterprises will install their own image on an endpoint before deploying it on their network — the known good images used for developing specific images for target hardware could have their unique aspects analyzed with a dynamic or runtime application security tool to determine if any common vulnerabilities are present.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged cybersecurity, hack, hacker, internet, it, keylog, keylogger, laptop, security, technology, threat.
HOW CREATIVE DDOS ATTACKS STILL SLIP PAST DEFENSES
Originally Seen: March 12, 2018 on Wired.
DISTRIBUTED DENIAL OF service attacks, in which hackers use a targeted hose of junk traffic to overwhelm a service or take a server offline, have been a digital menace for decades. But in just the last 18 months, the public picture of DDoS defense has evolved rapidly. In fall 2016, a rash of then-unprecedented attacks caused internet outages and other service disruptions at a series of internet infrastructure and telecom companies around the world. Those attacks walloped their victims with floods of malicious data measured up to 1.2 Tbps. And they gave the impression that massive, “volumetric” DDOS attacks can be nearly impossible to defend against.
The past couple of weeks have presented a very different view of the situation, though. On March 1, Akamai defended developer platform GitHub against a 1.3 Tbps attack. And early last week, a DDOS campaign against an unidentified service in the United States topped out at a staggering 1.7 Tbps, according to the network security firm Arbor Networks. Which means that for the first time, the web sits squarely in the “terabit attack era,” as Arbor Networks put it. And yet, the internet hasn’t collapsed.
One might even get the impression from recent high-profile successes that DDoS is a solved problem. Unfortunately, network defenders and internet infrastructure experts emphasize that despite the positive outcomes, DDoS continues to pose a serious threat. And sheer volume isn’t the only danger. Ultimately, anything that causes disruption and affects service availability by diverting a digital system’s resources or overloading its capacity can be seen as a DDoS attack. Under that conceptual umbrella, attackers can generate a diverse array of lethal campaigns.
“DDoS will never be over as a threat, sadly,” says Roland Dobbins, a principal engineer at Arbor Networks. “We see thousands of DDoS attacks per day—millions per year. There are major concerns.”
Getting Clever
One example of a creative interpretation of a DDoS is the attack Netflix researchers tried out against the streaming service itself in 2016. It works by targeting Netflix’s application programming interface with carefully tailored requests. These queries are built to start a cascade within the middle and backend application layers the streaming service is built on—demanding more and more system resources as they echo through the infrastructure. That type of DDoS only requires attackers to send out a small amount of malicious data, so mounting the offensive would be cheap and efficient, but clever execution could cause internal disruptions or a total meltdown.
“What creates the nightmare situations are the smaller attacks that overwork applications, firewalls, and load balancers,” says Barrett Lyon, head of research and development at Neustar Security Solutions. “The big attacks are sensational, but it’s the well-crafted connection floods that have the most success.”
‘We see thousands of DDoS attacks per day—millions per year.’
ROLAND DOBBINS, ARBOR NETWORKS
These types of attacks target specific protocols or defenses as a way of efficiently undermining broader services. Overwhelming the server that manages firewall connections, for example, can allow attackers to access a private network. Similarly, deluging a system’s load balancers—devices that manage a network’s computing resources to improve speed and efficiency—can cause backups and overloads. These types of attacks are “as common as breathing,” as Dobbins puts it, because they take advantage of small disruptions that can have a big impact on an organization’s defenses.
Similarly, an attacker looking to disrupt connectivity on the internet in general can target the exposed protocols that coordinate and manage data flow around the web, rather than trying to take on more robust components.
That’s what happened last fall to Dyn, an internet infrastructure company that offers Domain Name System services (essentially the address book routing structure of the internet). By DDoSing Dyn and destabilizing the company’s DNS servers, attackers caused outages by disrupting the mechanism browsers use to look up websites. “The most frequently attacked targets for denial of service is web severs and DNS servers,” says Dan Massey, chief scientist at the DNS security firm Secure64 who formerly worked on DDoS defense research at the Department of Homeland Security. “But there are also so many variations on and so many components of denial of service attacks. There’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all defense.”
Memcached and Beyond
The type of DDoS attack hackers have been using recently to mount enormous attacks is somewhat similar. Known as memcached DDoS, these attacks take advantage of unprotected network management servers that aren’t meant to be exposed on the internet. And they capitalize on the fact that they can send a tiny customized packet to a memcached server, and elicit a much larger response in return. So a hacker can query thousands of vulnerable memcached servers multiple times per second each, and direct the much larger responses toward a target.
This approach is easier and cheaper for attackers than generating the traffic needed for large-scale volumetric attacks using a botnet—the platforms typically used to power DDoS assaults. The memorable 2016 attacks were famously driven by the so-called “Mirai” botnet. Mirai infected 600,000 unassuming Internet of Things products, like webcams and routers, with malware that hackers could use to control the devices and coordinate them to produce massive attacks. And though attackers continued to refine and advance the malware—and still use Mirai-variant botnets in attacks to this day—it was difficult to maintain the power of the original attacks as more hackers jockeyed for control of the infected device population, and it splintered into numerous smaller botnets.
‘There’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all defense.’
DAN MASSEY, SECURE64
While effective, building and maintaining botnets requires resources and effort, whereas exploiting memcached servers is easy and almost free. But the tradeoff for attackers is that memcached DDOS is more straightforward to defend against if security and infrastructure firms have enough bandwidth. So far, the high-profile memcached targets have all been defended by services with adequate resources. In the wake of the 2016 attacks, foreseeing that volumetric assaults would likely continue to grow, defenders seriously expanded their available capacity.
As an added twist, DDoS attacks have also increasingly incorporated ransom requests as part of hackers’ strategies. This has especially been the case with memcached DDoS. “It’s an attack of opportunity,” says Chad Seaman, a senior engineer on the security intelligence response team at Akamai. “Why not try and extort and maybe trick someone into paying it?”
The DDoS defense and internet infrastructure industries have made significant progress on DDoS mitigation, partly through increased collaboration and information-sharing. But with so much going on, the crucial point is that DDoS defense is still an active challenge for defenders every day. “
When sites continue to work it doesn’t mean it’s easy or the problem is gone.” Neustar’s Lyon says. “It’s been a long week.”
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged attacks, computers, ddos, defense, distributed denial of service, information, internet, it, tech, technology.
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Odour Control Techniques
Activated Carbon Systems
Biotrickling Filter
Chemical Scrubbers
Corrosion Control Units
IPECSORB 200
Passive Odour Control Unit
Removal of VOC
Ain Khalid Pumping Station – Doha, Qatar
Jeddah South – Pumping Station
KWD, Glanway, Clean Ireland – Solid Waste Processing
CP725 Pumping station – Doha, Qatar
Philippines – Ilugin STP/University Philippines/San Miguel Brewery
Salalah Free Zone – Salalah, Oman
Odour control unit at Ain Khalid Pumping Station – Doha Qatar
In the new development Ain Khalid, situated in the West of Doha-Qatar, a pumping station is constructed to collect the sewage of the housing within the quarter. This sewage pumping station is located in the center of a sensitive area. Because of the location, severe precautions were taken to avoid any odour nuisance from the activities of the pumping station.
The odour treatment plant for the Ain Khalid pumping station was designed, fabricated and commissioned by IPEC NV. The system exists of a dual fan system (duty-standby fans) in combination with a chemical scrubber (base – oxidizing) as first treatment, followed by an activated carbon system as a polishing step.
The fan system is able to deliver the required flow with one fan while the other fan is standby. Every week, the fans switch automatically without any interference of operating personnel. The normal flow of the system is 8630 m3/hour. When staff enters the wet well for maintenance, the speed of the fans can be increased by the frequency converter to 11500 m3/hour. By increasing the flow with 33%, the ventilation rate increases from 20 air changes to 26,6 air changes, resulting in a better indoor climate for the maintenance staff.
The first air treatment step is a scrubbing tower which is operated with an aqueous solution of caustic and bleach. The recirculation liquid is circulated over a packing material by a spraying system which is located in the upper part of the vessel. The packing material combines a low pressure drop with a high specific surface to ensure a good contact between gas phase and water phase. Dosing of the chemicals is carefully monitored by pH- and ORP-measurement to ensure an odour-free exhaust and a minimal chemical consumption. Both the recirculation pumps and the dosing pumps are provided as duty-standby. The scrubber contains a mist eliminator to prevent droplets passing to the next treatment step.
As a polishing step, a double bed activated carbon system is installed. As in most odour control units at sewage applications, Water Regenerable Activated Carbon is used. The carbon has the catalytic property to convert H2S into sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid can be washed in situ by means of the internal spraying system that is installed in the carbon vessel. In this way the carbon can be reused several times. The saturation of the activated carbon and the subsequent regeneration process is controlled by the PLC of the unit. The regeneration is completely automated, so no manual intervention is required.
The sewage flow in the pumping station is very variable. This results in a large variation of the incoming H2S concentrations. To avoid overdosing of chemicals in the scrubber because of these fluctuations, the PLC controls the dosing of chemicals using the pH and ORP measurement and the measurement of the H2S concentration in the incoming air. Furthermore, when the H2S concentration in the air inlet is very low, the scrubber is bypassed by automated dampers and the air flows directly into the activated carbon vessel. This reduces the chemical consumption even more without affecting the performance of the system.
Click here to download the leaflet in PDF.
Dulle-Grietlaan 17/1
info@ipec.be
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SANS ISC: InfoSec Handlers Diary Blog
InfoSec Handlers Diary Blog
Internet Explorer 9 "Platform Preview" Now Available From Microsoft
Last Updated: 2010-03-16 21:09:49 UTC
by Lenny Zeltser (Version: 1)
Microsoft released a "Platform Preview" version of the next version of Internet Explorer. You can download it from http://ie.microsoft.com/testdrive/Default.html. There are several security implications of this release:
Security professionals may be interested in exploring what security features and enhancements (if any) are built into Internet Explorer 9
Attackers may be interested in exploring what vulnerabilities (if any) exist in the code added to Internet Explorer 9
Attackers may start using the lure of installing Internet Explorer 9 as part of phishing and drive-by campaigns
Regarding point #3... At the moment, searching for "Internet Explorer 9" doesn't provide many links that look malicious. I suspect this will change as malicious sites using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques will spring into action to take advantage of people's interest in the new browser.
Have you had a chance to look at Internet Explorer 9? Let us know your security-related observations.
-- Lenny
Lenny Zeltser - Security Consulting
Lenny teaches malware analysis at SANS Institute. You can find him on Twitter.
Trouble Ticket Express Exploit in the Wild a Day After the Vulnerability Announcement
The time between the announcement of a vulnerability and seeing the exploit in the wild is short, especially if the announcement includes proof-of-concept code. A day ago, a proof-of-concept exploit in Trouble Ticket Express help desk software was made public. Just a day later, ISC reader Ben saw the exploit in the wild:
64.15.159.171 - - [15/Mar/2010:18:42:23 -0700] "GET /ttx.cgi?cmd=file&fn=%7C%65%63%68%6F%20%2D%6E%20%62%75%66%75%77%75%7A%68%65%72%3B%65%63%68%6F%20%65%7C HTTP/1.1" 403 960 "-" "Plesk"
The decoded version of this particular URI is:
/ttx.cgi?cmd=file&fn=|echo%20-n%20bufuwuzher;echo%20e|
The targeted vulnerability in the application could allow the attacker to execute arbitrary code on the system.
If you are running Trouble Ticket Express version 3.01 or lower, update the program's File Module or disable access to the TTXFile.pm module on your server.
Diary Archives
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Nitrogen and Carbon Mineralization Dynamics of Manures and Composts
Authors: T.K. Hartz 1 , J.P. Mitchell 1 and C. Giannini 1
1 Department of Vegetable Crops, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
Nitrogen and carbon mineralization rates of 19 manure and compost samples were determined in 1996, with an additional 12 samples evaluated in 1997. These organic amendments were mixed with a soil: sand blend at 2% by dry weight and the amended blends were incubated at constant moisture for 12 (1996) or 24 weeks (1997) at 25 °C. Net N mineralization was measured at 4- (1996) or 8-week (1997) intervals, C mineralization at 4-week intervals in 1997. Pots of the amended blends were also seeded with fescue (Festuca arundinacea Shreb.) and watered, but not fertilized, for 17 (1996) or 18 weeks (1997); N phytoavailability was estimated from fescue biomass N and mineral N in pot leachate. An average of 16%, 7%, and 1% of organic N was mineralized in 12 weeks of incubation in 1996, and an average of 15%, 6%, and 2% in 24 weeks of incubation in 1997, in manure, manure compost, and plant residue compost, respectively. Overall, N recovery in the fescue assay averaged 11%, 6%, and 2% of total amendment N for manure, manure compost, and plant residue compost, respectively. Mineralization of manure C averaged 35% of initial C content in 24 weeks, while compost C mineralization averaged only 14%. Within 4 (compost) or 16 weeks (manure), the rate of mineralization of amendment C had declined to a level similar to that of the soil organic C.
soil fertility; organic practices
Article by T.K. Hartz
Article by J.P. Mitchell
Article by C. Giannini
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JumpCast
Cell Adore Film Festival
Articles, Films
#ActionAugust: Cowboy Bepop: The Movie (2001)
Markus Almerud, 5 months ago
When asked what action movie I wanted to cover, I felt like I wanted to go a bit out of the box with my pick. And by “wanting to go a bit out of the box”, I meant that I saw this as an opportunity to give this movie a rewatch. Because I’ll take any excuse I can get to do so.
Set in the year 2071, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (unofficial subtitle not used due to legal reasons: Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door) follows the ragtag crew of the Bebop as they go on a mission to stop a dangerous terrorist. Not to save people, mind you, but because there’s a huge bounty put on the guy’s head. For those not aware, this is a follow-up/interquel to an anime series from 1998, and it very much plays like an extended episode. The gang gets a target, they investigate, they go after the target, etc, etc. And as a huge fan of the series, I don’t mind this. It’s interesting to see the style of storytelling expanded into a two hour runtime, rather than the usual 25 minutes. And yet it never feels like they dragged it out. They manage to keep it interesting for the entire run. Sure, in the end it doesn’t do anything too crazy, and it’s not exactly the most nuanced of plots. But as far as action-noir-western-science fiction-dramedy plots go, it still entertains very well. And for anyone wondering: No, you don’t really need to watch the show to be able to get into this movie. Though it would certainly help in connecting with the main characters and some of the references easier. But if you choose to be boring and not watch the good show, I think you’ll still find the story and characters enjoyable. As a series fan, I love both aspects a lot.
As with the series that came before it, this movie was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe, who of course brought his A-game here. His direction is energetic, yet contemplative. Fun, yet dramatic. Of course, if you’re a film buff you can clearly see where he gets a lot of his influences (a lot of westerns and martial arts movies). Which of course brings us to the animation, which is great. Not necessarily Disney or Ghibli great, but still great. It’s fluent, detailed, and quite pleasing to the eye. Especially in the action scenes, which this thing was about. There’s foot chases, fist fights, flying chases, a bit of shooting… really, it’s a nice mix of action. All beautifully animated. The final confrontation in particular is just this highly detailed, lengthy, and brutal scene. And all of these set to the fascinatingly versatile music of Yoko Kanno. Jazz, pop, rock, blues, even a bit of rap, this soundtrack complements the action (and everything inbetween) wonderfully. Makes for some incredibly fun and electrifying sequences.
With an easy to follow story, colorful characters, a fantastic soundtrack, and some incredibly well animated action sequences, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is an absolute treat for fans of the original series, and for people looking for a highly enjoyable animated action movie.
If you enjoy what we do, please consider supporting our team on Ko-fi for as little as the price of a cup of coffee!
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Tags #Aoi Tada #Beau Billingslea #Cowboy Bebop #Cowboy Bebop: Tengoku no tobira #Cowboy Bebop: The Movie #Kazuhiko Inoue #Megumi Hayashibara #Melissa Fahn #Nicholas Guest #Shin'ichirô Watanabe #Tensai Okamura #Yûsaku Yara
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Just Mercy & The “Injustice” System
Issa Rae & Kumail Nanjiani Star In New Trailer For 'The Lovebirds'
Daniel Radcliffe and Samara Weaving Star In New Trailer For 'Guns Akimbo'
INTERVIEW: 'The Other Lamb's Raffey Cassidy and Michiel Huisman
New UK Trailer Released For 'Color Out Of Space'
REVIEW: The Courier (2020)
Second Chance: Star Wars Battlefront II
Marvel Release 'Black Widow' Legacy Featurette
Weekend Box Office Report – 13/01/20
Brand New Trailer For 'Villain' Released
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August 17, 2015 August 17, 2015 Kenyan Globe
Process of building a solar classroom. IMAGE | Aleutia
A project aimed at building affordable solar classrooms in Kenya by UK-based computer company Aleutia is underway across the 47 counties.
The program intended to serve over 20,000 primary school children will fit each classroom with equipment creating a state of the art learning environment exclusively powered by solar.
The equipment includes energy efficient computers, Projectors, Monitors, solar panels and a network infrastructure that will provide 3G internet connectivity via satellite.
The structure dubbed ‘Solar Classroom in a Box’, was developed by the University of Edinburgh School of Architecture with help from Nairobi Architects. It is made of cinder blocks and a corrugated tin roof which are not only low cost bus also provide insulation, easy transportation and are scalable upon demand.
Construction and installation takes only two days. The basic structure is assembled on the first day, while the ready to fit components of the solar kit and equipment are installed the following day with the simple expertise of a local handyman.
This integrated solar system is designed for rapid, reliable and affordable deployment while taking the characteristic guesswork out of the solar installation process.
An initial idea of retrofitting old shipping containers was shelved after what Company Director Mike Rosenberg termed as an expensive model, with prohibitive transport and installation costs that would require the use of a crane.
Aleutia has thus far deployed 180 solar classrooms in off-grid rural areas across 10 different countries. The approximate cost of each classroom is estimated to be $20,000 including equipment and networking infrastructure. The company also provides Solar Healthcare solutions.
For further detail on The ‘Solar Classroom in a Box’, please visit GIZMAG and the ALEUTIA website.
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← Ford v Ferrari (2019) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A visceral racing car drama
The Farewell (2019) ☆☆☆1/2(3.5/4): A bittersweet Chinese family story →
The Report (2019) ☆☆☆(3/4): A long, frustrating struggle for one important report
Posted on December 6, 2019 by kaist455
“The Report” is angry and outraged behind its dry, methodical façade. Following one plain American government official’s long, frustrating struggle to finish and then publish a damning official report on the systemic tortures committed by CIA in the name of patriotism and national security during the years following the September 11 attacks, the movie often loses its detached attitude from time to time, and that is understandable, considering that, as told to us at the end of the film, most of government officials and agents responsible for this national disgrace were not punished at all.
The story begins with its real-life hero, Daniel Jones (Adam Driver), starting to work as a junior member of the US Senate staff in Washington D.C., 2003. As your average idealistic lad, Jones eagerly wants to serve his country as much as he can, and, several years later, he comes to work under Senator Dianne Feinstein (Annette Bening), who, as the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, instructs Jones to investigate on how CIA handled and interrogated its numerous detainees for extracting any information from them to track down terrorist groups and prevent another possible big attack on the country. Although that means he and his few other colleagues are going to go through a series of difficult and demanding tasks, Jones soon embarks on doing his job in an isolated office located somewhere inside the CIA headquarters, and that is the beginning of his long journey amid thousands of documents and records during next several years.
While delving deeper and deeper into heaps of documents and records, Jones cannot help but horrified by how those detainees, most of whom were labelled as terrorist suspects without any hesitation, were brutally mistreated by CIA officials and the contractors associated with them. As shown from a series of flashback scenes, many of high-ranking officials in CIA were quite shocked and enraged as watching the September 11 attacks on TV, and they soon became very determined to do anything necessary for winning War on Terror and making the country safer than before. When the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” (EIT) were suggested, they promptly accepted this suggestion because, well, it looked like a way both swift and effective for extracting whatever they were going to report to the White House.
Jones meet a few people willing to talk about what they witnessed. For making their detainees feel more confused, helpless, and desperate, CIA officials and their contractors mercilessly applied several horrific methods of EIT including waterboarding on their detainees, and we accordingly get a series of gut-wrenching moments including the one involved with forced enema. Although there was some protest against this inside CIA, those high-ranking officials simply disregarded that because 1) they needed to report anything to the White House for saving their reputation seriously damaged by the September 11 attacks and 2) EIT are not tortures technically according to their very twisted and questionable legal logic.
Some of you may say that the end sometimes justifies the means, but, as sharply pointed out in the film, most of the information extracted via EIT turned out to be pretty useless because those tortured detainees frequently lied just for stopping their torture. Even in the cases where they actually did not lie, most of what they confessed was trivial or was already obtained via far less brutal and aggressive methods.
And we get to know more about how sloppy CIA was in the application of EIT on its many detainees. For example, two certain figures advocating EIT presented themselves as psychology experts, but they actually knew nothing about how to interrogate detainees. In addition, there was an old CIA report which was written not long after the Vietnam War, and it firmly concluded that torture is not a good method for extracting information from detainees.
As learning more and more about the brutality and immorality of EIT, Jones comes to feel more urge to get his job done, but, not so surprisingly, he and Feinstein soon come across several obstacles and setbacks. While the officials of the White House are not so willing to expose what their predecessors deliberately or unwittingly allowed CIA to do, the director of CIA, John Brennan (Ted Levine), and his people in CIA are ready to suppress the report by any means necessary, and Jones later finds himself in a serious legal trouble due to a certain piece of document he deliberately took out from his workplace.
Although the screenplay by director/co-producer Scott Z. Burns, who previously wrote the screenplays for “The Bourne Ultimatum” (2007), “The Informant!” (2009), and “Contagion” (2011), loses its focus and narrative momentum from time to time, the movie is held together well by the earnest performance by Adam Driver, who has had another productive year as appearing in several notable films including “The Dead Don’t Die” (2019), “Marriage Story” (2019), and, yes, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (2019). He is also surrounded by a number of good performers including Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Jennifer Morrison, Tim Blake Nelson, Matthew Rhys, Ted Levine, Michael C. Hall, Maura Tierney, and Corey Stoll, and Bening is enjoyably unflappable as a no-nonsense senator who cares about public service as much as Driver’s character.
On the whole, “The Report” is sometimes a bit too heavy-handed and monotonous at times, but it is occasionally sobering in its alarming presentation of the dark side of War on Terror. Although I felt impatient at time during my viewing due to its rather flat narrative and thin characterization, the movie engaged me enough at least, so I recommend it with some reservation.
This entry was posted in Movies and tagged Government official, Real-life figure, Real-life story, Torture. Bookmark the permalink.
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Schumacher, Alain (1) (remove)
Untersuchungen zur Synthese von c-BN-Schichten mit ECWR-PACVD und Boran-Ammonia als Eduktmaterial (2000)
Schumacher, Alain
Boron nitride films were deposited by controlled plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (PACVD) on the basis of borane-ammonia (BH3NH3) as B- and N- supplier. Having a high vapor pressure, this white crystalline solid of less toxicity in comparision to generally used boron precursors can easily be transferred into the gas phase by moderate heating. Together with argon as working gas the BH3NH3-vapor is led into a two-circuit plasma source utilizing the electron cyclotron wave resonance technique (ECWR) for ionization and dissoziation of the gas mixture by electron impact in the low pressure range (~10 microbar). For a precise adjustment of the energy of the ionic plasma species arriving at the growing film, an r.f.-diode circuit is superimposed to the discharge. Since for a controlled film deposition by PACVD a stationary plasma composition is mandatory, the evaporation characteristics of the reactant source was determined primarily. Therefore the evolution of the plasma and the vapor composition in dependence of evaporation time and temperature was investigated by optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and by mass spectrometric measurements respectively. By these investigations it was shown that stationary plasma conditions are established in a temperature range of 120 - 160°C. This behavior can be explained by a change in the chemical composition of the reactant during the evaporation process. In the following thin boron nitride films were deposited onto Si(100)-substrates for fixed partial pressures of BH3NH3 (2,9 mbar) and argon (9,3 microbar, FAr=5 sccm). For all experiments the plasma power as well as the substrate temperature was kept at 200 W (B0=34 G) and 380°C, respectively. By a defined tuning of the r.f.-amplitude in the diode circuit it was demonstrated that the energy of the ionic species arriving at the growing film is an essential process parameter for c-BN growth. For these experiments c-BN growth took place in a small energy window with a width of about 25 eV. The maximum c-BN content was achieved at 107 eV. The fraction of h-BN and c-BN phases were determined by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). At a film thickness of 61 nm the volume fraction of c-BN, derived from the IR-absorption peak areas of h-BN at 1385 cm -1 and c-BN at 1081 cm -1 , already achieved 68 vol%. This is due to an early starting point of c-BN growth, which was confirmed by cross sectional high resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements (HRTEM). Furthermore these investigations confirmed the growth of a thin amorphous BN-layer followed by a (0002)-textured h-BN-film primarily to the c-BN-nucleation step as commonly observed in literature. After the c-BN-nucleation step has finished the growth of a nearly pure c-BN-phase is achieved. This was emphasized by auger electron spectroscopy. By means of secondary ion mass spectrometry in the MCs + -mode (MCs + -SIMS) it was shown that the c-BN-films contain a certain amount of hydrogen, which can be estimated to be around 10 - 15 at%. Since in FTIR no perceptible amount on B-H- or N-H-bindings in the c-BN- films could be detected, it must be concluded that the hydrogen is located as H2-molecules in the c-BN-network. Finally the elastic properties of a c-BN-film were estimated by calculations, based on Brillouin light scattering (BLS) results.
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Explore Research on Lawn Fertilizer Effects | Koch Turf & Ornamental
‹‹ Back To List
DURATION® CR controlled-release fertilizer - Effect on Color Response
Enhanced efficiency fertilizers (EEF) are engineered to increase plant uptake of nitrogen (N) and reduce the potential of N loss to the environment by minimizing volatilization, denitrification and leaching. These work by controlling the release of N so it is steadily available when the plant needs it, slowing the release of N over time, or stabilizing the N to extend the time it is available for use by the plant. This steady N release and increased time of availability leads to healthier turf with enhanced greening and quality. It also reduces the number of applications and total amount of fertilizer needed to achieve the same results compared to conventional fertilizer sources. Best practices involve blending EEFs with conventional sources to achieve the desired green-up timing, optimal plant health, and extended response time.
Research was conducted to observe the impact of enhanced efficiency fertilizer (EEF) on turfgrass color when applied in varying ratios to urea. DURATION CR® 90 day controlled-release fertilizer encapsulates the urea granule in a polymer coating, therefore extending the observed plant response time. This technology is designed to extend the release rate of nitrogen up to 90 days in most cool-season turfgrass applications. Observing the appropriate color response immediately after and 7 days after application helps to support the claims that conventional and EEF sources work together to provide the most agronomic benefit. To factor in the impact on longevity, longer term data was collected to establish the threshold at which the EEF benefit is realized.
Blends of urea and DURATION CR® 90 day fertilizer were made in 20% increments, from 0% to 100% DURATION CR® 90 day fertilizer. The blends were applied to Kentucky bluegrass at the rate of 1.5 lb N per 1000 ft2. Plant green-up was measured shortly following application by visual ratings (1 – 9; 1 = brown, 9 = ideal, 6 = acceptable).
Plant color was measured by NDVI (Normalized Differentiated Vegetative Index) throughout the summer. This method uses an instrument that quantitatively measures plant color. The researchers then calculated the number of days required for each fertilizer blend to achieve maximum color compared to non-fertilized turf (Figure 2). This is one way to measure the longevity of a fertilizer, but note that this is not a measure of total longevity, only the number of days to reach maximum color. Numbers within the bars are the number of days to maximum color difference. Letters above the bars represent statistically significant differences (P = 0.05). Bars topped by different letters would be expected to be different 95% of the time.
One day after fertilization, there were no color differences. At seven days, blends containing 20% to 60% DURATION CR® 90 day fertilizer resulted in similar color to 100% urea (Figure 1, below; bars with the same letters are not statistically different).
Although there were benefits to minor proportions of DURATION CR® 90 day fertilizer in the blends, a ratio of 60% DURATION CR® to 40% urea was the threshold where the real longevity value of the controlled-release technology was realized. This blend resulted in quick green-up, similar to 100% urea, and while urea reached peak color at 24 days, the 60% DURATION® fertilizer blend extended this response time by 50%. Even greater longevity was observed with higher percentages of DURATION CR® 90 day fertilizer, but initial green-up was delayed. Koch Turf & Ornamental recommends that when using slow or controlled release nitrogen fertilizers, at least 50% of the N should come from the EEF in order to realize the true benefit and value of these products.
The underlying data in this university study was provided under a Research Trial Financial Support Agreement with the university. The university mentioned does not endorse or recommend any product or service.
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Tag Archives: Chantell Beaty
Umar Johnson: Pan African or Pro Black Pimp?
I have always supported Umar Johnson. I always thought he was a dynamic speaker and spoke honestly. I have told people many times that I met Umar back in 2011 at one of his lectures. I agree with his ideas on being Pan- African,black unity and he’s also against interracial marriage. So I can agree with at least 80% of what he says. But he’s been trying to raise money for a school for black boys. I think it’s a noble idea and it’s something black boys need. However over the last few years there as been talk about him taking the donation money for himself. Some say he’s not even a real doctor and that he has no credentials. And many black people in the conscious community are now saying he’s a fraud. Many say he’s no different than the preacher pimps in the black church. I was hoping that Umar would be different than the rest. But no matter how much I may like a person they are not above being criticized. There’s some things about his history that don’t seem to add for me. But I want you to read this post that a subscriber sent me. Check out the videos and read the article for yourself. Then come to your own conclusion. You be the judge. The article was written by Mukasa Afrika Ma’at and Chantell Beaty.
We are living in a new age where leaders are being made by social media. In this new age, Black leadership has degenerated from the pre-social media generation of great scholars such as Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. John G. Jackson, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, and others. Today, someone can take an idea of a school that never becomes a school and push that idea on social media and become more well-known than someone like Dr. Anyim Palmer who founded the Marcus Garvey School in Los Angeles in 1975 or more respected among sadly uninformed masses than someone like Marva Collins who founded the Westside Preparatory School in Chicago, also in 1975. A non-educator can become more respected as an educational leader than founders of the East in New York who founded their school in 1970 with a few thousand dollars and provided a national model of Afrikan-Centered excellence that helped guide a movement. Unfortunately, we live in these strange days of social media where the Council of Independent Black Institutions (CIBI) are becoming a fading memory due in part to a lack of financial support. Many of the CIBI schools began in the living rooms, basements, and front porches of great educators with little money and a lot of heart. The schools grew across the country before declining due to lack of support. A few still exists today but are under-funded. Dr. Uhuru Hotep of Duquesne University wrote a great analysis in his dissertation entitled Dedicated to excellence: An Afrocentric Oral History of the Council of Independent Black Institutions, 1970-2000. Another excellent work is that of Dr. Kefentse K. Chike entitled From Black Power to the New Millennium. Although he focuses on Detroit’s Afrikan-Centered school movement, Dr. Chike addresses the national movement. Dr. Hotep and Dr. Chike are the great scholars you never heard of in the non-cerebral social media world. They document a great history of real and some existing schools, many of which are closing due to funding, and they have been around for decades with some of the greatest educators and institution-builders we have produced as a people. Meanwhile while this is occurring, a charlatan calling himself the “Prince of Pan-Africanism” with only an idea that he is pawning off is given hundreds of thousands of dollars without any school while he makes a mockery and often profane caricature of a movement to which he defames. Let us consider some facts and evidence about Umar Johnson.
Fact 1. Umar Johnson has become a professional fundraiser. He had a deadline of August 21, 2014 to purchase St. Paul’s College without a clear operational plan, staff, potential students, and other necessities for a school. The projected fundraising goal was five million dollars. The goal was not achieved. What most fundraisers do is to either go to a plan B of using the funds for another projected goal, extending the deadline, or returning the money at the option of donors. Umar chose to switch projects and expand the deadline, at least this is what he told supporters. He has mentioned purchasing other properties but not with the urgency of the original project. Essentially, fundraising has become his means of income. Umar Johnson is not an employed professional or business owner. His means of income is fundraising. This is fraudulent behavior. Fundraising is not for personal income. It is for the fundraising goal. If a percentage of funds goes towards other expenses or not, there should be full transparency. Umar Johnson does not provide his supporters with full transparency. The entire project is questionable because Umar is an individual without any significant educational or organizational leadership. Perhaps if the project was sincere, he would start with a much smaller and manageable school to gain experience. However, if money is the goal, then he would begin where he is now which is fundraising and only fundraising.
Various members of the Black community have made requests and demands that Umar provide records from PayPal of his community donations and withdrawals allegedly for his school. He has also been requested to provide records accounting for the monies through his GoFundMe allegedly for the school. The community has asked that Umar cease to collect money in the name of building or opening a school until he provides adequate and reliable financial information which has to date not occurred.
Fact 2. A lack of financial transparency leads to suspicion of fraud. This is basic business knowledge which Umar’s supporters either don’t know or don’t care to know. Umar Johnson has been questioned and has not provided public financial accounts of expenditures of monies collected and monies spent. He has become angry when questioned around collections, plans, and expenditures such as what had taken place on a radio show with a female caller, “Dr.” Umar Johnson Panics When Asked to Show His Accounting, who was silenced by him and the radio host who quickly went to a break while Umar called the sister a “reactionary” for the questions about a clear plan, transparency, and accountability of funds.
Further, there is no financial plan of sustainability to run the school which he allegedly intends to open. A five million dollar school would have significant budgetary expenditures in salaries and facilities, not to mention the start-up costs alone. Depending on student population, a five million dollar school may very well need more than five million dollars annually to run. Tuition costs would be driven in part by the population of the student body. With 35 buildings at St. Paul’s College having over 700 students at one point, tuition may be expected to be approximately $5K-$10K dollars or more to cover expenditures and salaries if Umar actually opened a school. The problem with Umar is that there is no financial plan or blueprint developed for his fundraising supporters or the public? A lack of financial transparency could mean a few different conclusions, as anyone with basic business awareness would know. 1. There was never serious intent to purchase and run a school in the first place, only to raise money and reputation build. 2. The money is being used for personal living expenses. 3. This phase of professional fundraising was not carefully thought out and maybe he thinks it’s ok to figure it out along the way which is unsound fiscally. I believe it’s a combination of these and it all adds up to fraud. Education leaders who are successful do not operate by chance or without a clear plan.
Fact 3. There is and never have been a board of trustees, consultants, or advisors. Umar Johnson does not have any experience as a school administrator or educational leader. He is a professional speaker who makes a living from speaking. He has never balanced a school budget, does not understand leadership dynamics, and with this obvious lack of experience, he would need consultants and advisors if he were serious about the project. He would further need a board of trustees which he does not have. The board would provide governance and checks and balances. A board would have a president, vice president, treasurer, secretary, and members with expertise in various areas. Consultants and advisors would provide guidance, questions, and insight based on years of experience and accomplishments. Why not have these important people in your corner with such a project? Unless: 1.Umar only wanted to raise funds for personal gain or 2. He wanted popularity instead of achieving a goal.
Fact 4. DISCLAIMER and APOLOGY from Mukasa Afrika Ma’at: An apology is extended to our global readers. It was previously cited as fact that Jermaine Shoemaker (aka Umar Johnson) had without doubt earned his doctoral degree from our research team’s investigation. However, that information is not factual. There is no undeniable information to date that Jermaine Shoemaker (also known as Umar Johnson) earned a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD). There is evidence that an “Umar Johnson” earned this degree but evidence shows this was not Jermaine Shoemaker. The research team, led by the excellent Sister Chantell Beaty in this area, has turned up evidence that there is possibly two different people. There is verified evidence that someone named “Umar R. Abdullah-Johnson” earned a Doctor of Psychology in 2012. This individual is Arab and married, and Jermaine Shoemake is neither. To date, there is no evidence that Jermaine Shoemaker ( also known as Umar Johnson, the public speaker) earned this degree PsyD in 2012 or any other year. No degree or transcripts have been provided by him.
Umar Johnson (also known as Jermaine Shoemaker) has not provided proof to date that he is “Dr. Umar Johnson” or that he has a Doctor of Psychology. The only evidence of an Umar Johnson receiving the degree is from 2012, years after the Umar in question began calling himself “Dr. Umar Johnson”. As an important investigatory note, Jermaine Shoemaker had been calling himself “Dr.” Umar Johnson since at least 2006 which is evidenced in public records from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Also, it should be noted that PCOM removed the citation of the dissertation after this essay went public, the 2012 dissertation which Umar claims belongs to him but is not found online, anywhere as of this date. Yet still, the dissertation may be associated with another Umar. Either way, he lied to his followers up to 2012 or he never earned the degree at all. Both are fraudulent acts. If Umar Johnson is THE Dr. Umar Rashad Abdullah-Johnson who earned the degree in 20012, why did he say he had it 6 years before it was awarded? He can easily provide evidence by posting his transcripts, diploma, dissertation, and proof of ID to these documents. To date, he has not provided any of this information. This fact stands as proof of fraud by Umar.
Fact 5. Umar is not as original as he claims. He states that he is the only Black Psychologist to conduct psychological research on Black children and racism. He claims that no leaders are doing what he does! He is in essence discrediting an entire movement for his own purpose of reputation building. Umar states that he is a certified school psychologist and certified school principal, and has a private practice in Philadelphia Pennsylvania where he evaluates children for special education disability determination. He allegedly works with charter schools, public schools, superintendents, principals, special education attorneys, and advocate groups. He states this although he was “canned” from speaking at a Philadelphia high school in 2016. He’s also been canned at universities and other events. Umar states that he has written the only book ever written by a black school psychologist. This claim is fraudulent. Black psychologist have produced a body of works for decades. Some are Dr. Amos Wilson, Dr. Bobby Wright, Dr. Nai’m Akbar, Dr. Wade Nobles, Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing, and many others, none of whom have ever cited or even mentioned Umar Johnson.
Fact 6. Umar has not proven that he is related to Frederick Douglass. Before Umar became popular throughout the country, he became well-known locally in the city of Philadelphia as a “descendant” of Frederick Douglass. This is how he began to attract audiences who I heard personally excited to “go hear a descendant of Frederick Douglass!” That would be great, except while building his reputation as a Douglass descendant, no proof was ever provided. He has provided some fictitious relationship verbally while speaking. However, like so many things with this “leader,” you must believe him and take his words without evidence and facts. However, facts are not established by words but with evidence.
Ken Morris and his mother Nettie Washington Douglass are true and established descendants of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington. Birth records, wedding certificates, family pictures, and a family tree in the Library of Congress exist that establishes their relationship to Frederick Douglass and to Booker T. Washington. The same types of records validate Tarence Bailey as a cousin of Ken Morris. Tarence is descendent from Perry Bailey, the elder brother of Frederick Douglass. No such records relate Umar to Ken and his mother Nettie, Tarence, or anyone else related to Frederick Douglass or Booker T. Washington. Ken and Nettie have co-founded the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives (FDFI) of which is supported by Tarence. Their family and supporters are advocates against modern slavery and human trafficking around the world. They are continuing the work of their great ancestor. Neither Ken Morris, Nettie Washington Douglass, Tarence Bailey, nor any other proven descendant have spoken of any relationship to Umar Johnson and he is not a member of FDFI. What has occurred is that Ken Morris issued the Official Public Statement on Umar Johnson and Tarence Bailey issued the Declaration from Elders of the Bailey Family: Disowning Umar Johnson, an Unverified Disgrace to the Family Name. The Douglass Family Initiative is an organization making a real difference in the world by real descendants of Frederick Douglass and his family. They should have your support instead of an idea for a school that doesn’t exist, pawned off by a charlatan. By the way, there was another fake descendant known as Fake Fred IV who has been more successful and prosperous at perpetrating as a Douglass descendant than Umar. For details read Role of a Lifetime.
Fact 7. There is suspicious activity around Paypal and Gofundme which indicates fraudulent activity. Paypal froze Umar’s account permanently and Gofundme closed his account down temporarily. There are only a few reasons that Paypal will freeze accounts and Gofundme would close temporarily and they all revolve around fraud protection. They protects the integrity of their service. They have accounts in much greater amounts than Umar. There is no conspiracy against him. If donors have complained about making contributions to a fraud, Paypal and Gofundme will freeze your account. Considering that so much of Umar’s reputation is highly questionable, Paypal could have had any number of fraudulent reasons to freeze his account. On the other hand, Umar also has a GoFundMe account which is different from Paypal. With GoFundMe, you are giving money to the person for whatever reason they wish. With Paypal, there are more restrictions to protect against fraud. Umar’s Paypal was frozen for all reasons that Paypal freeze accounts, suspicion of fraud or actual fraud.
Fact 8. Umar has poor character. The fact that Umar and Khym Ringgold were involved with each other is their business. They were two consenting adults. His character comes into question because he blamed her for the loss of a large donation from an un-named NBA star when the internet became active around their involvement with each other. He didn’t give the identity of this NBA star leading many to believe this was simply a diversion tactic because Khym Ringgold is a stripper. It should also be noted that he called Khym Ringgold several very disrespectful names not worth mentioning. Regardless of Khym Ringgold being a stripper, as brothers we should try to uplift our sisters instead of putting them down. His actions were not those of leadership or a man.
Umar is extremely disrespectful. When complaining about how much money was not raised, he stated, “Trifling ass Black people” didn’t give him enough and if anyone didn’t like what he said, it could be “handled outside”! Educators and leaders of our people do not speak like this about our people being “trifling” because he didn’t get enough money and taking it “outside” to fight if you don’t like what he said. On another occasion, he told a brother who disagreed with him in Texas to “knuckle up bitch”! He has had problems with paying his own child support. Mostly recently he had a video rant meltdown with a fake tough guy phone call that was a viral embarrassment. This is not how great leaders behave and talk. This is how irresponsible and insecure men conduct themselves.
Fact 9. Umar gives selective information to his donors. He was supposedly the principal of a charter school but suddenly resigned. He didn’t give the name of the school or why he resigned. Why? Khym Ringgold supposedly prevented him from receiving a large NBA donation, but he didn’t give the NBA player’s identity. Why? He states that he is related to Frederick Douglass but didn’t provide any records. Why? He states that he has a financial plan but it’s not made available. Why? He claims to have several degrees to which he can easily prove through posting the transcripts or posting the degrees, but he does not. Why? He claims to have principal and psychology certifications, but does not provide these to his followers. Why? Umar has not explained why his Paypal was frozen or his Gofundme temporarily shut down. Why? He can give documented reason from Paypal and Gofundme by posting for his followers. Why hasn’t he? Considering the pattern of selective information, the pattern of suspicion and deceit, a very reasonable conclusion can be drawn that Umar is extremely dishonest, perhaps even pathologically and chronically dishonest beyond his own control. If he is pathologically dishonest, which I deduce from all of the above evidence, he is driven by an insecurity to fulfill illusions of grandeur from his un-questioning, uncritical loyal followers willing to defend him even in the face of logic.
Fact 10. From all of the available facts above, a reasonable conclusion, the only logical conclusion that can be made is that Umar Johnson is a fraud who is deceptive or even pathologically dishonest and fueled by illusions of grandeur partially encouraged by non-critical followers. He seems to suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder. The fact that he is articulate and has followers is not to his advantage. He would not defraud people of money and possibly create legal problems for himself if he didn’t have an audience.
He is a professional fundraiser who has been able to raise money based on the desire of Blacks to support an Afrikan-Centered school. The cultural school movement is important for the Black community. We need schools that teach the identity or children, the purpose of education, and the history of our people. Supporting a fraud campaign will only deter people and divert resources from meaningful causes such as CIBI or other independent Afrikan-Centered schools. With Umar being taken with any depth of seriousness will make any and all cultural movements for Blacks look comical.
Umar has been able to platform himself into the national lecture circuit with false claims around his ancestry, fake credentials, and a fundraising mission that has failed. Umar’s reputation will become a shadow in the near future. However, other fraudulent leaders, culture pimps, and religious shysters will continue to take advantage of people with good intentions willing to support a righteous cause, but desperate for leadership. We have schools and businesses that need support from our people. Such fraudulent campaigns can be disheartening to many and even turn people away from supporting needed causes. Community support is much needed. Unfortunately, insincere campaigns can become distracting and wasteful of potential and resources that could truly benefit our community.
There are any number of informative critiques on Umar Johnson by informative and insightful Black authors, scholars, and activists. I would recommend for an initial read Deborrah Cooper’s Unaswered Questions About a Five Million Dollar School forBlack Boys and Agyei Tyehimba’s Open Letter to Brother UmarJohnson Concerning Your Plans for a New Boys Academy. Also, those seeking honesty should read Inside the Conscious Stripper, Umar Johnson Scandal: Leadership Roles and the Black Man by Khym Ringgold. There are interesting video critiques but two I would recommend for initial views are: 1. The Advise Show Radio video entitled “Dr. UmarJohnson Exposed Himself as a Hotep Hustler” and another on Boyce Watkin’s YouTube channel entitled “What Happened to Dr. Umar Johnson’s School” by Maria Lloyd. To not question leadership, particularly fraudulent leadership, is ignorance and betrayal. Since originally publishing this essay, I’ve done two other works on Umar Johnson, 1. Who Taught Umar Johnson How to Pimp Culture? Hidden Color’s Tariq Nasheed and His Greatest Hustle along with 2. A Brief Note to the Black Community: Umar Johnson is Neither a Leader nor a Scholar.
I’m reminded of Pastor Creflo Dollar and Pastor Leroy Thompson on the plushy carpeted stairs of their church in expensive suits, nice shoes, Bible in hand, and shouting incoherently as they ran through waves of money given by the congregation. As a people, we must place insight before involvement, education before indoctrination, and never ever suspend critical thought and analysis. I’ll end with this saying: As long as there are fools with money, they will lose it or someone else will take it.
Posted in Battling White Supremacy. Tagged African American, African centered, African culture, African History, African people, Amos Wilson, Author, Black boys, Black Children, Black church, Black Community, Black consciousness, Black issues, Black Leaders, Black nationalism, Black people, Black politics, Black unity, Bobby Wright, Chantell Beaty, Conscious community, Consciousness, Defraud, Diploma, Facts, Fake people, Frances Cress Welsing, Fraud, Frederick Douglas, Fundraiser, Gofundme, interracial marriage, Ivan Van Srtima, Jermiane Shoemaker, John G. Jackson, John Henrik Clarke, Khym Ringgold, Lecture, Marcus Garvey, Mukasa Afrika Maat, Pan African, Paypal, Personal income, Philadelphia, Pimping the people, Pimps, Preacher pimps, Pro Black, Pro Black pimps, Psychological research, Psychology, Race Mixing, Racism, Rumors, Scholars, School for Black boys, Speaker, Stripper, Tariq Nasheed, Umar Johnson, Wade Nobles
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Man killed in St. Paul officer-involved shooting identified
The Ramsey County Medical Examiner has identified the man who was killed during an officer-involved shooting Sunday in St. Paul.
The medical examiner's office identified the man as 31-year-old Ronald Davis, of St. Paul.
The incident happened just before 6 p.m.
Police review body camera video after deadly officer-involved shooting in St. Paul
Police said it all started when Davis drove into an officer's squad car at Thomas Avenue W. and North Griggs Street.
When the officer got out of his squad, Davis confronted him and the two got into a physical fight. That's when police said the officer fired his gun, hitting and killing Davis.
"I heard gunfire," one neighbor told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. "Police were doing CPR on him, then paramedics took over. It was death by cop, he wanted to die."
Investigators said they are reviewing body camera video, and the officer has been placed on standard administrative leave.
Published: September 16, 2019 12:00 AM
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Adams, Phelps (1)
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Creator: Brayman, Harold, 1900-1988
Title: Harold Brayman papers supplement
Abstract: Harold Brayman (1900-1988), a political journalist and former director of the Public Relations Department of Du Pont Company for 21 years, helped establish a concept of public relations which was[...] widely emulated throughout the United States. The Harold Brayman papers supplement, spanning from 1914-1992, contains substantial editions to the original collection, documenting Brayman's dual careers in the fields of journalism and public relations. The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, press releases, speeches, newspaper clippings and articles, photographs, memorabilia and books.
Subjects: Prohibition--United States--History | Elections | Public relations | Journalism--Political aspects--United States--History--20th century | More Subjects
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Laser Powered Sensor to Open Up ‘Anonymised’ Security Era
June 17, 2019 – San Jose, Calif. – A laser powered sensor that detects objects, people and vehicles could herald an era of anonymised surveillance that isolates threats from uninvolved people or objects, according to Cepton Technologies, Inc.
Vista-Edge is Laser-Powered
Cepton Technologies 3D Lidar detection system, the Vista-Edge™ Perception Evaluation Kit (PEK), combines the unerring accuracy of lasers to scan the environment in much the same way a radar does, but at a much higher resolution, building an image of the world around it regardless of lighting conditions.
Presenting the technology in the UK for the first time at IFSEC International in London’s ExCeL on June 20, Cepton’s Neil Huntingdon says that because the device combines the sensor with a powerful micro-computer in a single package it can process the information directly at the “edge”* and highlight only potential threats, such as an intruder or a suspicious package. This then guarantees the anonymity of those not involved in any suspicious incident.
Neil, Cepton’s VP of Business Development, said: “Our technology allows for far greater protection of data – because it allows operators to zero in on possible issues in a way other technology cannot.
“There are many advantages to being laser powered; most notably Lidar can see in the dark, it only transmits a fraction of the information a video would, reducing the burden of data storage and network bandwidth charges, while opening the door to more mobile installations.
“Perhaps most importantly it means we can guarantee the anonymity of people or objects not deemed a threat. This is a step-change from existing technology, where everyone’s face is captured and held on video storage, regardless of whether they were involved in an incident or not.”
In addition to being more dynamic than video technology, the system has been designed with user simplicity in mind.
“You hand someone a camera and they know what it is and what to do with it. This is often not the case with a Lidar and Cepton intends to change that,” said Jerone Floor, Head Of Product at Cepton.
“Our customers should not need to be Lidar experts to set up and test our system, but, at the same time, the tools are available to take it to the next level and develop products based on our Vista family of sensors.”
Cepton’s technology, which can operate over WiFi, mobile networks or Ethernet, can also be used to enable driverless cars and to monitor traffic and infrastructure usage, enabling smarter modelling of transport networks.
Neil added: “This technology is undoubtedly an exciting prospect for security and transport – and we believe it is the key to the delivery of truly smart cities that can make our communities safer and more connected.”
Cepton Technologies will be exhibiting at IFSEC 2019 in London at ExCel, booth 1316. To schedule a meeting onsite, please email: media@cepton.com
Issued by Weber Shandwick on behalf of Cepton Technologies, Inc
About the Vista-Edge Perception Evaluation Kit
The Vista-Edge PEK comes pre-installed with Cepton’s object tracking software and is designed to enable Cepton’s eco-system partners to integrate and develop solutions tailored for specific markets. For example, Security, Transport Infrastructure and Retail integrators can now augment traditional solutions with state-of-the-art 3D lidar-based tracking.
The Vista-Edge PEK is powered by NVIDIA’s AI computing platform, the Jetson TX2, and functions with Cepton’s portfolio of MMT™ lidar sensors which provide high resolution and long-range 3D imaging.
The Vista-Edge is a true plug and play device. Out-of-the-box, the system takes only a few minutes to setup. Software included and pre-installed in the package is the Cepton SDK, CeptonViewer and the Perception Server. The hardware features compact, lightweight design and has ports for 1Gb Ethernet, HDMI, USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connections, and can function on IoT and Wi-Fi networks.
About Cepton Technologies, Inc.
Cepton Technologies, Inc. is a 3D sensing solutions provider shipping next-generation lidar-based products for the security, smart infrastructure, transport and retail markets. For more information, visit http://www.cepton.com/.
*Edge processing
Edge processing refers to the execution of aggregation, data manipulation, bandwidth reduction and other logic directly on an IoT sensor or device. The more work the device can do to prepare the data for the cloud, the less work the cloud needs to do.
Dyan Owen: + 44 141 343 3254 / +44 7738 086 818 dowen@webershandwick.com
Steven Flanagan: +44 141 343 3250 / sflanagan@webershandwick.com
Note – If you liked this post click here to stay informed of all of the 3D laser scanning, geomatics, UAS, autonomous vehicle, Lidar News and more. If you have an informative 3D video that you would like us to promote, please forward to editor@lidarnews.com and if you would like to join the Younger Geospatial Professional movement click here.
tagged with 3D perception, anonymised surveillance, Cepton, edge processing, Featured, Jetson TX2, laser scanning, lidar, NVIDIA AI, vista-edge
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« Poutine Chips | Main | The Return of Fox and Badger, page 3 »
A View From the Top
Inexpensive Scotland: Pay the £4.50 admission fee into Dumbarton Castle and watch today's match from the summit of Dumbarton Rock.*
Morton visit Dumbarton.
With their season one-third complete Morton are sixth with 13 points. At this pace they'll finish with 39, which in last year's Championship was good enough for 7.5th place. They just have to keep on beating the bottom clubs. Dumbarton are in eighth place, and are coming off a 5 - 0 thumping by Falkirk. Morton ought to win this one.
Rangers, with eleven wins in eleven games, already have enough points to avoid relegation in last year's Championship.
[Morton win 1 - 2. Goals by McKee and Johnstone.]
It's the final of the Nabisco J League Cup: Kashima Antlers [3 - 0] Gamba Osaka. "Gamba" is Italian for leg. [Antlers win for the sixth time. They are the Nabisco Cup experts.]
Largs Thistle [2 - 2] Ardeer. A friendly.
Montreal Impact have knocked Toronto FC out of the MLS Cup, and all's right with the world.
Yesterday: Adanaspor [1 - 0] Karşıyaka.
League of Ireland promotion playoff, second leg (in Italian, seconda tappa), was played yesterday: Finn Harps [2 - 1] UCD. That's the end of the season for UCD. They'll play in the First Division again next year.
Tomorrow is the last day ot the Scottish Women's Premier League schedule. Glasgow City have already secured the title, their ninth straight, but Hibs were a close second.
*Dumbarton play at the Cheaper Insurance Direct Stadium, so they can't really complain.
Posted at 01:18 AM in Scottish Things, Soccer | Permalink
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Pool Closed
732 Edwin Drive, Virginia Beach, VA 23462
Larkspur Lasers
The Larkspur Lasers are so excited about this upcoming season and we want you to be part of it! Please come and see us May 18th at the Open House from 10am- 2pm at the pool clubhouse on Edwin Drive. We will be accepting registrations for the upcoming season and would love the opportunity to talk with new families about the many benefits of summer swim. Aquawear will be there selling bathing suits and we will have team shirts for purchase.
We will also be offering swim school this summer. This is an intensive program geared towards children 4 and up that are not quite ready for the team. Swim school will take place during team practice times.
Get information about our Swim School.
Signup for Swim Team.
Printer Friendly Practice Schedule
If you have questions, please contact lasers@larkspurswim.com
Swim Team Schedule
Coach Carina
Coach Carina Masson most recently served as lead age group coach for Tide Swimming in Virginia Beach. She started swimming competitively at age 11 and received a swimming scholarship to a Division I university, where she majored in elementary education. She still swims competitively today and is the holder of a statewide age group record for Virginia Masters Swimming. She is married to a Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician and is the mother of four young swimmers who will be joining the Lasers this summer. Coach Carina will be primarily coaching the age group and developmental morning practices.
Coach Ian
Coach Ian Miller is joining the Lasers for his first season of coaching after previously swimming for the Lasers, Old Dominion Aquatic Club, and Kempsville High in Virginia Beach. He is currently a freshman at Roanoke College, where he is majoring in Business Administrationand a member of the men’s swim team. Coach Ian will be coaching the senior, age group, and developmental evening practices this summer.
Coach Hailee
Coach Hailee Morse is returning to the Lasers for her third year of coaching. She previously swam competitively for Old Dominion Aquatic Club and Kempsville High School, where she served as team captain. She is currently a junior at Mary Washington University, where she majors in nursing and is a member of the women’s swim team. Coach Hailee will be primarily coaching the senior, age group, and developmental morning practices this summer.
Coach Eric
Coach Eric Zank is returning to the Lasers for his fourth year of coaching. He is currently a junior at Penn State University, where he is majoring in Mathematics. He previously swam competitively for Landstown High School, where he served as team captain. Coach Eric will be coaching the senior, age group, and developmental morning and evening practices this summer.
Coach Andy
Coach Andy Zank is returning to the Lasers for his second year of coaching. He is currently a sophomore at Penn State University, where he is majoring in Security and Risk Analysis. Like his older brother Eric, he also previously swam competitively for Landstown High School, where he served as team captain. Coach Andy will be primarily coaching the developmental morning practices and the senior, age group, and developmental evening practices this summer.
Fall Yard Sale
Larkspur Swim & Racquet Club
732 Edwin Drive
info@larkspurswim.com
© 2018 Sibiga
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Art Center College of Design Honors Legendary Shoe Designer from Inglewood
By Jennifer Bihm, Contributing Writer
D’Wayne Edwards (Courtesy photo)
On April 27, D’Wayne Edwards, who has designed shoes for some of America’s top companies like Nike and Adidas, received an honorary degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Unremarkable as it seems (Edwards has been a professional designer for about 30 years now), it’s not something Edwards imagined would happen for him. But he’s honored nonetheless, to have received the degree; it’s something that has sparked a look back at his life in somewhat of amazement.
“I’m from Inglewood,” Edwards said in a recent interview.
“To receive an honorary degree from one of the best art schools in the world is something I didn’t even dream about. I did dream of becoming a footwear designer. I never dreamed I would do it at the level that I did.”
As a kid, Edwards loved to draw, he said. By age twelve, he began sharpening his skill, mostly by sketching footwear.
“My fascination with art started super early,” Edwards said.
“But art seemed to always equal broke in people’s eyes. I didn’t want to end up, like people thought I would end up/ on Venice Beach selling art for not that much money.
“So art wasn’t cool to do and wasn’t looked upon as a career. I was introduced to design, which was different from art. Art is something you do for yourself while design is something you do for others. Once I got introduced to design it changed me.”
By the time he got to Inglewood High, he knew for sure what he wanted to do. Winning a shoe design competition held by Reebok, solidified his dreams.
“In my senior year I went to my guidance counselor and asked about being a shoe designer, about what design school I should go to,” Edwards recalled.
“She said, ‘why even bother with something like that. No Black kid from Inglewood is going to become a footwear designer. You should just focus on getting out of this city and having a normal job or joining the military or doing something in retail…’”
But words that were meant to be discouraging only fueled Edward’s desire.
“I couldn’t afford to go to college,” he said.
“I started working as a temp for [athletic wear company] L.A. Gear in Marina Del Rey in the accounting department as a file clerk. I would give them suggestions and sketches day after day and [eventually] they offered me a job. It was right after my 19thbirthday.”
Edwards became a professional designer that year with L.A. Gear and went on to be one of the youngest designers for Nike brand. His designs have made $1 billion worldwide. He never forgot his beginnings and reached back, to help future designers reach their dreams.
Edwards opened Pensole Academy in Portland where education is free for those who are serious.
“By me not being able to afford college, I didn’t want that to be a barrier. So, once I retired from my career as a designer I started my own academy with the idea of making it free for kids who are talented enough to get into the academy,” Edwards said.
“We look for talented kids all over the world. The goal is to be able to give them the education they need… to introduce them to careers that are in the industry.”
Pensole Academy partners with all of the top footwear companies like Nike, Reebok and Adidas, which pay for students’ classes and housing.
D’Wayne Edwards recieving his honorary degree from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. (Courtesy photo)
To be exact, Footwear News describes it this way.
“Edwards, who has worked in the athletic industry for three decades, created a pipeline of new designers through the academy that offers free tuition and a learn-by-doing curriculum that teaches students the entire footwear and apparel process, from product inspiration and concept development to manufacturing and branding…”
Edward’s students have the opportunity to learn through design intensives, competitions and a master class.
“I tell my students to focus on the craft and work toward being a designer who inspires others,” Edwards said.
“To me, design is an opportunity to share with the world something you created.”
For more information about Edwards and Pensole Academy visit pensole.com.
Categories: Education | Family | Lifestyle | Local | News | News (Family)
Tags: Adidas | Art Center College of Design | D’Wayne Edwards | Footwear News | inglewood | Inglewood High | L.A. Gear | Marina del Rey | Nike | Pasadena | Pensole Academy | Portland | Reebok | Venice Beach
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Head Instructor
Mike Holmes, Hanshi
Hachidan (8th Degree) Black Belt
Shihan Holmes began his discipleship of the martial arts in a small dojo (practice hall) on 2nd and Dock Streets in Wilmington, NC in 1969. He still remembers how very small his first dojo was compared to the training facilities today. At that time, only two instructors existed in Wilmington, Sensei Jerry Hobbs and Sensei Roy Creasy
Master Jerry Hobbs, whom Shihan Holmes studied under and is a Judan-Hanshi (Grand Master) 10th degree black belt, was teaching a traditional Japanese system of Tetsu Ken Ryu Karate. Hobbs also offered training in Chinese and Okinawan systems.
Shihan Holmes earned his first black belt in this Japanese system after three hard years of full contact, bare knuckle and bare footed Kumite (fighting). One year later, after cross training in a Chinese system, he received a black belt in Hong Chung Kung-Fu or Gung Fu as some call it.
Holmes continued to study and train under Master Hobbs’ influence in Kempo, Ju-jitsu, Kobodo, and Okinawan Karate. In 1980, while on a return visit to Japan, Hobbs once again tested and cross graded Holmes to a black belt in Okinawan Seidokan Karate. Years later he would receive a black belt in Dentokan Ju-Jitsu and a Kyoshi title in Shorin-Ryu Karate-Do.
Shihan Holmes has had the privilege and opportunity to train with and under such Masters, as Keith James Master Sergent USMC, US Navy Seal Jody Paul, Bruce Heilman, Ricardo Emerson (Puerto Rico), Boulahfa Mimoun Abdel-Lah (Spain), Joe Dilberto (NY), and Allen Tacket 9th degree Hachi-dan (CA). Tacket is presently the head representative of Seidokan Karate, USA. Shihan Holmes has also had the privilege and opportunity to train under Col. Jerry Hobbs USAF, founder and President of Kokusai Dentokan Bugei Renmei, Senior student Shigemitsu Tamaei, and Head Master Soke Shian Toma owner/founder of Seidokan Karate in Okinawa Japan.
Holmes presently holds a Shihan (Master Grade) Hachidan-Hanshi 8th degree black belt and a (menko) teaching certificate from Japan. He is authorized to teach, test and grade traditional arts.
Shihan Holmes also believes in being involved in his community. He is a member of the North Brunswick Chamber of Commerce, supports local sports, and participates in the Annual Leland Christmas Parade and Founders Day Festival. Seidokan Karate also proudly works together with the PTO and PTA at the local schools.
Holmes is a member of First Baptist Church of Leland, has taught Sunday School and been involved in outreach ministry. He worked for the Brunswick County Sheriff Department as a Deputy Sheriff. Holmes served as an environmental chairman for BellSouth Pioneers. He also chaired committees such as CWA-BellSouth Quality Work Life, First Chairman and charter Member of the Leland JC Chapter and was appointed by the Brunswick County Commissioners on the Cape Fear River Advisory Board at UNCW Marine Science Department.
Sensei Brandon White
Yondan (4th Degree) Black Belt
Sensei Ruby Holmes
Sandan (3rd Degree) Black Belt
RSKKR Certificate
Certificate for Seidokan Dojo of Leland, NC
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Tag Archives: Vancouver Olympics
Talking with the champ | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Talking with the champ | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.
Tagged Olympic champion, Olympic gold medal, Seth Wescott, snowboard cross, Vancouver Olympics, Wheaties boxes, Wheaties champion, Winter Games, Winter Olympics
Maine’s Wescott a Wheaties champion | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram
Wescott a Wheaties champion | The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram.
Tagged Olympic champion, Seth Wescott, snowboard cross, Vancouver Olympics, Wheaties boxes, Winter Games, Winter Olympics
Maine duo set stage for 2010 games – Bangor Daily News
Maine duo set stage for 2010 games – Bangor Daily News.
Posted in Outdoors
Tagged Alex Philip, Alta Lake, “Crimson Paradise”, “The Crimson West”, Blue Hill, British Columbia, Brooksville, Canada, Canadian Northwest, Canadian resort, London Mountain in Garibaldi Provincial Park, Maine, Mainers, Myrtle Philip Day, Myrtle Tapley, Nordic, Olympics, Rainbow Lodge, Resort Municipality of Whistler, Tapley House, Vancouver, Vancouver Olympics, Wharf Road, Whistler, Whistler Museum and Archive Society, Winter Games, Winter Olympics
This Maine native just can’t get into the Winter Games
I really should love the Winter Olympics. After all, I grew up in snowy, wintery Maine where winter sports lasted longer in the year than summer sports. Remember, three seasons there – winter, mud and July.
But not so much.
I couldn’t even get into it after a Maine kid, Seth Wescott, defended his Olympic gold medal by winning the cross-snowboarding competition. I still couldn’t get into it after Hannah Kearney, Lindsey Vonn, Julia Mancuso, Shannon Bahrke, Apolo Anton Ohno, Shani Davis, Chad Hedrick, Shaun White, Bode Miller, and more all picked up medals.
And I really don’t care about the medal count. The Cold War is over. There doesn’t seem much point in waging a Gold War.
As a kid I did frolic in the snow. I did a fair amount of tobogganing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling. I even ice skated for a while as a child, but I grew tired of falling on my bum. More than once while skating at the rink near the artisan well at the south end of Portage Lake did my feet come out from under me, landing me quite squarely on my tail bone. OK, “tail bone” is not the medical name for that remnant of an ancient tail, but you know exactly what I mean. And I mostly enjoyed the tobogganing, skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, and, yes, even the ice skating.
There is no feeling of peace and aloneness quite like the one experienced after skiing or snowshoeing into the forest miles from civilization to stand and hear the bitterly cold wind blow through the tops of tall conifers and white birches. There you hear the heavy plop, plop, plop sound of snow being dislodged from branches and falling to the snow-covered ground below. It is so peaceful, so alone and so “quiet” by city standards that even the creatures of childhood stories, stories of boogeymen and headless woodsmen, come back to life just a tiny bit.
It was a time that I truly enjoyed the Winter Olympics. I remember rather vividly watching TV coverage of the Miracle On Ice. I recall watching the bobsled competition, the ski jumping and other winter sports, but nothing really took hold for me.
I remember in junior high school participating in winter carnival events – snowshoeing, speed skating, tobogganing – but no winter sport really took hold for me.
In the winter, I played high school basketball for the junior varsity and later varsity teams, and on the weekends I snowmobiled on or around Portage Lake or cross-country ski on some of the snowmobile trails in the forest behind my home on the hill overlooking the lake.
But nothing takes hold for me during these Winter Games in Vancouver. Granted, I watched in envy and awe at the women’s mogul competition in which two Americans and a Canadian stood to receive medals. And I watched a bit of the luge competition. The death of the competitor earlier in the week made it a morbid necessity, I suppose. And I watched a bit of Ohno racing and Vonn rocketing
I was born in Maine about as far north as you can go in this country, to be truthful, but I was born at about the summer solstice. I blame timing and the summer solstice, then, for not being a more enthusiastic cross-country skier or luger or hockey player.
As a child, I loved late spring and summer, running through the fields of wildflowers and mustard plants and into the forest, many times following the trails that had been cut for snowmobiles. All summer long I would play baseball, soccer, golf and rode a bicycle. And when I was not doing that, I was paddling a canoe, sailing a small sailboat or swimming in the cool Portage Lake. All the while, longing for the summer to last just one more day, one more week, one more month.
It doesn’t make me un-American to not care about the Winter Olympics. That might be akin to calling someone un-American for not liking baseball and failing to watch the World Series or someone not liking American football and not watching the Super Bowl.
Maybe next time I will strive to overcome my summer solstice-induced apathy toward winter sports and watch the coverage. Maybe.
Tagged Apolo Anton Ohno, baseball, bobsledding, Bode Miller, canoe, Chad Hedrick, Cold War, cross-snowboarding, golf, hockey, Julia Mancuso, Lindsey Vonn, luge, medal count, Miracle On Ice, Portage, Portage Lake, sailboat, Seth Wescott, Shani Davis, Shaun White, ski jumping, skiing, snow, snowboard, snowboarder, snowboarding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, soccer, speed skating, Summer Solstice, swim, tobogganing, Vancouver Olympics, winter, Winter Games, Winter Olympics, wintery, women’s mogul skiing
Wescott wins gold again | Portland Press Herald
Back home in Carrabassett Valley, ‘everybody knew he could do it’
Tagged American flag, defending gold medalist, Farmington, Italy, Olympic gold medal, Olympics, Seth Wescott, snowboard, snowboardcross, snowboarder, snowboarding, Sugarloaf Mountain, Turin Games, Vancouver Olympics, Winter Games, Winter Olympics, World War II
Maine lawyer goes to bat for Olympic dreams | Portland Press Herald
Lawyer goes to bat for Olympic dreams | Portland Press Herald.
Tagged Court of Arbitration for Sport, Maine Law Review, Olympic athlete, Olympic Games, Olympics, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, U.S. biathlon team, U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, University of Maine School of Law, Vancouver, Vancouver Olympics, Winter Games
Wescott sees waxing as winning | Portland Press Herald
Wescott sees waxing as winning | Portland Press Herald.
Tagged Carrabassett Valley, competition, Cypress Mountain, Kessler, men's snowboardcross, Olympics, snow, snowboard, snowboardcross, snowboarder, snowboarding, U.S. Alpine Team, Vancouver Olympics, wax, wax technician, waxing, Whistler Mountain, Winter Games, Winter Olympics
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Taylor on New Freeways, Same Old Congestion
August 8, 2019 /0 Comments/in Luskin in the News /by Mary Braswell
Brian Taylor, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UCLA Luskin, spoke with KCRW’s Greater L.A. program about several freeway expansion plans in the region. For motorists hoping the projects would bring lighter traffic, Taylor tempered expectations. As the region grows, more people and goods will need to move around and the expanded freeways will eventually clog up again, he said. The key to relieving congestion is charging for the use of the road, which is “wildly unpopular” among motorists and elected officials, he said. The urban planning professor also linked the planned High Desert Freeway project, which would connect Palmdale and Lancaster with the Victorville area, to the affordable housing debate in the L.A. Basin. With resistance to higher-density housing near L.A.’s transit corridors, “we end up building out on the fringe, and then we have to accommodate the demand for the traffic out there,” he said.
Ling on Soundproofing Homes in Inglewood
Loukaitou-Sideris and Wachs on High-Speed Rail Project
Blumenberg Says Trump’s Welfare Reform Plan Misses a Key Piece: Transportation
Lens Weighs In on 'Upzoning' Bill
Pay Heed to Housing Assessment, Monkkonen Urges
Manville on Elon Musk's Proposed 'People Mover'
Manville on the ‘Unmitigated Disaster’ of Parking Requirements Armenta’s ‘Protect, Serve, and Deport’ Receives Book Prizes
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General Banter
Have you voted? ;)
By LasraelLarson, November 6, 2016 in General Banter
LasraelLarson 112
Location:Vancouver, Canada
Server:Brandywine
Kinship:Not for the Last Time
what if the whole world voted on the US presidential election?
Worldwide Vote!
some interesting results so far.
the stench of Tim Horton's & Socialism in my "snow-beaner" Homeland, puts the corrupt hag slightly out in front. thankfully that doesn't seem to be the case globally.
you might say this is premature of me...
but i would just like to congratulate President Donald John Trump on a victorious campaign that defied all the odds!
Only two options given, when there's 3 other viable candidates? Nah, I'm not joining this 2 party nonsense the media keeps pushing on everyone. They act like it's a choice between Civil War or WW3, and then ignore people like Stein.
I can only hope Trump wins, since he's the lesser of two evils. Lord knows the population won't all throw aside the system and make the right choice otherwise.
fittybolger 77
Server:Riddermark
Kinship:Parents of Middle Earth
Interesting results worldwide in that link.
I have found this US election very interesting and see many parallels to how the media / establishment handled Brexit.
Trump is the anti-globalization candidate and he and his supporters are suffering the same media onslaught as the "Leave" campaign in Brexit IMO... except on steroids now as the Brexit vote caught the establishment by surprise and they are pulling out all the stops for this election.
I find it quite entertaining to watch.
Jedy2 30
Internet Trolls for Trump. How surprising...
They like this Shameless Simpleton. So much like them...
Dalthalion 183
בָּר֤וּךְ יהוה
Server:There Are No Servers
Kinship:Danger Associated
That's very interesting, but other countries don't really get a say in who gets elected, at least not according to our law.
Thrabath 19
Kinship:Dutch Dunedain
Well, if it was possible I'd hope neither of them would be elected, because they both are not liked (or hated...) by at least 50% of the USA population... I think Trump is a disaster for the rest of the world, although I really can't say if the things he say are also the things he plans to do. If I was a US citizen and could vote I would never ever vote for Trump for the next 3 reasons:
1. He denies climage change
2. He appears to be unstable/ very impulsive in his actions. That is not a good quality for the person who holds command of the best/largest army in the world.
3. His opinion on weapons is the complete opposite of mine
Clinton will stick to the status quo, which isn't great either and I think she is too much influenced by the rich, but I think she is at least more experienced
let's just say at this moment I'm happy I am not a US citizen
And I'm really baffled a Christian would vote for Trump. When I read the newspapers in Europa they all say the evangelicals are in favor of Trump. I really can't understand this.
Papi 87
2 hours ago, Thrabath said:
There is a lot about this particular election that doesn't make sense to be fair. I would argue that Clinton is far more qualified than Donald Trump and the fact that she had to share a debate stage with a "reality star" three times is sort of mind boggling to me. He acts like a pubescent, spoiled child. And he lies. He lies so much it's like he created an alternate reality for just him and the people who follow him. It's bizarre. He can literally say almost anything and it doesn't matter.
I see the same sort of fear mongering coming from Trump that I did in the UK pre-Brexit. It's the same type of xenophobic, homophobic, sexist, and misogynistic bullshit dialed to 11.
And the irony of it all...Trump isn't even a Republican. Not really. He's whatever he needs to be to win.
5 hours ago, Papi said:
Bingo. Same with ruling Polish populist trash.
And he lies.
But then so does Clinton. If we're just going to say Trump isn't suitable because he lies, fear-mongers, and acts like a child, then Clinton's in the some boat as him. It just baffles me that, out of a whole nation, these two plebs were the best that red and blue teams could muster.
I didn't say she didn't lie. All politicians lie. Or bend the truth. But there is no comparison between the two. He doesn't care about the facts. He knows a wall will never be built but he says it anyway because the facts don't matter. He knows that he will never be able to forcibly deport 10 million illegal immigrants but he says he will because again the facts don't matter. He will tweet something or there will be a video of him saying something, and he will flat out deny it an hour later. His lies is just the tip of the ice berg on why he is not suitable. But I agree, there have never been two candidates with such a low favorability rating across the board.
Trumps team have taking has Twitter account off of him as they cant trust him with it. If you cat trust him with a twitter account how the hell can trust him to run a country.
Could you imagine him during and after a meeting of world leaders
I didn't say she didn't lie.
No, but you didn't say she did, either. Even in this post, you went with more of what Trump has lied about, when there's a plethora of Clinton lies to go with it. Which is basically what the media has been doing this whole time, too.
LordVorontur 185
Kinship:Elves of Imladris
Trump is unfit for anything but grabbing women by the pussy.
I dislike Clinton, but out of the 2, if I had to vote, I would vote for her.
Sadly, there doesn't seem to be any reasonable Republican candidates lately.
6 minutes ago, LordVorontur said:
Not sure he's even fit for that. But, then again, money and women do go hand in hand... or hand in vag.
2 hours ago, Doro said:
Even in this post, you went with more of what Trump has lied about, when there's a plethora of Clinton lies to go with it. Which is basically what the media has been doing this whole time, too.
False equivalency. His lies are outrageous, blatant and have done more damage to the political discourse in my country than any nominee before him. Even an independent, non-partisan group did the fact-checking. 70% of what comes out of Donald Trump's mouth (when speaking to the public) is a lie. Clinton is around 20%. I'm all for shaking up the status quo, going against the establishment, but not when it's done for the sole reason of feeding the ego of a narcissist pig. There is also something to be said about what a person chooses to lie about.
What I find telling is that some of the news outlets are now saying (of course) that they should have done a better job fact checking Trump during the primaries, they actually admitted he got a free pass because he was "good TV". You reap what you sow.
FundinStrongarm 76
Location:2013/14 Player Council Member
Kinship:Tolkien's Army of Middle Earth (TAME)
I've found the non-partisan fact checkers end up being quite partisan after all.
Both are horrible and could only beat each other. I'd vote for third party or not bother before I'd cast a vote for either.
Darmokk 163
Senior Forum Furniture
Location:Boston, MA, USA
Kinship:Gathering of Grognards
The way I see it:
My personal primary objective for tomorrow is that there are two groups that I don't want rewarded for their behavior:
1) Trump's supporters who got cocky and spew racism and all other -isms much more freely now. That is very noticeable, and don't think that the Boston area is excluded. Even for Asians things got a lot tougher here. If you don't drive a pickup truck you get a lot more plowing from them.
2) The Democratic Party leadership, who has not conducted a remotely fair, democratic or transparent primary. What went on on the convention alone is outrageous.
Out of those two we can only dampen one tomorrow. To me it is obvious that it is more important to deliver a defeat to the white trash supporting Trump, because they can get much worse, and you don't want 4 years of increasing disturbance. The democratic party leadership is already at a maximum of corruption and they won't get much worse over the next 4 years. There is also hope that people inside the democratic party will affect change - because if the Republicans hadn't committed political suicide the Democrats would surely have lost.
Laurinaohtar 133
Forum Furniture
Kinship:Council Of The West
I dislike both candidates but for me Clinton is better qualified to actually do the job and would be the lesser of two evils (by far). I'm just surprised it appears to be as close as it is, the fact that there are actually so many people who consider Trump would make a good president is mind boggling?
Has no one done the research on the scandals in the Clinton Presidency? Hillary is in the middle of each and every one of them.
Then there's her completely do-nothing career in the Senate.
And the disaster that was her as Secretary of State.
And the email server.
Then there's Hillary's hubris and downright stupid policies with the Middle-east that are GREATLY favored by the military-industrial complex which are going to get EVEN MORE Americans killed.
Yeah, Trump's a complete personality train-wreck, but when you really look at Hillary, it's like making the choice between someone grossly incompetent, and someone that's going to rip us all off. On the plus side, Trump's isolationist thinking is a good thing because it's gonna get us out of the foreign wars that we never should have started in the first place.
2 hours ago, Almagnus1 said:
I predicted Slick Willy would be impeached in 1991 (before he was elected for his first term)... It took seven years but he did get impeached.
If Clinton wins there will be impeachment talk before she is even sworn in.
Clinton Foundation pay-to-play + emails showing up from Weiner's prosecution + further Wikileaks + 33,000 deleted emails + controversy around Comey and FBI investigations... the list of investigations and potential further revelations is staggering.
I didn't see any Democrats invade random countries. The embassy protection budget was cut by a republican-lead congress. Email is never safe. The suggestion that things would have been "top secure" just by using the department-issued server is ridiculous. Apart from that the Bush administration also used non-government servers (their servers were set up by the RNC). The republicans have been trying to nail Hillary Clinton for 30 years and only found boring stuff. And that includes an FBI lead by a republican.
Overall not very convincing to me. At worst she is in line with behavior of the Bush administration.
30 minutes ago, Darmokk said:
Apart from that the Bush administration also used non-government servers (their servers were set up by the RNC).
In which over 20+ million emails were deleted (some pertaining to why/when/how we got into Iraq). Republican talking heads don't like it when people bring that little issue up.
37 minutes ago, fittybolger said:
That talk started earlier this week.
3 hours ago, Darmokk said:
I didn't see any Democrats invade random countries.
So what was Libya?
The embassy protection budget was cut by a republican-lead congress.
And it was compromised because of Clinton.
Email is never safe.
When you have people that know what they are doing, email can be secure.
When you have some arrogant bitch decide to ignore secure email guidelines, and setup the world's best information service because she's breaking so many laws about handling of classified information that any other person would be executed for high treason, then you are correct.
The suggestion that things would have been "top secure" just by using the department-issued server is ridiculous. Apart from that the Bush administration also used non-government servers (their servers were set up by the RNC).
Again, bullshit. This was proven by Wikileaks, and verified by the FBI.
The republicans have been trying to nail Hillary Clinton for 30 years and only found boring stuff. And that includes an FBI lead by a republican.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that.
Only not convincing because idiot democrats like yourself have your head shoved so far up your ass that you can't see daylight.
So yeah, I totally expect this to be deleted because that's what you Democrat types do when what you say is pointed out as wrong - that and ridicule the person.
1 hour ago, Almagnus1 said:
417 posts here and you expect this one to be deleted? I've never seen any political opinion deleted here, ever.
Donald Trump has a court case starting in December for alleged rape of a 13 year old. Add to this all the women that have accused him of sexual assault, his comments about grabbing women by the pussy and them just letting you because you are famous.
This is on top of accusations of attempted rape of an ex business partner and rape of his ex wife.
Now these might all be lies, or some of them lies, but they is no way I could vote for a man that say the things he does about women.
Go To Topic Listing General Banter
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Marissa Nadler & Stephen Brodsky Announce Two Covers
Posted: December 6, 2019 in Acoustic, Alternative, Americana, Gothic, Indie, Music, Rock
Tags: Marissa Nadler & Stephen Brodsky
Marissa Nadler & Stephen Brodsky, who released a critically acclaimed collaborative album Droneflower on Sacred Bones earlier this year have shared two cover songs that make up a new single via Sacred Bones – Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight and Extreme’s More Than Words.
Being unfortunately old enough to be of an age where I can remember the original, it must be said that I absolutely loathed In the Air Tonight, and still do, but when Marissa Nadler says “We wanted to make a creepy, sexy version...”, then I’m prepared to give it a listen. This should have been the original is all I can say…
Listen to both here.
Basic Plumbing – Bad Mood
Posted: December 3, 2019 in Indie, Music, Pop, Rock
Tags: Basic Plumbing
In 2016 Patrick Doyle relocated from London to LA, midway through writing his new album – the follow up to his acclaimed release as Boys Forever. The self-titled album was Patrick’s debut as a solo artist after years of playing in well-loved indie bands including Veronica Falls, The Royal We and Sexy Kids.
Tragically, after completing the recording of the follow-up, Keeping Up Appearances, Patrick passed away aged just 32. With the support of his family and bandmate and friend Helen Skinner, Keeping Up Appearances will get a full release in January, with profits from sales going to charities chosen by Patrick’s family – LA’s LGBT Centre and UK’s CALM.
The album perfectly captures the live and punchy sound he had set about to achieve and is full of timeless indie pop hooks and effortlessly catchy melodies, whilst lyrically it tackles the end of a relationship, capturing the feeling of growing apart from the person you were once closest to with an unflinching directness.
Listen to Bad Mood from the record, and pre-order it here.
Return Of The Electic Soft Parade
Posted: December 3, 2019 in Alternative, Electronic, Indie, Music, Post Punk, Psychedelic, Rock
Tags: Electric Soft Parade
Shame on us! We missed the news that Thomas and Alex White aka The Electric Soft Parade are back with their first new music in six years! Stages is released on January 8th on CD/LP/download via Chord Orchard.
Over seven expansive tracks, the record deals with the passing of Thomas and Alex’s mother, reaching through love, loss, mourning and hope, but with their ambitious pallet always intact.
For starters, check out the almost-ten-minute sprawling glory and orchestral psychedelia of Roles Reversed.
Order from Bandcamp here.
Ead Wood – Skin
Posted: November 29, 2019 in Alternative, Indie, Music, Pop, Psychedelic
Tags: Ead Wood
Bristol’s Ead Wood has shared a breezy, kaleidoscopic slice of sun-dappled psych-pop. Skin came out yesterday via Leisure Records.
After his previous summer single Plum Cake, Skin adds grit and guts to Wood’s shimmering guitars and is an ode to the thing that unites us all: skin. But despite its relaxed demeanor, the track grapples with plenty of anxieties just below its surface.
Check out the video for the new single below, and you can also stream Plum Cake too.
YOWL – Atrophy EP
Posted: November 28, 2019 in Alternative, Indie, Music, Post Punk, Rock
Tags: Yowl
Peckham based five-piece YOWL are set to release their new six track EP Atrophy tomorrow. A release about alienation and exhaustion, the band capture all the frustration of the 9-to-5 London grind like few others.
The EP veers from upbeat bouncing basslines, striking falsetto vocals, country-tinged sadness to furious, frenzied spiky alt-punk. Despite these different tones, Atrophy doesn’t have a single false step, never loses its identity, and is imbued with a menace and underbelly of roiling, churning sleaze that is an absolute delight.
Watch the video for lead single Mammalian Fondness and stream John The Collector and An Inflexible Storeroom below. You can order the EP here.
The By Gods – Black Wave
Tags: The By Gods
Tennessee residents The By Gods have announced that their fifth album Goldy will be released on 21st February.
The record is preceded with a new single Black Wave – a satisfyingly crunchy blend of indie rock, grunge, post-punk and honest to goodness rawk’n’roll.
Stream it here.
Introducing >>> Chupa Cabra
Posted: November 27, 2019 in Alternative, Blues, Garage, Music, Punk, Rock
Tags: Chupa Cabra
Sometimes you get an email from a band that already pretty much sums up everything we might want to say about a record in a couple of brilliant sentences.
Deeside’s Chupa Cabra is a perfect case in point. First, they describe their music as “nauseating, salivating, hypnotizing, no good sucker-punch-piss-yourself polystyrene agitator Blues“. Nice!
And they go on to describe their new single Violent Urges as “a word-salad murder-ballad set to the beat of a brick in a washing machine. It’s the urge to shout at the telly, it’s quitting smoking, it’s the space between the holes in your memory. Chupa Cabra’s new single is a call to trepan the masses. Bring your own anaesthetic.”
‘Word-salad murder ballad’ might be our favourite song descriptor of the year.
Good tune too. Listen in.
Fun fact: The Chupacabra translates as literally “goat-sucker”; from chupar, “to suck”, and cabra, “goat”, it is a legendary creature in the folklore of parts of the Americas, with its first purported sightings reported in Puerto Rico.
Baxter Dury – Slumlord
Posted: November 26, 2019 in Alternative, Disco, Indie, Music, Pop, Rock
Tags: Baxter Dury
Slumlord is the brilliant first taste from Baxter Dury’s new album The Night Chancers, which will see a release in March next year.
As one of the UK’s most interesting songwriters, he once again inhabits the song like a second skin, waxing lyrical in a literate and sharply observed way that very few can even hope to emulate let alone match. It is a tale of the unpleasant, the tainted and the grotesque whilst still retaining a sense of something despairingly romantic about it. It is the musical equivalent of a bare lightbulb swinging in a dingy bedsit, casting sickly light on things you might not want to see, and then suddenly illuminating something that might break your heart.
Musically there are echoes of The Clash, of Straight to Hell perhaps, and some Nile Rodgers style funk that just settles into a groove that quickly becomes irresistible.
Best thing he’s ever done as far as we’re concerned and Slumlord has some tough competition.
Great video too.
Silverbacks – Sirens
Tags: Silverbacks
Silverbacks are one (of quite a few it must be said) of our favourite Irish bands of the moment.
They have a new single planned: Sirens, backed with Drool, which will be available as a limited edition double A side 7″ from the end of January.
You can stream the lead track here – a wonderfully taut and spindly track that bristles with sardonic intent and its trio of guitars give it a bit of glam-rock oomph too.
It is great stuff.
Salad Boys – This Issue
Posted: November 25, 2019 in Alternative, Indie, Music, Rock
Tags: Salad Boys
New Zealand’s Salad Boys are releasing a new single This Issue backed with Onwards And Downwards.
It is another in a growing catalogue of jangly, razor sharp indie rock tunes and you can stream both below, watch a video or get is as a name-your-price download on Bandcamp here.
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Aviation /
What's that you're doing, Ms. Subat?
What’s that you’re doing, Ms. Subat?
© Jan Brandes/LH Technik
Rica Subat, 21
apprentice forwarding and logistics clerk
at Lufthansa Technik Services in Hamburg
“I’m attaching a GPS tracker to an Airbus landing gear in preparation for transit to Cape Town via Frankfurt. Lufthansa Technik Logistik Services sends spare parts consignments all over the world – 2.5 million last year. Most are small parts, but things get more complicated when we have large, easily damaged components to transport, such as landing gears or engines worth several million euros. These we suspend in transportation stands with the help of a crane or a lift truck. The tracker and securing straps are then attached to the stands, never directly to the parts themselves. We often have to get the components to their destination not only safely, but as quickly as possible, too, for instance, because there’s an airplane waiting for a spare part. We organize some 1000 special engine deliveries a year, with each one requiring a tailor-made logistics solution.”
So long, Bobby!
It's the end of an era: For nearly five decades the Boeing 737 - affectionately known as Bobby – flew for Lufthansa. Now, this sturdy, dependable city hopper is being retired
Preserved in time
Cologne Airport
Operations ceased at Cologne's first airport in 1939, never to resume again. A photography project showcases the building's timeless architecture.
Bangkok – One city, two faces
Gigantic eating places, creepy museums, unicorn blessings: Bangkok is the capital of all things weird, whacky and wonderful. But the Thai metropolis also has sublime beauty in plentiful supply. We show you both sides.
A-tisket, a-tasket …
Until they were banned in the 19th century, monks from the Buddhist Fuke sect wandered the streets of Japan
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Top Marion Social Security -- Disability Lawyers - Kansas
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Quiz: What % Compatible Are You With Your Significant Other?: HowStuffWorks
What % Compatible Are You With Your Significant Other?
Image: sarahwolfephotography / Moment / Getty Images
It's a common misconception that you must have everything in common with your significant other and that you have to agree on everything. Actually, it's been found that disagreeing and fighting occasionally is healthy for a long-lasting relationship. Now, with that said, if the two of you can't agree on anything, especially the major things, and you are always fighting, you might not be right for each other. But while you're busy figuring it out, people all over are trying to figure out the best way to help make your decision a little easier.
Sometimes love isn't enough to sustain a relationship, and that's a fact. But deep love and affection for one another is what keeps the world going 'round. It's also up to you to really decide what you're willing to put up with and what you're not. Society is (mostly) an encouraging place where you can be free to make your own decisions and be with whoever you want. Even if others don't think you're right for each other, all that matters is how the two of you feel about each other. At the end of the day, it's the two of you against the world.
If you want to know what percent compatible you and your significant other are, take this quiz to find out!
What do you think is the single most important aspect of a relationship?
Not hating each other
Being really happy when the other person walks through the door
Being on the same page about your future
Mutual understanding and respect
Is there anything you don't like about your significant other?
The way they chew
Sometimes they text and drive.
They leave their socks all over the house.
They love me too much.
Are you happiest when you're with your significant other?
I'm just as happy with them as I am with my friends and family.
I'm definitely close to the happiest.
They're my best friend.
I get sad when they leave.
Do you both want marriage and kids?
I want both, but I'm still trying to convince my other half.
Marriage yes. We're still on the fence about kids.
I'm fine having kids but don't care about marriage.
Yes and yes
Do your family and friends like your significant other?
My friends do, but some of my family doesn't really.
My sister is hard to please.
Everyone loves my SO.
They might like him more than I do! Kidding, of course.
If you were trying to decide what movie to see, who would ultimately make the decision?
My significant other
I would, of course.
We'd go with whichever one had the best show time.
We would do something else we could both agree on.
Do you feel like you have to sacrifice a lot for your relationship?
I do, but I think it's worth it.
No, I really don't
Love is all about sacrifices.
I don't think I should have to sacrifice anything.
Is snuggling up on the couch your favorite way to spend an evening?
Depends on the kind of day I've had
Most days, yes
Maybe snuggling in bed, but the evening is hobby time.
It's the best thing in the world.
Should household chores and responsibilities be shared?
In an ideal world, yes, but I usually end up doing everything.
Yes, absolutely
I think each person should have specific chores.
I don't mind doing the bulk of it.
What if you and your significant other can't agree on how you want to decorate your home?
We wait until we can find the right pieces.
I just buy things. They trust me.
I don't know! I've never been in that situation.
That would never happen.
If a psychic told you that you and your partner weren't meant for each other, what would you do?
I would straight up ignore them.
We'd talk about why they might think that.
I'd tell my partner and we'd have a good laugh.
I'd ask for my money back.
Would your significant other take care of you if you were sick?
They'd do whatever they could.
For sure! I'd get homemade soup.
They'd probably take off from work to watch movies with me all day.
Does your partner expect a lot from you?
We expect a lot from each other.
They just want me to be the best I can be.
They don't put a lot of pressure on me.
There aren't really any expectations.
Have you gone through a major personal hardship while in your relationship?
I've been unemployed and broke.
I get pretty depressed sometimes.
No, but my partner has
We both have and we're stronger for it.
Who decides where or what to eat?
We take turns.
We draw straws.
It's hard because we're both usually so indifferent.
I usually end up making the final decision.
Do you get mad at your significant other if they're on their phone a lot?
Nah, because I'm on my phone all the time too.
If it's during dinner or quality time, I do.
Not really, they pay enough attention to me.
It's my biggest pet peeve.
What has your biggest fight been about?
How we don't take enough vacations
I'm not the biggest fan of my SO's friends.
Stupid things, like the shows they like that I don't
In your own opinion, what % compatible are you and your partner?
At least 50%
Pretty close to 80%
I gotta say almost 100%.
What's the most attractive thing about your partner?
How kind he is to almost everyone
Their ability to feel like home
How much they make me laugh
How good they look all dressed up
Is it important that your significant other have their own friendship with your friends?
It's not a necessity, but that would be nice.
I would really love that.
It's really important to me.
Nah, I don't really care about that.
If your partner was going to propose, would they know what kind of ring you want?
Probably not. I've never told them.
I've dropped enough hints, so I hope so.
I'll love anything they get me.
They definitely know.
Are you a good partner to your significant other?
I'm a really good match for them.
They couldn't ask for better.
I try my absolute best.
I'm sure I'm super annoying sometimes, but it's part of my charm.
Is physical attraction still going strong in your relationship?
It's not "not" there.
I'm still super into them physically.
We're doing all right ;)
It may be there more than it was when we first met.
Do you both usually want to do the same things on the weekends?
I usually want to go out to dinner, but we end up staying in a lot.
It depends on our moods.
Sometimes I have to be dragged places because I like staying home.
Oh yeah, we talk about it ahead of time.
How do you split up the holidays?
We rotate whose family we spend them with every year.
We try to make holidays as equal as possible.
I dread when we have to spend holidays with his family.
We mostly see my family.
If the two of you broke up tomorrow, how would you handle it?
I'd cry it out and try to see the positive.
I don't think I'd ever get over it.
I would be an emotional wreck for a while.
Irrelevant - we're going to be together forever.
Are you able to really speak your mind in your relationship?
I can speak it, but it doesn't always go over well.
Yes, but I still hold back sometimes.
There is complete freedom.
I know I can say anything and my SO will still love me.
Do you have a timeline for taking your relationship to the next level, whatever that is for the two of you?
No, we just do what feels right.
We want to move in together in the next year.
Marriage is definitely happening within the next five years.
No timeline, we just follow our hearts.
Who wears the pants in your relationship?
My partner tells me that I do, but I'm not so sure about that.
My partner does, but I'm fine with it.
We each take a leg.
I definitely do.
What would be the straw that broke the camel's back for your relationship?
Cheating by either party
Some deep betrayal like stealing from me
Hating my family
There's nothing we couldn't overcome.
Is Your Significant Other Bad for You?
What % Compatible Are You and Your Boo?
Are You Totally Boy Crazy?
What % Compatible Are You and Your Partner?
How Much Do You Like Your Significant Other?
Can We Guess When You Met Your Significant Other?
Which Type Of British Man Should You Date?
What Type of Man Do You Belong With?
Is Your Boyfriend Good for You?
Which Classic Movie Couple Are You and Your Significant Other?
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Learn With News
Learn English With News
Suspicions over Billionaire’s Death – Level 1
Date: August 11, 2019Author: Learn With News 1 Comment
Level 1| Level 2| Level 3 | Answers
Jeffrey Epstein died in August 2019. He was a billionaire. He was also a criminal. He was in prison when he died. People are shocked that he died. He should have been watched very closely to make sure he didn’t die.
It was first said that his death was suicide. He shouldn’t have been able to commit suicide. People think he might have been killed. There are many people who didn’t want him to talk to police. He knew many people who had also done bad things.
People think that many of these people are very powerful. They think he was killed to protect these powerful people. The crimes Epstein committed were very serious. People hope that police have the evidence to find out who the other people are.
Billionaire (n): A person who has $1,000,000,000 or more.
Shocked (v): To be very surprised.
Suicide (n): For a person to kill themselves.
Commit (v): To do or carry out something.
Powerful (adj): Someone or something with a lot of power.
Evidence (n): Things that prove something happen.
For listening practise, listen to the recorded article here:
British English: Coming Soon!
American English:
Match the Synonym!
1. Shocked A. Kill yourself.
2. Suicide B. Strong
3. Commit C. Proof
4. Powerful D. To do.
5. Evidence E. Surprised
1. Jeffrey Epstein was a billionaire. T / F
2. Epstein almost died but he’s still alive. T / F
3. People are not surprised he died. T / F
4. Some people didn’t want him to talk to the police. T / F
5. Epstein didn’t talk to people who did bad things. T / F
Unscramble the sentence!
1. a / also / He / criminal / was
2. he / in / prison / was / He / died / when
3. been / he / have / think / People / might / killed
4. people / He / many / knew
5. think / They / killed / was / he
Listening and Vocabulary
Listen to the article and fill in the words OR practice vocabulary and fill in the words.
Closely Police Death
Killed Criminal Bad
Jeffrey Epstein died in August 2019. He was a billionaire. He was also a (1)___________. He was in prison when he died. People are shocked that he died. He should have been watched very (2)_________ to make sure he didn’t die.
It was first said that his (3)_________ was suicide. He shouldn’t have been able to commit suicide. People think he might have been killed. There are many people who didn’t want him to talk to police. He knew many people who had also done (4)______ things.
People think that many of these people are very powerful. They think he was (5)__________ to protect these powerful people. The crimes Epstein committed were very serious. People hope that (6)_________ have the evidence to find out who the other people are.
Conversation Questions
Take turns speaking with a partner or try to answer on your own:
1. Did you find this article interesting? Why or why not?
2. Did you learn anything new from this article? If so, what?
3. What do you think of this story?
4. Do you think there are people who wanted Jeffrey Epstein dead?
5. Do you know who Jeffrey Epstein was?
6. Do rich people in your country get away with crimes more easily?
7. Do rich people have a different prison experience in your country?
8. Do you think rich people or celebrities should be treated differently in prison?
9. Is trafficking an issue in your country?
10. What do you think about the many celebrities who were friends with Jeffrey Epstein?
11. Has there ever been a similar news story in your country (someone is killed so they don’t leak information)?
12. What do you think will happen because of Epstein’s death?
13. Are there any popular conspiracy theories in your country?
14. Do people believe in conspiracy theories in your country?
15. What is a popular conspiracy theory that you agree with?
16. What is a popular conspiracy theory that you disagree with?
17. Do you think the government keeps important information from the public?
18. Is corruption a problem in your country?
19. How can we stop corruption among the officers in prisons?
20. Can politicians be trusted in your country?
conspiracydeadeasy Englisheasy newsEnglish helpEnglish newsesleslnewsjeffrey epsteinkilledlearn englishlearn with newsLearnwithnewsmurderedsimple Englishsimple newssuicide
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Articles » Language Lab
Surprising Swear Words in Game Translations
Posted on April 4, 2018 by Clyde Mandelin ‧ 71 Comments
Swearing and profanity in video games is nothing new, but sometimes it pops up when you least expect it. And when it pops up in games translated from Japanese, the result can be unintentionally confusing and/or funny.
The topic comes up a lot, so I’ve started gathering examples of unexpected, surprising, or out-of-character swearing from official game translations.
Of course, what’s considered a swear word greatly varies from region to region and person to person. In general, this swear word list seems on par with what game publishers consider swearing. (ESRB example, PEGI example)
Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
The Nintendo 64 was often derided as being a “kiddie system”, but this game was anything but kiddie. Swearing supposedly happened so often in Ogre Battle 64 that I dismissed it as an online rumor for years. But after just half an hour of playing, I encountered so many swears that I stopped counting. I’d love to see what other colorful phrases this translation includes!
"Even a buttload of heretics can't do shit!"
"Damn those sons of bitches!!"
"Who the hell are you...!?"
"There is absolutely no need to listen to their bitching!"
Download (PC Engine)
Download was only released in Japan, but it featured a lot of English text anyway. The multiple game over screens are unintentionally funny for native English speakers! You can see the full list of bad English from Download here.
An early stage's game over screen
Each stage usually has two different game over screens
EarthBound (Super NES)
EarthBound uses the word “crap” a few times in the game, which was a little surprising for some players at the time. There’s long been argument over whether or not “crap” is actually a bad word, so a few years ago I asked Twitter followers for their opinions. As I expected, the poll results were divided, but I personally recall that it was considered the tamest of bad words at the time but there was still a lot of pushback from certain groups.
At the very least, these “craps” in EarthBound seemed very out of character for Nintendo of America to include, given the company’s strict content policies in the 1990s. Nowadays, it seems almost quaint to bring it up!
The sailor in Toto says "crap"
A monkey that speaks human language accidentally says "crap"
I don’t know how common it is, but the Mega Man series has had at least two examples of unexpected swearing:
Mega Man VII (Super NES)
Mega Man X4 (Sega Saturn)
Other Surprise Swearing
Some games only have rare instances of unexpected swearing, so I’ve bundled them into the gallery below.
Bakutōshi Patton-kun (Famicom Disk System) gives instructions the drill sergeant way
Lufia: The Legend Returns (Game Boy Color) - this game's entire translation is a wonderful mess worth checking out someday!
Sky Skipper (Arcade) - one of Nintendo's early arcade games had bad language
Breath of Fire II (Super NES) - "damn" was changed to "darn" in the Virtual Console release
Dragon Warrior VII (PlayStation)
Pu-Li-Ru-La (Arcade) - the game's cute presentation and this main character's swearing don't quite match
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Wii U, Switch) - Is this the first example of swearing in a Zelda game?
Know Any More?
I’d like to continue to add to this gallery over time, so let me know if you can think of anything else that belongs here. It especially helps if you can provide a nice-quality screenshot too, but not necessary. Thanks for your help, dammit!
If you enjoyed this, check out Legends of Localization Book 1: The Legend of Zelda, my book dedicated to the very first Zelda translation and how it has affected every Zelda game since! (free preview PDF )
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Other Articles I've Written
3 Times That Game Translations Were Quietly Changed
When classic games get re-released, sometimes their translations get slight updates too. These are three recent examples.
How “Control Code” Mistakes Can Wreck Game Translations
Game translation involves more than just text. If you're not careful, you could end up with problems like these.
Japan’s Surprising Love of the Word “LABO”
Step foot in Japan and you'll find yourself surrounded by the word "Labo" written in English. What's the deal?
►Check out more articles here!◄
ReyVGM April 4, 2018 at 4:15 pm
Gynoug (Genesis)
http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/genesis/a/gynoug.htm
Check the “Hyper, Second Run” image.
Clyde Mandelin April 4, 2018 at 4:17 pm
Haha that’s so great, if I post it here out of context it won’t be nearly as funny so I’ll definitely link to your page 😛
By the way, this game is the predecessor to Cho Aniki. Nice little bit of trivia.
I actually emailed you about this in 2014. I’ve found a lot of Japanese games with swear words in English (usually in the ending), unfortunately I don’t remember them all anymore.
Here’s another one, for the MSX
https://tcrf.net/D%27_%28MSX2%29
CTRL+L and search for the F word. This one is not featured in-game though, but in a hidden document found inside the actual physical disc.
Morgil April 4, 2018 at 4:23 pm
Where the heck was that Zelda one? I put over 200 hours into that game and i definitely don’t remember that.
Same here. Never noticed it.
I believe you can see it if you talk to him after landing on the bird temple but before completing it. I only played it in Japanese myself so I don’t recall the details of the conversation.
Kahran042 April 4, 2018 at 4:33 pm
Breath of Fire II – When you go to Highfort and talk to the guard, Sten says “The hero of Goonheim is Trubo…….. He fought to the end at that battle field of hell.” I’m not sure if hell is a swear in this context, but it’s still not something most people would expect to get past Nintendo censorship.
bruplex April 4, 2018 at 4:39 pm
Bionic Commando on the NES, of course – http://elitecoder.com/bionic/damnfool.gif
Given how super-conservative NES censors were, this is one of the most surprising.
Oh my god I can’t believe I forgot that one
Thanks for the reminder, I’ll add it in the next round of pic updates!
Minneyar April 4, 2018 at 4:43 pm
I recall that in Phantasy Star Online Episodes 1 & 2 for the Gamecube, the game had a very restrictive profanity filter, but there was an online quest in which a random NPC would tell you to “Eat shit and die”.
Unfortunately, I can’t find any screenshots of it, and I don’t know if it’s even possible to see that any more since it was in an online quest…
Oh man, that would be so good to get a pic of 🙁 Dang these cra*py online server games that go down for good!
Yuki April 4, 2018 at 7:28 pm
There’s lots of good private servers which you can play PSO1Ep1&2 Gamecube.
Minneyar April 5, 2018 at 7:29 am
That’s a good point, it may be possible to still find this. I think the name of the quest was “Towards the Future” and it was just one of the random NPCs standing around on the ship who says it, but I don’t have access to my DC w/ PSOv2 or GC w/ Ep1&2 at the moment, and I’m not sure if that quest existed in later versions of the game… (and if it did, they may have censored it by that point)
pulse April 4, 2018 at 5:33 pm
there’s a lot of instances of “damn” here! actually, I’ve never known damn to be a swear word and maybe that’s why it shows up so many times? maybe back when these came out it would have felt more serious, haha
I dunno if there’s like some agreed on comparison chart or anything, but in my mind “damn” is like one of the core words that sort of acts as the foundation/keystone for all the other ones we know, probably because of the idea that swearing and religion are so connected.
Or, like if you did that 9 grid chart of chaotic good, neutral good, etc., then “damn” would probably be right in the middle I feel. But as we’ve seen with “crap”, everyone has different tiers for different phrases it seems.
true enough, I am not religious in the slightest so for the majority of my life I actually had no idea it was a religious thing in the first place!
I don’t know if this page is only talking about *licensed* game translations, but who could forget all the swearing in “Pokémon Diamond” (the Telefang bootleg). that sure was quite the shock to play as a kid!
DaVince April 5, 2018 at 1:12 am
Shit! Remember it!
Darien April 4, 2018 at 5:44 pm
There is, of course, the infamous D.K. Rap, which kicked up a world of controversy with the line “this Kong’s one hell of a guy:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npuuTBlEb1U
It was translated from the British. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
Milo April 7, 2018 at 7:29 pm
And of course, when they did that lame cover for Smash Bros. Melee, it was changed to “one heck of a guy”. Showing that they damn well gave a crap about mild cursing at some point.
Cavery April 8, 2018 at 1:53 pm
Sorry, but ‘Kongo Jungle’ isn’t as good as the ‘DK Rap’ or the ‘CG Rap’ says SilvaGunner. There isn’t even a clear acapella of it anywhere. Fuck ‘Kongo Jungle’. – SiivaGunner
Reverend Hunt April 8, 2018 at 5:43 pm
What in the world is a SiivaGunner?
nee April 15, 2018 at 11:18 pm
A Youtube artist group.
Justin April 4, 2018 at 6:07 pm
“Swearing happens so often in Ogre Battle 64 that I dismissed it as an online rumor for years.”
What did you dismiss as an online rumor?
“Ogre Battle 64 is a rumor!!! It’s not real!!!”
Actually good catch, I was hoping nobody would pick on my poor grammar there 😛
Christian April 4, 2018 at 6:39 pm
You’re right about BotW, Teba has the honor of being the first character to swear in a Zelda game. Pretty interesting for a 30 year old series, eh?
Ah, there is of course the infamous Metal Gear password “FUCKM E1111 11111 11111 11111” that brings you to the final boss with no gear. I’m given to understand this password was the reason why subsequent NES games never featured vowels in the password screens — I guess Nintendo got a complaint or two about it!
MarsDragon April 4, 2018 at 8:38 pm
Since I’m on a deep dive into SNK’s 90s translations, I’ll throw in some Fatal Fury screenshots.
Fatal Fury, arcade. Terry (and Andy, they share lines) drop a “damn it” when meeting Geese: https://i.imgur.com/6YFSlq1.png
Since I don’t consider “damn” to be a major swear it doesn’t feel that surprising to me, but considering the line right before it is this: https://i.imgur.com/HaAtrs2.png
…it stands out a bit more.
The first two Fatal Fury games have noticeably straighter translations than the later ones, so the “holy cow” is weird for the game but not the franchise. I can’t think of many swears after FF1; SNK punched up their scripts a lot but usually went for bizarre insults (melonhead, eunuch, weenie, dweebenheimer) over cursing.
There is something interesting in Fatal Fury Special. Axel has this line, which is a fairly reasonable translation: https://i.imgur.com/M1djpzJ.png
Then Geese has this one: https://i.imgur.com/4yO5NhE.png
“I’ll throw you down to hell” or similar is such a cliche anime villain line it’s kind of weird to see them working around it, especially when Axel gets to talk about hell without any problems. Fatal Fury Special is one of the first games where SNK really started with their…distinctive localization style, which just adds more questions to the pile.
Then I forget which Neo Geo Pocket Color game this one is from (I really want to say Match of the Millennium but don’t quote me), but I think it’s definitely some surprising swearing: https://78.media.tumblr.com/0fe793d3c52a1864a508338dc6ddf0fb/tumblr_ope1mxyzO51qd9g7oo1_400.png
Haha, when I wrote this article I didn’t anticipate comments getting flagged left and right.
And oh man yeah, that GOD EXCREMENT one is one I’ve been wanting to get my own pic of for years, I just need to figure out how to get Neo Geo Pocket emulation working.
ReyVGM April 5, 2018 at 11:21 am
Easy, download NeoPocott or NeoPop. Or, download Bizhawk which is a multi-system emulators with many great options to make it easier to capture screenshots.
http://tasvideos.org/BizHawk.html
Yeah, I was pretty amused to find my comment censored for profanity in a thread about censorship and profanity. 😀
MarsDragon April 5, 2018 at 10:17 pm
So many people swearing it up in the comments!
Someday I’ll get to NGPC investigation. All of them seem to be in a very different translation style from the regular Neo Geo, which is interesting in its own right. I really wish SNK credited its translators…
Oh, but thinking about it…Terry does swear in Japanese side materials, and pretty harshly too! See this FF2 comic: https://78.media.tumblr.com/934aa82abb3b153d949a588d7cd93520/tumblr_os0ra0XjmG1ulp8mfo9_540.jpg
Courtesy of videogamedensetsu, from this post: http://videogamesdensetsu.tumblr.com/post/162175148300/fatal-rury-2-aka-garou-densetsu-2
And this site has an official backstory for Mai with Terry also saying “shit”: http://you.lolipop.jp/s/ff/2/mai.html
I dunno where that guy got the story from, but it seems legit…
John April 4, 2018 at 10:38 pm
Its minor stuff, but you can find usage of curse words like “damn” and “hell” in the Mega Man Battle Network games, as well as some alcohol usage. Although those kind of curse words are rather tame, it was still somewhat surprising to me at the time given the games are rated E. Maybe Nintendo’s censorship had loosened up a bit by the early 2000’s.
Victor April 5, 2018 at 12:09 am
It’s mentioned already but I want to second the unusual swearing in Battle Network. I specifically remember the second game in the series having several instances of crap and damn.
Axorm April 5, 2018 at 12:55 am
There’s Kefka of course but I’m pretty sure you’re already familiar with that one 😀
https://legendsoflocalization.com/son-of-a-submariner-kefkas-famous-line-in-detail/
ReverendHunt April 5, 2018 at 1:19 am
The one I loved the most, combined with broken English, is Cell’s “Holly shit!” in DragonBall Z 2.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/end/arcade/d/dbz2goh.htm
Error 52 April 8, 2018 at 10:44 am
Cell says “oh shit” in the German dub of Z. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v55t5jnhz5s
Also, at one point in the FUNimation dub of Kai, Goku calls the population of earth “dumbasses”. Not a surprise in itself since the dub had a lot of mild swearing like that, but it’s still kinda hilarious coming from Goku.
Mystic Night April 19, 2018 at 11:20 pm
Really? This I need to hear. XD
Suzu Q May 19, 2018 at 8:26 pm
To be fair, Goku said “Baka yarou!” in Japanese, so it’s a fair enough way to go, especially because the Earthlings were being major idiots.
The Opponent April 5, 2018 at 7:27 am
There’s a few in Fire Emblem Heroes. I don’t know what it’s like in the regular games but I wasn’t expecting it in a phone game.
shytende April 6, 2018 at 2:53 am
I don’t remember the specifics of every games, but in Blazing Sword, Hector says “damn” a lot.
Don’t know if these count:
https://lparchive.org/Persona-2-Eternal-Punishment/Update%2021/18-Persona2-20-37.jpg
https://lparchive.org/Persona-2-Eternal-Punishment/Update%2035/49-Persona2-33-128.jpg
https://lparchive.org/Persona-2-Eternal-Punishment/Update%2009/42-Persona2-8-55.jpg
https://lparchive.org/Persona-2-Eternal-Punishment/Update%2004/2-Persona2-2-0109.jpg
ReyVGM April 5, 2018 at 12:13 pm
I’m trying to post several images links, but my post doesn’t appear once I hit send?
For some reason I can’t post more than one link or else the post will not appear.
Yet another.
Last one.
Huh? April 19, 2018 at 11:09 pm
How is EP surprising? It takes place in modern times, so it fits with the setting.
joeymartin64 April 5, 2018 at 3:45 pm
The prologue of Simon’s Quest begins with “Step into the shadows of the hell house”.
http://www.vgmuseum.com/mrp/intro-cv2.htm
It’s not cursing, but I always found it odd that Nintendo let Konami write that.
shytende April 5, 2018 at 4:07 pm
There was this Corpse Party article you made a while ago that showed some amonuts of swearing.
Otherwise, are examples for other languages OK ? Because FFX ‘s French translation have a fair amount of swearing. Maybe more than the English one. I don’t have any clear example right now, but it stuck out to me.
Bearorbust April 6, 2018 at 8:59 am
https://imgur.com/ZQZ1Nk8
Magical Drop 3 for PS One. Strength’s Dad has a strange line in baby talk.
Dredear April 8, 2018 at 5:23 am
Damn isn’t a swear word lol
Eeyeeyai April 19, 2018 at 11:11 pm
It is to Ned Flanders Christians, sadly lol.
Jeff Jacobson April 8, 2018 at 3:55 pm
There’s a beta of Final Fight 3 that contains the word “bastards” in the intro. In the released version, “bastards” was replaced with “maniacs”.
Luxinox April 8, 2018 at 6:07 pm
I don’t know if this counts or not because on the one hand, it’s a T-rated game, but on the other hand, it’s a first-party Nintendo title, but Xenoblade Chronicles 2 had swear words, like “bitch,” “arse,” and “shit.”
I’ve also read that the Fire Emblem games had used the word “damn” a couple times.
Draco April 10, 2018 at 12:50 pm
Well, I remember a few:
* One of the Guild-01 games by Level-5 on the 3DS that were released piecemeal digitally in the West. Specifically the one where you manage a shop and can view an in-universe chat app by adventurers commenting about various things. One of them appends to the end of one message in the English version “#FML”
* The French versions of Ace Attorney 3 and 4 had a line, that apparently the translator liked so much he reused it, that was shocking to see in a PEGI 12 game (in fact Capcom/Nintendo delayed the third game so much it was out AFTER the fourth because the game was rated higher than expected…) that says, and I quote, this lawyer disrapaging gem that could have been easily M-rated material: “avocat de mes deux!” I’ll leave you to guess what those “two” mean… it’s not your average damn-to-darn swap either since it’s just as strong in real life.
* The German translation of Link’s Awakening. The original version, not DX (which was rewritten). Vic Ireland would not dare what this guy pulled out. “NIE OHNE KONDOM” among other things.
* Mega Man Battle Network 2… the entirety of it. One such highlight is the whiskey sidequest with some explicit rap for an E rated game. For the later games in the series they went the other way hard, even words like death was off limits.
* The Silver Case recently doesn’t mince words, even what would be considered taboo for recent times in America.
From replaying a bit of 32 bit RPGs in their original version, I think swearing words in official localizations were motivated by wanting to cast aside NoA censorship policies (and it was also Sega of America’s policies too, but to a lesser known degree) and publishing a “raw” “uncensored” translation, even if that meant making up what would be normally censored. The anime fansubber swear syndrome but in a “professional” context. Even attitudes like “edgy” Squall in FF8 are only in the English version alone as well, to make it appeal to teens more.
Raivop April 12, 2018 at 4:25 pm
Riveting stuff! Also, I must say that Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil on PS2 had one particular scene during the late part of the game after defeating Leorina. During the cutscene, she actually says “Damn it, damn it all!”, which really caught me off guard first time when I played it, because I wasn’t expecting a swear word in a E+ rated game! Other than that, the English localization in that game was pretty good.
Here’s a screenshot (sorry for crappy quality: I had to grab this from a longplay): https://i.imgur.com/09SxSlj.jpg
Sassysaido April 19, 2018 at 11:14 pm
I can definitely say Lufia: The Legend Returns has one of the most awful alphabet soup messes for a translation ever. Natsume’s loser staff have clearly never attended a single English class in their lives.
Brian Renadette April 21, 2018 at 6:02 am
When you mentioned the Mega Man series, I remembered that X drops a “damn” during the ending when he encounters that dead end when fleeing from the Sigma Virus. Right before the Zero/Doppler branching ending.
It’s a T rated game, but Atelier Totori has a character named Cordelia who at one point in the game says: ”Don’t give me that crap! I keep telling you to stop acting like a frightened squirrel at work!” Sure, like most games in the Atelier series, Atelier Totori is a T rated game, but it’s a colorful T rated game, I mean…it’s an Atelier game, the graphics are colorful and the soundtrack is catchy and kiddy at times, that’s not all, Atelier Totori: Adventurer of Arland doesn’t even have a content descriptor that says ”Language” or ”Mild Language”, only the ”Plus” version on the PS Vita has ”Language” as one of its content descriptors. The ESRB says that there are more swear words in other Atelier games, supposedly the word ”shit” appears both in Atelier Rorona and Atelier Firis, and in Atelier Sophie the word ”bastard” appears in the dialogue.
It should be mentioned that because of the fact that most Atelier games have an english dub, one should be able to clearly listen to some swear words in the game (if you play with english voices).
Jipo August 24, 2018 at 9:16 am
Tactics Ogre, a spin off on PS1 (also translated by Atlus, just like Ogre Battle 64), also have some swearing if you’re interested. Cant remember how many time Kachua’s called a bitch in this game since it happens quite often…
https://youtu.be/63MpsYO0JWo?t=8m9s
There’s also that berserker character who calls her a bitch and tells her he’s gonna bang her right off the bat. Pretty messed up for a a Teen ERSB game !
1Thunderfire February 7, 2019 at 5:57 am
In Luigi’s Mansion, Professor E. Gadd uses the word bugger as does Toadsworth in Mario Party 7. I’m guessing the word isn’t as big a deal in America but in the UK, it seems unusually strong, especially for Toadsworth who is essentially as British a Toad as you can get. I wonder if bugger is still used in Luigi’s Mansion 3DS?
Another one which isn’t swearing but was seen as hugely offensive was the word spastic in Mario Party 8 which is absolutely not accepted in the UK. I wondered at first why the game got delayed by 2 weeks before finding out the reason. Oops.
Axel Grease June 19, 2019 at 2:53 am
•Marine uses “bugger” in Sonic Rush Adventure, leading to the game being rated 12+ (basically T) in PAL regions
•Hades says something along the lines of “How much hell are they planning on raising?” in Kid Icarus Uprising
•One of the food item drops in Miitopia is a hot dog named the “Hell Dog”
Torchickens August 16, 2019 at 6:33 pm
https://kotaku.com/inside-the-treehouse-the-people-who-help-make-nintendo-1301809672
When Nintendo Treehouse were working on the localisation of the fifth Legendary Starfy game (known in Japanese as Densetsu no Stafy: Taiketsu! Daiiru Kaizokudan) there was a form of profanity inappropriate for the game that was quickly removed, and gave the team a shock.
Unfortunately the details are vague but I have a suspicion (just a rumour). I covered EN/JP minigame text for the Dumpling Master minigame a long time ago (see https://www.starfywiki.org/wiki/Dumpling_Master ), and noticed if you score 0-9 dumplings in Dumpling Master you get ペッタンコ (Pettanko) in the Japanese version and “Dumpling Chumpling” in the English version. I only know elementary level Japanese, but I wonder if pettanko was the offending word. It could of course have been anything else, considering the series has a good amount of text in it.
“Starfy is a very, very benign sort of chubby little starfish thing that makes his way through relatively easy platforming levels,” Bihldorff said. “And we were playing through it and I remember all of a sudden one of the ancillary characters is like ‘Shit!’ That does not belong in this game!”
Nanashi September 5, 2019 at 9:48 pm
On out of place swearing: The Star Wars Expanded Universe books (several of which are quite good), and games avoid real swear words all the time EXCEPT for “hell” and “damn”, which are thrown around relatively frequently. Mild, but they stand out amongst the fakes (kirffing) and ones given by narration (“Sakhisakh bit out a Noghri curse.”). Why do these two get thrown around when even comparable ones are avoided? Han Solo used both in the original trilogy.
David September 10, 2019 at 6:40 pm
Blue Reflection has at least two instances of ”bitch”, the game also contains one instance of ”crap” (used by the main characher Hinako Shirai, no less), one instance of ”damn”, and two or three instances of ”hell”.
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You know how when couch potatoes watch sports, some get angry and yell at players as if they were genuine super-experts who could do better? That same thing happens with translators all the time, so my hope is that the Legends of Localization series will help explain what it's like to actually be in the translation trenches.
- Clyde Mandelin
Twitter @ClydeMandelin
& Becoming a Translator
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Transparent textures don't show
EDIT For now, I'm going to accept Brett's answer. It's a way to get transparency back by having 3D calculations done in software instead of hardware. It addresses the symptoms but not the causes. As I wrote above, my PC and graphics card are provably able to do it, but there's something in the interaction with MMA that disables it after restarts. Anyone who solves this gets the Accept check.
Edit I got conformations from several users with the following hardware:
Simon Woods: Windows 7 64 bit, with an NVidia GTX 550 Ti graphics card.
texasAUtiger: Windows 7, 64 bit on Intel on Intel iCore i7-2760QM 2.4 ghz, NVidia NVS 4200M graphics card
I have this problem where several of the examples in the doc page of Texture don't work.
data = Table[{1, 0, 0, a}, {u, 0, 1, 1/100}, {a, 0, 1, 1/100}];
vtc = {{0, 0}, {1, 0}, {1, 1}, {0, 1}};
coords = {{{0, 0, 0}, {0, 1, 0}, {1, 1, 0}, {1, 0, 0}}, {{0, 0,
0}, {1, 0, 0}, {1, 0, 1}, {0, 0, 1}}, {{1, 0, 0}, {1, 1, 0}, {1,
1, 1}, {1, 0, 1}}, {{1, 1, 0}, {0, 1, 0}, {0, 1, 1}, {1, 1,
1}}, {{0, 1, 0}, {0, 0, 0}, {0, 0, 1}, {0, 1, 1}}, {{0, 0,
1}, {1, 0, 1}, {1, 1, 1}, {0, 1, 1}}};
Graphics3D[{Texture[data],
Polygon[coords, VertexTextureCoordinates -> Table[vtc, {6}]]},
Lighting -> "Neutral", Boxed -> False]
is supposed to give:
but I get this:
data1 = Table[{1, 2/3, 0, If[u^2 + v^2 < 1/2, 0, 1]}, {u, -1, 1,
1/100}, {v, -1, 1, 1/100}];
data2 = Table[{0, 0, 1, If[u^2 + v^2 < 1/2, 0, 1]}, {u, -1, 1,
Graphics3D[{FaceForm[Texture[data1], Texture[data2]],
should yield:
but I get the empty cube again.
Then there's the example in the Scope>Texture styling section of the doc page which is supposed to result in:
In my case I get:
This is not a general transparency issue as
Plot3D[x^4 + y^4 - 5 x^2*y^2, {x, -3, 3}, {y, -3, 3},
PlotStyle -> Opacity[0.8], Mesh -> None]
gives me this:
I'm using a 1 year old Dell XPS-15 (model L501 X)Running Windows 7-64 with an nVidia GeForce GT 435M graphics card, driver version 8.17.12.6639.
I reported this earlier on Mathgroup and got the advice to update my drivers which I did and it sure helped. However this is not the end of the story as the behavior returned soon afterwards.
I have updated the driver various times using both nVidia's and Dell's newest version and it always was a short-lived solution. Last time I tested it, I installed the same version of the driver over the existing one and the transparent textures showed up as intended in my notebook even without re-executing the code, only to disappear after MMA's next restart.
So, apparently my system is able to handle transparent textures but there is some interaction between MMA and the driver that causes this ability to be switched off.
This issue seems to have been resolved in Mathematica 9. All of the above mentioned problems did not reappear when I tested them in the trial version of V9.
graphics version-8 textures hardware
Sjoerd C. de Vries
Sjoerd C. de VriesSjoerd C. de Vries
$\begingroup$ I'm curious to know if this issue has been fixed in version 9? $\endgroup$ – Simon Woods Dec 5 '12 at 10:51
$\begingroup$ @SimonWoods It works for me now. And for you? $\endgroup$ – Sjoerd C. de Vries Dec 5 '12 at 13:50
$\begingroup$ I had this problem in V8. It is fixed for me in V9. $\endgroup$ – david Dec 5 '12 at 14:50
Go into the option inspector, and try the different settings for Graphics Options > RenderingOptions > "Graphics3DRenderingEngine and see if that has any effect.
Edit This option can be set on a per-graphic basis, say by using Style:
AbsoluteTiming[
Rasterize[
Style[Graphics3D[{Opacity[0.1],
Sphere[{0, 0, 0}, #] & /@ Range[20]}, ImageSize -> 200],
RenderingOptions -> {"Graphics3DRenderingEngine" -> #}]]] & /@
{"BSPTree", "HardwareDepthBuffer"}
$\begingroup$ Thanks! The BSPTree option seems to work. Is that a software solution? That is, does it cause software rendering or is this just a setting of the graphics card? The cube with holes is dead slow; so slow even that it apparently causes some kind of time-out. Other mma windows pop-up from behind its window when I drag the cube around a bit. And why would a fresh driver installation work temporarily? $\endgroup$ – Sjoerd C. de Vries Jan 18 '12 at 20:45
$\begingroup$ BSPTree is software, and can be quite slow, but can also be much more accurate about rendering the scene than some of the other methods. I have no idea why installing drivers would have an effect. $\endgroup$ – Brett Champion Jan 18 '12 at 20:57
$\begingroup$ Is it possible to Rasterize a graphic with a custom setting for this? Is the proper way copying the graphic to a hidden notebook, setting notebook-level options for the rendering engine, and then using Rasterize on the notebook? $\endgroup$ – Szabolcs Jan 19 '12 at 10:40
$\begingroup$ @Szabolcs Yes. See the updated answer. $\endgroup$ – Brett Champion Jan 21 '12 at 21:23
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3 Greek I...
Greece is famous as the cradle of Western civilization. It's the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, literature and drama, marathons, the Olympics, plus some of your favorite math principles.
Modern Greece consists of a mountainous mainland and hundreds of islands surrounded by the Aegean, Ionian, Cretan and Mediterranean Seas. Over two hundred of the islands are inhabited, many of them rich in history and mythology, as well as the Mediterranean culture, cuisine, maritime and beach lifestyle that makes Greece one of the top bucket list travel destinations.
Some travelers in the know take holidays to Greece year after year, and Greek islands are a highlight of Eastern Mediterranean cruises. If you've never visited Greece, here are the islands you just can't miss.
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Santorini inspired the title of this article. It's continuously named the 'best island in the world' and the 'Greek Island you must visit before you die'. (But we think all the islands in this list merit the title). (Top Photo Credit)
When you hear 'Greek island', chances are that the sight that pops into your head is one of the iconic pictures of Santorini. The island's sky blue domed church roofs, white washed buildings on the edges of cliffs, and steep, narrow cobbled streets overlooking brilliant blue seas stand in to represent the iconic Greek island vista of everyone's travel dreams.
Santorini is what remains of an island after the eruption of an ancient volcano. Now, a giant lagoon is encircled by the 300 m (980 ft) high cliffs of a crescent shaped island and a much smaller island opposite where the remaining volcano rim is still above the sea. Visiting ships, yachts and local fishing boats approaching the shelter of the curve are afloat in the crater of the volcano. Inside the caldera, the water is so deep - over 400m - that only the largest ships can anchor. Santorini's capital, Fira (Thira) clings to the top of the cliff over the lagoon.
Don't Miss: volcanic-sand beaches in unique black or red sands, brilliant sunsets, a traditional and a growing modern food culture. Santorini's micro-climate nurtures tomatoes and capers of famously exquisite flavor, and an indigenous grape varietal that local vintners turn into celebrated crisp, dry white and amber-toned wines.
Mykonos is the Greek island where Ibiza party and French Riviera beach lifestyles meet. Cosmopolitan and glamorous, Mykonos may be Greece's most fashionable holiday destination. Luxury hotels, stylish bars, clubs and parties where beautiful people come to see and be seen until dawn, then sleep it off on magnificent beaches or private yachts… if that is your style of travel, Mykonos is for you. It's also known for being an LGBT-friendly destination and party central.
Mykonos is both the island and its main town, which is also called Chora (meaning 'town', in the Greek style of towns with the same name as their islands). Picturesque local architecture, sunsets, people watching and shopping appeal to visitors of all ages.
The island's nickname is 'the Island of Winds'. Windmills are one of the defining and unique features of the Mykonos landscape, built by Venetians in the 16th century to grind flour and used until electricity took over only a few decades ago.
Don't Miss: Romantic, artistic Little Venice, where rows of 18th century colorful fishing houses with overhanging balconies line the seaside, many of them shops, cafes, and galleries. And Petros the Pelican, the mascot of Chora's waterfront.
Rhodes' nickname is The Island of the Knights. Its Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the best-preserved medieval towns in the world. Walking its Street of Knights, you feel transported back to the Middle Ages, when conquering Crusaders built fortifications, the Palace of the Grand Masters, towers, inns and rest of the medieval city and streets that remain today.
But Rhodes' history pre-dates mediaeval knights by thousands of years, when the island's strategic position made it central to ancient history. One of Rhodes' lasting claims to fame is a landmark that no longer exists.
The Colossus of Rhodes was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Erected in 280 B.C. at the Mandraki harbor to mark a battle victory, the Colossus was a bronze statue of extraordinary size - about the same as the Statue of Liberty! Rhodes' Colossus stood for less than a century before an earthquake toppled it. Even then, for another 800 years, its remains lying on the ground drew travelers to Rhodes to marvel at and write about its size. Today the statues of deer on pillars at the entrance to the harbor mark where the Colossus' feet were said to stand and allow ships to pass beneath this feat of design and engineering.
Don't Miss: The beaches. Don't be so distracted by the history you miss its stunning beaches. The wine. Rhodes is said to have been the first island in the Aegean to cultivate vineyards for wine; that tradition continues today. The lush, green interior and emerald fresh waters inland from the beaches.
In most of the Greek islands, the sun shines 300 magical days a year. Summers are high season for travelers arriving by air and cruise ship, but April- June and September- October are blessed with lovely weather. Looking for mild weather, quiet exploration – and a bargain? More and more people are discovering Greece in early and late winter months too.
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meanderingwoods
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5 Days to Everest — Days 4 and 5
Posted by Beau Woods
We woke up at 7:30 and were on the road by 8am. Our initial excitement was quickly tempered by the numbing cold. Our toes were numb and I worried about frostbite. The road was rough, the windows were frosted and we were nearly comatose.
We hadn’t slept very well the night before due to the near freezing conditions in our rooms.
In an attempt to stay healthy in the high altitude with all of the exertion from the day before, we’d all had quite a bit of the very weak tea they served. Tea was the best way to get clean water from the well which provided the hotel with water, since the water had been boiled. However, this caused us to have to get up to relieve ourselves all night long. Since the toilet was on the opposite side of the compound, across 20 meters of about -15C open air, it was quite a chore. Consequently, sometimes staying awake and shivering only a bit with a full bladder was preferable sometimes.
At around 9am, we approached a checkpoint. We all had to get out of the relative comfort of the Land Cruiser and go into the unheated building. The process of looking over our paperwork took us about a half hour, during which we were cold, but were at least moving around and out of the wind. The same wouldn’t be true of our second checkpoint where we stood out in the wind. A couple of us had to use the toilet which necessitated crossing the checkpoint without papers of any kind and going into a ramshackle shack. However, this checkpoint was faster and we were on our way up the mountain quickly.
Around 10 in the morning, our toes warmed up and the windows got clear, but the road got a little more rocky and icy. We didn’t notice these things. We had crested the top of a hill and paused at a scenic overlook. From this vantage point, we could see four of the 8,000 meter peaks in the Himalaya range.
The day was perfect. Though the day before had seen snow and heavy cloud cover, our visit would have neither of those things. From the overlook point, each of the highest peaks was creating its own weather; clouds were bellowing from them, turning them into chimneys at the top of the Earth. China has its smokestacks, regurgitating trash into the sky, making you weep for the shame they don’t feel. Tibet has majestic mountains lifting air to become billowy balloons of white, marring the blue with beauty and bringing a tear to your eye for that reason. The moment left all of us with a prescient sense that China was indeed a whole different world away from this place, not its master.
The ride down into the valley and back up, up, up towards the base camp felt like the stream must feel coming down from its heights — our limbs, words, and minds tumbling over one another without concern for their final destination. It was onward at any consequence. The final checkpoint unmanned, we passed through with momentum growing as we sped uphill.
We reached the end of the road, the Rong Phu monastery across from the newly built Chinese hotel with its satellite dishes and antennae like hairs on a bar of soap. We were the first Land Cruiser, but several others quickly followed. By this time, we were headed off towards the mountain which was calling us in a tune we didn’t hear but felt as a moth feels the draw of the fire. Our driver didn’t have time to give us instruction or deadlines, we simply gravitated towards that landmark.
As we walked along the road and up and over hills as shortcuts, we hardly noticed the vehicle starting from the place past which only emergency vehicles were allowed. In less than an hour we had covered probably a kilometer and a half, by which time the Land Cruiser had caught up with us. Though it was prohibited, there were no officials to challenge us, let alone stop or prohibit us from continuing. Our experienced driver tackled the ice and flowing water skillfully and carefully propelling us toward our destination. We emerged from the winding road on a flat where perhaps thousands of adventurers had come before us to camp and plan before heading beyond where we would go.
We danced and played in the snow and on the ice. We climbed the outhouse and the hills around. We stood in wonder looking up at the mountains around us, the farthest from us, we knew, the highest in the world. We were higher, both in spirit as in body, than most people would ever aspire to be. We drank a toast of Jack Daniels to celebrate.
But Everest was not a place of jubilation for all. This was evidenced by the many gravestones we found on the low hills around. These were monuments for men who headed on past our footprints without retracing them. One stone marked the place of the first descent attempted by snowboard. One was for a husband and wife team who were not underneath their names. There were remains, too, of people who had died in the camp before trying and after successfully ascending the mountain to which we now stood, nearly prostrate reading markers. A humbling reminder that not all days were this beautiful and not all people were this joyous.
On the way back down the mountain in the Land Cruiser, we drank our oxygen. We’d each brought 2 bottles for the ascent but hadn’t needed them. Sucking on it coming down kept us giddy, whether from physiological or psychological effects, we didn’t know. We didn’t care. We all felt like we’d touched the Gods; modern day Icari with our wax intact. We passed through Shegar, our previous night’s resting place, and felt as if it were at sea level. We continued on back across our route, things seeming to be much less consequential than when we first passed them.
We slept in Shegatse in the Tenzin Hotel. We arrived after dark and checked into our rooms. They were expensive and fancy, but we felt we had earned them. Showers, heaters, television — we were living in luxury compared to the previous three nights. It was nice for the hour we were awake to enjoy it. But it was late and we were tired. We fell asleep quickly and deeply.
After our incredible and long day, we slept in until about 9am. This was the first night of the Tibetan new year and our driver wanted to get back to Lasa and his family as soon as possible. We wanted to get back too because we had heard so many things about the holiday that we didn’t want to miss any part of it.
The drive back was uneventful and we had a chance to reflect on all we’d seen and done in the last few days. It was really incredible to us. Even 24 hours after being in that place, we still enjoyed talking about it to each other as if the others weren’t there. We told the same stories over again that we’d shared the night before on the drive East.
The monuments at EBC marked empty graves, but the spirits of those fallen were present where their bones weren’t. And we’d taken a bit of that fervor with us while still leaving it there intact. It was one of the greatest experiences of any of our lives and one we will all tell many times over, hopefully to spread what we’d caught on that mountain on the far side of the globe.
Posted in China, East Asia, Round the World
Tags: adventure, China, Chinese, everest, frostbite, himalaya range, land cruiser, majestic, mountains, tibet, toilet
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Last week in 5 quotes
By Fergus McKeown October 18, 2019 No Comments
How Boris Johnson won through with brinkmanship and ‘love bombs’
After over three years of wrangling, it looks like the Brexit saga may be approaching the beginning of the end (or is that the end of the beginning?). Boris Johnson has successfully negotiated a new withdrawal agreement with the EU. Now comes the next hurdle; Parliament has to agree to it. Already there are fallings out. The DUP, once supporters of Mr Johnson and his minority government, have said they won’t back it. Expect a weekend of high political drama in SW1.
Donald Trump triggers a Turkish invasion and trashes the national interest
A ceasefire and planned withdrawal of Kurdish forces from the north Syrian frontier with Turkey has been brokered by the US. President Donald Trump unintentionally (or not) let the Turkish invasion go ahead when he withdrew American troops from the region. His abandonment of the Kurds, allies in defeating Islamic State, was widely criticised by both friend and foe in Washington D.C. Now that agreement with Turkey seems to give President Erdogan exactly what he wants. The ripples from this story will go on.
Democratic debate: Rivals turn fire on new front runner Elizabeth Warren over healthcare
Lost in the foreign policy furore surrounding Trump, including the Ukraine scandal as well as what is going on in Syria, was a Democratic debate. There are many more planned before that party selects its nominee for the 2020 Presidential debate. Already three are way ahead of the rest of the pack. It was Elizabeth Warren who took the most heat in Ohio’s Tuesday debate over her plans for public healthcare. But she still could be the one to oust Trump.
Why Facebook’s Libra might be a good thing
In Geneva on Monday, the group put together by Facebook to help it launch the Libra cryptocurrency met for the first time. It was light on numbers though, as payment processors like Visa, Mastercard and PayPal pulled out. Criticism has dogged the project ever since it was announced, with many people of putting even more data and power into the hands of Mark Zuckerberg. Planned for 2020, will Libra ever see the light of day?
Short sellers pile on Netflix as Disney and Apple competition looms
Netflix announced better than expected results. That was a welcome fillip as it prepares to battle two of the biggest companies in the world. Disney and Apple will each launch their own streaming services, undercutting Netflix on price in order to dominate the market. Netflix is being blasé about the whole thing, expecting that it will make more people abandoned TV in favour of online streaming. It has 153m subscribers. Will that be enough to outlast both Apple and Disney?
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Changes in Proteinuria and Side Effects of Corticosteroids Alone or in Combination with Azathioprine at Different Stages of IgA Nephropathy
Cristina Sarcina, Carmine Tinelli, Francesca Ferrario, Antonello Pani, Annalisa De Silvestri, Patrizia Scaini, Lucia Del Vecchio, Elena Alberghini, Laura Buzzi, Ivano Baragetti, Claudio Pozzi
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Time-average proteinuria (TAp) is the strongest predictor of renal survival in IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Little is known about the utility and safety of corticosteroids (CS) to obtain TAp<1 g/d in patients with advanced IgAN. This study sought to evaluate TAp at different degree of baseline renal function and histologic severity during CS use and to investigate treatment safety.
DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: We performed one-stage individual-patient data meta-analysis among 325 patients with IgAN enrolled in three prospective, randomized clinical trials. Patients were divided into three groups according to treatment: no treatment (NT; supportive therapy), CS, and CS plus azathioprine (CS+A). Associations of TAp with histologic grading, treatment, and eGFR at baseline were performed with linear regression models for repeated measures. The median follow-up duration was 66.6 months (range, 12-144 months).
RESULTS: In the first 6 months, proteinuria did not change in the NT group and decreased substantially in the other groups(CS: from a mean±SD of 2.20±1.0 to 0.8 [interquartile range, 0.4-1.2] g/d; CS+A: from 2.876±2.1 to 1.0 [interquartile range, 0.5-1.7] g/d), independent of the degree of histologic damage and baseline eGFR. The percentage of patients who maintained TAp<1 g/d was 30.2% in the NT, 67.3% in the CS, and 66.6% in the CS+A group. Thirty-four patients experienced adverse events: none in the NT, 11 (6.4%) in the CS, and 23 (20.7%) in the CS+A group. The risk of developing adverse events increased with decreasing levels of eGFR (from 2.3% to 15.4%). The addition of azathioprine to CS further increased the percentage of patients with adverse events (16.8% versus 5.7% in study 2 and 30.0% versus 15.4% in study 3; overall P<0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: In patients with IgAN, CS can reduce proteinuria and increase the possibility of maintaining TAp<1 g/d, regardless of the stage of CKD and the histologic damage. The risk of major adverse events is low in patients with normal renal function but increases in those with impaired renal function and with the addition of azathioprine.
Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN
https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.02300215
Azathioprine
Sarcina, C., Tinelli, C., Ferrario, F., Pani, A., De Silvestri, A., Scaini, P., ... Pozzi, C. (2016). Changes in Proteinuria and Side Effects of Corticosteroids Alone or in Combination with Azathioprine at Different Stages of IgA Nephropathy. Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN, 11(6), 973-81. https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.02300215
Changes in Proteinuria and Side Effects of Corticosteroids Alone or in Combination with Azathioprine at Different Stages of IgA Nephropathy. / Sarcina, Cristina; Tinelli, Carmine; Ferrario, Francesca; Pani, Antonello; De Silvestri, Annalisa; Scaini, Patrizia; Del Vecchio, Lucia; Alberghini, Elena; Buzzi, Laura; Baragetti, Ivano; Pozzi, Claudio.
In: Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN, Vol. 11, No. 6, 06.06.2016, p. 973-81.
Sarcina, C, Tinelli, C, Ferrario, F, Pani, A, De Silvestri, A, Scaini, P, Del Vecchio, L, Alberghini, E, Buzzi, L, Baragetti, I & Pozzi, C 2016, 'Changes in Proteinuria and Side Effects of Corticosteroids Alone or in Combination with Azathioprine at Different Stages of IgA Nephropathy', Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 973-81. https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.02300215
Sarcina C, Tinelli C, Ferrario F, Pani A, De Silvestri A, Scaini P et al. Changes in Proteinuria and Side Effects of Corticosteroids Alone or in Combination with Azathioprine at Different Stages of IgA Nephropathy. Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN. 2016 Jun 6;11(6):973-81. https://doi.org/10.2215/CJN.02300215
Sarcina, Cristina ; Tinelli, Carmine ; Ferrario, Francesca ; Pani, Antonello ; De Silvestri, Annalisa ; Scaini, Patrizia ; Del Vecchio, Lucia ; Alberghini, Elena ; Buzzi, Laura ; Baragetti, Ivano ; Pozzi, Claudio. / Changes in Proteinuria and Side Effects of Corticosteroids Alone or in Combination with Azathioprine at Different Stages of IgA Nephropathy. In: Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN. 2016 ; Vol. 11, No. 6. pp. 973-81.
@article{725aced4c4bf458288258fa2074cca35,
title = "Changes in Proteinuria and Side Effects of Corticosteroids Alone or in Combination with Azathioprine at Different Stages of IgA Nephropathy",
abstract = "BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Time-average proteinuria (TAp) is the strongest predictor of renal survival in IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Little is known about the utility and safety of corticosteroids (CS) to obtain TAp<1 g/d in patients with advanced IgAN. This study sought to evaluate TAp at different degree of baseline renal function and histologic severity during CS use and to investigate treatment safety.DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: We performed one-stage individual-patient data meta-analysis among 325 patients with IgAN enrolled in three prospective, randomized clinical trials. Patients were divided into three groups according to treatment: no treatment (NT; supportive therapy), CS, and CS plus azathioprine (CS+A). Associations of TAp with histologic grading, treatment, and eGFR at baseline were performed with linear regression models for repeated measures. The median follow-up duration was 66.6 months (range, 12-144 months).RESULTS: In the first 6 months, proteinuria did not change in the NT group and decreased substantially in the other groups(CS: from a mean±SD of 2.20±1.0 to 0.8 [interquartile range, 0.4-1.2] g/d; CS+A: from 2.876±2.1 to 1.0 [interquartile range, 0.5-1.7] g/d), independent of the degree of histologic damage and baseline eGFR. The percentage of patients who maintained TAp<1 g/d was 30.2{\%} in the NT, 67.3{\%} in the CS, and 66.6{\%} in the CS+A group. Thirty-four patients experienced adverse events: none in the NT, 11 (6.4{\%}) in the CS, and 23 (20.7{\%}) in the CS+A group. The risk of developing adverse events increased with decreasing levels of eGFR (from 2.3{\%} to 15.4{\%}). The addition of azathioprine to CS further increased the percentage of patients with adverse events (16.8{\%} versus 5.7{\%} in study 2 and 30.0{\%} versus 15.4{\%} in study 3; overall P<0.001).CONCLUSIONS: In patients with IgAN, CS can reduce proteinuria and increase the possibility of maintaining TAp<1 g/d, regardless of the stage of CKD and the histologic damage. The risk of major adverse events is low in patients with normal renal function but increases in those with impaired renal function and with the addition of azathioprine.",
keywords = "Journal Article",
author = "Cristina Sarcina and Carmine Tinelli and Francesca Ferrario and Antonello Pani and {De Silvestri}, Annalisa and Patrizia Scaini and {Del Vecchio}, Lucia and Elena Alberghini and Laura Buzzi and Ivano Baragetti and Claudio Pozzi",
note = "Copyright {\circledC} 2016 by the American Society of Nephrology.",
doi = "10.2215/CJN.02300215",
pages = "973--81",
journal = "Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN",
publisher = "by the American Society of Nephrology",
T1 - Changes in Proteinuria and Side Effects of Corticosteroids Alone or in Combination with Azathioprine at Different Stages of IgA Nephropathy
AU - Sarcina, Cristina
AU - Tinelli, Carmine
AU - Ferrario, Francesca
AU - Pani, Antonello
AU - De Silvestri, Annalisa
AU - Scaini, Patrizia
AU - Del Vecchio, Lucia
AU - Alberghini, Elena
AU - Buzzi, Laura
AU - Baragetti, Ivano
AU - Pozzi, Claudio
N1 - Copyright © 2016 by the American Society of Nephrology.
N2 - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Time-average proteinuria (TAp) is the strongest predictor of renal survival in IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Little is known about the utility and safety of corticosteroids (CS) to obtain TAp<1 g/d in patients with advanced IgAN. This study sought to evaluate TAp at different degree of baseline renal function and histologic severity during CS use and to investigate treatment safety.DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: We performed one-stage individual-patient data meta-analysis among 325 patients with IgAN enrolled in three prospective, randomized clinical trials. Patients were divided into three groups according to treatment: no treatment (NT; supportive therapy), CS, and CS plus azathioprine (CS+A). Associations of TAp with histologic grading, treatment, and eGFR at baseline were performed with linear regression models for repeated measures. The median follow-up duration was 66.6 months (range, 12-144 months).RESULTS: In the first 6 months, proteinuria did not change in the NT group and decreased substantially in the other groups(CS: from a mean±SD of 2.20±1.0 to 0.8 [interquartile range, 0.4-1.2] g/d; CS+A: from 2.876±2.1 to 1.0 [interquartile range, 0.5-1.7] g/d), independent of the degree of histologic damage and baseline eGFR. The percentage of patients who maintained TAp<1 g/d was 30.2% in the NT, 67.3% in the CS, and 66.6% in the CS+A group. Thirty-four patients experienced adverse events: none in the NT, 11 (6.4%) in the CS, and 23 (20.7%) in the CS+A group. The risk of developing adverse events increased with decreasing levels of eGFR (from 2.3% to 15.4%). The addition of azathioprine to CS further increased the percentage of patients with adverse events (16.8% versus 5.7% in study 2 and 30.0% versus 15.4% in study 3; overall P<0.001).CONCLUSIONS: In patients with IgAN, CS can reduce proteinuria and increase the possibility of maintaining TAp<1 g/d, regardless of the stage of CKD and the histologic damage. The risk of major adverse events is low in patients with normal renal function but increases in those with impaired renal function and with the addition of azathioprine.
AB - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Time-average proteinuria (TAp) is the strongest predictor of renal survival in IgA nephropathy (IgAN). Little is known about the utility and safety of corticosteroids (CS) to obtain TAp<1 g/d in patients with advanced IgAN. This study sought to evaluate TAp at different degree of baseline renal function and histologic severity during CS use and to investigate treatment safety.DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: We performed one-stage individual-patient data meta-analysis among 325 patients with IgAN enrolled in three prospective, randomized clinical trials. Patients were divided into three groups according to treatment: no treatment (NT; supportive therapy), CS, and CS plus azathioprine (CS+A). Associations of TAp with histologic grading, treatment, and eGFR at baseline were performed with linear regression models for repeated measures. The median follow-up duration was 66.6 months (range, 12-144 months).RESULTS: In the first 6 months, proteinuria did not change in the NT group and decreased substantially in the other groups(CS: from a mean±SD of 2.20±1.0 to 0.8 [interquartile range, 0.4-1.2] g/d; CS+A: from 2.876±2.1 to 1.0 [interquartile range, 0.5-1.7] g/d), independent of the degree of histologic damage and baseline eGFR. The percentage of patients who maintained TAp<1 g/d was 30.2% in the NT, 67.3% in the CS, and 66.6% in the CS+A group. Thirty-four patients experienced adverse events: none in the NT, 11 (6.4%) in the CS, and 23 (20.7%) in the CS+A group. The risk of developing adverse events increased with decreasing levels of eGFR (from 2.3% to 15.4%). The addition of azathioprine to CS further increased the percentage of patients with adverse events (16.8% versus 5.7% in study 2 and 30.0% versus 15.4% in study 3; overall P<0.001).CONCLUSIONS: In patients with IgAN, CS can reduce proteinuria and increase the possibility of maintaining TAp<1 g/d, regardless of the stage of CKD and the histologic damage. The risk of major adverse events is low in patients with normal renal function but increases in those with impaired renal function and with the addition of azathioprine.
KW - Journal Article
U2 - 10.2215/CJN.02300215
DO - 10.2215/CJN.02300215
JO - Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN
JF - Clinical journal of the American Society of Nephrology : CJASN
10.2215/CJN.02300215
IRCCS Fondazione Policlinico San Matteo - TRAPIANTO DI ORGANI ADDOMINALI E MALATTIE INVALIDANTI DI FEGATO, RENE, PANCREAS ED INTESTINO - SPECIALIZZAZIONE DISCIPLINARE: TRAPIANTOLOGIA, MALATTIE CURABILI CON TRAPIANTO D'ORGANI, TESSUTI E CELLULE
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Transportation Costs & Travel Expenses for Long Distance Visitation
Travel expenses for child visitation. Travel expenses for long distance parenting. Child support transportation costs. Transportation costs & travel expenses for long distance visitation under the Tennessee Child Support Guidelines.
Transportation Costs & Travel Expenses for Long Distance Visitation Under the Tennessee Child Support Guidelines
Travel Expenses for Long Distance Parenting
In the global economy, more and more parents have to travel further and further to find good-paying jobs. It also means that second families are being started in other states and even abroad.
An additional sentence also enters into this topic, as found in the Tennessee Child Support Guidelines at Rule 1240-2-4-.07(2)(c), “If parenting time-related travel expenses are substantial due to the distance between the parents, the tribunal may order the allocation of such costs by deviation from the [presumptive child support obligation], taking into consideration the circumstances of the respective parents as well as which parent moved and the reason that the move was made.”
These provisions merely require the judge to “consider” whether a reduction in child support should occur as a result of visitation transportation costs. There is no mandatory reduction in child support for travel related to visitation. There is also no formula to tell a judge how to calculate an adjustment to a parent’s child support obligation from among choices of methodology, such as allocating costs between the parents or cost-offset ratio against a strict computation of the child support obligation.
Because the travel expenses reduction is fraught with judicial discretion, the long-distance parent should be ready to argue for a specific, quantified reduction in child support, and to demonstrate the reduction relative to the actual costs of engaging in long-distance visitation. The relocating parent might also want to demonstrate a solid history of taking part in all local visitation opportunities to help bolster the claim that visitation, even if expensive, will regularly continue into the future.
Another common proof problem in these types of cases is that the application will be quickly filed, before any pattern of expenses has been incurred. Perhaps there was only one roundtrip ticket and the local parent argues that cheaper flights are available. Perhaps the relocating parent also has a modification application pending for the parenting schedule, leaving the amount of travel for the child as yet undetermined. Or, perhaps a long-distance schedule was agreed, as well as a downward modification of child support, only to find that the schedule isn’t being followed.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals in the 2008 case of Long vs. Long attempted to deal with long-distance visitation expenses. The Father lost his request for a reduction of child support due to the long-distance visitation expenses.
The Longs had three minor children when they divorced. The family had moved several times over the years – indeed, one child was born in Virginia, another in Florida, with only the third was born in Tennessee. The parents separated while both resided in Tennessee, but, during their separation, the Father moved to Maryland. If the facts had stopped there and remained focused upon employment as the basis of relocation, the case might have gone to a different outcome.
However, the written decision of the Court of Appeals did not present the Father as a sympathetic parent, and it concluded that the Father’s move to Maryland was to be closer to his girlfriend. Unfortunately for the Father, the trial court and the Court of Appeals repeatedly focused upon the Father’s trips with his paramour, gifts to her, secret bank accounts, cashing of work checks, gambling debts, and then his claims that he could not meet the temporary child support and alimony awards of the trial court. Between these judicial findings and the Father’s greater income, there was no ($0) adjustment to his child support obligation to account for the long-distance visitation expenses.
References, Resources and More:
Tennessee Child Support Laws
Tennessee Child Support Law Answers to FAQs
Tennessee Child Support Calculator & Links to App
Tennessee Parenting Plans and Child Support Worksheets: Building a Constructive Future for Your Family
For analysis, updates, commentary and case law summaries, view the Tennessee Child Support category of our MemphisDivorce.com Tennessee Family Law Blog.
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Roger Prinssen
“Too long; didn’t read,” abbreviated tl;dr by internet commenters who can’t be bothered to spell out all of four words, could be our new national motto, a reflection of society’s shrinking attention span. Twitter’s generous doubling of its character limit notwithstanding, we live in a world that tends to ignore complex ideas that can’t be dumbed down to fit on a TV ticker. Which might explain why, according to one firm’s research, 73 percent of consumers have no idea what a plug-in hybrid is.
Indeed, plug-ins can be complicated. Consider the Clarity, which like its peers wants to be both a zero-emission battery-electric vehicle and a range-anxiety-defeating, gasoline-burning hybrid. Its primary locomotion comes via a 181-hp electric motor that pulls juice from a 17.0-kWh lithium-ion battery pack. Charging from a 240-volt tap takes about two and a half hours; from a standard 120-volt wall plug it’s more like 12. With its battery full, the Clarity can travel an EPA-estimated 48 miles on electricity before it has to fire up a 103-hp 1.5-liter inline-four, extending total range to an EPA-rated 340 miles. The gasoline engine spins a generator to provide additional current to the motor and recharge the battery, but it also can assist in directly driving the wheels, bringing the car’s total horsepower to 212. This version of the Clarity carries a combined rating of 110 MPGe on electrons and 42 mpg on gasoline.
Now that’s a long paragraph and we imagine anyone who isn’t already familiar with plug-in technology has had their eyes glaze over while reading it—or just grown utterly confused. But that isn’t even the half of it. The Clarity offers a choice of three driving modes—Econ, Normal, and Sport—each delivering progressively more aggressive acceleration and pedal response. Its regenerative-braking system has four settings, selected by paddles on either side of the steering wheel (although none of them allows a true coasting mode). And there are a further three choices for controlling how the car deploys its battery charge.
The Clarity certainly isn’t the most complex plug-in hybrid in the world—only its front wheels are driven, for starters—but compared with something like the Chrysler Pacifica PHEV, which is just as simple to operate as the regular version of the minivan, the Clarity seems like a product designed by engineers for engineers. Which is odd, since Honda seems serious about giving the Clarity a mass-market appeal, what with it being a true mid-size sedan with a real trunk and a roomy back seat that makes it a legitimate five-passenger vehicle.
Indeed, the PHEV will be the volume leader for the Clarity nameplate, which also includes battery-electric and hydrogen fuel-cell models. All three share body structures and similar underpinnings, with a front strut suspension and a rear multilink setup. But the plug-in model is the only one sold in all 50 states and the only one you can actually buy, period. The fuel-cell Clarity is offered for lease only, and that’s just in California, while the battery-electric model can be leased in Oregon in addition to the Golden State. Honda has barely moved 1000 of those two models combined this year.
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© Copyright 2018. Men Soz. All Rights Reserved.
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Declaring a Review strike until efficiency improvements are implemented
Reviewing (together with interlinking existing content) is one of the key tasks for the SO community now that the site is past its initial growth stage. And the infamous overload of review queues and other community feedback shows that the current mechanism for that task is not efficient enough.
There is a number of pending feature requests to increase its efficiency including one of mine.
By giving this area low priority (if any at all, there was no feedback from the team to make any judgement calls), I feel that the SE team does not value my volunteer time spent reviewing, and that time is not being spent effectively.
As such, I've decided (a few months ago) that it's time to stop donating it until reviewing efficiency is improved to once again be worth my time.
(For myself personally, I set the bar on implementing Increase close and reopen vote weight for tag badge holders and Close and Triage queues need a downvote option. No, really since these are the only crystallized breakthough ideas in this area atm AFAICS.)
discussion review vote-to-close vote-to-reopen psa
E_net9 is disappointed in SE
ivan_pozdeevivan_pozdeev
related: Close Votes review: I'm going on a strike! (six years ago this way worked, hope it could help this time as well) cc @Persijn – gnat May 15 '19 at 10:10
@Persijn Since words clearly didn't seem to have any effect, I feel it's time to take an affirmative action to make a statement. – ivan_pozdeev May 15 '19 at 10:10
That said, I'm pretty sure many people already did this out of frustration, just didn't make this fact known. – ivan_pozdeev May 15 '19 at 10:11
The frustration is understandable, but the act of protest will not have meaningful consequences. You aren’t donating your time reviewing to the team that runs Stack Overflow. You’re donating it to the community of people who use Stack Overflow, to ask and answer questions. The people who started using it and want to keep using it because it avoids their having to waste time slogging through piles of crap. Refusing to review will just mean more crap for you, and I, and everyone else. It won’t make the review queues get fixed. Fewer reviewers means either more work for fewer, or more crap. – Cody Gray♦ May 16 '19 at 5:31
@CodyGray "More crap" is also negative marketing and degrading business value for the company since the knowledge base and the community is their primary asset that drives their entire business. So if enough people support me, they will be forced to do something about it. The company has become complacent and started neglecting the force that drives their success. This is going to become their undoing if kept unchecked for too long and I honestly hope it doesn't come to that. So I'm actually helping them by pushing them to realize and fix the problem sooner rather than later. – ivan_pozdeev May 16 '19 at 5:53
@CodyGray what you are describing as just more incentive for others to go on strike and/or for conditions to be improved. That is, assuming the SO staff is interested in having less crap. – VLAZ May 16 '19 at 7:21
@CodyGray I've been following CV review discussions very closely in the times of the first strike and per my observations noticeable improvements started occuring only after it. Based on that past experience your claim that it won't help sounds a bit premature. – gnat May 16 '19 at 8:25
@CodyGray I've stopped formally reviewing a few years ago, out of frustration. Fewer reviews does mean more crap, overall. However, as an individual I am certainly not exposed to crap as much as I was when I was formally reviewing. And I avoid tons of frustration: the immediate frustration (for instance) of Qs not getting closed fast enough, and the long-term frustration from dealing with management unwilling to provide experienced SO users with better moderation tools. I still vote or flag when I happen to run into cases that warrant it, but I just don't go out of my way like I used to. – Louis May 16 '19 at 13:21
I gave up doing reviews years ago. Lots of effort, awful UI, bad audits, Sisyphean levels of work and most of all, almost no reward. – DavidG May 17 '19 at 14:10
I also can relate. As soon as I got the reputation for it, I tried working on some of the review queues. I gave up in a couple of days, and never tried it again ever since. It's a lot of work for basically no reward. Let's be honest: Unless you intend on running for moderator, those badges aren't really worth the effort. – Cássio Renan May 17 '19 at 14:33
People trying to close this as "does not appear to seek input and discussion" highlights the problem, seeking discussion about this topic (for years now) has been nearly completely fruitless. – Grumpy says Reinstate Monica May 17 '19 at 14:48
@TylerH This post is a call to action. It's inherently actionable... both by the community, in either strike participation or discussion, or by SE staff. Regardless, I rather welcome an attempt to strong-arm SE rather than slinking away, quietly defeated, as have countless others before us. It's been demonstrated on more than one occasion how little power we truly have here. Our participation is really our only card to play. A coordinated strike might actually raise the needle a bit... – canon May 17 '19 at 19:47
@TylerH The problem is the way things are supposed to be done here have proven to be futile. Sure, Ivan can come on and say "hey SO, this is a problem, and it needs to be fixed" - but then, it gets closed as a duplicate, because there has been years of discussion revolving around this, and no action, even with a ton of community support. "One (or a few) people threatening to ?stop reviewing? is not ammunition" - That's the purpose of this post. It's meant to draw in more people to participate in the strike. Frankly, the "correct" way doesn't work, it's time to push the envelope. – Grumpy says Reinstate Monica May 17 '19 at 20:00
@TylerH Are you seriously saying that adding "who's with me?" to the end of the question completely changes this question to something you wouldn't close? Ivan is saying he's going on strike, this is obviously to garner support of others to join him, even without explicitly saying so. – Grumpy says Reinstate Monica May 17 '19 at 20:18
"Refusing to review will just mean more crap for you ...", logical fallacy. It is ZERO crap for me, because not participating in the site much less the queues anymore I do not see any of the crap I used to see when I had 40K. Therein lies the rub, those that complain that too much gets closed to fast (usually their own questions), rarely if ever, actually have the rep to see the torrent of crap posted to the site every hour, therefore it does not exist to them and is not a problem. The only problem they see is their crap getting closed or down voted and feeling unwelcome because of it. – user10677470 May 20 '19 at 2:05
Update: SE is looking at feature requests now! It's hopefully just a matter of time before review/moderation-related ones start being worked on.
On MSE, there are ~700 unimplemented, review-related feature requests. In general, there's over 13k feature requests without any [status-*] tags on MSE. On SO, there's nearly 4000 overall, with roughly 200 aimed at review. Those are just using the generic tags.
The main problem, as far as I see, is that there is a ton of stuff that needs to be moderated, but way too few votes and active reviewers to do so. There's a lot of incorrect reviews, and not to forget various "fine prints" on editing and the common plagiarism pitfall with tag wikis that cause additional work and reviewing reviewers.
Duplicate CVs are specifically tricky because of the domain expertise some of them require. Flags aging away is also a problem, but one that is specifically visible to users who flag. Close votes expiring isn't as visible.
The problem is better demonstrated in this post - the queue size fluctuates, but never goes specifically low.
The current situation
The burn of the close vote review queue shows we have the technical amount of people required to actually pull it off again. But what one of the answers unfortunately shows is a drop in reviewers after a review spike. At its peak, there were 12000-14000 reviews per day. So far today, there has been 658. To handle the 8152 pending questions in the queue right now, over 40000 reviews are required, or roughly 800 reviewers with all 50 votes.
There is, however, one problem with this calculation: the number isn't real. SE has an algorithm (that I don't know the exact details of, and therefore can't reverse) which reduces the number of questions that appear to be in the queue.. The real number of reviews required to keep the queue down is likely exponentially higher, further increasing the need for review enhancements.
However, the queue isn't sitting there static, and the site isn't blocking users from asking new questions. If a full-scale strike is put into action, the amount of posts in review will spike significantly.
We don't have enough reviews.
And this is a three-part problem:
The review system
The posters
This question asks for a strike in light of the review system. However, if we don't have reviewers, we still won't get enough reviews. If we lower the close votes required to close a question to three, the amount of reviews drops to 24000, or nearly cut in half.
Which brings us to the last problem: The posters. This is being worked on through things such as the wizard, but this only covers questions. Answers are more complicated, but bots such as Natty are helping flaggers with that. The major difference between VLQ review and close vote review queue is 1000 reputation.
Talking in user count, 0.9% of users have access to VLQ, but only 0.65% have access to CV review. (source). How many of those are active though? That's a very different question, and one I can't answer accurately through SEDE. But given the size differences, even though there are volume differences in questions and answers, the answer review queues are very close to empty.
Based on today's (17.05.19 at 19:55, +0 GMT) 658 reviews, and for the sake of math and missing information I will have to assume all the reviewers have burned through their reviews. Doing so gives 658 / 40, which means 16 reviewers, and one who used about 20 reviews would be able to keep the exact count listed earlier. And, again, there were near 800 during the CV queue burn.
At the same time, the queues are filling up, and it will get worse when there are fewer close voters. The strike is barely starting up, so to what extent it affects the review queues is yet to be seen.
However, I do feel I need to give a shoutout to the moderators, and especially the one I've seen most of, Bhargav Rao, who've made a noticeable impact on the VLQ review (and indirectly on other answer-related review queues) by handling NAA flags. Without the moderators, the VLQ queue would likely contain more posts than currently does.
And if they, as Yvette mentioned, are trying to tackle the close vote queue as well, that's on one hand good news (because of binding votes - which means more effective reviews), but on the other hand, additional proof the CV queue has fundamental design flaws when it comes to efficiency. While it's most noticeable in the CV queue, it wouldn't surprise me if this affects other review queues some day, or with the strike, soon.
TL;DR: We don't have enough reviews per day.
Secondary problem
Aside the lack of reviews compared to what's required for an efficient system, there's one pretty big problem affecting the queues.
As listed in the start, there are ~900 unimplemented review feature requests on MSO and MSE combined (possibly with some overlap). These not being implemented likely contributed to this.
I've talked to some people who have stopped reviewing because of missing features, or otherwise have issues with the review system - and in my opinion, with good reason.
Update: These numbers are wrong. Without access to the close votes themselves, I wrote the query under the (wrong) assumption posts closed outside the queue completed the review task. According to Shog, the number is closer to 42%, which I still think is too high. On the bright side, it wasn't as bad as I thought.
Update: These stats cannot be corrected without Community Managers or other people with database access. Accurate statistics will eventually be available here
Update: The accurate numbers are between 10-20%. See this answer.
The original state for historical purposes:
Note: I am not sure how the fuzzied numbers affect SEDE
I get that it's hard to see the problem. I've created a SEDE query (fork-ish off this query) to better demonstrate this (thanks to rene for helping me with sanity-checking the query):
The question and answer post stats is just to demonstrate the volume. On a weekly basis, there's (on average) close to 50000-60000 of each post type posted. Every week, there's about 40000 reviews done, of which, only 8000 are on close vote review.
5k are on answers (Very Low Quality and Late Answer. First Posts is excluded because it also includes questions).
Now, this is where it gets tricky. Each post has one ReviewTask for each time it enters the queue. Which means the 8000 posts on CV Review Tasks In Week are all posts pushed into the queue for that given week. The line right under, CV Review Tasks Invalidated in Week, shows how many of the review tasks created that week that have been invalidated (which, according to both observation of an invalidated close vote review, and rene, includes expired close votes and flags). And the last line, CV Review Tasks Completed in Week, shows how many of the tasks created that week that have been completed.
Note that one ReviewTask does not signify how many user reviews were made on that task - it only shows how many, in this case, questions were in the queue with a creation date for a given week. Each of those can have any (sensible) number of reviews. To find out how many user reviews have been wasted, that requires a different SEDE query that I don't have available at the moment.
The vast majority of questions in the CV review queue aren't handled. The completed review items are those that have either been left open or have been closed in CV review. On some of the worst weeks, ~94% of CV reviews were made for nothing. I have no statistics on how many flags and close votes were essentially lost on this, but it's probably significantly more than one per review task.
The past few weeks show fewer invalidations, among other things because they haven't gotten old enough to expire, but also because the amount of reviews has spiked since about mid-April. This might be because of more reviewers, but it could also be because more questions now are worth closing than earlier (this is at least something I've observed on some tags).
Either way, those thousands of expiring close votes is a huge problem because they may contain questions that should be closed. And they can also contain the questions we actually want on the site, but that were handled poorly/incorrectly.
For those of you who aren't familiar with SEDE, completion type 3 on reviews (named "invalidated") means natural removal from the queue, and includes expired close votes/flags. This is verified in this SEDE query, as outlined in the SEDE structure post on MSE.
Note that this is an overview of what happens to review items by the review item creation date, and not necessarily the date it was handled. Because of expiration, it's fair to assume most of them were handled (or expired) relatively quickly
Personally observed situations
I don't review in the CV queue at all. I haven't for a long time because of one issue: 50 close votes doesn't let me cover the tags I watch, and review at the same time. I've seen several questions that should be closed getting answered rather than closed (and this might be a side-effect of the massive queue size for all I know).
For me, it's a question of whether review is worth it, compared to finding and tackling low-quality questions head-on as they emerge. Ironically, that doesn't work properly without review (there's relatively few active closers on the tags I'm watching, from what I can tell).
The CV queue doesn't work without people flagging or voting to close on the questions in the first place, but posts getting closed doesn't work effectively without review.
The partial lack of a coordinated effort (looking aside SOCVR) likely contributes to a lot of flags aging away. A few hundred reviews per day barely helps tackling backlog of closed questions, with new questions piling on at the same rate as review handles questions, if not faster. If I remember correctly, the CV queue was at 9000 relatively recently. I'm not sure whether the reduction is because of the fuzzy algorithm, if it's because votes and flags are aging away faster than review can handle it, or if it's because SO in general is getting fewer questions worth closing.
Ways to handle it
I can't use this answer to propose all the possible solutions, because there's far too many good ones that could be implemented. One that would massively help the active reviewers, is the one that enables regenerative close votes. I personally think we should let willing reviewers review as long as they want to as well - and if it helps on gamification-related problems, remove badge progressing for extra reviews per day. And the one Yvette mentioned: fewer close votes to close.
But the CV queue isn't alone. Help and Improvement gets a lot of posts from other queues that actually belong in the close vote queue. VLQ flags have helped, but instead of reviewing and actually helping, it's skipping and flagging that's (at least my) most used action in that specific queue.
There's essentially three ways to handle it:
The first, and by far most complicated one, is reducing the amount of closeable posts being posted. The wizard has likely had an effect (considering the CV queue is down to 8000 now), but there's still answers, although they fortunately haven't spiraled out of control in review to the same extent as the CV queue.
The second option is getting more reviewers. This has been done before with the CV queue burn, but getting more long-term reviewers is hard when the unimplemented queue improvements keep pushing reviewers away.
The third, and the one I've focused on: let the active reviewers review! Give the reviewers regenerative close votes and/or require fewer close votes to close questions, or implement something else to make sure those who review actually have a chance of making an impact, rather than browsing through a queue with 40 reviews per day.
And if the issue is a concern for abuse, why not let gold badge holder votes have more weight?
If the issue is with "zombie reviewers" clicking buttons for a badge, why not remove progress towards review badges after 40 reviews (or another number for different queues)?
Please implement one or more feature requests that make review efficient. Assuming this comment is correct, last time there was a strike, the only action taken was reducing the visible number. While this may help motivating reviewers, it is useless alone. You can hide the truth all you want, but if nothing is done to tackle it, it's essentially like sitting in a burning house and ignoring it.
I mentioned the review burn earlier, but there is one thing I haven't mentioned yet, and that is this answer. The post itself isn't actually the main point, but before I go on, look at the numbers: all of them, including CV review, says 0.
However, under two hours later, it was back at 14000 questions. I can't verify the legitimacy of these images (given they weren't created by me, and it was 5 years ago), but if they are correct, that also means one thing for the review queue right now: there are guaranteed more than 8000 questions in the review queue.
I mentioned later the review queue size is "obfuscated" by an algorithm that makes it appear smaller. The comment I mentioned in the previous paragraph was likely made when the algorithm wasn't as aggressive. When it spikes by 14k questions in under two hours, and with activity only increasing since, it serves as further proof 8000 isn't a realistic number.
If no review enhancements are made, we will not be able to moderate content efficiently given the current amount of votes, available reviews per user, and reviewers. We currently aren't either, given the massive volume of posts SO is getting.
With, on some of the worst weeks, up to 94% of review tasks expiring, this is a problem obfuscating the numbers further cannot fix. However, in light of a recent post here on meta, it has come to my attention SE actually isn't working on features for core members. That may make the purpose behind striking pointless if this push for change isn't enough (and in my opinion, based on previous posts, this probably isn't enough unless there's commitment to it). These past few days, there have been several feature requests with status changes. Some declined, some completed, some being worked on - this is progress into the massive pile of seemingly ignored feature requests. I'm not sure how long it takes until moderation-related feature requests start being implemented, but what SE stated earlier is no longer the case (fortunately). Just the fact that feature requests are being implemented is a good sign after a long time of nearly no implementations.
2019: Experiment: closing and reopening happens at 3 votes for the next 30 days
2019: Comments on answer to: Why is the popular “How much research effort is expected” answer deleted?
2019: Why do you stay?
2019: When did SO turn from "A site for professional and enthusiast programmers" to a "Help me with my school works" site?
2019: Observations from a long-time contributor turned read-only user
2019: The Stack Overflow I wish to build and participate in is no longer supported
2019: Answer to: Data science time! June 2019 and the Tumbleweed badge
2019: Tell the financial controllers of Stack Exchange to put money into keeping the current user base happy
2018: Triage implementation has been (silently) abandoned midway, how bad is that?
2018: Should Stack Overflow users enforce a mandate or let the site evolve?
2018: What does our long term community need? What does our long term community need to feel valued?
2017: Concerns about recent Stack Exchange responses to users' suggestions
2017: Who keeps upvoting these terrible questions?
2014: Why is Stack Overflow so negative of late?
2014: Question quality is dropping on Stack Overflow
2014: Are high-reputation users answering fewer questions?
2013: Close Votes review: I'm going on a strike!
ZoeZoe
The number of unimplemented feature requests isn't really a useful stat because the vast majority of them won't be good ideas. It's just not a good indication of the problem at all. Next, changing how many posts get reviewed (whether up or down) won't change the queue size meaningfully. If there are more reviews done then fewer posts will age out, and the queue wills stay about the same size, if fewer posts are reviewed more will age out, and the queue will stay about the same size. The actual queue is numerous orders of magnitude larger than what's shown. – Servy May 17 '19 at 20:09
@Servy The size of the unimplemented feature request is one thing, but any of them could have a status-denied added if it isn't implementable. No response what so ever, at least to me, makes it seem like most of the feature requests are plain out ignored. The queue size itself is honestly confusing because of the fuzzy numbers, and you're completely right about that. But the only way to get somewhere is if the stuff that's in there is actually reviewed. – Zoe May 17 '19 at 20:12
@Zoe Along with that, the only thing we can do is try something, because what we are doing now obviously isn't working. Seems like several people just want to sit back and continue on the path we are already on which has been failing us for some time now. – Grumpy says Reinstate Monica May 17 '19 at 20:30
@YvetteColomb yeah, I figured you meant those ^^" Also, you and the other mods deserve credit just for trying - closing stuff requires a lot of attention and energy, and coordinated efforts are even harder (even though SOCVR exists). The binding votes do make an impact on the review efficiency. The only way to actually fix it at this point is making sure there are efficiency improvements so we avoid burning out users, whether moderators or 3k users, while making sure the queues (and especially CV review) are designed in a way that both avoids that, at the same time as it enables more reviews. – Zoe May 18 '19 at 11:28
"~94% of CV reviews were made for nothing" (on some weeks) -- is it possible to obtain similar stats for older reviews, to compare to how it was, say, 4-5 years ago? – gnat May 19 '19 at 15:37
I see, thanks. Looks like it wasn't too good back then and it has gotten only worse over time and at this point it is just awfully bad. And this is despite community permanently complaining and suggesting improvements. Given what I learned so far 94% reviews going to waste bin make a pretty good reason to stop close voting at all – gnat May 19 '19 at 16:27
@gnat honestly, that's where I'm at after seeing the numbers. I knew it was bad, but not that bad. Unless SE takes action to handle these issues rather than hiding them, we might as well stop. The decidedly worst part is that some of the other high-volume sites have the same problems. You can change the site to run the query on. Take a look at for an instance SU or Ask Ubuntu (the two top sites after Stack Overflow in traffic) - neither of those have specifically good rates either (last week, Ask Ubuntu was at 43% invalidation), but it's noticeably better than SO. – Zoe May 19 '19 at 16:33
Taking a look at some lower volume sites (i.e. Code Review, with more users than visits per day), they have more completed tasks than invalidated ones. I don't think the review system is currently designed to handle the extreme volume of posts on some of the bigger sites in the network. – Zoe May 19 '19 at 16:35
Interesting. When I review, I tend to filter to select only duplicates for which I have a gold badge, so I can instantly close the close worthy questions. – Raedwald May 23 '19 at 6:09
@Raedwald after doing the same thing for a couple of years, I realized that was no more effective than pissing in a volcano in and effort to put it out. The number of votes you get vs the number of things needing closure is so fractional it is not statistically significant. The only measurable effect it has was to increase the amount of on and off site personal harassment I got from people that had their question closed. So I just gave up and stopped all together. – user10677470 May 30 '19 at 18:46
One critical flaw in your Statistics section: votes aging out will invalidate a review, and review tasks themselves will age out and invalidate... But they'll also be invalidated if the post is closed from outside review or deleted. So for example, an asker confirming a duplicate vote immediately closes the question and invalidates the review - but the vote itself was still helpful. Unfortunately, this stuff is fiendishly complex; actual portion of aged votes/flags is about 42% of all raised, but even that is misleading: some of those aged away because review completed… with "Do not close". – Shog9 Jun 25 '19 at 16:16
Sounds about right, @gnat. Essentially, try to match the review result type with the outcome of the post. PostsWithDeleted may help here, Zoe – Shog9 Jun 25 '19 at 16:41
Oh... One other little wrinkle: audits are included in this data, but not indicated. They shouldn't be invalidated very often, but may skew results otherwise if you're just comparing against post state. – Shog9 Jun 25 '19 at 16:48
I have a sneaking suspicion we're not pushing all review data to SEDE here; it's been a long time since that was written and I don't recall what we did anymore, but the original intent was to allow analysis of pending reviews... So all bets are off for completed ones. We might be dropping everything pertaining to deleted posts or something, gonna have to find time to ask bluefeet about the migration. – Shog9 Jun 27 '19 at 13:54
As Shog noted, @Zoe, the data on the public SEDE does not give a full view of the situation here — mind posting a separate question, asking for accurate numbers on this, so we can answer it properly? :) Doing it in the comment section here is hard, and as a separate answer seems awkward. – JNat♦ Jun 27 '19 at 16:35
I see the frustration here and totally understand it. I'm hoping that this post will encourage the network to trial 3 close votes for a close vote queue > 2000. 4 close votes for close vote queue > 1000, and 5 close votes <1000.
The same would need to apply to the reopen queue, as it could blow out if the close vote queue is rapidly sorted.
With all the accumulated feedback and the traction this question itself has, I wish I had a magic switch and could implement this.
It seems the network is working hard on trying to improve the UX and tackle question quality from this angle. However, in the meantime we are still battling with an unbeatable queue. Even with unlimited close votes and the mod power of one vote to close each question, the close queue is too hard for me. A couple of mods have discussed attacking it in a coordinated fashion, but that's really not a solution. It's a good way to exhaust people.
Please, please trial less close votes.
Yvette ColombYvette Colomb
I see the frustration here and totally understand it. I'm hoping that this post will encourage the network to trial 3 close votes for a close vote queue > 2000. 4 close votes for close vote queue > 1000, and 5 close votes <1000. I admire the enthusiasm but I don't think anything will happen or this will even get an acknowledgement – Magisch May 17 '19 at 17:00
That has been trialed in the past. softwareengineering.meta.stackexchange.com/q/7723/42934 . It only highlighted the fact that there are a lot of users inappropriately closing posts because of perceived problems instead of actual ones. What it did do was accelerate reopening. There is no problem caused by a post which only 30 people per year view, which is often automatically deleted. There is a problem when a pervasive view of what could be potentially problematic prevents the creation of content. 3 close votes would only amplify that issue. – Travis J May 30 '19 at 18:08
Whether that is on the community, is an issue of communication versus intent, or is reflective of an overall need to revisit close reasons (I think its this one); is another discussion entirely. – Travis J May 30 '19 at 18:08
The Boeing solution: reduce the number of controls when under pressure! – Reblochon Masque Jun 30 '19 at 13:58
This has now happened! – Zoe Aug 8 '19 at 18:48
A good deal of the people participating on this site are donating their time. This is true of people asking good questions, of people answering those questions, and of the people who go out of their way to moderate contents.
No one is entitled to this donation of time. Not the other users of the site, not SE, Inc.... no one.
The people who donate their time to the site usually are choosing to do this at the expense of something else. When someone decides to donate time here, that time is not available for donating somewhere else. So why donate here, by opposition to donating somewhere else? Stack Overflow is competing for the bucket of time people can donate away. If the people using the site end up frustrated, they're going to donate elsewhere.
That's what happened with me. There are so many things I can do other than endure the endless frustration of going into the moderation queues that I've decided my time would be better spent elsewhere.
Some reply with an appeal to self-interest:
But if you don't take out the crap, you're going to run into more crap. That's self-defeating!
Hmm... no. Before I gave up formal moderation I would, multiple times a day, check new questions in the niche tags I care about and vote, vote-to-close, vote-to-reopen, flag, or answer the posts I ran into. I would also go into the review queues to deal with the crap. If I saw strange voting patterns or cases of plagiarism, I took the time to gather the evidence and raise a flag. I also participated in the SOCVR. If you think you run into crap in the queues, participate in the SOCVR. You'll be exposed to more crap there.
When I gave up formal moderation, I also gave up my former routine. My former routine has been replaced with subscriptions to some bounty feeds. It does wonders to improve the signal to noise ratio. It is rare that bad questions end up with a bounty (though some do, and I flag them), and those questions that get a bounty often are more interesting than the rest of the lot (not always, but often). The net result is that I see much less crap now.
Another objection:
But if people stop moderating, it will mean more work for the people still moderating.
Yeah, and if I do moderate SO instead of donating my time elsewhere, then the people who benefit from my time elsewhere will suffer. Why should I prioritize SO over those other areas where I can donate time?
All else being equal, I'm going to donate time to an activity in which I feel I'm making a difference, and in which I feel the least amount of frustration. Ultimately, spending time formally moderating on SO is just not competitive compared to the other opportunities where I can donate my time.
halfer
LouisLouis
I totally agree that answering interesting questions for example is much more fun than reviewing not very interesting questions. However to spell out the consequence of this answer: reviews are doomed and we will have to live with unreviewed crap. This basically shifts the problem to how to find the interesting questions between all the crappy ones? If that is not possible, stackoverflow might die at some point. – Trilarion May 19 '19 at 6:55
@Trilarion You could consider the site "dead" at that point in time at which the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) becomes too low for you to use the site. I definitely think as we speak the SNR is on a downward trajectory. The lack of improvement in moderation mechanisms brings "the death of SO" closer to the present. However, there could be improvements elsewhere (e.g. substantially better search) that have a strong enough effect to counter the current neglect. Though I'm skeptical that better search alone is enough. Crap posts that manage to avoid auto-deletion have an ongoing maintenance cost. – Louis May 19 '19 at 17:59
On one hand, I applaud the rallying cry. I sincerely hope your strike works where everything else has failed.
On the other hand, experience has made me cynical. Investment in curation tools has not scaled with site growth, despite constant pleas over the years. So, my gut tells me that your strike, at best, may rally a few participants, garner some moderator support, and potentially inspire Shog or Jon to broach the subject during some meeting. That's where it will die.
The only people who care are the people who already sympathize; they're in the trenches with you. They don't call the shots. They don't have the power to tell development, "Fix this." Your effort isn't important to the people who actually have that power. Those people have built an empire on the labor and expertise of users they take for granted.
Look, we've all had the mistaken impression, at one point or another, that our individual participation is important to SE. It's not. So, stop working for free with frustrating tools. Don't strike; just stop. Use the site, or not, on your own terms.
I know you've invested a lot of time and effort but sometimes you have to let bad investments go.
canoncanon
I did just what you are suggesting. After almost 10 years of contributions. I had them reset my account last year to 0 from 40+K completely divested now. It became unignorable how we were not just unappreciated, but held in contempt by the "powers that be". Just having popcorn and watching what I predicted actually happening, like a train wreck in slow motion. I lost nothing and I gained everything. – user10677470 May 18 '19 at 2:50
"Investment in curation tools has not scaled with site growth at all." -- that's nothing abnormal and thus nothing to get jaded about. A solution to a problem can only be started being thought of after that problem arises, not before. Who knows how much time will pass and how many ideas fall through before someone finally comes up with a real solution. – ivan_pozdeev May 18 '19 at 11:35
@JarrodRoberson I don't see what you "gained" other than emptiness. – ivan_pozdeev May 18 '19 at 11:35
@canon I just figured I'd mention that for like 5 years SE just ignored the site, and while I didn't love it, I could deal with it. The problem is in the past few years they've been actively harming the site's mission, and doing things that make it harder, rather than just spending all their time making new products that I can safely ignore. – Servy Jun 21 '19 at 19:24
I think the call to action is implicitly clear, stop voting; period.
Stop reviewing organically as well.
Stop close voting.
Stop down voting.
Stop voting period.
Just to reinforce a sentiment in a comment on the main question, "I see much less garbage with < 150 rep than I did when I had 40+K rep."
If you do not think that a large percentage of the community moderators just taking a week or two off doing any moderation at all will not get some attention and maybe some appreciation and less likely action you are just fooling yourself.
SOCVR was a direct response to organic reviews and the review queues failing to be effective because of lack of participation by those with the rep to actually take action. When it first started up and I discovered it, I was excited to see there were people just a interested in keeping the site clean as possible.
I wanted to protect the reputation I had gained on the site because I foolishly believed it was valuable. When I realized that rep indicated nothing at best or at worst just the opposite, is when I stopped doing things that gained it, basically I stopped answering questions. I just moderated the limited amount I could by cleaning up the most obvious trash. When it was clear that we were just held in contempt for being free janitors for the owners of the site, I just quit completely. After about 6 months, when it was obvious, they were just doubling down on the attitude that the OG users were the reason the site was un-welcoming. I just had them delete my original account, just like I had them remove my name from all my contributions to Documentation when I saw what I had contributed edited into completely incorrect garbage with my name still on it.
I lurk in SOCVR every once in a while now, when I have a couple minutes to waste and it is a wasteland compared to just a year ago, I only recognize a couple names now, and where there were almost two dozen people in there at any given time I normally participated, there is only a handful during the same times of the day now.
Unfortunately, the room was too good at its stated purpose. It does concentrate those people with rep and that care about keeping the site clean to focus their limited votes on the most egregious and actionable crap on the site. But it exposes in the harshest terms what a waste of time it ultimately is over a very short amount of time.
Anyone that participates in the room for more than a trivial amount of time will just get burned out completely because they see the futility of the Sisyphean task that is Close Voting. Especially when someone with a gold hammer can un-hammer and re-open things that should stay closed just because they have a belief that nothing should be closed, that took 5X as many people to close and 5X as many people to re-close; that was the straw that broke my back.
I figure two weeks of 40% of the people with rep to close vote just not doing it will overwhelm the main page with so much crap content it would be almost impossible to recover from it for months.
A full month of the people currently bearing the load moderating the site going on strike would most likely doom it completely from the overload of garbage that it would probably not be able to recover from.
user10677470user10677470
I must admit my enthusiasm for the site has waned. I also spent time in the socvr and shared the same initial excitement for hope and then realised it was impossible. I'm so frustrated. Begging, asking, threatening, it doesn't seem to matter what we do as a community it is a low priority. Fixing the UX to assist in preventing low quality posts will never stop the problem, no UI is fool proof and that's more or less what we're dealing with. I get energy, make a push, send off emails and nothing changes. What's doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? – Yvette Colomb May 18 '19 at 11:10
SOCVR does feel like an exercise in futility, sometimes. It's part of why I don't frequent anymore, I just get reminded that the stream of trash is neverending. – Magisch May 18 '19 at 11:20
The only solution to the "neverending stream of trash" is an arms race. Tools to fight it ever more efficiently. (I mean "tools" in the broad sense. E.g. "making right things easy, making wrong things hard" is just as good a tool.) – ivan_pozdeev May 18 '19 at 12:03
@Magisch - neverending and increasing. Entropy will completely overwhelm the site eventually if they do not do something drastic and immediately. I predicted that Documentation would be a flop for exactly the reason it failed and the main site is headed in the same direction for the exact same reason quality is no longer part of the Charter. Just a slower pace the last few years since the quality requirement was removed from the charter of the site. Since that has no longer been the goal of the site, the entropy has been increasing each year more and more. – user10677470 May 18 '19 at 20:53
SOCVR was never meant as "an solution". That some / most users want to see it that way is fine with me. From our site The SO Close Vote Review Chat Room is a group of like-minded people who want to make a difference in the CV queue, reviewing and clean-up efforts. It is on purpose that it didn't define any clearer what that difference exactly would mean and I'm not planning on making it any more exact. The room is meant to meet-up with other reviewers, learn a bit about moderation, share experiences, have some fun. That is all there is in it, really. – rene May 19 '19 at 16:29
@rene - you are the only person to use the words "an solution" on the page so not sure where you are "quoting" that from. I said, "SOCVR was a direct response to organic reviews and the review queues failing to be effective because of lack of participation by those with the rep to actually take action." which is not inaccurate. Nobody but you claims anywhere on the page that it was "an solution" that I an see. – user10677470 May 19 '19 at 19:38
@JarrodRoberson SOCVR was not "a direct response" (I air-quoted "an solution" to make that connection) as you describe. I would appreciate if you stop portraying SOCVR as something it never was, had been or will be (assuming I have enough life left to prevent non-sense from happening). – rene May 19 '19 at 19:50
"The SO Close Vote Review Chat Room is a group of like-minded people who want to make a difference in the CV queue, reviewing and clean-up efforts." sounds like a response to the failure of the CV queue and organic reviews ineffectiveness because people were not reviewing directed at making those that were voting at making a more of a difference. But whatever, SOCVR was like drinking from a firehose at the height of participation with a dozen or more of us of use burning all our CV every day. Now, it is even more futile with the less than a handful of people I see when I visit. – user10677470 May 20 '19 at 1:28
@rene - I only mentioned SOCVR because it most likely what the most effective tool possible would look like and it is ineffective in the long run. If it is ineffective then the problem is not solvable given the current structure of the site. The fact that those that can and do CV get crapped on constantly because CV are not anonymous. Good Luck, but the participation, or lack thereof, in your room should be a wake up call to the powers that be. It is a good coal mine canary indicator for engagement in the rest of the site for sure. – user10677470 May 20 '19 at 1:43
Organizing is an entirely separate need, I think, @JarrodRoberson. Even if there were 1000 people maxing out their reviews every day and closing things organically (and a feature-rich review queue), there would still be folks who would want to organize. After all, we are a bunch of programmers, whose shared curse is that we always look at a situation and ask "how can we improve on this". Sorry to hear you are burnt out, but luckily I think there are plenty of us still there who are not and are willing to continue contributing curation in the face of things like OP's tantrum. – TylerH May 20 '19 at 1:45
@TylerH - Using the word (tantrum) is just an ad hominem attack on the OP because you do not like their opinion. It is unkind at best and in my opinion passive aggressive abusive. But way to make your point and get them/us back on your side. Good Luck with that! – user10677470 May 20 '19 at 1:55
@JarrodRoberson I don't understand this answer; was the praise of volunteer reviewers in this blog post not enough for you? – Robert Grant May 20 '19 at 8:51
@RobertGrant I don't understand your comment, does it mean that if they post a blog article once a year / month with words like "hats off to volunteer moderators, we need to do more to help them" and don't do anything else, that should keep community happy? – gnat May 20 '19 at 11:27
@JarrodRoberson ad hominem is an attack on someone's person. Calling the post above a tantrum is a criticism of form and behavior. The two are different, and criticism is not inherently abusive. Have a nice day. – TylerH May 20 '19 at 15:19
It's going to take a long time of no/little new quality content added to the site for the site to actually die. Even if the site went into read only mode today and stopped allowing new contributions, the site would be a major player in it's niche for years before it lacked enough important information or updates to not be a reliable source. – Servy May 20 '19 at 15:27
If nobody voted to close anymore, would SE care? Recall that in his infamous blog post about SO being "unwelcoming", Jaydles said that downvoting lazy duplicate questions makes him "sad". Presumably he was not alone in considering curation to be a problem rather than an asset. If so, going on strike would be seen as improving things; it would be a worthless threat (although perhaps still worthwhile for your own peace of mind).
RaedwaldRaedwald
I think one of the goals of expressing to SE our frustration with moderation activities is to make (a perhaps futile) attempt at getting a better reading on the degree to which SE cares about curation. When I read the level of care from SE regarding curation with my Care-O-Meter, it shows a needle pointing more towards "don't care" than "care". – Louis May 22 '19 at 13:55
from perspective of that blog post there is nothing to improve because at stats showing 94% reviews wasted they can consider mission already accomplished. Those joining the strike will simply spare themselves from wasting time on useless activity – gnat May 22 '19 at 14:28
He didn't say "downvoting lazy duplicate questions makes him "sad"." You added the word "lazy" in there. Just saying. – Alex Harvey May 23 '19 at 13:44
@AlexHarvey He said that downvoting duplicates makes him sad, without qualification. That means, downvoting for any reason makes him sad. Including lazy questions. – Raedwald May 23 '19 at 14:56
@Raedwald, in context, he wrote: "It makes me sad when someone gets downvoted for posting a duplicate. We should better surface them in the posting flow, but it’s not reasonable to expect askers to find dupes consistently. Users aren’t “too lazy” to search; searching takes less work than posting." So, actually, he has said that he doesn't believe that duplicates are, in general, lazy. What you have attributed to him is quite inconsistent with what he actually said. – Alex Harvey May 23 '19 at 15:57
It seems to me that if you find the review system frustrating to the point where you don't enjoy doing reviews, you should stop doing reviews. As Cody Gray points out:
The frustration is understandable, but the act of protest will not have meaningful consequences. You aren’t donating your time reviewing to the team that runs Stack Overflow. You’re donating it to the community of people who use Stack Overflow, to ask and answer questions. The people who started using it and want to keep using it because it avoids their having to waste time slogging through piles of crap. Refusing to review will just mean more crap for you, and I, and everyone else. It won’t make the review queues get fixed. Fewer reviewers means either more work for fewer, or more crap.
Mechanically, review queues are a system designed to spread the load of curation. A lot of that curation happens organically anyway, but review is designed to bring to light posts that might have gone unnoticed. Without review, those posts will likely continue to go unnoticed and deleted after a year.
Unfortunately, our development efforts are pointed elsewhere at the moment. Between custom question lists, the Ask Question Wizard and a duplicate questions display experiment, we're looking at shaving some questions off the top of the funnel and making it easier for answerers to find the questions they want to address. (There are ways to use the custom question list feature to assist in curation as well.) There is more work to be done on these projects so that they accomplish those goals.
Now there are a few existing site settings community managers could use to change the way the review system works. (I've had, um, adventures playing with these settings.) Whether or not twiddling thresholds will help make the queue more enjoyable to use is hard to know. The one setting I do know can help is to lower the review indicator threshold for the close queue. It's currently set at 10k and the review queue is at 8.6k. If we lowered the threshold to something closer to that number, the review queue indicator will light up more often. That will bring more reviewers into the queue, which lightens the load.
After writing the above answer and before posting, I was in a meeting with Meg, our PM. I mentioned this question and Shog reminded us of a setting that we tested a few years ago. It personalized reviews so that people would be more likely to see posts in tags they had interest in. Unfortunately, that setting broke the site. Our Architecture team has more pressing issues right at the moment, but when things settle down, Meg would like to look revisit it. We also talked about a few other ideas around review since people feeling miserable on the site is a thing we want to avoid.
Jon Ericson♦Jon Ericson
"If fewer people use the review system, it means more of the load is on people viewing posts organically" - The problem with this argument is that it's more about making those refusing to review feel guilty, without actually doing anything to resolve the issue. In a workplace, that's a pretty decent sign of bad management. There was a discussion about this in the Tavern starting here. – fbueckert May 17 '19 at 22:12
@fbueckert: I suppose making the review queue indicator light up would make people who don't review feel guilty, but I'm not sure why you quoted the bit about people viewing the posts organically. In any case, I'd much rather people not review than feel miserable about review. Personally, I think the work we are doing on the front end of the bad question funnel is more pressing than work on the back end of it. – Jon Ericson♦ May 17 '19 at 22:16
I wonder what would happen if everyone just stopped reviewing... not with an agenda or anything. I just wonder if it would really be all that bad if everyone just stopped. – canon May 17 '19 at 22:22
@canon: I also wonder that. I suspect many questions get more views in the process of being reviewed than from people stumbling across them or via search. (I suppose I could get some data to back up that guess. Maybe next week.) If a bad question is asked and nobody sees it does it matter? – Jon Ericson♦ May 17 '19 at 22:25
If a bad question falls on the site and nobody hears it, does it still make a sound? – Yvette Colomb May 18 '19 at 1:37
I think some back end work would alleviate some issues while the site is working on the front end work. Not sure how difficult some of these ideas would be to implement, but they would take up less time than all the front end work. I honestly wish you'd throw the community a bone. – Yvette Colomb May 18 '19 at 1:39
@canon - lots of high rep people have just stopped reviewing for all practical intents and purposes, a long time ago, it is futile and more importantly unappreciated. I had my account reset from 40+K to 0 specifically so I would be unable to do anything on the site. I accidently got some rep that I am trying to shed right now so I can do even less, like not even being able to leave comments would keep me from wasting the little time I do spend watching the car crash in slow motion that SO is now. – user10677470 May 18 '19 at 2:27
@JonEricson If a bad question is asked and nobody sees it does it matter? It matters to the poster, I guess. If you think getting your question closed upsets people, what do you think happens when they start seeing nothing, like you would on a shadowban? That will drive people away more then getting questions closed, imo. – Magisch May 20 '19 at 8:18
Jon, spreading the load was the original intent of review but I am not sure that it holds now. Stats in another answer suggest that up to 94% reviews end in nothing - that sounds more like a wasted effort to me – gnat May 20 '19 at 8:25
"I wonder what would happen if everyone just stopped reviewing... not with an agenda or anything. I just wonder if it would really be all that bad if everyone just stopped." The easiest way to see what that would end up like is simply looking at other similar Q/A sites that don't have the same quality standards and moderation tools that SO has. If SO's standards aren't enforced, and their tools aren't utilized, it will continue to look more an more like its competitors, the traditional forums. – Servy May 20 '19 at 15:18
@Servy Are reviews what's keeping us from becoming a forum? What about the Q&A format itself? Organic curation/voting? Are the queues really what protects us from the void? – canon May 20 '19 at 16:06
@Louis: It won't help the underlying problem of questions needing to be closed, but it will prevent people from being pulled into Sisyphean work. Perhaps it's time to rethink closing. – Jon Ericson♦ May 20 '19 at 20:30
@JonEricson Because not closing anything and thus letting crap live on the site is going to make things better? – Louis May 20 '19 at 20:49
@Louis If 94% of CV tasks are expiring without closing the question, then removing the queue would be pretty similar to the status-quo, minus wasting a bunch of reviewers' time. – Troyen May 20 '19 at 21:14
I know this seems heavily downvoted, but I for one am happy to hear this outlook. Addressing content quality where it is produced, and allowing users easier paths to connecting with quality content will only benefit the site. The main issue with closure was to make sure users didn't waste time answering a question which was not topical, it makes absolutely no sense to spend development time making better mops when we can just prevent leaks. – Travis J May 30 '19 at 17:56
Voting is a democratic process. Giving some people more votes than others is not very democratic.
There are questions that should obviously remain open, should obviously be closed, and then there's a large grey area. Some people talk about "quality" like some sort of measurable objective thing but it's not (or at least not completely). There's a decent amount of judgement involved.
Voting on Stack Overflow is already a skewed democracy; I don't think that the people who are very active in the review queues are representative of the community at large, and instead of some form of consensus system (e.g. majority vote), it's an absolute system: 5 people out of the total community have to agree. Imagine parliament working like that: find 200 people who find a law a good idea and it's passed. Find 12 people who think someone's guilty and off to prison they go!
Many people feel questions are closed too quickly. I suspect that your suggestion would make this worse. There are trade-offs to be made.
The team is also working on reducing the inflow of bad questions with the question wizard and such, which is essentially a different approach to solve the same problem (too many questions that need closing). That doesn't mean I don't think there can be improvements to the review system, but there's more ways to skin a cat and "I will strike until this specific suggestion gets implemented" doesn't strike me as a constructive way to have a conversation about it. Quite frankly, it looks like a tantrum.
A bit of an aside on improvements to Stack Overflow in general: like many people I have a lot of ideas how Stack Overflow could potentially be improved, but I don't know they will actually make things better; I just think they are based on my experience, which is incomplete and biased. I can't rule out unexpected effects.
Much can be said about Stack Overflow and how it works, but people sometimes seem to forget that in the end, it really is a spectacular success. Even small changes can have unexpected effects down the line that may not be obvious. I think a healthy dose of conservatism is appropriate.
Martin TournoijMartin Tournoij
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy is grounds for giving more voting power to some who have proven themselves – ivan_pozdeev May 18 '19 at 11:09
If you're trying to suggest that people with more rep have more "merit" to close questions, then that is completely besides the point @ivan_pozdeev, and isn't really a reply to anything I've said in my answer (dumping a link is probably not the best way to have a constructive conversation). – Martin Tournoij May 18 '19 at 11:17
to call it a tantrum is unfair. People are tired and burnt out. It's a sign of how desperate people are that the question is upvoted and gaining attention. Aside from this I like many of your points. Although I think the question wizard will only fix so much – Yvette Colomb May 18 '19 at 11:17
I don't know what to think of the question wizard as such @YvetteColomb, I haven't looked at it closely. It's unlikely a panacea, but it does show that action is being taken. As for tantrum, perhaps my chief issue with the post (and the way it's written) is that it's completely ignoring there are many people who disagree with how many questions are closed in the first place and is attempting to force the SE team's hand by "striking". I don't think this will be effective at all, but I find this kind of attitude to be ... not great. – Martin Tournoij May 18 '19 at 11:24
I edited my last comment. On your other statements, the review system is designed to produce a concensus. This is a different (and evidently more progressive) decision-making process than a majority vote. Wikipedia is built upon it and it's there where it proved its merit. – ivan_pozdeev May 18 '19 at 11:55
This isn't a democracy @MartinTournoij. Nobody says it is, the sites guidelines do not imply it is, the way it's moderated do not imply it is. As for the people who dislike seeing questions being closed, they sure as hell don't care about the other side's viewpoint, so why should others do? – Félix Gagnon-Grenier May 18 '19 at 12:04
the review system is designed to produce a concensus Yes, exactly @ivan_pozdeev, but if you empower a (small) group with strong opinions then you'll get further removed from consensus, especially since people who feel a question should remain opened can't do anything about it other than not casting a close vote. In cases of dispute, it's already the close-vote side who will have the upper hand. – Martin Tournoij May 18 '19 at 12:18
I never claimed Stack Overflow as a whole is democratic @FélixGagnon-Grenier, I said that voting is and that there is an element of judgement involved. Applying the law also isn't democratic (you either broke it or you didn't), yet there are judges and jurors and all that to determine if someone broke the law. – Martin Tournoij May 18 '19 at 12:19
I do agree about the overall spectacular success and small changes having possible unexpected effects, which is why requests from user base are evaluated by the folks that make the site first (: – Félix Gagnon-Grenier May 18 '19 at 12:20
"if you empower a (small) group with strong opinions then you'll get further removed from consensus" -- not if that group is more likely to produce concensual decisions than the general public. – ivan_pozdeev May 18 '19 at 12:22
Wikipedia is built upon it and it's there where it proved its merit Wikipedia is an interesting example @ivan_pozdeev, and I would argue it's very very far removed from a meritocracy. Instead, it's an "activeocracy": whoever is the most active wins. I can be 100% correct but if I don't feel like battling that one toxic Wikipedia editor then my changes are not going to stick. I'm not saying Wikipedia is all bad (like SO, it's hard to argue with its success), but IMHO it does have serious problems. I stopped contributing a long time ago as it was 25% writing articles and 75% bikesheds. – Martin Tournoij May 18 '19 at 12:23
Ok, maybe I misunderstand the spirit of your answer @Martin, but the statement "Voting is a democratic process. Giving some people more votes than others is not very democratic." (emphasis mine) clearly imply (to me) that you believe it should be a more democratic process, wherever you place the boundaries of that democratic endeavour. It should not. – Félix Gagnon-Grenier May 18 '19 at 12:24
Yes, but I don't think they will @ivan_pozdeev, as I mentioned the entire system is already very biased towards closing questions rather than keeping them open, and it's already hard to prevent a question from getting closed. This will only make that worse. Half the questions I see in the close vote review queue should IMHO very obviously remain open. The reason I'm tired of reviewing is because of that. – Martin Tournoij May 18 '19 at 12:26
@MartinTournoij The bias is intentional, to close borderline cases as substandard, on the assumption that there's enough influx of new questions to eventually get a better version of a closed one if it really is worth keeping around. – ivan_pozdeev May 18 '19 at 13:42
"if you empower a (small) group with strong opinions then you'll get further removed from consensus" this is a ridiculous logical fallacy. You get a concensus of those that are able to vote. Claiming it is not a consensus because there are those that are not allowed to vote because they have not earned the right to vote is illogical. It requires a consensus of how every many people that have earned the right to vote, plain and simple. If you want a consensus of the every question is sacred crowd, enjoy the same results as you get in the link. – user10677470 May 19 '19 at 19:49
It is surprising that so many people are spending their volunteer hours manually reviewing close vote queues, reopen vote queues, and down votes, when the whole thing could be automated.
Simple, just:
Remove the close, and down vote features completely.
Use machine learning to identify low value questions based on views per week, upvotes and stars. And perhaps other metrics. I'm sure SO has some great data scientists.
Auto close questions that are of low value.
Allow closed questions to be challenged if someone notices and cares and disagrees with the bots.
A simple system that is designed for the year 2019, that would be fairer, completely remove the maintenance burden from senior developers who should be writing code, not wasting their time doing menial work. It would be fairer, and there would be little, if anything, to argue about.
SO's unwelcoming culture problem would be solved at the same time.
Alex HarveyAlex Harvey
"Use machine learning to identify low value questions based on views per week, upvotes and stars." -- most questions get too little human feedback to reliably judge their value. E.g. average question score is getting ever closer to zero. – ivan_pozdeev May 23 '19 at 9:56
Auto close questions that are of low value. huh? A warning must be enough. – double-beep May 23 '19 at 10:28
this reminds the way how Quora tries to curate its content. Given that quora turns out almost completely useless when I search for solutions to my coding problems (as opposed to SO) I would rather prefer that we keep the old way here... at least until I notice quora getting any better in helping my coding – gnat May 23 '19 at 10:44
@ivan_pozdeev, to your points: 1/ most questions and content really is of low value, and if rules were being enforced equally and consistently, then most questions would be closed. 2/ aside from that, the new system would change voting behaviour. If users lost the ability to downvote, they would probably become nicer, and they would upvote more, understanding that no vote = an opinion that the question is of low quality. – Alex Harvey May 23 '19 at 10:50
@gnat, Quora's quality is low because everyone wants to ask and answer over here at SO. – Alex Harvey May 23 '19 at 10:51
In general, obviously, the data is there. Every post could be measured for, the number of answers; the number of interactions; the number of views; its ranking on Google; the number of stars; the number of comments; the quality of the writing; and no doubt much more. Obviously, it could be done. – Alex Harvey May 23 '19 at 10:54
As can be seen, @Jeremy, the baseline to compare the proposed system with is the real one. Not the idealised one that doesn't exist, never has existed, and never will exist. The real one. Where the resources required to make it work are about 1% of what we actually have, Where people are going on strike because there's just not enough people to even manage the close vote queues. Imagine if all questions that should be closed were also flagged. Google's ranking algorithms already do just fine, and that's actually all we need. – Alex Harvey May 23 '19 at 12:29
We could close a lot of bad questions ("flip a coin" is a heuristic that would achieve > 50% accuracy), but I fear this is a situation where the ratio of good:bad content is so skewed that it would be very hard to obtain a sufficiently low false-positive rate to avoid closing a large fraction of good questions as well. (There's probably a technical term for that.) – ABANDON STACK -- Jeremy Banks May 23 '19 at 12:40
This again? Your continuing narrative of curation being unwelcoming is getting rather tiring. If you want to make a point, it'd help if it didn't all hit the same old agenda. – fbueckert May 23 '19 at 15:01
If you think it's so easy to write an automated system to determine question quality, why don't you? If you're able to accurately determine whether a question is clear, well researched, on topic, reproducible, useful to others, etc. entirely automatically, then great. I can't imagine it's possible, but by all means, prove me wrong. If you succeed in doing that I'm sure you'll have no problem selling your solution for many millions of dollars. You sure would put me, and other users who've invested a lot of time into manual curation, into our place. – Servy May 23 '19 at 16:02
As I said above, @Servy, the baseline is the real system, not an idealised system that doesn't exist, has never existed, and never will exist. The real system is dysfunctional. It motivates the majority of users by rep to pay lip service to the rules while answering questions for rep, and a persistent minority meanwhile enforces the rules, each according to their own opinions about them. The end result is that most questions that do stay open are not "clear, well researched, reproducible, useful to others"- that bar is way too high to clear. A different, automated system could do better. – Alex Harvey May 23 '19 at 17:01
@AlexHarvey So then let's see you write such a system. I'm skeptical, but by all means, prove me wrong. Just saying that it can be done doesn't really mean anything. No one has been able to manage to do it thus far. If you can provide one that's better than the current system, even if it's not the perfect ideal system, then you're right, that'd still be great. So do you have an implementation of such a system? – Servy May 23 '19 at 17:05
@AlexHarvey Sure, people try automating moderation tools on SO all the time. The problem is that they generally have an extremely low accuracy, generally much lower than people. Certain particularly easy to notice problems are somewhat easier to automate, and as such, have been. What you see on the site now (as bad as it is) is everything that's able to get past the (numerous, but mostly narrow) automated roadblocks. Criticizing the system when you are failing to provide a better alternative is obviously going to be shut down. If/when you can come up with something better... – Servy May 24 '19 at 13:21
-1 for I'm sure SO has some great data scientists.. Is this sarcasm? Does not seem to be based on your comments. If not cite some evidence, because it appears completely the opposite, they have none and just make decisions on feelings because "we know this because you have told us". – user10677470 May 30 '19 at 18:41
@Alex Harvey: I think (I could be wrong) that the triage system uses such a system to rate question quality. From Help us test question triage!: "Behind the scenes, a "quality score" is calculated for each question based on an automated analysis of the content. Those that score well are sent immediately to the homepage; those that score poorly will now be sent to Triage." – Peter Mortensen Jul 12 '19 at 10:35
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged discussion review vote-to-close vote-to-reopen psa .
Why is Stack Overflow so negative of late?
Question quality is dropping on Stack Overflow
The Ask Question Wizard is Live!
Are high-reputation users answering fewer questions?
Experiment (ENDED): closing and reopening happens at 3 votes for the next 30 days
The Stack Overflow I wish to build and participate in is no longer supported
Threshold experiment results: closing, editing and reopening all become more effective
What does our long term community need? What does our long term community need to feel valued?
Help us test question triage!
Why do you stay?
We need more close votes!
Review queues: “I don't agree - could you please check that again”-Button
What option should I choose when reviewing a question that the OP has not returned to?
Can SO publicise a “Bombing Run” on the Close Votes Queue?
Review audit failed: “mark as duplicate” is inappropriate, even though it *is* a verbatim duplicate question
Encourage users to review posts
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History and Mythology
WTF! Facts
Who Is Dr. ‘Bomb’ Jalees Ansari? How Did He Go Missing? Here Are The Details
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These Bengaluru friends are doing something which was much needed in the City
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10 Jan Growth Trend: Ecommerce – It’s (Amazon) Prime Time
Posted at 13:49h in Growth Insights by Jonathan Spensley
E-commerce is redefining the way consumers and businesses interact for the purchase and sale of goods. Through significant improvements in the speed and reliability of delivery, e-commerce as a channel has inflected positively, driving accelerated sales and positive network effects for the biggest players, while the smaller players who can’t compete on fulfillment or through omni channels will lose market share.
The growth in e-commerce will benefit not only the leading e-commerce platforms but also the online payment providers who facilitate the transactions, as well as the logistics companies that provide transportation and delivery services. Companies like Apple and Nike that have successfully developed true omni channel offerings will be insulated from the shift in sales from offline to online.
However, there will be numerous losers, particularly traditional retailers that have failed to invest and compete with companies like Amazon on rapid e-commerce fulfilment. The below illustration shows how we think about the ramifications of growth in e-commerce as an Area of Interest (AoI).
The Fulfilment Arms Race
Increasingly, we see e-commerce players differentiating themselves by fulfilment; whereby the speed, cost, reliability of delivery and the ease of return is gaining importance over price.
In this fulfilment ‘arms race’, Amazon has a huge lead, investing heavily in its core geographies of the US, Europe and India. This has allowed Amazon to develop its subscription based Prime offering which provides guaranteed free delivery within 48 hours. This fulfilment guarantee is a clear competitive advantage versus its peers which drives increased adoption, increased sales and strong network effects, allowing Amazon to take share in a growing market.
The illustration below shows the degree to which Amazon has invested in its logistics in its core geographies. Using the US as an example, Amazon has now built a US$1 billion fulfilment centres within 20 miles of 65% of households (that have annual income above US$50k).
The Prime Reason
Amazon’s differentiated logistic infrastructure allows them to deliver the guaranteed free delivery window of 48 hours, which in turn drives sales and repeat purchases.
We estimate that Amazon now has 49 million Prime members in the US alone, having signed up 15 million members last year.
This is vitally important as Prime members, attracted by the ease of the service, spend on average 4.5x as much on Amazon a year versus non-Prime members. Furthermore, once a Prime member has been on the service for more than seven years they spend on average up to 10x as much versus a non-Prime member, making it the destination of choice for the majority of their discretionary spending. Such is Amazon’s dominance of the trend, we now see e-commerce sales growing 12% per annum in the US and Amazon is still growing its share of e-commerce sales, driving the category to the point where today one in three e-commerce purchases in the US is now done on Amazon.
Despite this dominance, Amazon is not standing still and continues to innovate, with its Prime Now service delivering goods to 27 US metro areas, within 1-2 hours. Convenience at this scale will only continue to widen the gap between Amazon and traditional retailers, and as such we expect them to continue to take share in the E-Commerce vertical.
Win the Consumer
The key message is that Amazon’s goal in retail is to win the consumer, through unrivalled fulfilment and positive consumer experience.
Traditional retailers in Amazon Prime’s markets need to adapt or die. As such, we would expect traditional retailers to sacrifice margins and invest heavily in their own e-commerce offerings over the coming years, favouring incumbent logistics companies like Fedex and UPS.
Conversely, traditional single brand retailers with store and mall offerings, like Ralph Lauran for example, need to look at the likes of Apple and Zara and evolve into true Omni Channel offerings that can nurture their brand and its value via reduced physical presence and better loyalty offerings.
Finally, those retailers in markets not yet exposed to Amazon Prime, will need to prepare in advance before it arrives, building loyalty schemes and online offerings now, rather than waiting like their peers in the US have, where it’s often too late.
The Munro Global Growth Fund holds core long positions in Amazon, Fedex and US payments processor Vantiv. The Fund is short various legacy retailers in the UK and Europe.
At Munro Partners, through the Munro Global Growth Fund, (www.munropartners.com.au/access/), we identify sustainable growth trends that are under appreciated and mispriced by the market, and the resulting winning and losing stocks.
Disclaimer: Munro Asset Management Limited (ABN 28 163 522 254, AFSL 480509) is the product issuer of the Munro Global Growth Fund (ARSN 612 854 547), which is available at www.munropartners.com.au/access/. Munro Partners is the investment manager. The information contained in this article is for general information purposes only and does not constitute financial product advice. This article may contain information about securities, opinions and forecasts, all of which may change without notice and none of which has been prepared taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. You should consider your individual circumstances before making a decision about any of the information discussed in this article and Munro disclaims all liability to any person relying on the information contained in this communication. You should consider the product disclosure statement before making a decision to acquire or continue to hold an interest in the Munro Global Growth Fund. Please also see our financial services guide, privacy and terms of use via www.munropartners.com.au/legals/
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How a war started Daylight Saving Time
by Clare Sebastian @clarecnn November 10, 2014: 2:46 PM ET
Making sense of Daylight Saving
If not for World War I, Daylight Saving Time may have never become a reality.
It all began in 1907, when an English home builder named William Willett calculated that 210 hours of daylight were wasted every summer as the sun would rise before people were awake.
His idea: The clocks should be moved forward in 20 minute increments several times in April, and back again in September.
Willett wrote a passionate pamphlet called "The Waste of Daylight" and called the waste "a defect in our civilization."
England should "not to be so faint-hearted as to hesitate to make the effort when the cost is so trifling and the reward so great," he wrote.
But his idea fell on deaf ears for almost a decade.
Nine years later, it was the Germans, not British, who first put his idea into practice.
That was April 1916, and heavy artillery battles were raging at Verdun. The German government was looking for anything that might save fuel and money for the war effort, when they discovered Willetts' idea.
Related: Watches and other devices to make you a superhuman
Patriotic notices showing Greek-style gods moving clock hands while soldiers looked on appeared in newspapers to publicize the shift.
Britain quickly followed suit, and the United States brought in Daylight Saving in 1918.
It has become a way of life for many countries, though more modern inventions, like air conditioning have diluted its original intent. But about a century later, there's controversy: Some, like the researchers behind a 2008 study, contend it actually increases residential electricity demand.
CNNMoney (New York) First published November 10, 2014: 11:47 AM ET
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Subject: Why Warren Buffett is Loading Up on Tungsten
URL: http://mney.co/1d0AN2Z
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Are You Bullish or Bearish on Precious Metals?
Why Warren Buffett is Loading Up on Tungsten
By Don Miller, Contributing Writer, Money Morning - June 11, 2012
Warren Buffett is at it again.
Although he says he doesn't want to own gold, the world's most famous investor has taken a shine to what may be the most precious metal of the 21st century - tungsten.
Tungsten - element number 74 on the periodic table -- is a super-hard metal used in everything from armor-piercing tank shells to wedding rings.
And the world is running out of it - fast.
That spells opportunity for savvy investors like Warren Buffett.
And it explains why IMC International Metalworking, part of Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A, NYSE: BRK.B) empire, recently invested $80 million in a tungsten mining project in South Korea. The deal gives Buffett a 25% stake in what used to be the most productive tungsten mine on the planet. IMC has also guaranteed to buy 90%-100% of all the shiny metal from Woulfe Mining Corp.'s (TXSV: WOF) Sangdong Mine.
Sangdong is expected to produce half of the world's non-China tungsten and account for 7% to 10% of total global tungsten production when it reopens in 2013.
While the deal may come as a surprise to some, those in the know understand that Buffett just made another shrewd move to lock up supplies of a critical resource.
Tungsten - A Vital Part of Modern Life
Best known as the filament used in conventional light bulbs, tungsten is among the world's hardest materials.
Its ability to withstand extreme heat - the grey metal is corrosion and fire-proof -- makes tungsten irreplaceable in a wide range of applications, including circular electric saws, drill bits for oil and gas exploration, and rocket engine nozzles.
But tungsten is more than just an extremely hard metal. Indeed, modern life virtually revolves around it and, in most cases, there is no substitute.
Investors Play Precious Metals as Market Insurance Policy
By Kerri Shannon, Associate Editor, Money Morning - April 20, 2011
Investors have been flocking to precious metals to protect from looming inflation and a weak outlook for the U.S. dollar. The trend has turned investments related to gold, silver and other precious metals into some of the hottest plays of the past year.
The demand for "safe-haven" metals investments continues pushing prices to new highs:
Gold is up 7.5% so far this year after a 30% rise in 2010, and hit a record high of $1,476.21 an ounce Monday.
Silver has climbed about 40% this year, after an 83% surge in 2010, and hit a 31-year high this week.
And Platinum is up 1.4% this year following a 20% jump last year.
While gold was the popular topic of 2010, silver has been the star this year, getting more investor interest as a cheaper alternative to the yellow metal.
Silver Investing Strategies: The Outlook for the "Other" Precious Metal
By Guest Editorial, Money Morning - April 13, 2011
Silver rose as high as $41.98 an ounce this week - a 31-year high - and has remained above the $40-an-ounce level. That means that the "other" precious metal is up about 32% so far this year - and has more than doubled since Money Morning recommended it to readers in early September.
But where does it go from here? And how should investors position themselves? To answer those questions - and others - Money Morning brought its top "gurus" together for a roundtable discussion.
For this discussion, Money Morning Executive Editor William Patalon III and Associate Editor Kerri Shannon sat down with Money Morning Chief Investment Strategist Keith Fitz-Gerald, contributing editors Shah Gilani, Martin Hutchinson and Peter Krauth, and Contributing Writer Jack Barnes, the author of our popular weekly "Buy, Sell or Hold" feature.
The consensus: The long-term outlook for silver remains bullish, and a projected near-term pullback might even be healthy. But certain stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) will likely be winners, and certain metals dealers are more reputable than others.
What follows is a transcript of that silver investing strategies roundtable discussion:
For our forecast for silver prices - and our top profit plays - please read on...
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