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Queen Lane Campus Microcomputer Center
3 Parkway Building
1601 Cherry Street
11th Floor, Suite 11500
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6465b672ebc4b14a8d0a431a77253a03854552d7
knot-resolver
Normal viewHistoryPermalink
relicensed under GPLv3
4bab5dad
Marek Vavruša committed Dec 30, 2014
Version 3, 29 June 2007
autotools, stub files
Marek Vavruša committed Jul 31, 2014
move URLs from http to https where supported
b11d4d00
Daniel Kahn Gillmor committed Jul 16, 2016
Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. <https://fsf.org/>
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ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MODIFIES AND/OR CONVEYS
THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY
GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE
USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF
DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD
PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS),
EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGES.
17. Interpretation of Sections 15 and 16.
If the disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability provided
above cannot be given local legal effect according to their terms,
reviewing courts shall apply local law that most closely approximates
an absolute waiver of all civil liability in connection with the
Program, unless a warranty or assumption of liability accompanies a
copy of the Program in return for a fee.
How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.
To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest
to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively
state the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least
the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.
<one line to give the program's name and a brief idea of what it does.>
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
www.gnu.org prefers https
302117eb
along with this program. If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short
notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode:
<program> Copyright (C) <year> <name of author>
This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.
The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate
parts of the General Public License. Of course, your program's commands
might be different; for a GUI interface, you would use an "about box".
You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or school,
if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary.
For more information on this, and how to apply and follow the GNU GPL, see
<https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your program
into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you
may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with
the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General
Public License instead of this License. But first, please read
<https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-not-lgpl.html>.
In addition, as a special exception, the copyright holders give
permission to link the code of portions of this program with the
OpenSSL library under certain conditions as described in each
individual source file, and distribute linked combinations including
the two.
You must obey the GNU General Public License in all respects for all
of the code used other than OpenSSL. If you modify file(s) with this
exception, you may extend this exception to your version of the
file(s), but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do
so, delete this exception statement from your version. If you delete
this exception statement from all source files in the program, then
also delete it here.
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£30,000-£32,000 p.a. depending on experience
Arts & heritage, Dance, Events, Theatre, Marketing & PR, Communications, Digital marketing, Social media
New Adventures is an iconic and ground-breaking British dance-theatre company, famous for telling stories with a unique theatrical twist. For over 30 years Matthew Bourne and New Adventures have delighted, inspired and nurtured people of all ages and backgrounds: audiences, artists and the next generation. We create world class productions and engaging projects, reaching thousands worldwide every year.
New Adventures has received numerous international awards and an incredible 12 Olivier Award nominations, including 6 wins. New Adventures has created 12 full-length productions and a triple-bill of short works. This award-winning repertoire has inspired and thrilled millions of people worldwide. In 2019 the company premieres its 12th full-length production, Romeo and Juliet.
Investing in the future of dance and theatre, New Adventures engages in inclusive projects with thousands of people of all ages and ability, as well as emerging artists across the UK and around the world.
New Adventures is currently looking for a Communications Manager. This is a fixed term contract for 12 months.
Working closely with the Executive Director and the General Manager, the Communications Manager will support Matthew Bourne’s artistic vision by driving the communications and audience development activity. The Communications Manager is dedicated to finding the best ways to engage and develop audiences for New Adventures. The post holder will manage a comprehensive range of functions, working collaboratively with a wide range of partners locally, nationally and internationally to promote the work and unique profile of the organisation.
City of Westminster, London (Greater)
Circa £60,000 per annum, plus benefits
SINGLE HOMELESS PROJECT
£35,000 - £38,000, dependent on experience
NATIONAL YOUTH JAZZ ORCHESTRA
Arts & heritage Marketing & PR Experienced (non manager) jobs in Islington
Dance Marketing & PR Experienced (non manager) jobs in Islington
Theatre Marketing & PR Experienced (non manager) jobs in Islington
Marketing & PR Marketing & PR Experienced (non manager) jobs in Islington
Communications Marketing & PR Experienced (non manager) jobs in Islington
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“Accent on Youth,” by Zach Ferguson
Zach Ferguson, a junior at Battleground High School in Battleground, WA, was the winner of the 2007 Accent on Youth Essay Contest. His passion for jazz and the challenges he faces as
a youthful fan of it is the focus of the column.
This column was originally published on September 6, 2007
Listen to Dinah Washington sing Accent on Youth
The Versatility of Music
Photo by Lee Tanner
Fables of Faubus , by Charles Mingus
Plato once said, “Music is moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.” By stating this, Plato struck a common chord, so to speak.
In contemporary society, the benevolent effects of music are readily apparent. Music can act as an antidepressant, repairing your spirits in times of woe. It possesses the unexplainable ability to unite seemingly opposite people, transcending cultural, racial and socioeconomic divisions, appealing to our most complex emotions. In recently conducted studies, music has even proven to facilitate the education of mentally retarded children. Evidently, music’s potential applicability is mind-boggling. Though seeming innocent, music can even become a force for change.
It is common knowledge that the blues arose from the squalid conditions and bigoted mandates African-Americans were subjected to during our country’s evolution. In this instance, music would make uninterrupted slave labor somewhat endurable, and the concept of perpetual serfdom, for the moment, tolerable. This folk music also was employed to clandestinely share information as to how slaves might emancipate themselves; Exemplified by “The Drinking Gourd” slaves would learn, repeat and then teach others a song which covertly instructed them to follow the North Star to a location where they eventually would be escorted to the free north by Peg Leg Joe.
In the early 20th century, Abel Meeropol, a Jewish schoolteacher who practiced in the Bronx, penned the infamous “Strange Fruit ,” a song that was later espoused by Billie Holiday and performed regularly. It is a macabre, figurative depiction of lynching, a reprehensible spectacle prevalent in the pre-1970 Southern United States. This song shed a figurative light on the deplorable pandemic that was lynching, in a time when the government was reluctant to enact legislation to prohibit it. When the song was initially performed in 1938, a total of 12 people had been lynched that year. In the following years, fewer people were condemned to this horror. By 1965, lynching had practically disappeared.
The Civil Rights Movement was a turbulent period in American history, a period which exhibited unprecedented equalitarian progress. The contributions of jazz musicians were invaluable, with a particularly significant role played by Charles Mingus and his symbolic 1959 recording, “Fables of Faubus .” This song illustrated the 1957 integration of Little Rock Central High School, and the adamant opposition of Governor Orval Faubus to the 1954 Supreme Court decision. This decision, Brown v. Board of Education, mandated integration in American public schools. His song spread awareness of the injustices frequently committed in the South, even when the federal government had legislated against segregation.
Today, though, music seems to assume the environmental niche of mere entertainment. While truly symbolic, substantive songs are produced occasionally, the preponderance of contemporary musical art being trite and shallow (with the exception of the artists that contributed to Instant Karma, an album that has increased awareness regarding the Darfur Conflict). Modern music needs to embrace activist messages, which could potentially mitigate the effects of Global Warming, the exceedingly prevalent international disregard of human rights and the injurious consequences of voter apathy, lest we permit these regressive tendencies to persist.
Where are our Peg Leg Joe’s? Our contemporary Charles Mingus? Rather than producing music with the sole ambition of financial gain, I feel artists have a responsibility to incorporate altruistic messages in popular music. But we mustn’t postpone the composition of this priceless music, because these crises will inevitably escalate.
If not us, who? If not now, when?
Zach Ferguson
Zach Ferguson, a junior at Battle Ground High School in Battle Ground, WA, was the winner of the 2007 Accent on Youth Essay Contest. His passion for jazz and the challenges he faces as a youthful fan of it is the focus of the column.
You can contact Zach at: frydfrog@hotmail.com
To read Zach’s previous column, go to the next page
Tags: accent on youth, sonny stitt, zach ferguson
Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3
Author Joe MaitaPosted on January 1, 2008 Categories Accent on Youth, Features, Zach FergusonTags accent on youth, sonny stitt, zach ferguson
Comment on this article: Cancel reply
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VATICAN INSIDER GOES TO THE UNITED NATIONS – PAPAL PRAYER INTENTION FOR MAY: CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA – POPE TO ROMANIAN SEMINARY: PRESERVE MEMORY, CULTIVATE HOPE – POPE TO WELCOME PRESIDENT TRUMP ON MAY 24
Posted in Holy See at United Nations, Papal prayer intentions, Romania, Seminary, U.S. President, Vatican Insider by Joan Lewis
As is traditional on May 6, the newest Swiss Guards will be sworn in tomorrow in the Vatican in what is always a colorful and memorable ceremony. Say a pray for these young men from Switzerland as they take the oath to defend the person of the Supreme Pontiff:
“I swear I will faithfully, loyally and honourably serve the Supreme Pontiff Francis and his legitimate successors, and also dedicate myself to them with all my strength, sacrificing if necessary also my life to defend them. I assume this same commitment with regard to the Sacred College of Cardinals whenever the See is vacant.
Furthermore I promise to the Commanding Captain and my other superiors, respect, fidelity and obedience. This I swear! May God and our Holy Patrons assist me!”
VATICAN INSIDER GOES TO THE UNITED NATIONS
Join me on “Vatican Insider” this weekend where my special guest is Archbishop Bernadito Auza, apostolic nuncio and Holy See Permanent Observer to the United Nations. We spoke when I was in New York recently and attended an event at his residence for the Bethlehem University Foundation.
Listen to Abp. Auza as he explains Holy See diplomacy and his work at the U.N.. Our conversation, by the way, follows my double Q&A this weekend in which I explain what an apostolic nuncio is and also talk about the work of the Holy See’s Secretariat of State.
The archbishop’s limestone residence in the Upper East side of New York was a delightful setting for the reception for the BU Foundation. The archbishop, in opening remarks to the assembled guests, explained that his five-story residence was once home to New York’s youngest mayor, Hugh J. Grant, but noted with a smile that he was no relation to the actor by the same name! Mayor Grant and his wife hired the same firm of architects that had worked on St. Patrick’s Cathedral and they asked that a small private chapel be installed.
We also saw the bedroom in which Pope Francis slept during his NYC visit. Interestingly enough, we learned that he asked that the flat screen TV be removed from the room.
The crucifix facing the bed –
The residence foyer –
In the United States, you can listen to Vatican Insider (VI) on a Catholic radio station near you (there is a list of U.S. stations at www.ewtn.com) or on channel 130 Sirius-XM satellite radio. Outside the U.S., you can listen to EWTN radio on our website home page by clicking on the right side where you see “LISTEN TO EWTN.” Vatican Insider airs Saturday mornings at 9:00am (ET). On the SKY satellite feed to the UK and parts of Europe, VI airs on audio channel 0147 at 11:30 am CET on Saturdays, and 5:30am and 10pm CET on Sundays. It’s also available on demand on the EWTN app and on the website. CHECK YOUR TIME ZONE. Here’s a link to download VI to your iTunes library: http://www.ewtn.com/se/pg/DatService.svc/feed/~LE.xml For VI archives: http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/file_index.asp?SeriesId=7096&pgnu=
PAPAL PRAYER INTENTION FOR MAY: CHRISTIANS IN AFRICA
Pope Francis’ prayer intention for May is: That Christians in Africa, in imitation of the Merciful Jesus, may give prophetic witness to reconciliation, justice, and peace.
The Apostleship of Prayer produced the Pope’s Video on this intention. http://www.apostleshipofprayer.org/
Here is the English text of that video:
When we look at Africa, we see much more than its great natural richness. We see its joie de vivre, and above all, we see grounds for hope in Africa’s rich intellectual, cultural and religious heritage. But we cannot fail to see the fratricidal wars decimating peoples and destroying these natural and cultural resources. Let us join with our brothers and sisters of this great continent, and pray together that Christians in Africa, in imitation of the Merciful Jesus, may give prophetic witness to reconciliation, justice, and peace.
POPE TO ROMANIAN SEMINARY: PRESERVE MEMORY, CULTIVATE HOPE
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday greeted members of the Pontifical Romanian College or Collegio Pio Romeno on the occasion of its 80th anniversary.
This Roman Pontifical College has been training seminarians from all over the world for eight decades in the Eternal City and on Friday the Pope on this auspicious occasion had two wishes for those present.
The first was to preserve memory and the second, to cultivate hope.
Speaking about the former, the Holy Father said that by tuning into ones ecclesial memory which he added, lives through the events that each era presents us with, “you will be helped to overcome dangerous temptations that may arise, such as settling for mediocrity, settling for a normal life; where one jealously guards their own time and their own well-being.
The Pope described their College as a place where seminarians train as if they were “in a gym” in order to give their lives for the good of others.
On the theme of cultivating hope, Pope Francis said that there was, “so much need to nourish Christian hope, that hope that gives a new outlook, capable of discovering and seeing good, even when it is obscured by evil”.
Concluding his address the Pope had a special greeting for those present from the Pontifical College of St. Ephrem, which provides lodgings for those student priests of the Arabic language from all of the Oriental Catholic Churches and who are welcomed by the Pontifical Romanian College (Pio Romeno).
The Pope said that, “by meeting you I think of the situation in which there are so many faithful in your lands, many families who are forced to leave their homes in the face of waves of violence and suffering. I want to embrace these brothers and sisters in a special way, together with their Patriarchs and Bishops.”
POPE TO WELCOME PRESIDENT TRUMP ON MAY 24
(Vatican Radio) The Holy See press office announced on Thursday that Pope Francis will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the Vatican on the morning of May 24th. The U.S. leader will also meet with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See foreign minister.
A senior White House official said Donald Trump’s first foreign trip as U.S. president will also include visits to Belgium, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as Italy and the Vatican.
On May 25th Trump will attend a NATO meeting in Brussels and the following day he will take part in the G7 summit meeting in Sicily.
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Paul McCartney will do a Friday night show live on YouTube
posted by DeWayne & Tamme - Sep 6, 2018
PAUL McCARTNEY: Friday night show will air on YouTube
A surprise show Paul McCartney will do Friday night in New York City will air live on YouTube at 8:00 pm ET in celebration of the release that day of his new album, Egypt Station.
McCartney is offering hints about the location on social media:
Along with pictures of New York City Metrocards, he writes, "Two days to go... See you at Egypt Station this Friday evening... Don't miss the train."
We can tell you that the two biggest clues are Station and Train.
McCartney will be on The Tonight Show tonight.
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Babies who are born very prematurely or who have respiratory problems shortly after birth are at risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), sometimes called chronic lung disease. Although most infants fully recover with few long-term health problems, BPD can be serious and need intensive medical care.
Babies aren't born with BPD. It develops when premature infants with respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) need help to breathe for an extended period, which can lead to inflammation (swelling) and scarring in the lungs.
About BPD
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (brahn-ko-PUL-moh-nair-ee dis-PLAY-zhee-uh) involves abnormal development of lung tissue. It most often affects premature babies, who are born with underdeveloped lungs.
"Dysplasia" means abnormal changes in the structure or organization of a group of cells. The cell changes in BPD take place in the smaller airways and lung alveoli, making breathing difficult and causing problems with lung function.
Along with asthma and cystic fibrosis, BPD is one of the most common chronic lung diseases in children. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), there are between 5,000 and 10,000 cases of BPD every year in the United States.
Babies with extremely low birth weight (less than 2.2 pounds or 1,000 grams) are most at risk for developing BPD. Although most of these infants eventually outgrow the more serious symptoms, in rare cases BPD — in combination with other complications of prematurity — can be fatal.
Causes of BPD
Most BPD cases affect premature infants (preemies), usually those who are born more than 10 weeks early and weigh less than 4.5 pounds (2,000 grams). These babies are more likely to develop RDS (also called hyaline membrane disease), which is a result of tissue damage to the lungs from being on a mechanical ventilator for a long time.
Mechanical ventilators do the breathing for babies whose lungs are too immature to let them breathe on their own. Oxygen is delivered to the lungs through a tube inserted into the baby's trachea (windpipe) and is given under pressure from the machine to properly move air into stiff, underdeveloped lungs.
Sometimes, for these babies to survive the amount of oxygen given must be higher than the oxygen concentration in the air we commonly breathe. This mechanical ventilation is essential to their survival. But over time, the pressure from the ventilation and excess oxygen intake can injure a newborn's delicate lungs, leading to RDS.
Almost half of all extremely low birth weight infants will develop some form of RDS. RDS is considered BPD when preemies still need oxygen therapy at their original due dates (past 36 weeks' postconceptional age).
BPD also can be due to other problems that can affect a newborn's fragile lungs, such as trauma, pneumonia, and other infections. All of these can cause the inflammation and scarring associated with BPD, even in a full-term newborn or, very rarely, in older infants and children.
Among premature babies who have a low birth weight, white male infants seem to be at greater risk for developing BPD, for reasons unknown to doctors. Genetics may play a role in some cases of BPD, too.
Important factors in diagnosing BPD are prematurity, infection, mechanical ventilator dependence, and oxygen exposure.
BPD is usually diagnosed if an infant still needs additional oxygen and continues to show signs of respiratory problems after 28 days of age (or past 36 weeks' postconceptional age). Chest X-rays may be helpful in making the diagnosis. In babies with RDS, the X-rays may show lungs that look like ground glass. In babies with BPD, the X-rays may show lungs that appear spongy.
Treatment of BPD
No available medical treatment can immediately cure bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Treatment is focused on supporting the breathing and oxygen needs of infants with BPD and to help them grow and thrive.
Babies first diagnosed with BPD receive intense supportive care in the hospital, usually in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) until they can breathe well on their own, without the support of a mechanical ventilator.
Some babies also may get jet ventilation, a continuous low-pressure ventilation that helps minimize the lung damage from ventilation that contributes to BPD. Not all hospitals use this procedure to treat BPD, but some with large NICUs do.
Infants with BPD are also treated with different kinds of medicines that help to support lung function. These include bronchodilators (such as albuterol) to help keep the airways open, and diuretics (such as furosemide) to reduce fluid buildup in the lungs.
Severe cases of BPD might be treated with a short course of steroids. This strong anti-inflammation medicine has some serious short-term and long-term side effects. Doctors would only use it after a discussion with a baby's parents, informing them of the potential benefits and risks of the drug.
Antibiotics are sometimes needed to fight bacterial infections because babies with BPD are more likely to develop pneumonia. Part of a baby's treatment may involve the administration of surfactant, a natural lubricant that improves breathing function. Surfactant production may be affected in babies with RDS who have not yet developed BPD, so they might be given natural or synthetic surfactant to help protect against BPD.
Also, babies sick enough to be hospitalized with BPD may need feedings of high-calorie formulas through a gastrostomy tube (G-tube). This tube is inserted through the abdomen and delivers nutrition directly to the stomach so that babies get enough calories and start to grow.
In severe cases, babies with BPD cannot use their gastrointestinal systems to digest food. These babies require intravenous (IV) feedings — called TPN, or total parenteral nutrition — made up of fats, proteins, sugars, and nutrients. These are given through a small tube inserted into a large vein through the baby's skin.
The time spent in the NICU for infants with BPD can range from several weeks to a few months. The average length of intensive in-hospital care for babies with BPD is 120 days. Even after leaving the hospital, a baby might need continued medication, breathing treatments, or even oxygen at home.
Most babies are weaned from supplemental oxygen by the end of their first year, but a few with serious cases may need a ventilator for several years or, rarely, even their entire lives.
Improvement for any baby with BPD is gradual. Many babies diagnosed with BPD will recover close to normal lung function, but this takes time. Scarred, stiffened lung tissue will always not work as well as it should. But as infants with BPD grow, new healthy lung tissue can form and grow, and might eventually take over much of the work of breathing for damaged lung tissue.
Complications of BPD
After coming through the more critical stages of BPD, some infants still have longer-term complications. They are often more at risk for respiratory infections, such as influenza (the flu), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and pneumonia. And when they get an infection, they tend to get sicker than most children do.
Another respiratory complication of BPD includes excess fluid buildup in the lungs, known as pulmonary edema, which makes it more difficult for air to travel through the airways.
Occasionally, kids with a history of BPD also may develop complications of the circulatory system, such as pulmonary hypertension in which the pulmonary arteries — the vessels that carry blood from the heart to the lungs — become narrowed and cause high blood pressure. But this is not common.
Side effects from being given diuretics to prevent fluid buildup can include dehydration; kidney stones; hearing problems; and low potassium, sodium, and calcium levels. Infants with BPD often grow more slowly than other babies, have problems gaining weight, and tend to lose weight when they're sick. Premature infants with severe BPD also have a higher incidence of cerebral palsy.
Overall, though, the risk of serious permanent complications from BPD is fairly small.
Caring for Your Baby
Parents play a critical role in caring for an infant with BPD. An important precaution is to reduce your baby's exposure to potential respiratory infections. Limit visits from people who are sick, and if your baby needs childcare, pick a small center, where there will be less exposure to sick kids.
Making sure that your baby receives all recommended vaccinations is another important way to help prevent problems. And keep your child away from tobacco smoke, particularly in your home, as it is a serious respiratory irritant.
If your baby requires oxygen at home, the doctors will show you how to work the tube and check oxygen levels.
Children with asthma-type symptoms may need bronchodilators to relieve asthma-like attacks. You can give this medicine to your child with a puffer or nebulizer, which produces a fine spray of medicine that your child then breathes in.
Because infants with BPD sometimes have trouble growing, you might need to feed your baby a high-calorie formula. Formula feedings may be given alone or as a supplement to breastfeeding. Sometimes, babies with BPD who are slower to gain weight will go home from the NICU on G-tube feedings.
Once a baby comes home from the hospital, parents still need to watch for signs of respiratory distress or BPD emergencies (when a child has serious trouble breathing).
Signs that an infant might need immediate care include:
faster breathing than normal
working much harder than usual to breathe:
belly sinking in with breathing
pulling in of the skin between the ribs with each breath
growing tired or lethargic from working to breathe
more coughing than usual
panting or grunting
pale, darker, or bluish skin color that may start around the lips or fingernails
trouble feeding or excess spitting up or vomiting of feedings
If you notice any of these symptoms in your baby, call your doctor or get emergency medical care right away.
Reviewed by: Jay S. Greenspan, MD
Date reviewed: October 2014
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Anti-Bullying POLICY & PROCEDURE (for students)
Version No. 1.0
Contents No. Pages: 7
Policy Statement: Yes
Procedures: Yes
Recommended by Killester College of Further Education Committee
Date recommended October 8th 2018
Approved by City of Dublin ETB
Last Reviewed First Version of the Policy
Next Review October 2019
Killester College of Further Education was established in 1956 under the aegis of the City of Dublin Education and Training Board. Over the years the Killester College has grown to be a community working together so that all students can make the most of the opportunities that arise and realise their full potential. The students in Killester College come from different parts of Dublin, different parts of Ireland and different countries from around the world. There are students of different ages, abilities and background. Such diversity enriches the College. Each member of the College community is entitled to be treated with equal courtesy, dignity and respect irrespective of disability, gender, age, religion, nationality, race, sexual orientation, family background or membership of the travelling community.
This policy, which applies to the bullying of students, forms part of a suite of policies which form part of the College’s Policy on the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults. Other policies in this suite include the Code of Behaviour and the Policy on the Acceptable Use of the College’s ICT System. The Board of Management of Killester College of Further Education has adopted the following anti-bullying policy within the framework of the College’s overall Code of Behaviour. This policy fully complies with the requirements of the CL 45/2013 Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools which were published in September 2013. This policy should be read in conjunction with the Action Plan on Bullying published by the Department of Education and Skills in 2013, and also the Well-Being in Post Primary Schools – Guidelines for Mental Health Promotion and Suicide Prevention developed by the inter-departmental group from the Department of Education and Skills, the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health published in 2013.
Key Principles of the Policy
The Board of Management recognises the very serious nature of bullying and the negative impact that it can have on the lives of students and is therefore fully committed to the following key principles of best practice in preventing and tackling bullying behaviour:
A positive College culture and climate which-
is welcoming of difference and diversity and is based on inclusivity;
encourages students to disclose and discuss incidents of bullying behaviour in a non-threatening environment; and
promotes respectful relationships across the College community;
Effective leadership;
A College-wide approach;
A shared understanding of what bullying is and its impact;
Implementation of education and prevention strategies (including awareness raising measures) that-
build empathy, respect and resilience in students; and
explicitly address the issues of cyber-bullying and identity-based bullying including in particular, homophobic, transphobic and disablist bullying including surdophobic bullying (Surdophobia is the hostility, intolerance or fear against Deaf people, deaf culture and the Deaf Community).
Effective supervision and monitoring of students;
Supports for staff;
Consistent recording, investigation and follow up of bullying behaviour (including use of established intervention strategies); and
On-going evaluation of the effectiveness of the anti-bullying policy.
In accordance with the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools bullying is defined as follows:
Bullying is unwanted negative behaviour, verbal, psychological or physical conducted, by an individual or group against another person (or persons) and which is repeated over time.
The following types of bullying behaviour are included in the definition of bullying:
deliberate exclusion, malicious gossip and other forms of relational bullying,
Identity-based bullying such as homophobic bullying, racist bullying, bullying based on a person’s membership of the Traveller community and bullying of those with disabilities or special educational needs.
Isolated or once-off incidents of intentional negative behaviour, including a once-off offensive or hurtful text message or other private messaging, do not fall within the definition of bullying and should be dealt with, as appropriate, in accordance with the College’s Code of Behaviour.
However, in the context of this policy, placing a once-off offensive or hurtful public message, image or statement on a social network site or other public forum where that message, image or statement can be viewed and/or repeated by other people will be regarded as bullying behaviour. This would also include the unauthorised capture/playing/posting of images/video footage or audio recording.
Negative behaviour that does not meet this definition of bullying will be dealt with in accordance with the College’s Code of Behaviour.
Additional information on different types of bullying is set out in Section 2 of the Anti-Bullying Procedures for Primary and Post-Primary Schools.
This Policy concerns bullying on the college premises and grounds, while students are engaged in work experience, on educational visits or College social activities, and those travelling to and from courses.
The College has a duty of care to ensure that all students and staff have a safe working and learning environment in which they are treated with dignity, courtesy and respect. Bullying will not be tolerated and all incidents of bullying will be carefully recorded and fully investigated, with appropriate follow up action taken.
Students and staff, both teaching and non-teaching, have a responsibility to promote a safe learning environment for all, and have a duty to report incidents of bullying or situations where vulnerable students may be at risk. In doing so, they are acting responsibly to ensure the safety and well-being of others.
Procedure for Implementing this Policy
This procedure is in two main parts:
Preventative Element: – Awareness Raising and Education Strategy
Responsive Element: – Pastoral Care dimension – Code of Behaviour dimension
The education and prevention strategies (including strategies specifically aimed at cyber- bullying and identity-based bullying including in particular, homophobic and transphobic bullying) that will be used by the College are as follows:
Raise awareness amongst the student population of the College’s anti-bullying policy.
This must also include cyber-bullying, identity-based bullying-in particular, homophobic and transphobic bullying.
Report inappropriate use of IT
Maintain & foster an environment where all members of the College community work together to ensure that everyone is treated with mutual courtesy, dignity & respect
Demonstrate the mutual benefits for all by responding to and not ignoring any incidents of unwelcome behaviour directed at others.
Where appropriate, provide students with the tools and strategies to deal with any unwelcome behaviour.
Publish a copy of the policy in the student handbook and on the student section of the College’s Moodle site.
Publish a copy of the policy on the College’s website.
Identify clearly the designated liaison person whom a complainant may approach to report incident/s of bullying
Provide in-service training for all staff-teachers, maintenance and administration staff on anti-bullying strategies.
Review policy annually.
Responsive Element: – Pastoral Care dimension
The College’s programme of support for working with pupils affected by bullying is as follows:
The College will implement a programme of appropriate support for those affected by bullying and for those involved in bullying. This will involve:
The College will raise awareness with the persons involved in bullying of the aspect of their behaviour which has constituted bullying and the impact of their behaviour on others.
The College will put supports in place for those affected by bullying to ameliorate the impact of the unwelcome behaviour.
The Pastoral care dimension of the procedure is coordinated by the Care Team led by the Guidance Counsellor.
The College’s Code of Behaviour will convey the seriousness with which the College authorities view bullying/harassment thereby providing a deterrent to such behaviour.
The College will endeavour to ensure that the person/s who alleges that they have been bullied will be treated with fairness, sensitivity, underpinned by the need for confidentiality with all parties concerned.
Responsive Element: – Investigation procedures
Responsibility for the implementation of this policy is vested in the Principal of the College, Mr Rory O’Sullivan. This includes responsibility for the investigation of and the dealing with incidents of bullying. The Principal may delegate responsibility for investigating or dealing with a particular incident to a senior member of staff, taking into account the particular circumstances of the incident in question. The staff member to whom the investigation has been delegated would normally be a teacher who does not teach either the alleged victim or the alleged perpetrator.The College’s procedures for investigation, follow-up and recording of bullying behaviour and the established intervention strategies used by the College for dealing with cases of bullying behaviour are as follows:
In the event of a student feeling bullied they may approach any member of staff: teaching; maintenance or administrative staff. Should any member of staff be so approached they must bring it to the immediate attention of the Principal. At this point the Principal will immediately commence an investigation.
If a student is experiencing bullying but does not feel able to approach a member of staff directly he/she could ask a friend or relative to contact the College on their behalf. He/she might prefer to ask their family doctor to make the initial contact. In some cases a student may wish to make the College aware of their situation through an advocacy agency, for example:
The Samaritans, tel. 1850 609090
BeLong To tel. 01-6706223
GLEN tel., 01-6728650
A student experiencing bullying may not wish to make a complaint but would like to talk to someone in confidence. The Guidance Counsellor is available for such conversations.
Informal Process
The first step in any informal resolution of a complaint should be to establish the facts of the complaint, the specific issues complained of, when they occurred and to consider whether or not they fall within the definition of bullying.
If bullying is established, the aim would be to eliminate it informally (if appropriate) with the consent of parties involved. This could include a non-judgemental (mediation approach). This would include clarification of what constitutes bullying, agreement by the person complained of, that they accept that their behaviour was inappropriate and that the conduct will not be repeated, or an explanation to the complainant about what occurred from the point of view of the person complained about which disposes of the complaint.
Formal process
This involves a formal complaint and a formal investigation. The purpose of the investigation is to determine the facts and to establish whether the complaint of bullying is well founded.
Key steps:
(1) The complainant should make a formal complaint in writing, signed and dated, and give it to the Principal.
(2) The complaint should provide precise details of alleged incidents of bullying, including dates and names of witnesses where possible.
(3) Where this is not possible, a written account should be taken of the complaint and signed by the complainant. The Principal may assign a senior member of staff to conduct the investigation of the complaint.
(4) The complainant should be assured of support and given a copy of the anti-bullying policy.
(5) The person/persons against whom the complaint is made should be notified in writing that a formal allegation of bullying has been made. He/she should be advised of the aims/objectives of the formal process. He/she should be assured of the organisation’s commitment to investigating the matter in an objective and unbiased manner, with due regard to confidentiality, and the rights of all concerned. He/she should be given the opportunity to respond to the complaint in writing.
(6) The investigation should be completed as quickly as possible. The investigator should investigate the complaint and the response to the complaint and present his/her findings to the Principal who will then issue preliminary findings to the complainant and the person(s) complained of for comment. Following receipt of such comments, the Principal will then make a decision as to whether or not the complaint of bullying has been established and will decide on appropriate action. The Principal’s decision should be communicated in writing to both parties.
(7) Every effort will be made to complete the process within a 20 day period.
(8) If the complaint is upheld, then it is a disciplinary matter and will be considered a serious breach of the College’s Code of Behaviour and dealt with at Stage 4 of the Disciplinary procedure by the Deputy Principal.
(9) If a complaint is not upheld, no further action will be taken.
(10) If a complaint is found to have been maliciously made, disciplinary procedures will be applied. This is also considered to be a serious breach of the College’s Code of Behaviour and dealt with at Stage 4 of the Disciplinary procedure by the Deputy Principal.
Monitoring of Students
The Board of Management confirms that appropriate monitoring policies and practices are in place to both prevent and deal with bullying behaviour and to facilitate early intervention where possible.
Prevention of Harassment
The Board of Management confirms that the College will, in accordance with its obligations under equality legislation, take all such steps that are reasonably practicable to prevent the sexual harassment of pupils or staff or the harassment of pupils or staff on any of the nine grounds specified i.e. gender including transgender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community.
This policy was adopted by the Board of Management on ________________
This policy has been made available to College personnel, published on the College website. A copy of this policy will be forwarded to the City of Dublin ETB. A copy of this policy will be made available to the Department, if requested.
This policy and its implementation will be reviewed by the Board of Management once in every College year. Written notification that the review has been completed will be made available to College personnel and published on the College website. A record of the review and its outcome will be made available to the CDETB and the Department, if requested.
Signed: Cllr Sean Paul Mahon__________________ Date: 8th October 2018____
Chairperson of Board of Management
Signed: Dr Rory O’Sullivan______________________ Date: 8th October 2018____
Date of next review: October 2019______________
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Reference from Coast to Coast – Service of Process
By Jan Bissett and Margi Heinen, 16 Sep 2002
Welcome to Reference From Coast to Coast: Sources and Strategies, a monthly column written by Jan Bissett and Margi Heinen.
Jan Bissett is a Reference Librarian in the Bloomfield Hills, Michigan office of Dickinson Wright PLLC. She is a past president of the Michigan Association of Law Libraries and has published articles on administrative and research related topics in the Michigan Association of Law Libraries Newsletter and Michigan Defense Quarterly. She and Margi Heinen team teach Legal Information Sources and Services for Wayne State University’s Library and Information Science Program in Detroit, Michigan.
Margi Heinen is the Manager of Library Services at Sherman and Howard in Denver, Colorado. She has taught courses on Legal Resources at the University of Michigan’s School of Information and at Wayne State University’s School of Library and Information Science. She has been a faculty member for several I.P.E. presentations including “Internet Strategies for the Paralegal in Michigan” and ICLE’s “Internet Legal Resources” seminar. She is a member of the Colorado Association of Law Libraries and the American Association of Law Libraries.
With summer officially over,many lawyers find their September calendars filling up with court dates. New associates are beginning work and many of them will be asked to determine the proper service of process so that complaints can go forward. All first year law students are exposed to service of process, typically in a pleadings or civil procedure class. But first year pleadings as well as legal research classes often don’t emphasize the practical research aspects of service of process – court rules, statutes and the tools necessary for locating the proper party or resident agent to serve.
Sometimes arranging for service of process is pretty straight-forward. Just follow the rule. The Rule? And where might one find that? State statutes or court rules usually provide for the manner of service. Martindale Hubbell’s Law Digest will provide citations to the relevant statute as well as a brief description of the requirements. You may want to check the full text of your statute or code if you’re unfamiliar with the requirements in a particular jurisdiction. Court Rules, Forms & Dockets may help you to locate a specific state’s court rules for any applicable material. Zimmerman’s Research Guide Service of Processgives an overview of companies, banks in New York as well as tips on service of process abroad.
Sometimes arranging for service of process is not straight-forward at all. You’ve figured out whom to serve but can’t locate the party. Now what? Treat it as you would any other public records request. Check The Virtual Chase’s Company Information Guide or People Finder Guide to review your research technique. If you’ve determined that you’re serving a corporation, you will most likely need to identify a registered agent for that corporation. The Web has made this search much easier and various web sites can lead you to State Agencies which register corporations and maintain a list of their resident agents: Resident Agent Information and Links, National Association of Secretaries of State,as well as LLRX’s Research Roundup:Business Filings Databases – Updatedprovide links to State corporation records which may be available for free or a small fee. A reminder to searchers of corporate databases-some of these are primitive and sometimes only an incomplete corporate name is available, so it may be useful to do a broad search and see if there is more than one entity with the corporate name you have. A state may provide for service to its Secretary of State if service to the corporate address has failed or for particular types of businesses.
Continuing on with “not straight-forward” at all; prepare yourself for different treatment of what you may perceive to be a “corporation” – you may not be looking for the typical resident agent. Banks and insurance companies may fall into this category. Note the earlier reference to Zimmerman’s Research Guide “Service of Process”and New York banks. The Secretary of State or similar state agency may accept service for a particular industry. Alabama, Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, South Carolina, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin provide insurance service of process information varying from statutory notice to a searchable database of resident agents by insurance company name. Please note: this is not an exhaustive list so you may need to check by individual state if you are faced with insurance company service.
Also confusing is the fact that States may handle the “who accepts service” differently. A glance at the North American Securities Administrators Association Form-U-2-Uniform Consent to Service of Process indicates which agency in each state accepts service in conjunction with securities issues. Even though the functions of these agencies are similar, the names are not.
Perhaps the most frequent question about service of process arises when one is forced to leave the United States altogether. The Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra-Judicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters (State Department or Hague Conference) governs that process in many nations. This convention is reprinted in the annotated codes, U.S.C.S. and U.S.C.A, as well as the Martindale Hubbell International Law Digest. Depending on the nation and the circumstances, you may need the Inter-American Convention on Letters Rogatory also available from the State Department or Martindale Hubbell International Law Digest. Zimmerman’s Research Guide Service of Process cites the most commonly used sources – U.S. Department of State, Martindale Hubbell and also provides references to articles which may be of assistance. Other guides or pathfinders are available. For instance, Denver University College ofLaw’s Westminster Library Handout 25:provides bibliographic information on international service of process materials.
Service of process is often one of the tasks that remains on the “to-do” list until late in the day or until time is short. If there is a non-standard aspect to the service of process or you’re unfamiliar with company research and public records sources you may need to service your own research process.
Links Mentioned in this Article
Link: http://www.aldoi.org/AOPSearch.htm
Business Filings Databases – Updated
Link: //www.llrx.com/columns/roundup24.htm
Company Information Guide
Link: http://www.virtualchase.com/coinfo/index.htm
Convention on Letters Rogatory
Link: http://travel.state.gov/interam.html
Form-U-2-Uniform Consent to Service of Process
Link: http://www.nasaa.org/nasaa/library/uniform_forms.asp
Hague Conference
Link: http://www.hcch.net/e/conventions/menu14e.html
Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra-Judicial Documents
Link: http://travel.state.gov/hague_service.html
Link: http://www.state.in.us/idoi/registeragent.html
Link: http://www.sos.state.md.us/sos/html/proces.html
Link: http://www.state.ma.us/doi/Legal_Hearings/legal_service_process.html
Link: http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-10555_
12902_15779—,00.html
National Association of Secretaries of State
Link: http://www.nass.org/busreg/busreg.html
Link: http://www.state.nj.us/dobi/servproc.htm
Resident Agent Information and Links,
Link: http://www.geocities.com/resident_agent_info/residentagent.html
Link: http://www.doi.state.sc.us/Eng/Public/ServProc/ServProc.asp
Link: http://www.sec.state.vt.us/tutor/dobiz/service.htm
Link: http://www.state.wv.us/insurance/Service%20of%20Process.htm
Link: http://oci.wi.gov/reg_agnt.htm
Zimmerman’s Research Guide – Service of Process
Link: //www.llrx.com/guide-gen/8/828.html
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Posted in: Reference from Coast to Coast, Service of Process
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Hinsley Park Info
Q. Why was an election called to consider the removal of Hinsley’s “park” designation?
A. Developers approached the City of Longview interested in developing the Hinsley Park property. Any action to remove a “park” designation from a property requires approval by voters, so Longview City Council placed a proposition on the ballot for November 3, 2015.
Q. What happens if the park designation is removed?
A. An affirmative vote would not transfer the property immediately. If the park designation is removed, City Council would be given the authority to negotiate terms with developers and to sell the property. City Council could still choose not to sell the property if they were not satisfied with the terms of the agreement.
Q. If approved, would a replacement park be constructed?
A. In the proposal being discussed, the City of Longview would require the developers to fund and construct a replacement park with new amenities including replacement fields and disc-golf course.
Q. If approved, would Hinsley Park close right away? Would league play be interrupted?
A. If voters approve removal of park designation, Hinsley Park would not close immediately and there would not be an interruption to park services. Hinsley Park would continue to be used until a new replacement park was completed. League and tournament play would not be interrupted.
Q. How can we learn more about the proposal?
A. A public hearing is scheduled during a Special Called City Council meeting on Tuesday, September 29 at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 300 W. Cotton St. The developers plan to provide additional information about the proposed redevelopment project at that time. Feel free to contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 903-237-1270 or visit LongviewTexas.gov to learn more about the proposal.
City Send - Submit Requests, Stay Informed
Spanish Version of Website - Google Translate
CityView TV
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Dan Madsen, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Leisure Care
Meet Dan Madsen, chairman & CEO of Seattle-based Leisure Care. Over the course of his 28-year career in senior living, Madsen has grown his role within Leisure Care from being the general manager of one community to being an owner. Paying close attention to hospitality organizations, Madsen has helped shape various brands under the company including expansion overseas. With a philosophy around putting people first, he has grown the culture of the company with a close focus on its employees. We sat down with Madsen to learn about the company’s mantra: Family, philanthropy and business; why he sees opportunity in other countries; and how his hotel stays lead to big ideas for senior living.
Spotlight on Technology
What technology do you think is important for senior living providers today?
Wi-Fi.It’s shocking how many people don’t have it. I think the demand is high. At our Treeo projects, when people move in, they get an iPad as part of their move-in. Not a microwave—an iPad. We have an iPad posted on a stand in the lobby as a virtual concierge. Hotels have been doing it forever. We have our own app—internal and external—so families can log into that app and see what’s going on, and our residents can communicate through it. It’s what pops up on the screen when they all come in in the morning, and they can see those things and get right to their families and emails.
Are people using it?
People are using it a lot. We have classes [for using the iPad]. It’s been a lot of fun.
Are you going to roll that out at all of your communities?
Wi-Fi for sure. Connectivity is key, just like it is for us; why would it be any different for residents?
Aside from Wi-Fi, what other technology do you think communities need?
I have always liked safety systems. Wearables—I’ve gotta track my steps! We’re in competition at our company. We chart it on a big board. Our residents do it too. We have competition among different communities; it’s fun.
What do you think is going to be the driving force getting operators to adopt technology?
High demand from family members and residents themselves. We’re in the generation now that are moving in with demands; they’re walking around with laptops. It’s not yesterday’s retirement community where there wasn’t any technology. We’ve now had computers, we’ve now had mobile devices… It’s going to attract a more independent resident, I think.
I got into senior living 28 years ago this past July. Basically, I needed a job and I started out managing a Leisure Care retirement community that was in trouble and needed a lot of help. There was very low employee morale, and it was financially distraught. I got lucky to have an opportunity where I could only go up from there. I was certainly entrepreneurial, but I was only 26 years old.
What made that an exciting opportunity?
It was moving away from what I was doing, and moving to an area where there were good people involved that cared about family and human beings.
What position did you start in?
I was a general manager.
How many communities did Leisure Care have at that point?
Around 15.
What did you notice when you started to take over? What did you need to fix?
This has been my philosophy for 28 years: Start with employees first. Assess the situation, assess employee morale. Great customer service is a result of giving great service to your employees first.
Was it hard to win people over?
It was. Those were sleepless nights back then. I think I knew what to do, but I tore in one by one and started keeping promises, demonstrating leadership through activity and action. I was changing the lightbulbs and painting the hallways, too. I think that made a big difference.
How long did it take before you started to see some results?
It was fairly immediate. We were really starting to roll at about six months.
After being general manager, where did you go?
I was promoted to a corporate position at area operations overseeing two to three projects. It was kind of an operations director-in-training role. Then I just kind of moved up.
You have a lot of different brands. In June of 2008 you launched Leisure Care 180, which seems to have shifted to a hospitality model in a big way. Is that fair?
I think that’s really fair. I bought the company in 2003, going from general manager to owner. We had always been hospitality driven, but 180 allowed us to take some of our products and services and virtually integrate them into Leisure Care. Our travel company, for example, sat as a line item. So when we moved it off of the books, we stayed vertically integrated.
How’d you get the opportunity to purchase the company?
I had a great relationship with the previous owners, and still manage their properties. It was a split between real estate and management. They were my original bosses and we grew together over all of those years. It became good succession planning for them and a good opportunity for me. We spent quality time designing how it would work best for all of us so that I could fly, and they could feel stable and secure with the management they had trained.
I think you may be the only senior living provider that has a travel agency. How did you come up with that?
We travel a lot, so there was part of us that said “Geez, we’re paying a lot of fees. If we do this on our own, we can also do executive travel for other people in town—friends, banks, lenders and people we do business with.” The idea was to have the program, a profit center, but then to integrate it back into what we do with our residents. That goes back to hospitality. We do senior escorted travel all over the world. I just got back two weeks ago from a ‘President’s Cruise,’ we call it, in Alaska. A couple dozen residents come from different communities and go on a seven day cruise together. We dine, we play, we excursion, we do it all together. It’s not a travel program like most.
With so many brands, are there challenges to managing them all?
Not at all. We have different leaders. I think some of our products were branded because there are different styles of retirement communities, too. I would liken it to the hotel industry. You have the JW Marriott, then you have the Marriott Marquis and Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott.
So you’ve taken a lot of inspiration from the hotel industry?
Sure! They did it long before we did.
Patricia Will, Co-Founder & CEO of Belmont Village Senior Living
Read more June 18, 2018
Tim Buchanan, Founder, CEO and President, Legend Senior Living
You also have some international communities that are opening up.
Yes, we’re opening one in India [right now]. Anywhere we go internationally, we partner with local executives and owners and partners that know that business, culture and so on. We don’t try to do it ourselves. We provide the operations expertise, and let them handle the development side.
Why India?
It kind of came to us. This group of great folks came over to the U.S., they interviewed several companies and we decided to help them out on a consulting basis. As we went to India and explored the opportunities, we saw that this could be much more than that. It’s not always about teaching, it’s about listening.
And Mexico?
Mexico as well. We also have a project in London, we’re working with a group there called Elysian, so we’re really looking forward to that.
Is it private pay?
Private pay everywhere, high end.
What’s your definition of leadership?
It’s really believing in who you are and being committed to it and demonstrating it in every phase of your life so it’s unwavering. Right, wrong or indifferent from an outside perspective, people know who you are and they’ll either follow and work with you, or they won’t. When you find that you have traction, that’s when it gets fun.
Do you think your definition of leadership has changed over the years?
No, I think it was probably learned when I first started, 28 years ago. I came from an environment without [a definition of leadership] and it was clear to me that I needed to find who I was, and I needed to find people with that type of character, those types of morals that would stand strong and have the posture and be able to fight off any temptation for doing bad things or being greedy.
It sounds like you learned what not to do at your job.
That’s probably the best way to look at it.
Looking at it that way, was that a good experience for you?
It was an amazing experience! As painful as it was, it was amazing because you really have to commit to something and say “No, I really believe that family’s first.” We have a mantra, it’s pretty simple: Family, philanthropy and business—in that order. That’s our lifestyle, and we don’t change. We haven’t changed since I’ve been around.
During your time, what’s been the biggest challenge Leisure Care has faced, and how did you overcome it?
The biggest challenge we’ve faced as a company is actually a pretty big benefit. We tend to have a culture that grows executives and gives people opportunities; we have a very low turnover in our company, and people tend to stay with us a long time. One of the greatest challenges that we have is providing enough growth opportunity for people to continue to grow and allow them opportunities. We have a team of great folks ready to go.
How is that a challenge?
The challenge is that you have to be disciplined to manage growth in a disciplined way. [You have to] strike the balance between growing so that people have opportunities, and continuing to keep people supported. That’s the tricky part. It’s a sophisticated problem, but it’s a good one to have.
What was the hardest time?
This last recession. It shocked everybody, and this was the first time we realized our industry was not recession-proof. We had touted for years, “We’re recession-proof,” but we weren’t. The houses didn’t sell. People lost their wealth, they lost the value in their homes. Banks weren’t lending. All of a sudden the census drops.
What did you learn from that experience?
Leverage. Make sure that you’re properly leveraged, not over-leveraged, that you have cash in the till so you can get through the rough times. I watched some companies, not just in our industry, but others, that reacted desperately during those times. When you’re acting desperately you do things that you shouldn’t do, and you take measures that you shouldn’t take—whether it’s layoffs of key personnel, cutting costs and doing things that aren’t good for your residents or your staff or your brand.
With all of the different brands, does it help manage risk? If one’s not doing well, maybe another one will be doing better?
Yes. Absolutely. With our various brands and various projects, they’re priced differently, and they’re serviced differently, much like the hotel industry. You have turndown service at one, and at another one you don’t. So we found that during the recession, the mid-market really stayed stable. That’s our Treeo buildings and our Fairwinds buildings. Our higher end buildings were the ones that had a challenge.
Do you think senior living providers have the opportunity to create a real middle market product? That seems to be the golden ticket right now.
I do. We have a great mid-market product. We started from design and construction and some of those things, and it was inhibiting our ability. We’d buy expensive land, we had expensive costs and construction and then we’d have to price accordingly. The difference with Treeo was we started with the price point for our market, and we built to that. We didn’t just focus on the design and construction; we looked at operations and how we may efficiently operate the building so we can stay right in that market.
How do you test products like that? Do you build one, and find out what works?
Yes, what did or didn’t work. I learned from a good mentor of mine in the industry that you just have to get started.
So what did you find that didn’t work?
As we were looking at conservative pricing, it drew us to conservative markets in some cases. In conservative markets, sometimes people take longer to make decisions.
Dan Madsen, Leisure Care
When you say conservative markets, do you mean non-major metropolitan areas?
Correct. When you look at a certain personality profile that you’re marketing to that may have the wealth, but they’re not going to spend the wealth—they’re going to find a price point that they’re comfortable with. They don’t stay at the high end hotels. We were finding a lot of those folks in conservative markets. They act conservatively, so it’s a longer fill, but then you have really committed and passionate residents. So we’d add six months to a fill in some of those markets, but then the residents stay longer. A really neat thing with that product was how many more men we attracted to Treeo.
Really? Why do you think that is?
It’s fun—bright colors, a lot of energy, the focus is on independence.
Single men?
And couples. Both.
With the middle market product, in order to keep it affordable, are you planning on bringing services into the community? Or when residents need more assistance, are they going to have to move out of those communities?
We have home health, so we can handle it, to a certain level. But we want to keep it independent. A lot of it is the use of space as well. Dining rooms and restaurants in our business stay empty the majority of the day, so we want to be able to utilize those spaces for activities and other things throughout the day. Our front desk is a bar and bistro, which just made sense. Instead of looking across the hallway at an empty bistro, we always have a front desk person, so now we always have a bartender. Now the front desk is more functional. There’s a sliding door to the kitchen.
So where do you get the inspiration? It feels very hotel-ish.
It is. I stay in a lot of them.
Do you ever stay in a hotel and think, ‘We could do this!’?
Oh yeah! All good ideas are copied from somewhere. You’re constantly doing research. Family members are going to evaluate us based on their last hospitality experience. I like to compete with the last great hospitality experience that either a resident or family member had—not my [senior housing] competition.
Are you starting to do more developing in urban areas?
We like it and we’d like to do more of it. I believe in the model, because I see all of the folks moving back downtown, and it’s a neat opportunity with all of the amenities that are there. I don’t have to build a theater, we don’t have to build a lot of restaurants, we have access to lots of services.
Can you do it at a price point that makes sense?
I think if you can get creative, then you can at least become competitive in those markets.
Buying the company was probably by far the biggest risk. It was mitigated because it was a company I was running from a CEO perspective, but I didn’t know what was under the table. That was in my late 30s, but I had a lot of support and executives I trusted around me.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received in your career?
Relax. I believe that you keep your commitments, stay focused and relax. I’m not very good at relaxing. I’m very relaxed about the business, but I’m not a relaxed person. I have a lot of energy and I like to get after things.
Who would you consider to be your mentor, and how have they helped your career?
I’ve had various mentors for different things. I’ve had some good advice to put my own personal board together—the people around me I’m going to seek advice from. I think my dad was my greatest mentor by far.
He had a very good philosophy which I try to do as well: Make a positive impact on everybody you meet every day. Leave them better than you found them. He just lived that way.
What would you say some of your greatest strengths are as a leader?
Consistency. Values. Character. Energy.
You’ve used the word ‘family.’ I’m curious, how do you implement those values in your day-to-day company?
That’s probably the best part of the job. You hear companies that say “Family first” all the time. As a leader, you must do it. You must leave at 2:00 p.m. and go to your son’s baseball game. You need to go care for mom and dad, you need to take family time when needed. You need to support executives when they need to stay home with their kids because they have daycare issues or whatever it might be, and we don’t define ‘family.’ Some people have pets not kids, and that’s family. It’s undefined, but it’s supportive of one’s personal life and one’s personal pursuit of life. Sometimes they take longer vacations than they’ve earned and they’re going to go and climb a mountain, and I think it’s important that we support healthy lifestyles. We have to do it too.
For you as a leader, do you have to do that as well?
I do. Absolutely. It’s not something you do in a week. It takes a decade of that kind of commitment. When it becomes habitual, where you’re no longer in control of it, is the fun part because that’s when you’ve created an environment that attracts family-first people. We believe in focusing on what creates results, and that’s a healthy lifestyle for you personally; it’s a healthy work environment, it’s fun, has high energy. It’s focused on the right things. It’s focused on family, philanthropy and business. When those other two are rolling, business is good. It just is.
What would you consider your greatest weaknesses?
Sometimes a lack of risk. Sometimes I get more conservative than I should be. I’m getting better at it. I would say one of them is patience. I’ve had to work on patience to get things done. Sometimes it needs to happen on its own time, its own pace.
Do you think your risk tolerance is getting bigger?
I’m getting more comfortable.
I think just getting older, it’s a more purpose-driven life, it’s a little more relaxed, my kids have grown up. My patriarchal responsibility is always there, but once they get beyond 18 and 19 you tend to go “Whew, now it’s just me I’m concerned about.”
How big do you want to make Leisure Care?
We never had a goal in sight. We want to continue to do well and be a great place to work, a great place to live, great in our communities, great in our cities. To the extent that we can continue doing that, we’ll grow, whether it’s 10%, 20%, 30% or 40%.
I want to talk a little bit about attracting talent to the industry. I think you’re a great example of somebody that started out as an executive director and worked themselves up. Do you think the industry as a whole does a good job fostering people like yourself and providing them a path to succeed?
I do. I think we’re an outstanding industry. My peers have always been focused on growing from within. I think it’s been a great industry for that.
What are you most proud of in your career?
Our culture. My partners and I believed that it would work. When we took a hard stand to evaluate what our principles were and why, and how do we apply that to business, and can we, and should we, do we want to take that risk?—we all said, “Yes, if it can’t be done that way, we don’t want to do it.” We’ve kept those priorities intact and we’ve been successful.
Do you think you’d be as successful today if you hadn’t been an executive director?
No. When I can walk into a kitchen and put out breakfast or lunch because I had chefs that didn’t show up, when I can go in and do inventories and I can see what’s homemade and what’s not homemade—I can see opportunities to increase value, and throughout the community, I know what it’s like at three in the morning to get the call and have to work the night shift. I’ve done it several times. I think it’s important. People like it. I go in and run the dishwasher, I just do.
It gives you credibility with your employees, too.
It does! I go in and high five those guys and they’re like, ‘He’s not that guy, he’s this guy.’ It doesn’t work for everybody, and I’m not saying that’s what we need to do, but it’s worked for us.
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Edmar Castaneda Jazz Angel of Columbia South American February 25, 2019
Brian's Corner
On February 2, 2019 the stage of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (Pittsburgh, PA), was graced with the duo of South American (Columbia), jazz virtuoso musicians Edmar Castaneda/ harp, and Grammy Award Winner Gregoire Maret /harmonica. The banality of the previous sentence cannot begin to convey the explosion of beautiful music these two exceptional musicians shared with a captivated and enchanted audience.
The sound that emanated from the electric harp of Edmar was at times ethereal and at other times just down to earth funky, and Gregoire’s harmonica expertly and fluidly accentuated the heights and fancies of the spirited and lively playing that Edmar’s fingertips produced. Edmar can make a harp sing, thump and cry. His emotional range on his instrument is just as wide as his virtuosity is high. He brings out sounds and music that you would never expect a harp to produce, and he emotes in such a marvelous fashion that he can make you feel what he is feeling as he plays. And just as great of a musician as Edmar is, Gregoire is his equal with his “ax” of choice, the harmonica. The product of the two musicians was amazing beyond description, and after being blown away by their performance, I had to meet the two musicians in person and purchase
Edmar’s latest CD; Edmar Castaneda World Ensemble (Live at the Jazz standard). Both men were very friendly and Edmar (in his ever preset Kangol style hat) was extremely engaging, and he also was pleased to know that they would be featured on my small corner. Gregoire, on the other hand, spoke very little English so we couldn’t communicate much (especially since my Spanish is probably much worse than his English), although he spoke volumes on stage with his harmonica.
Gregiori Maret
Since I only wore my music fan hat at the Guild concert that night, I did not take notes. At times a person must simply exist and enjoy the music, and that’s exactly what I did, but the album I purchased brought a small sampling of what I witnessed at the concert home with me. The album has only six songs on it, but those six songs are all lengthy (the average length is about 10 minutes), and those six pieces give you an inkling of what the live performance spectacularly delivered. By the way, Edmar is also an accomplished composer as well. Of the six songs, all but one (Carrao Carrao), were composed and arranged by Edmar, and the entire album was produced by him too!
The World Ensemble consisted of six other musicians besides Edmar and Gregoire: Marshall Gilkes/Trombone; Itai Kriss/Flute; Shlomi Cohen/Soprano Sax; Pablo Vergara/Piano; Rodrigo Villlon/Drums; and David Silliman/Percussion. There are also three “special guests” on the album; Andrea Tierra/vocals; Tamer Pinarbasi/Qanun (a middle eastern lute like instrument); and Sergio Krakowski/Pandero (a tambourine like instrument).
The first song on this colorful album is entitled Cuarto De Colores (Room of Colors). From the initial downbeat Edmar jumps in with both feet, or, as I should say, both hands. He pounds out the melody with a ferocious intensity that doesn’t let up for nearly the entire eleven minutes of the tune, and all the bassline you hear is played via the Edmar’s left hand on his harp. It’s startling how much sound and power he produces out of his instrument. When I first heard him play, I did not know what to expect. I had never seen an electric harp, and I anticipated the sound associated with the acoustic version of the instrument; well, I was wrong. Although the sound is very similar, the electric harp produces a harp sound that is on steroids! Its bold and vibrant in a way that is otherworldly. You just do not expect to hear what you’re hearing, and….its great!
Cuarto de Colores is a song that reeks of Columbia and the Latin flavored jazz of the region. The rhythm and flow of the music is indicative of the region from whence Edmar hails. The African influence is a huge part of the music just as the black people of South America make up a large part of the continent’s population. Their influence cannot be denied, but it is instead celebrated within the music, rhythm and dance of the Southern Hemisphere. South America is a large “room of colors” and every color of the heritage of the people of the region manifests itself in the music. This tune exhibits that reality in an energetically superb fashion.
The length of the song also allows space for the song to evolve and transform in complexity of sound and feel. The horn section has a meaty quality to it; they sound loud and large in unison, and as all the musicians are allowed their room to speak during this number, they each add their own flavor to the rhythmic soup, the result is a journey of grand proportions. Itai Kriss’ flute solo is creative and spontaneous. It is balanced and crisp and never becomes laborious. Itai seems to frolic through the measures as he tells his delightful story. He is followed by the virtuoso talent of Gregoire on the harmonica.
Edmar and the Harps!
Although for most Americans the harmonica may evoke thoughts of Stevie wonder or Toots Theilesmens (he of Sesame St. fame), or even Lee Oskar of the band WAR, but Gregoire has a style all his own. He plays in a style that is reminiscent of a guitar player. He approaches each note at times almost as if he were plucking a string. It’s a wonderful effect that adds to the complexity and timbre of the instrument. But he also allows the uniqueness of the harmonica’s qualities to shine through as well. He’s an amazing musician and fills the room with his soul and sound. Percussionist David Sillman exhibits his talents for a few bars, and then as the song winds down with each horn player improvising for a few bars and the song ends as abruptly as is began. This song is amazing from beginning to completion and it never leaves the listener fatigued (but I can’t say the same for any dancers who may try to keep up).
The third song on the CD is entitled Jesus De Nazareth. It’s a beautifully enchanting song that evokes a pacing quiet grace. Edmar is a religious man, and although not in overbearing fashion he does openly acknowledge his Christianity. This beautiful song emotes his faith in a way that words cannot. Its genesis is enigmatic as it quietly builds in dynamics, complexity and urgency. It continues its inexorable march and slowly grows into a heavenly melody of unearthly beauty. This is initially a solo number that displays a certain simplistic complexity that very few solo instruments can pull off; the harp is made for a tune like this.
As the song builds, the listener can hear all the intricacies of the harp. The bassline and melody seem nearly independent of one another; almost as if they were played on separate instruments. At almost exactly six minutes in, the entire band joins in to help tell the story. It’s the Gospel according to Castaneda, and although there are no written words, one can begin to understand what Edmar’s Savior means to him. We can also begin to gain some insight into Edmar’s quiet regal character the he publicly exhibits.
Adrea Tierra
Although not written by Edmar, Carrao Carrao, the fifth song of the CD is a beautiful number that I simply must talk about. A carrao is a beautiful wading bird indigenous to Florida and South America. The lovely voice of Adrea Tierra sings this song which also happens to be the only vocal number on this CD. The eerie beauty of this tune goes hand in hand with the beauty found on this CD itself, and it also lends itself to the beauty of Edmar’s craftmanship on the harp. Andrea sings with and insistent grace that draws you in even if you speak no Spanish. And one thing I found so remarkable is her ability to thrill the double “r” in the Spanish language. I, personally, have never heard anyone thrill those consonants to such an extent. The ability accentuates the beauty and mystery of the song. Andrea has an impeccable voice, with masterful command of her vocal cords, pitch and range. This song exudes mystery intertwined with the call of nature’s beauty. It’s a lovely interlude on an intensely rich album. A “must listen” for any music fan.
The last song on this CD is entitled Zamir Blues. This song is the funkiest tune on the disc. It has a cool steady groove and it keeps you rocking. The song begins with a funky bass intro that Edmar so expertly plays with his right hand on the bass strings of the harp, eventually he begins to explore the improvised melody of the intro with his left, his technique and musicianship as stellar as ever. After the brief solo intro, the percussion and drums set a smoking rhythm to accompany the harp, and usher in the entire band. Edmar continues the bass line which anchors the tune and the groove. After a few bars of nastiness, the entire ensemble enters in and the band erupts into the body of the song.
The World Ensemble.
The number has a familiar tone and quality to it, but the music is new and fresh. The song progresses and Gregoire begins to speak to the crowd with an inspired melodic funky and thoughtful harmonica voice which leaves the listener in awe while being completely entertained. The trombone of Gilkes speaks up next. He pours out his thoughtful sermon in a complete and satisfying fashion. Finally, Edmar enters in again with his solo, and you’re again amazed by the bass hand he displays, but there’s a reason for that too. You see, Edmar’s bass hero is Jaco Pastorius (Edmar even named a song after him), and Edmar has learned a thing or two about how the bass should be played by one of the best bassists ever.
This song has all the elements of a classic, and the one thought that I cannot shake as I contemplate America’s Black History month, and as I listen to not only this song, but the entire album, as well as jazz music from the four corners of the world is just how influential and ubiquitous American Jazz has become, and how it has shaped and defined modern musical language. Jazz is a language that brings people from diverse backgrounds and circumstances together. It’s America’s gift to the World’s musical conversation. A gift that was born in the rough fields of American slavery; a gift that was born out of the African rhythms of drumbeats heard on a distant continent, and a gift that was birthed out of the interpretation of a culture and a music that was foreign to and foisted upon unwilling subjects. This music is a bridge to all of mankind. It can be heard on every continent in the world, and it speaks a universal language that all can understand. Out of adversity emerges supreme beauty.
Well, once again I arrive at the end of another fun adventure. I must apologize for the, as of late, irregular postings. I am doing a lot of research and listening to various artists and I am trying to bring fresh and new (or, should I say, unfamiliar), artists to the conversation. I don’t want to become bored or sound stale as I do what I love, and this it to entertain (I hope) you. I hope to bring many new and extremely good local musicians to light, and (as I do not want to jump the gun and tip my hand), I hope to bring some exciting local musicians to the table, and also continue to write about established artists that I like as well.
Let me do my due diligence and state for the record that I do not own the rights to any music videos or images of artists that appear on this page or in this article. I refer to the “fair use” clause within the law to use this material.
I want to stir up interest, as well as give you a hint of things to come, by letting you know that N-Motion Entertainment will not only continue to bring stellar musicians to the Stage, but we will be doing some exciting work along the lines of some of the events we have done in the past. Tell you family and friends to stop by the “Corner” and read the articles, leave comments, make suggestions, and in the near future, you will be able to take advantage of special offers and discounts available only to readers of this article. We appreciate all of you, and I ‘d like to personally thank any and all of you for stopping by and checking things out.
Well, that’s all for now, and as always, next time “Catch You on the Corner”.
B. B. Suber
SMH Hopson
four × four =
Theon Cross Fyah Nawlins Jazz Funk from Across the Pond June 4, 2019
There are those who say that Jazz is stale, unimaginative and old. I’ve heard it all, and I’m sure you have too. Most people who think this way simply haven’t listened enough, or their minds are just so rigid that they have no room for imagining anything other than what they’re accustomed to. Well, when you listen to this young man be prepared for something different; something so out of the ordinary that you have to take a second and actually think about what you’re hearing before merely pushing it aside because you really don’t want put forth the effort to actually experience the music. Theon Cross is the definition of an iconoclast. He tears down barriers and wrecks stereotypes. In his music you can hear someone who is unafraid to be himself and patient enough to allow time for the listening public to catch up with him, because he’s not waiting around for anyone, and his train is moving fast.
Theon is a Tuba player; that’s right, Tuba. And to the uninitiated, this instrument in and of itself may not equate to their idea of what they call jazz, but to those of us who remember Miles, Thelonius, Dizz, and Parker, we know that iconoclasm is usually part and parcel with genius, and its musical genius that usually defines and shapes the beloved genre. Jazz is all about being unafraid to be different; unafraid to be uniquely you. Louis Armstrong was different; Ella was different; Nina was different, and we had to catch up with them. Dare I put this young man in their category? Only time will tell, but one thing I can attest to is that this LP is not your usual fare, and the superbly talented Mr. Cross is not your usual artist. In every generation there emerges a group of artists that blaze a new contrail in the musical skyline. They seem to rocket to a distant plane that at first attracts only a few, but following generations look back and point to them as the impetus for the new classic. Theon is that type of player.
His playing is reminiscent of the New Orleans sound in the way that the region’s jazz uses the bass horns; the trombone and the tuba, and when Theon plays the tuba, it suddenly becomes a lead instrument. This man rocks. Tubas aren’t supposed to carry the tune, rock a melody, and lead a song, but Theon pulls it off naturally, with home cooked groove peppered with style and funk.
Take the first song on this LP for instance; it’s entitled, quite appropriately, Activate, and with it, Theon takes off. He enters the soundstage like a 500-pound gorilla, but metaphorically he’s more of a Delta II Rocketship! He blasts off! He hits the beat hard and he doesn’t stop; Theon drives this tune from beginning to end with a relentlessly propelled funky groove. But with all the excitement this song exudes, there is an element of simplicity the accompanies the beat. The reason for this is that most of the song is played by a trio; Theon on tuba; Moses Boyd on drums and Ms. Nubya Garcia on tenor saxophone. There are a few measures mid-way through the song where Nubya’s sax is overdubbed, but the trio sound carries the load for the bulk of the tune, and the effect is amazing. The three players fill the room with driving music that not only makes you want to dance, but it makes you want to attentively listen as well. And the listener is awed by the artistry, virtuosity and stamina of the players. The song is a five-minute marathon. There is so much energy packed into such a small space the it seems as though the CD cannot contain it all. And you must pay attention to Theon’s solo near the end of the song. He amazes the listener with his sense of unleashed funk, groove and drive. This is not your run of the mill jazz diddy. It’s something far fresher and unashamedly different. And do not let me fail to mention the ridiculously fabulous drum play of Moses Boyd. He parts the Red sea of sameness and brings the listener into a new realm of raging jazz soul funk that will leave one breathless. Once the song ends, you’re almost relieved because you can finally catch your breath. This is one hell of an introduction that will not soon be forgotten, and you’ll beg to hear more.
Nubia Garcia
Song three is entitled Radiation. The players are identical to the first track, and although the groove is a bit slower than track one, the funky drive still floats atop the beat, only in a pleasant and a “bit” more relaxed fashion. The song opens with the funky prodding groove of tuba and drums, yet the jam still radiates pure unadulterated funk. There are no words being sung or being rapped; it’s funk in musical purity. The beat, the bass, and the horn; a tight trio that creates a head nodding beat that easy to follow but intricate enough to whet the intellectual appetite. Nubya’s sax sings the melody and sets the dance groove ablaze. She hits a smooth counterpoint to Theons pedestrian beat and leads the song into traffic jam of cool funky sound. It’s a dance tune disguised as a jazz funk exercise and Nubya is in charge.
Midway through the song the overdub device is used by the sax again, but the effect of Nubya’s tenor voice is an uncluttered raw canvas of beat and funk. And the funk is large, it cannot be missed, and there is no layer of sound to dilute it; it’s as uncluttered as it gets, but if full and mature at the same time. Funk, groove and improvisation are what you’re being fed, and it delicious. At times Theon sounds like the Godzilla of bass. He roars like he weighs a million pounds, but at the same time he is not overbearing; he just is, and he’s at his funky best. He’s a herd of elephants on the rampage, and in their wake is a crowd of sweaty dancing people. This song makes you want to see this man in concert, and I plan on doing exactly that.
Candace of Meroe is the 5th song on this LP, and it’s the first track to feature Wayne Francis on tenor sax (although Nubya does her excellent work on this video clip), and Artie Zaitz on electric guitar (Arties isn’t on the live clip either). This song is introduced and underpinned by the calypso beat of Moses’ drum, and it’s later accentuated by Artie’s exciting rhythm guitar play. But the heart of the number is opened by Theon’s jaw dropping solo. It’s hard to believe that this solo could be pulled off on a tuba, but hearing is believing. Theon is incredible and he attacks his solo with seasoned ferocity, but don’t be fooled, the song is really an interplay of tuba and tenor sax, with the tuba laying down a ridiculous groove that carries the song from beginning to end.
Moses Boyd
Theon’s tuba intersperses measures of improvised solos which further push the delicious dance groove. And, all this is accompanied by the Caribbean/ New Orleans style drumbeat, and the frenzied relentless rhythm guitar. Wayne finally takes his turn on the solo stage, and he delivers in a fashion that makes him the match of Theon (and he had better), which is no easy feat. Theon’s final solos follows, and the man delivers big time. He is the real deal, and that’s not to be argued.
There is not anything ordinary about this one. It’s unique in so many ways. It’s reminiscent of Miles’ excursions into the avant guard, but its not different for difference sake; the music sounds and feels authentic. And when the music is finally over, it’s almost a relief because the energy in so frenetic that it seems that it cannot be maintained. This is an excellent song; another quality offering on a quality CD.
Artie Zaitz
There is one standout ballad on this LP, and that’s the seventh song on the disc, and its entitled CIYA , which also happens to be the lengthiest number of this tasty album. This song features Nathaniel Cross on trombone, Artie on guitar, and Wayne on tenor saxophone. This one is smooth and groovy.It’s a cool ride in and open Cadillac convertible on a warm summer’s night. It smooth and easy, and Theon’s tuba is plays nearly like a double bass warm and smooth, understated, full and large. Moses’ drum play is smooth and understated as well and carries the tune softly along.
This song is a quiet meandering stream that soothes the soul and gives the listener a break for the relentlessness of the rest of the album. The music is quiet and tasty, and after all the high tempo music on this CD, it’s a nice change of pace that exhibits Theon’s ability to display the multifaceted colors of his mind. Nathaniel Cross’ buttery trombone solo melts in your ear and calms your spirit as well. His solo is followed by Theon’s own slow solo. He demonstrates that he can not only play the red hot funky driven stuff, but he can also slow it down, and exhibit the bluer side of his psyche. He’s a complex and complete musician, and I look forward to more of his music in the near future, and I look forward to hearing this young man in concert (and I hope he’ll be stateside very soon).
Well, I’ll leave the rest of the LP up to you to check out, and you won’t be disappointed. I didn’t touch on all of it, but its equally ambitious and just as good.
I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to read this article. We apologize for the delay in updating our mag; it seems as though when things are going along smoothly, something comes along to throw a wrench into the machinery. We have it all fixed now, and we hope to keep it that way.
You may have noticed that I’ve spent the first five months of the year only writing about one CD per month. I plan on writing two article per month for the remaining balance of the year simply because other projects that I have been working on have wound down (more on those in upcoming articles). I have some exciting new artists to talk about, as well as some established luminaries that continue to shine as bright as ever. Keep a look out in the near future and come back and join this ride along with us.
The summer season is here, and as usual there are a lot of live national acts coming to town, and of course, N-Motion Entertainment is right there in the thick of things doing what we do best. We have some top-notch recording artists scheduled to appear in the soon at fantastic local venues around the city.
We have a tentative date for saxophonists Jeff Kashiwa and Steve Cole to appear at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild on July 13.
Also, we have the return of our AMAZING White Party on July 27th at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in beautiful Shadyside! We will have several great artists there. Please stay tuned for details as they solidify. This will be a wonderful affair, and for those of you who remember the last one, you know I am not exaggerating, and I guarantee you will not be disappointed with this one.
And, on September the 6th we will be bringing national recording star Najee to the Manchester Craftmen’s Guild.
For details on these upcoming shows, please visit our Facebook page, or this magazine. Of course, “Brian’s Corner” will always keep you informed on what’s happen in the area.
And remember to check out NMojazz for all you jazz music searches. It ‘s the best and fastest growing music search engine in the world, and it’s home grown. You can link to it directly from this mag!
Well, that brings me to the end of this installment. I hope you enjoyed checking it out as much as I enjoyed writing it. Remember to tell you family and friends to come and give the Corner a visit, and feel free to leave feedback or artist recommendations in the comment section. And I look forward to personally meeting some of you at our upcoming events.
Take care, and remember, next time “Catch You on The Corner”!
Majestic Music of The Soulful Symphony / Darin Atwater / April 12, 2019 / The Souls of Black Folk!
Conductor / Musician Darin Atwater
On March 30, 2019 in the large, well-appointed Murphy Fine Arts Center of the Morgan State University Campus in Baltimore Maryland, Darin Atwater and his Soulful Symphony delivered their angelic music to a sold-out auditorium and its captivated audience; an audience who had waited for nearly four years to see the resurgent Symphony perform again in the Baltimore area. I was in attendance with a good friend of mine (who had initially introduced me to this predominately African American Orchestra), and we had eagerly awaited (along with nearly everyone else I’m sure), for their return. Our wait was now over, and the performance we shared far outshined the memory of just how great not only the orchestra is, but also how great of a conductor, artist, and arranger Darin is, and how great of an influence he is to the Baltimore Maryland area specifically, but also the greater landscape of African American Music in general.
The Concert was entitled “The Souls of Black Folk”; it was named after the book written by W. E. B. DuBois, and the concert was sponsored by the New Shiloh Baptist Church with part of the proceeds going to help pay for renovations to their church home sanctuary. Darin also elaborated via Facebook post (as well as during the concert), upon the Soulful Symphony being named the resident orchestra for Baltimore’s Merriweather Post Pavilion during its summer concert season. The Post Pavilion is a beautiful roofed outdoor concert area that seats approximately 16,000 people. So, if you’re up for great orchestral music you can catch the orchestra there throughout this upcoming summer.
There are a few visible things that you will notice about Soulful Symphony when you see them in concert. The first thing you will notice is that Soulful Symphony has a Choir; in fact, the choir consists of twenty-six voices. There are eight sopranos, and eight altos; six tenors, and four bass voices. This gives SS a huge vocal presence, and the quality of the voices of the singers is jaw dropping (more on that later). Another thing you’ll visibly notice is the number of strings in this ensemble. There are thirty-two total string players. Of that total, there are ten first violins; eight second violins; six violas; 5 cellos, and 3 double bass viols. This number of stings gives the orchestra a lush string presence, which add a very high level of emotional nuance to the music. The sound is utterly remarkable and breathe-taking at times. And, because there are so many strings in relationship to the entire size of the orchestra, the strings are never drowned out by the horn section or the rest of the orchestra and singers. There is always a sonic balance that is pleasurable to the ear; the stage swells with the sound of strings, and the music projects an awe-inspiring emotive aura for the listener.
If you’ve never seen Darin, let me tell you that in height, stature, age range and appearance he might remind you of another famous black conductor Kirk Franklin. I’m sure they’re aware of one another, (and in this particular concert Darin performs one of Kirk’s songs), and they are both from the Pentecostal branch of the African American Church, so there are a lot of similarities between the two men, and their talent level is also on par with one another. Personally, I’m expecting some type of collaboration of the two in the near future. We’ll see; but back to the subject at hand.
Dr. and Mrs. Harold A. Carter Jr
The concert was presided by Dr. Harold A. Carter, JR., Pastor of New Shiloh Baptist Church. Accompanied by his wife, he gave a short speech, with was followed by a speech by Capital Campaign Chairpersons Dr. Robert and Mrs. Wanda Draper in which they also introduced all the members of the Capital Campaign Steering Committee members. And then the concert began.
As the audience became silent, First Chair violinist, the lovely and talented, Ms. Jessica R. Mc Junkins entered from stage right to a round of applause, she elegantly curtsied and led the orchestra in its’ “Concert A” tune up, after which the Conductor Atwater entered to further applause. After a brief interaction with the crowd, the concert began with the song Listen Lord A Prayer, a song that Darin wrote which is based on a poem written by James Weldon Johnson, which was followed by three songs written by Darrin; The Crucifixion, and Judgement Day, and the song Hem, Him, Hymn. All were well done, and very lovely, but the next song was sung by lead Alto Mia Coleman; the old classic hymn Amazing Grace (attached is the Soweto Gospel Choir Version of that hymn). This song was so remarkably sung that it defies explanation. Mia’s range is at least four octaves, if not five. She began her solo at an astounding baritone range, and gradually entered the soprano register. She amazed everyone listening, but, I suppose, the orchestra who listens to this remarkable woman sing regularly. She not only has an astounding range at her control, but she also draws from a deep emotional reservoir as well. She poured her soul into her solo, and you can feel the assuredness and certainty of what she is singing; the listener lives the song with the singer; there’s a oneness the is felt individually with everyone present. This solo was a highlight of many highlights from the evening.
The next female soloist (sorry, I don’t have her name), came to the front microphone and did a rendition of the 23rd Psalm. The interesting aspect of this, one of the most famous Psalms in Scripture, is that the version was written by none other than Duke Ellington! The arrangement for orchestra was, of course, done by Darrin, and the effect of the two was awesomely beautiful. Up to this point in time, this concert is not available on Vinyl, CD, or video, so unfortunately, I cannot link Soulful Symphony’s version, but I’ll link the original version sung by none other than the inimitable
Mahalia Jackson.
This version is just as beautiful in its own right and will give you an inkling of the performance we were treated with that night.
This Psalm was followed by a beautiful song written by Richard Smallwood entitled Total Praise. As you can hear from this rendition by Mr. Smallwood himself, the song lends itself quite readily to the orchestral experience. Richard is also a great conductor and composer of Gospel music, and he uses an orchestra frequently. Darrin is steeped in the church, and he readily equates the experience of black people in America with the Gospel experience of the church and the faith exhibited by our fore-parents in this land which was strange to them. This is a heritage of the black American experience, and the expression thereof is still strong today. It goes part and parcel with the struggles that black people have dealt with in their time in this country. We are visibly different, and that difference spells an alienation that many of us have endured throughout our lives; be it for better of for worse, it cannot be denied, and one place where it can be expressed in our commonality has been in the Churches; in worship, in the preaching and in the music. It’s a reality of our experience within this country that will never be forgotten, and that reality, and the emotion associated with it is captured in our art, worship and music, and this song is demonstrative of all three.
The last song of the first half of the concert is a song written by Judith McAllister entitled To Our God. This song is a rousing anthem of praise. It’s majestic and mighty in its concept and delivery, and it carries away the listener experientially; you experience the worshipful atmosphere through the music and words. The choir rejoices in the words and the worship the words express, and the audience cannot help but feel not only the majesty of the words being sung, but they also experience a minute measure of the majesty of the One to Whom the song is sung. This song is breathtaking in its delivery and feel. There is nothing nuanced about it. It is in your face and gives you a of glimpse of the majesty that awaits all of us when we one day step into the actual throne room of the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings. The song is so climatic that it leaves your soul crying for a break, and it lead the audience into the intermission on an emotional high.
After the brief intermission there were a few words of gratitude and benevolence from the Pastor Dr. Carter and the Campaign Chairpersons again, the then the concert resumed with Darin’s own song “Wednesday Night Devotions” which was followed by another of Darin’s compositions which was at one time sung by Donnie McClurkin, the song is entitled “Purple” The particular version I linked to is beautifully performed by the WPA Children of the Gospel, and it was similarly, and just as beautifully performed that evening at Morgan State. As the evening progressed, the audience was pulled deeper into a worshipful experience as the choir and orchestra majestically performed their concert. The reverence could be felt as well as it could be heard, and the beauty of the theatre was surpassed by the beauty of the music that filled it.
After two more numbers, both as equally as awesome as the prior two, Darin took a break and exited stage right, relinquishing his station to one of the tenors (sorry, I don’t remember the young man’s name either), and the choir and orchestra brought the tempo up with one of Darin’s contemporaries Kirk Franklin,s tune Love Theory. The ensemble and the young man in the lead delivered a rousing rendition of the song and also lead the audience in a call and response that was inspiring and deliciously enjoyable to hear. The concert was as much a worshipful experience as it was a listening experience, and that was reiterated throughout the evening. It was a peek into the atmosphere of the Black Pentecostal Church experience in the U. S., and that aspect was felt to an increasing degree as the night progressed.
After that rousing number, Darrin quieted the atmosphere with the traditional version of the hymn Holy Holy Holy (Alabama A & M Gospel Choir version). The number was beautifully done and was grand in its delivery. The symphony and Choir were awe inspiring. They delivered three more numbers, one of them being You Made A Way featuring Travis Greene, leaving the audience completely satisfied and emotionally drained, but they weren’t finished, at least not just yet. They put the cap on this amazing evening with the song There Is No Way which was written by Rev. Milton Brunson in the early 1980s. This song completed a great evening to the total satisfaction of the capacity crowd. If you’ve never experienced the Soulful Symphony, I would encourage all of you to check them out at the Post Pavilion this summer. The drive there is not that far at all, and hotel accommodations are moderately priced, and you can take some time and check out the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore while you’re down there too. It’s a good time and a great place in which to soak up the atmosphere of the city’s beautifully refurbished tourist area. For ticket information please check out Darin Atwater on Facebook.
Well, that’s it for this installment of B.C. I’d like to thank any and all of you who took the time to come and check in on what we do here. In the coming months we plan on having many more album and concert reviews for your enjoyment. Please feel free to leave comments in the section provided. We’ll try to respond as time allows. I do work a regular job, and I run a few businesses as well, so my time is limited.
Let me do my due diligence here and state for the record the “I do not own the rights to any video or music used in the production of this article. The items used are for illustrative purposes and the enjoyment of the reader only, and I appeal to the “Fair Use” clause within the law to do so.”
Now that that’s out of the way, remember to hit me up with any items or music you’d like me to review or check out. Also, remember to check out my articles in SoulPitt magazine, and I’m also writing a couple of books on other topics that I love. I’ll make sure and keep you updated about those as they mature.
Thanks you all again, and remember; Next time “Catch you on The Corner”.
Jazz N-Motion
Brian's Corner3 months ago
Brian's Corner1 month ago
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A piece in the data puzzle
20 Jun 2017 |
By Dr Jemilah Mahmood, IFRC Under Secretary General
Here’s something that might never have occurred to you.
In the aftermath of a major emergency like an earthquake or storm, it can be really hard to find people. I’m not just talking about people trapped under rubble, I’m talking about large numbers of survivors.
This might sound strange, but when you think about it, it makes sense. In the chaos that follows a disaster, people often move quickly in search of safety. They might leave the disaster area entirely and head back to a nearby city or town, or into rural areas.
This can have major ramifications on relief and recovery efforts. Where should we be sending our volunteers and emergency teams? Where should our relief supply chains be focused? What do people need? All these questions are harder to answer without knowing where people have gone.
But gathering information from these approaches can take days, weeks. And in that time decisions need to be made.
A new tool in our data toolkit
Last week, American Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the World Food Programme and UNICEF announced a partnership with Facebook that could in some situations, bridge this data gap and allow us to see these dynamics in real time.
Facebook is going to make anonymized, aggregated and real-time data available for our organizations, making it possible for humanitarians to request access to three types of data:
Population density: where concentrations of people are located before, during, and after a disaster.
Population movement: where concentrations of people are moving, revealing patterns of movement over several hours.
Safety check: where people have checked in safe, using de-identified aggregated data.
These data from Facebook has the possibility to help us focus on getting aid to exactly where people are or where they are moving to.
Taken alongside other sources of data – including Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers on the ground, satellite imagery, population density maps, OpenStreetMap, and the like– these data will help us build better maps and better target our community interventions.
Mapping Malawi
The American Red Cross is already showing how it is done. In Malawi, the American Red Cross, the Malawi Red Cross and partners set a goal of vaccinating 7.5 million children in the space of a few weeks the month of June 2017. Mobilizing this many families to stand in line for a vaccination shot requires knowing where to send volunteers door-to-door to explain the disease and convince families to participate. For this, one needs a very good map.
But when one looks at the map of Malawi, many rural areas are blank spots. American Red Cross data experts have been able to use Facebook data to identify settlements in rural areas, and then mobilized volunteers to put these places onto OpenStreetMap through a campaign known as Missing Maps.
This work meant volunteers to focus their effort on a more precisely defined area. It opened our eyes, it helped our volunteers work smarter, and it (indirectly) saved lives.
Patterns, not people
Equally as exciting is the fact that none of this work required knowing anything about individual Facebook subscribers; just where concentrations of them lived. The data we have access to is aggregated in such a way that we cannot see individuals or families. It shows us density and movement in a way that seems useful, but that protects the privacy of people we are trying to help. Patterns, not people.
Of course there are limitations. If a disaster knocks out networks, then this kind of information might not be available (although, knowing where power and internet are down could be useful in and of itself). In other contexts, where internet access is limited or where Facebook isn’t in wide use, then it might offer a very limited picture. But at the very least, it will help us know more than we knew before. And that will, in some way, help us get people and supplies to where they are needed.
We’re excited about this initiative. It’s by no means a panacea. It’s not going to solve all the challenges we face. But it gives us more information than we had before. And taken alongside other data sources, including more traditional ones, it helps us become smarter. That means we will be better able to help people in need.
That’s the point, after all.
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Stephen Ryan
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Cash transfer programme puts Kenyans in charge of their recovery
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Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest is the chair of the North Carolina Energy Policy Council. The Council’s mission is to develop short and long-term energy policy for the state of North Carolina.
Energy Independence:
The vision for energy policy in North Carolina is simple: going forward, North Carolina should strive to be energy independent. We have an opportunity at this juncture in history to begin turning North Carolina from an energy consumer into an energy producer. Any successful long-term energy plan must be an “all of the above” plan, and it must be economically feasible and environmentally responsible. However, energy independence should not come at the cost of a severe negative impact. Funds must be spent judiciously and appropriate studies completed to ensure a positive impact on our state.
On-Shore and Off Shore Diagnosis and Extraction:
Dan Forest hopes North Carolinians will have the opportunity to develop on-shore energy production through the shale plays in our basins and explore the substantial energy resources in the waters off the North Carolina coast. With the appropriate rules and regulations in place, this exploration can be done safely and with great benefit to the economy and citizens of North Carolina. Our long-term policy must include provisions that account for the base amount of energy needed by our population. Currently available energies like nuclear, coal, and natural gas will continue to predominate, because it is impossible to meet the base amount of energy needed by our population solely through the use of alternative and renewable sources of energy.
Energy Innovation:
Innovation is essential to the long-term energy policy of this state. Innovation can be used in the gas field to lower the costs of natural gas recovery and in the arena of energy efficiency with the development of alternative and renewable sources of energy. Innovation will also help solve the problems associated with solar and wind energies through the use of low-cost, high-capacity storage mechanisms.
Energy for our Growing Economy:
Energy costs are a driver for the expansion of the North Carolina economy. The number one concern of many international companies is reliable and low-cost energy. Lieutenant Governor Forest is encouraging companies to move to North Carolina, and our available energy resources are a big selling point. By focusing on exploration, generation, and innovation, the Lieutenant Governor, along with the Energy Policy Council, is crafting a long-term energy strategy for continued prosperity in North Carolina.
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Tag Archives: binding constant
The bouillabaisse of the synaptic cleft
November 15, 2017 – 11:11 pm
The synaptic cleft is so small ( under 400 Angstroms — 40 nanoMeters ) that it can’t be seen with the light microscope ( the smallest wavelength of visible light 3,900 Angstroms — 390 nanoMeters). This led to a bruising battle between Cajal and Golgi a just over a century ago over whether the brain was actually made of cells. Even though Golgi’s work led to the delineation of single neurons he thought the brain was a continuous network. They both won the Nobel in 1906.
Semifast forward to the mid 60s when I was in medical school. We finally had the electron microscope, so we could see synapses. They showed up as a small CLEAR spaces (e.g. electrons passed through it easily leaving it white) between neurons. Neurotransmitters were being discovered at the same time and the synapse was to be the analogy to vacuum tubes, which could pass electricity in just one direction (yes, the transistor although invented hadn’t been used to make anything resembling a computer — the Intel 4004 wasn’t until the 70s). Of course now we know that information flows back and forth across the synapse, with endocannabinoids (e. g. natural marihuana) being the major retrograde neurotransmitter.
Since there didn’t seem to be anything in the synaptic cleft, neurotransmitters were thought to freely diffuse across it to being to receptors on the other (postsynaptic) side e.g. a free fly zone.
Fast forward to the present to a marvelous (and grueling to read because of the complexity of the subject not the way it’s written) review of just what is in the synaptic cleft [ Cell vol. 171 pp. 745 – 769 ’17 ] http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(17)31246-1 (It is likely behind a paywall). There are over 120 references, and rather than being just a catalogue, the single author Thomas Sudhof extensively discusseswhich experimental work is to be believed (not that Sudhof is saying the work is fraudulent, but that it can’t be used to extrapolate to the living human brain). The review is a staggering piece of work for one individual.
The stuff in the synaptic cleft is so diverse, and so intimately involved with itself and the membranes on either side what what is needed for comprehension is not a chemist but a sociologist. Probably most of the molecules to be discussed are present in such small numbers that the law of mass action doesn’t apply, nor do binding constants which rely on large numbers of ligands and receptors. Not only that, but the binding constants haven’t been been determined for many of the players.
Now for some anatomic detail and numbers. It is remarkably hard to find just how far laterally the synaptic cleft extends. Molecular Biology of the Cell ed. 5 p. 1149 has a fairly typical picture with a size marker and it looks to be about 2 microns (20,000 Angstroms, 2,000 nanoMeters) — that’s 314,159,265 square Angstroms (3.14 square microns). So let’s assume each protein takes up a square 50 Angstroms on a side (2,500 square Angstroms). That’s room for 125,600 proteins on each side assuming extremely dense packing. However the density of acetyl choline receptors at the neuromuscular junction is 8,700/square micron, a packing also thought to be extremely dense which would give only 26,100 such proteins in a similarly distributed CNS synapse. So the numbers are at least in the right ball park (meaning they’re within an order of magnitude e.g. within a power of 10) of being correct.
When you see how many different proteins and different varieties of the same protein reside in the cleft, the numbers for each individual element is likely to be small, meaning that you can’t use statistical mechanics but must use sociology instead.
The review focuses on the neurExins (I capitalize the E to help me remember that they are prEsynaptic). Why? Because they are the best studied of all the players. What a piece of work they are. Humans have 3 genes for them. One of the 3 contains 1,477 amino acids, spread over 1,112,187 basepairs (1.1 megaBases) along with 74 exons. This means that just over 1/10 of a percent of the gene is actually coding for for the amino acids making it up. I think it takes energy for RNA polymerase II to stitch the ribonucleotides into the 1.1 megabase pre-mRNA, but I couldn’t (quickly) find out how much per ribonucleotide. It seems quite wasteful of energy, unless there is some other function to the process which we haven’t figured out yet.
Most of the molecule resides in the synaptic cleft. There are 6 LNS domains with 3 interspersed EGFlike repeats, a cysteine loop domain, a transmembrane region and a cytoplasmic sequence of 55 amino acids. There are 6 sites for alternative splicing, and because there are two promoters for each of the 3 genes, there is a shorter form (beta neurexin) with less extracellular stuff than the long form (alpha-neurexin). When all is said and done there are over 1,000 possible variants of the 3 genes.
Unlike olfactory neurons which only express one or two of the nearly 1,000 olfactory receptors, neurons express mutiple isoforms of each, increasing the complexity.
The LNS regions of the neurexins are like immunoglobulins and fill at 60 x 60 x 60 Angstrom box. Since the synaptic cleft is at most 400 Angstroms long, the alpha -neurexins (if extended) reach all the way across.
Here the neurexins bind to the neuroligins which are always postsynaptic — sorry no mnemonic. They are simpler in structure, but they are the product of 4 genes, and only about 40 isoforms (due to alternative splicing) are possible. Neuroligns 1, 3 and 4 are found at excitatory synapses, neuroligin 2 is found at inhibitory synapses. The intracleft part of the neuroligins resembles an important enzyme (acetylcholinesterase) but which is catalytically inactive. This is where the neurexins.
This is complex enough, but Sudhof notes that the neurexins are hubs interacting with multiple classes of post-synaptic molecules, in addition to the neuroligins — dystroglycan, GABA[A] receptors, calsystenins, latrophilins (of which there are 4). There are at least 50 post-synaptic cell adhesion molecules — “Few are well understood, although many are described.”
The neurexins have 3 major sites where other things bind, and all sites may be occupied at once. Just to give you a taste of he complexity involved (before I go on to larger issues).
The second LNS domain (LNS2)is found only in the alpha-neurexins, and binds to neuroexophilin (of which there are 4) and dystroglycan .
The 6th LNS domain (LNS6) binds to neuroligins, LRRTMs, GABA[A] receptors, cerebellins and latrophilins (of which there are 4)_
The juxtamembrane sequence of the neurexins binds to CA10, CA11 and C1ql.
The cerebellins (of which there are 4) bind to all the neurexins (of a particular splice variety) and interestingly to some postsynaptic glutamic acid receptors. So there is a direct chain across the synapse from neurexin to cerebellin to ion channel (GLuD1, GLuD2).
There is far more to the review. But here is something I didn’t see there. People have talked about proton wires — sites on proteins that allow protons to jump from one site to another, and move much faster than they would if they had to bump into everything in solution. Remember that molecules are moving quite rapidly — water is moving at 590 meters a second at room temperature. Since the synaptic cleft is 40 nanoMeters (40 x 10^-9 meters, it should take only 40 * 10^-9 meters/ 590 meters/second 60 trillionths of a second (60 picoSeconds) to cross, assuming the synapse is a free fly zone — but it isn’t as the review exhaustively shows.
It it possible that the various neurotransmitters at the synapse (glutamic acid, gamma amino butyric acid, etc) bind to the various proteins crossing the cleft to get their target in the postsynaptic membrane (e.g. neurotransmitter wires). I didn’t see any mention of neurotransmitter binding to the various proteins in the review. This may actually be an original idea.
I’d like to put more numbers on many of these things, but they are devilishly hard to find. Both the neuroligins and neurexins are said to have stalks pushing them out from the membrane, but I can’t find how many amino acids they contain. It can’t find how much energy it takes to copy the 1.1 megabase neurexin gene in to mRNA (or even how much energy it takes to add one ribonucleotide to an existing mRNA chain).
Another point– proteins have a finite lifetime. How are they replenished? We know that there is some synaptic protein synthesis — does the cell body send packages of mRNAs to the synapse to be translated there. There are at least 50 different proteins mentioned in the review, and don’t forget the thousands of possible isoforms, each of which requires a separate mRNA.
Old Chinese saying — the mountains are high and the emperor is far away. Protein synthesis at the synaptic cleft is probably local. How what gets made and when is an entirely different problem.
A large part of the review concerns mutations in all these proteins associated with neurologic disease (particularly autism). This whole area has a long and checkered history. A high degree of cynicism is needed before believing that any of these mutations are causative. As a neurologist dealing with epilepsy I saw the whole idea of ion channel mutations causing epilepsy crash and burn — here’s a link — https://luysii.wordpress.com/2011/07/17/we’ve-found-the-mutation-causing-your-disease-not-so-fast-says-this-paper/
Once again, hats off to Dr. Sudhof for what must have been a tremendous amount of work
By luysii | Posted in Chemistry (relatively pure), Medicine in general, Molecular Biology Survival Guide, Neurology & Psychiatry | Also tagged alpha-neurexin, beta-neurexin, calsystenins, cerebellin, Diameter of a synapse, dystroglycan, egf repeat, Electron Microscopy, GABA[A] receptor, ion channel, latrophilins, law of mass action, lns domain, neurexin, neuroligin, neurotransmitter wires, proton wire, sociology of the synapse, Statistical mechanics, synaptic cleft, Thomas Sudhof | Comments (2)
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News » Local News
Hydrophobia
health of Migratory birds are just one of the concerns raised by opponents of the project. SUMMER LAKE - This is a place the phrase
by Mike Bookey
health of Migratory birds are just one of the concerns raised by opponents of the project.
health of Migratory birds are just one of the concerns raised by opponents of the project. SUMMER LAKE - This is a place the phrase "austere beauty" might have been invented to describe. High, rocky ridges dusted with early-spring snow ring a desert plateau sweeping down to a broad expanse of water. The only sounds are the wind, the song of birds and the infrequent whine of tires as a car or truck passes on Highway 31.The handful of people who live in and around the tiny town of Summer Lake about 100 miles southeast of Bend worry that things will change if NT Hydro goes through with its plans. The Idaho company wants to build a pumped storage hydroelectric plant by the lake, involving turbines, two eight-foot-diameter pipes running uphill from the lake and 12 miles of new power lines.
Julie Bryant and her husband own the Summer Lake Inn, a small resort with a few cabins near the shore of the lake. Bryant fears the hydro project will ruin the environment that brings tens of thousands of migratory birds - and hundreds of birdwatchers and waterfowl hunters - to this remote spot every year, as well as the special ambiance that draws permanent and temporary urban refugees in search of peace.
"It's the quiet, the light," she says. "People come here because you can see the stars at night and you can't hear anything but the birds."
Only three-feet deep, SUmmer lake sprawls, covering an area 20 miles long by 10 miles wide.
Only three-feet deep, SUmmer lake sprawls, covering an area 20 miles long by 10 miles wide.NT Hydro has many legal hurdles to jump before it can build the Summer Lake plant and a similar one it's proposed for nearby Abert Lake, and intense political opposition is gathering. But even if the opponents win this fight, conservationists fear there will be many more as speculators rush to exploit the demand for green - or pseudo-green - energy.
Pumped storage hydro plants harness the force of gravity to generate power. At Summer Lake, NT Hydro wants to pump water 2,600 feet up to an 80-acre reservoir at the top of Winter Ridge, then let it flow down through turbines and send the electricity 12 miles overland into the grid.
Summer Lake covers a vast area - 20 miles long by 10 miles wide - but it's less than three feet deep at its deepest, so NT Hydro would have to dig out a sump near the lake's north end to collect enough water to make the scheme work. Opponents say that would draw down lake levels and imperil marshes, including the state wildlife refuge and the federal Diablo Mountain Wilderness Study Area (WSA) on the lake's east side, which are home to more than 250 species of birds including bald eagles, white faced ibis, hermit thrushes, great blue herons, many varieties of ducks, and the threatened Western snowy plover.
Among Summer Lake Valley locals, Julie Bryant is leading the charge against NT Hydro's application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a preliminary permit to do feasibility studies of the project. "We've gotten statements of opposition from virtually every resident," she said. "I would say every landowner in the valley has come out in opposition."
Fortunately for Bryant and her neighbors, they have more numerous and powerful allies: The Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA), Oregon Wild and Oregon Water Watch are all joining the fight against the Summer Lake and Abert Lake projects.
"ONDA, along with other conservation organizations, local landowners and people who love both of these lakes, is working to provide comments and protests to FERC over the application for preliminary permits," said Dave Becker, staff attorney for ONDA. "ONDA, along with Oregon Wild and Water Watch, (is) going to file a motion to intervene so we can all become parties and be able to track the projects and interpose our objections."
Becker pointed out that both the Summer Lake and the Abert Lake proposals would impact wilderness study areas, which the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is legally mandated to protect from degradation.
In the Abert Lake project, he said, "They would dig a tunnel right under the wilderness study area. They plan to take little Mule Lake at the top of Abert Rim and dredge it and expand it so it could contain the water that's pumped up from Lake Abert. It would effectively destroy the environment of that area."
In the Summer Lake project, he continued, the Diablo Mountain WSA "would be dewatered as water is pumped out of Summer Lake. So you've got direct and very serious effects on shorebird habitat, on wildlife management areas, on areas BLM considers critical, and the direct destruction, really, of wilderness study areas."
Ironically, the Summer Lake and Abert Lake hydro plants are being pushed as "green power" projects even though they will be net energy losers. It will take more power to pump the water up to the storage reservoirs than the turbines will produce when the water flows back down.
NT Hydro hopes to make money by gaming the system - taking advantage of the price differential between daytime (expensive) electricity and night-time (cheaper) electricity by pumping the water at night and running it through the turbines and selling the resulting power during the day.
"I think everybody that has any interest in that area whatsoever is going to be unanimously opposed" to the NT Hydro projects, said Becker. "It's not going to deliver any substantial benefit to anybody except the company that's building it. There's a net loss to the energy grid."
Becker said ONDA believes some pumped storage plants can be worthwhile, but these are the wrong ones in the wrong place.
"If it was in a place that wasn't such an absolute gem and so unspoiled, these projects could help take coal-fired power plants off line," he said. "But it's all about location. And there's no indication that within the energy grid of Oregon there's a need for a project like this. There's no justification for allowing a company simply to take a profit at the expense of these lakes in the desert. We recognize there's a need for renewable energy, but not here."
Ted Sorenson, an engineer and one of the partners in NT Hydro, said the Summer Lake and Abert Lake projects will produce "green" energy because they'll use wind power to drive the pumps during the night.
"It's a renewable battery," he said. "You store energy by pumping water up during light load periods and bringing it back down. ... You take wind energy during night and pump water uphill. Then during the day when the air conditioners are running in California we would let the water run back downhill and make electricity."
The trouble with that reasoning, though, is that there are no wind farms in the Summer Lake / Abert Lake area now, and unless and until some are built the NT Hydro plants would be drawing power from the same grid that everybody else is.
"Any way you slice it, this is a pretty boneheaded idea," said Steve Pedery, conservation director for Oregon Wild. "Just from the standpoint of economics this doesn't make much sense. Wouldn't it be ironic if these projects end up buying power from PGE's coal-fired power plant up in Boardman?"
Andy Kerr, a prominent Oregon conservationist and environmental activist who has been involved with Oregon Wild since 1976, when it was called the Oregon Natural Resources Council, had some caustic words for the NT Hydro projects and the company behind them.
"Pumped storage facilities are like an engineer's wet dream and an accountant's nightmare," Kerr said. "They're betting energy prices will go up enough that this will be feasible. There's not enough wind power for them (even) if they had claim to it, and they don't."
The prospects for NT Hydro's proposals are uncertain. Even if the company makes it past all the regulatory barriers it will be "a minimum of five or six years" before any power starts flowing, according to Sorenson.
Sorenson also indicated that his company would substantially modify its plans - or maybe even drop them - if the local opposition was too intense.
"I am from a rural community, I grew up on a ranch," he said. "We want to interact with the locals and find something that's acceptable to them. We are looking at the site. We have done some preliminary economics, but we need to talk to the local people, listen to them, see what problems they have, if there's ways to work out any of the local problems."
It's possible, Sorenson added, that NT Hydro would "just get a flat piece of ground next to the lake" to store water instead of digging out a sump in the lake basin.
But ONDA and its allies don't want to take any chances. They're hoping to nip the projects in the bud by persuading FERC to deny the preliminary study permit.
"It's our hope to convince the commission that these projects shouldn't even go to a feasibility study stage."
The public comment period on the preliminary application closes April 4. After that, Becker said, FERC probably will make a decision in a month or two. If it issues a preliminary permit, he added, "We plan to intervene again if actual construction applications are filed in a year or two."
NT Hydro is "going to run into a political buzz saw, and I don't think they have an appreciation of that," said Andy Kerr. "Just sitting here I can think of a half-dozen ways to throw sand in their gears. I've done it before, and it was a lot of fun."
But Kerr, a veteran of many battles, knows that the fight against environmentally damaging power projects is a long-running one, and it won't end here.
"In the early '80s there was another hydro rush," he said. "I seem to recall a project on Abert Lake that called for a berm dividing the lake in two. In the early '80s there were literally hundreds and hundreds of permit applications, and I think only one or two actually got built in Oregon."
The real solution to our energy problems, Kerr believes, lies not in building more power plants but in learning to use the power we have more efficiently.
"We need to understand that we can have just as many hot showers and just as much cold beer as we have now on 10% of the energy if we just designed our houses correctly," he said. "This threat will not go away. It will come back as we deal with global warming and try to be rational about energy use in this country and on (the rest of) the Earth."
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Wife, son in custody over NSW man's death
by Perry Duffin
27th Jun 2019 4:43 PM
The son and wife of a NSW man first believed to have died in a fall have been taken into custody, charged over his death four months ago.
Paramedics were called to a home at Bungendore, near Canberra, on February 23, where they treated an unconscious man.
Authorities were told at the time the 56-year-old had taken a fall.
He was admitted to Canberra Hospital's intensive care unit but died two days later when he was taken off life support.
A post-mortem examination found the man had suffered significant head injuries and police were treating his death as suspicious.
Officers on Thursday arrested the man's 21-year-old son, Brady Phillip Sheather, and 48-year-old wife Megan Sheather at a home in Bungendore.
Police allege a fight took place between the father and son
"(It's alleged) the younger man assaulted the older man, which resulted in the older man falling backwards and hitting his head," NSW Police said in a statement.
"Police will also allege the 48-year-old woman has been complicit in providing authorities with incorrect information."
The 21-year-old was charged with manslaughter, while the woman is accused of being an accessory after the fact of manslaughter.
The Sheathers did not apply for bail, which was formally refused at Queanbeyan Local Court on Thursday.
They were ordered to reappear at the same court again on September 3.
editors picks family fatality murder charges
Toowoomba Rangers unable to catch Condamine Cods
News Condamine Cods impressive on the football field on Saturday for their last home game of the season.
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Bugger Off: The Importance of Penetration Testing
Wednesday Jul 25th 2007 by Paul Rubens
Penetration testing is critical to sever security, and the tools to do it yourself have improved markedly in the past year. In some cases, however, hiring a consultant is a better way to go.
Forget "Thursday is the new Friday" and "brown is the new black." When it comes to servers, the really important message is this: "Penetration testing is the new vulnerability scanning."
Joe Pescatore, a security analyst at Gartner, explained. "Previously, companies needed to do vulnerability scanning on their network before attackers did, but since attackers have moved from vulnerability scanning to fairly targeted penetration testing, companies now need to carry out penetration testing before the attackers do," he told ServerWatch.
Pescatore recommends that any company involved with online transactions, which allows inbound connections and potentially exposing customer information, have an outside consultancy perform penetration testing at least once a year. Larger companies should carry out additional tests on their servers more frequently, either through a consultant or with automated penetration testing tools.
Penetration testing tools have really come of age in the past 12 months or so, both commercial products aimed at the corporate market place, and free tools like Metasploit framework 3. It's probably not an exaggeration to say that the power of Metasploit has really moved the goalposts, making it far easier for hackers to carry out their own penetration "tests."
See all articles in our Series Bugger Off: The Importance of Securing Your Servers
Having said that, there's no doubt that the best way to pen test your network is to employ a good outside consultant. A skilled human is more likely to find a way in than even the best software tool will; an outsider is likely to be more effective because familiarity with your own network can leave you blinkered to possible vulnerabilities. "There is an issue that when internal people test things, because they fall in to a pattern of testing and tend not find paths through less-valuable assets," said Pescatore.
The DIY Route
Do-it-yourselfers will find using pen testing software to carry out internal penetration tests is a good option. First, you can carry out these tests yourself on a monthly or even weekly basis, or whenever you make significant infrastructure changes, without incurring costs associated with repeated tests carried out by a consultant. By catching and fixing any exploitable vulnerabilities that the software discovers, you ensure consultants spend their (expensive) time finding the more obscure vulnerabilities.
So if you're charged with the responsibility of network security and decide to carry out your own penetration tests with the help of some pen testing software, what should you choose? The free Metasploit framework (like the hackers probably will)? Or a commercial penetration testing tool, like the top-of-the-range Core Impact, from Boston-based Core Security? Core Impact is priced upward of $10,000 per year including training and regular updates. That's a significant amount, but still relatively small compared to what a consultant might charge for a single test.
Metasploit Framework 3 certainly packs a punch. "For a skilled person, you can do everything with Metasploit that you can do with Core Security's Core Impact," said Pescatore. "The depth of testing is just as great, but you do need far more time and energy to do it."
This last point is important: Metasploit has a steep learning curve and requires some time to master. As Metasploit project founder H. D. Moore once put it, Metasploit has a very high geek factor you need a good knowledge of security matters to get the most from it. In contrast, Core Impact runs on Windows and is very easy to use, has a simple and intuitive interface, and can run powerful penetration tests automatically. It can even generate executive and detailed reports suitable for presentation in a corporate environment.
A key benefit of Core Impact is that IT staff can use it. It does not require specialist security personnel to carry out automated penetration tests on a weekly or monthly basis. In other words, the security smarts are in the software, not the people. But while Core Impact can be very effective and penetrate many vulnerable systems in a matter of minutes, even Core Security doesn't claim to be an alternative for a human-based penetration test.
"We say our software can't replace a smart thinking person an automated test is not the same as a pen test carried out by a consultancy. But it is a very cost-effective way of carrying out frequent testing," said Max Caceres, director of product management at Core Security.
If you do decide to conduct your own pen tests, Metasploit is a good place to start. It costs nothing to try, and if you don't fancy taking the time to get to grips with the whole system, you can at least run db-autopwn, the automated exploitation feature, to see if it can penetrate your system without any intervention on your part. It can't do this anywhere near the level of sophistication of Core Impact, which can compromise machines and then launch exploits from them on to other parts of the network; it simply scans the network for open ports using Nmap (or you can import the results of a Nessus scan if you prefer), and then runs any appropriate exploits against all the machines it finds automatically.
Nonetheless, Metasploit is worth a try, and if successful, it will present you with a series of command prompts from any machines it successfully compromises. If you take Core Impact for a test drive after that, it's obvious sophistication will make you quickly realize why it commands the price that it does.
A word of warning though: Before undertaking pen testing a system it's wise to consider the risk of causing a self-inflicted injury there's always the possibility that any penetration attempts will lead to denial of service on some servers. "It's something we try to minimize, but there's a risk of downtime for some tests," says Caceres. Bringing down core systems could be extremely expensive, and one that most organizations would want to avoid at all costs.
It's also worth thinking about the extent of your test. If you don't know what you are doing, it's possible some products could drill down and get on to a sourcing partner's system. Crash that, and you could be liable for all sorts of compensation payments.
Whatever you decide to do to ensure network security, determining potential threats must play a role in strategizing, and since the black hats are using increasingly sophisticated methods, it seems pretty clear that you should be, too. If you're not pen testing your servers regularly, now is the time to consider doing so.
Top 10 Enterprise Database Systems of 2019
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> Blog > Open page
/ First published in Tom Dispatch, 25 November 2014.
Russians invade Afghanistan (again!), Chinese fight Iraq war (again!)
What if it weren’t us?
by Tom Engelhardt
Let’s play a game, the kind that makes no sense on this single-superpower planet of ours. For a moment, do your best to suspend disbelief and imagine that there’s another superpower, great power, or even regional power somewhere that, between 2001 and 2003, launched two major wars in the Greater Middle East. We’re talking about full-scale invasions, long-term occupations, and nation-building programs, first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq.
In both countries, that power quickly succeeded in its stated objective of “regime change,” only to find itself mired in deadly conflicts with modestly armed minority insurgencies that it simply couldn’t win. In each country, to the tune of billions and billions of dollars, it built up a humongous army and allied “security” forces, poured money into “reconstruction” projects (most of which proved disasters of corruption and incompetencehttp://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175...), and spent trillions of dollars of national treasure.
Having imagined that, ask yourself: How well did all of that turn out for this other power? In Afghanistan, a recent news story highlights something of what was accomplished. Though that country took slot 175 out of 177 on Transparency International’s 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index, though its security forces continue to suffer grievous casualties, and though parts of the country are falling to a strengthening Taliban insurgency, it has for some years proudly held a firm grip on one record: Afghanistan is the leading narco-state on planet Earth.
In 2013, it upped its opium poppy cultivation by 36%, its opium production by almost 50%, and drug profits soared. Preliminary figures for this year, recently released by the U.N., indicate that opium cultivation has risen by another 7% and opium production by 17%, both to historic highs, as Afghanistan itself has become “one of the world’s most addicted societies.”
Meanwhile, where there once was Iraq (171st on that index of kleptocracies), there is now a Shiite government in Baghdad defended by a collapsed army and sectarian militias, a de facto Kurdish state to the north, and, in the third of the country in-between, a newly proclaimed “caliphate” run by a terror movement so brutal it’s establishing records for pure bloodiness. It’s headed by men whose West Point was a military prison run by that same great power and its bloodthirstiness is funded in part by captured oil fields and refineries.
In other words, after 13 years of doing its damnedest, on one side of the Greater Middle East this power has somehow overseen the rise of the dominant narco-state on the planet with monopoly control over 80%-90% of the global opium supply and 75% of the heroin. On the other side of the region, it’s been complicit in the creation of the first terrorist mini-oil state in history, a post-al-Qaeda triumph of extreme jihadism.
A fraudulent election and a collapsed army
Though I have no doubt that the fantasy of relocating Washington’s deeds to Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, or any other capital crumbled paragraphs ago, take a moment for one more experiment. If this had been the work of any other power we thought less well of than we do of ourselves, imagine the blazing headlines right now. Conjure up — and it shouldn’t be hard — what the usual war hawks would be spouting in Congress, what the usual suspects on the Sunday morning talk shows might be saying, and what stories cable news networks from CNN to Fox would be carrying.
You know perfectly well that the denunciations of such global behavior would be blistering, that the assorted pundits and talking heads would be excoriating, that the fear and hysteria over that heroin and those terrorists crossing our border would be somewhere in the stratosphere. You would hear words like “evil” and “barbaric.” It would be implied, or stated outright, that this avalanche of disaster was no happenstance but planned by that same grim power with its hand on the trigger these last 13 years, in part to harm the interests of the United States. We would never hear the end of it.
Instead, the recent reports about Afghanistan’s bumper crop of opium poppies slipped by in the media like a ship on a dark ocean. No blame was laid, no responsibility mentioned. There were neither blazing headlines, nor angry jeremiads, nor blistering comments — none of the things that would have been commonplace if the Russians, the Chinese, or the Iranians had been responsible.
Just about no one in the mainstream excoriates or blames Washington for the 13 years leading up to this. In fact, to the extent that Washington is blamed at all for the rise of the Islamic State, the focus has been on the Obama administration’s decision not to stay longer in Iraq in 2011 and do even more of the same. (Hence, President Obama’s recent decision to extend the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan through at least 2015.)
All in all, we’ve experienced a remarkable performance here when it comes to not connecting the dots or feeling the need to assign responsibility or accountability for what’s happened in these years. In some fashion, we Americans continue to see ourselves, as we have since 9/11, as victims, not destabilizers, of the world we inhabit.
To add to this spectacle, the Obama administration spent endless weeks helping engineer a fraudulent Afghan presidential election — funded in part by the opium trade — into a new, extra-constitutional form of government. The actual vote count in that election is now, by mutual agreement of the two presidential candidates, never to be revealed. All of this took place, in part, simply to have an Afghan president in place who could ink a new bilateral security agreement that would leave U.S. troops and bases there for a further decade. If another country had meddled with an election in this fashion, can you imagine the headlines and commentary? While reported here, all of this again passed by without significant comment.
When it comes to a path “forward” in Iraq, it’s been ever deeper into Iraq War 3.0. Since a limited, “humanitarian” bombing campaign began in August, the Obama administration and the Pentagon have been on the up escalator: more air strikes, more advisers, more weaponry, more money.
Two and a half weeks ago, the president doubled the corps of American advisers (plus assorted other U.S. personnel) there to 3,000-plus. Last week, the news came in that they were being hustled into the country faster than expected — specifically into dangerous, war-torn al-Anbar Province — to retrain the American-created, now thoroughly sectarian Iraqi army, reportedly in a state of remarkable disarray.
In the meantime, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, the Pentagon, and the White House continue to struggle over whether American boots can be put on the ground in a combat capacity, and if so, how many and in what roles in a “war” that essentially may have no legal basis in the American system of government. (Shades of Afghanistan!) Of course, much of this internecine struggle in Washington is likely to be obviated the first time U.S. advisers are attacked in Anbar Province or elsewhere and boots end up hitting the ground fast, weapons firing.
Vietnamizing Iraq, iraqicizing Vietnam
In the meantime, think about what we would have said if the Russians had acted as Washington did in Afghanistan, or if the Chinese had pursued an Iraq-like path in a country of their choosing for the third time with the same army, the same “unified” government, the same drones and weaponry, and in key cases, the same personnel! (Or, if you want to make the task easier for yourself, just check out U.S. commentary these last months on Ukraine.)
For those of a certain age, the escalatory path the Obama administration has set us on in Iraq has a certain resonance and so, not surprisingly, at the edges of our world, familiar words like “quagmire” are again rising. And who could deny that there’s something eerily familiar about it all? Keep in mind that it took less than three years for the Kennedy administration to transition from the first several hundred American advisers it sent to Vietnam to work with the South Vietnamese Army in 1961 to 16,000 armed “advisers” in November 1963 when the president was assassinated.
The Obama administration seems to be in the grips of a similar escalatory fever and on a somewhat similar schedule, even if ahead of the Vietnam timetable when it comes to loosing air power over Iraq and Syria. However, the comparison is, in a sense, unfair to the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. After all, they were in the dark; they didn’t have a “Vietnam” to refer to.
For a more accurate equivalent, you would have to conjure up a Vietnam scenario that couldn’t have happened. You would have to imagine that, in May 1975, at the time of the Mayaguez Incident (in which the Cambodians seized an American ship), just two weeks after the South Vietnamese capital Saigon fell, or perhaps even more appropriately in terms of the dual chronologies of the two wars, in December 1978 when the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia, President Gerald Ford had decided to send thousands of American troops back into Vietnam.
Inconceivable as that was then, only such an absurd scenario could catch the true eeriness of the escalatory path of our third Iraq war.
Four more years! Four more years!
Try to imagine the reaction here, if the Russians were suddenly to send their military back into conflict-ridden Afghanistan to refight the lost war of the 1980s more effectively, bringing old Red Army commanders out of retirement to do so.
As it happens, the present war in Iraq and Syria is so unnervingly déjà vu all over again that an equivalency of any sort is next to impossible to conjure up. However, since in the American imagination terrorism has taken over the bogeyman-like role that Communism once filled, the new Islamic State might in one sense at least be considered the equivalent of the North Vietnamese (and the rebel National Liberation Front, or Vietcong, in South Vietnam). There is, for instance, some similarity in the inflamed fantasies Washington has attached to each: in the way both were conjured up here as larger-than-life phenomena capable of spreading across the globe. (Look up “domino theory” on the meaning of a Communist victory in South Vietnam if you doubt me.)
There is also at least some equivalency in the inability of American leaders and commanders to bring the nature, or even the numbers, of the enemy into sharp focus. Only recently, for instance, General Dempsey, who has played a crucial role in the launching of this latest war, rushed off on just the sort of “surprise visit” to Baghdad that American officials often made to Saigon to proclaim “progress” or “light at the end of the tunnel” in the Vietnam War. He met with American Marines at the massive U.S. embassy in that city and offered an assessment that seemed to capture some of Washington’s confusions about the nature of its newest war.
Keep in mind that, at the moment the war was launched, the Islamic State was being portrayed here as a monster movement engorging itself on the region, one that potentially imperiled just about every American interest on the planet. In Baghdad, Dempsey suddenly insisted that the monster was faltering, that the momentum of battle in Iraq was “starting to turn.” He then labeled the militants of the Islamic State as “a bunch of midgets running around with a really radical ideology” and concluded that, despite the nature of those formerly giant, now-puny fellows and the changing momentum of the war, it might nonetheless take “years” to win. On his return to Washington he became more specific, claiming that the war could last up to four years and adding, “This is my third shot at Iraq, and that’s probably a poor choice of words." Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers recently offered a similar four-year estimate, but tagged an “or more” onto it. (Four more years! Four more years! Or more! Or more!)
Despite their sudden access to crystal balls some 11-and-a-half years after the initial invasion of Iraq, such estimates should be taken with a grain of salt. They reveal less a serious assessment of the Islamic State than just how shaky America’s top leadership, civilian and military, has become about what the U.S. is capable of achieving in the wake of an era of dismal failure in the Greater Middle East.
In reality, unlike North Vietnam in 1963, the Islamic “State” is a wildly sectarian rebel movement that sits atop what is at best a shaky proto-state (despite recent laughable news reports about claims that it will soon mint gold or silver coins). It is not popular across the region. Its growth is bound to be limited both by its extreme ideology and its Sunni sectarianism. It faces enemies galore. While its skill in puffing itself up — in Wizard of Oz fashion — to monstrous size and baiting the U.S. into further involvement may be striking, it is neither a goliath nor a “midget.”
General Dempsey can’t know how long (or short) its lifespan in the region may be. One thing we do know, however: as long as the global giant, the United States, continues to escalate its fight against the Islamic State, it gains a credibility and increasing popularity in the world of jihadism that it would never otherwise garner. As historian Stephen Kinzer wrote recently of the movement’s followers, “To face the mighty United States on Middle Eastern soil, and if possible to kill an American or die at American hands, is their dream. We are giving them a chance to realize it. Through its impressive mastery of social media, the Islamic State is already using our escalation as a recruiting tool.”
Awaiting Iraq war 4.0
Given all this, it should amaze us how seldom the dismal results of America’s actions in the Greater Middle East are mentioned in this country. Think of it this way: Washington entered Iraq War 3.0 with a military that, for 13 years, had proven itself incapable of making its way to victory. It entered the latest battle with an air force that, from the “shock and awe” moment it launched 50 “decapitation” strikes against Saddam Hussein and his top officials and killed none of them but dozens of ordinary Iraqis, has brought none of its engagements to what might be called a positive conclusion. It entered battle with an interlocking set of 17 intelligence agencies that have eaten the better part of a trillion taxpayer dollars in these years and yet, in an area where the U.S. has fought three wars, still manages to be surprised by just about any development, an area that, in the words of an anonymous American official, remains a “black hole” of information. It has entered battle with leaders who, under the strain of fast-moving events, make essentially the same decision again and again to ever worse results.
In the end, the American national security machinery seems incapable of dealing with the single thing it was built to destroy in the 9/11 period: Islamic terrorism. Instead its troops, special ops forces, drones, and intelligence operatives have destabilized and inflamed country after country, while turning a minor phenomenon on the planet into, as recent figures indicate, an increasing force for turmoil across the Greater Middle East and Africa.
Given the history of this last period, even if the Islamic State were to collapse tomorrow under American pressure, there would likely be worse to come. It might not look like that movement or anything else we’ve experienced thus far, but it will predictably shock American officials yet again. Whatever it may be, rest assured that there’s a solution for it brewing in Washington and you already know what it is. Call it Iraq War 4.0.
To put the present escalating disaster in the region in perspective, a final analogy to Vietnam might be in order. If, in 1975, you had suggested to Americans that, almost four decades later, the U.S. and Vietnam would be de facto allies in a new Asia, no one would have believed you, and yet such is the case today.
The Vietnamese decisively won their war against Washington, though much of their country was destroyed and millions died in the process. In the U.S., the bitterness and sense of defeat took years to recede. It’s worth remembering that the first president to launch a war in Iraq in 1990 was convinced that the singularly tonic effect of “victory” there was to “kick the Vietnam Syndrome once and for all.” Now, all of official Washington seems to have a post-modern, twenty-first-century version of the same syndrome.
In the meantime, the world changed in few of the ways anyone expected. Communism did not sweep the Third World and has since disappeared except in Vietnam, now a U.S. ally, tiny Cuba, and that wreck of a country, North Korea, as well as the world’s leading state on the “capitalist road,” China. In other words, none of the inflamed fears of that era panned out.
Whatever the bloody horror, fragmentation, and chaos in the Middle East today, 40 years from now the fears and fantasies that led Washington into such repetitively destructive behavior will look no less foolish than the domino theory does today. If only, in a final thought experiment, we could simply skip those decades and instantly look back upon the present nightmare from the clearer light of a future day, perhaps the next predictable escalatory steps might be avoided. But don’t hold your breath, not with Washington chanting “Four more years!,” "Four more years!"
Tom Engelhardt
Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of The United States of Fear as well as a history of the Cold War, The End of Victory Culture. He is a fellow of the Nation Institute and runs TomDispatch.com. His latest book is Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World. His next book, A Nation Unmade by War (Dispatch Books), will be published in May 2018.
Tom Dispatch, 25 November 2014.
Tom Engelhardt is a co-founder of the American Empire Project and the author of The United States of Fear as well as a history of the Cold War, The End of Victory Culture. He runs the Nation Institute’s TomDispatch.com. His new book is Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World (Haymarket Books).
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Tellia national football team
Revision as of 20:45, 22 June 2019 by Craitman (talk | contribs) (→Honours)
Tellia
Gli Verdi
FGGC
FMF member
2007–13, 2013–
WMFA (2007–08, 2008–13, 2013–)
AEFA (2008)
Most caps
Pasquale di Montezemolo
Andrea Luca Peruzzi
Home stadium
Stadio di Romero
FMF code
First FMF intermicronational
Gaia 0–0 Tokidoki
Biggest win
Incontinentia 1–7 Tellia
Biggest defeat
Greenuk 9–1 Tellia
FMF World Cup
10 (First in 2006)
Benacia Cup
5 (First in 2012)
The Tellia national football team is the football team which represents the micronation of Tellia, and previously represented the Ashkenatzi autonomous region of the same name. The team is the official successor of Gaia, which was a founding member of the FMF, and as such retains its records. It is a member of the WMFA, after previously being affiliated to the AEFA, and is run by the FGGC.
The team is seen as one of the strongest national sides on Micras, having appeared in ten FMF World Cups, winning both the 2012 and 2017 editions, reaching the final in the inaugural tournament as Gaia and again in 2015, and also winning the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Benacia Cups. It has existed twice in the FMF's history; firstly between late 2007 and 2013 as an independent nation and autonomous region of Ashkenatza, and secondly since late 2013, again independently.
2 Chronological competitive participation
3.1 Tellian hall of fame
3.2 Previous captains
4 Honours
5 Flag
The Tellian national team was created upon the foundation of Tellia in late 2007 as the successor state to the CIS constituent nation of Gaia. Under the name of Gaia, the team was one of the founding members of the FMF when the organisation was created in October 2006 prior to the first FMF World Cup. The national team competed in the tournament, reaching the final before being beaten by Beaugium 1–0 to finish second.
Due to Beaugium's revocation of its Micrasian land claims, Gaia were granted the automatic holders' place in the 2007 FMF World Cup as 2006 runners-up. After advancing from their group, and beating Riponia on penalties in the quarter-finals, the team was well-beaten by co-hosts Tokidoki in the semi-finals and then lost the third-place play-off to Passas.
Prior to the 2008 FMF World Cup qualification tournaments, Gaia was succeeded by Tellia. After resigning their WMFA membership in favour of that of the AEFA, forfeiting their games 5–0 in the process, Tellia were beaten 9–1 by Greenuk in their first AEFA match. Due to the controversial nature of this match, the Tellians withdrew from qualifying and the result was downgraded to a friendly.
The following year, Tellia returned to the WMFA, and competed in a qualifying group alongside their now-ruling nation, Ashkenatza. The team topped the qualifying group with relative ease, advanced from their finals group in second place, but were beaten 3–2 by Beaugium in the quarter-finals.
In 2010, Tellia qualified unbeaten from a tough group including Beaugium, before finishing rock bottom of their group in the tournament finals with only one win.
The team yet again qualified comfortably from the WMFA confederation in 2011. In the finals, Tellia topped their group, beating holders Craitland in the process, but crashed-out to hosts, and underdogs, Shireroth in the quarter-finals.
The Tellians once again won their qualification group in 2012, ahead of Batavia by a point, to reach the 2012 FMF World Cup and also the first Benacia Cup. In the World Cup, the team dominated their group, winning all three matches 2–0, before beating Shireroth in the quarter-finals and Hamland in the semi-finals. After drawing the final 0–0 against Alexandria, Tellia eventually won 5–4 on penalties to seal their first ever title. The Tellians' success continued later in the year as the team topped their Benacia Cup group before beating Batavia 1–0 in the final.
Following their tournament triumphs in 2012, the Tellians received automatic berths in both the 2013 World Cup and Benacia Cup. In the Benacia Cup, the team topped the five-team group unbeaten with eight points, advancing them to the final, where they beat Sanilla 2–1 after extra time for their second title. Following their Benacia Cup victory, the team were less successful in the year's World Cup, where, after advancing from their group with four points, by virtue of goal difference, they were beaten by Alexandria in the quarter-finals. Tellia left Micras later in the year as part of Ashkenatza's death, but returned once again as an independent nation in late 2013.
In 2014's qualifiers, their first since regaining independence, the team topped their four-team group unbeaten with 16 points to reach the 2014 FMF World Cup. Tellia also successfully bid to host the 2014 Benacia Cup, where they topped the group with three wins before beating Elwynn 2–1 in the final for a third successive title. In the World Cup, the team topped their group with six points, ahead of holders Hamland, but were knocked-out in the quarter-finals on penalties by Senya.
In the following year's qualifiers, the team topped their four-team group with 13 points to seal a seventh straight World Cup appearance. After beating hosts Craitland in the tournament's opening game, the team advanced from their five-team group with six points to reach the play-off round, where they beat Lakkvia. Following an extra-time victory over holders Mercury in the quarter-finals and a 2–0 semi-final win over Gerenia, Tellia lost the final to Hamland and finished as runners-up for a second time.
In 2016, as holders of the Benacia Cup, Tellia qualified automatically for the year's tournament and instead competed in the inaugural FMF Confederations Cup, where they finished third in their four-team group with seven points. In the Benacia Cup, the team topped their group by winning their two games and comfortably beat Karalakh 4–1 in the semi-finals, but failed to secure a fourth confederational title after being beaten on penalties by hosts Elwynn in the final.
The 2017 FMF World Cup qualification rounds saw the team finish top of their four-team group unbeaten with 16 points to qualify for a tenth World Cup finals appearance. In the World Cup, the team finished second in their group with nine points, behind hosts Senya by virtue of goals scored, to advance to the play-off round, where they beat holders Hamland 3–2 after extra time before defeating Craitland 3–1 in their quarter-final. After comfortably beating Alexandria 4–0 in the semi-finals, the team narrowly overcame fellow group members Senya 2–1 in the final to become only the third team to win multiple FMF World Cup titles.
The team competed in the 2018 Benacia Cup qualification rounds, where they finished second in their five-team group with 19 points, and secured a place in the finals. In the Benacia Cup, the team topped their three-team group with four points before losing to Craitland on penalties in the semi-finals, but comfortably beat Merenolitovina 4–1 to place third.
Having received an automatic berth in the 2019 FMF World Cup as reigning champions, the team competed in the inaugural Vulture Cup prior to the finals, where they finished second in their group with five points before losing 2–1 to Elwynn and on penalties to the Unified Governorates to place fourth.
Chronological competitive participation
2006 FMF World Cup (as Gaia)
2009 FMF World Cup qualification
2009 FMF World Cup
2012 Benacia Cup
2014 Benacia Cup (hosts)
2016 FMF Confederations Cup
2018 Benacia Cup qualification
2019 Vulture Cup
Tellian hall of fame
GK: Fabrizio Daniello (2006–2010)
DF: Roberto Vincenzo (2006 – also Manager 2008–2010)
DF: Giorgio Rosso (2006–2010)
FW: Giorgio Menti (2006–2009)
MF: Franz Menzola (2006–2010)
MF: François Germaine (2006–2009)
Previous captains
Roberto Vincenzo 7 7 2006
Giorgio Rosso 22 29 2007–2010
Frederico Diamo 3 26 2010
Sezer Özker 13 17 2010–2013
FMF World Cup: 2
2006, 2015 – Runners-up
2007 – Fourth place
Benacia Cup: 3
2016 – Runners-up
2018 – Third place
Vulture Cup: 0
Tellia has used the following flags during both of its FMF affiliation:
Tellia national under-21 football team
Federazione Gaianiano Giuoco Calcio
National team (06–07)
2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 · 2012 · 2013 · 2014 · 2015 · 2016 · 2017 · 2018 · 2019
Seasons · Coppa di Tellia
Retrieved from "https://micras.org/wiki/index.php?title=Tellia_national_football_team&oldid=112097"
National football teams
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ALPHA On Sale Today!
May 22, 2012 juliewbpLeave a comment
Greg Rucka is a man of many talents. Author of nearly a dozen novels, many short stories, and known by many booksellers here for his comics, Rucka now has a brand new thriller on shelves, the first in a series, Alpha.
Mulholland Books has a great two part interview up right now between comics writer Brian Michael Bendis and Rucka. Here’s Part I and Part II. Favorite quote from Part I, regarding advice for writers:
“It always comes down to commitment to your craft. That’s the only thing you can control. You cannot control anything else. All you can control your relationship to your work and the effort you’re willing to put into it, and how willing you are to recognize that you’re never going to be good enough and that you always have to get better.”
We’ll welcome Greg Rucka to BookPeople on Thursday, May 31 at 7:30pm to talk about his new book and his wide body of work. If you haven’t read him before, this is a great time to get to know him as he launches this brand new series.
Vote for the Best Short Story on the Web
May 21, 2012 mysterypeoplescottLeave a comment
The online zine Spinetingler announced their nominees for Best Short Story On The Web. We were happy to see two of our good friends, Hilary Davidson and Peter Farris nominated. Peter will be here June 7th at our Noir At The Bar being held at Opal Divine’s off Sixth. Peter’s debut novel Last Call For The Living will be in store June 22nd. Not only can you vote for him, Hilary, or one of the others, you can read each nominee over on their site. Good luck, guys!
This One’s For the Writers…..
Mulholland Books pointed us towards this nifty little post for thriller writers today. Author David Morrell, a New York Times bestselling author, offers his Five Rules for Writing Thrillers over on his website. This is a nice piece – not only bullet points you’ll swallow and forget, but in depth explanations regarding motivation, technique, research and more. Lots to dig into on a Friday afternoon. Enjoy.
ON SALE TODAY: Craig Johnson’s AS THE CROW FLIES
It’s finally here on our shelves – As the Crow Flies the latest Walt Longmire mystery from my good buddy Craig Johnson. Craig’s here at BookPeople tomorrow, Wednesday May 16 7p. This is going to be a good time, hope you can make it down and join us in congratulating Craig on the new book and the new A&E series featuring Longmire.
Stackhouse Madhouse!
THANK YOU to everyone who came out Saturday night to welcome Charlaine Harris to Austin. And of course a big THANK YOU to Charlaine herself, who signed hundreds and hundreds of books. Here are a few shots we nabbed throughout the night (unfortunately, the store camera died right when she began speaking, so these were all taken with an iPhone). If you weren’t able to make it, we do have plenty of signed copies of Deadlocked available.
This is only a sliver of the crowd.
Charlaine signs a fan-made poster of all the Sookie Stackhouse covers.
FANS!!!
In total, Charlaine signed over 500 books in just a couple of hours.
Noir at the Bar Gets Booked
The only thing most crime fiction fans love as much as books is drinking, so it only makes sense that someone would combine both. Started in Philadelphia a few years, Noir At The Bar has made its way across the country from St. Louis to LA. MysteryPeople is giving it an Austin spin on June 7th at Opal Divine’s on 6th St.
We’ll have three of the hippest, hard boiled authors on the scene reading from and discussing their work: Peter Farris, Jonathan Woods, and Barry Graham. And since we are the live music capitol of the world, we’ll also have local legend Jesse Sublett joining us for a reading and performance, as well as singer/songwriter Chris Hoyt.
So come out to Opal’s on June 7th at 7p and help us launch a new tradition – Austin’s Noir at the Bar.
MysteryPeople Q&A with Craig Johnson
May 9, 2012 mysterypeoplescottLeave a comment
Craig Johnson’s books featuring his put-upon Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire have grown in popularity and will be the basis for the A&E show “Longmire” starting this June. His latest book, As The Crow Flies, has Walt drawn into a murder case on The Cheyenne reservation. Craig will be here at BookPeople for a discussion and signing of the book on May 16th. Craig was kind enough to find the time to answer a few questions on writing, his Cheyenne friends, and his peyote research.
MYSTERYPEOPLE: You’ve described As The Crow Flies as going back to a traditional Walt Longmire book. What exactly do you mean by that?
CRAIG JOHNSON: Hmm. I don’t particularly remember saying that. Actually, if pressed, I guess I’d say that it’s more of a departure from the last book, Hell is Empty, an allegorical retelling of Dante’s Inferno-but I think that’s true of all the books; each one is a departure from the last. Hell is Empty was something really different; some people liked it, some didn’t but for me the most important thing is that I’m not writing the same books over and over in some kind of half-assed formula. A traditional Walt Longmire book? I’m not sure I even know what that is. I guess the narrative in As the Crow Flies is something a little different in the sense that the book takes place entirely on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, but Walt is back, surrounded by a lot of friends and family, dealing with societal problems, and in that sense I guess it’s more traditional.
MP: I couldn’t help but think that Tony Hillerman would have been proud of your depiction of Indian reservation life. What was important for you to convey about the Cheyenne reservation?
CJ: Thank you for the compliment, Tony was a wonderful guy and a great influence. The people, it’s always about the people. My hope is that the characters express the diversity and intelligence of my friends up on the Rez. One of the dirty little secrets of my books is that the Indian (Yes, I use that term because my Indian friends make fun of me when I use the politically correct term-Native American) characters are generally based on people I know up on the Rez. I’m writing about Indians, but I’m not an Indian so I take great pains in making sure I get them, their culture, history, spirituality, and their humor, right. Using real people makes that possible. The only problem is that there are only about two thousand people up on the Northern Cheyenne Rez and when I use people as characters, everybody knows who I’m talking about.
MP: What is it about Walt that makes it easier to for him to deal with the Cheyenne than with white law enforcement?
CJ: He’s invested on the Rez, an awful lot of Walt’s friends are up there; his family ties are there, which is displayed prominently in the fact that when his daughter gets married she wants it to happen at Crazy Head Springs up on the Rez. I think the Cheyenne trust Walt because he’s not an outsider-plus he has Henry Standing Bear, who is a conduit to and within the Rez.
MP: One thing that makes the book believable and human is how Walt is just as concerned about his daughter’s wedding as he was with solving the murder. Do you find these more everyday subplots just as important and how do you balance them with the genre elements?
CJ: It’s actually one of my favorite things to write about, that balancing act that the characters have to go through to do their job. We live in times that are more complex than before and I think the time of the straight up whodunit is pretty much waning. Readers want the complexity of character that allows for development, and an awful lot of the time that revelation comes from the most mundane things-one of my favorite scenes in the As the Crow Flies is when Walt realizes just how many times he’s failed his daughter in recognizing the most important moments in her life because in Cady’s words, “There’s always been a case”. My editor at Penguin, Kathryn Court, told me early on that the complexities of character are the life-blood of a series; the characters have to change and things have to happen. Eight years later, I see no reason to argue the point.
MP: Like Kindness Goes Unpunished and The Dark Horse, this story has Walt out of his jurisdiction. Do you find these books more difficult to write, since one of Walt’s greatest skills is utilizing his community?
CJ: Not particularly, Walt has a knack for making community wherever he goes. I’ve always said that Walt’s secret weapon is that he cares and this puts him in a position to have an effect on people’s lives. Sure, there are limits to the resources available to him outside his jurisdiction, but those types of challenges only make you work a little harder and if I didn’t want to work my brain a little harder I’d still be riding fence, or digging irrigation ditches.
MP: You called in to our Hard Word Book Club in April to discuss your book, Junkyard Dogs. You said you were tackling some dark themes about family and love as well as how weather pushes violence. Were you surprised for it to be considered one of your funniest books?
CJ: Yes. Crap, there’s a paradox, huh? I don’t know what happens but every time I try to get all Noir, the light in the Laughter on the 23rd Floor room goes on. I think it’s my own defense mechanism against the abyss of a chaotic and anarchistic universe. Like Oscar Wilde said, “I’m never so serious as when I’m joking and never joking as much as when I’m serious”.
MP: One of the best chapters in As The Crow Flies is the vision Walt has during a peyote ceremony. What kind of “research” did you do for that?
CJ:I can neither confirm nor deny any research I may have done in preparation for this or any book. Actually, I just called up some bookseller-friends I know, they’ll take anything.
MysteryPeople welcomes Craig Johnson to BookPeople Wednesday, May 16, 7p to speak about & sign As the Crow Flies.
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I have always felt the service to be very professional and the whole team to be extremely friendly and helpful
PROPERTY: Two-bedroom, city centre apartment
LOCATION: Norwich, Norfolk
Paula first joined Norfolk Property Lettings & Management 21 years ago when she was moving abroad and wanted someone to oversee the letting of her family home.
Since then she has been so pleased with the service that she has also asked them to manage the lettings of a two-bedroom apartment and a one-bedroom house.
“Mike was recommended to me by a friend all those years ago and it worked out so well that I have stayed with his company ever since,” she says.
“I have always felt the service to be very professional and the whole team to be extremely friendly and helpful.
“I like being able to call up or go into the office, knowing there will be always be someone with experience there to help out.”
After taking on the apartment, which is in a converted shoe factory, and the small house, also in Norwich, Paula has left the full management of both to the company.
She says she has complete confidence in their tenant vetting procedure and their ability to oversee necessary repairs.
“We have never had a difficult tenant and the properties have never been left in a mess when people have left. I trust the team’s judgment in choosing the right people.”
Paula adds: “I would recommend Norfolk Property Lettings & Management 100 per cent to any other landlords looking for an agent to work with.”
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Boys Varsity Track, Girls Varsity Track · Jun 11 North Clayton’s Jaiquan Earls, Moena Battle sign track and field scholarships with Bethune-Cookman
By Luke Stricklandlstrickland@news-daily.com
COLLEGE PARK — Two North Clayton student-athletes — Moena Battle and Jaiquan Earls — will continue their track and field careers at Bethune-Cookman University in Dayton Beach, Fla.
Battle and Earls both made history last month when they claimed individual state track and field titles at the GHSA Class AAAA Championships. Battle won the high jump, while Earls earned gold in the triple jump. The duo became the first state champions for North Clayton since the 1993 boys basketball program.
Battle, who starred for North Clayton’s Region 4-AAAA championship girls basketball team, will also have the opportunity to work out with the girls basketball program in addition to being on scholarship with the track and field program.
“It feels awesome to accomplish something like this because to be honest I never saw it coming,” Battle said. “I didn’t think about ever getting a track scholarship for something I did as a stepping stone for my main sport. But it is truly a blessing because what is for me will always be for me, and that’s what I learned through my journey.”
Earls was offered on the spot by Bethune-Cookman coaches after he won state last month. After a few weeks of contemplation, he and his family decided.
“Coach (Tyree) Price from Bethune-Cookman built up trust with coach (Henry) Laws and a bond with me. That pretty much made me decide,” Earls said. “His resume and the athletes he coaches and how they performed, I’m looking to perform at that level and I know he can coach me up.”
Earls and Battle have developed a strong friendship over the years competing for North Clayton. Earls said that going to school out of state with someone that he is familiar with was a big relief.
“Knowing that she’s going too, it feels good because I won’t be the only person there,” he said. “Me and her, we’ve been on the same team since freshman year. We’ve built a bond, we’ve discussed what we’re going to do. At first, I wanted to wait and see my options, but I didn’t want to go to school where I didn’t have anybody there that I know.”
By Henry Laws on Jun 11, 2017
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NorwegianAir.com
Geirangerfjord
Viking Ship Museum
Bryggen
Frogner Park
Nærøyfjord
Top 10 Tours
Viking Ship Museum (Olso)
The Viking Ship Museum (Norwegian: Vikingskipshuset på Bygdøy) is located at Bygdøy in Oslo, Norway. It is part of the Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo, and houses archaeological finds from Tune, Gokstad (Sandefjord), Oseberg (Tønsberg) and the Borre mound cemetery.
The museum is most famous for the completely whole Oseberg ship, excavated from the largest known ship burial in the world. Other main attractions at the Viking Ship Museum are the Gokstad ship and Tune ship. Additionally, the Viking Age display includes sledges, beds, a horse cart, wood carving, tent components, buckets and other grave goods.
In 1913, Swedish professor Gabriel Gustafson proposed a specific building to house Viking Age finds that were discovered at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The Gokstad and Oseberg ships had been stored in temporary shelters at the University of Oslo. An architectural contest was held, and Arnstein Arnebergwon.
The hall for the Oseberg ship was built with funding from the Parliament of Norway, and the ship was moved from the University shelters in 1926. The halls for the ships from Gokstad and Tune were completed in 1932. Building of the last hall was delayed, partly due to the Second World War, and this hall was completed in 1957. It houses most of the other finds, mostly from Oseberg.
On 20 December 2000 the University of Oslo had supported a proposal by the Historical Museum to move the ships and all the grave goods to a proposed new museum in Bjørvika, Oslo. There has been much debate about this suggestion, both in the museum and archaeological community as well as in the media. Opponents to the move have raised concerns that the ships are too fragile and that they will not survive the move undamaged, while proponents claim that it is far more risky to leave the ships in their current location due to the hazards of fire and overcrowding. A risk assessment has been carried out on one side of the Oseberg ship, suggesting a move could go ahead without inflicting serious damage to the finds.
In 2015 the Ministry let Statsbygg announce a competition for the expansion of existing facilities at Bygdøy. The winner of the architectural competition was released the 12 April 2016, and it was the Danish firm AART architectswith their proposal titled "NAUST".
Copyright © 2000-2019 NorwegianAir.com
Norwegian Air Travel Services. All Rights Reserved
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Here’s What the Only Republican Voting Against Keystone XL Has to Say About the Project
Here's What the Only Republican Voting Against Keystone XL Has to Say About the Project
VICE News is closely tracking global environmental change. Check out the Tipping Point blog here.
The sole Republican in Congress to vote against the Keystone XL pipeline blasted the bill that authorizes the project as "cronyism" bundled with intrusive federal regulations.
Michigan's Representative Justin Amash wrote in a Facebook post: "The latest #KXL bill combines the cronyism of previous bills—specially exempting one private company from the laws and regulations that apply to all other companies—with new, unrelated sections empowering the EPA and the federal government with respect to local energy efficiency."
— Justin Amash (@repjustinamash)February 11, 2015
The House vote was 270-150 and follows Senate passage of the bill in January.
The pipeline would funnel heavy crude oil from the tar sands of western Canada to refineries on the US Gulf Coast. Environmentalists have rallied to stop it, arguing that it would set back efforts to limit carbon emissions that fuel global warming. President Barack Obama has said he won't support the project if it worsens emissions, vowing a veto of any congressional legislation aimed at bypassing his authority to approve or deny permitting of the project.
The libertarian-leaning, third-term Republican from Michigan is also an opponent of the National Security Agency's communications surveillance programs. He beat back a 2014 primary challenge from an opponent who called the Arab-American incumbent "al Qaeda's best friend in Congress," delivering an especially unforgiving victory speech after that win.
An analysis by MapLight, which tracks political contributions, found that the oil and gas industry gave, on average, 13 times more money to House members voting in favor of the bill, compared to those voting against.
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Saudi King Salman Showers Citizens with $32 Billion Despite Predicted Budget Deficit
By Harriet Salem Feb 20, 2015
The newly crowned monarch of oil-rich Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who acceded to the throne last month following the death of his brother, King Abdullah, has given billions of dollars on his citizens in an extravagant celebration of his coronation.
The massive handout, estimated to total more than $32 billion, includes a two-month basic stipend for all state employees, soldiers, students, and pensioners, as well as generous grants to various professional associations, and literary and sports clubs.
"Dear people: You deserve more and whatever I do will not be able to give you what you deserve," read a tweet from King Salman's official twitter account after the generous giveaway was announced.
In a country where 3 million of the nearly 5.5 million-strong work force is employed by the government, the handout will directly benefit nearly every echelon of society. Several private companies have also reportedly followed suit, matching the king's generosity with bonuses for employees.
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah dies, and his successor promises business as usual. Read more here.
Many Saudis have celebrated the move by splashing out on luxury items such as jewelry, iPads, flat screen televisions, and vacations. One man even expressed his happiness at the handout by posting a video to YouTube in which he showers his bemused-looking infant with crisp Saudi riyal bills.
This is not the first time a Saudi monarch has splashed cash at citizens. In the conservative Gulf country, social obedience and loyalty to the king is tightly tied to the state's ability to provide decent standards of living and public services, say experts.
This tradition of handouts in exchange for allegiance dates from a time when a tribal sheikh would have to prove they were the wisest, bravest and most generous in order to rule, Trevor McFarlane, founder of Dubai-based Emerging Markets Intelligence and Research, told VICE News.
Today, despite the hereditary claims on power now enjoyed by the Saudi monarchy, the custom has become so ingrained that when a new king comes to power, a "display of generosity is crucial to buttressing the loyalty of locals," McFarlane said.
"Although it may seem bizarre to Western policy makers, Gulf monarchies are government-led economies and the social contract dictates such bonuses as not just necessary, but almost expected from some quarters of society," he added.
US secrecy slammed after new claims that Saudi royals supported al Qaeda. Read more here.
Gifts from the monarch can also be used as a buttress in times of political turbulence. In 2011, King Abdullah poured $35 billion into a social development fund that helped Saudis finance marriages, start business and buy homes. The giveaway coincided with the monarch's return from a three-month trip to Morocco for medical treatment, and was widely seen as a bid to shore up support in the face of the Arab Spring and unrest in neighboring Bahrain.
But while the Saudis happily head out on shopping sprees to spend their gifts, economic experts are warning that falling global oil prices may render the Saudi tradition unsustainable in the long-term. About 90 percent of the Saudi government's income comes from oil.
Although the country is sitting on at least $700 billion in savings gleaned from high oil barrel prices over recent years, the latest handout comes at a time when the country's credit rating is being downgraded and its population is growing rapidly.
"An extension and indeed ramping up of pre-2011 wealth distribution strategies at a time when the kingdom is entering into steep deficit territory… does not protect the long-term interest of citizens," Chris Davidson, a Middle East academic and author of After the Sheikhs told VICE News.
Davidson added that the oil industry is currently reshaping itself in a way that will likely prevent crude oil exporters such as Saudi from ever commanding the high barrel prices once enjoyed.
This year, the government's budget deficit is predicted to run as high as $39 billion — equivalent to six percent of gross domestic product — according to Jadwa Investment, a Riyadh-based closed joint stock company.
Campaign mounts to declassify 9/11 report's references to alleged Saudi involvement. Read more here.
Follow Harriet Salem on Twitter: @HarrietSalem
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Iran Shot At U.S. Drone As It Flew Over Attacked Oil Tankers: Officials
posted by Bill Galluccio - Jun 15, 2019
U.S. officials say the Iranians fired a missile at a U.S. drone that was sent to investigate a distress signal sent by the MV Altair tanker in the Gulf of Oman. The missile was reportedly fired from Iran's mainland and missed the unmanned MQ9 Reaper drone.
The drone reached the site just eight minutes after receiving the distress call and reportedly recording footage of Iranian vessels closing in the tankers prior to the attack.
U.S. officials have blamed Iran for the attack.
"This assessment is based on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping, and the fact that no proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with such a high degree of sophistication," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
Iranian officials have denied any involvement in the attack.
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accueil / communiqués de presse / SCIENCES PO LAUNCHES A NEW MASTER’S DEGREE IN MARKETING AND LUXURY
SCIENCES PO LAUNCHES A NEW MASTER’S DEGREE IN MARKETING AND LUXURY
Launched by the School of Management and Innovation, the new Master’s programme, the “Master of Marketing: New Luxury & Art de Vivre” will open in September 2019. The programme will train high-level marketing managers in the characteristics of the luxury sector and the French ‘art de vivre’, offering a detailed insight into the sector and its developments.
Profoundly transformed by the digital revolution, the sector is reinventing itself around the key issues of corporate responsibility, rational expansion and sustainable development. As a system of values that is in step with its times, the luxury of the 21st century (“New Luxury”) is destined to be responsible, innovative and respectful of the new objects of rarity - time, humanity and the natural world. In line with the aims of the School of Management and Innovation, the programme draws upon the humanities and social sciences - which are fundamental to Sciences Po's identity - to enrich the training of future economic decision-makers in the context of a complex world that is undergoing profound transformation.
This two-year Master’s programme, which will be taught entirely in English, will welcome 25 English-speaking French and international students with an interest in the luxury sector, its cultural roots, and its new and developing trends. Participants are expected to come from a diverse range of backgrounds. Prior knowledge of marketing is not required.
This innovative programme revolves around two central themes:
Using the social sciences to develop an understanding of the social and contextual dimensions of the luxury sector, taking into account its historical, geographical and cultural roots, and to comprehend how the sector is being transformed through changing consumption patterns and the preferences, values and habits of new generations.
The structuring impact on the sector of a dual trend - 1) the digital revolution and its consequences at all levels of the value chain; 2) the inclusion at the core of this sector (as in many other sectors) of issues of sustainable development, social and environmental responsibility.
An action-based approach drawing upon Sciences Po's strengths
The key strengths that the School of Management and Innovation will draw upon for the launch of this programme are:
A broad-based Master of Marketing that has an excellent reputation in France
Excellence in teaching and academic standards - the Sciences Po social science faculty ranks among the best ones in the world
A campus in the heart of Paris, which remains one of the enduring capitals of luxury and the ‘art de vivre’
Historic corporate partners in the luxury sector (LVMH, Kering, L'Oréal Luxe, Chalhoub, etc.).
For Marie-Laure Djelic, Dean of the School of Management and Innovation: “The challenge that we aim to meet in launching this Master's programme is combining strong historical and cultural foundations (the French ‘art de vivre’) with a clear and proactive orientation towards the future trends of the luxury industry. The originality of this Master’s programme lies in its capacity not only to train high-level marketing managers, but also to provide them with the tools to situate themselves and their work in a broader cultural, social and historical context. This will enable them to gain an informed perspective on the development of the luxury sector in an environment marked by digital transformations.
SCIENCES PO LANCE UN NOUVEAU MASTER EN MARKETING ET LUXE...
« J’enseigne avec la bonne attitude » - Lancement de 10 vidéos...
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This Dwelling Place of God Will Endure Long Past Notre Dame
As King Solomon said, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? See, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less can this house that I have built?" (1 Kings 8:27). 2:00PM EDT 4/22/2019
3 Keys to Help You Persevere Under Pressure
How do we build resilience into our lives so that we don't crumble and quit when life feels hard? 1:00PM EDT 4/22/2019
At Easter and Always, What Kind of God Do You Serve?
When someone says, "I don't believe in God" ask them what kind of God they don't believe in. 6:00PM EDT 4/19/2019
Prophetic Word: 'I Would Do It Again for You'
I tell you the truth: Your redemption cost Me everything. But I would willingly do it again, because that's how valuable you are to Me. 1:00PM EDT 4/19/2019
This Ps. 48:14 Promise Will Guide You in Times of Pure Pain
Jesus' hands are around our pain, His voice whispering into our cries and His promise echoing through our emptiness. 6:00PM EDT 4/18/2019
Why Your Unforgiveness Holds You in Bondage
Even though He was innocent, the people falsely accused Him; they mocked and spit on Him, bruised and broke His body. And yet He chose to do what's right. 2:00PM EDT 4/18/2019
Separated? This Author's Been There and Now Helps Others Move Forward
In "Fighting for Your Marriage While Separated," Linda W. Rooks explores practical answers for men and women in the midst of a marriage crisis. 1:00PM EDT 4/18/2019
Feeling Rejected? Hagar's Story Brings Hope
Regardless of our backstory, it's safe to say we've all experienced rejection. We can all name the person who should have loved us, but didn't. 6:00PM EDT 4/17/2019
Why You May Want to Give Jesus Your Worst Gift
I couldn't offer my mess to Jesus. Or could I? 2:00PM EDT 4/17/2019
3 Ways to 'Mind the Gap' Between Truth and the Enemy's Lies
God can use even the most disappointing circumstances to shape and mold us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. 1:00PM EDT 4/17/2019
3 Quick Keys to True Transparency
We try to keep people at a distance because we don't want them to see how messy we can be. Here's a better plan. 6:00PM EDT 4/16/2019
Have You Fallen for These 10 Lies the Church Believes About Mental Illness?
These lies continue to mislead the church and keep people from properly viewing mental illness as what it is. 2:00PM EDT 4/16/2019
Why 'Easy Come, Easy Go,' Is More Than Just a Saying When You're Serious About Weight Loss
To reverse what we've already set in motion, we have to reprogram ourselves for life and not death, for blessings and not curses (Deut. 30:19). 1:00PM EDT 4/16/2019
Thinking of Marriage? How to Know if You've Found 'The One'
Don't take a shortcut on the journey. 6:00PM EDT 4/15/2019
7 Lies the Enemy Uses to Fuel Your Anxiety
"Did lies erase your faith? Did you overlook My grace?" 2:00PM EDT 4/15/2019
Why Your Sympathy May Not Help Others—And What Will
In that moment, the Holy Spirit has an opportunity to equip us to respond with love, grace and humility. 1:00PM EDT 4/15/2019
Why You Should Quit Making Beauty Judgments, Even Positive Ones
How would it change our view of others? Of ourselves? 6:00PM EDT 4/12/2019
'We're in a Season for Prodigals to Come Home'
Here are four steps you can take to help them find their way. 2:00PM EDT 4/12/2019
'When Calls the Heart' Set to Return May 5-6
Hint: "New Mountie"? Did someone say, "new Mountie"? 1:00PM EDT 4/12/2019
4 Reasons Jesus Wants You to Clean Out Your Closet
Don't you just love to hear about those women who get up, have their coffee, enjoy the sunrise, take an hour for their Bible study and prayer time, and then go about their day all prepared and sweet? Or does it make you want to throw up your hands in defeat? 6:00PM EDT 4/11/2019
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Home / Our Teachers
Drum & Percussion Instructor
Tony Divozzo
Tony teaches percussion & drumset, marching band, and bells. Tony’s experience drumming started very early! Born into a family of musicians, Tony’s home was filled with the sounds of Jazz, Big Band, R&B and even Rock ‘n Roll 24/7. Tony started drumming around 2 years old. Tony played all through school and he attended music camps and brought home 27 1st place medals before 9th grade! In 9th grade he attended Interlochen Camp where the best of the best from around the world would meet and play music. Tony played in the Jazz Band and Marching Bands all through high school. After high school Tony joined the Navy for 10 years. His primary responsibility was drumming in the prestigious Navy Band. The Navy Band is more than a marching band, they are also a concert band, jazz band, rock ‘n roll band, etc., so Tony was able to keep well versed in various styles – something he still does today.
Tony has been teaching private lessons non-stop since 1989, and much of that time has been here at Music Source. Tony has helped thousands of percussion students become accomplished and successful. Drummers, be sure to watch for Tony’s free drum clinics held here at Music Source. A family man, Tony loves to cook pasta and makes his own pasta sauce when at home. He loves Big Band Swing: 1940 to present, and is the author of “The Snare Drum Book, The Basic 26”. As busy as he is, Tony always finds time to play for his own enjoyment and plays weekly at his local Church and with his own band now: Stone Black/Stone Blue.
Voice Instructor
Susan Lundholm
Susan has been a professional voice instructor for over 34 years. She is an active opera, concert and oratorio singer throughout the United States and with such organizations as the Chicago Opera Theater, Fox River Valley Symphony, the Maine Opera Association and Florida’s Brevard Opera-in-concert. She received her masters degree in vocal performance at the Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and her bachelor degree in Music Education at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, MN. She has received several awards, including being a regional winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions.
Susan is associated with several professional organizations such as the Musicians Club of Women in Chicago. She loves teaching voice students of all levels and has been an adjunct professor at several schools. Susan delights in helping her students master their talents.
Violin Instructor
Michelle McManus Welch
Michelle received a B.M and M.M from American Conservatory in Chicago. While in college, she played with Civic Orchestra of Chicago, as well as many other ensembles in the area. She continued to perform after college, and played in the Northwest Indiana symphony for a year, as she began to teach. Michelle has registered eight units of Suzuki training with the Suzuki association of the Americas, and has been teaching both traditional and Suzuki violin lessons to both children and adults for over twenty years.
Michelle feels a solid foundation in music reading and technique is important to the development of all violinists, and hopes to foster a love of music within each individual musician.
Guitar & Ukulele Instructor
Tyler Hanson
Tyler has been playing guitar for over 17 years and has been teaching for over 9 years in Lake and McHenry Counties. He has been with Music Source for over 9 years now and teaches guitar, lap steel, and ukulele to all levels of students from beginner to advanced. While Tyler teaches all styles of music, he specializes in classical guitar playing and teaching such favorites as J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Tarrega, and Fernando Sor, all arranged for the guitar by Tyler.
Kids love Tyler and adore having him as their teacher. They appreciate his patience and his belief in their abilities.
Piano Instructor
Jason McNeill
Jason is a professional musician who has perfected the art of teaching for all ages and levels. A classically-trained pianist who grew up in a professional musician’s household, Jason’s been playing for over 27 years and believes in starting kids young. While Blues and Jazz are personal favorites, Jason teaches all styles of piano including Gospel, Rock, Contemporary and New Age styles.
We’ve been very fortunate to have Jason teaching here at Music Source for the over 16 years. He consistently develops students beyond their expectations, whether they start off as beginners or come to Jason as advanced students wanting to broaden their skills.
Trumpet, French Horn, & Flute Instructor
Cyndi Salata
Cyndi specializes in both brass and woodwind instruments, teaches flute, trumpet, french horn and recorder. She offers instruction in basic technical and rhythmic skills with a focus on classical, jazz and commercial styles. Cyndi adheres to basics and fundamentals and has the solo awards and honors to attest to their value.
Cyndi has played several roles throughout her musical journey. She received a full scholarship to the Interlochen Arts Academy at age 16, graduated among the highest ranked chairs, and was one of the few freshman to get into both the premier wind ensemble and top jazz band at the University of Iowa. She was also a finalist for the Washington D.C. Navy band at just 20 years old. She also has several other local, nation and international solo awards on all three instruments.
Cyndi describes one of her most memorable “wow” moments as when she heard her flute and trumpet solos being aired over local radio in 2008!In 2012 Cyndi made her Carnegie Hall debut as the first place winner in the amateur division of an international flute solo competition. Not afraid to rise to a challenge, just one year later she competed again in a different international arena, earning a 2nd place and yet another opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall. Cyndi was not only the lone wind player to get above a 3rd place, but did it on flute, French horn, and trumpet while performing her own arrangement of the Carnival of Venice! Cyndi feels that if there isn’t a piece written for all three instruments to be performed by one person, why not write it yourself?
Guitar & Bass Instructor
Todd Steffenhagen
Todd teaches bass and guitar, with a specialty in guitar. He is very successful with all age groups and is proficient in teaching Rock, Funk, Blues, Country and Reggae. Todd is a classically trained professional musician and learned all the basics at an early age. He’s been performing with live bands for 17 years, including gigs at U.S. Cellular Field and fun venues like Milwaukee County Fair, Lake County Fairgrounds, McHenry County and Southeastern Wisconsin festivals and fairs!
Todd has a real passion for songwriting and devotes time to that in addition to his own band NoOneSouldier which performs his original songs. NoOneSouldier has gigs lined up from Kenosha, Wisconsin to Lake County, Illinois, in addition, Todd also plays with Old Brown Shoes which is known for Blues and Soul music. When Todd isn’t playing, teaching or writing songs, Todd loves watching other live bands or curling up with a good set of headphones.
Guitar Instructor
Dan Settle
Dan began learning how to play guitar when he was 10 years old with metal as an influence. After a while he began to broaden his skills by branching out to many genres like: Country, Rock, Classical, Jazz, and Funk. Dan is a veteran of Music Source and has been a part of the store for many years. He took guitar lessons here and played many recitals with his own compositions in his youth. Since then he has continued to expand his playing abilities and taught himself new instruments such as: banjo, bass, and the ukulele.
Dan has played in a few local bands (“Impressions” and “A Dying Ultimatum”). Dan also works on his own solo compositions and plays locally as a Country singer and guitar player. He began teaching privately in 2011, and then brought his teaching techniques to Music Source. His big brother bonding experience method of teaching allows his students to feel comfortable and enjoy music instead of making it a chore to practice. Dan is an all around great musician and a great teacher.
Grayslake IL 60030
Mon – Thurs – Noon – 9pm
Friday – Noon – 7pm
Saturday – 10am – 5pm
Tweets by MusicSourceInc
Website By I AM Design Studios
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Glenn Webster
mwiadmin | October 6, 2016
Lieutenant General (Ret.) William Glenn Webster, Jr. is a retired 37-year Army veteran who commanded units in Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and the United States. He is a successful leadership and management coach to the private sector, as well as to the military. One of the Army’s premier trainers, Webster has been called upon to coach and teach executive-level leadership by municipal governments, charitable organizations, NATO, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has served as a senior mentor for the U.S. War College, and worked for the Chief of Staff, U.S. Army.
A graduate of West Point, Webster commanded at every level from platoon to division and field army. His operational experience includes assignments with five different Army divisions, two combatant commands, and twice with a field army and land component command.
Webster is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army War College, and he earned a master of arts degree from the School of Advanced Military Studies.
PreviousNo, American Journalists Did Not Lose the Vietnam War — or Disparage the Soldiers Who Fought It
NextMWI Podcast: War and the Veteran Experience Afterwards with Sebastian Junger
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Mona Lisa- The Queen of Mysteries
Mona Lisa is undoubtedly the most popular portraits in the art world, the greatest creation of renaissance period and the finest masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci. Surrounded with bazillion mysteries this accomplished work of art has been the most widely reproduced work and the ultimate source of inspiration for visual and literary arts. Here are some of the most intriguing mysteries that have boosted the artworks popularity.
To begin with, the most talked about mystery is Mona Lisa’s captivating half-smile, so much so that it even originated a popular urban legend, which states that an a young French artist, Luc Maspero, in 1852 threw himself from the fourth floor window of his Paris hotel. In a final letter, he wrote: “For years I have grappled desperately with [Mona Lisa’s] smile. I prefer to die.”
However a recent study, resolves the mystery to a certain level. Art experts, latest belief has been that the genius artist, applied optical illusion called sfumato. If a viewer looks at the eyes (or any other feature) of the sitter, due to the clever shading and color blending around the cheek bones and mouth, ones peripheral vision (side vision) makes the upturn of the smile appear more prominent and perceptible. Looking directly at the mouth the smile instantly becomes flat and extremely faint. The experts from Sheffield Hallam University have termed this hopping smile, generated by playing with the side and direct vision as the ‘uncatchable smile’.
Mona Lisa’s identity is another mystery that still remains unresolved. Though there have been many speculations that have stemmed from the uncertainty of the sitters identity, most widely believed presumption is that the sitter was Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine cloth merchant. Some art historians however believe that the model for the portrait is a man named, Gian Giacomo Caprotti, whom is identified as Leonardo’s apprentice, nicknamed Salai.
In addition, with digital analysis there are set of experts who assert that there is a possibility that Mona Lisa is a self portrait.
Gian Giacomo Caprotti’s Portrait (Right)
Leonardo da Vinci’s self-Portrait (Right)
For the longest time people have speculated as to why Leonardo da Vinci didn’t make eyebrows and eyelashes for Mona Lisa. Just recently, Pascal Cotte, a French engineer, claimed that he discovered with a high-definition camera that Leonardo da Vinci originally did paint eyebrows and eyelashes however with time they have faded or unintentionally got erased at some stage of clean the painting.
Leonardo da Vinci’s notoriety for placing hidden codes and messages in his artworks has led to in-depth analysis of almost all his artworks. Specially after the release of thriller books like- Da Vinci Code, art detectives have been tiresome working hard to spot secret symbols and messages. Just recently, President of Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage, spotted symbols, in Monal Lisa’s eyes. In the right eye appear to be the letters LV which could well stand for his name, Leonardo da Vinci, while in the left eye the letters appear to be CE which haven’t been deciphered so far.
On the arch of the bridge in the background, number 72 is artfully concealed based on which some historians have asserted that it reveals the location of the background- Bobbio, a village in northern Italy. The numerals are a reference to 1472, the year in which a devastating flood destroyed Bobbio’s bridge (shown in the background). Leonardo used the numeric’s to record the event.
However there are many art experts who have rubbished all these theories, stating that these are simply cracks which have emerge over the years on the painting.
One of the nuttiest claims has been that Mona Lisa had high levels of cholesterol. Medical expert Dr. Vito Franco, from Palermo University claims that the signs of fatty acids around the eyes and cheeks of the subject is one of the reasons for her illusory smile.
Was Mona Lisa Pregnant? – With the three-dimensional infrared scanning conducted by experts in 2004, it was discovered that the transparent veil worn by the sitter was typically used by women in that era during pregnancy or just after giving birth. So the answers to the long standing question of Mona Lisa’s pregnancy can be considered resolved.
There are many of more speculations and theories, Mona Lisa is one such mysterious masterpiece which never seizes to intrigue interest. Analysis, deciphering and scrutiny for this artwork are never-ending…
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Nerdy Minds Magazine
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Nerd-Worthy Music
Buy More (Geek Toys, Tees, Etc.)
Actor | Musician Troy Baker (BioShock Infinite, The Last Of Us, Etc.) Debut Solo Album SITTING IN THE FIRE Is Out October 14th!
UPDATE: It its first day, Troy Baker’s new album snagged a No. 1 Best Seller spot! Congrats, Troy! Help keep it there by buying “Sitting In The Fire” now!
If you like anything considered “nerdy” then you already know Troy Baker’s voice. Think you don’t? He’s the protagonist in The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite, The Joker in the Arkham Origins games, Two-Face and Robin/Nightwing in Arkham City, Nightwing and Sinestro in Injustice: Gods Among Us and Batman in LEGO Batman. Maybe MARVEL’s more your thing? He’s also Fandral, Groot, Hawkeye, J.A.R.V.I.S., and Loki in LEGO Marvel Super Heroes as well as Hawkeye and Loki in the current run of Marvel cartoons. And that’s just a small slice of his voice acting career. If you’ve seen him at a convention, then you know he’s also incredibly charming and funny. Well now you have a whole new reason to fangasm: Troy Baker is also a musician and is releasing his first solo album!
That’s right, Troy Baker is also a singer/songwriter. In fact, he got his start in show business as a musician. We had a chance to see him perform some of his music and talk about the stories behind the songs–The Last of Us/BioShock Infinite‘s Troy Baker Performs LIVE: Full Concert/Panel/Comedy Show–and we’ve been waiting anxiously for this release date ever since. His live performance was done with nothing more than an acoustic guitar and vocal pedal, and it ended, of course, with “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, complete with a guest appearance by his Bioshock Infinite costar, Courtnee Draper–BioShock Infinite’s Troy Baker (Booker) & Courtnee Draper (Elizabeth) Perform LIVE: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”–His songs are energetically bluesy, delightfully clever, and intimately autobiographical, the perfect formula for a hit record, and we hope that Sitting in the Fire gets the critical acclaim and attention that it deserves.
How does such a busy man find time to record a full-length album? As Troy himself admits, “There isn’t time… I’ve been having to carve out time, and that’s why this album’s taken so long to do.” But it’s finally ready, and the world will get to hear Troy’s other OTHER talent this Tuesday, October 14th. Can’t wait that long? You can hear a sample from the album, My Religion, by clicking HERE.
On top of all of that, the album closes with a familiar tune. As Troy explained during his live performance, “The last song that we did, we ended up doing at three in the morning…I started playing this song, and the engineer, I didn’t know, had started rolling tape, and everybody just started joining in. It was unrehearsed, live, and one take, and it’s this song,” before beginning a quiet, heartfelt rendition of Will the Circle Be Unbroken.
You can (pre-)order Sitting in the Fire on Amazon by clicking here; the album will be available for digital download on October 14th on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio and other digital media sites.
We asked Troy when/where we can buy a physical copy, and his response was as follows,
“A deluxe physical edition complete with 6 panel cover and 8 panel fold out poster with lyrics will be available on Amazon and CD Baby October 14, with other stores like Best Buy, FYE, etc coming soon thereafter.”
got a nerdy mind? Stay tuned to Nerdy Minds Magazine on Facebook and @NerdyMindsMag on Twitter for more nerdy news, reviews, interviews, deals, and more! You can even subscribe to have each new post delivered straight to your inbox so you’re sure you don’t miss out; simply scroll to the bottom of the page (yes, all the way down) and opt in! You won’t regret it!
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Published by Nerdlyweds
"Nerd love is the best love." Nerdlyweds is a "geek-on-geek" duo living life in co-op: from 2-player gaming to couples cosplay and tag-team blogging. They host "Can't Stop the Serenity" every year at the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta on behalf of the Atlanta Browncoats. "We're married, and we're in love! ...with superheroes, with video games, with cosplay, with Joss Whedon... and yeah, okay, with each other." View all posts by Nerdlyweds
Gaming, Nerd-Worthy Music
arkham origins, batman, Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, Joel, My Religion, Sitting in the Fire, The Joker, The Last of Us, Troy Baker
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Voice Actor Veronica Taylor Talks POKEMON, TMNT, & More (interview)
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Marvel’s Avengers Game Shows Us That It’s Time to Move On
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Home/Celebrity Net Worth/Celebrities/William Bratton Net Worth
William Bratton Net Worth
William Bratton Net Worth 2019: Wiki Biography, Married, Family, Measurements, Height, Salary, Relationships
149 3 minutes read
William Bratton net worth is
William Bratton Wiki Biography
Born as William Joseph Bratton on the 6th October 1947 in Boston, Massachusetts USA, he is a law enforcement officer, best known to the world for serving as the New York City Police Commissioner from 1994 to 1996 and again from 2014 to 2016. Also, he was the Commissioner of the Boston Police Department from 1993 to 1994 and Chief of the LAPD from 2002 to 2009.
Have you ever wondered how rich William Bratton is, as of mid- 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that Bratton’s net worth is as high as $500,000, an amount earned through his successful career, which started in 1970. He is also active in politics, and from 2011 he has served as Vice President of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, which also improved his wealth.
William Bratton Net Worth $500,000
William went to Boston Technical High School, from which he matriculated in 1965. After that, he joined the Military Police Corps, a law enforcement branch of the United States Army, at the midst of the Vietnam War.
Five years later, he returned to his native Boston and joined the Boston Police Department. In 1975 he became a sergeant and then three years later he was promoted to lieutenant. Thanks to his devotion, William rose in ranks quite quickly, and as a result he became the youngest-ever Executive Superintendent of the Boston Police, the department’s second-highest post in 1980, when he was 32 years old. Unfortunately, after an interview with a journalist in which he spoke about his ambitions of becoming the Police Commissioner, William was stripped down from his position and was reassigned as the Inspector of Bureaus. After a while, he was brought back to the police station, but this time only to handle labor relations and 9-1-1 related issues.
William never gave up his ambitions, although his thoughtless remarks set him back almost a decade. However, he became Chief of Police for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in 1983, and held the position until 1986, after which he was appointed as Superintendent of Boston’s Metropolitan District Commission Police. He eventually became 34th Police Commissioner of Boston, which he held from 30th June 1993 until 1st January 1994.
Back in 1990, he joined New York City Transit Police, and in 1994 became city’s 38th Commissioner of the New York City Police Department. Supported by the then mayor Rudy Giuliani, the two worked on putting into practice the controversial broken windows theory, which helps prevent small crimes such as public drinking, vandalism and other petty crimes. Also, he was the one to start the CompStat system for tracking crimes in the city. However, William resigned from his position in 1996, as he was apparently under investigation for several minor misuses of his position, but the real reason he was under investigation was the fact that he and Giuliani’s relationship became strained, as William was receiving more credit than the mayor.
After New York, William moved to Los Angeles where he initially worked with Kroll Associates as a private consultant. Then in 2002, he was appointed as the LAPD’s 54th Chief of Police. Thanks to his great work, the crime rate fell down every year during which he was the Chief of Police, so in 2007 he was re-appointed to a new five-year term, which hadn’t happened in the last 20 years. However, he served in position only until 2009, after which he focused on other ventures, including improving the relationship between USA and UK police departments. He was also in talks with David Cameron, UK Prime Minister to become their Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis of London, however, the then Home Secretary Theresa May, ruled of their suggestion, since she insisted that they should appoint British citizen. Nevertheless, William received the honorary title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II, for his devotion to improving cooperation between US and UK police.
In 2012 he set off to Oakland, where he served as a consultant for the city, but then in 2013 he returned to New York, and from 2014 to 2016 was the Police Commissioner.
Thanks to his distinguished career, William has received several honorary degrees, including a Bachelor of Science in Law Enforcement from the University of Massachusetts, an honorary degree from New York Institute of Technology, while he was also a research fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Regarding his personal life, William has been married four times. His fourth wife is Rikki Klieman, an attorney and Tru TV analyst, who he married in 1999. He has one son from one of his previous marriages and was married to an attorney and Boston Police spokeswoman and newscaster Cheryl Fiandaca.
Full Name William Bratton
Net Worth $500,000
Place Of Birth Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Profession Law enforcement officer
Education University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston State College
Spouse Rikki Klieman (m. 1999), Cheryl Fiandaca (m. 1988–1998)
Children David Bratton
Parents June DeVilla Bratton, William E. Bratton
Nicknames William Bratton , Bill , Bill Bratton , Chief William Bratton , William Joseph "Bill" Bratton CBE , William J. Bratton
Twitter https://twitter.com/commissbratton
Movies People I Know
1 Don Siegel's Madigan is his favourite film.
2 (October 2002-present) Chief of police, Los Angeles
3 (1994 - 1996) Chief of police, New York City
4 (1991 - 1994) Superintendent in Chief / Commissioner, Boston Police
5 (1990 - 1991) Chief of Police, New York City Transit Authority
6 Has been married four times; since 1999 to former criminal-defense attorney and former TruTV personality Rikki Klieman.
7 (1986 - 1990) Superintendent, Metropolitan District Commission Police, Boston
8 Named a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) on Sept. 11, 2009 by Queen Elizabeth II.
9 (1983 - 1986) Chief of Police, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority
10 Served as chief of police of Boston, New York City and then Los Angeles before becoming a high-level security consultant, one who now advises London's police dept.
11 (1980 - 1983) Superintendent of Police, Boston Police Department
People I Know 2002 Mayor Nick Conlin
Super High Me 2007 Documentary special thanks - as Chief William Bratton
Before, During and 'After the Sunset' 2005 Video documentary Himself, at the premiere
Homeless in America 2004 Documentary short Himself - Commentator
Today 2014-2016 TV Series Himself - Guest
Fox News Sunday 2016 TV Series Himself - NYPD Commissioner
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon 2016 TV Series Himself - Greeting Jimmy in Audience
60 Minutes 1999-2015 TV Series documentary Himself - New York Police Commissioner (segment "Active Shooter") / Himself - Los Angeles Police Chief (segment "Top Cop") / Himself - New York City Police Commissioner (segment "Miranda")
The ISIS Storm: America on Alert 2015 TV Movie documentary Himself - NYPD Commissioner (as William Bratton)
Dateline NBC 2015 TV Series documentary Himself - Former Chief, New York City Transit Police
Anderson Cooper 360° 2015 TV Series Himself - NYPD Police Commissioner
Face the Nation 2015 TV Series Himself
CBS This Morning 2014 TV Series Himself - NYPD Commissioner
CNN NewsCenter 2014 TV Series documentary Himself - NY Police Commissioner
Imus in the Morning 2014 TV Series Himself - Former NYC Police Commissioner
CNN Newsroom 2014 TV Series Himself
America Live 2013 TV Series Himself
Fox and Friends 2013 TV Series Himself
Uprising: Hip Hop and the LA Riots 2012 Documentary Himself (as William Bratton)
Charlie Rose 2012 TV Series Himself - Guest
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir 2006-2011 TV Series Himself / Himself - Chief, LAPD
Ray Charles America 2010 Documentary Himself (as William Bratton)
Aftermath with William Shatner 2010 TV Series documentary Himself - New York Police
James Ellroy: American Dog 2006 Video documentary Himself (as William Bratton)
Inside Edition 2014 TV Series documentary Himself - NYPD Commissioner
Whistleblowers: The Untold Stories 2012 TV Series Himself - Former LAPD Chief
The Third Jihad 2008 Video documentary Himself - Chief of Police (as William Bratton)
60 Minutes 2000-2001 TV Series documentary Himself - Former New York Police Commissioner (segment "Special Report") / Himself - New York City Police Commissioner (segment "Miranda")
Uprising: Hip Hop and the LA Riots (2012)
Homeless in America (2004)
as Himself - Commentator
60 Minutes (1999-2015)
as Himself - Los Angeles Police Chief (segment "Top C
James Ellroy: American Dog (2006)
$500 $500 Thousand 000 1947 1947-10-06 Authors Bill Bill Bratton Boston Boston State College Cheryl Fiandaca Cheryl Fiandaca (m. 1988–1998) Chief William Bratton David Bratton John F. Kennedy June DeVilla Bratton Law enforcement officer Massachusetts October 6 People I Know Police officer Queen Elizabeth II Rikki Klieman Rikki Klieman (m. 1999) Rudy Giuliani United States United States of America University of Massachusetts Boston William Bratton William Bratton Net Worth William E. Bratton William J. Bratton William Joseph "Bill" Bratton CBE
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How Could A Demonstration of 50,000 in Shanghai Not Be Reported in International Media?
Brian Hioe 07/07/2015 #7#8EnglishEnvironmentalJuly 2015Social Movements
English /// 中文
Photo Credit: 圖文不符
The End of June in Shanghai
SHANGHAI IN THE last month has seen massive mobilizations, some reports of which claim that up to 50,000 participated in environmental demonstrations against the building of a chemical plant. This has not at all been reported upon in western media, although details in Sinophone media are also sparse, with few Chinese media reporting upon the event, and media from Sinophone countries and territories on the periphery of China as Taiwan or Hong Kong largely attempt to gather information from social media or micro-blogs. Seeing as China is probably the most significant East Asian country where global affairs is concerned, it is surprising that to date, there have been little to no reports on what occurred in the past week with a series of demonstrations in the western world. It is especially strange that this the lack of media coverage has been the case when this has been a news development across a week.
The past week of actions dates to June 22nd, when a demonstration in which protestors occupied the space outside the Jinshan District Government in the suburb of Jinshan, Shanghai. Protestors stayed overnight and participated in large-scale marches at night, though accurate counts of how many protestors were present on June 22nd are hard to come by, with some claiming hundreds and others thousands. It is claimed that 30,000 to 50,000 mobilized on the night of Saturday, June 27th, the peak of demonstrations to date, but that the arrests of demonstrators on June 27th in a police action which involved the use of at least three police buses seems to have put an end to the current set of events, as protests have largely died down after June 29th. Images exist of police pointing guns at demonstrators and of demonstrators flipping over cars.
Photo credit: BBC Chinese
Details are hard to find, as a product of police recording the names of participants, and destroying the documentation which had been produced by those who photograph or document events. However, it seems that reports are trickling into Sinophone media outside of China only now, largely through a set of Internet memes written in traditional Chinese which became popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan social media networks. Actually, where western media, such as BBC—or it’s Chinese section, anyway—were in fact present, reporters was forcibly driven out by police, and the story was not picked up on. English-language reports exist from Shanghaiist, Radio Free Asia, and others, but are likely reliant on secondary sources.
Protestors were demonstrating against the building of a PX chemical plant in Shanghai, despite government claims that such a plant was not being built. PX, or paraxylene, is a chemical used in plastic and polyester manufacturing which is a major contributor to air pollution in China and can be hazardous to human health when released into the atmosphere.
Deaths because of air pollution in China is estimated from anywhere from 500,000 to 1.2 million deaths a year. But directly inflaming of public opinion in past days in Shanghai was likely is that after the release of a environmental assessment report on June 23, the government declared a temporary halt to environmental assessment work, apparently because the public results led to public backlash and the government wished to avoid controversy in the future.
Photo credit: Revolution News
Where playing up policies which point to the need to remedy China’s environmental policies has worked quite well for elements of the Chinese government in the past in winning the favor of the people, it would appear that when the demand of the people for reform becomes too heavy, the government retrenches on its promises. Indeed, air pollution has a major issue in the past year, as seen in the release of the documentary Under the Dome and its subsequent popularity, and we can also understand the outbreak of protests in Shanghai as also reaction to the broader national issue of air pollution. But once public backlash grew out of control, the documentary was banned. We can more broadly see this as tendency in Chinese government policy regarding when demands of environmental justice are made by the people and grow out of control beyond what the government can handle.
PX plants are especially unwelcome in China because they release PM2.5, a particle which contributed to a higher rate of death than the amount of deaths from smoking, and to which deaths from air pollution are sometimes largely attributed. But PX and other chemical plants have also become unwelcome because of large-scale injuries and disruption caused from plant disasters. PX plants have been the object of large-scale protests in the past, for example, where thousands demonstrated against the planned building of PX plants in Guangdong in April of last year, protests turned violent with police action and the deaths of several protestors. The explosion of a petrochemical plant that produced PX in Fujian in April of this year also led to the injuries of hundreds and the evacuation of over 30,000. Of course, these incidents, too, were underreported on in western media.
Why Would Events in Shanghai Not Be Reported on in International Media?
SOMETIMES IT ASTOUNDS as to what makes western media and what does not. To be sure, if we examine the history of social movements in Asia from the beginning of the 2010s to the present, it would appear that only Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement seized the attention of the western world. Taiwan’s Sunflower Movement, the Japanese anti-nuclear movement of 2012, and the first Occupy Central which took place in Hong Kong on 2011 largely did not. Taiwan’s inability to attract international attention has largely been attributed to Taiwan’s general international obscurity, despite that the height of the Sunflower Movement drew 500,000 onto the streets of Taipei. But along such lines, it is hard to understand why the Japanese anti-nuclear movement did not attract international attention given Japan’s prominent international status and that the 2012 Japanese anti-nuclear movement was the largest social movement since the turbulence of 1960s student movements, bringing out 80,000 in Tokyo in July of 2012.
Yet where China is very likely the most globally influential East Asian country of them all, one is amazed that the events of the past week have not been widely reported on. It may be that Hong Kong was a “perfect storm” situation where widespread reporting of the Umbrella Movement was concerned, given that too many western journalists which the Chinese government had driven out of China had taken up residence in Hong Kong in order to keep reporting on China from afar. But can it be that in as cosmopolitan and international a city as Shanghai, there are not enough western journalists to report on the event? Probably not. We can speculate on several reasons as to why events are underreported on.
Firstly and most obviously, we can point to the existence of censorship on the part of the Chinese government and where it impedes coverage of political sensitive events both within China and outside of it. However, pertaining to western media, western media is always pushing the limits of censorship to be allowed to report from within China to begin with, and western media can sometimes be self-censoring where sensitive topics are concerned because there is a need by journalists to maintain the Chinese government’s permission to be allowed to remain within China. Is that the case here? Maybe not, since western media tried to report on events, but was instead forcibly and violently driven away. But this is a broader problem of western journalism as well as academia concerning China, and arguably its existential dilemma. After all, as is well known, with no visa to continue reporting on or researching in China, reporters or academics would quickly find themselves out of a job, leading to a certain degree of self-censorship. Even then, however, it is surprising that this set of events in Shanghai did not become a prominent news item after western journalists where driven away.
Second, as to an explanation of why an event occurring in as central a location as Shanghai and with as large participation as 50,000 people was not reported on, it is likely because western journalism has an inability to distinguish the relative scale of social movements. As should be noted importantly, counts of the amount of demonstrators in Shanghai in western media reports were of “thousands” rather than “tens of thousands.” But with the limited ability of western journalism to perform crowd counts in China, it is hard to determine how large a demonstration is and, therefore, how significant it is. As any experienced demonstrator will know, no matter how large a protest is—even if it is in the tens of thousands—that protest has a way of dissolving into urban space once one is a few blocks away. And demonstrations in the thousands are a fairly regular event in China and elsewhere.
Photo credit: 博訊
It is likely western journalists were unable to gauge the size and the significance of the protest as a result. With Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement, at least western journalists could point to the its significance irrespective of how large it actuality was, given that the Umbrella Movement would clearly have a significant impact on China’s future relation with Hong Kong and other territories on its peripheries but not part of China proper. This was not so of the PX protests in Shanghai, which seem like purely a domestic matter to China. And so the lack of reports on the PX protests in western media led more broadly to a lack of reports in international media.
A Broader International Issue
AT THE END of the day, regarding the PX protests, they are in fact an international matter rather than a domestic Chinese one. To begin with, environmentalism is a global issue where the environmental pollution produced in Chinese factories ends up elsewhere; certainly, the air quality in Taipei has been affected in the past several years, but pollution ends up reaching as far as the West Coast of the United States.
But rather than blaming China for negatively affecting other countries, as some have, we might point to the international nature of the problem and how any attempt to address it needs be transnational in nature. It is, for example, interesting to note that with PX protests, there are reports that Taiwanese companies were singled out for blame, given that the owner of the PX plant slated for construction is infamous Taiwanese industrialist Chen Yu-Hao.
The problem at hand is, of course, beyond Taiwan, China, or any other nation when the source of the issue is the ideology of developmentalism, pervasive to rampant and unchecked capitalism, in which profits and production quotas take priority to any human costs, and the international industrialists that profit off of such human suffering. This is pervasive in East Asia, particularly where the close relation between the private and public sector leads to industrialists having an undue ability to influence government policy, as we see in the case of China where the government bends itself backwards to make way of industrialists. And we see this in regards to Chen Yu-Hao himself, a tycoon with close ties to President Lee Teng-Hui, Shih Ming-De and other powerful political figures and a bitter opponent of President Chen Shui-Bian whose investigation actually led Chen Yu-Hao to flee to China after large-scale embezzlement scandal. In this respect, Chen Yu-Hao is a figure emblematic of where the Taiwanese state, too, has in the interests of developmentalist ideology, made way for the unchecked profit motive of industrialists, irrespective of the human cost.
Photo credit: Radio Free Asia
But Chen’s greed spans borders. Chen’s infamy lies, after all, in that he developed close ties with both Taiwanese and Chinese politicians so that they would grant him special privileges for his businesses. Chen Yu-Hao may be a figure emblematic of the times, where his unchecked greed transcends international boundaries and the Chinese and Taiwanese governments were willing to make allowances for an individual such as him in order to stimulate “economic development”. We can say much the same about other Taiwanese industrialists who contribute to unchecked capitalist brutality in China as Terry Guo, the owner of FoxConn, who is, after all, a major supporter of the KMT. Chen, Guo, and their ilk are enemies of the Taiwanese and Chinese alike, rather than enemies of any one particular nationality or another. Indeed, with Chen and Guo, we can very clearly see how pro-business industrialists such as they are figures of the Taiwanese right wing, given their general affiliation with the KMT and the developmentalist state ushered in by KMT economic policies.
It is fundamental, then, that where the problems of the environment cross borders and are the product of developmentalist ideology and international capitalism, they must be addressed on an international basis. But how are we to arrive at the awareness of that these concerns are international in nature? Attempts to raise awareness in Taiwan and Hong Kong through Internet memes which have circulated through Taiwanese civil society in the last few days are a beginning. But this is what remains to be seen.
air pollution ChinaCCPChen Yu-HaoChen YuhaochinaChinese Communist Party. KuomintangChinese Nationalist Partydevelopmentalismdevelopmentalist stateenvironmentalismFoxconnHon HaiKMTParaxylenePM2.5PXShanghaiShanghai PXTerry GuoUnder the Dome
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“It is claimed that 30,000 to 50,000 mobilized on the night of Thursday, June 27th, the peak of demonstrations to date”
I would swear that the 27th of June 2015 was a Saturday…
07/09/2015 newbloomeditor
Looks like a typo. Fixed!
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Emerging Trends | Innovation | SDG3
How medical delivery drones are improving lives in Rwanda
By Evan Ackerman and Michael Koziol, IEEE Spectrum
Rwanda is known as the land of a thousand hills, and our car seems to go over every one of them as we drive from the small town of Muhanga to the even smaller town of Kinazi. The 50-kilometer trip into western Rwanda will take us well over an hour. We’re on our way to rendezvous with a blood-carrying drone that will make the trip in under 14 minutes.
The drone is operated by Zipline, a California-based company focused on delivering medical supplies in areas with poor infrastructure. And not long after we arrive at Kinazi’s hospital, the fixed-wing drone materializes out of the blue. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, the drone descends, opens a set of doors in its belly, and drops a small package that parachutes to the ground. The drone immediately begins to climb and vanishes over the hills as a staff member crosses the hospital parking lot to pick up the package—a shipment of blood ordered by WhatsApp less than half an hour earlier.
We then climb back into our car to start our bone-jarring return drive to Muhanga, one of Zipline’s launch sites, winding our way over dirt roads. By the time we make it back, the drone is flying smoothly toward another hospital elsewhere in Rwanda, with a fresh package of blood in its belly.
Delivery by drone is a futuristic idea that has caught the public’s imagination, and there are plenty of attempts to turn it into a commercial reality. Amazon, Google, and Domino’s Pizza have all pulled off carefully controlled demonstrations and pilot projects, delivering items such as sunscreen, burritos, and (of course) pizza to backyards and fields. But the world is waiting to see whether any company can find a business model that makes drone delivery a sustainable and profitable endeavor.
The answer may be here in Rwanda, where Zipline is delivering blood to 25 hospitals and clinics across the country every day.
Zipline is betting that transporting lifesaving medical supplies, which are often lightweight and urgently needed, will be the killer app for delivery drones.
We visited Zipline’s Rwanda operations to understand the technical challenges of building a drone-based delivery service.
We found obsessively engineered drones that the company has optimized for blood delivery, along with a detailed plan for integrating them into the country’s medical system.
Zipline’s methods could be a model for Africa, as the company’s founders expand their drone services into other countries on the continent this year. But despite the company’s technological and logistical successes thus far, Zipline still has to prove that it can scale up its operations—that it can go big enough to match its soaring ambitions.
Rwanda has modernized rapidly since the 1990s, when the country began its recovery from civil war and genocide. The change has been remarkable: Since 2000, the percentage of the population living below the poverty line has dropped from 59 to 39 percent, and life expectancy has increased by nearly 20 years. The government’s Vision 2020 national development plan emphasizes technology infrastructure, and fiber-optic cables now run alongside main roads. More than 95 percent of the population is covered by 4G cellular networks.
The government has also invested heavily in health care. But its push to construct hospitals and clinics has resulted in some shiny new medical facilities opening their doors to patients before the roads leading to them have been improved. Traffic is slow on the two-lane highways that twist around the hills, while the roads that branch off toward small towns soon turn into dirt.
Watch the video: Rwanda’s Minister of ICT Innovation, Paula Ingabire, describes tech development, including drones for healthcare
For hospitals in need of critical medical supplies, Rwanda’s roads pose a real problem. Hospital administrators worry most about blood and blood products, which have a short shelf life and strict storage requirements. It’s also difficult to predict how many packs of each blood type will be needed at a given facility, and when. In an emergency, it can take up to 5 hours for a Rwandan hospital to receive a blood delivery via road, which could easily mean death for a patient in need.
Three entrepreneurs—William Hetzler, Keller Rinaudo, and Keenan Wyrobeck—founded Zipline in 2014 with the goal of solving such problems through on-demand deliveries by drone. Rwanda was the ideal test bed, with its challenging terrain, relatively small size (about the same area as the U.S. state of Maryland), extensive wireless connectivity, and receptive government.
Outside observers are cautiously optimistic about the company’s efforts so far. “I like Zipline’s approach in Rwanda—they’re operating commercially, which is more than most drone delivery companies [are doing],” says Adam Klaptocz, cofounder and CEO of Rigitech, a Swiss startup that’s using small cargo drones to connect rural communities in the developing world. “They’re not trying to be the solution for all drone deliveries,” says Klaptocz. “But they’re doing this, and it seems like they’re doing it better than the existing way.”
Zipline has two fulfillment centers in Rwanda, which it refers to as “nests.” The Muhanga nest, which we visited, is about 50 km from the capital of Kigali, and a 2-hour drive, thanks to lumbering trucks that clog the main roads. Its small cluster of buildings abuts a maize field, and the locals who work the field grudgingly move out of the way whenever a drone passes low overhead.
Several times a week, blood and blood products arrive here by truck. When one shipment arrives during our visit, Israel Bimpe, Zipline’s head of national implementation, turns to us with a smile, saying: “The blood is here!”
Workers spring into action, transferring the packs of whole blood, plasma, and platelets into refrigerators. When an order comes in from a hospital via phone, website, WhatsApp, or SMS, a worker wraps the needed packs in padding and stuffs the bundle into a bright red box, which has a wax-paper parachute attached.
A technician places the box and parachute in the belly of a drone behind a spring-loaded hatch, then snaps a modular battery pack into the drone’s nose. Two people carry the drone to a 13-meter-long electric catapult powered by a bank of supercapacitors, then run through a preflight checklist with the aid of a smartphone app.
Zipline confirms the drone’s flight plan with the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority and requests flight clearance, while the company’s technicians do their best to convince enthusiastic local kids to move a safe distance away from the launch.
Finally, with a satisfying zzzing, the catapult flings the drone skyward, accelerating it to 100 kilometers per hour in half a second. It swiftly rises over the Rwandan countryside to a cruising altitude of 120 meters. It’s a dramatic moment—and at Muhanga it happens 20 to 30 times a day.
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As soon as a drone—which the company calls a Zip—leaves the catapult, it’s fully autonomous. While both Zipline and the Rwanda Civil Aviation Authority track the aircraft and can redirect it at any time, in practice the Zips are mostly forgotten about until they return home, mission complete. In the air, each Zip follows a predetermined flight plan, relaying data on its position and status through Rwanda’s wireless network.
Our visit to the Kinazi hospital, one of the closer delivery sites, shows us the other end of a Zip’s journey. About 5 minutes before the drone arrives, hospital staff members get an automatic text alert telling them to send someone outside to await the delivery. At Kinazi, that means waiting at the edge of a small grassy field adjacent to the hospital’s parking lot. During our visit, the staff member arrives only after the drone has dropped its package, which just goes to show that blood delivery by drone isn’t the least bit exciting in Rwanda anymore.
Launching a fixed-wing drone from a catapult is easy, but landing it safely—without landing gear or a lengthy runway—is a challenge. Zipline’s solution is a recovery system that the team affectionately refers to as Tall Bob. Its two 10-meter-high towers each have a vertically mounted rotating arm, and a cable is strung between the arms.
As a returning Zip flies between these two towers, the arms rotate upward, in a fraction of a second, to snag the cable on a tiny metal hook below the Zip’s tail. The drone is pulled to a stop within a few meters, then the arms allow the drone to swing down and back between the towers. In principle, it’s similar to the way planes land on aircraft carriers.
To reset the system, workers simply lift the Zip off the wire at ground level, and then rotate the arms back up to prepare for the next capture. The Zipline team has grown accustomed to the remarkable precision of its drone-capturing system, but during our visit we never get tired of seeing the wire pluck Zips out of the sky.
RELATED: e-Agriculture in action: Drones in agriculture
With dozens of orders coming in every day, Zipline needs to be sure that it always has drones ready to fly. So its engineers designed the Zips to be as modular as possible, allowing technicians to easily detach different pieces for repairs. While such repairs are common, particularly on the strain-bearing wings, there are always more than enough components to snap together into a fully assembled drone.
Expected improvements in the Zips themselves will boost range: Today, the farthest hospital that Zipline delivers to is Butaro District Hospital, about 80 km away (45 minutes as the Zip flies). Because weight determines how long and how far a drone can fly, Zipline’s engineers are always looking for ways to lighten the load. Much of the focus is on the battery, which is the heaviest component of the aircraft. “We fight super, super hard to shave off grams,” says Michael Newhouse, Zipline’s battery lead. The Zipline team uses the smallest-gauge wires they can get away with and special wire strippers to remove excess insulation, thus saving fractions of grams.
Despite the intense focus on keeping the drone’s weight down, today’s Zips can carry a payload of only 1.3 kilograms. “Right now, with this generation, we can deliver two units of blood,” with some capacity to spare, says Eric Watson, a systems engineer at Zipline. The remodeled Zip that the company is currently working on will have a lighter chassis, a more efficient battery, and a payload of 1.75 kg, enabling a single drone to carry up to three units of blood at a time.
It will also have a receiver for transponder signals from other aircraft, a backup communication system that uses a satellite link, and onboard sense-and-avoid equipment that will, Watson says, “be able to detect and avoid uncooperative aircraft in our airspace.”
This advanced feature will likely become a safety-critical system for delivery drones as the skies get more crowded.
Can the economics work?
While the technology involved in drone delivery is impressive, the economics are more uncertain. Experts say Zipline’s high-tech solution for blood delivery is a new twist on an old story. “Go to any hospital in Africa and you’ll find a graveyard of machines,” says Jonathan Ledgard, who was the Afrotech director at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, in Switzerland, until 2016. “The whole history of Africa is medical equipment that was too expensive.”
Ledgard notes that Zipline currently receives subsidies from the Rwandan government to make its service affordable for hospitals. He suggests the company may be in trouble if those subsidies end. “The price points they have to charge once the subsidies end are far, far, far too high for developing countries,” Ledgard says.
Over the long term, Zipline argues that minimizing waste in the medical system will help the drones pay for themselves. In Rwanda, the cost to collect, test, and store a unit of blood is about $80. Before Zipline came along, about 7 percent of blood packs expired without being used, costing the Rwandan government more than $1 million annually. In 2018, the hospitals that Zipline serves wasted no blood packs at all.
Ledgard says Zipline may find a business model that works—but only for lifesaving medical deliveries. He says the current drones can’t compete with motorbikes, which can carry about 15 kg, for routine deliveries. “Until you get to 6 or more likely 12 kg [for drones], it’s not viable,” Ledgard says. Yet he gives Zipline credit for getting a delivery-drone company off the ground. “They’ve done what people like me have been talking about,” he says. “I take my hat off to them.”
As of press time, Zipline’s drones have flown a total of over 1 million km. As Zipline scales up its operations, it will likely clock its next million kilometers in under six months. In addition to its expansion into Ghana, Zipline is also part of a pilot program run by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which will test medical deliveries in rural areas of North Carolina later this year.
The Rwandan government recently awarded Zipline a new, three-year contract, which includes provisions for delivering other medical products beside blood, such as medicine and vaccines. That service expansion means that Zips will soon be making drops to many small clinics, not only to hospitals. Zipline is also planning to assemble its drones in Rwanda rather than importing them from the United States. Clearly, Zipline is in Rwanda to stay.
It’s getting dark at Zipline’s Muhanga nest as we pack our bags and get ready for the long, winding drive back to Kigali. Red landing lights turn on along the approach path that the Zips follow—the drones don’t need the lights, but they look cool. In the distance, we can hear the faint buzz of another Zip returning home after making its delivery of blood. Anywhere else on Earth, it would be futuristic. In rural Rwanda, it’s just routine.
This article first appeared on IEEE Spectrum, see the original post here.
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http://news.itu.int/how-medical-delivery-drones-are-improving-lives-in-rwanda/
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Jim Kendall – In Memory
Jim Kendall
LeMars, IA
4 year Air Force Veteran
Life Legacy
James D. Kendall, 80, of Le Mars, died Friday, Nov. 21, 2014, at Plymouth Manor Care Center in Le Mars.
James Dean Kendall was born Aug. 9, 1934, on the family farm near Guthrie Center, to Donald and Gertrude (Safely) Kendall. He attended country school near his home and later high school in Guthrie Center and Jefferson.
On Feb. 5, 1954, Jim was inducted into the United States Air Force. While in the service, Jim and Evelyn Zastera were united in marriage at Fremont, Neb. Jim proudly served during the Korean War and earned his honorable discharge on Oct. 16, 1957.
Jim and Evelyn moved to San Diego, Calif., where Jim began a lifelong career in the telephone business with Pacific Bell. They transferred to Fremont, Neb., with Northwestern Bell. While Jim worked at Northwestern Bell, the family lived in many locations throughout Nebraska. Also while working, he earned an associate degree from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1974.
He semi-retired in 1990 and they moved to Le Mars. Jim’s final position as an engineer was with West Iowa Telephone (now WesTel) in Remsen.
Jim was an active member of the Presbyterian United Church of Christ in Le Mars. He ushered, served as elder and deacon, chaired the property and maintenance commission and was instrumental in implementing a new sound and video system. Jim participated in a mission trip to Haiti with Living Waters.
He was also a member of Kiwanis and served as president and lieutenant governor while a member.
He was a proud member of Wasmer Post #241 of the American Legion and the Legion Riders.
Jim was also an avid car and motorcycle enthusiast. He had served as president of the Shelby Owner’s Club in Denver and was president of the Harley Owners Group.
Jim was very proud of his membership in the B-47 Association and the 98th Bomb Wing Association.
Jim will be lovingly remembered by his wife of 59 years, Evelyn, of Le Mars; a sons, Patrick and his wife Sheila, of Papillion, Neb., and Todd and his wife Natasha, of Mobile, Ala.; a daughter, Teresa Hazen and her husband Lonnie, of Wellfleet, Neb.; and grandchildren, Rachel and Ryan Kendall, Lindsey and Tyler Kendall, Jesse Seth Hazen, five great-grandchildren, Jessie Jr., Kami, Josiah, Talicia and Kalina; and several nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents; a sister Harriet Butler; brother, Ronald; brothers-in-law, Marvin Zastera and Richard Butler.
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Five arrested in Puri triple murder case: Odisha DGP
Home BLOG CWG IS BEYOND THE REACH OF SMALLER NATIONS
CWG IS BEYOND THE REACH OF SMALLER NATIONS
COLUMN : JUST SPORT
By Veturi Srivatsa*
What is the relevance of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in the 21st century? This question pops up every four years, more so in the last two decades.
The Games are invariably held in British Isles, Australia, Canada or New Zealand. The only exceptions were Kingston, Jamaica, in 1966, Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and 2010 New Delhi. That’s the imperialistic stranglehold. Now South Africa is another major player joining the big league.
The idea of the Games was valid, say, some 80 years ago for the British empire to bring together its colonies to understand each other and also have fun. But today it is asked what purpose the Games serve when the world’s top athletes do not take them seriously.
Most countries hoping to host the Games shudder to think of the fall-out. The infrastructure facilities and the spin-offs from the Games are not commensurate with the bills the country has to pay for ages. After the New Delhi Games unfortunately the word corruption has been added to the CWG lexicon.
For most member-countries, ruled by corrupt despots, these Games are a way to oblige their cronies even though some of these countries produce the world’s leading athletes.
In recent years the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) met the members unsuccessfully to prune the Games to a manageable limit so that some of the smaller countries can also host, thus making the bidding process more transparent and reasonable.
The spiralling costs of the Games are discouraging potential bidders as the International Olympic Committee has realised while calling for bids for the 2022 Winter Games. Three bidders pulled out, leaving three in the fray.
Similarly, the 2019 Asian Games have become a drag on the economy of countries wanting to host and Vietnam found out after successfully bidding for the Games that it did not have the wherewithal to organise it.
Delhi made some noise before the prohibitive costs and the public scrutiny during the CWG forced its hands. One Indian Olympic Association (IOA) official was clearly unnerved at the prospect of a media trial even before Delhi is allotted the Games. The Games have to be affordable and enjoyable.
The CWG are frightening the potential bidders. After the next Games in the beautiful Gold Coast in Brisbane, Australia, in 2018, Canadian city Edmonton and South Africa’s Durban are the only bidders for the 2022 games. Gold Coast beat the only rival Hambantota in Sri Lanka.
Who knows by the time the decision to allot the Games is taken next year, neither bidder may be interested, not because they can’t host but because of the devaluation of the Games.
The Edmonton official, though, spoke eloquently about the relevance of the Games, citing how well the city had organised it once in 1978. He has said over 30 years ago Edmonton had to house 1,400 athletes, but what he has not said is that in Glasgow there are over 7,000 competitors!
What hurts the hosts is the lack of interest shown by world class athletes. Delhi missed Usain Bolt because he had expended all his energies making pots of gold, running in Golden League. This time he is making a token presence in the relays for Jamaica. There will also be no Asafa Powell or Yohan Blake.
Glasgow’s biggest disappointment will be that Britain’s Mo Farah has also decided to skip the Glasgow Games at the eleventh hour. The Olympic 5,000 and 10,000 metres gold medallist in a carefully constructed explanation says his body tells him that it is not ready to race yet. He is recuperating after an abdominal issue.
The flip side of it is that budding athletes can have an opportunity to showcase their talent in the absence of the big guns. As for India, they have done well in the first two days. It may be a far cry to expect them to get anywhere near their 2010 home performance of 101 medals, but if they can do better than their 69 medals with 30 gold in 2002 in Manchester or the 49 with 22 gold in Melbourne in 2006 they should be happy.
*Veturi Srivatsa is the Sports Editor of IANS and views expressed are personal. He can be reached at [email protected]
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All Aboard the USS New Jersey
There were a lot of firsts for us during our visit to Philadelphia. A chance to tour the USS New Jersey was certainly a big first. Besides being our first travel opportunity in the Garden State, it was also our first steps on a battleship. To say it is an impressive ship would be an enormous understatement.
Our first sighting of the USS New Jersey was during our taxi ride across the Ben Franklin Bridge, which spans the Delaware River. The sheer size is hard to fathom from a distance, but as we approached it became apparent. Nearly three football fields long, and over eleven stories tall, it makes a huge presence along the waterfront. We boarded the ship, and assembled near a helicopter that sits on the deck. Be aware that all backpacks, bags and over-sized purses are held during your visit for safety concerns.
Mimi explains the safety concerns, before we depart.
Soon our guide, Mimi, got our group underway. It was quickly clear that Mimi is a feisty, yet fun veteran. She, like her fellow volunteers, truly care about this ship. A short safety discussion was needed to remind us of low overhangs, high thresholds, and other potential dangers on-board. After this requirement was satisfied, we began our tour. Since we were on-board for an event, our tour would be a shortened version of the normal one. We were confident it would still be quite impressive. We would soon find our assumptions to be correct.
A view toward the bow of the ship with the Ben Franklin Bridge in the distance.
Guns, Guns, and more Guns
It is fitting that the USS New Jersey is berthed here, as it was built in the Philadelphia shipyards. As we walked along the teak wood deck, the aging of the vessel was apparent. Of course, this should be expected, since it was the most decorated Iowa-class battleship built. The ship has been put into “mothballs” multiple times, only to be brought back out for additional service. The USS New Jersey was first launched in December 1942. It was originally equipped with nine 16″ guns in three turrets. These bad boys are huge, and we are sure they make quite a roar when fired.
These massive guns fired 2700 lb. armor piercing shells that were capable of striking targets up to 23 miles away. Wow! As if that wasn’t enough fire power, she was also fitted with twenty 5″ guns that fired shells up to 9 miles. We certainly wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of an offensive launched from on-board this vessel. These offensive weapons were complimented with plenty of anti-aircraft guns for defense. After initial training, the ship passed through the Panama Canal, in January 1944, on its way to serve in World War II. The canal passage was an impressive feat in itself. The USS New Jersey, at just over 108 feet wide, is only a couple of inches narrower than the canal. We can only imagine how much of a team coordination it required to navigate that.
As we toured, Mimi filled us in on many of the statistics about the ship. She also tossed in lots of little stories about the experiences of the sailors who were assigned to on-board. There seemed to be something of interest in just about every direction she pointed. There were even some amusing distractions for those of us in the tour group. A really fun activity is the gun on the port side, which can be fired by visitors. Of course, it doesn’t fire real rounds, but it’s still an interesting attraction.
Mimi shows off a shell and powder pack for the larger guns.
USS New Jersey Resurfaces
After her service in WWII, the USS New Jersey was decommissioned in 1948. The Korean War required the ship to come out of mothballs. The ship saw lots of action during this war, and served the entire duration. After the Korean war ended in 1953, the USS New Jersey was sent to perform exercises and maneuvers in the Atlantic. It was used for training during these years of service. In August 1957, it once again was decommissioned. It would remain like that for a decade.
Once again, conflict was the reason for the ship to return to duty. This time it was the Vietnam War. In August 1967, the decision was made to refit her for battle. At the time of her Vietnam War deployment, the USS New Jersey was the only active battleship in the world. During this war, the crew fired over 20,000 shells. In December 1969, the ship was once again mothballed.
And Now For Something Different
The USS New Jersey was once again recommissioned in 1982, but with a few new changes. Many advancements in weaponry had taken place, and the ship needed a major face-lift. These improvements included the addition of multiple missile batteries, including Tomahawk missiles. In 1983, the now nuclear armed ship was sent to the Middle east to serve during the Lebanese Civil War. This was the final conflict the ship would see. The ship received its final decommission just prior to the start of Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
Mimi wrapped up the tour, and we hung around and spoke with her for a while. We discussed traveling, and let her know that she would probably be mentioned in this article. Fortunately, she had no issues with that. She informed us that one of the turrets was open, and available for us to visit. Crystal decided to hang back, but I squeezed in for a look. The evening we visited, the temperature was in the upper 80’s. Inside of the turret it felt closer to 100 degrees. One can only imagine how hot it became when the guns were being fired in rapid succession. I looked around for a few minutes, but finally the heat drove me back to the outside.
Our Visit Wraps Up
Back in the fresh air, we strode the deck looking at all of the towers. The sheer size of the vessel continued to be unbelievable. We watched other visitors as they seemed just as impressed as we were. Soon the sun began its descent in the West. We watched it drop, and strained to see the ships docked on the opposite shore of the Delaware River. Soon enough we would have a chance to see this closer up, but for now we just enjoyed our time on the USS New Jersey.
Have you ever taken the full tour of the USS New Jersey? Tell us what we missed.
By Jeff & Crystal|2018-04-20T18:33:27-06:00June 29th, 2017|Philadelphia|0 Comments
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EEntertainment
Entertainment / A Shot in the Snark
Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) and Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) in Long Shot. Photo Hector Alvarez/courtesy of Lionsgate Publicity
A Shot in the Snark
Mark Fields
May 1, 2019 , Entertainment
Hilarious if unlikely rom-com pairs Theron, Rogen
Part of the appeal of movie romantic comedies is their highly implausible nature. Billy Crystal’s Harry would never end up with Meg Ryan’s Sally (When Harry Met Sally). A high-powered businessman would never, ever fall for a Sunset Boulevard hooker (Pretty Woman). The uptight career woman wouldn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t emotionally connect with the roguish, underachieving stoner from the wrong social circles (your choice from Matthew McConaughey’s movies). And if any of these unlikely pairings did actually occur, it wouldn’t end well. But, audiences love these love stories all the same because they are, ultimately, exercises in hope.
The biggest joke in the new rom-com, Long Shot, is that this most incredible of pairings—Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen—takes the central conceit of romantic comedies and turns it up to 11. It’s even in the title of the movie. The premise is made even more ridiculous because Theron’s character, Charlotte Field, aspires to become the first female president of the United States while involved with Fred, Rogen’s nonconforming, mudraking journalist who apparently only has one teal windbreaker in his wardrobe. The filmmakers are fully aware of the implausibility, and find it hysterically funny. Theron and Rogen find it funny as well, and play along with infectious enthusiasm.
Charlotte, who’s serving as Secretary of State for a president (Bob Odenkirk) who played the president on a successful TV show, has ambitions for his office. An earnest, caring diplomat, Charlotte is told that her popularity research indicates a weak sense of humor. After a chance (and embarrassing) reunion at a fundraising event with her former babysitting charge, Fred, Charlotte hires him to punch up her speeches with his earthy humor. Eventually, Fred is entrusted with crafting the language of her entire campaign.
Fred Flarsky (Seth Rogen) and Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron) in Long Shot. Photo Philippe Bosse\courtesy of Lionsgate Publicity
Nonsense, yes, but everyone knows it…and plays it strictly for laughs. The Long Shot screenplay, written by Liz Hannah and Dan Sterling (a veteran producer of TV comedy), is crammed full of zingy one-liners and crude punchlines. You’re on the right track for a comedy when the audience misses many of the jokes because it was still laughing at the last one. The entire film, as directed by Jonathan Levine, has an appealing, loosey-goosey rhythm that supports the offbeat chemistry between its two stars.
Theron, a truly glamorous movie star who nevertheless won an Oscar as a grimy serial killer in Monster, continues to demonstrate an incredible range in her roles and performances. Here she shows off her comedy chops while still managing to credibly assert political savvy. Rogen, who I have previously described in these pages as a one-trick pony, continues to find ways to extend that one trick and make it work in service of an engaging story. The two are ably assisted by June Diane Raphael and Ravi Patel as two of Charlotte’s officious staffers (with a randy secret). O’Shea Jackson, Jr., who captured filmgoers’ attention in Straight Outta Compton, brings humanity to the thankless role of Rogen’s best friend. And Odenkirk reminds everyone of his comic bona fides as the oblivious, distracted current commander-in-chief, a tongue-in-cheek synthesis of George Bush’s cluelessness and Trump’s TV celebrity roots.
Long Shot aspires to little more than entertaining its audience, but it accomplishes that task with relish and just a touch of unexpectedly snarky vulgarity. It made me laugh, and wince, and groan, and, like all true rom-coms, tear up a little. It gets my vote.
Also Coming in May: The Hustle, caper comedy with Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson, May 10; tear-jerking story of a boy and his reincarnated dog, A Dog’s Journey, May 17; the latest live action remake of a Disney animated classic, Aladdin, May 24; and Godzilla: King of Monsters terrorizes an all-star cast, May 31.
Long Shot: 4 out of 5 Stars
Written By Mark Fields
Mark Fields has reviewed films for Out & About since October 2008. In addition, he has written O&A profiles of documentarian Harry Shearer and actress Aubrey Plaza. Mark also has written on the movies for several publications in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and his home state of Indiana, where he also served as on-air movie critic for Indianapolis’s public radio station. Mark has been an adjunct instructor of film history at Rowan University since 1998. A career arts administrator, he is the executive director of Wilmington’s Grand Opera House and now lives on Market Street. Mark spent the fastest 22 minutes of his life as an unsuccessful contestant on Jeopardy…sadly, there were no movie questions.
More Posts From: Entertainment
Tuned In - July 2019
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Current: Safety is No Accident: Live Injury Free
Public Health calls attention to injury prevention during National Public Health Week, April 4th - 10th
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Connecticut Department of Public Health
April 4, 2011 Contact: William Gerrish
Hartford – The potential for injury is all around us. It only takes a moment for an injury to happen – a fall on a stair, a moment’s glance away from the road, a biking or sports-related injury, a medication mix-up. But it also takes just a moment to protect against injuries and make communities safer. That’s why public health officials throughout the state and the nation are calling attention to the significant toll injuries place on our health.
Every year, about 1,600 Connecticut residents die from injuries. In fact, injuries are the leading cause of death in our state for residents between the ages of 1 and 44 years of age and the 5th leading cause for all ages. Injuries are also responsible for approximately 18,800 inpatient hospital stays and 377,500 emergency room visits each year in Connecticut.
“Chances are good that you or someone you know are among these statistics – a friend who suffered a fatal injury from a car crash, an older family member who broke a hip during a fall or a co-worker harmed on the job site,” stated DPH Commissioner Dr. Jewel Mullen. “Many of these injuries could have been prevented.”
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost 30% of the potential years of life lost in Connecticut are because of injuries that could have been prevented. What’s more, in Connecticut, hospitalizations due to injuries result in over $500 million in direct hospital costs each year. These costs do not include the costs associated with long-term care, rehabilitation, or for injuries treated in emergency departments, doctor’s offices or other locations.
“These statistics illustrate a real and growing public health concern,” said Dr. Mullen. “Fortunately, we know that many injuries can be prevented. Seat belts, properly installed and used child safety seats, and bicycle and motorcycle helmets can prevent or reduce the severity of motor vehicle crash injuries.”
During National Public Health Week, April 4-10, 2011, the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) is focusing attention on preventing injuries, a leading cause of death, and disability in Connecticut.
Public health agencies are planning a number of events and activities during the week to call attention to injury prevention. In addition, each day during the week, DPH will release a fact sheet on leading causes of death and disability related to injuries:
Monday: Motor Vehicle Crashes
Tuesday: Suicide
Wednesday: Drug and Alcohol-Related Poisoning
Thursday: Sports and Recreation-Related Injuries
Friday: Falls and Older Adults
The Department of Public Health offers a number of programs that work to reduce the impact of injuries on the health of Connecticut residents, including the DPH Injury Prevention Program, which analyzes injury data, provides information and works with a variety of public and private partners on reducing and preventing injuries.
For more information, please visit www.ct.gov/dph
The Connecticut Department of Public Health is the state’s leader in public health policy and advocacy with a mission to protect and promote the health and safety of the people of our state. To contact the department, please visit its website at www.ct.gov/dph or call (860) 509-7270.
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Quiz: Can You Pass This Renaissance History Quiz?
Can You Pass This Renaissance History Quiz?
The Renaissance is what we think of when we think of people like Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and the Medici family. All played a large part in the Renaissance and what has come from it. If you were living at the time of the Renaissance, Italy was the place to be. The country was at the top of the world at this time with all the best talent, thinkers and revolutionary people of the time. So, you think you know all about it?
There are countless people who made the Renaissance what it was. Contributions in art, science and literature changed mindsets and created revolutions that were like no other. The Catholic Church was one of the leading forces at the time, and had a large influence over not just Italy, but the world. People who did not agree with the church and who spoke out with different ideas were not well liked. For example, Galileo is known to have had a conflict with the church over different beliefs that led to his house arrest.
While the Renaissance is thought to have been quite a revolutionary time, some could argue that it may not have been as open to hearing the new ideas from these people as we think. So, if you think you know all about the Renaissance, it's time to prove it by taking this quiz!
Which family was extremely important to the Renaissance?
The Acciaioli Family
The Gaddi Family
The Medici Family
The Salviati Family
The members of the Medici Family were investors in the Renaissance, so to speak. They invested heavily in art and artists, and appear in many Renaissance era works because of it.
Which of the following subjects were very important to the era?
Art, science and literature were all very important during the Renaissance. Each of the subjects contributed to the thinking and ideas of the time. It was also a period of time where each of these subjects thrived and often intertwined with one another.
What was one of the most famous books of the Renaissance?
"Utopia"
"Hamlet"
"Orlando Furioso"
The King James Bible was revolutionary during the Renaissance. It played a large role in the Protestant Revolution largely due to its unprecedented translation.
What is another term that is sometimes used in reference to the Renaissance?
Independent Era
The Entitlement
Another word used for the Renaissance is the "Dark Ages," as it is somewhat part of the Middle Ages time period. The Renaissance was a time of change near the end, however.
The thought of an educated rebirth
The thought that humans are the most important thing on Earth
The thought that humans should be equal
The thought that all things are interconnected
Humanism was an important part of the Renaissance, which was the belief that education and studying of Greek and Roman culture would lead to a rebirth. This was something that many philosophers wrote about at that time.
What is Galileo known for?
His artwork
His politics
His work with the church
His work in science and astronomy
Galileo made many advancements in science and astronomy. Two of the most important discoveries that he made were the rings of Saturn as well as the moons of Jupiter.
What did Leonardo da Vinci often include in his art?
Science is often included in many of Leonardo da Vinci's works. For example, his studies often influenced the look and feel of his art to be more realistic.
What was the High Renaissance?
A period of peak artwork
A time where riches were spread out
A period of conflict between peasants and the rich
When the Sistine Chapel was painted
The High Renaissance was a time during the larger period of the Renaissance that is known for the production of some of the best and most famous artwork in history. It's known for its high quality and skillful work.
Who is said to be depicted in the painting, "Mona Lisa"?
Clara Peeters
Lavinia Fontana
Lisa del Giocondo
Sofonisba Anguissola
Lisa del Giocondo was part of the Gherardini family of Florence and is also thought to be the subject of the most famous painting in the world, the "Mona Lisa". Despite being the subject of one of the most famous paintings in the world, there is not much known about Lisa.
Where did the Statue of David stand after its creation?
Acropolis of Athens
Michelangelo's masterpiece was shown off in front of the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. The iconic statue also has a few replicas which are still around the area for public viewing.
Who doubled as surgeons during the Renaissance?
It may not seem like the best idea, but barbers at one time also doubled as surgeons! Often, the barbers performed small surgical tasks but their dual jobs were serious enough to have an organization dedicated to them.
What was revolutionary during the Renaissance?
Gutenberg's printing press
The monarchy
The gods
Gutenberg's printing press had an incredible effect on the Renaissance. Its creation allowed for mass production of the Bible and an increase in individuals who could read and write.
What type of religious practice was created during the Renaissance?
Protestantism was created during the time of the Renaissance. This was due to people at the time starting to think differently than the Catholic church had been teaching them, and coming to their own beliefs.
What did the Church try to do during this time?
Expand to other parts of the world
Gain more power through royalty
Influence the trade deals between countries
Censor anything that conflicted with their teachings and beliefs
The Catholic church wanted to censor anything that did not follow their beliefs and teachings during the Renaissance. Going against the church at this time led to consequences, sometimes as harsh as death.
What was Luca Pacioli known for?
Law making
His family
Luca created the field of accounting that still exists today. He was a mathematician primarily, but we have him to thank for our accountants today!
What was Martin Luther's role in the Renaissance?
He was the leader of the Protestant Reformation.
He was a famous artist.
He was a royal.
He was a peasant.
Martin Luther was the leader of the Protestant Reformation. His actions influenced those around him at the time to think differently and create their own branch of Christianity that they truly believed in.
What idea was proposed by Nicolaus Copernicus?
Judge and Jury
A heliocentric system
Nicolaus Copernicus proposed the heliocentric system that went against everyone's beliefs at the time. Others believed that the Earth was at the center of the universe, with all things orbiting around it.
What does the word "Renaissance" mean?
Bad times
The word "Renaissance" means "rebirth", which defines the period of time perfectly. Europe, and specifically Italy, was going through a change that was never before seen. Ideas and beliefs started to shift, as well as advancements in many fields.
What technique was quite popular for art during the Renaissance?
Realism is one of the most popular techniques to use during the Renaissance. This style of painting is used to try and capture the true, authentic setting before you as it is. There are no embellishments in this style.
What did the "Vitruvian Man" show?
A landscape
A diagram of the solar system
"Vitruvian Man" is a sketch by Leonardo da Vinci which shows the proper proportions for a person. He had the proportions down to a science. After all, he did extensive studies to perfect his own craft.
Which city had a rivalry with Florence?
The Italian city of Rome also had a rivalry with the newly thriving hub. Their rivalry had a lot to do with money and religion as well as pushing their city as the best.
Who painted the "Birth of Venus"?
Jan van Eyck
Sandro Botticelli painted the famous "Birth of Venus". This is one of his most famous works, and it left its own mark on Italy at that time. It was painted on a canvas rather than a wood panel like all other paintings at this time.
What is a Renaissance Man?
A person who loves debates
Someone who challenges others
An artist
A talented person
A Renaissance man comes from the fact that many people during this time were skilled in a variety of different subjects. The term is more commonly used today for people who are talented in many things.
Who is known to be the "Father of the Renaissance"?
Giovanni de Medici
Petrarch is credited with this title due to his influence through his writing. Another title that he is credited with is being the "Father of Humanism" which was a huge philosophy during the Renaissance.
What was Filippo Brunelleschi known for?
His statues
Starting a revolution
Writing "The Prince"
The Florence Cathedral's Dome
Filippo Brunelleschi was the mastermind behind the Florence Cathedral's dome. The dome was Brunelleschi's masterpiece that he wanted to be exclusive to him. He refused to give out his secret to the creation of the dome!
What country was at the center of world culture?
Italy was the heart of world culture at the time of the Renaissance. It was great for trade and it influenced the rest of the world in many ways.
Who was a fan of da Vinci?
Luca Pacioli
Raphael could also be considered a student of da Vinci. He admired his work and used it to better his own work. You could say that it really paid off for him!
In many Renaissance Era paintings, what are the Medicis usually shown holding?
A scepter
The Medici Family was wealthy, but they were also important bankers at the time of the Renaissance. This explains why the family members were most commonly depicted holding cash. Look at the painting “Lorenzo de Medici” by Girolamo Machietti for evidence!
What was Machiavelli known for?
His writing
His art
His scientific discoveries
His plays
Machiavelli was a famous writer during the Renaissance. You may have heard of his most famous book, titled "The Prince". In addition to his writing, he was also very well known for his politics.
What type of painting became popular during the Renaissance?
Oil painting was the popular medium at the time of the Renaissance. Part of the reason for its popularity was its texture and vibrant color that was unmatched by any other form of paint at the time.
In what city did the Renaissance start?
Florence, Italy was the central hub of the Renaissance. It's where many of the famous figures of the time lived and worked, as well as the home of the Medici Family. It was the place to be in this era!
At what age was a man expected to be married at during the Renaissance?
By 30, a man during the Renaissance was expected to have married. Women, on the other hand, were expected to married much younger, usually while in their early teens.
Who painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?
Michelangelo is known for his many incredible works of art. The Sistine Chapel was one of them, and perhaps one of the hardest. He was required to stand on a scaffold and paint above his head to complete the entire ceiling.
What did famous artists do to learn more about the human body?
Study naked people
Read about proportion
Dissect people
Artists were quite dedicated to their craft during the Renaissance, going so far as to dissect bodies in order to understand anatomy. These dissections were also illegal in Florence.
What was Michel de Montaigne known for?
Running a bank
Being a lawyer
Serving the King
Being a philosopher
Michel de Montaigne was a philosopher who was known for his essays. During his time, his writing was often criticized for being too much about him and his own experiences rather than the matter he wrote about.
The Ancient Civilizations Quiz
Do You Know Which Well-Known People Lived During the Same Time Period?
Can You Name These U.S. Presidents?
Can You Identify the Worst Criminals in American History?
Art History Experts Know All of the Images in This Quiz — Do You?
Answer These History Questions and We’ll Guess Which President You’d Be
Are You a History Expert?
What Period of History Do You Actually Belong In?
Modern History Quiz: The '90s
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Tom McClintock & Justin Amash
Compare the voting records of Tom McClintock and Justin Amash in 2017-18.
Tom McClintock
Represented California's 4th Congressional District. This is his 5th term in the House.
Represented Michigan's 3rd Congressional District. This is his 4th term in the House.
Tom McClintock and Justin Amash are from the same party and agreed on 71 percent of votes in the 115th Congress (2017-18).
But they didn't always agree. Out of 1194 votes in the 115th Congress, they disagreed on 347 votes, including 61 major votes.
Nov. 16, 2018 — Manage our Wolves Act
July 19, 2018 — Making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes
July 12, 2018 — Reclamation Title Transfer and Non-Federal Infrastructure Incentivization Act
June 14, 2018 — THRIVE Act
April 25, 2018 — To provide for operations of the Federal Columbia River Power System pursuant to a certain operation plan for a specified period of time, and for other purposes
March 8, 2018 — Satisfying Energy Needs and Saving the Environment (SENSE) Act
Nov. 16, 2017 — Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Nov. 3, 2017 — Community Health and Medical Professionals Improve Our Nation Act of 2017
Sept. 26, 2017 — Increasing Opportunity and Success for Children and Parents through Evidence-Based Home Visiting Act
Sept. 14, 2017 — Making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2018, and for other purposes
July 12, 2017 — Gaining Responsibility on Water Act
June 28, 2017 — Protecting Access to Care Act
June 22, 2017 — Water Supply Permitting Coordination Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Alaska Remote Generator Reliability and Protection Act
Dec. 21, 2018 — Space Frontier Act of 2019
Dec. 20, 2018 — Shiloh National Military Park Boundary Adjustment and Parker’s Crossroads Battlefield Designation Act
Dec. 12, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018, and for other purposes
Nov. 29, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 88) to modify the boundary of the Shiloh National Military Park located in Tennessee and Mississippi, to establish Parker’s Crossroads Battlefield as an affiliated area of the National Park System, and for other purposes
Nov. 14, 2018 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 6784, the Manage our Wolves Act; and providing for proceedings during the period from November 19, 2018, through November 26, 2018
Sept. 27, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R 6756), the American Innovation Act; consideration of the bill (H.R. 6757), the Family Savings Act; consideration of the bill (H.R. 6760), the Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act; providing for proceedings during the period from October 1 through November 12
Sept. 6, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 6691) to amend title 18, United States Code, to clarify the definition of “crime of violence”, and for other purposes, and providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules
July 18, 2018 — McMorris Rodgers of Washington Amendment No. 46
July 17, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 6147) making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes
June 27, 2018 — Providing for further consideration of the bill (H.R. 6157) making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes, and providing for proceedings during the period from June 29, 2018, through July 9, 2018
June 26, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the bill H.R. 6157, making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes; and the bill H.R. 2083, the Endangered Salmon and Fisheries Predation Prevention Act.
June 21, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 6136) to amend the immigration laws and provide for border security, and for other purposes
June 20, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 6) Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment for Patients and Communities Act;providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 5797) IMD CARE Act;providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 6082) Overdose Prevention and Patient Safety Act
June 7, 2018 — Connolly of Virginia Part B Amendment No. 27
June 7, 2018 — Providing for further consideration of the bill (H.R. 5895) making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies; and providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3) the Spending Cuts to Expired and Unnecessary Programs Act
June 6, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 3249) Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant Program; providing for consideration of (H.R. 8) the Water Resources Development Act; and providing for consideration of (H.R. 5895) Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act
May 22, 2018 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 5515, NDAA FY, 2019; providing for consideration of S. 204, Trickett Wendler, Frank Mongiello, Jordan McLinn, and Matthew Bellina Right to Try Act of 2017, and providing for consideration of S. 2155, the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act
May 16, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 5698), Protect and Serve Act; providing for consideration of the bill (S. 2372), Veterans Cemetery Benefit Correction Act; and providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2), Agriculture and Nutrition Act
On Consideration of the Resolution
April 27, 2018 — Duncan of Tennessee Part A Amendment No. 114
April 26, 2018 — Lynch of Massachusetts Part A Amendment No. 87
April 18, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 5444) Taxpayer First Act, and providing for consideration of the (H.R. 5445) 21st Century IRS Act
April 12, 2018 — Proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution of the United States
Feb. 8, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the Senate Amendment to the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1892, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018
Feb. 6, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 1892) to amend title 4, United States Code, to provide for the flying of the flag at half-staff in the event of the death of a first responder in the line of duty
Feb. 6, 2018 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 772, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2017; H.R. 1153, the Mortgage Choice Act of 2017; H.R. 4771, the Small Bank Holding Company Relief Act of 2018; and for other purposes
Jan. 20, 2018 — Waiving a Requirement of Clause 6(A) of Rule XIII with Respect to Consideration of Certain Resolutions Reported from the Committee on Rules, and Providing for Consideration of Motions to Suspend the Rules
Jan. 18, 2018 — Providing for consideration of the Senate amendment to H.R. 195, the Federal Register Printing Savings Act of 2017; waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules; and providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules
On Motion to Commit with Instructions
Dec. 21, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 1370, the Department of Homeland Security Blue Campaign Authorization Act of 2017; and providing for consideration of H.R. 4667, making further supplemental appropriations for FY 2018, for disaster assistance for Hurricanes and Wildfires in calendar year 2017
Dec. 19, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the conference report to accompany the bill (H.R. 1) the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3312) the Systemic Risk Designation Improvement Act; waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII; and motions to suspend the rules
Dec. 6, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 38) to amend title 18, United States Code, to provide a means by which nonresidents of a State whose residents may carry concealed firearms may also do so in the State
On Motion to go to Conference
Dec. 4, 2017 — Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
Nov. 14, 2017 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 2874, the 21st Century Flood Reform Act; and the conference report to accompany H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018
Nov. 1, 2017 — Khanna of California Amendment No. 2
Oct. 11, 2017 — Providing for consideration of S. 585, the Dr. Chris Kirkpatrick Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017; providing for proceedings during the period from October 16, 2017, through October 20, 2017; and providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules
Sept. 13, 2017 — Pocan of Wisconsin Amendment No. 134
Sept. 7, 2017 — Providing for further consideration of the bill (H.R. 3354) making appropriations for the Department of the Interior, environment, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2018, and for other purposes
Sept. 6, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3354) making appropriations for the Dept. of the Interior; providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules; and waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules
July 28, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3180) Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2018; and providing for proceedings during the period from July 31, 2017, through September 4, 2017
July 26, 2017 — Norcross of New Jersey Amendment No. 39
July 26, 2017 — Castor of Florida Amendment No. 38
July 26, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 3219) making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2018, and for other purposes
July 19, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the bills (H.R. 2910) Promoting Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act; (H.R. 2883) Promoting Cross-Border Energy Infrastructure Act; and (H.R. 218) King Cove Road Land Exchange Act
July 14, 2017 — Hunter of California Amendment No.18
July 13, 2017 — Providing for further consideration of H.R. 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018
May 25, 2017 — Jackson Lee of Texas Part B Amendment No. 1
May 2, 2017 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 1180, Working Families Flexibility Act of 2017
April 27, 2017 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 1694, the Fannie and Freddie Open Records Act of 2017; providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules; and waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules
March 24, 2017 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 1628, the American Health Care Act of 2017
March 23, 2017 — Waiving a requirement of clause 6(a) of rule XIII with respect to consideration of certain resolutions reported from the Committee on Rules, and providing for consideration of motions to suspend the rules
March 9, 2017 — Soto of Florida Part B Amendment No. 4
March 9, 2017 — Deutch of Florida Part B Amendment No. 3
March 8, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 1301) making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2017, and for other purposes
Jan. 11, 2017 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 78, the SEC Regulatory Accountability Act; H.R. 238, the Commodity End-User Relief Act; and for other purposes
Jan. 3, 2017 — Adopting rules for the One Hundred Fifteenth Congress
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Tom O'Halleran & Diane Black
Compare the voting records of Tom O'Halleran and Diane Black in 2017-18.
Tom O'Halleran
Represented Arizona's 1st Congressional District. This is his 1st term in the House.
Represented Tennessee's 6th Congressional District. This is her 4th term in the House.
Tom O'Halleran and Diane Black are from different parties and disagreed on 65 percent of votes in the 115th Congress (2017-18).
Sept. 27, 2018 — American Innovation Act of 2018
April 11, 2018 — Stress Test Improvement Act
Feb. 14, 2018 — TRID Improvement Act
Jan. 10, 2018 — To amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to clarify the use of amounts in the WMAT Settlement Fund
July 19, 2017 — Promoting Interagency Coordination for Review of Natural Gas Pipelines Act
June 21, 2017 — Electricity Reliability and Forest Protection Act
March 16, 2017 — VA Accountability First Act
March 2, 2017 — Regulatory Integrity Act
March 1, 2017 — SCRUB Act
Feb. 2, 2017 — Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Social Security Administration relating to Implementation of the NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007
Sept. 13, 2018 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 3798, the Save American Workers Act of 2017; and the conference report to accompany H.R. 5895, making appropriations for energy and water development and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, and for other purposes; and for other purposes
May 18, 2018 — Banks of Indiana Amendment No. 31
On Motion to Concur in the Senate Amendments with an Amendment
Jan. 30, 2018 — Child Protection Improvements Act of 2017
Dec. 13, 2017 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 1638, the Iranian Leadership Asset Transparency Act; and providing for consideration of H.R. 4324, the Strengthening Oversight of Iran’s Access to Finance Act
Oct. 5, 2017 — Yarmuth of Kentucky Substitute Amendment No. 4
July 18, 2017 — Beyer of Virginia Amendment No. 3
June 21, 2017 — Carbajal of California Part A Amendment No. 1
May 17, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 115) to amend title 18, United States Code, to provide additional aggravating factors for the imposition of the death penalty based on the status of the victim
May 3, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the Senate amendments to the bill (H.R. 244) to encourage effective, voluntary investments to recruit, employ, and retain men and women who have served in the United States military with annual Federal awards to employers recognizing such efforts, and for other purposes
April 28, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 99) making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2017, and for other purposes
April 4, 2017 — Providing for consideration of H.R. 1343, the Encouraging Employee Ownership Act of 2017
March 8, 2017 — Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 725) to amend title 28, United States Code, to prevent fraudulent joinder
Feb. 28, 2017 — Plaskett of Virgin Islands Amendment No. 4
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You are here: Home / Browse PRRAC Content / PRRAC Update / PRRAC Update (May 15, 2014): 60 years after Brown, in Hartford and New Haven, CT
PRRAC Update (May 15, 2014): 60 years after Brown, in Hartford and New Haven, CT
May 15, 2014 by
Twenty five years of school integration progress in Connecticut: Congratulations to our friends and colleagues in Hartford for their recent celebration of the 25th anniversary of the filing of the Sheff v. O’Neill case, a landmark state constitutional decision in 1996 that has led to development of a successful two-way school integration program in Hartford and surrounding towns. The Sheff remedy is now bringing quality, integrated education to 40% of Hartford schoolchildren, with almost 18,000 children now participating throughout the region. Hartford is also serving as the host city for the Magnet Schools of America national conference this coming weekend, on the 60th Anniversary of the Brown v Board of Education decision. Read more about the growth of the Hartford program on the website of the Sheff Movement, a local parent and community coalition supporting the goals of the case. PRRAC is a proud partner and supporter of the Sheff Movement.
A local “Berlin Wall” finally comes down: Connecticut and the New Haven Housing Authority Executive Director for their leadership (and HUD for its support…) in tearing down a decades-old border fence separating the Brookside/Rockview public housing developments in New Haven from the suburban Hamden neighborhood on the other side of the fence. The fence had been a stark racial and class divide and cut off pedestrian and car traffic along existing roads linking the two neighborhoods. The fence had also been an evidentiary issue in the Christian Community Action v. Kemp public housing desegregation litigation in the 1990s (although the federal consent order in that case only required City officials to “make their best efforts to remove the fence separating Hamden and New Haven in the West Rock area….” ). Read local coverage here.
Housing mobility and health: We recently released “Moving to Healthier Neighborhoods: Options for Local Advocacy,” the third in a series of Policy Briefs on housing mobility and health. The first Policy Brief in the series, “Prescription for a New Neighborhood?” (2010) explored the potential for a new federal housing program targeted to low income families with children facing neighborhood related health risks. The second Brief, “Two Simple Changes to Improve Health Outcomes in the Section 8 Voucher Program” (2011), urged HUD to make several administrative changes in the voucher program to improve child health. Our new Policy Brief, released this week, provides a menu of health mobility options available to local advocates under existing law for families receiving federal housing assistance.
New civil rights guidance for charter schools: The U.S. Department of Education has issued new legal guidance reminding charter school operators that they must follow the same civil rights rules in admissions, school discipline, and treatment of English Language Learners and children with disabilities as other taxpayer funded public schools. A notable aspect of the new guidance was its strong endorsement of school integration policies in charters:
“Charter schools located in a school district subject to a desegregation plan (whether the plan is court-ordered, or required by a Federal or State administrative entity) must be operated in a manner consistent with that desegregation plan. Charter schools may also voluntarily elect to create learning environments that include students of diverse backgrounds. The benefits of such student body diversity are many. Diverse environments help students sharpen their critical thinking and analytical skills; prepare them to succeed in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world; break down stereotypes and reduce bias; and enable schools to fulfill their role in opening doors to students of all backgrounds.”
Citing the Department’s 2011 Guidance on K-12 school diversity, the new charter guidance goes on to say that “If a charter school wishes to promote racial diversity or avoid racial isolation, it has the flexibility (to the extent permitted by applicable State law) to pursue a variety of approaches in the context of admissions and recruiting, school location, attendance boundaries, transfers, and retention and support programs.”
Upcoming programs at HUD:
Improving Equality of Opportunity in America: New Evidence and Policy Lessons
Raj Chetty, Professor of Economics, Harvard University
Thursday, June 12, 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM ET
A Moral Imperative for Housing Mobility?
Alexander Polikoff, Co-Director, Public Housing Program, and Senior Staff Counsel, BPI
Tuesday, June 17, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM ET
Filed Under: PRRAC Update Tagged With: berlin wall, charter schools, civil rights, civil rights guidance, comes down, connecticut, housing mobility, new haven housing authority executive director, school integration
Disrupting the Reciprocal Relationship Between Housing and School Segregation (Philip Tegeler & Michael Hilton, November 2017)
“Cashin: A Reply to Kahlenberg” by Sheryll Cashin (July-September 2017 P&R Issue)
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John Timoney, the beat cop with a master’s degree, led police departments in New York, Philadelphia, and Miami.
By Joe Sexton
Miami Police Chief John Timoney stands in front of a home raided by police on September 27, 2006, in Miami, Florida. The raid was part of an on going crack-down in a neighborhood affected by violence. (Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
In the 1990s, cop reporting was not a strength of the New York Times, and I’d often get calls from the Metro desk asking if I could help match something or other that had been in the tabs. I was Irish and Catholic and had grown up in Brooklyn along with other kids who wound up “on the job.” Oh, and I was an ex-sportswriter too. I guess I had the pedigree of a cop reporter, if not any demonstrated talent.
I got a call at home one night in March of 1996. Earlier that day, John Timoney, the outgoing first deputy commissioner of the New York Police Department, had been given a hero’s reception during a promotion ceremony at Police Headquarters. It amounted to an act of collective insubordination, for Timoney was exiting the department after having been passed over by Mayor Rudy Giuliani to succeed Bill Bratton as commissioner.
The Times, I guess, hadn’t had anyone at the ceremony, and now we needed to catch up. No one had a number for Timoney, and the next edition closed in 40 minutes. It so happened that I’d once been introduced to Timoney, by Mike McAlary of the Daily News (Irish, Catholic, a former sportswriter, and a great cop reporter). I managed to track down Timoney’s home number.
“The runner is not in a game; he is in a contest. When you race, you are under oath. When you race, you are testifying as to who you are.”
Timoney took my call. He was great, and, miracle of miracles, he was on the record. Timoney had been born in Dublin and raised in Northern Manhattan, his dad a New York City doorman. He’d been a beat cop, but had also earned master’s degrees in American history and urban planning. He was a reader of literature and an expert in police shootings. He’d been the youngest four-star chief in the history of the department.
“Plans? I have none,” Timoney said that night. “I hope I have left some bridges unburned.”
Cops don’t get a lot of good press. Ever. Certainly not lately. Timoney, who died last week at the age of 68, after a brief, brutal fight with cancer, actually got his fair share. Mostly on the merits. After leaving New York City, he served as the top cop in Philadelphia and Miami. He took heat for his handling of the Republican Convention in 2000, and he got credit for radically reducing police shootings in Miami. He wrote a book or two, taught at Harvard University, and most recently drew criticism for agreeing to work for the government of Bahrain, training its security forces. Human-rights advocates accused Timoney of siding with the oppressors; Timoney, at the time, told NPR that he wouldn’t have been in Bahrain if he wasn’t convinced “that these folks are serious about reform.”
But Timoney never made it back to the NYPD He watched Ray Kelly, Irish Catholic son of a milkman, run the department for 12 years. He respected Kelly, and recognized the magnitude of the challenge New York’s police commissioner faced — fighting terrorism while under pressure to cut crime to newly historic lows year after year. He never criticized Kelly, but he had to have measured his own past promise against Kelly’s accomplishments and shortcomings.
I don’t know if Timoney would have been a great commissioner. He could be stubborn, vain, hotheaded. But I think he would have made the department more human, a quality needed in times like these. Kelly — capable, smart, devoted — grew imperious and all-controlling over the years. He didn’t just stifle dissent, he choked off the voices of his own cops. And they had a ton of good stories to tell — of success and diversity and valor. Kelly’s cops didn’t take calls from reporters.
Timoney was a rower — he liked to get out on the Schuylkill River in the early morning, before heading to Police Headquarters in Philadelphia — and he sent me a link the other day to the video clips of the hilarious Irish silver-medal rowers in Rio. He was a marathoner, too, and was a fan of my uncle, George Sheehan, one of the early evangelists of what was once called the running movement. Earlier this year, I included something my uncle once said in an email to Timoney, who was beginning chemotherapy treatment.
John Timoney was a good cop. No small thing in America, in 2016.
This story originally appeared on ProPublica as “A Good Cop” and is re-published here under a Creative Commons license.
Pacific Standard Partners
The Cash Cow for Cops Needs to Stop
Copping to It
An early look at a Pacific Standard story that's currently only available to subscribers.
Inside New York City’s Unique Police Task Force Dedicated to Hate Crimes
DNA Dragnet: When Stop-and-Frisk Turns Into Stop-and-Spit
Meet the Chemist Behind Many Popular—and Faulty—Police Drug Kits
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News tagged with pluto
Related topics: spacecraft · solar system
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System (after Eris) and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun. Originally classified as the ninth planet from the Sun, Pluto was recategorized as a dwarf planet and plutoid due to the discovery that it is one of several large bodies within the newly charted Kuiper belt.
Like other members of the Kuiper belt, Pluto is composed primarily of rock and ice and is relatively small: approximately a fifth the mass of the Earth's Moon and a third its volume. It has an eccentric and highly inclined orbit that takes it from 30 to 49 AU (4.4–7.4 billion km) from the Sun. This causes Pluto to periodically come closer to the Sun than Neptune. As of 2011, it is 32.1 AU from the Sun.
From its discovery in 1930 until 2006, Pluto was classified as a planet. In the late 1970s, following the discovery of minor planet 2060 Chiron in the outer Solar System and the recognition of Pluto's relatively low mass, its status as a major planet began to be questioned. In the late 20th and early 21st century, many objects similar to Pluto were discovered in the outer Solar System, notably the scattered disc object Eris in 2005, which is 27% more massive than Pluto. On August 24, 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) defined what it means to be a "planet" within the Solar System. This definition excluded Pluto as a planet and added it as a member of the new category "dwarf planet" along with Eris and Ceres. After the reclassification, Pluto was added to the list of minor planets and given the number 134340. A number of scientists continue to hold that Pluto should be classified as a planet.
Pluto has four known moons, the largest being Charon discovered in 1978, along with Nix and Hydra, discovered in 2005, and the provisionally named S/2011 P 1, discovered in 2011. Pluto and Charon are sometimes described as a binary system because the barycenter of their orbits does not lie within either body. However, the IAU has yet to formalise a definition for binary dwarf planets, and as such Charon is officially classified as a moon of Pluto.
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28 Facts That Make You Feel Like an Old Gamer
by radiantdreamer June 29, 2011 in Anime & Video Games 51 comments tags: 1987, 1988, 1990, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009, 20th, 8-bit, aerith, akihabara, captain n, dead or alive, doa, dreamcast, duke nukem forever, ebay, excuse me princess, final fantast vii, final fantasy viii, final fantasy xiii, game gear, gba micro, halo 2, halo 3, halo combat evolved, halo wars, i feel old, katamari damacy, kid icarus, lara croft, line-up, link, mario64, metal gear solid 2, mortal kombat 1992, old age, old gamer, playstation, playstation 2, pokemon, resident evil, sega, shadow of the colossus, sonic, sony, starcraft, street figher ii, street fighter, super mario bros, super street fighter iv, time flies, tomb raider, video game history, video game trivia, zelda
If the first round of anime facts didn't make you feel old, then it's time for a round two KO! Ready? FIGHT!
Random Photos 2
by radiantdreamer April 16, 2010 in Anime Figures, Things I Find Interesting 33 comments tags: apple, darkstalkers, dsc-tx1, giant boxes, hatsune, konata, marisa, miku, radiantdreamer, rin, sony, street fighter, Taiga, tokyohunter, world is mine, yotsuba
A lot has happened since the beginning of the year until now. Much of which has been backlogged due to a busy schedule. It’s not just games, but life in general, and the fact that I’ve been trying to stay busy. This week is no different. Another major project has landed on my lap (that I can’t reveal), which I’m more than happy to do. But I can’t neglect my readers. You guys are very important to me, and it means a lot when you guys come check out my small little world, and comment. So here’s a bunch of photos that I’ve taken since arriving back from Singapore, many of which are things that I want to talk about in the future on this blog, but have been backlogged.
Toro is Full of Win!
by radiantdreamer October 03, 2008 in Anime Figures 5 comments tags: cat, demo, doko, full of win, kawaii, konata, playstation, plushie, sony, space invaders, stuffed toy, toro
I just got this today! (after what, 6 months since pre-order?) Doko Demo Toro is full of epic win. You cannot deny it. Even Konata agrees!
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Wet rice cultivated with the yeast species Monascus purpureus turns red; the rice is then dried - called red yeast rice.
Red yeast rice (simplified Chinese: 红曲米; traditional Chinese: 紅麴米; pinyin: hóng qū mǐ; literally: 'red yeast rice'), red rice koji (べにこうじ, lit. 'red koji'), red fermented rice, red kojic rice, red koji rice, anka, or angkak, is a bright reddish purple fermented rice, which acquires its colour from being cultivated with the mold Monascus purpureus. Red yeast rice is what is referred to as a "koji" in Japanese, meaning "grain or bean overgrown with a mold culture", a food preparation tradition going back to ca. 300 BC.[1] In both the scientific and popular literature in English that draws principally on Japanese traditional use, red yeast rice is most often referred to as "red rice koji." English language articles favoring Chinese literature sources prefer the translation "red yeast rice."
In addition to its culinary use, red yeast rice is also used in Chinese herbology and traditional Chinese medicine. Its use has been documented as far back as the Tang Dynasty in China in 800 AD. Red yeast rice is described in the Chinese pharmacopocia Ben Cao Gang Mu of Li Shi-zhen. Recommendations were to take it internally to invigorate the body, aid in digestion, and revitalize the blood.[2][3]
A modern-era use as a dietary supplement developed in the late 1970s after researchers were isolating lovastatin from Aspergillus and monacolins from Monascus, respectively, the latter being the same fungus used to make red yeast rice. Chemical analysis soon showed that lovastatin and monacolin K were identical. Different strains of Monascus fungus will produce different amounts of monacolins. The 'Went' strain of Monascus purpureus (purpureus = dark red in Latin), when properly fermented and processed, will yield a dried red yeast rice powder that is approximately 0.4% monacolins, of which roughly half will be monacolin K. The two isolations, documentations and patent applications occurred months apart.[4] Lovastatin became the patented, prescription drug Mevacor.[5] Red yeast rice went on to become a non-prescription dietary supplement in the United States and other countries. In 1998, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) initiated action to ban a dietary supplement containing red yeast rice extract. The FDA position was that red yeast rice products that contain monacolin K are identical to a prescription drug and, thus, subject to regulation as a drug. The U.S. District Court in Utah ruled in favor of allowing the product to be sold without restriction. This decision was reversed on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2001.[6]
Red yeast rice and statin drugs
U.S. regulatory restrictions
Red yeast rice is produced by cultivating the yeast species Monascus purpureus on rice for 3–6 days at room temperature. The rice grains turn bright red at the core and reddish purple on the outside.[7] The fully cultured rice is then either sold as the dried grain, or cooked and pasteurized to be sold as a wet paste, or dried and pulverized to be sold as a fine powder. China is the world's largest producer of red yeast rice, but European companies have entered the market.[8]
Red yeast rice is used to color a wide variety of food products, including pickled tofu, red rice vinegar, char siu, Peking Duck, and Chinese pastries that require red food coloring. Historical records date its use as a coloring agent in Japan as a "koji" in Japanese, meaning "grain or bean overgrown with a mold culture", a food preparation tradition going back to ca. 300 BC.[1] In China, documentation dates back to at least the first century AD.[2] It is also traditionally used in the production of several types of Chinese huangjiu (Shaoxing jiu), and Japanese sake (akaisake), imparting a reddish color to these wines.[9] Although used mainly for its color in cuisine, red yeast rice imparts a subtle but pleasant taste to food and is commonly used in the cuisine of the Fujian province of China.[3] Red yeast rice (angkak in Filipino) is also used widely in the Philippines to traditionally color and preserve certain dishes like fermented shrimp (bagoong alamang), burong isda (fermented rice and fish), and balao-balao (fermented rice and shrimp).[10][11][12]
In addition to its culinary use, red yeast rice is also used in Chinese herbology and traditional Chinese medicine. Medicinal use of red yeast rice is described in the Chinese pharmacopocia Ben Cao Gang Mu compiled by Li Shizhen ca. 1590.[3][13][14] Recommendations were to take it internally to invigorate the body, aid in digestion, and revitalize the blood.[2][14] One reference provided the Li Shizgen health claims as a quotation "...the effect of promoting the circulation of blood and releasing stasis, invigorating the spleen and eliminating [in]digestion."[3]
In the late 1970s, researchers in the United States and Japan were isolating lovastatin from Aspergillus and monacolins from Monascus, respectively, the latter being the same fungus used to make red yeast rice when cultured under carefully controlled conditions. Chemical analysis soon showed that lovastatin and monacolin K are identical chemical compounds. The two isolations, documentations and patent applications occurred months apart.[4] Lovastatin became the patented, prescription drug Mevacor.[5] Red yeast rice went on to become a non-prescription dietary supplement in the United States and other countries.
Lovastatin and other prescription statin drugs inhibit cholesterol synthesis by blocking action of the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase. As a consequence, circulating total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol are lowered by 24-49% depending on the statin and dose.[15] Different strains of Monascus fungus will produce different amounts of monacolins. The 'Went' strain of Monascus purpureus (purpureus = dark red in Latin), when properly fermented and processed, will yield a dried red yeast rice powder that is approximately 0.4% monacolins, of which roughly half will be monacolin K (chemically identical to lovastatin). Monacolin content of a red yeast rice product is described in a 2008 clinical trial report.[16]
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) position is that red yeast rice products that contain monacolin K are identical to a prescription drug and, thus, subject to regulation as a drug. In 1998, the FDA initiated action to ban a product (Cholestin) containing red yeast rice extract. The U.S. District Court in Utah ruled in favor of allowing the product to be sold without restriction. This decision was reversed on appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2001.[6] In 2007, the FDA sent Warning Letters to two dietary supplement companies. One was making a monacolin content claim about its RYR product and the other was not, but the FDA noted that both products contained monacolins. Both products were withdrawn.[17] In a press release the FDA "...is warning consumers to not buy or eat red yeast rice products... may contain an unauthorized drug that could be harmful to health." The rationale for "harmful to health" was that consumers might not understand that the dangers of monacolin-containing red yeast rice are the same as those of prescription statin drugs.[17]
A products analysis report from 2010 tested 12 products commercially available in the U.S. and reported that per 600 mg capsule, total monacolins content ranged from 0.31 to 11.15 mg.[18] A 2017 study tested 28 brands of red yeast rice supplements purchased from U.S. retailers, stating "the quantity of monacolin K varied from none to prescription strength".[19] Many of these avoid FDA regulation by not having any appreciable monacolin content. Their labels and websites say no more than "fermented according to traditional Asian methods" or "similar to that used in culinary applications". The labeling on these products often says nothing about cholesterol lowering. If products do not contain lovastatin, do not claim to contain lovastatin, and do not make a claim to lower cholesterol, they are not subject to FDA action. Two reviews confirm that the monacolin content of red yeast rice dietary supplements can vary over a wide range, with some containing negligible monacolins.[20][21]
The amount typically used in clinical trials is 1200–2400 mg/day of red yeast rice containing approximately 10 mg total monacolins, of which half are monacolin K. A meta-analysis reported LDL-cholesterol lowered by 1.02 mmol/L (39.4 mg/dL) compared to placebo. The incidence of reported adverse effects ranged from 0% to 5% and was not different from controls.[22] A second meta-analysis incorporating more recent clinical trials also reported significant lowering of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol.[23]
Within the first review,[22] the largest and longest duration trial was conducted in China. Close to 5,000 post-heart attack patients were enrolled for an average of 4.5 years to receive either a placebo or a RYR product named Xuezhikang (血脂康). The test product was an ethanol extract of red yeast rice, with a monacolin K content of 11.6 mg/day. Key results: in the treated group, risk of subsequent heart attacks was reduced by 45%, cardio deaths by 31%, and all-cause deaths by 33%.[24] These heart attack and cardiovascular death outcomes appear to be better than what has been reported for prescription statin drugs. A 2008 review pointed out that the cardioprotective effects of statins in Japanese populations occur at lower doses than are needed in Western populations, and theorized that the low amount of monacolins found in the Xuezhikang product might have been more effectively athero-protective than expected in the Chinese population for the same reason.[25]
The safety of red yeast rice products has not been established. Some commercial supplements have been found to contain high levels of the toxin citrinin.[18] As commercial products will have highly variable amounts of monacolins,[18] and rarely declare this content on the label, defining risk is difficult. Ingredient suppliers have also been suspected of "spiking" red yeast rice preparations with purified lovastatin.[3] As evidence, one published analysis reported several commercial products as being almost entirely monacolin K - which would occur if the drug lovastatin was illegally added - rather than the expected composition of many monacolin compounds.[20]
There are reports in the literature of muscle myopathy and liver damage resulting from red yeast rice usage.[26][27] From a review: "The potential safety signals of myopathies and liver injury raise the hypothesis that the safety profile of RYR is similar to that of statins. Continuous monitoring of dietary supplements should be promoted to finally characterize their risk profile, thus supporting regulatory bodies for appropriate actions."[28] The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food concluded that when red yeast rice preparations contained monacolins, the Panel was unable to identify an intake that it could consider as safe. The reason given was case study reports of severe adverse reactions to products containing monacolins at amounts as low as 3 mg/day.[29] Red yeast rice is not recommended during pregnancy or breast-feeding.[30]
Fungi portal
List of microorganisms used in food and beverage preparation
Medicinal fungi
^ a b Shurtleff W, Aoyagi A (2012). History of Koji - Grains and/or Beans Overgrown with a Mold Culture (300 BCE to 2012). Lafayette, California: Soyinfo Center.
^ a b c Erdogrul O, Azirak S. (2004). "Review of the studies on the red yeast rice (Monascus purpureus)". Turkish Electronic J Biotech. 2: 37-49.
^ a b c d e Song J, Luo J, Ma Z, Sun Q, Wu C, Li X (2019). "Quality and Authenticity Control of Functional Red Yeast Rice-A Review". Molecules. 24 (10). doi:10.3390/molecules24101944. PMC 6572552. PMID 31137594. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
^ a b Endo A (2004). "The origin of the statins. 2004". Atheroscler Suppl. 5 (3): 125–130. doi:10.1016/j.atherosclerosissup.2004.08.033. PMID 15531285.
^ a b Duggan, Mark; Hartman, George D (15 August 1989). "Novel HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors". US Patent and Trademark Office. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
^ a b "Pharmanex Inc. v. Shalala, United States District Court, D. Utah, Central Division Mar 1, 2001 Case No. 2:97CV262K". Casetext. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
^ Patakova P (2013). "Monascus secondary metabolites: production and biological activity". J. Ind. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 40 (2): 169–181. doi:10.1007/s10295-012-1216-8. PMID 23179468.
^ Starling, Shane (2012). "Gee-Lawson-enters-China-dominated-red-yeast-rice-supply". NutraIngredients. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
^ Gauntner, John (2001). "Gauntner's Japan Times Stories". The Japan Times. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
^ Visessanguan, Wonnop; Chaikaew, Siriporn (2014). "Shellfish Products". In Sarkar, Prabir K.; Nout, M.J. Robert (eds.). Handbook of Indigenous Foods Involving Alkaline Fermentation. CRC Press. pp. 212–213. ISBN 9781466565302.
^ Redhead, J.F. (1990). Utilization of Tropical Foods: Animal products. FAO Food and Nutrition Paper. Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. p. 35. ISBN 9789251028780.
^ Sanchez, Priscilla C. (2008). "Lactic-Acid-Fermented Fish and Fishery Products". Philippine Fermented Foods: Principles and Technology. University of the Philippines Press. p. 264. ISBN 9789715425544.
^ Zhao Z, Liang Z (2017). "The Original Source of Modern Research on Chinese Medicinal Materials: Bencao Texts". J Altern Complement Integr Med. 3: 045. doi:10.24966/ACIM-7562/100045.
^ a b Heber D, Yip I, Ashley JM, Elashoff DA, Elashoff RM, Go VL (1999). "Cholesterol-lowering effects of a proprietary Chinese red-yeast-rice dietary supplement". Am J Clin Nutr. 69 (2): 231–236. doi:10.1093/ajcn/69.2.231. PMID 9989685. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Edwards JE, Moore RA (2003). "Statins in hypercholesterolaemia: a dose-specific meta-analysis of lipid changes in randomised, double blind trials". BMC Fam Pract. 4: 18. doi:10.1186/1471-2296-4-18. PMC 317299. PMID 14969594.
^ Becker DJ, Gordon RY, Morris PB, et al. (2008). "Simvastatin vs therapeutic lifestyle changes and supplements: randomized primary prevention trial". Mayo Clin. Proc. 83 (7): 758–764. doi:10.4065/83.7.758. PMID 18613992.
^ a b FDA (August 9, 2007). "FDA Warns Consumers to Avoid Red Yeast Rice Products Promoted on Internet as Treatments for High Cholesterol". Archived from the original on Jan 11, 2017.
^ a b c Gordon RY, Cooperman T, Obermeyer W, Becker DJ (2010). "Marked Variability of Monacolin Levels in Commercial Red Yeast Rice Products: Buyer Beware!". Archives of Internal Medicine. 170 (19): 1722–1727. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2010.382. PMID 20975018.
^ Cohen PA, Avula B, Khan IA (2017). "Variability in strength of red yeast rice supplements purchased from mainstream retailers". Eur J Prev Cardiol. 24 (13): 1431–1434. doi:10.1177/2047487317715714. PMID 28641460.
^ a b Li YG, Zhang F, Wang ZT, Hu ZB (2004). "Identification and chemical profiling of monacolins in red yeast rice using high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector and mass spectrometry". J Pharm Biomed Anal. 35 (5): 1101–1112. doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2004.04.004. PMID 15336357.
^ Heber D, Lembertas A, Lu QY, Bowerman S, Go VL (2001). "An analysis of nine proprietary Chinese red yeast rice dietary supplements: implications of variability in chemical profile and contents". J Altern Complement Med. 7 (2): 133–139. doi:10.1089/107555301750164181. PMID 11327519.
^ a b Gerards MC, Terlou RJ, Yu H, Koks CH, Gerdes VE (2015). "Traditional Chinese lipid-lowering agent red yeast rice results in significant LDL reduction but safety is uncertain - a systematic review and meta-analysis". Atherosclerosis. 240 (2): 415–423. doi:10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2015.04.004. PMID 25897793.
^ Peng D, Fong A, Pelt AV (2017). "Original Research: The Effects of Red Yeast Rice Supplementation on Cholesterol Levels in Adults". Am J Nurs. 117 (8): 46–54. doi:10.1097/01.NAJ.0000521973.38717.2e. PMID 28749884.
^ Lu ZL; Collaborative Group for China Coronary Secondary Prevention Using Xuezhikang (2005). "[China coronary secondary prevention study (CCSPS)]". Zhonghua Xin Xue Guan Bing Za Zhi (in Chinese). 33 (2): 109–115. PMID 15924803.
^ Ong HT, Cheah JS (2008). "Statin alternatives or just placebo: an objective review of omega-3, red yeast rice and garlic in cardiovascular therapeutics". Chin. Med. J. 121 (16): 1588–1594. PMID 18982874.
^ Philibert C, Bres V, Jean-Pastor MJ, Guy C, Lebrun-Vignes B, Robin P, Pinzani V, Hillaire-Buys D (2016). "[Red yeast-rice-induced muscular injuries: Analysis of French pharmacovigilance database and literature review]". Thérapie (in French). doi:10.2515/therapie/2015053. PMID 28277227.
^ Becker DJ, Gordon RY, Halbert SC, French B, Morris PB, Rader DJ (2009). "Red yeast rice for dyslipidemia in statin-intolerant patients: a randomized trial". Ann. Intern. Med. 150 (12): 830–839. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-150-12-200906160-00006. PMID 19528562.
^ Mazzanti G, Moro PA, Raschi E, Da Cas R, Menniti-Ippolito F (2017). "Adverse reactions to dietary supplements containing red yeast rice: assessment of cases from the Italian surveillance system". Br J Clin Pharmacol. 83 (4): 894–908. doi:10.1111/bcp.13171. PMC 5346868. PMID 28093797.
^ Younes M, Aggett P, Aguilar F, et al. (2018). "Scientific opinion on the safety of monacolins in red yeast rice". EFSA Journal. 16 (8): 5368. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5368.
^ "Red Yeast Rice". NIH: National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Red yeast rice.
Medicine Net. "Red Yeast Rice". Retrieved February 12, 2006.
PDRhealth. "Red Yeast Rice". Archived from the original on November 25, 2005. Retrieved February 12, 2006.
Dennis Lee, M.D. "Red Yeast Rice and Cholesterol - A Critical Review". Retrieved August 19, 2006.
Probiotics (Lactobacillus
Bifidobacterium)
Vitamins and
chemical elements ("minerals")
Retinol (Vitamin A)
B vitamins: Thiamine (B1)
Pantothenic acid (B5)
Folic acid (B9)
Cyanocobalamin (B12)
Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C)
Ergocalciferol and Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D)
Naphthoquinone (Vitamin K)
Other common ingredients
β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate
Creatine/Creatine supplements
Elemental calcium
Japanese Honeysuckle
Enzyte
Hadacol
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The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion
In its haste to gain Royal Assent before June’s general election, the Finance Bill saw over half its contents removed. But the intent to crack down on tax avoidance still permeates its pages. So it doesn’t hurt to understand what that entails – and what the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is.
Chancellor Philip Hammond admitted in the 2017 Budget that HMRC had secured £140bn in additional tax revenue since 2010 by tackling tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance – yes, there’s a difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion. He seemed “determined to make those who should, pay,” and that, if any, should push you to check your compliance with the law.
One crucial announcement to make its way from Budget to Finance Bill is that those enabling Brits to minimise their tax bills will be heavily prosecuted. Fair enough, but what does that mean for the users of such schemes? As long as you’re moving within the requirements of the law, HMRC may let you be. So it pays off to know the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion.
Tax avoidance: Jimmy Carr’s financial advisor wasn’t wrong
Chances are you’ll have seen tax avoidance splashed across headlines, normally in conjunction with celebrity names – Jimmy Carr and Wayne Rooney jump to mind due to their affiliation with tax scheme K2. Of course, Carr later deemed the scheme a “terrible error of judgement,” reporting on BBC’s Radio 4: “My financial advisor asked, ‘Do you want to pay less tax? It’s totally legal’. I went, ‘yeah, fine, great’.”
Carr wasn’t completely in the wrong, but his financial advisor will have to be more careful going forward. The biggest difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is that the former is legal. You’re bending the rules in your favour. On a small scale it could mean putting your savings in an Individual Savings Account (ISA) to avoid paying income tax or using a pension scheme. There’s nothing wrong with that.
But there is a grey area which tax experts label “aggressive tax avoidance” – the use of practices government would really no one use. If HMRC disagrees with your methods it can launch an investigation and force you to pay that tax back.
Gary Barlow, who made use of Icebreaker, is a great example of this. The scheme was set up to buy IP rights, but HMRC doubted the operation and found that few rights were bought. Barlow had to cough up a lot of money.
Tax evasion: When you’re completely breaking the law
Tax evasion is when you use straight up illegal practices to skimp paying taxes. This could be failing to file a tax return, not reporting your full income and hiding taxable assets – fake offshore accounts fall into this category as well. It’s a criminal offence.
Remember that eBay trader who was sent to prison for two years for not disclosing his earnings? HSBC was similarly in trouble for helping people hide cash in offshore accounts in 2007 and, a more recent case, is Credit Suisse. Dutch prosecutors had been tipped off to its “evasive manoeuvres” and have since launched a global investigation. These are all examples of breaking the law.
Not only will tax evasion land you in prison, HMRC has the right to “name and shame” you if you’ve committed an offence greater than £25,000 – that’s some bad publicity sure to burn your reputation. You will be chased and asked to pay what you owe and, in the case of money laundering, your possessions could be confiscated.
The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is a fine line
Tax barrister David Quentin made a sound point when he argued: “The vision of tax avoidance as a dignified difference of opinion over legal interpretation is a radical romanticisation. Rather than bemoaning the failure to distinguish between avoidance and evasion, those who promulgate these scholastic taxonomies should come up with a compelling reason why there is one category of tax lie treated as fraud, and another category which does not even attract a civil penalty.”
This strange distinction has caused a lot of confusion in terms of, as Quentin suggested, what is to the letter of but not within the spirit of tax law. Either way, the government has unleashed the hounds and is making its rounds, taking on board the pledge prime minister Theresa May made during her leadership campaign: “It doesn’t matter to me whether you’re Amazon, Google or Starbucks: you have a duty to put something back, you have a debt to fellow citizens and you have a responsibility to pay your taxes.”
Now’s the time to ensure you know what side of the law you’re on.
By Shané Schutte</a ></em ></p >
Advice & Guides Credit Suisse Difference between Gary Barlow HMRC HSBC Income Tax ISA Jimmy Carr Tax Avoidance Tax Evasion Wayne Rooney
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Posted on April 2, 2018 April 10, 2018 by Obrey Brown
DARNOLD, DE ROO AND DAMON JUST PART OF “CONNECTIONS”
Mike Darnold was the latest “connection.”
Throw in football’s Jim Weatherwax and Brian DeRoo.
Villanova basketball coach Jay Wright showed up here, with his team, one Saturday morning in 2003.
“Black” Jack Gardner left here in 1928.
Jerry Tarkanian lifted off from here in 1961.
How many Redlands Connections can there be?
It’s the basis for the Blog site, www.redlandsconnection.com. Dedicated to the idea that there’s a connection from Redlands to almost every major sporting event.
The afore-mentioned have already been featured. There have been others. Plenty of others.
Golf. Track & field. Tennis. Baseball and basketball. Softball and soccer. The Olympic Games and the Kentucky Derby. The World Series and the Super Bowl. You name it.
For a city this size, the connections to all of those are remarkable.
Softball’s Savannah Jaquish left Redlands East Valley for Louisiana State.
Bob Karstens was just shooting a few baskets when I saw him at Redlands High. Turned out he was one of three white men ever to play for the usually all-black Harlem Globetrotters.
Brian Billick coached a Hall of Famer. Together, they won a Super Bowl.
Brian Billick, a key Redlands Connection.
Speaking of Super Bowls, not only was a former Redlands High player involved in the first two NFL championship games, there was a head referee who stood behind QBs Bart Starr and Lenny Dawson.
That referee got his start in Redlands.
One of racing’s fastest Top Fuel dragsters is a Redlands gal, Leah Pritchett.
Leah Pritchett has punched her Top Fuel dragster over 330 mph many times.
Greg Horton forcefully blocked some of football’s greatest legends for a near-Super Bowl team.
At a high school playoff game at Redlands High in 1996, Alta Loma High showed up to play a quarterfinals match. It was Landon Donovan of Redlands taking on Carlos Bocanegra.
The two eventually played on the same Team USA in the World Cup and the Olympics.
Karol Damon’s high-jumping Olympic dreams weren’t even known to her mother. She wound up in Sydney. 2000.
In the coming days, weeks and months, there will be more connections.
A surfing legend.
Besides Landon Donovan, there’s another soccer dynamo.
When this year’s Indianapolis 500 rolls around, we’ll tell you about a guy named “Lucky Louie.”
Fifteen years before he won his first Masters, Tiger Woods played a 9-hole exhibition match at Redlands Country Club.
University of Arizona softball, one of the nation’s greatest programs, was home to a speedy outfielder.
As for DeRoo, he was present for one of the pro football’s darkest moments on the field.
In 1921, an Olympic gold medalist showed up and set five world records in Redlands.
The Redlands Bicycle Classic might have carved out of that sport’s most glorious locations – set in motion by a 1986 superstar squad.
Distance-running sensation Mary Decker was taken down by a onetime University of Redlands miler.
Collegiate volleyball probably never had a greater athlete from this area.
As for Darnold, consider that the one-time University of Redlands blocker is the father of Sam Darnold, the USC quarterback who might be this year’s No. 1 draft selection in pro football’s draft.
Jaquish became the first-ever 4-time All-American at talent-rich LSU.
Jacob Nottingham, drafted a few years ago by the Houston Astros, probably never knew he’d be part of two Moneyball deals.
Gardner, who coached against Bill Russell in the collegiate ranks, tried to recruit Wilt Chamberlain at Kansas State.
Wright, whose team went into the March 31-April 2 weekend hoping to win the NCAA championship for the third time, brought his team to play the Bulldogs as sort of a warm-up test for Hawaii.
Tarkanian? Few might’ve known that the legendary Tark the Shark started chewing on those towels while he was coaching at Redlands High.
Norm Schachter was head referee in three Super Bowls, including Green Bay’s inaugural championship win over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Norm Schacter, wearing No. 60 (not his normal official number), synchronizes with Kansas City Chiefs’ Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram during halftime of the inaugural Super Bowl in 1967.
Speaking of Tarkanian, Weatherwax played hoops for him at Redlands. Eight years later, Weatherwax wore jersey No. 73 for the Green Bay Packers. It makes him the only man to ever play for Tarkanian and Vince Lombardi.
There will be more Redlands connections.
CategoriesBaltimore Ravens, Bill Russell, Bob Karstens, Brian Billick, Brian De Roo, Carlos Bocanegra, Harlem Globetrotters, Jack Gardner, Jacob Nottingham, Jay Wright, Jerry Tarkanian, Jim Weatherwax, Karol Damon, Krista Vansant, Landon Donovan, Leah Pritchett, Louisiana State University softball, Mary Decker Slaney, Norm Schachter, Redlands, Redlands High School, Savannah Jaquish, Tiger Woods, USC, Villanova, Vince Lombardi, Wilt Chamberlain
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Tag Archives: Constantine
Constantine’s Corruptions that Changed Christianity Forever
The laws of Constantine, which were the outcome of the triumph of Christianity, mark the greatest era in the history of the world. Christianity was not a state religion at the time, and the persecution of Christians had already been going on sporadically throughout the empire. But after Constantine defeated his brother-in-law, Licinius, who was his rival, Constantine “openly avowed himself the patron of the new religion (Backhouse).” However, he was not a member of the Church until his baptism just before he died. He identified himself with Christianity in order “to bring all nations to agree in one opinion concerning matters of religion and to restore the sick world to health (Backhouse).”
When “He discountenanced the heathen worship, exhorted his subjects to embrace the Gospel, and selected the members of the Church as the objects of his patronage,“ thus began a church system that, to this day, exists throughout the world in every sect of human society. He elevated men to positions of honor, prestige and power that brought about the biggest corruptions the world has ever known. . . corruptions that, even today, exist, and, control the masses in individual religious institutions.
“But when Constantine began to distinguish the Christians from the rest of the community by State gifts and Imperial favours, and even set himself up as their head, he went beyond his province as a magistrate, and invaded the prerogative of Christ. Amongst his acts of this kind may be specified:
The endowment of churches with revenues derived from the confiscation of heathen temples, and from the common funds of the cities; [Later this mutated into confiscation of the property of Christians who refused to submit to the Church of Rome.]
the appropriation to the Church and clergy of a portion of the corn and other produce which was received in kind by the officers of the revenue, and also of the tribute exacted from conquered nations; [This mutated into forced tithes and offerings in today’s churches.]
the exemption of the clergy from all civil offices.
He even proposed to free the Church lands from taxation, but this law was afterwards repealed. [This mutated into tax exempt status for clergy.]
No less revolutionary, or less fruitful in results, were two other measures; by one of which litigants, instead of taking their suits to the civil courts, were permitted to carry them before the bishops, whose decisions were to be enforced by all governors and military officers; by the other (measure) the clergy were empowered to receive bequests and to hold lands, a gift which would scarcely have been exceeded if the Emperor had granted them two provinces of the Empire. It became thenceforth almost a sin to die without some bequest to pious uses; and before a century had elapsed the mass of property which had passed over to the Church was so enormous, that the prodigality of the devout had to be restrained by law. “The evil effects of this policy were such as might have been expected. Many rich men procured for themselves “ordination” as ecclesiastics, in order to enjoy the immunities and privileges attached to the clerical office. The Emperor became alarmed, and saw that measures must be taken to secure the interests of the State; he therefore prohibited all such as were by their property qualified to fill municipal and other public offices, from entering the priesthood, and (a new exercise of authority) deprived of their ecclesiastical rank all such as were in this way evading their civil duties (Backhouse).”
The first interference by Constantine in the affairs of the church was in 313 A.D. However, this was not by force that this happened. It was by sheer coincidence that Constantine was pulled into the position by the Donatists who, “committed the great error of invoking Imperial aid.”
Before Constantine’s interference, a synod had already been held amongst bishops and presbyters in 305 A.D. What was realized during the debates was that “it became apparent that scarcely one present (church leaders) was entirely clean-handed.” The conclusion of this synod was that all of the dirty laundry of these leaders would be suppressed and forgotten! In other words, shoved under the rug. [Doesn’t this sound familiar?’]
“The “pious fraud” already mentioned as practised by Mensurius, Bishop of Carthage, in passing off some heretical writings in place of the Holy Scriptures, drew upon him the censure of some of the Puritans. [When the Christians were being persecuted, all scriptures were sought out and burned. Some bishops refused to give up their copies and turned over instead heretical writings to be burned instead. This is what Menssurius did and the Puritans used his decision against him to discredit him.] But it was his prudent conduct in checking the inordinate reverence for martyrdom that brought out the ill-humour of the disaffected. He saw that there were too many would-be martyrs, whose characters would not bear scrutiny, — insolvent debtors, for example, fanatics and idlers who were fed by injudicious devotees; and with his archdeacon, Caecilian, he did his best to discountenance the mistaken reverence with which good Christians regarded these undeserving men (Backhouse).”
What Mensurius realized was that the would-be martyrs (leadership) were frauds! But, they had follow-ship and their follow-ship revered them as holy and righteous, when if fact, they were not. He saw what was being swept under the rug and did his best to expose the truth! In turn, these leaders did their best to discredit Mensurius. [This same thing is happening in today’s churches when church leadership is exposed. The victims of clergy abuse are attacked by the congregants and discredited if they speak out about the abuse.]
“During the lifetime of Mensurius the storm was brewing; it burst when Caecilian succeeded him, A.D. 311.” It was at this time that the bishops began their fight to remove Caecilian as bishop and thus began the schism that set the churches as naught. In consequence of this proceeding, the whole Church of North Africa was divided into two hostile camps, the supporters of Caecilian, and the adherents of Majorinus, or rather of Donatus, Bishop of Casae Nigrae. . . (Backhouse)”
This is when the appeal was made to Constantine for his help in deciding who should be bishop. This was the first instance in “which the Church asked aid of the State for the settlement of her internal affairs. It was a fatal precedent, the commencement of an unholy alliance by which the Church was a sore loser.”
“Constantine at first showed some displeasure, but soon accepted the position to which the schismatics invited him, and made him self judge between the contending parties. . . Swayed doubtless by his counsels, Constantine at length came to consider that the duty of settling disputes in the Church belonged to him, not only as Emperor, but as Pontifex Maximus.” (The Pontifex Maximus, or chief of the Pontiffs, was the highest sacerdotal functionary of ancient Rome. He was the supreme judge in all religious matters. When the Republic was merged in the Empire, the new rulers assumed to themselves this dignity, as they did the other high offices of State. Even the Christian Emperors for awhile retained the title.)” Thus began the control of the masses through religion, by the new Pontif! Thus began the corrupt system by which this Pontif controlled the empire. However, “Constantine had not counted the cost; and in constituting him self arbiter of the Christian differences, he did not find himself upon a bed of roses. The interminable quarrels amongst the bishops, and disputes as to heretical doctrine, gave him no rest during the remainder of his days (Backhouse).” [The same disputations about doctrine are STILL taking place today between various religious sects!]
Constantine, was irritated at the obstinacy of the bishops after confirming Caecilian. But, he did not stop there. “He proceeded to enforce his decision by the aid of the secular power. The losing party were proscribed as enemies to the State. Decrees were issued depriving them of their Churches, confiscating their ecclesiastical property, and exiling their bishops. They defied the authority of the Emperor, who sent an armed force under Ursacius, a Count of the Empire, to reduce them to submission. The “Catholic” party were only too ready to assist in this crusade. A sanguinary contest ensued; and now for the first time the world beheld the followers of the Prince of Peace engaged in slaughtering one another. The Imperial attempt at coercion stirred to its depth the fanaticism of this hot-blooded province. Bands of furious desperadoes, known under the name of Circumcelliones, who held their own lives cheap, and deemed no death too cruel for those who differed from them, swept over the country, carrying fire, torture, and slaughter wherever they came. Their war cry was Deo laudes (Praises to God), and because Christ had forbidden the use of the sword to Peter, they took for their weapon a huge and massive club, which they named The Israelite. The Catholics, according to their own admission, were not far behind them in violence; they appealed to the Old Testament to justify, by the examples of Moses, Phineas and Elijah, the Christian duty of slaying by thousands the renegades or unbelievers. It must be acknowledged that the first-fruits of the alliance between the Church and the State were bitter enough (Backhouse).”
“The political events of the reign of Constantine from the death of Maximinus Daza in 313 may here be briefly noticed. Licinius, after his defeat in 314, fell back upon Paganism, and became its champion. The struggle between himself and Constantine for the dominion of the world was renewed in 323, when Licinius was defeated in two great battles, and was shortly afterwards put to death by order of the conqueror. Constantine, thus become sole ruler, resolved to remove the seat of Empire to Byzantium, which he called after his own name, Constantinople. The new city was solemnly dedicated in 330 (Backhouse).”
Constantine’s laws gave clergy money, power and prestige. Later, they were given tax exempt status as well. Under Constantine, the face of Christianity changed dramatically. Using secular strength, Constantine was able to force his brand of “Christianity” onto the populous under penalty of death. When the church realized the great error they had made and the unprecedented persecutions that it invoked, it was too late. As a result of this un-holy alliance, millions lost their lives over the successive centuries if they did not submit to the control and wishes of the Pontifex Maximus. The Church of Rome’s administrative prowess and power was impossible to fight against. Thus:
The pagan church of Rome merged with Christianity to produce a “system” of worship that has mutated, birthed new corruptions, and proliferated. The fruit of the corruptions are still money, prestige and power for clergy and church leaders. However, one of the mutations that has reaped havoc the world over has been the twisting of scripture to relegate women to servitude to men. Thus, the sexual exploitation of women was rampant then and, is rampant throughout the world today. Not only this, the sexual exploitation of children ensued then, and is also rampant today as a result. Religious institutions have hidden their atrocities under the mantle of “righteousness” called the church just as bishops of the early centuries hid their sins under the same mantle. Millions have been duped into following un-holy men that are well hidden under a “cloak” called, pastor, priest, or some other religious title. It is time for this cloak to be removed and the truth to be revealed.
As a result of Constantine’s leadership, the church system turned into a “Beast,” and during a period of several hundred years, [We had the Crusades, the Reformation, the Inquisition; all of which entailed murder and mutilation of believers as well as the confiscation of property.] millions lost their lives as a result (the majority of which were women, by the way). Today, clergy still have the same power, control and prestige. Base men rule over congregations earning lavish salaries off the backs of those within their congregations. Tax exempt status and perks and privileges of ecclesiastical positions are still an enticement for “less-than-desirables” to enter the ranks of church leadership. Sex offenders and Pedophiles have made their homes within the system. Sex trafficking is rampant. The “Beast” that was then, still exists today but has become more subtil, more enticing, more educated in the ways it can manipulate and control and extract money. Scripture translations were corrupted and women lost their autonomy, equality, dignity and honor as a result.. Every area of religion that man has touched, he has corrupted. Millions have been affected. The victims are innumerable.
The clarion call was sounded ages ago and, it has not been heeded. Rev. 18:4: “Come forth out of her, My people, that ye may not partake with her sins, and that ye may not receive of her plagues (YLT). Judgment will begin at the house of God and soon, if God’s people do not wake up, sound the alarm, and purge what is hidden from their midst and, undo what has been corrupted.
This entry was posted in Religion's Cell Articles and tagged Constantine, corruption of religion, Corruptions of the church, religious corruption, tax exempt status on July 17, 2013 by admin.
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Posts Tagged ‘Ben Hecht’
Counting the Chips at Casino Royale
Posted: February 16, 2011 in Action, Comedy, Daniel Craig, Daniel Craig, David Niven, James Bond, James Bond, Orson Welles, Spy
Tags: Austin Powers, Ben Hecht, Billy Wilder, Bruce Willis, Cary Grant, Casino Royale, Daniel Craig, David Neven, Die Hard, Dr. Evil, Fargo, George Raft, Howard Hawks, Ian Fleming, James Bond, James Cameron, Jason Bourne, Joseph Heller, Joseph McGrath, Judi Dench, Ken Hughes, Martin Campbell, Matt Damon, Monty Python, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Moonraker, on Her Majesty's Secret Service, Orson Welles, Paul Haggis, Peter Lorre, Peter O'Toole, peter Sellers, Robert Parrish, Roger Moore, Sean Connery, Spy Who Loved me, Terry Southern, The World Is Not Enough, Ursula Andress, Val Guest, Vin Diesel, Woody Allen, XXX
An author’s intent, an actor’s fragile ego, a genial shambles and cruelty to testicles
Commentary by Adam-Troy Castro
Casino Royale (1967). Directed by Val Guest, Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish, and Richard Talmadge. Screenplay by Wolf Mankowitz, John Law, and Michael Sayers, from the novel by Ian Fleming. Additional screenplay contributions by (take a deep breath), Woody Allen, Val Guest, Ben Hecht, Joseph Heller, Terry Southern, Billy Wilder, and Peter Sellers. Starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, and Orson Welles. 131 minutes. ** 1/2
Casino Royale (2006). Directed by Martin Campbell. Screenplay by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, with Paul Haggis, from the novel by Ian Fleming. Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Madi Mikkelson, Judi Dench, and Giancarlo Giannini. 144 minutes. *** 1/2.
Other Known Versions: Seen by us but not reviewed for this essay, “Casino Royale,” episode of TV-anthology series Climax! (1954), starring Barry Nelson as “Jimmy” Bond and Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre.
The James Bond films have become so cemented in their formula for success that their various inevitable ingredients sometimes make them seem less like individual stories than the same story, told and retold with only a few particulars changed. Such elements as the enemy stronghold that blows up in the action climax, the empty badinage with poor pining Miss Moneypenny, the give-and-take with his weapons master Q, the ordering of a martini (shaken not stirred), the final scene where Bond ignores a congratulatory message from his superiors in order to pursue celebratory sex with the rescued lady of the day, the McGuffin that often involves hijacked nuclear weaponry, and (most relevant to today’s examples), the gambling match with the villain where Bond beats the bad guy at the game he is enough of a cad to cheat at, are such series mainstays that they all appear, with only minimal variation, in most of the franchise’s outings. It’s more surprising, overall, when a Bond film chooses to omit one, let alone several.
Sometimes, the newest Bond film seemed less a separate entity than a de facto remake of the Bond film before it (as with The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker).
Under the circumstances, any talk of remakes seems so superfluous that it’s almost startling to note that the series has already known two complete sets.
One involved a twisted saga of the disputed rights to Bond and his supporting cast, some of whom were concocted by a screenwriter who wrote a spec script for Ian Fleming. A couple of rancorous major court cases led to a settlement that ultimately deprived the main movie series of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the recurring villain who had dominated the Sean Connery era and who became the model for the Austin Powers villain, Dr. Evil. It was this very situation that led to Thunderball being remade, also with Connery, as Never Say Never Again.
The same consortium responsible for that one, hoarding its one treasure like a certain ex-hobbit mutated into Gollum by years of exposure to the ring of power, later tried to make the same basic story a third time, with yet another Bond reprising his role. They didn’t get backing again, but you really can’t blame them for trying.
And then there’s this, relic born of the one Bond novel adapted for television before the movie series, the same one that Howard Hawks once considered filming with Cary Grant. (‘Twas not to be, but seriously, consider Cary Grant as James Bond, and sigh.)
Casino Royale, which was not included in the package deal procured by the Broccoli family, was first filmed in 1954 as a not especially-distinguished episode of a TV anthology series, featuring an American “Jimmy” Bond who needed to win a card game against a Le Chiffre affiliated with french socialists. Copies of that production were lost for decades, but were eventually located and released on VHS (where this reviewer saw it, though it was also included as a DVD extra with the 1967 version). I can report that it features Barry Nelson as a not-especially charismatic Bond and Peter Lorre as a Le Chiffre who doesn’t lend the play much more than his bored presence. It does, however, hew to the premise of Ian Fleming’s first Bond story, which has the super secret agent obliged to prevent the bad guy from winning a game of Baccarat that will replenish the funds he has embezzled from the Soviets.
(Thus leading to the pithy observation that while other Bond villains had grandiose ambitions, like extorting billions with nuclear terrorism, cornering the world heroin market, starting World War III, or wiping out most of humanity in order to establish a despotic rule over the survivors, this guy is motivated by nothing more than getting his hands caught in the till. In all filmed versions of Casino Royale, Le Chiffre’s poor money management has gotten him into debt with the wrong people and he wants only to cover his own ass. It’s almost possible to feel sorry for him. In essence, he’s a somewhat more competent version of William H. Macy’s put-upon car dealer from Fargo.)
As in Ian Fleming’s novel, Bond wins the game, only to find himself captured, tied to a chair, and tortured at length by Le Chiffre: a scene that figures prominently in both the movie versions to follow, and which features something relatively rare in the Bond films: 007 completely helpless, and almost broken. It is one of the few scenes that make it into both the 1967 and 2006 versions, a key point of congruence in two productions that are otherwise as different from one another as two motion pictures can be.
The 1967 Version: A Genial Shambles
When the sixties spy craze was at its absolute peak and Bond in particular was a genuine pop culture phenomenon, possessing the rights to a Bond novel not procured by the Brocollis represented a grand opportunity that the makers of the spoof wished to exploit in grand style. They made all the smart opening moves, first by distinguishing their version from the series starring Sean Connery by deciding in advance by planning a farce with only limited fidelity to the Fleming novel. They also cast David Niven, Fleming’s own original choice as the best possible actor to play his character, and in one of the lead female roles Ursula Andress, who had made a splash (ha-ha) as the hot girl in the swimsuit emerging from Bahamian waters in Dr. No, and who is here given dialogue directly referencing her fate in that original film.
They had an explanation for the differences in their Bond written into the screenplay. Their Bond is an aging gentleman, retired from spying, dedicated to a vow of celibacy, and utterly resentful of his namesake replacement, who he calls “that sexual acrobat who leaves a trail of dead beautiful women like so many blown roses behind him.” It turns out that Niven’s Bond was such a force for good that the Brits and their various allies thought that the absence of a James Bond, any James Bond, so destabilizing to the world order that somebody named Bond had to remain active at all times.
This happens to be the exact same theory that some fans still embrace to explain the periodic replacement of the leading men in the regular series. That’s right. James Bond as Job Title was invented here, and it certainly beats the somewhat geekier theory, also popular, that James Bond is a Time Lord who stays young by “regenerating” like the protagonist of Doctor Who.
Circumstances compel him to take over the job previously held by M (here played by John Huston, who isn’t around for long), and support a training program that installs other Bond surrogates in trouble spots throughout the world. Beyond that, the plot defies description, largely because there isn’t one. This Casino Royale wanders all over the map, with plotlines initiated and then dropped, important characters introduced and then dropped, and the many scenes of sixties sexual innuendo (with entire mobs of sixties beautiful women) interposed with scenes that not only fail to make sense but were apparently never intended to make sense. Any attempt to describe the story will inevitably arrive at the phrase, “for no reason whatsoever.” Much of it is very funny, though it needs to be said that a lot of it is just as irritatingly tiresome.
If its contempt for coherent narrative reminds modern-day viewers of Monty Python And The Holy Grail, another film that (somewhat more successfully) feels like it was being made up on the fly, be apprised that one of the 1967 Casino Royale’s early sequences, involving the determinedly chaste Bond’s unnerving night at a castle populated entirely by aggressive young women in heat, was cited by the Pythons a s a direct inspiration for their use of pretty much the identical situation in their film, where the sweaty celibate was played by Michael Palin and the name of the edifice became Castle Anthrax.
It is difficult to tell how much of the chaotic plotting was originally intended, but one of the factors that contributed to it was a very troubled production, caused in no small part by conflict between Peter Sellers (here playing one of the replacement Bonds, a card player whose real name is Evelyn Tremble) and Orson Welles (here playing Le Chiffre). Sellers, who was never the easiest man to work with, took an instant dislike to Welles, exacerbated when Princess Margaret visited the set and fawned over Welles while ignoring Sellers. (It didn’t help that Sellers had just been trying to impress one and all with detailed stories of his friendship with the woman.) Welles responded in kind, deriding Sellers as an amateur.
Sellers was also desperately upset that Casino Royale was a silly comedy, as he’d wanted to play Bond straight – as is evident during the baccarat scene, where much of Tremble’s baiting of Le Chiffre could almost be transposed to a serious Bond film without alteration. As for Welles, it appears to have been his idea to have Le Chiffre regularly stop the game to perform elaborate stage magic at the table – again, for no reason whatsoever — behavior that would less than kindly looked upon at pretty much every casino I’ve ever known. It fits here only because nothing else in sight makes sense.
The two men ultimately refused to act in any scenes together, a snit that the film covered by pretty much never showing Sellers and Welles in the same shot at the same time, even during the card game. Their direct conversations at the gaming table are conveyed by close-ups and the backs of heads. Later, the “torture” of the faux-Bond by Le Chiffre is conducted with Le Chiffre an absent figure mocking the Sellers character by remote control, and torturing by methods that include (what seems to be) a wood-chipper in his chair and an orchestrated hallucination that includes marching men in kilts and a cameo appearance by Peter O’Toole, for (all together now) no reason whatsoever.
Eventually Sellers was either fired or allowed to storm off the set for good, with most of his scenes unfilmed. This included a great deal of necessary connecting material, which is a key reason why he rushes off to rescue Vesper Lynd and is next seen unconscious as Le Chiffre’s prisoner, with no actual scene where he is caught; he refused to film one. A number of his other scenes, including the one where he treats Ursula Andress’s leg as a piano keyboard, and the one where he hops into a race car, were not scripted parts of the film, but joking around on the set, reshaped as narrative.
One early cut of the film actually resorted to using a cardboard cutout of him during the climax, to cover his absence; it was replaced with other junk footage.
So the shamblicious nature of the narrative, ultimately filmed by six different directors and written by a small army of astoundingly distinguished film writers who seem to have been working during production to shape a film that had already spiraled out of control, was in large part a desperate improvisation, to cover for a star who was originally supposed to be a much more substantial player, and was unavailable for much of his intended screen time. What remains is, to an unclear extent, a film stitched together out of spare parts and desperate improvisation as the folks behind the production gave up on any pretense that any of this could ever make sense, even within the context of a silly comedy.
Some of the pieces are insanely brilliant, among them an extended sequence which has Mata Bond (the daughter of Bond and Mata Hari, played with substantial comic chops and what seems to be deep personal enjoyment by Joanna Pettet), on assignment in Berlin running around gloomy German Expressionist sets while still (for no reason whatsoever) wearing the same jewel-encrusted indian dancing costume she was introduced as wearing in an ashram (or whatever) several scenes earlier. Some are messed up, like Mata subsequently changing her accent and personality for no reason whatsoever. Some are just strange, like Sellers dressing up as Adolf Hitler for no reason whatsoever. And some are just insane, as in the big action climax where old-west cowboys and indians invade the casino for no reason whatsoever, George Raft (who got star billing for less than sixty seconds on screen) shows up and dies for no reason whatsoever, a murdered character played by William Holden is revealed to have faked his death for no reason whatsoever, the Frankenstein monster shows up for no reason whatsoever, a chimp grins at the camera for no reason whatsoever, and main bad guy Woody Allen – who has been fed a nuclear potion – hiccups his way to the massive explosion that kills everybody for no reason whatsoever.
The movie is a mess, but a genial one, dull at times but hilarious at others. It was popular enough to emerge as the third biggest hit of its year.
And its fidelity to the source material amounts to this: A guy using the name of James Bond plays a game of baccarat with a guy named Le Chiffre to prevent him from replacing embezzled funds. Le Chiffre retaliates by kidnapping the girl, Vesper Lynd. Bond is captured trying to rescue Lynd and endures a brief interval of testicle torture (here presented in the most cartoonish manner imaginable). Then Le Chiffre is killed, which only seems to resolve everything, leading to a false ending before the other shoe drops and the action resumes.
The 2006 Version: Bond Bleeds
The makers of the mainstream James Bond movies finally acquired the rights to Casino Royale in 1999, midway through Pierce Brosnan’s tenure in the title role.
Of Brosnan, who is not material to today’s discussion, let’s be content to say that he’s proven himself a terrific actor, better than the material he was given as 007 usually merited. The World Is Not Enough was likely his best Bondian outing, although, as usual, your mileage may vary.
The problem was not his, really. The problem was that the cartoonish heroics of the sixties Bond had ceased to impress in an era when other film franchises could compete with and wildly surpass the Bond movies in terms of wild action, sexual intrigue, and over-the-top violence. Worse, the Bond films had become so formulaic that other filmmakers had realized that they could do just as well with characters of their own creation, in films that were otherwise note-by-note recreations; and not in the manner that the imitators of the 1960s managed to present their own raft of respectable but second-tier Bonds, but with outings that easily matched the Bond films in extravagance of action. When James Cameron has made True Lies and Vin Diesel has been in XXX and Tom Cruise has a thriving Mission: Impossible franchise and Matt Damon has the same with his Jason Bourne movies and Bruce Willis can boast the multiple variations of Die Hard, a James Bond movie no longer qualifies as an event just by showing up; it has to excel, to make us care about it, or it’s just redundant.
The people behind the franchise have been accused of “Bourning Up” the Bond films – this being an actual understood reference now – but the truth is more simple than that. With the 2006 Casino Royale, they stripped the character to his essence, removed the gadgetry, tortured quips and descents into campiness that now render some of the earlier incarnations all but unwatchable, and devoted serious thought as to what makes this guy tick and why anybody would give a damn about anything that happens to him. It re-started the series with a pre-credit sequence detailing Bond’s first kills for the 00 branch, which were not made to look jokey and lighthearted but instead ugly, brutal and sordid. One of them is a thug beaten to a bloody pulp in a bathroom, the other is a traitor shot dead while sitting in a desk chair; there is nothing at all glamorous about either of these kills, nothing to match the comfortable distance of that moment in Moonraker where an ambulance employed in a chase scene speeds past three separate billboards hawking commercial products that helped to underwrite the film.
It is only after the usual title song that we get the over-the-top action sequence that usually begins a Bond film. This one’s a parkour chase in Madagascar, set in and around a construction site where Bond pursues a terrorist-for-hire. This tour-de-force, the reviewer’s personal favorite action sequence in any of the Bond films, is to put it mildly not at all free of silliness; it employs, for instance, Roger Ebert’s famous fallacy of the climbing killer, the guy whose attempts to get away amount to scaling an edifice from which he will eventually have to climb down. It is, much of the time, silly of the heroes to even bother to chase them. What redeems the sequence is its sheer bravura, the terrorist’s mad ricocheting off walls and girders, and Bond’s success at equaling him with blunt force and superior cleverness. If Buster Keaton had choreographed a Bond chase, it would be this one.
The set piece leads to a bad end for the terrorist and Bond in trouble with M for disgracing British Intelligence, from there to another action sequence in Miami that is almost as spectacular, and from there to the murder of a woman Bond had just callously seduced and abandoned in order to follow a lead. M (Judi Dench, who joined the series during Brosnan’s tenure and is another fine addition) back-handedly praises Bond for not caring, and he actually doesn’t seem to: but the moment is sufficiently well-written and performed to make it clear that Bond is not unaware of the human cost.
That brings him to Casino Royale, the introduction of Vesper Lynd, and the poker game played against Le Chiffre (who, here, is a banker for terrorists, who has invested heavily in the fallout from the act of terrorism Bond foils in Miami). At which point the film does something remarkable for the series, which is to say slow down; it spends almost an hour in the deepening of the relationship between Bond and Lynd and in intrigue at or surrounding the game.
The sexual tension between Bond and Lynd is remarkably adult, for the series, which at its worst saw Roger Moore seducing women half his age with no more than a raised eyebrow and a moron double intendre. By contrast, Lynd and Bond are presented as a pair of intensely guarded people, who acknowledge their mutual attraction right up front but also see through one another with a depth that keeps either from wanting personal involvement. His moment of compassion for her, during a moment of post-traumatic personal vulnerability, feels more real than anything that happened in some prior decades of the series.
The film’s Le Chiffre is not entirely devoid of Bondian silliness either; he has a “malformation of the tear duct” that occasionally causes him to weep blood, a physical condition with absolutely no referent in medical science, given that the integral nature of human anatomy is that any wound that bleeds will eventually scab. It’s there to make him look less than human. In truth, though, his nastiness does not exempt him from human vulnerability, brilliantly revealed during one scene where he and his lover are confronted in their hotel room by assassins sent by one of the terrorist leaders whose funds he misspent. Le Chiffre is reduced to a weeping, terrified mess, helpless as a knife is brandished against a woman he may or may not love, but at least likes enough to sleep with. This does not stop him from reverting to murderous type after he returns to the poker table, or has Bond strapped to that chair, but it gives him a depth no James Bond villain has had, before or since. The man may deserve to die, by the logic of the series, but it’s impossible not to understand that he knows he’s drowning.
His subsequent torture of the captured Bond is also more graphic, more genuinely painful, than anything ever seen in the series before. There is no gimmicky threatened castration of the impeccably dressed hero by laser, as in Goldfinger; no civilized gourmet meal before fight to the death, as in The Man With the Golden Gun. (Brosnan’s Bond was captured by, and tortured by, the North Koreans for a full year, but his ordeal is shown during the usual a jazzy credits sequence, and has all the emotional impact of a music video.) Le Chiffre just tells the shivering, naked, helpless, and terrified Bond – brilliantly played by Craig — that there’s simply no point in sophisticated torture techniques when it’s downright easy to cause a man more pain than he can possibly stand. And then he whips Bond’s bare testicles with a knot tied in a heavy rope. There are no saucy quips, no insouciant gestures of defiance; like Le Chiffre only a few scenes earlier, Bond is quickly reduced to a despairing shell.
Following Bond’s subsequent deliverance from that predicament, his long recovery and his decision to abandon his secret agent ways for a life spent with Vesper – who in this context represents more than just a woman he loves, but an actual route back to humanity – makes perfect sense.
This is not the only time the movie Bond ever genuinely loved a woman for what promised to be longer than the interval between one mission and the next; the Bond played by George Lazenby loved, married, and tragically lost Tracy, the leading lady of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The difference, in retrospect, is that it’s a little hard now to see why that Bond fell for Tracy when he’d easily abandoned so many who were just as formidable. It’s easy to see why Craig’s Bond makes the decision he makes in Casino Royale. He’s been hurt, this time, more than he’s ever been hurt before. He already cared for the lady. His heart is open.
That it goes badly, indeed tragically, is just as inevitable. The series does need to continue, after all. But in this context it feels even worse when he angrily sums up his loss by telling M, “The bitch is dead.” At that point, something has clearly died in him too. It’s an emotional origin story, so much beyond the usual Bond material that it almost feels like a different genre. That it was immediately followed by Quantum Of Solace, which sought to continue the story but was because of many failings (not least among them an incompetent approach to its action scenes), one of the worst films of the entire series…a heady statement for anybody who’s seen Moonraker…is not its fault.
As for Craig, this much needs to be said. He is clearly not the most distinguished actor to have played Bond. That would still be David Niven. Nor is he the most iconic. That would still be Sean Connery. But, aided by a screenplay that demands it of him, he gives the all-time finest performance as Bond, ever: but for the few flashes the other actors have been allowed, it is pretty much the only time that the character on screen was ever recognizably and consistently a human being affected and scarred by his violent world. Contrasted with some of the campier outings in the past, it’s understating the case to say that it’s barely recognizable as being about the same character, and more accurate to say that it barely seems to belong to the same genre.
The 1967 film: an insane, out-of-control farce that, at its best moments, lampoons the silliness of the Bond universe about as well as any film possibly could. It’s more talent than usually appears on screen at the same time, all the more fascinating for the misfire. The 2006 version: a serious take on the same material that contains the best action sequence in the franchise’s fifty-year history, and as close a look into the soul of Bond as we’re ever likely to see. The two movies together: an object lesson on the best way to take a character seriously, and the best way not to.
And now, the wife chooses to accept her mission…
Commentary by Judi B. Castro
Casino Royale (1967). Directed by Val Guest, Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish, and Richard Talmadge. Screenplay by Wolf Mankowitz, John Law, and Michael Sayers, from the novel by Ian Fleming. Additional screenplay contributions by (take a deep breath), Woody Allen, Val Guest, Ben Hecht, Joseph Heller, Terry Southern, Billy Wilder, and Peter Sellers. Starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles. 131 minutes. **1/2
Casino Royale (2006). Directed by Martin Campbell. Screenplay by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, with Paul Haggis, from the novel by Ian Fleming. Starring Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Madi Mikkelson, Judi Dench, Giancarlo Giannini. 144 minutes. ***
Other Known Versions: “Casino Royale,” episode of TV-anthology series Climax! (1954), starring Barry Nelson as “Jimmy” Bond and Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre.
Let me get this out of the way first thing. The 2006 film is a better movie in every way possible, but I still love the 1967 Casino Royale oh so much more.
Now, I have the hard part, answering the why of the above statement.
The earlier CR is not prettier, grittier, or even close to good story telling. There are plots and characters left spinning in all directions, and a nonsensical ending that just is. But for all these flaws, it makes me laugh. Not rolling on the floor holding my belly and crying, just giggles and chuckles that last over the next few hours and days as I remember the silliness. Yes, even in my middle years, I still crack up over the insanity of the kitchen sink melee and the game of toss.
I could debate over the David Niven vs Daniel Craig, but both are great Bonds. Craig reinvigorates 007 as a man of action and decisiveness with little humanity or warmth. Niven plays Bond as a man hurt by his choices, yet emboldened by those same events. Could Niven have been a good JBond playing it straight? I believe so, but that market was never tapped since a certain Mr. Connery was busy playing the horn dog version.
Both films attempt to tell a pretty thin tale and both succeed in very different ways.
Villainwise, well come on guys, its Orson Welles playing cards, magic and drugs. The torture of the mind, so much more elegant than multiple slams to the nads. Neither is actually much of a baddie. Both versions are just Ponzi schemers trying to make up losses before they are lost too. Should I care what happens to these guys? Not like the old world domination tactics of say Dr. No. So I say who cares that they get offed before the final scenes?
So, where is the big difference that tilts me back to childhood? Ahhh…the music. Burt Bacharach combining with Herb Alpert. This is what a band parent’s nightmares are made of. I played this stuff day and night for years and claimed I was practicing. 5 years of trumpet solos , guitar riffs, piano banging, and various other attempts usually drifting into some part of this film’s music. Well, my folks could only blame themselves for letting me see CR so many times. The theme song is eminently hummable, and the big hit “The Look Of Love” was heard for years on AM radio (and many weddings I’m sure). I still love that terrible little mindworm of a theme.
OK, I’ve said it, this film is a childhood fave and as a high school brass playing geek, I adored the soundtrack (and still do!). Is it a better film deserving of all the praise I can heap upon it. Hell no! Its just sheer fun and I will adore it evermore. (But, don’t forget how good the 2006 film is either).
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Home › Front Page
“Dancing with the Stars”: Macchio gets the sympathy vote, Romeo exits
Rickey Smiley Morning Show
Romeo and Chelsie Hightower perform on “Dancing with the Stars,” May 9, 2011.
(Credit: ABC)
“DWTS” Season 12
Who do you think will win this season of “Dancing with the Stars”?
Hines Ward
Vote View results
(CBS) For the second week in a row, “Dancing with the Stars” is the most popular show in America. For some, this is testimony to its mass artistic and cultural appeal. For others, it speaks to a massive dearth of artistic and cultural entertainment on a Monday night.
Still, when it came to last night’s results show, even the White House, no doubt, stopped everything to see whether Ralph Macchio’s knee was feeling better and whether he (and it) would survive to act (and dance) another week.
Surely the producers would choose to make most of the show revolve around the knee that has captivated America? Unfortunately not.
Pictures: “Dancing with the Stars” Season 12
First, everyone had to endure the sight of ESPN’s Kenny Mayne charmingly suggesting that Kirstie Alley could be Maksim Chmerkovskiy’s grandmother. In a package that seemed to go on longer than a hotel porn movie, Mayne and former contestant Jerry Rice offered a high level of humor – such as Rice offering that Chelsea Kane was “a naughty girl.” Guffaws, please.
And then there was another former contestant of limited feet, Michael Bolton, singing with Australia’s own (and highly talented) Delta Goodrem. This was followed by more filler, while all America could think about was the Battle of Wounded Knee. This was beyond uncharitable. This was treasonable.
Even Adele, who sang beautifully, looked sick. This, host Tom Bergeron told us, she was. But she was probably sick out of sympathy for Macchio’s knee. Didn’t anyone think of that? This is a ruptured cyst, people.
America wanted a thorough examination of Macchio’s condition. We wanted to see x-rays. We wanted a live interview with his doctor. We wanted to examine the tissue for ourselves to see whether we could offer an opinion or at least an expression of sympathy. We wanted to feel Ralph’s pain. We didn’t want to feel pain at having to watch more of Kenny Mayne and Jerry Rice.
Finally, in the 48th minute of the show, we were given some Total Ralph. We saw intimate footage of Macchio asking his partner Karina Smirnoff to carry him through. We heard him mutter about just how much it had all hurt. But still, no comprehensive medical update. No detailed information about the inflammation. No medically reliable prognosis.
Before we had managed to come to terms with this pain (our pain), our hero was placed in jeopardy. He hadn’t danced well Monday night. How could he have? He had a ruptured cyst in his knee. Being placed in jeopardy didn’t mean that he was actually in the bottom two, but it did mean that tears might have flooded certain parts of America.
In just a nanosecond, we were down to our hero and his Smirnoff – and Romeo and his Hightower. Oddly, the producers decided not to make Chelsea Kane and Mark Ballas stand there in the last (but not bottom) two. This was an act of cruel and unusual mercy.
So would the old ladies have voted with their hearts firmly planted against Macchio’s knee? Or would they have elected to go with their fantasies of a young stud, adorned with a perfect six-pack?
Oh, of course they booted out their fantasy toyboy lothario. You can get a six-packed lothario in every bar. You can only get a bum-kneed Macchio is very select places, especially a bum-kneed Macchio with such sweet eyes.
Romeo tried to take it gracefully. He was sad that he was eliminated after what he thought was his best dance of the competition. But had explained earlier that “the competition is very competitive.”
He did manage to mention, for perhaps the thousandth time, that he was doing it for the kids. Oh, he mentioned his Twitter page too – for perhaps the thousandth time. You see, Romeo is slightly annoying. That pushiness doesn’t go down well with the old ladies, even if they’re paying.
So now we have Kirstie Alley, Hines Ward, Macchio and Chelsea Kane. How much will the way they dance actually matter?
But, more importantly, how will the Wounded Knee hold up? Apparently, it might be better by Thursday. Did you hear that, America? Thursday.
Also On The Rickey Smiley Morning Show:
Kandi Shares Updated Photos Of Her Daughter Riley’s Weight Loss Journey & She Looks Amazing!
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Tag Archive for Dr. Eden V. Wells
Cronyism, Democrats, Flint Water Fiasco, Government Incompetence, Michigan, Michigan Politics, Republicans
First Do No Harm…..
by 10x25MM • February 6, 2016 • 5 Comments
The most disturbing aspect of the Flint water quality fiasco was the Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak in Genesee County and its concealment from the public. Eighty-seven people fell ill and ten died, nine if you want to be fussy about one victim lingering more than a month after diagnosis. By MDHHS’ definition, it isn’t Legionnaires’ Disease if you linger longer than 30 days after your hospital stay. So one of the ten Legionnaires’ Disease deaths got scrubbed from the statistics.
Harvey Hollins III
AP is reporting that Governor Snyder’s immediate subordinates were discussing whether the Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak was related to Flint water quality by March 13, 2015 Harvey Hollins III, Governor Snyder’s Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives Director, received an eMail from former MDEQ Communications Director Brad Wurfel referring to the Genesee County Legionnaires’ Disease cluster.
Far earlier, in 2014, Jim Henry in the Genesee County Health Department was emailing Flint city leaders, the Flint emergency financial managers, MDEQ, and MDHHS. MDHHS Chief Medical Executive Dr. Eden V. Wells said the June 2015 [Bohm] report on the first outbreak was shared with officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well. No one in this vast chain of communications felt compelled to inform the public.
Dr. Eden Wells
Dr. Eden Wells replaced Dr. Matthew Davis as MDHHS’ Chief Medical Executive at the end of March, 2015. One has to wonder why Dr. Davis suddenly returned to U of M after only two years as the MDHHS Chief Medical Executive, in the midst of the first Genesee County Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak. Did he jump, or was he pushed? Perhaps MDHHS Director Nick Lyon found the career MDHHS bureaucrat Dr. Wells more accommodating than Dr. Davis? It was four months after Governor Snyder consolidated MDCH into the new MDHHS. However, nothing in the U of M faculty manual suggests that Dr. Davis would have had to return to U of M to maintain his status there.
Dr. Matthew Davis
The public was not informed until Governor Snyder’s startling statement on January 13, 2016. Snyder said he himself was not informed of the Legionnaires’ Disease cluster in Genesee County until “days before” his public announcement. Michigan’s lefties have pounced on this 10 month delay, insinuating that Governor Snyder knew well before his announcement. This may or may not be true, and people will draw conclusions according to their political predilections. Facts no longer matter on this question, even if you could penetrate the wall of obfuscation.
Director Hollins now says there was not enough information to take the issue to the Governor. Essentially, he is saying that no one could prove the source of the Genesee County Legionnaires’ Disease cluster, so there was no reason to disclose it to his superior. The other bureaucrats in this chain of communications also stayed mum, apparently following the same line of reasoning as Director Hollins.
There is a much bigger story here. One without any ‘he said, she said’ doubt.
It is now indisputable that a lot of CDC, MDEQ, MDHHS, and Genesee County Health Department bureaucrats knew of the first Genesee County Legionnaires’ Disease cluster by March 2015 and concealed it from the Michigan public for over 10 months. Throughout the entire second Genesee County Legionnaires’ Disease cluster .
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Jim Carr Joins Roosevelt to Rewrite the Rules of the Economy as a Visiting Fellow
by Chris Linsmayer / Thursday, 28 January 2016 / Published in Uncategorized
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT:
January 28, 2016 Chris Linsmayer, 720-212-4883
New York, NY— The Roosevelt Institute announced today that Jim Carr has joined the institute as a visiting fellow focused on structural discrimination, housing policy and financial reform.
Mr. Carr is the Coleman A. Young Endowed Chair and Professor in Urban Affairs at Wayne State University and a housing, banking and urban policy expert. He previously served in numerous research and policy capacities in the U.S and internationally, most recently as Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. He has published extensively, testified before Congress on many occasions, and has been a guest on most of the major cable TV news networks including CNN, MSNBC, Bloomberg, FOX News, PBS, and CNBC.
He will join Roosevelt’s team of experts, including Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, who are working on a bold set of policies to overhaul America’s economy to level the playing field and grow the middle class.
“We are thrilled to have someone with Jim’s reputation and experience join our team as we rewrite the rules of the economy so they work for everyday Americans and not just the wealthy and well-connected,” Roosevelt President & CEO Felicia Wong said. “Structural discrimination will be a central focus of ours this year and I’m excited to have James’s voice influencing the debate on behalf of Roosevelt.”
“I am honored to be affiliated with the Roosevelt Institute,” Mr. Carr said. “The Institute’s namesake, Franklin D. Roosevelt, led America successfully through the challenges and difficulties of the Great Depression and WWII. Equally important, he also presided over the enactment of some of the most significant legislation in our nation’s history, to build wealth and promote economic mobility for the American people. As a Visiting Fellow, I look forward to continuing that work, particularly on behalf of people and communities of color and other disadvantaged and underrepresented populations that have not historically been allowed to share equally in access to America’s wealth-building opportunities.”
To schedule an interview with Jim please contact Chris Linsmayer at clinsmayer@rooseveltinstitute.org or 720-212-4883.
Until economic and social rules work for all Americans, they’re not working. Inspired by the legacy of Franklin and Eleanor, the Roosevelt Institute reimagines the rules to create a nation where everyone enjoys a fair share of our collective prosperity. We are a 21st century think tank bringing together multiple generations of thinkers and leaders to help drive key economic and social debates and have local and national impact.
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Book review: “Unlearning with Hannah Arendt” by Marie Luise Knott
Poem: No Clouds
Book review: “Reaper Man” by Terry Pratchett
Unlearning with Hannah Arendt by Marie Luise Knott is a sparse, poetic examination of a profound and humane 20th century thinker who was deeply learned, richly insightful and, above all, intellectually courageous.
Never more courageous than in her realization that, in the aftermath of World War II, she needed to, as Knott puts it, “unlearn” all that she knew — her entire frame of reference and body of knowledge — in order to incorporate in her understanding of human existence the reality of the Nazis and the Holocaust.
In other words, to take all the psychological and scholarly framework that she had worked all her life to develop and throw it on the garbage heap.
And, then, to build a new framework.
Arendt did this several times in her life, reframing for herself her understanding of evil and its presence in the lives of human beings.
“Allows them to go missing”
Knott, a German journalist and literary critic, delves into the heart of Arendt’s thinking and its evolution in this thin volume of 113 pages, about 30,000 words, published in 2011. It is divided into four sections, one each for four important “pathways of thought” that the philosopher-political theorist employed.
Fittingly, given the tentative nature of the cycle of unlearning, these pathways, Knott writes, “are like lumberman’s forest roads: temporary, ad hoc, and liable to end abruptly.”
This unlearning with its travel down unclear pathways is a decision to choose freedom of thought over being caught inside, being biased by, a set of presuppositions. Knott’s book, she explains,
is about breaking loose from such bias and the territory of freedom gained thereby. The pathways of thought we will sketch have need of poetry, which in its nakedness and directness invades analytic language and allows it to open up; Arendt rejects instruments of comprehension that have proved dull or irrelevant. She allows them to go missing, unlearns them. Many things must be freed from entanglements so that we can argue about and conquer them anew. Such acts of “unlearning,” born of shock and distress, are intellectual awakenings.
Laughter, translation, forgiveness, dramatization
The fourth pathways that Knott describes are:
These may seem odd windows through which to look at a world with such horrors as Auschwitz or Hiroshima. Knott writes:
The paralyzing horror of encountering Adolph Eichmann is interrupted by laughter.
Through the intellectual activity of translation, the misery of the immigrant is transformed into the “insouciance of a pariah.” Not as enmeshed in the social realities of her new country as she was in the old one, she can allow her gaze wider scope to roam.
The unlearning that is forgiveness is — pars pro toto — a desperate struggle to drive out of one’s head images and concepts whose traditional significance inhibits thought.
And by means of dramatization, the text itself becomes a stage, a secure space where people under threat of becoming marionettes controlled by social conventions can discover their “human distinctness.”
When the Nazi bureaucrat Eichmann was seized in Argentina in 1960 by Israeli agents and spirited to the new Jewish homeland for trial — and, ultimately, execution — Arendt attended the hearings and found that, unlike the expected monster of the world’s expectations, he wasn’t someone with burning lust to kill Jews.
Rather, he was a “random buffoon” who had few feelings and thought few thoughts and had no aim, except to advance his career — and, if that called for efficiently killing Jews, well, that’s what he did.
Laughter at the contrast between Eichmann’s inconsequentialness and the very consequential deaths that he brought about was, Arendt came to believe, the only adequate human response. She wrote:
“Eichmann was no Iago and no Macbeth, and nothing was further from his mind than to decide to become a villain like Richard III. He had no motives at all except an unusual assiduousness to do anything to further his career, and even this assiduousness was not criminal; he would certainly never have murdered his superior in order to replace him. To express it in plain language, he simply had never imagined what effect his actions had.”
Knott notes that, when Arendt would write something in English and then translate it into her native German, the German version would be richer with allusions that had been left out of the English one. And she goes on to add:
“Even in the pieces she wrote in English, Arendt kept alive the spirit of German language, philosophy, and poetry. She discovered that it was ‘incomparably easier to make a philosophical statement in German than in English,’ but that English and to a certain extent French were much better for political thought. As she told Robert Lower, her own thinking and writing combined ‘English instantness’ with ‘German philosophical discipline.’ ”
Translation was not only a bridge from one language to another, but also from one culture to another.
Arendt made an interesting point along these lines in something she wrote in Paris (in French) in 1935. Knott explains:
“One hundred and fifty years previously, the beginning of the emancipation of European Jews, Moses Mendelssohn’s new translation of the Bible into German had led the way for young Jews to emerge from the ghetto, and in the 1920s, Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig’s new translation of the Bible showed assimilated Jews the path back to the Jewish past. Both evens happened through the ‘oddly circuitous path’ of translation.”
Although unfriendly to the idea of forgiveness early in her life, Arendt came to a new understanding in which the action of forgiving wasn’t something that was done by one more powerful to one weaker. Rather, it was a mutual activity — the person who had inflicted the harm seeks forgiveness and promises to do better, and the person who had been harmed open-handedly grants the forgiveness as a gift. As she wrote:
“Only through this constant mutual release from what they do can men remain free agents, only by constant willingness to change their minds and start again can they be trusted with so great a power as that to begin something new.”
At its heart, forgiveness is rooted in an unlearning — the recognition by the one who inflicted harm that he or she failed to do right by another human being. It is rooted in the willingness of the one who harmed to go to the victim and admit the failure and, by the victim’s granting of forgiveness, to be able to go forward in life without the weight of that failure.
Arendt saw this not as a divine requirement but as a core action of what it means to be human. And, although she took it out of the religious context, it, nonetheless, mirrors the action in the Catholic sacrament of Confession. Knott writes:
“You cannot depend on logic or a decision to forgive. There is more at play, an interpersonal remainder. Forgiveness is hostile to the supremacy of reason.”
Arendt came to see human existence as a stage. The job of a writer, she came to understand, didn’t involve making an argument aimed to force the reader, through logic, to change his or her mind and come to accept what the writer had writte
Her job, as she came to see it, was to spark a discussion in which readers were invited — indeed, expected — to take part. So, she would pepper her pages with quotations from other authors in order to create this discussion, this debate and this exchange of ideas in her text. The goal was to present a variety of ideas, perspectives and insights for the reader to sift through, evaluate, compare and contrast and, in his or her mind, synthesize into a new and personal understanding.
In other words, Arendt’s text would, in each case, be honed and tempered and even disposed of by the reader. As Knott explains:
“Readers transform themselves in thought from consumers to producers. Instead of just consuming the text, they think themselves into it.”
A polyphony of voices
Knott’s book Unlearning with Hannah Arendt invites readers, as Arendt did, to “think themselves into it.”
This work, like those of the great thinker, is aimed at urging the reader to open doors of thinking and action into whatever pathway the reader chooses to blaze through the wilderness of life.
While totalitarianism, as Arendt first delineated, speaks with one voice for all — that’s why Eichmann could refuse to think for himself — Arendt calls forth every reader, every person, to think and speak and act and find meaning and live on the basis of that meaning.
And to fill the world with the polyphony of voices.
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Angels record with Mike Trout
Your American League MVP Checklist
All Star Game, Ballparks, CBA, Cy Young Award, Draft, Fantasy/Roto, Free Agents, Games, Hall Of Fame, History, Hot Stove, Management, Media, MiLB, MLB Trade Deadline, MLB Waiver Trades, MVP, Paul Lebowitz's 2012 Baseball Guide, PEDs, Players, Playoffs, Politics, Prospects, Spring Training, Stats, Trade Rumors, Umpires, World Series
Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout are locked in a duel for the American League Most Valuable Player. In a way, it’s a factional battle for the hearts and minds of the casual fan.
Some quarters look at the conventional batting stats of Cabrera and say that he’s the winner without question. If it’s not a homer or an RBI, then it’s unimportant. If he wins the batting title too? It’s over.
Others examine advanced stats and defensive metrics to give the nod to Trout. Neither side, in general, wants to hear what the other has to say in part because one is the grumpy old man who doesn’t care about OPS+, and defensive runs saved or lost; and the other is higher-educated, pompous, smug, and condescending and lacks the confidence in their argument to lay it out in terms that the old-schoolers are going to understand and accept, so they choose to be dismissive and blatantly arrogant. If it’s not quantifiable, it doesn’t matter and gut instincts from being around the game are claimed not to exist.
So here’s a checklist combining common sense, old-school stats, and new-school metrics to determine what the criteria for AL MVP should be.
Conventional Offensive Stats vs Advanced Offensive Stats
20 years ago, there would be no contest and Cabrera would win. He’s leading the league in batting, RBI, and slugging. He’s near the top of the league in home runs. As for advanced stats, at the plate, he leads the league in OPS and OPS+. Cabrera has an OPS of 1.003 and an OPS+ of 167. Trout has 27 homers and 47 stolen bases in 51 tries. He has a .949 OPS and also has an OPS+ of 167.
But what about BAbip (Batting Average on Balls in Play)? Trout has been very, very lucky with a .379 BAbip; Cabrera is at .330 (his career mark is .345). There’s no doubt that Trout’s speed is important to his high BAbip and his batting average, and Cabrera is slow. So where does that factor in? Should Trout’s luck count against him just as the defense and resulting higher WAR are counting for him?
It comes down to deciding how many points to deduct from Cabrera for his poor defense at third base and whether or not he should be punished for not being a good third baseman.
Trout is a defensive whiz in center field and saving his pitchers and team a large number of runs because of that. Cabrera was shifted to third base because they had nowhere else to put him in the field upon the signing of Prince Fielder. Cabrera has only played in 33 games in his career as a DH and his numbers—.242/.317/.414—are poor. Not every player is comfortable as a DH and if Cabrera was already feeling threatened by the Tigers bringing in another star in his stratosphere such as Fielder, the last thing they wanted to do was to make it worse by also telling him he’s not going to play the field at all and will be a permanent DH. Cabrera probably would’ve hit as a DH, but with his history of off-field problems, it’s understandable that the Tigers didn’t want to antagonize him.
The idea that the shift third base was a major issue missed the fact that Cabrera wasn’t any better at first base than he is at third. He should be a DH, but if he’s more comfortable hitting and keeps his head in the game better when he’s playing the field, so be it.
He didn’t take the move to third base lightly (so to speak) and showed up to spring training far leaner than he’s been in recent years. But he’s not a good defensive player. Could the Tigers have moved him to the outfield and found a better way to mitigate his deficiencies? Yes. Would that have made him a more agreeable choice to the voters who are weighing Trout’s defense so heavily? Possibly. If Cabrera is going to be punished for his poor defense, it should be attached to the caveat that he’s not good defensively period and using that as the final word is similar to punishing R.A. Dickey because he’s a knuckleballer as opposed to a conventional pitcher—it’s not fair.
The “value” argument AKA “Where would they be without him?”
Trout wasn’t recalled by the Angels until April 28th after they got off to a horrific start amid star-studded acquisitions such as Albert Pujols and preseason World Series predictions. The Angels are 77-54 with Trout in the lineup and 8-14 without him. The Tigers’ record is 82-72 and with Cabrera in the lineup, it’s 81-72. Both clubs have underachieved given the expectations lavished upon them before the season. Is the Tigers’ underachievement the fault of Cabrera? And did the Angels turnaround begin with the recall of Trout? How much does that count in the deliberation process?
I am not one who believes a pitcher should not win the MVP and supported Justin Verlander last season in large part because of the, “Where would they be without him?” argument. The Tigers won the division by 15 games, but that doesn’t tell the whole story of how they did it. Because they ripped off a 12 game winning streak in early September and their closest competitor in the division, the Indians, came apart in the second half, the Tigers were able to make a close race look like it wasn’t close. In truth, had they not had Verlander at the beginning of the season, they would’ve been behind in the division by double-digits. And the “any pitcher could’ve done X” in Verlander’s place is absurd. It was Verlander’s brilliance that kept a struggling team afloat early in the season, making him the most valuable player they had. Without him, they were a .500 team. With him, they made it to the ALCS. This is in addition to his numbers.
So who was more valuable to his team? Trout or Cabrera? And where would they have wound up without them?
The stat people call the concept of lineup protection a myth, but with Fielder behind him, Cabrera’s walks have dropped to 65 from 108 last season and 89 in 2010. Can it not be said that pitchers aren’t so willing to walk Cabrera because Fielder is behind him? He might not have as many homers if Fielder weren’t hitting behind him, but his OBP would definitely be significantly higher. Would that make his case stronger if he didn’t have that basher behind him? Or does it make it weaker because he has that basher behind him? Which is it?
WAR is an overused stat that doesn’t tell the whole story. If you discount the defensive aspect, Trout’s still ahead, but it’s not by as wide a margin. Cabrera has the eye-catching numbers; Trout has the accumulation of other stuff that many don’t pay attention to at first glance.
Trout’s argument is incremental. Will there be enough of a groundswell from his higher overall WAR, his great defense, speed, and that the Angels’ season was heading down the tubes before he arrived? Or will the power numbers that are more obvious on the part of Cabrera take precedence?
Will those who are vacillating be swayed by the forcefulness of the beliefs from the old-schoolers and the stat people? There are many who simply do what the crowd does; what the crowd tells them to do and, like sheep, are incapable of thinking on their own.
The final analysis
Each factional end would be better-served to refrain from the name-calling, eye-rolling, tantrums, sarcasm, and obnoxious dismissals that make the old-schoolers knuckles white with rage and cause the veins to bulge out of their necks like they’re having a heart attack. No one wants to hear that stuff any more than they want to be told, “That’s the way it’s always been,” as if that’s a legitimate reason.
Both players have a case for the MVP and if one side is trying to convince the other, perhaps they’d be better-served in looking at it from their point-of-view rather than just shutting their eyes, covering their ears, and throwing a tantrum in lieu of possibly admitting they’re wrong and accepting that there’s more than one way to hand out arbitrary award with no clear-cut process in formulating a conclusion that everyone will be happy with and accept.
September 26, 2012 Paul Lebowitz Tagged Albert Pujols, Angels, Angels record with Mike Trout, How will the MVP be determined in the AL?, Justin Verlander, Justin Verlander MVP, Mets, Miguel Cabrera, Miguel Cabrera BAbip, Miguel Cabrera defense, Miguel Cabrera MVP, Miguel Cabrera OPS, Miguel Cabrera WAR, Mike Trout, Mike Trout BAbip, Mike Trout defense, Mike Trout MVP, Mike Trout OPS, Mike Trout WAR, Prince Fielder, R.A. Dickey, RA Dickey Cy Young Award, Should Justin Verlander have won the MVP?, Tigers, Tigers record with Miguel Cabrera, Who will win the AL MVP? Leave a comment
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Archive - October 2013
Recent Books by Peace Corps Writers — October 2013
Carrie Hessler-Radelet (Western Samoa 1981-83) Nomination Hearing,Wednesday, November 6, 10:30 a.m. FINALLY!
Foreign Affairs Magazine AGAIN Overlooks Franklin Williams Peace Corps Connection
“The Kennedy Half Century: The Presidency, Assassination, and Lasting Legacy of John F. Kennedy” by Larry J. Sabato and the Online free course
Tonight! Anne Pellicciotto (Mexico 2010-12) Throws A Party in DC For Her Book: South of the Border
Winner of the 2013 Moritz Thomsen Peace Corps Experience Award:Through the Eyes of My Children: The Adventures of a Peace Corps Volunteer Family by Frances L. Stone (Philippines 1971-73)
Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1990-93) Reads At Politics & Prose, November 2
Teach Me How To Write The Great American Novel! Or Just Give Me An A!
Review of Harriet Hayes Denison (Tanzania 1966-67) Leopards at My Door
Garamendi Legacy Project in Mettu, Ethiopia
Browse archives for October 31, 2013
To order any of these books from Amazon, click on the book cover or the bold book title — and Peace Corps Worldwide, an Amazon Associate, will receive a small remittance that will help support our annual writers awards. • The Fallout by S.A. Bodeen (Tanzania 1989–90) Feiwel and Friends $16.99 (hard cover); $8.89 (Kindle) 336 pages September 2013 • Julia & Rodrigo by Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1991–93) Gival Press $20.00 (paperback) 222 pages October 2013 • Good Morning, Mr. Paul: A Memory of a Peace Corps Volunteer’s Journey into History by Paul Burghdorf (Indonesia 1963–65) WestBow Press $3.99 (Kindle) 150 pages 2012 • The Ravenala: A Romantic Novel by Jackie Zollo Brooks (Madagascar 1997–99) A Peace Corps Writers Book $16.00 (paperback), $12.88 (Kindle) 286 pages September 2013 • Caminata: A Journey by Lori DiPrete Brown (Honduras 1983–85) Global Reflections Press $10.50 (paperback), $3.99 (Kindle) 227 pages August 2013 • . . .
Nancy Tongue
Great news! Let's hope all goes well so Carrie can continue to help the many who have health issues. Health…
The Senate confirmation hearing for the nomination of Acting Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet to become the next Director has finally been scheduled. It will take place on Wednesday, November 6 at 10:30 am. It is a nomination that we fully support. Some background on Carrie. She and her husband Steve (they spent their honeymoon in Peace Corps Training, and can you believe it: they are STILL married!) were PCVs in Western Samoa from 1981-83. She taught high school and helped design a national public awareness campaign on disaster preparedness. . After her Peace Corps tour, the couple moved to Boston for graduate school where Carrie got a master’s degree from Harvard School of Public Health in health policy and management. (Her BA in political science is from Boston University.) During her “Boston years” she also worked for the Peace Corps as a Public Affairs Officer in the recruitment office and gave . . .
Dennis Grubb
John...: Following through as you suggested .. I have noticed over the years sometimes the "big guys"…
In the new issue of Foreign Affairs Magazine, the notice that the Council on Foreign Relations is “seeking talented individuals for the Franklin Williams Internship” AGAIN overlooks the fact that Franklin Williams began his international career at the Peace Corps. Williams with Sarge While it does say that Ambassador Williams had a long career of public service, including serving at the American Ambassador to Ghana, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Lincoln University. He was also, they say, a Director of the Council on Foreign Relations. What it doesn’t say is that Franklin Williams began his ‘international’ career at the Peace Corps in 1961, and was at HQ as Chief of the Division of Private Organizations, and then head of the African Region. In 1965 LBJ appointed Williams the first black representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council, from this position he would . . .
Joanne Roll All posts from Joanne Roll
What is the Kennedy Legacy? And, is the Peace Corps an integral part of the Kennedy Legacy or just a footnote to history? Larry J. Sabato attempts to answer the first question with this comprehensive book that begins with the Kennedy era but continues to analyze how Kennedy influenced politics and culture for the fifty years after his death. To sign up for the course, the text to link to is: https://www.coursera.org/course/kennedy The University of Virginia, where Larry J. Sabato is the Professor of Politics, and founder and director of the Center for Politics at the University, has offered this online course based on the book and narrated by Professor Sabato. The course is free. The course is in its second week, but it is easy to go back and view the first short lectures. Sabato offers commentary, but the lectures are dominated by videos from the times. It is fabulous . . .
David Searles
Now that's a great choice. The Stones were a major asset to PC/P during their stay. The book…
In 1992, The Peace Corps Experience Award was initiated. It is presented annually to a Peace Corps Volunteer or staff member, past or present for the best short description of life in the Peace Corps. It can be a personal essay, story, poem, letter, cartoon or song. The subject matter can be any aspect of the Peace Corps experience – daily life, assignment, travel, host country nationals, other Volunteers, readjustment. In 1997, this award was renamed to honor Moritz Thomsen (Ecuador 1965-67) whose Living Poor has been widely cited as an outstanding telling of the essence of the Peace Corps experience. • Sarge Shriver often said that the real benefit from the Peace Corps experience would be the children of RPCVs who would raise their children with a better understanding and compassion for world problems because of having had the Peace Corps experience. Briefly in the early ’70s, the Peace Corps . . .
This coming Saturday, November 2, 2013, at 1 p.m. in Washington, D.C. at the famous Politics & Prose Bookstore (5015 Connecticut Avenue in NW Washington, D.C.) Mark Brazaitis (Guatemala 1990-93) will read from his new book, Julia & Rodrigo. In this novel Mark returns to the Guatemala of his Peace Corps years in a story of young love in a violently divided landscape. Julia is part of a wealthy, Evangelical family and Rodrigo is a Catholic soccer star. Will this Romeo and Juliet fare better than their prototypes? Mark is the winner of the Iowa Short Fiction Award in 1998, and now the Gival Press Novel Award. He directs the West Virginia University Creative Writing Program. As Mark wrote me recently in an e-mail, “I started writing the book soon after I COS’d in 1995! It’s a Romeo and Juliet story set during the Guatemalan civil war.” Check out P&P’s . . .
Tino Calabia
Thanks, John, for noting McGurl's book and Johnson's review. Whether or not 'creative writing' courses generate great writers, new…
Half the RPCVs I know are teaching creative writing at colleges and universities; the other half of my RPCV friends are taking writing classes. Now, what does that tell us? Can’t any RPCV get a real job after the Peace Corps or do they all want to be novelists or teach novelists? To help those looking for a school or career as a writer, there’s a new book out from Harvard University Press entitled The Program Era: Postwar Fiction and the Rise of Creative Writing by Mark McGurl. McGurl teaches at Stanford. His new book was reviewed at length by novelist Diane Johnson in The New York Review of Books, November 7, 2013 issue. It’s well worth the read, regardless of where you sit in the college classroom. McCurl’s book makes the point that the rise of American creative writing programs is a “peculiar and suggestive phenomenon,” though, as Diane . . .
Leopards at My Door, Peace Corps Tanzania 1966-1967 by Harriet Hayes Denison (Tanzania 1966-67) Powell’s Espresso Books, $15 236 pages 2013 Reviewed by Deidre Swesnik (Mali 1996-98) Many Peace Corps stories are filled with hilarious and embarrassing food moments. And Harriet Denison doesn’t disappoint with hers. At the very beginning of Leopards at My Door, Harriet gets dropped off by the Peace Corps Land Rover at her home for the next two years, a secondary school in the relatively bustling town of Mwanza, Tanzania. Right away, she meets Mrs. Makonde, the beloved headmistress of the school, and gets a quick tour of the grounds. Then it’s onto lunch. At lunch with Mrs. Makonde I was self-conscious, trying to please, impress and chat all at once. Politely, I choked down a very spicy bite of tongue stew with rice and decided we’d better settle the housing quickly. You know tongue is . . .
charlie ipcar
Nice to get such an excellent update of this project. Charlie Ipcar Ethiopia 1965-68
When all is said and done, perhaps what will be most important and lasting about the Peace Corps will be what the PCVs did AFTER their tour of service. One such example is the RPCV Legacy Program of Ethiopia & Eritrea RPCVs (E&E RPCVs) that has been designated by the I.R.S. as a 501 (c)(3) non-profit tax-exempt organization. The program, organized in 2003 by the group under the leadership of Marian Haley Beil (Ethiopia 1962-64), for the purpose of sponsoring education and healthcare projects that will assist the neediest in-country, and are “championed” – that is designed, administered and fundraised for – by RPCVs and former staff members on a volunteer basis. To date 8 projects have been launched; five have met their goals and three are continuing. The projects are supported by donations primarily from the group’s RPCVs and to date more than $180,000 has been distributed. Of the . . .
John Turnbull on Breaking U.S. immigration laws saved lives in 1975. It gets you arrested today
Tino Calabia on Breaking U.S. immigration laws saved lives in 1975. It gets you arrested today
Michael Beede on A Writer Writes — “Up On The Mountain” by Michael Beede
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Posted tagged ‘autism’
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Maternal illness and autism
This week’s autism headline: Flu, fever during pregnancy linked to autism risk.
Researchers in Denmark reviewed health information from a group of about 100,000 children born between 1997 and 2003. The mothers had been interviewed during and shortly after their pregnancies to determine who had had infections, fevers, or other health issues during pregnancy. Now that the children had grown to 8-14 years of age, the study looked backwards to see if the children developed autism had mothers who reported more infections or fevers during pregnancy.
The good news: for many minor infections, including common colds or short-lived fevers, there was no significant association with autism. However, mothers who had recalled having the flu had about double the risk of autism in their children, and mothers who reported a fever lasting over a week had triple the risk.
The authors themselves stress that these are preliminary findings, and that their complicated mathematics could have exaggerated trends that aren’t really significant. Still, there is animal data that shows inflammation from infection during pregnancy can indeed influence fetal brain development. These findings about flu and fever are plausible.
This study adds to the growing evidence that at least in many cases, the causes of autism begin well before a baby is born. Previous research has shown in increased risk of autism with older fathers, maternal obesity, and closely spaced pregnancies. It is very likely that there are numerous, overlapping causes of autism that include genetic, prenatal, and environmental factors. We’re learning more and more, but we’ve still got far to go.
Back to the current study: the overall risk of having a child with autism following influenza is still low—there is no need for panic or extensive watchfulness. However, this study provides yet more evidence that pregnant (or expecting-to-get-pregnant) moms need to protect themselves from infection. Eat right, sleep right, wash your hands, avoid sick people. And please, get yourself and your children influenza vaccines. Want to avoid autism? Vaccinate!
Categories: In the news, Medical problems
Tags: autism, immunizations, influenza, vaccines
Book review: The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear
It could have been a riveting fictional thriller, the story of how a handful of unscrupulous scientists took advantage of parents’ fears to create a false hysteria that dominated the media and led to a resurgence of diseases in the developed world. Unfortunately, the tale of The Panic Virus by journalist Seth Mnookin is true.
Mnookin recounts the history of vaccines, and the history of accompanying anti-vaccine worries. From very early on, some parents and politicians were distrustful of vaccination, perhaps because it seemed to subvert nature’s plans for our children. There is something inherently odd—and maybe a little creepy—about deliberately inoculating a child with germy material to prevent disease.
But prevent disease, it does. Mnookin’s book isn’t heavy on the details of the public health impact of vaccines, but it does make the point in chapters about children suffering from vaccine-preventable illnesses that vaccines have been tremendously successful in keeping children healthy.
Rather than focusing too heavily on the science of vaccinations or the epidemiology of shifting patterns of disease, Mnookin’s book focuses on the people involved in the story. One point is abundantly clear: parents from both sides love their children, and want the best for their kids. Mnookin doesn’t criticize non-vaccinating parents for their belief, but rather explores how loving, educated parents can be manipulated to feel that way.
His strongest, most direct criticism is directed at the media, who time and again failed to even do cursory research into the stories that they reported. It took only a handful of fringe “scientists” to manufacture (and profit) from the story—and that was only possible because the media chose to portray their side as the David versus the cold, uncaring Goliath of the medical establishment. The media found a story that captivated, enthralled, and (above all) sold. Media figures including Oprah Winfrey, Don Imus, and Jennie McCarthy relied on their own manufactured frenzy, public health be damned. You want information that can genuinely help you raise your kids? Mnookin makes the case that the mainstream media is the last place on which you can depend.
Mnookin’s strongest material explains the “cognitive biases” that color how we perceive our world. Our feelings and impressions guide us through our days, but aren’t always the most objective, best way to make decisions. You want to pick a shirt that looks best on you? Go with your gut. You want to choose the best medicine to keep yourself healthy? It’s better to rely on science—real science—to do the plodding, slow work of separating fact from fiction.
But people, especially people desperate for help and answers, may understandably find it difficult to wait for science to untangle the complicated story. Mnookin’s book covers in great detail the characters and charlatans that took advantage of people—robbing them blind, and steering them into years of false hopes and promises.
Readers will also learn the complex history of the autism advocacy movement within the United States. They may be surprised to learn that not all—not even most—parents of autistic kids buy into the anti-vaccine rhetoric. There have been great schisms among the large autism charities about this very issue, and unfortunately it has become a great divider and distraction. Years from now, parents may place the blame squarely on the anti-vaccine propagandists for over a decade of wasted time and money and heartache. Tremendous strides are being made in researching the causes and treatment of autism. How much further ahead would be have been without this unnecessary dead-end?
Mnookin’s book ends with a detailed and fascinating recount of the Special Master’s rulings from the Vaccine Court in 2009. After a full seven years of proceedings, during which reams of evidence and documents were reviewed, the ruling was unmistakably strong and unambiguous. Calling the evidence “so one-sided”, the vaccine court ruled that there was no possibility that vaccines had caused autism in the petitioner’s children.
There are stronger books about the science of autism and vaccines, and about the real progress that’s being made in early identification and treatment of autism. (The nearly 100 pages of references provide more-than-ample sources for further reading.) Mnookin’s book concentrates on the people and the emotions, to help the reader see how vaccine distrust became such a powerful dogma in the autism community. False, yes; but it was a common thread of hope, and it bound families together who had otherwise felt alone and helpless. There are far-better resources now for parents. Books like this illustrate a far more helpful message: there is no reason to distrust vaccines, and there is far greater hope for understanding a real cure from the science community than from the virulent anti-vaccine crowd. Perhaps Mnookin’s book will be a way to bring a new hope and a new community to families fighting autism.
Categories: In the news
Tags: autism, book review, immunizations, vaccines
Diet and ADHD: Anything new?
The Lancet has published another terrible, worthless study guaranteed to confuse parents.
Back in 1998, the world-renowned British medical journal The Lancet published a study that singlehandedly created the entire MMR-autism “manufacturversy.” The study itself was an absolute fraud based on fake data, designed to make money for its lead author. Red flags about the study were ignored by The Lancet’s editorial board for years; but finally most of its authors retracted the study, and then The Lancet withdrew it. Still, the damage was done. Falling vaccine rates led to a return of measles and surging rates of pertussis. Fooled by an unscrupulous liar and a media relishing any opportunity to sensationalize garbage, many parents still distrust vaccines.
And now, The Lancet has done it again. A terrible, worthless study has been published, guaranteed to confuse parents. Maybe their motto ought to be “anything that’s fit to make headlines.”
The study, titled “Effects of a restricted elimination diet on the behaviour of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (INCA study): a randomised controlled trial”, was supposed to examine the relationship between diet and behavior in ADHD. It’s an important topic. Many children have trouble with focus and attention, and many parents feel that diet may play a role. Though many older studies have been unable to confirm a consistent effect of foods on behavior, a 2007 BMJ study did show at least a small effect of preservatives and dyes in worsening behavior in children.
What has made studying diet and behavior difficult is separating out what is called “confirmation bias.” Parents who are convinced that, say, a sugary meal will worsen their child’s behavior are very apt to notice when bad behavior follows a junk food meal. But those same parents probably don’t notice when relatively good behavior occurs after sugar, or when bad behavior doesn’t really come after a meal. This isn’t because those parents are dumb or delusional—it’s just human nature. We all subconsciously find evidence to support what we already believe, and ignore evidence to the contrary.
Good science seeks to minimize the effects of this kind of bias by using “blinded control groups”, where the observers don’t know if the child was exposed to a surgary diet or not. In the older 2007 BMJ study, the families were truly blinded: neither they nor the researchers knew which kids received a supplement that was a preservative-n-chemical cocktail, versus which ones got a supplement of “nothing”. Only after the parents made their behavioral observations, and after the researchers performed their statistics, were they allowed to know which kids got which diet. That’s good research. The BMJ study did show a statistically significant change in behavior, though the effect was fairly small. Still, it’s a tantalizing start, and the group is now pursuing a more-specific study trying to identify which chemicals and preservatives might be the culprit. It’s a slow process, but carefully-done, well-controlled research should give us a clear answer on this topic.
Unfortunately, the research group publishing in The Lancet didn’t feel the need to bother with these sorts of protocols. In the initial phase of their study, 100 kids were divided into two groups of 50. One group continued to get an ordinary diet (though they did receive counseling about healthy food choices), and the other group was put on a highly restrictive diet of mostly rice, meat, vegetables, pears, and water. But all of the parents knew exactly what group their child was in. At the end of this study period, about 60% of parents of children in the restricted diet group had improved, compared to “none” of the children in the non-restricted diet.
Wait a minute here. If something completely random happens—let’s say I ask parents to flip a coin, and tell me heads or tails—about 50% of the parents should report “tails.” In this behavioral study, if I ask parents to just decide, “did things get worse or better,” if there was just a random scatter of observations, 50% of the parents should say “worse”, and 50% should say “better.” How could “none” of the parents have seen any improvement? Surely at least some of the children had a few good weeks, even with no change in diet, no?
And if 60% improved in the restricted group, that means 40% didn’t improve, or got worse. A 60-40 split isn’t really that impressive, is it?
Besides, with no blinding whatsoever, what does it even mean?
The study gets worse. There was a phase 2 that took the “diet responders” and put them on even more restricted diets based on blood testing for allergies—but using an outdated, worthless test that’s been invalidated for years. This further phase found that the blood tests didn’t help guide parents to diets that would help, which is no surprise because those blood tests don’t work. We already knew that.
There you have it, another terrible study from The Lancet, which demonstrates nothing in a perniciously misleading way. Perhaps there is a link between diet, chemicals, preservatives, and behavior—and certainly, trying to put children on a diet that avoids these sorts of chemicals can’t do any harm. But these authors, and the editorial board of The Lancet, ought to be ashamed of publishing such a worthless study. Do you think the media, and the public, are ready to get duped again?
Categories: In the news, Medical problems, Nutrition
Tags: add, adhd, attention, autism, diet, Feingold, mmr, Wakefield
Exaggerating freakiness
Two stories:
#1: “I went to see the doctor because my foot hurt that morning. At first the doctor didn’t want to do any tests, but I insisted on xrays and a CT scan and an MRI and a bone scan and blood tests. It turns out that I have cancer!”
#2: “My foot hurt when I woke up. I’m not sure why. Now it feels better.”
Which one of these are you more likely to read about on the internet?
Things happen every day, and most of them are routine and boring. Your child has a sore throat, then he gets better. You eat a donut, and then you don’t get pregnant. You read about a celebrity in the newspaper, then later that day you don’t meet a long-lost friend who has the same first name. Thousands, maybe millions of things happen to each of us each week that don’t seem particularly strange or interesting or ironic or coincidental.
When these ordinary things happen, we don’t tell all of our friends. We’d be pretty boring if we told stories like this:
You won’t believe it! I went to Starbucks and I ordered my usual Venti-1/2-caff-double-foam-smack-my-behind-double-Splenda, then I drank it!
But if something like this happens, you’re going to talk about it for months:
The foam in my coffee cup was shaped exactly like the face of Mother Theresa, and as soon as I finished drinking it I found a $100 bill! And our Shawn was accepted to Harvard, he’s barely out of diapers!
OK, that’s fine, human nature. The stories that are weird and interesting and freakish are the ones we hear about. But something has changed, and it’s drastically exaggerated the impact of weird stories.
Days gone by, if your neighbor’s child was born with a tail, he’d know, you’d know, and the other 200 or so people in your village would know. Maybe by the 1950’s, there were enough televisions so that “news of the weird” traveled further.
But now: the freak stories are blogged and reported and turn into mass emails, and everyone hears about everything. Not everything, really– just everything freakish and weird and unexpected. The normal stuff slides under the radar, even tough there are zillions more normal things than freakish things. But everything freakish, that’s what the internet exaggerates. The stories go around in circles, and never die.
There’s no way of knowing if any of these stories are even true. That doesn’t matter, of course– it’s not “truthiness” that keeps stories circulating, it’s impact and color and weirdness.
In 1998 a researcher in Great Britain published a single study involving 12 children, claiming indirectly that their autism was caused by the MMR vaccine. It doesn’t matter that this single study was never confirmed, or that dozens of studies involving millions of children haven’t found any link, or that it turns out that this researcher probably faked his data, took advantage of the children involved, and was being paid by lawyers who were trying to extort money from vaccine manufacturers. The entire study has since been retracted, and the researcher fled to the United States, where he’s since been dismissed from his employer after British courts found him guilty of misconduct. None of this matters on the internet, because of the innate power of an unexpected and interesting story. It’s a power that has led in this case to the return of infectious diseases that we already had defeated.
It just isn’t very interesting to recall the millions of children who are vaccinated every day without any problems, or talk about the millions of children who don’t get pertussis, measels, or meningitis because they’re protected by immunizations. Maybe not interesting, but it’s true, and it’s good information that parents need to make the best decisions for their children.
So I’ll just keep writing about it.
Tags: autism, immunization, news, vaccines
Why parents refuse vaccines
Ask 98% of my patients, and they’ll tell you they’ve gotten all of their kids’ vaccines, without qualms or hesitation. Ask the other 2%, and you’ll hear all sorts of reasons why they’ve skipped them. What makes some people look at vaccinations so differently than the rest of us?
Along with clean food and water, vaccinations are generally accepted as one of the greatest public health triumphs of the modern world. We are safe from diseases like polio and measles, which once ravaged millions. We no longer, really, have to worry about most kinds of bacterial meningitis, and we’re able to even prevent some kinds of cancer. Newer vaccines in development include protection against HIV and malaria. At the same time, immunizations are very safe, compared to just about any other medicine or medical intervention. Yet despite their incredible effectiveness and well-documented safety, suspicions remain. Many families choose to skip some or all vaccinations.
We know that vaccine refusers tend to be wealthier, and come from more socially advantaged communities. There also seems to be a neighborhood effect, where people from one small area tends to follow each others’ lead in vaccinating or not vaccinating. But these observations don’t tell us much about the psychology and thinking that leads individual parents to refuse vaccination.
Based on my own observations and conversations with parents who refuse vaccinations, and also with parents who are more eager for vaccines, I’ve come up with my own list of “profiles” of the kinds of parents who are most steadfast in their refusal. I don’t think this list is likely to be complete, and there’s a lot of overlap between the groups. But I think this is a good starting point to understand just where people are coming from. Hopefully, better understanding will lead to improved trust and better decisions for children.
If you are a vaccine refuser, please join in the comments. Does one of these profiles fit you? Have I neglected to understand perhaps your own reasons for refusing vaccines? What sort of information is missing that can help guide parents along this decision? My goal here isn’t to belittle anyone, but to understand and appreciate the concerns of parents. I welcome any comments.
Profile #1: The Government Distruster
I certainly understand that some people feel the government doesn’t always make the best decisions for us. The two parties bicker, and special interests and money seem to have more influence on decisions than the needs of ordinary people. Look at the Clowns in Congress, or service reps at the post office, or IRS telephone screeners– there’s no doubt that government and government employees are not always paragons of virtue and judgment.
Decisions on vaccine recommendations aren’t only made by government employees at the CDC. There is input from all of the major medical associations—pediatricians, family practitioners, internal medicine physicians, obstetricians, and infectious disease specialists are all involved. Specific recommendations are made by the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which is comprised of 15 vaccine experts from various fields. There are also vaccine recommendations made by government and health agencies around the world, including the United Nation’s World Health Organization. It is difficult to believe that all of these organizations and experts reviewing the studies and making recommendations have gotten the facts entirely wrong. Though there are some differences in the exact recommendations from country to country, by and large vaccine schedules and recommendations are identical throughout the world.
Some people believe not only that the government is irresponsible and incompetent, but that it’s actually twisted and evil. Like people who believe that the US government itself planned the 9/11 attacks, some people sincerely believe that vaccinations are a great threat to mankind, deliberately put in place by malevolent forces within the government to harm us. To believe this, you have to believe that evil pervades every step throughout government, from the statisticians and analysts at the CDC and university medical centers, all the way up to the surgeon general and president himself. Furthermore, you’d have to believe that this whole vast conspiracy has somehow been successfully hushed up, because there’s no actual evidence for this whatsoever. Is this even remotely possible?
#2 The Science Distruster
Science itself is not a series of facts, or a group of people wearing white coats. It’s a system meant to discern how the natural world behaves, in a way that allows us to predict what will happen in the future. Key features of science include:
Natural law. There are rules about how things happen, and these rules can’t change. For instance, when a force acts on an object, it’s going to move in a predictable direction, in a predictable way. Natural laws are developed based on observations of real things that happen in real, measurable ways. They can then be tested, to make sure the predictions work accurately and consistently. If an observable case doesn’t fit what we thought of as the natural law, then the law has got to be refined and improved. Though we certainly don’t know how everything works, we’re very reluctant to accept propositions that fly in the face of natural law. You claim you have a machine that extracts energy out of perpetual motion? I want to see it before I believe it. Things that are beyond natural law—the “supernatural”—cannot be part of any scientific theory.
Testing hypotheses Science relies on experiments. You can’t just say you think something is right, or that something ought to be true based on scientific knowledge. Anything that’s worth knowing through science is testable, and can be tested, and ought to be verified. Things that are not testable (or “unfalsifiable”, a more precise word) are not things that science can support or substantiate. Something like “Michelangelo was a better painter than Da Vinci” isn’t a question that science could test.
Some people who are deeply religious have a distrust of science, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are many important questions facing mankind for which science may not provide an answer. Why are we here? How should be treat each other? Questions of law, ethics, morals, and aesthetics may not lend themselves to scientific study, and other manners of investigation of these issues are more appropriate. Science is one tool to help us understand their world, but it isn’t the only tool. Trusting science does not have to mean turning your back on religious or other convictions.
Some people refuse vaccines because they do not trust science, or because they feel it is more “natural” to suffer infections. If these infections weren’t good for us, why would they be here on earth? Though “Why do people suffer?” is not a question for science, I personally don’t think that God would have given us the intellect and wisdom to find answers if He didn’t want us to us those answers.
Another potential knock against science: scientists don’t know everything, and don’t pretend to. The very nature of science is to question and to allow new knowledge to replace old. When you read in the paper that a medicine has been found to have a new side effect, that isn’t a failure of science—it means that science did what it was supposed to. Question, learn, repeat; question, learn, repeat. Some people feel more comfortable with absolute truths, but that really isn’t what science is all about.
Which brings us to another problem with science: the language. Scientists use “science terms”—like “This study fails to confirm any link between vaccines and autism,” or “This study adds to the evidence that vaccines are not a cause of autism.” What parents want to read is an unequivocal “Vaccines don’t cause autism.” But it is impossible to completely rule out a negative statement using the tools of science. We can say that the odds against this are very, very small, and getting smaller, but we cannot prove with absolute certainty that it could not possibly in any circumstance at any time be true. Those language of science is exact, but can sound “weaselly” to many people, leading to distrust.
Profile #3: The Big Pharma Distruster
Big Pharma is The Big Boogeyman on the anti-vaccine web sites, and perhaps they do deserve some distrust. Basically, their duty is to their shareholders: to make a profit. Their business is to develop and sell medicines and vaccines, and to make money doing so. Vaccines and medicines create billions of dollars of profit. Does that mean that drug companies cannot be trusted?
It’s wise to view promotional material from drug companies as you would advertising from any other company: with great skepticism. Advertisers want to sell you things, as do drug companies. But most patients don’t buy their drugs or get a vaccine because of ads from the drug companies, but rather because of the advice of their physicians. Distrusting the drug companies because they make money by selling drugs is sort of like distrusting the tire manufacturers for selling you tires, or the paint people for selling paint, or … well, anyone for selling anything. Sure, the computer guy wants you to buy a more expensive computer, and sure, the grocery store wants you to buy more groceries. That doesn’t make people who sell tires or groceries evil or twisted. People who buy things should be wary of salesmen, but c’mon now. Just because a profit is involved doesn’t mean that drug companies are to be trusted less than any other company. If their product is good, you benefit, and they benefit, and everyone wins.
Profile #4: The Doctor Distruster
As I said, most people don’t buy medicines or get vaccines because of the promotional efforts of drug companies, but rather based on the recommendations of their physicians. But can physicians be trusted? Couldn’t we be but shills of the drug and vaccine manufacturers?
There are doctors who’ve accepted quite a bit of money from drug companies, as “experts” or “thought leaders.” Some of them travel around the country, giving talks to other doctors to convince them to use a certain drug or vaccine. I think this is a violation of the trust patients put in their physicians, and I won’t do it. Furthermore, the truth is that the vast majority of physicians are never offered such perks. We’re in the trenches, doing our work, and most of us just don’t attract that kind of fawning attention from the drug companies.
Is it possible that the pharmaceutical companies have fooled the doctors into blindly trusting their vaccines? I don’t think so. Most of us have seen diseases disappear once a vaccine is introduced, and most of us have seen vaccine-preventable diseases in unimmunized kids. Personally, I saw my last case of pneumococcal meningitis kill a patient of mine in 1996, right before the vaccine came out. I would prefer to never see that again.
Physicians as a group are intelligent and motivated—or we wouldn’t have made it this far. We’re certainly not monolithic, single-minded thinkers; many doctors harbor opinions of health issues that are far outside the mainstream. Yet with vaccinations, it’s only a very small handful of fringe doctors who are leery of established immunizations. There is a reason why so many pediatricians are so pro-vaccine.
It’s certainly not the money. Pediatricians actually lose money on some of the vaccines we give; for the majority of them, it’s pretty much a wash. They’re very expensive for us to buy and store, yet we do it because we know it’s best for our patients.
Looking at the trust issue from another angle: I have a mechanic I’ve known for years. When I bring him my car, he tells me what’s wrong, and I pay him to fix it. I know nothing about cars, and I seldom question his advice. Sure, if he suggested something really weird, I’d go elsewhere—but I’ve known him a long time, and he’s earned my trust. Likewise, I’ve seen my own patients for years and years. Parents ask for and want my advice on all sorts of things: feeding, sleeping, school issues, medical problems. I prescribe medications, and we talk about the side effects and risks and benefits, and we make our decisions. I would say that most patients trust my advice—or they’d find another pediatrician. Yet for some reason, for some families, vaccines seem to be a very separate issue. Sure, mom has trusted me as a source of information on everything else, yet immunization issues seem to be “off the table.” Mom would rather make vaccine decisions based on advice from random people she doesn’t know posting on the internet than based on information from me. Why am I perceived as an expert on health and childcare, but not as a trusted source of vaccine information? And if I can’t be trusted for that kind of advice, why are you depending on my judgment for anything else?
Profile #5: Paging Dr. Google
Everyone knows that the internet is a wild place. It’s full of all sorts of information, some great, some outdated, and some wildly misleading. No one believes that a Nigerian price wants to give you millions if you help him transfer assets, yet web sites that spread misleading lies about vaccines have somehow become a leading source of (mis)information for parents.
I’m going to google the word “vaccine” right now, and take a peek at the top 10 sites. I won’t provide links, because I can’t guarantee that any of the information is accurate, but here’s a quick summary of what I get:
5 sites with good, useful, dependable information—including information from the CDC and well-established medical sites.
2 news stories that more-or-less accurately talk about recent vaccine news. One of the stories has an odd sort of tangent including a brief interview with a well-known anti-vaccine propagandist, who plugs her usual misinformation (that’s irrelevant to the main point of the story, but it’s part of the standard boilerplate for some journalists to interview someone from the short-list of anti-vaccine spokespeople.)
3 sites retelling outlandish, truly bizarre misinformation. One strongly suggests that Americans should not get a flu vaccine because they contain squalene, a chemical that they claim caused Gulf War Syndrome. This is just a flat-out lie; there is no vaccine currently licensed in the USA, flu or otherwise, that contains squalene, which hasn’t been conclusively linked to any health problems anyway. The sites link and re-link to old, long-disproven canards based on tiny, unreproducible studies of questionable authenticity, with no effort whatsoever to present the best, most recent research. These sites explicitly state that I as a physician, in cahoots with government and big business, want to poison your child.
If you want good, accurate information that you can trust about vaccines, side effects, and actual real research into vaccine issues, try these sites first:
The Centers for Disease Control
The Immunization Action Coalition
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia vaccine information center
Respectful Insolence, a blog that frequently discusses the efforts of the anti-vaccine lobby (this site can be a little salty, but it’s good reading and eye-opening.)
Profile #6: The alternative medicine believer
There isn’t an exact definition for “alternative medicine,” (a term I don’t like) beyond “things outside of mainstream medicine.” Most people feel they just know it when they see it. Because it encompasses such a broad array of philosophies and modalities, from acupuncture to chiropractic to massage to energy healing to prayer to herbal supplements to homeopathy, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to lump them all together. Nonetheless, some people feel that these sorts of “remedies” are better than what most doctors prescribe, and some alternative health devotees are suspicious of immunizations.
One argument is that the “natural” remedies of the world of alt-med are somehow better, or less dangerous. This doesn’t make a whole lot of sense—the small pox virus is natural; getting bitten by a tiger is natural; falling 60 feet out of a tree or building is natural. Burning and freezing and starvation and pestilence are as natural as can be. Potent poisons from jellyfish or tropical frogs are natural. Many mushrooms and plants are poisonous, and naturally occurring radiation from elements in the Earth and cosmic radiation cause plenty of cancers. There’s nothing inherently more safe about natural things than about “unnatural” things that come from a laboratory. Sure, medications have side effects, and some can be quite toxic—just like many natural plant products. In fact, if someone tells you they’ve got an herb or something with no toxic effects whatsoever, you ought to think again: any biologically active product, whether a medicine or something “natural”, is going to have multiple effects on a complex living organism. Some will be beneficial, some will be harmful. There’s no such thing as a medicine or herb with no side effects or potential for harm, unless that herb or medicine is 100% placebo.
Alt-med proponents also sometimes feel that manufacturers and businesses involved in alternative health products are more ethical or trustworthy than manufacturers of traditional medicines or vaccines. This is a completely unfounded opinion—just take a quick glance at a sampling of this week’s stories from the world of alternative medicine:
The FDA has established a web site listing over a hundred bogus products to treat H1N1 influenza. The list currently has 136 (!) specific products, almost all of which are marketed to appeal to alternative-health consumers.
Resveratrol is the latest product to be marketed heavily through national magazines as a product to reverse aging. There’s no magic cure for aging, despite what they’re trying to sell to you.
A clinical trial was published looking at the “Gonzales Protocol” for treating pancreatic cancer with hundreds of supplement pills, coffee enemas, and a special diet. The treatment failed miserably—patients pursuing this alternative medicine approach died more quickly and had a poorer quality of life.
(These three examples were all taken from the last 2 weekly issues of Consumer Health Digest, a free listserv from Quackwatch and the National Council Against Health Fraud. You can sign up here.)
There have certainly been abuses and violations of trust from the world of conventional medicine, too. But as an unregulated industry, supplement and alternative health providers are more free to commit fraud and rely on questionable marketing tactics than traditional pharmaceutical and vaccine companies, whose products and advertising materials are tightly regulated.
There’s no logical reason to think that “natural” cures are safer, unless they’re just placebo. There’s plenty of evidence showing that alternative medicine companies are more likely to engage in shady marketing and business practices. Yet distrust of traditional medicine, including vaccinations, seems to be more common among users of alternative medicine modalities.
A very small number of alt-med proponents really goes to the extreme of non-scientific thought—they reject the very notion that infections cause disease, and thus reject all medical preventions and treatments for infection. These believers have a cult-like devotion to their ideas, and no amount of scientific evidence is going to sway them. Though from what I’ve seen few people really believe this, their web sites get plenty of hits from people looking for reliable vaccine information. The philosophy and background of people writing web pages isn’t always transparent, and some people with a vastly different worldview—one that many people would reject as ridiculous—are trying to sway your opinion. Beware the “yellow brick road” of alternative medicine, for far down that path are some truly bizarre beliefs.
Profile #7: Me, too!
This one frustrates me, but it seems to account for a big percentage of non-vaccinating parents. I ask why they’re reluctant to vaccinate, and the answer is something like “Well, a lot of my neighbors don’t,” or, “I heard that lots of people are scared of vaccines,” or, must frustrating of all, just “Well, you know.”
As momma used to say: “If your friends decide to jump off a bridge, are you going to jump too?”
There is a perception that vaccine refusal is a common phenomenon, though overall rates run in the 1-2% range (some individual communities are much higher, but that’s the usual quoted rate for most parts of the country.) The vast majority of parents get their kids immunized—but they don’t talk about it as much as the non-vaccinators. Refusing some or all vaccines is chic, and the people who do it like to talk about it. You might hear of neighbors who skip vaccines for their kids, but you can bet that you won’t hear about the majority of neighbors who get them on schedule. Don’t let the amount of noise made by anti-vaccine spokespeople hide the fact that they’re a very small minority.
Please, decide for yourself what’s best for your children. Rely on advice from people who know what they’re talking about, people who who’ve trusted for years for reliable health information. These decisions should not be made based on flippant whims and rumors.
Many pediatric practices have chosen to “ban” vaccine refusers from their practice. I can see their point of view—it takes a lot of extra time to talk with parents about these complex issues, and some parents become argumentative and, well, ugly about these things. Who wants a fight? The anti-vaccine lobby seems to create an endless stream of rumors and moving targets that are difficult to keep track of and continually swat back down. Besides, medical offices serve many patients with special health care needs, including newborns who are at special risk for vaccine-preventable diseases. Why put those kids at extra risk by allowing unvaccinated children nearby?
Countering this is my own philosophy, that it’s not the kids fault they’re not vaccinated; and with patience and continuous discussions, I can usually get even the most stubbornly misinformed parents to vaccinate. So finally, with a lot of extra work, the kids get protected. That’s my goal.
There should be no doubt that vaccines are very effective at preventing diseases, and are still necessary to prevent serious illnesses. Just one recent example: a study published in May, 2009 showed that unvaccinated kids were 23 times more likely to contract whooping cough than children who were fully vaccinated. Do not doubt that the diseases that are prevented by vaccines are themselves quite serious and sometimes deadly. There are certainly some side effects of vaccines, as there are with any medical intervention, and serious vaccine reactions, though very rare, do occur. In my judgment and that of every respected health care agency, world-wide, the benefits of vaccinations far ought weigh the risks. Please don’t fall for internet hysterics and unfounded rumors. Protect your kids, and make sure they’re fully vaccinated.
An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All. From Wired magazine, 10/2009, about just how unhinged antivaccine groups have become, and how their unjustified influence could affect the health of your children.
A review by me of Paul Offit’s Autism’s False Prophets, a book that reviews the long history of anti-vaccine sentiment, and how a very small number of misguided and sometimes malicious characters have steered parts of the autism community to distrust doctors and shovel their money into pointless and sometimes dangerous quackery. The book also offers promising hope for further discovery into the causes and cures of autism.
John Stewart on the daily show with some humor to illustrate the rampant scaremongering that pervades media attention to vaccines.
From Science-Based Medicine, a very well-referenced resource reviewing all of the evidence and the history of the “controversy” regarding vaccines and autism.
Tags: autism, H1N1, immunization, mercury, thimerosal, vaccine
Comments: 18 Comments
A good week for science & parents
It was a good week for science, and a good week for parents. In the long run, it will have been a good week for the many families struggling with children who have autistic-spectrum disorders.
News #1: The entire MMR-autism link has been resting on a study that has now been revealed to be entirely fraudulent. Andrew Wakefield published a paper in The Lancet involving twelve children in 1998. In it, he claimed that they developed autistic behavior very shortly after receiving their MMR vaccinations. He formulated a new theory, that the MMR vaccine caused gut damage that allowed foreign proteins to invade, triggering autism.
This study has been widely refuted, and The Lancet has retracted the paper based on revelations that Dr. Wakefield didn’t reveal money he was taking from plaintiffs’ attorneys seeking damages based on an MMR-autism link. Furthermore, his study has never been replicated; several labs have tried, with uniformly negative results. His own technicians have testified that their results differed from what was published in the paper, and Dr. Wakefield has refused to share his original data or biopsy specimens. Almost all of the co-authors of this paper have seen recanted and asked for their names to be removed.
And now, the nail in the coffin: a reporter has uncovered documents showing that Dr. Wakefield made everything up. The children in the paper didn’t have autism after the vaccines; most already had abnormal symptoms well before receiving the vaccine. And their gut pathology specimens didn’t show any inflammation at all. They were entirely normal, according to hospital records and pathologists reports.
Dr. Wakefield’s study, upon which the entire MMR-autism link was founded, is a fraud. He took money to make up data, and it turns out shortly before publication he sought to patent a new kind of measles vaccine—so he stood to profit mightily by scaring the public away from the existing MMR.
Now, measles is no longer considered “controlled” in Great Britain. As vaccination rates have fallen, the disease is back. Here in the USA, outbreaks of measles and mumps are common.
All the result of the greed of a single man.
For details, with plenty of links to the source material: http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/02/why_am_i_not_surprised_it_looks_as_thoug.php
News #2: The United States “vaccine court” has unequivocally rejected the possibility that the MMR vaccine causes autism. In very strong language, the ‘special masters’ (essentially judges) in the case declared that the scientific evidence overwhelmingly supported the safety of the MMR vaccine.
short summary:
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20090212/vaccine-court-rejects-autism-claims
more details, including several quotes from the ruling:
http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=478
I’d like to say that this should be the end of the MMR hysteria, which I’ve written about before. Unfortunately, the anti-vax movement includes a truly delusional fringe that rejects any sort of science, and certainly isn’t going to care that their entire foundation is a lie. But I’ve found that most parents just want to do the right thing, and with good solid information they’re eager to protect their children. Good for them, and good for all of us.
Best of all, perhaps we can move beyond the entirely discredited vaccine-scare theory and spend more time and research dollars looking into what really does cause autism. That should be a rallying cry of hope for suffering families and their children. It’s time to move on, together, to find a cause and a cure.
For a detailed historical account of autism and the many sleazeballs who’ve taken advantage of suffering families for their own egos and wealth, read Paul Offit’s Autism’s False Prophets, reviewed here.
Tags: autism, immunization, PDD, thimerosal, vaccine
Subtle developmental clues
A post from Day: “Dr Roy, what is considered “normal range” for a one year old’s speaking ability? My 13 month old doesn’t speak yet and this concerns me. He might babble “gagaga” but it has no meaning. I stay at home with him and every day I try to teach him words such as momma, daddy, bye bye, cat etc and he isnt learning to say them. His pediatrician told me this would be something we would address at 15 months(my pediatrician was not worried at all that he wasn’t speaking) but as a mom who sees other 12 month old’s ability I am worried. Also, he 100% understands what I am saying. I can say simple commands such at ‘lets eat’ and he knows to go to his high chair so I know he understands me. Thank you!”
From my point of view, how many words a 13 month old is using really isn’t a useful marker of how well the child is developing. Some normal 13 month olds have 4 words, some fewer; some have no words at all. There’s a lot of variability there, and concentrating on word count at this age can create a lot of unnecessary worry.
A neurologically normal 13 month old should do all or almost all of these things:
Follow simple directions.
Use gestures like waving or nodding.
Point to things he wants, or point to things he wants you to look at.
Look at things you point at.
Bring things to show you.
Show off—that is, do cute things, then look to make sure you’re paying attention.
Combine sounds with a melodic quality, similar to speech. Even if words don’t make sense, the overall “sound” of his babbling should sound like a monologue, with pitch and speed changes and pauses.
The easiest “milestones” to talk about and compare between children are things like when they start walking, or how many words they say at a certain age. However, the subtle things like the ones I’ve listed are far more important, and offer far more insight into how a child is developing.
Categories: Behavior
Tags: apraxia, autism, baby, child, development, milestones, PDD, speech delay, toddler
This site is for informational purposes only. Communicating via this board does NOT create a doctor-patient relationship. If you have a medical concern specific to your child, contact your own pediatrician.
© Roy Benaroch 2008-2017
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without written permission from the blog owner is prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Roy Benaroch, MD and www.PediatricInsider.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Professional Training in the Performing Arts
What can you learn from Actors who have starred in over 650 episodes of national TV, numerous feature films, over 400 national commercials. produced 2 films distributed by Lions Gate and countless theatrical tours? EVERYTHING! The following is the Fall Semester lineup of classes:
BROADWAY PREP MUSICAL THEATRE Ages 10-18
YOU MUST AUDITION FOR THIS SHOW. Auditions are scheduled for January 5th and 6th and you can schedule your time by contacting the theater: 210-557-1187 OR PerformingArtsSA@Gmail.com.
Saturday’s from 10:00 am till 2:00 pm
Cost $725.00 which can be paid in monthly payments of $145.00 in January, February, March, April, and May 2019. Beginning January 26th with 3 performances in May 10th and 11th at 7:30 pm and May 12th at 3:00 pm. Costumes included in the fee.
"Legally Blonde Jr The Musical"
Legally Blonde JR. follows the transformation of Elle Woods as she tackles stereotypes, snobbery and scandal in pursuit of her dreams. When Elle’s boyfriend, Warner, dumps her and heads to Harvard, claiming she’s not “serious” enough, Elle takes matters into her own hands, crafting a showy song-and-dance personal essay and charming her way into law school. Befriending classmate, Emmett, and spunky hairdresser, Paulette, along the way, Elle finds that books and looks aren’t mutually exclusive. As Elle begins outsmarting her peers, she realizes that law may be her natural calling after all.
YOUTH THEATRE Ages 8-13
Monday’s from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
Cost: $135.00/month for January, February, March, April, and May. Beginning Monday, January 7th with 2 performances on Saturday, May 18th at 7:30 pm and Sunday, May 19th at 3:00 pm. Costumes included in the fee.
“Wizard of Oz: The Deleted Scene”
Ever think what would have happened if Dorothy didn’t immediately follow the celebrated yellow brick road? Eddie McPherson takes our favorite story on a delightful detour when Dorothy is sidetracked by a farmer offering an alternate route to the wizard’s front door — in the form of a mysterious map. Glinda the Good is furious. After all, she wants to be a storybook hero, and the story will be ruined if Dorothy doesn’t meet her three friends along the yellow brick road. Meanwhile, the Wicked Witch of the West is thrilled with the alternative route, which will rewrite the story and possibly save her from her watery fate. As the power hungry Wicked Witch of the West fights against Glinda’s dreams of fame, Dorothy discovers that the shortcut doesn’t even take her to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It takes her to the Mediocre Wizard of the South Swamp! Cameo appearances by Hansel and Gretel, Jack and Jill, a Munchkin TV reporter and more add to the hilarity of this clever parody that’s fun for all ages. Directed by Michelle Gansler.
TEEN ACTING / STAGE AND FILM CLASS Ages 12-16
Cost: $130.00/month. Beginning Monday, January 7th with a Showcase production on Saturday, May 18th at 4:00 pm.
Students work on monologues and short published one-act plays that can be placed on their resumes as a production credit in addition to the training credit. Suitable for beginner and intermediate. If your student is under the age of 12, but would like to participate, an interview is required before acceptance into the class.
HOME SCHOOL TUESDAY THEATER PRODUCTION Middle School to High School Students
Tuesdays from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Cost: $75.00/month. Beginning Tuesday, January 8th with performances on April 5th and 6th at 7:30 pm and 7th at 3:00 pm. Costumes included in the fee.
"Wizard of Oz: The Deleted Scene"
"Ever think what would have happened if Dorothy didn’t immediately follow the celebrated yellow brick road? Eddie McPherson takes our favorite story on a delightful detour when Dorothy is sidetracked by a farmer offering an alternate route to the wizard’s front door — in the form of a mysterious map. Glinda the Good is furious. After all, she wants to be a storybook hero, and the story will be ruined if Dorothy doesn’t meet her three friends along the yellow brick road. Meanwhile, the Wicked Witch of the West is thrilled with the alternative route, which will rewrite the story and possibly save her from her watery fate. As the power hungry Wicked Witch of the West fights against Glinda’s dreams of fame, Dorothy discovers that the shortcut doesn’t even take her to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It takes her to the Mediocre Wizard of the South Swamp! Cameo appearances by Hansel and Gretel, Jack and Jill, a Munchkin TV reporter and more add to the hilarity of this clever parody that’s fun for all ages."
KinderACT Ages 4-8
Tuesdays from 5:00pm to 6:00pm.
Cost: $115.00/month. Beginning Tuesday January 9th with a showcase on May 21st at 5pm. Costumes included in the fee.
This class will introduce theater to young children by "playing with a purpose". Class members will learn the joy of performance, respect for others, and the power of working as an ensemble to create an original comedy and video with a live performance. Directed by Michelle Gansler
THE ACTORS GYM Ages 17 and Up
4 Week Session - Cost: $100.00. Beginning January 8th and ending January 29th.
This is a beginners acting class that will prepare monologues and provide audition prep information.
PRO TEEN / STAGE AND FILM CLASS
Thursdays from 6:00pm to 8:30pm
Cost $135.00/month. Beginning September 6th with a Showcase production on Dec 16th at 3pm.
Students work on monologues and short published one-act plays that can be placed on their resumes as a production credit in addition to the training credit. Class focuses on breaking down a script to make the correct choices to fulfill character.
ADULT ACTING SESSIONS (2 Sessions)
10 Week Session - Cost $250,00 or $125.00 in January and February. Wednesdays from 6:30 to 10:00 pm beginning Wednesday, January 2nd to Wednesday, March 6th. Showcase on Wednesday, March 6th at 7:30 pm.
Students work on monologues and short published one-act plays that can be placed on their resumes as a production credit in addition to the training credit. Class focuses on breaking down a script to make the correct choices to fulfill character. This class is by invitation only and all students will need to be interviewed by Paul Tinder before acceptance. For an interview, please call: 210-557-1187 or email: PerformingArtsSA@gmail.com.
10 Week Session - Cost $250.00 or $125.00 in March and April. Wednesdays from 6:30 to 10:00 pm beginning Wednesday, March 13th to Wednesday, May 15th. Showcase on Friday, May 17th at 7:30 pm.
Acting for Film
Acting for Theatre
Musical Theatre Dance
INTENSIVES AND WORKSHOPS
Commercial Acting
Scene Breakdown
Demo Reel Production
Landing an Agent
Musical Theatre Production
Short Film Production
AUDITION OPPORTUNITIES
PASA Full Season Productions
Local Theater Partnerships
SOUND BYTES
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HomeWelcome James Wattana!
Welcome James Wattana!
May 8, 2019 seniorsnooker Event info, Player infoEvent, Player
James Wattana, a legend of the game, and a hero in his country, Thailand, has been confirmed to play in the UK Seniors Snooker Championship next October.
James Wattana – Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm – was born in 1970, in Bangkog, Thailand.
James Wattana won his first major tournament, the Thailand Masters, in 1986, aged only 16. He turned professional in 1989, after winning the 1988 World Amateur Championship. He played as a professional between 1989 and 2008. Since 2009, he is playing on the main tour thanks to an “invitational tour card” . His highest ranking position was n°3 during the 1994/1995 season.
He made three 147 during his career. The second of them, at the British Open, was back then, at seven minutes and nine seconds, the fastest ever made
He has won three ranking tournaments – the 1992 Strachan Open and the Thailand Open in 1994 and 1995. He reached a ranking final of five more occasions. He also won seven non-ranking events and, notably, was runner-up at the Masters in 1993: he lost 9-5 to Stephen Hendry. He reached the semi-finals of the World Snooker Championship on two occasions, in 1993 and 1997.
James Wattana’s success helped raise the profile of the game in the Asia, and has inspired into the game many players from Thailand, Hong Kong, and China. He is a Commander Third Class of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand, only the second sportsman to receive the country’s most prestigious civilian honour.
← 2019/20 WSS Season – Entries now open for a number of events
Willie Thorne will be back at the Crucible →
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National Tour of Memphis Will Continue to Rock the Country, More Cities Announced
April 3rd, 2012 | By Broadway.com Staff
Memphis will rock across the country for another season. The national tour of the Tony winner for Best Musical has announced engagements in new cities for the 2012-2013, kicking off in Portland on September 11. In addition to the musical’s namesake town, the show will also make stops in 16 other cities with more yet to be announced.
The current list of engagements includes Portland (September 11–16, 2012), Seattle (September 18–October 7, 2012), Denver (October 9–21, 2012), Costa Mesa (November 6–18, 2012), Rochester (November 27–December 2, 2012), Boston December 11–23, 2012), Milwaukee (January 8–13, 2013), Omaha (January 15–20, 2013), Cincinnati (January 22–February 3, 2013), Fayetteville (February 5–10, 2013), San Antonio (February 19–24, 2013), Tempe (March 5–10, 2013), Louisville (April 2–7, 2013), Detroit (April 9–21, 2013), Miami (May 7–12, 2013) and Orlando (May 14–19, 2013).
Set in the turbulent south in the 1950s, Memphis is the rollicking story of Huey Calhoun, a white radio DJ whose love of good music transcends race lines and airwaves. Thanks in part to his passionate persistence, "race" music explodes throughout mainstream America. But when Huey falls for a beautiful black singer he has set on the path to stardom, whether the world is really ready for this music, and their love, is put to the test.
The national tour of Memphis stars Bryan Fenkart as Huey, Felicia Boswell as Felicia, Quentin Earl Darrington as Delray, Will Mann as Bobby and Rhett George as Gator. Broadway helmer Christopher Ashley directs the production.
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Best Free Apps To Watch TV Online
By Jaspal Singh Last updated Aug 17, 2016
One of the unique methods of entertainment since long has been television. Technologies have advanced much and new modes of watching TV have come up. With advent of internet, you have latest method to watch TV online.
There are some of the amazing technologies that have come to help you watch TV online with internet TVs. Online TV is a great way that helps you to watch TV shows with online means. With this internet television, you have better means of watching all TV shows without getting a television set.
When you find shows on the Internet, they will be in one of three forms:
1. A live video stream, which is like over-the-air broadcasts. In fact many TV stations are making their over-the-air broadcasts available as Live streams. When you connect to a stream, it is like tuning into the station over the air. You join the broadcast in progress. You can’t pause it or rewind it (unless you have some sort of PVR software). Many network stations consider streaming video an experiment so the quality can be variable.
2. RSS feeds, which are better known as video Podcasts or Vcasts. You don’t need an iPod to enjoy them. There is software available to receive and watch them on your computer.
3. Video on demand, which is self-explanatory: you connect to a video server and choose the program you want to watch by using a menu or channel guide.
A quick search will turn up many free internet TV viewers but most are cut down versions of a paid software. There are a few that are not.
Jlc-Software
JLC’s Internet TV is a FREE program for watching and browsing thousands of TV channels freely available on the internet. It’s probably the biggest and most up to date database of channels ever, and users are able to submit, rate and flag channels. And with the new flagging and rating system you’ll easily see which channels works and which is worth to watch and our goal is to bring you the best online TV experience out there!
Watch TV Online with JLC's Internet TV
TVUNetworks
TVU Networks brings you a live TV service with 1000 channels from around the world. Now, the same great content that you watch on TVU on your PC, is available right here on your iPhone through WiFi and now, 3G.
Watch TV online with Tvunetworks
Miro is the only internet TV you’ll need — it’s an application that brings together thousands of shows from all over the web. There’s TONS of great content, lots of it in HD, and fresh shows are added all the time. You can watch and organize video feeds when you’re offline or traveling, find TV programs on sites like Hulu, and download from sites like YouTube. Miro downloads in HD, whenever it’s available!
If you know where to get your video, you may like Miro.
Watch videos of any length at any time with the Veoh Web Player! Watch full-length videos directly in your browser – no need to launch a separate application, Download videos from Veoh and other popular video sites for full quality, offline viewing, Organize downloaded videos in your library to watch them later.
Re-streams video from the Hulu website and CBS content (allowable) and others
Vuze (previously Azureus) is a BitTorrent client used to transfer files via the BitTorrent protocol. Vuze is written in Java, and uses the Azureus Engine. In addition to downloading data linked to by .torrent files, Azureus allows users to view, publish and share original DVD and HD quality video content. Content is presented through channels and categories containing TV shows, music videos, movies, video games and others.
Drag and drop to play on iPhone, iPod, iPad, Apple TV, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, and TiVo.
Jaspal Singh2156 posts 19 comments
I am a full-time #Blogger, #WebDesigner #SEO and #WordPress expert living in #Jaipur and I love to learn new things, right now trying my hands on #VideoEditing.
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Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of rabies virus P-protein is regulated by phosphorylation adjacent to C-terminal nuclear import and export signals
Gregory William Moseley, Richard Filmer, Michelle De Jesus, David Andrew Jans
Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of the rabies virus phosphoprotein is implicated in the evasion of cellular antiviral mechanisms by rabies virus and has been reported to depend on an N-terminal nuclear export sequence and a C-terminal nuclear localization sequence. This paper identifies a second nuclear export sequence that is located between key residues of the nuclear localization sequence in the phosphoprotein C-terminal domain. The C-terminal domain confers predominantly nuclear localization in unstimulated transfected cells, indicating that the nuclear localization sequence is the dominant signal at steady state. However, protein kinase-C activation or mutagenesis to mimic protein kinase-C phosphorylation at a site proximal to the C-terminal nuclear localization/export sequences shifts the targeting activity of the C-terminal domain toward nuclear exclusion, indicating that the nuclear export sequence becomes the dominant signal in activated cells. Mapping of these sequences within the three-dimensional structure of the C-terminal domain indicates that their activities may be coregulated by phosphorylation and/or conformational changes in the domain. The data are consistent with a model in which intimate positioning of the nuclear localization sequence, export sequence, and phosphorylation site within a single domain provides a switch mechanism to rapidly and efficiently balance the reciprocal import and export signals in response to cellular stimuli.
Moseley, G. W., Filmer, R., De Jesus, M., & Jans, D. A. (2007). Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of rabies virus P-protein is regulated by phosphorylation adjacent to C-terminal nuclear import and export signals. Biochemistry, 46(43), 12053 - 12061.
Moseley, Gregory William ; Filmer, Richard ; De Jesus, Michelle ; Jans, David Andrew. / Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of rabies virus P-protein is regulated by phosphorylation adjacent to C-terminal nuclear import and export signals. In: Biochemistry. 2007 ; Vol. 46, No. 43. pp. 12053 - 12061.
@article{44bc41f62d3243c6a746bfd920be62bb,
title = "Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of rabies virus P-protein is regulated by phosphorylation adjacent to C-terminal nuclear import and export signals",
abstract = "Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of the rabies virus phosphoprotein is implicated in the evasion of cellular antiviral mechanisms by rabies virus and has been reported to depend on an N-terminal nuclear export sequence and a C-terminal nuclear localization sequence. This paper identifies a second nuclear export sequence that is located between key residues of the nuclear localization sequence in the phosphoprotein C-terminal domain. The C-terminal domain confers predominantly nuclear localization in unstimulated transfected cells, indicating that the nuclear localization sequence is the dominant signal at steady state. However, protein kinase-C activation or mutagenesis to mimic protein kinase-C phosphorylation at a site proximal to the C-terminal nuclear localization/export sequences shifts the targeting activity of the C-terminal domain toward nuclear exclusion, indicating that the nuclear export sequence becomes the dominant signal in activated cells. Mapping of these sequences within the three-dimensional structure of the C-terminal domain indicates that their activities may be coregulated by phosphorylation and/or conformational changes in the domain. The data are consistent with a model in which intimate positioning of the nuclear localization sequence, export sequence, and phosphorylation site within a single domain provides a switch mechanism to rapidly and efficiently balance the reciprocal import and export signals in response to cellular stimuli.",
author = "Moseley, {Gregory William} and Richard Filmer and {De Jesus}, Michelle and Jans, {David Andrew}",
pages = "12053 -- 12061",
journal = "Biochemistry",
Moseley, GW, Filmer, R, De Jesus, M & Jans, DA 2007, 'Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of rabies virus P-protein is regulated by phosphorylation adjacent to C-terminal nuclear import and export signals' Biochemistry, vol. 46, no. 43, pp. 12053 - 12061.
Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of rabies virus P-protein is regulated by phosphorylation adjacent to C-terminal nuclear import and export signals. / Moseley, Gregory William; Filmer, Richard; De Jesus, Michelle; Jans, David Andrew.
In: Biochemistry, Vol. 46, No. 43, 2007, p. 12053 - 12061.
T1 - Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of rabies virus P-protein is regulated by phosphorylation adjacent to C-terminal nuclear import and export signals
AU - Moseley, Gregory William
AU - Filmer, Richard
AU - De Jesus, Michelle
AU - Jans, David Andrew
N2 - Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of the rabies virus phosphoprotein is implicated in the evasion of cellular antiviral mechanisms by rabies virus and has been reported to depend on an N-terminal nuclear export sequence and a C-terminal nuclear localization sequence. This paper identifies a second nuclear export sequence that is located between key residues of the nuclear localization sequence in the phosphoprotein C-terminal domain. The C-terminal domain confers predominantly nuclear localization in unstimulated transfected cells, indicating that the nuclear localization sequence is the dominant signal at steady state. However, protein kinase-C activation or mutagenesis to mimic protein kinase-C phosphorylation at a site proximal to the C-terminal nuclear localization/export sequences shifts the targeting activity of the C-terminal domain toward nuclear exclusion, indicating that the nuclear export sequence becomes the dominant signal in activated cells. Mapping of these sequences within the three-dimensional structure of the C-terminal domain indicates that their activities may be coregulated by phosphorylation and/or conformational changes in the domain. The data are consistent with a model in which intimate positioning of the nuclear localization sequence, export sequence, and phosphorylation site within a single domain provides a switch mechanism to rapidly and efficiently balance the reciprocal import and export signals in response to cellular stimuli.
AB - Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of the rabies virus phosphoprotein is implicated in the evasion of cellular antiviral mechanisms by rabies virus and has been reported to depend on an N-terminal nuclear export sequence and a C-terminal nuclear localization sequence. This paper identifies a second nuclear export sequence that is located between key residues of the nuclear localization sequence in the phosphoprotein C-terminal domain. The C-terminal domain confers predominantly nuclear localization in unstimulated transfected cells, indicating that the nuclear localization sequence is the dominant signal at steady state. However, protein kinase-C activation or mutagenesis to mimic protein kinase-C phosphorylation at a site proximal to the C-terminal nuclear localization/export sequences shifts the targeting activity of the C-terminal domain toward nuclear exclusion, indicating that the nuclear export sequence becomes the dominant signal in activated cells. Mapping of these sequences within the three-dimensional structure of the C-terminal domain indicates that their activities may be coregulated by phosphorylation and/or conformational changes in the domain. The data are consistent with a model in which intimate positioning of the nuclear localization sequence, export sequence, and phosphorylation site within a single domain provides a switch mechanism to rapidly and efficiently balance the reciprocal import and export signals in response to cellular stimuli.
UR - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=17924652
SP - 12053
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JO - Biochemistry
JF - Biochemistry
Moseley GW, Filmer R, De Jesus M, Jans DA. Nucleocytoplasmic distribution of rabies virus P-protein is regulated by phosphorylation adjacent to C-terminal nuclear import and export signals. Biochemistry. 2007;46(43):12053 - 12061.
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July 1, 2012 by grateful2him
Homosexuality: The Battle for the Bible
by James R. Aist
“Christians are surrounded, sometimes almost deafened, by the siren songs of those who want them to stop being awkward customers who behave Christianly and become worldly wimps who only do what those around them are already doing. Christians must learn to disregard these distracting noises. We cannot follow Christ in holiness unless we are willing to stand out from the crowd and swim against the stream.” — J.I. Packer
Before I delve into the substance of this introductory article, I want to make it very clear that I explicitly differentiate between people who have same-sex attractions but do not act on them, people who have same-sex attractions and practice homosexuality, and the “gay agenda” per se. Those are three completely different things, as just because someone is a homosexual person doesn’t necessarily mean that they push the “gay agenda”, and just because someone is pushing the “gay agenda” doesn’t necessarily mean that they are a homosexual person. Thus, when I speak against the “gay agenda”, I am not speaking against any individual as a homosexual person, but against a social movement with which they may have only a fringe association.
The Battle for the Bible
“If we pick out which parts of the Bible we dislike, we actually have a god we’ve created. How can that god ever call you out on anything?” – Tim Keller
The religious battle surrounding homosexuality in America has, at its core, a struggle over what the Bible really is. If you believe that the Bible is what God has said through men whose words were inspired by the Holy Spirit of God, then the Bible is, for you, the accurate, unchanging and final word on whatever topic it addresses. In short, you believe what the Bible says. You believe that God, through the Bible, says what He means, and that He means what He says. On the other hand, if you believe, for whatever reason, that what the Bible says “ain’t necessarily so”, then you will either disregard the Bible altogether, or pick and choose which parts you want to believe and disregard the rest. Or, worse yet, you will re-write the verses in the Bible about homosexuality to make it seem that the Bible does not condemn homosexual sins after all. This is exactly what was done in The Message paraphrase of the Bible and in the Queen James Bible (click HERE) that was published in 2012. Both of these false Bibles deviate from the actual text of the ancient manuscripts on which modern English versions are based, in order to leave a false, favorable impression of God’s view of homosexuality.
The Bible mentions homosexuality several times, in both the Old and the New Testaments. In every instance the Bible clearly, unequivocally and consistently characterizes homosexual behavior as being evil, and therefore, as “sin” (Genesis 19:5 with Jude 1:7; Leviticus 18:22; Leviticus 20:13; Judges 19:22-25; Romans 1:26-27; I Corinthians 6:9-10; and I Timothy 1:10). The biblical witness is as clear in this regard as it is about murder, lying, adultery, idolatry or just about any other sin you could name. And yet, there are those who have chosen to deny that the Bible really condemns homosexual behavior as sin, rather than repenting of homosexual sin, in an attempt to justify a homosexual lifestyle within the Christian church. What they fail to comprehend is that the role of the Holy Spirit in the Christian is conviction of sin, not denial of sin. This is why I see homosexuality as a “litmus test” for one’s view of the Bible: if you do not believe that the Bible condemns homosexual behavior as sin, then you do not view the Bible as the accurate, reliable, unchanging and final word of God. In that case, can it be that your god is a god created in your own image and is not really the God of the Bible?
Why does this matter? It matters because, to those who do not hold to the Bible as the Word of God, biblical views are of little or no consequence. I get that. So, when I discuss what the Bible says about homosexuality, I realize that I am writing, primarily, to an audience of Christians who do care what the Bible says. Basically, this would be those to whom God has given “ears to hear” (I have developed this point more fully elsewhere: click HERE). It is very important to me that this audience be spiritually wise and well-informed concerning homosexuality, especially in this day and age in which politicians, celebrities and even Christians are rushing to publicly endorse and approve of the homosexual lifestyle. If they knew what I know about homosexuality and what the Bible and science have to say about it, perhaps they would want to re-think that. Ephesians 5:11 sums up nicely my main goal in writing about homosexuality: “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”
God’s View of Homosexual People
It is important to keep in mind that God does not categorize people as “heterosexuals” or “homosexuals”. He sees us as created by Him in His image and dearly loved. This is our true identity. What people do sexually is not really who they are. Although we are all sinners, we are so strongly loved by Him that He offered His only begotten Son, Jesus, to die for us, in order to reconcile us to Himself. No one is outside the scope of His love. I believe that we would all be better off agreeing with God on this point.
Having said that, I would like to say a few words about the acquired condition of homosexuality. Most homosexual people are, at some point in their life, dissatisfied with their same-sex attractions and feelings. Same-sex attraction is a powerful temptation, but biblically speaking, it is not a sin. To have such attractions is akin to a married heterosexual man having opposite-sex attractions to women other than his wife. These attractions are temptations to sin and nothing more; they are not sin, although they would lead to sin if acted upon, either mentally (lust) or physically. Apparently, same-sex attractions are not something that anyone chooses initially. Rather they seem to occur initially in homosexual persons without their volition or intent. This is an important distinction that Christians need to be aware of. The Bible condemns homosexual sex acts, but it does not condemn the experience of being tempted by same-sex attractions. If the Bible did condemn the experience of being tempted, then Jesus would not have been without sin, would He? In dealing with these unwanted attractions and feelings — eventually, either to change them or to make peace with them — homosexual people typically experience powerful feelings of frustration, disappointment, failure, fear and sadness (Nicolosi, J. 1991). Although only a homosexual person can really know what it’s like to be homosexual, aren’t we all familiar with similar feelings as we struggle to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12-13)? God has compassion for all people who are struggling with their sinful condition, whatever it may be (Exodus 34:6-7), and so should we.
(For more articles on HOMOSEXUALITY, click HERE)
Reference Cited:
Nicolosi, J. 1991. Reparative Therapy of Male Homosexuality. Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale, NJ.
This entry was posted in Homosexuality and tagged Bible, Gay, God, heaven, hell, heterosexual, homosexual, Homosexuality, Jesus, Lesbian, Sin, theology.
4 thoughts on “Homosexuality: The Battle for the Bible”
grateful2him says:
Charles, I’m glad that you responded with this comment, because it will provide me with yet another opportunity to expose to my readers the scientific barrenness of the claims of the homosexual movement. I am well-acquainted with the scientific “evidence” on both sides of this issue, so you cannot fool me with such pseudo-scientific articles as the one you recommended in your comment, which I have read and will now dismember for you. Your article claims to focus on just the scientific evidence, but, instead, provides only unsubstantiated claims with no supporting scientific evidence at all — none. That’s because, in fact, there is zero scientific evidence showing that sexual orientation cannot change, whereas there is a mountain of evidence showing that it can, as my article on “Good News” documents extensively. Your article tries in vain to disparage a ten-year-old study reporting change, but fails to point out that the study actually delivered the scientific evidence that is claimed in the title, namely that SOME gays and lesbians have, in fact, changed their sexual orientation, at least in practice. Your article was written in 2011, but it ignores all of the relevant papers published after 2004, a time period in which the most of the scientifically sound research was published and which has confirmed that sexual orientation is fluid and therapy/counseling efforts are successful. Your article cites the APA as its major authority on matters homosexual, but in one of my articles I exposed and documented the historical fact that the APS and its sister organizations were violently and forcefully taken over by radical gay activists in the 1970s and 1980s and that these are the elements in the APA that control everything the APA does and says about homosexuality. The net result being that all of our mental health organizations have become slaves to the homosexual movement and cannot be trusted to provide unbiased, factual and scientifically sound information where homosexuality is concerned. Finally, as to your mention that “One of NARTH’s members was even caught with another man.”, even your own article agrees that such incidents do not show that therapy and counseling are not effective. You have provided no scientific evidence at all to support your claim that “no credible scientific studies have shown that sexual orientation can be changed through conversion therapy or other methods.” Why is that? It’s because this is a baseless claim in the first place, and it reveals your inability to properly discern the difference between good science and pseudo-science.
CharlesM says:
I’m not making that accusation; no credible scientific studies have shown that sexual orientation can be changed through conversion therapy or other methods. One of NARTH’s members was even caught with another man. Look at this article formore:
http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4265
According to homosexuality advocates, such as yourself, any individual or group that publishes research results that do not promote the “gay agenda” is a discredited fringe that manipulates it’s data; that’s what I know. Yours is a shallow, bankrupt accusation that reveals the barrenness of your viewpoints. If you could back up your claim with credible evidence, you would have done so. Again, you’re just blowing smoke here. If you want to know the facts and truth about homosexuality, then read my articles and the articles I cite with an open and honest mind. Are you able to do that?
You know NARTH is a discredited fringe group that manipulates its data, right?
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Seven applicants will make their case for HD 38 appointment
Anthony Macuk
Democrats' nominating convention will choose finalists Monday in race to replace state Rep. Ann Lininger
Officially, there are no candidates for Oregon House District 38 — and there can't be until after state Rep. Ann Lininger resigns from her position on Tuesday.
But in reality, the race is already on to succeed the Lake Oswego lawmaker, who was appointed last month to a judgeship on the Clackamas County Circuit Court. Lininger told The Review this week that her resignation will take effect on Aug. 15, and she is scheduled to be sworn in to her new job on Aug. 28.
In the meantime, seven declared applicants are openly vying for Lininger's HD 38 seat and campaigning for consideration by the Democratic Party's Precinct Committee Persons (PCPs) in the district.
The PCPs will vote at a nominating convention on Monday, selecting a list of three to five finalists whose names will be forwarded to the Boards of Commissioners for Clackamas and Multnomah counties. Those boards will then have 30 days following Lininger's departure to vote for a new state representative.
As of Wednesday, the list of applicants included Lake Oswego City Councilors Theresa Kohlhoff and Joe Buck; political consultants Andrea Salinas and Moses Ross; public relations executive and former government spokesman Neil H. Simon; restaurateur Daniel Nguyen; and Alex Josephy, secretary of the Democratic Party of Oregon.
The nominating convention will give the candidates a chance to make their case and answer questions from PCPs before the voting begins, but it's not their only chance. The group Independents for Progressive Action is hosting a candidate Town Hall tonight; it's scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Lake Theater & Cafe, 106 N. State St. in Lake Oswego.
Last week, The Review profiled candidates Simon, Ross, Nguyen and Salinas in a front-page story; it's available online here. This week, The Review spoke to Buck, Kohlhoff and Josephy. Here's what they had to say:
Joe Buck
Buck was raised in Lake Oswego and currently operates two restaurants in the city, Gubanc's Restaurant and Babica Hen Café, as well as a second branch of Babica Hen in Dundee and a boutique inn in Oregon's wine country. He has served on the Lake Oswego City Council since 2014.
Buck, a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard, received a degree in business administration from the University of Portland. He initially worked in public accounting and also helped manage Gubanc's, his family's restaurant. He eventually took over operations at Gubanc's and subsequently opened his other three businesses.
"I worked side-by-side with my father, Mike Buck, at Gubanc's in Lake Grove," he says, "learning how to operate a business rooted in values that promote equality and respect for all, caring deeply for our family of employees and being active stewards of the community."
Buck's tenure on the City Council has focused on advocating for a range of progressive policies, including environmental protection, public transportation and engaging youth in local politics. He helped found Lake Oswego's Youth Leadership Council in 2016 and serves as the group's liaison to the council.
"I will deliver the same passionate yet effective diplomacy that has served me well on the Lake Oswego City Council to Salem," he says, "to fight effectively for you and for the current and future health of our district and state."
His campaign has received endorsements from a number of public officials in Lake Oswego, including City Councilors John LaMotte and Jackie Manz, former Councilor Jon Gustafson, School Board members Sara Pocklington and John Wallin, and former Mayor Judy Hammerstad.
Buck says he is committed to helping working Oregonians, and says his record as a small business owner shows he has pursued policies that promote wage equality, healthy work environments and respect for all. He also lists health care, education and affordable housing as priorities for his campaign.
"I have been a strong advocate for programs and policies that promote public health and a sustainable future," he says. "And I will fervently advocate for the changes all Oregonians deserve to ensure bright and prosperous years ahead."
Theresa Kohlhoff
Kohlhoff, who has built a 37-year career as a private practice attorney and small-business owner, became involved in politics when she ran for a seat on Lake Oswego's City Council last year. Her campaign platform emphasized affordable housing and public transportation, and she's become a vocal advocate for those causes during her first seven months on the council.
"The voters were right to trust me," she says. "One of my issues, economical housing, went on to become a council goal for 2017, and I am at the forefront of working out strategies with council and staff."
Kohlhoff graduated from Portland State University and later received her law degree from Lewis and Clark College's Northwestern School of Law. Her law career has included work on a wide range of cases, including personal injury, criminal law, domestic relations, real estate, commercial lien foreclosure and probate. She has also served on the Board of Governors of the Oregon State Bar.
"It is my profession to be a formidable advocate for my clients, no matter how mighty the corporation or adversary," she says, "but also to be a plain speaker, clearly outlining the state of play."
As a candidate for the HD 38 seat, Kohlhoff has been eager to tout her progressive credentials. But she says her time on the council has shown a record of collaborative accomplishments, even though a majority of the council falls to her ideological right.
"While municipal issues are different than state-level ones, the ability to do the homework required, to listen patiently to experts and citizens, to communicate clearly and to vote thoughtfully are the same," she says. "A true progressive can make things happen that would be unheard of otherwise, and I am doing that."
She has called for a "Medicare for all" system for Oregon and a progressive income tax to increase revenue and solve the impending PERS financial crunch. She's also continuing her push for affordable hous-
ing and improved public transit.
"Few really doubt that climate change is happening," she says, "and all probably know in their hearts that it is due to fossil fuels. Yet they don't want to face not being car-centric, and leaders are dawdling on funding transit."
Alex Josephy
Josephy is a native Oregonian who graduated from Linfield College with a degree in International Relations. He grew up in the eastern Oregon town of Joseph before moving to Oregon City at age 15. He has remained in the Portland area since then.
Josephy says his own experiences give him a personal connection to many of the challenges facing Oregon. He grew up in a family below the poverty line, he says, and has been homeless on two different occasions — once in Portland, and once in Beijing. He says his own experiences give him an ability to empathize with the people that the state should be helping.
"There are a lot of state issues that I have a personal connection to," he says. "When we talk about how to help these people out, I've lived through these issues — it's not foreign to me."
He says he didn't start off with political aspirations, but became involved in politics during the 2016 presidential primaries when he served as a national delegate for Bernie Sanders at the Democratic Party Convention. He says he was inspired by the experience, and came back to Oregon determined to keep pursuing a role in politics. He got his chance when he decided to run for DPO secretary.
"I think politics inherently is supposed to be something you do for other people," he says. "I want to be able to actually make an impact."
Josephy is open about the fact that he's an underdog in the house race, but he says that was also true when he ran for the positions of DNC delegate and DPO secretary — both of which he won despite the odds.
At 25, Josephy is also the youngest candidate in the race, and he says he hopes his age doesn't become a major reason for people to vote either for or against him. But it did factor into his own decision when he first considered running for the seat, he says, because he wants to increase the representation that younger Oregonians have in the state Legislature.
"(I've been told), 'You are not District 38 — the majority of the district is older voters with older issues,'" he says. "My mindset is, 'What am I going to do for the entirety of the state?'"
Contact Lake Oswego Review reporter Anthony Macuk at 503-636-1281 ext. 108 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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To Tell the Truth
To Tell The Truth is a game of mystery, deduction and intrigue, as three mystery guests go head to head in front of a quick-witted panel of celebrity sleuths. All guests are claiming to be the same person, with the same extraordinary tale to tell - but only one is telling the truth. The celebrity line-up has to use all their powers of intuition to guess who really is who they claim to be. (source: fremantlemedia.com)
Format distributor: FremantleMedia
Country of origin: USA (CBS)
Sold to: Australia, Canada (CTV), Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Ukraine, United Kingdom
U.S. TV Season: Most Watched Formats of 2016-2017
U.S. format market has a new leader - The Bachelor. Final ratings for the 2016-2017 season.
'To Tell the Truth' Season 2 Premiere on ABC
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Partial transcript of President Trump’s August 15 Q&A, with my comments.
by Berthold Gambrel on August 16, 2017 August 16, 2017
[I’m going off of this CNN transcript. My comments in red italics.]
TRUMP [Responding to a question about why it took him two days to denounce the alt-right protesters in Charlottesville]: I didn’t wait long. I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct, not make a quick statement. The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement. But you don’t make statements that direct unless you know the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don’t know the facts. And it’s a very, very important process to me. And it’s a very important statement. [Get all the facts. Very important. Remember he said this.]
So, I don’t want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement. I want to know the facts. If you go back to my…
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I brought it. I brought it. I brought it. [He brought a copy of his remarks from Saturday]
QUESTION: What did you (inaudible)?
TRUMP: As I said on — remember this — Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. It has no place in America. And when I went on from there.
Now, here’s the thing. As to — excuse me — excuse me — take it nice and easy.
Here’s the thing. When I make a statement, I like to be correct. I want the facts. This event just happened. In fact, a lot of the event didn’t even happen yet, as we were speaking. This event just happened. Before I make a statement, I need the facts.
So I don’t want to rush into a statement. So making the statement when I made it was excellent. In fact, the young woman who I hear is a fantastic young women, and it was on NBC, her mother wrote me and said through, I guess, Twitter, social media, the nicest things and I very much appreciate that.
I hear she was a fine, a really — actually, an incredible young woman. But her mother on Twitter thanked me for what I said. And honestly, if the press were not fake and if it was honest, the press would have said what I said was very nice. [This is unbecoming of the President. But we’re used to that.] But unlike you and unlike — excuse me — unlike you and unlike the media, before I make a statement, I like to know the facts.
TRUMP: I didn’t know David Duke was there. [Well, he was. Missed that during all your fact-finding, eh?] I wanted to see the facts. And the facts as they started coming out were very well stated. In fact, everybody said his statement was beautiful; if he would have made it sooner, that would have been good. I couldn’t have made it sooner because I didn’t know all of the facts.
Frankly, people still don’t know all of the facts. [Would you mind telling us, since you apparently think you do?] It was very important that — excuse me, excuse me — it was very important to me to get the facts out and correctly. Because if I would have made a fast statement, and the first statement was made without knowing much other than what we were seeing.
The second statement was made after — with knowledge, with great knowledge. There are still things — excuse me — there are still things that people don’t know. I want to make a statement with knowledge. I wanted to know the facts.
QUESTION: Was it — two questions. Was it terrorism? And can you tell us what you’re feeling about your…
TRUMP: Well, I think the driver of the car is a disgrace to himself, his family and his country. And that is — you can call it terrorism. You can call it murder. You can call it whatever you want. I would just call it as the fastest one to come up with a good verdict. That’s what I’d call it. Because there is a question. Is it murder? Is it terrorism? And then you get into legal semantics. [Unusual to hear him use the word “semantics”]
The driver of the car is a murderer. And what he did was a horrible, horrible, inexcusable thing.
QUESTION: Can you tell us how you’re feeling about your chief strategist, Mr. Bannon? Can you talk about that?
TRUMP: Go ahead.
QUESTION: I would echo Maggie’s (ph) question. Steve Bannon…
TRUMP: I never spoke to Mr. Bannon about it.
QUESTION: But can you tell us broadly what you’re — do you still have confidence in Steve (ph)?
TRUMP: Well, we see (ph) — and look, look. I like Mr. Bannon. He’s a friend of mine. But Mr. Bannon came on very late, you know that. I went through 17 senators, governors, and I won all the primaries. Mr. Bannon came on very much later than that, and I like him. He’s a good man. He is not a racist, I can tell you that. He’s a good person. He actually gets a very unfair press in that regard.
But we’ll see what happens with Mr. Bannon, but he’s a good person, and I think the press treats him, frankly, very unfairly. [Sounds like he plans to make Bannon the fall guy.]
QUESTION: Senator McCain said that the alt-right is behind these attacks, and he linked that same group to those who perpetrated the attack in Charlottesville.
TRUMP: Well, I don’t know — I can’t tell you. I’m sure Senator McCain must know what he’s talking about. But when you say the “alt- right,” define “alt-right” to me. You define it, go ahead.
QUESTION: Well, I think that (ph)…
TRUMP: No, define it for me, come on. Let’s go. Define it for me.
QUESTION: Senator McCain defined them as the same group… [Trump should really specify that on this game show, you only have 5 seconds to give your answer. I would have defined them as “tech-savvy ultra-nationalists”.]
TRUMP: OK, what about the alt-left that came charging them (ph)? Excuse me. What about the alt-left that came charging at the — as you say, the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt? [“Semblance” is an unusual word for him to use. Also, I have not seen any video of the counter-demonstrators charging. I’ve seen one of some of the surrounded by the torch-wielding alt-right people. Are there any videos of a charge like Trump describes?]
QUESTION: Mr. Trump…
TRUMP: Let me ask you this. What about the fact they came charging — that they came charging with clubs in their hands, swinging clubs? [Did this happen?] Do they have any problem? I think they do.
QUESTION: Sir…
TRUMP: As far as I’m concerned, that was a horrible, horrible day.
Wait a minute, I’m not finished. I’m not finished, fake news. That was a horrible day…
TRUMP: I will tell you something. I watched those very closely, much more closely than you people watched it. And you have — you had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent, and nobody wants to say that, but I’ll say it right now. You had a group — you had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit, and they were very, very violent. [Does anyone have figures on how many injuries were reported, and on which sides? Are these the much-ballyhooed “facts’ that Trump claims to know about? Could we get them? And if the counter-protesters were so violent, why was the only death that of a counter-protester at the hands of an alt-right sympathizer?]
QUESTION: Do you think that the — what you call the alt-left is the same as neo-Nazis?
TRUMP: Those people — all of those people — excuse me. I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups. [Often without hesitation.] But not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were White Supremacists, by any stretch. Those people were also there because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue, Robert E. Lee.
So — excuse me. And you take a look at some of the groups and you see — and you’d know it if you were honest reporters, which in many cases you’re not, but many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. [Everyone knew that.]
So this week it’s Robert E. Lee. I noticed that Stonewall Jackson’s coming down. [I suspect Bannon talked to him shortly before this and gave him a quick history lesson. I doubt he knew who Stonewall Jackson was until yesterday.] I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? [Indeed, there have previously been calls for the removal of monuments to Jefferson on college campuses.]
You know, you all — you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop? But they were there to protest — excuse me. You take a look, the night before, they were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. [Either no one asked or he didn’t answer any questions about why so many people were carrying the Nazi flag in order to do that.]
Infrastructure question, go ahead.
QUESTION: Should the statue of Robert E. Lee stay up?
TRUMP: I would say that’s up to a local town, community, or the federal government, depending on where it is located. [Least helpful answer imaginable.]
QUESTION: Are you against the Confederacy? [I really wish he’d replied to this. It would have been fascinating.]
QUESTION: Mr. President, are you putting what you’re calling the alt-left and white supremacists on the same moral plane?
TRUMP: I’m not putting anybody on a moral plane. [There are no moral planes in Trump’s world.] What I’m saying is this. You had a group on one side and you had a group on the other, and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and it was horrible. And it was a horrible thing to watch.
But there is another side. There was a group on this side, you can call them the left. You’ve just called them the left — that came violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that’s the way it is.
(CROSSTALK) TRUMP: Excuse me, excuse me. (inaudible) themselves (inaudible) and you have some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides. You had people in that group — excuse me, excuse me — I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down of, to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name. [You can see just how deeply he researched this.]
QUESTION: George Washington and Robert E. Lee are not the same (inaudible)…
TRUMP: George Washington was a slave-owner. Was George Washington a slave-owner? So, will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down — excuse me — are we going to take down — are we going to take down statues to George Washington?
TRUMP: How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him? [No. He seems cold and distant.]
TRUMP: OK. Good. Are we going to take down the statue? Because he was a major slave-owner. Now, are we going to take down his statue? So you know what? It’s fine. You’re changing history. You’re changing culture. And you had people, and I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally. But you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists. [How can we tell which is which, though?]
OK? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly. Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people, but you also had troublemakers and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats. [That sounds like the police, but…] You’ve got — you had a lot of bad — you had a lot of bad people in the other group…
QUESTION: … treated unfairly (inaudible) you were saying. You were saying the press has treated white nationalists unfairly? (inaudible) understand what you’re saying.
TRUMP: No, no. There were people in that rally, and I looked the night before. If you look, they were people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee. I’m sure in that group there were some bad ones. The following day, it looked like they had some rough, bad people — neo-Nazis, white nationalists, whatever you want to call them.
But you had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest and very legally protest, because you know — I don’t know if you know, they had a permit. The other group didn’t have a permit.
So, I only tell you this, there are two sides to a story. I thought what took place was a horrible moment for our country, a horrible moment. But there are two sides to the country (sic). [“There are two sides to the country”. While inadvertent, this is a great summary of Trump’s worldview. Compare with then-Senator Obama’s quote from 2004: “There is not a liberal America and a conservative America – there is the United States of America.”]
The relevance of the “Star Wars” Prequels to the Present-Day United States
by Berthold Gambrel on February 11, 2017 February 18, 2017
Before we begin, let me first note that Cass Sunstein has written a very good article on this subject already, which you might want to check out before reading this post. Sunstein touches on a number of the same points as I do, and his article definitely influenced mine. (Although, to be quite clear, I believed most of this before I ever read Sunstein.)
George Lucas repeatedly said one of the themes he wanted to explore in the prequels was how Republics become Dictatorships. He drew parallels with the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of Augustus, the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte to Emperor of France, and the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of Nazi Germany.
Each of these historical episodes resembles the others, in that each involves the demise of a Republic and the concentration of State power in one individual. In the French and German cases, these republics had existed for only a short time, before which the government had been aristocratic. The Roman Republic, on the other hand, had existed for centuries.
In each case, power was given over to one person in response to some crisis. The existing governmental structure that allowed for multiple people to have input was deemed inadequate to the task of responding to the problem.
And of course, in each case, the person chosen to wield the power had used clever, cunning and morally dubious means to reach the position he was in.
The Star Wars prequels depict this same pattern playing out in a cosmic fantasy setting. In this respect, they are a bit like George Orwell’s Animal Farm–a political allegory masked in a fairy-tale setting.
In Episode I, the political thread of the story establishes that the Galactic Republic is unable to cope with an illegal blockade imposed by the Trade Federation on the planet Naboo. When Queen Amidala goes to Coruscant for help, Senator Palpatine tells her:
“The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good. There is no civility, only politics.”
This is one point that many people don’t appreciate about the prequels: the Republic really is weak. They are not capable of protecting their own citizens’ interests. In this respect, the reasons for Palpatine’s rise are more understandable–the current government really was incapable of fulfilling its purpose.
Of course, Palpatine is the Augustus/Napoleon/Hitler figure in Lucas’s story, and so it’s also possible that (a) he is exaggerating the Republic’s weakness for his own gain and (b) the weakness is a result of some internal sabotage with which he himself is connected. Since he, as his alter-ego Darth Sidious, is originally responsible for the Federation blockade, it’s suggested that he might also be responsible for other problems in the Senate.
Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) and Senator Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid)
Nevertheless, the following Senate scene makes it clear that the current government can’t solve Amidala’s problem, and so she follows Palpatine’s suggestion to call for a vote of no confidence to remove the Chancellor.
Palpatine is then able to assume the rank of Chancellor. In Episode II, Palpatine is able to manipulate Jar Jar Binks into voting him emergency powers for a coming war. Of course, Palpatine himself (as Sidious) has again played both sides and created the entire situation that makes war necessary.
Finally, in Episode III, the war has dragged on and allowed Palpatine to remain in office and accrue more power. The Jedi, finally becoming aware of his treachery, attempt to take action to preserve the institutions of the Republic, but fail. Palpatine then uses this moment of crisis to turn popular sentiment against the Jedi and establish the Galactic Empire, taking advantage of the now extremely militarized society he has created.
There’s a very ironic moment in the scene where Mace Windu is fighting Palpatine. Windu has him at sword point when Anakin, having been swayed to Palpatine’s side, arrives and says, “he must stand trial”.
This causes Windu to hesitate, because he knows Anakin is right. Windu is there to save the Republic and its legal order, but cannot do so without himself violating the rule of law. Paradoxically, Windu cannot fulfill his duty to the Republic without violating it.
Of course, Palpatine and Anakin take advantage of Windu’s momentary hesitation to kill him.
This speaks to another point that is often overlooked: the collapse of the Jedi Order is interwoven with that of the Republic. Like the Republic, the story suggests there is rot at the core of the whole institution–witness how they violate their own traditions by training Anakin when he is “too old”, or Obi-Wan’s tolerance of Anakin’s marriage to Padmé, despite the Jedi Code demanding celibacy.
The underlying theme of the prequels is not merely that the Republic fell as a result of evil people like Palpatine, but also because of mistakes or corruption on the part of well-meaning people attempting to protect it. Padmé, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon Jinn, Yoda, Mace Windu–all make errors or lapses in judgment that contribute to the collapse.
Indeed, perhaps the most significant error all of them make is continuing to tolerate Anakin’s consistent rule-breaking. Neither his wife nor the Jedi ever punish Anakin for his repeated wrongdoing. Their misplaced forgiveness simply encourages Anakin to keep getting away with larger and larger crimes.
As a depiction of the process by which Republics become Dictatorships, the prequels are fairly successful: cunning and ambitious people take advantage of weak and crumbling institutions and take advantage or crises to seize power.
What significance does this have for the present-day United States? It is commonplace to compare the rise of Donald Trump to that of other dictators, and his language and methods are unmistakably authoritarian.
More significant even than Trump himself is the decline of U.S. institutions. I have written before about the century-long weakening of the U.S. Congress vs. the Executive branch. Beyond that, there is a general loss of faith in the Press and in Religious tradition.
Just as Palpatine’s plan would not have worked if he had not been able to take advantage of the crumbling Old Republic, the United States would not be vulnerable to authoritarianism if its institutions remained strong.
Why, then, don’t other people (besides me and Sunstein) look to the prequels as a relevant tale that captures the current zeitgeist?
I think to an extent it is because as works of drama, they are poor–Episode II in particular, which depicted the crucial political turning point, is something of a mess in regards to dramatic essentials like character and plot. While I’ve previously argued that Episode I is the best of all six original Star Wars films, even its compelling political plot was bogged down by pointless comic relief and a weak first act.
Another problem is that, as interesting as the political allegory is, it is scarcely related to the lighthearted, swashbuckling atmosphere of the first three films, Episodes IV, V and VI. The more complex motifs of the prequel trilogy flummoxed audiences. (To extend the earlier analogy: it is as if one tried to market Animal Farm as a prequel to Charlotte’s Web.)
Finally, the spirit of the first three films–and the more recent, Disney-made knock-off–is much more optimistic and reassuring. The light side, these films say, will ultimately triumph over the dark, and all will end happily.
The tone of the prequels, in contrast, is much grimmer. Not only is Evil triumphant at the end of the trilogy, but there is a suggestion that the forces of Good enabled it, and by their own failings, rendered it possible. It’s a troubling notion–that perhaps goodness itself contains within it the seeds of its own destruction.
The reason for the unpopularity of the prequels may be linked to more than their flaws as pieces of narrative fiction–it may lie in their disturbing portrayal of human nature itself, and in our reactions to our own vulnerabilities.
I might even paraphrase another writer of dramatic works on politics and human nature, and say, “the fault is not in our Star Wars, but in ourselves.”
The History of the Decline and Fall of the United States Congress
by Berthold Gambrel on February 5, 2017 April 13, 2018
The U.S. Capitol Building, as depicted in the post-apocalyptic video game “Fallout 3”
“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition.” With those words, written more than 200 years ago, the authors of the Federalist Papers explained the most important safeguard of the American constitutional system. They then added this promise: “In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates.” Congress enacts laws, appropriates funds, confirms the president’s appointees. Congress can subpoena records, question officials, and even impeach them. Congress can protect the American system from an overbearing president.
But will it?
As politics has become polarized, Congress has increasingly become a check only on presidents of the opposite party. Recent presidents enjoying a same-party majority in Congress—Barack Obama in 2009 and 2010, George W. Bush from 2003 through 2006—usually got their way. And congressional oversight might well be performed even less diligently during the Trump administration.
–“How To Build An Autocracy”, by David Frum. The Atlantic. Read the whole thing.
Frum actually understates the case that Congress is weakening. The decline of the Legislative branch has been going on for at least a century.
It takes a long time to unravel a system of government like the one the Founders created. “Erosion” is a fitting way to describe it–it’s occurred slowly, over generations. But there is one entity that has consistently worked over the decades to reduce the power of the legislature.
That entity is… the United States Congress.
“Wait, what?” you say. “Congress is taking power away from itself? Why would it do that?”
Well, it’s a long story. And, as you probably suspected, it all began with the increasing costs of farming in the late 1800s.
Confused yet? Trust me; this is going to be a long slog, but at the end of it, you will have a better understanding of the United States government. If that seems boring or depressing, watch this video of Natalie Portman and Rashida Jones playing with kittens before you start. It always cheers me up.
All ready now? Let’s go.
A half-hour in 1964 and a half-hour in 2008
by Berthold Gambrel on April 26, 2014 April 26, 2014
On one of the C-Spans the other night, they were showing Ronald Reagan’s 1964 speech “A Time For Choosing”, which he gave in support of Barry Goldwater. You can see that speech on YouTube here.
It is pretty much the standard Republican fare in terms of content, but Reagan was clearly a far more charismatic and persuasive speaker than the Republicans of today. I hate his line about the hungry being on a diet–it’s that sort of thing that got the Republicans branded as greedy and heartless. I don’t know how the Goldwater campaign reacted to this, but I’m assuming their position on poverty was not “it’s all in your imagination”.
But what is really interesting to me about it isn’t so much the content of the speech, but the style. I don’t think people would stand for one long speech, and moreover one filled with a lot of references to statistics and numbers. I don’t know how accurate the numbers he gives are, but it seems to me this speech contains a lot more precise statistics than a modern speech.
To be fair, I think Reagan was a major beneficiary of the style over substance approach to politics, and probably this speech was shallow by the standards of the time. But my hypothesis is that a shallow 1964 political speech has more substance than an in-depth 2014 political speech.
I remember in 2008, then-Senator Obama’s campaign did a 30 minute “infomercial” on the networks a week or so before the election. It was well-made, but more like a documentary, with stock footage and interviews and such. I think the PR people for Obama’s campaign wouldn’t have dared to spend the whole half-hour on one guy giving a talk–that’s dull television.
To be absolutely clear, so nobody misunderstands, I’m not saying Obama had less substance than Reagan did–I’m saying I suspect the audiences of 2008 have much shorter attention spans than the audiences of 1964. But even that may be false, I guess–after all, Goldwater lost, although probably that had more to do with his loose-cannon attitude than anything else.
The Debate is not about the Size of Government
If you follow politics, you probably hear a lot of people saying that the central debate in American politics is about the size of government.
Those people are wrong.
Most of them are not lying, however; they are just repeating something they heard from someone else. And they even have some evidence for the claim. After all, the Democrats tend to favor expanding Federal social programs, whereas Republicans favor cutting these programs.
But the tip-off that this really is not the central debate is that sometimes these positions get reversed. For example, the Republicans generally support increasing military spending, whereas Democrats favor cutting it. As fielding an army is one of the oldest and most basic functions of government, this clearly shows that the divide is a bit more complex than just some random debate over what percentage of GDP the Federal government outlays should comprise.
“Size of Government” is a vague concept anyway. What does it mean? Government outlays as a percentage of GDP? Number of people employed by the government? Even then, it’s not like “government” is some monolithic entity–is it spending most of its money on education or on the military, for example?
Then there are those who say the debate is over the “role of government”. This is so vague that you can’t really call it a lie, but you also cannot call it terribly useful. The role of government is to govern–the questions are, what kind of society shall it govern, and how shall it govern it?
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Stephanie McColl
Stephanie McColl discusses the benefits of the Bachelor of Science and her journey into the Master of Science (Earth Sciences).
05 Mar 2018 Master of Science (Earth Sciences)
Zebedee Nicholls
Zebedee Nicholls, a PhD candidate in the School of Earth Sciences, talks about returning home to study and the support and study resources available at the University of Melbourne.
28 Sep 2017 PhD (Earth Sciences)
Catherine Wheller
Catherine Wheller discusses her research as a PhD candidate in the School of Earth Sciences.
Dr John Allen
Dr John Allen, a graduate of the School of Earth Sciences, discusses his PhD research on severe thunderstorms in Australia.
Matilda O’Connor
Master of Science (Earth Sciences) student, Matilda O'Connor, discusses her love of geology and her advice to students looking to undertake research.
28 Sep 2017 Master of Science (Earth Sciences)
Jeremy Lee
Master of Science (Earth Sciences) student, Jeremy Lee, reflects on his study highlights and gives his advice for future students.
Bachelor of Science (Honours) student, Chloe Marie, reflects on her undergraduate studies.
28 Sep 2017 Bachelor of Science (Hons) (Geology)
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Find tickets from 26 dollars to San Francisco Giants at Colorado Rockies on Monday July 15 at 6:40 pm at Coors Field in Denver, CO
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Colorado Rockies Details
The Rockies joined Major League Baseball as an expansion team in 1993. The team has made a number of playoff appearances over the course of its short history.
Colorado’s first trip to the World Series started in exciting fashion, with a Wild Card berth that required them to win 14 of the last 15 games of the 2007 season. The Rockies kept winning in the playoffs, too. They beat the Padres in a one-game playoff, swept the Phillies in the NLDS, and then swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS. But Colorado’s amazing run came to an end in the World Series: they lost in four games to the Boston Red Sox.
Outfielder Larry Walker was the team's first-ever National League MVP, winning the award for the 1997 season. Walker, one of the greatest players in team history, hit .366 that season, with 49 home runs and 130 RBI. He also won a Gold Glove that year, one of seven over the course of his career. Walker was also a five-time All-Star.
Rockies fans might associate Walker with his longtime teammate Todd Helton, who played his entire 17-year career with the Rockies from 1997 to 2013. Helton is a career .316 hitter who hit 369 home runs for the Rockies and made five All-Star teams.
The Rockies’ home ballpark is Coors Field, located in Denver’s lower downtown area. Because baseballs travel farther in the dry Denver air, Coors Field has a reputation for being one of the most hitter friendly parks in baseball. The Rockies store their baseballs in a gigantic humidor in order to counteract the effects of Denver’s elevation. The center field bleachers at Coors Field are known as the Rockpile. Die-hard Rockies fans have sat in the Rockpile since the franchise’s first season when they played at Mile High Stadium.
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Colorado Rockies schedule
For a list of upcoming Rockies games, feel free to browse the game listings above. The 2019 Rockies regular season runs from March 28, when Colorado opens the season in Miami, to September 29, when the team hosts Milwaukee for the final game of the season.
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When do the Rockies play the Dodgers?
This 2019 season, the Rockies play the Dodgers nearly twenty times. Visit our for Rockies vs. Dodgers page to see all dates.
Colorado Rockies Top Matchups
The Colorado Rockies have a number of exciting matchups this season, see below for their top rivalries.
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Rockies fandom extends far beyond the Colorado borders
Based on an analysis of SeatGeek data published prior to the 2019 MLB season, Rockies "fandom" covers 162 counties in total, 98 of them outside of Colorado. Those counties make up nearly 400,000 square miles across Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Montana.
Only the Mariners -- who control Alaska and much of the Pacific Northwest -- top the Rockies when it comes to the team that covers the greatest land area. The Rangers, with large coverage of the country’s second-largest state of Texas, are third at roughly 340,000 square miles.
For a look at additional data and trends, you can find our full blog post on MLB fandom here.
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Hard To Say Goodbye
Xscape » Off The Hook
XscapeRnb90s Rnb
Xscape is a female American R&B quartet that had a string of hit songs during the early and mid 1990s. The original lineup of the group consisted of sisters LaTocha Scott ("Meatball") (born October 2, 1973) and Tamika Scott ("Juicy") (born November 19, 1975), along with Kandi Burruss (born May 17, 1976) and Tameka Cottle ("Tiny") (born July 14,1975).
The Scott sisters' father, Rev. Randolf Scott, was part of the 1970s R&B group Scott Three. The sisters sang at church throughout their childhoods while being trained by their father. Read Full BioXscape is a female American R&B quartet that had a string of hit songs during the early and mid 1990s. The original lineup of the group consisted of sisters LaTocha Scott ("Meatball") (born October 2, 1973) and Tamika Scott ("Juicy") (born November 19, 1975), along with Kandi Burruss (born May 17, 1976) and Tameka Cottle ("Tiny") (born July 14,1975).
The Scott sisters' father, Rev. Randolf Scott, was part of the 1970s R&B group Scott Three. The sisters sang at church throughout their childhoods while being trained by their father. In 1990, they met the other two members, Burruss and Cottle, in College Park, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta.
They first sang at Jermaine Dupri's birthday party in 1991 and later signed to his label, So So Def Recordings. They released their debut album, Hummin' Comin' At 'Cha, in October of 1993. The album featured their debut single, "Just Kickin' It", which reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, along with the other singles "Tonight", "Understanding", and "Love On My Mind".
Xscape's sophomore album, Off the Hook, was released in July of 1995. It featured the #1 hit "Who Can I Run To" (a cover of the song originally recorded by The Jones Girls) along with singles "Feels So Good", "Can't Hang", and "Do You Want To". During the next few years, they collaborated with different artists such as female rapper MC Lyte on the song "Keep On Keepin' On" and pop/R&B singer Mariah Carey on the Mr. Dupri Mix of her #1 song, "Always Be My Baby", which also featured rapper Da Brat.
They released their third album, Traces of My Lipstick, in May of 1998. It featured the singles "The Arms Of The One Who Loves You", "My Little Secret", "Am I Dreamin'", and "Softest Place on Earth". After the release of this album, the group parted ways.
Then after a five year hiatus Xscape returned to the radio airwaves. With three platinum albums and a slew of top 40 singles under their belt, the sultry R&B quartet, Xscape, is ready to release yet another spicy, seductive album, currently entitled Unchained. Sisters LaTocha and Tamika Scott have reunited with Tameka “Tiny” Cottle, and have added a new member, Keisha Miles, to round out their signature sound.
Xscape has been busy booking live performances across the nation following the growing success of “What’s Up”, the first single off the new album. The group recently opened for Alicia Keys in Houston and just performed on 100.3 The Beat’s 15th Anniversary Birthday Bash at the Universal Amphitheater.
01Do Your Thang1:52
02Feels So Good3:33
03Hard To Say Goodbye1:27
04Can't Hang3:46
05Who Can I Run To1:30
06Hip Hop Barber Shop Request Line0:49
07Do You Want To1:17
08What Can I Do1:05
09Do Like Lovers Do4:35
10Work Me Slow4:06
11Love's a Funny Thing5:28
12Keep It On The Real4:20
Hard To Say Goodbye 0:00 / 1:27
Xscape Track 1/12
Source: Xscape- Hard To Say Goodbye
by Xscape
Time has been short since you left me,
So I can't help but think,
Of how things between us used to be.
You were a piece of my heart,
And I thought we were swell,
Until you told me you were leaving,
To find a better life for yourself.
Oh I...
I wish we were together again,
Loving the way we used to love,
Boy I miss you much.
Oh how I'm missing you,
It's so hard for me to say goodbye.
You know that I love you,
And for you there ain't nothing in this world,
That I won't do.
If you would only come back to me,
And let me show you how loving me could be.
I, I've got feelings,
But you act like you don't care,
You treat me so unfair.
Love has no meaning,
Since you walked right out my life.
You've touched a part of me,
Can't you see that I'm in need of you?
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JERMAINE DUPRI, KANDI BURRUSS, KANDI L BURRUSS, MANUEL LONNIE SEAL, TAMEKA COTTLE, TAMEKA D COTTLE
Xscape- Hard To Say Goodbye
Xscape- Hard to say goodbye_Live
Xscape - Hard To Say Goodbye
Xscape. Hard to say goodbye
Xscape - Lets Do It Again ( Live )
Hard To Say Goodbye - Xscape
Xscape- Hard to say goodbye (cover)
So Hard To Say Goodbye
Monica - Never Can Say Goodbye
Boyz II Men - It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday (with lyrics)
Xscape singing "Tonight" live
Monifah HARD TO SAY GOODBYE
Jagged Edge - Goodbye
Washed Out- "Hard to Say Goodbye" [HD] Lyrics
Its so hard to say goodbye to yesterday-boyz to men
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CSU, New Belgium Brewing craft agreement creating New Belgium Porch at on-campus stadium
By Tony Phifer
The hospitality zone at the new CSU stadium will be called the New Belgium Porch.
The announcement of the agreement was made Aug. 8, at New Belgium Brewing.
Christine Perich, New Belgium CEO, and Joe Parker, CSU athletic director.
Alumni and supporters joined VP for Advancement Brett Anderson, right, at the event.
Perich and Parker shared the moment with CSU President Tony Frank.
Alumnus Lee Seward congratulated Frank after the announcement.
Two Fort Collins stalwarts – Colorado State University and New Belgium Brewing Company – today announced that the iconic brewery is donating $4.3 million to CSU’s on-campus stadium project.
The agreement gives New Belgium – creator of Fat Tire Belgian ale and other popular craft beers – naming rights to the north end zone hospitality area at the stadium, which will be called the New Belgium Porch.
The agreement builds on an already-robust relationship between Colorado State and New Belgium. In 2015 New Belgium co-founder and former CEO Kim Jordan announced a $1 million gift to update and renovate facilities utilized by CSU’s Fermentation Science and Technology program.
Expanded partnership
“We’re delighted to expand our partnership with New Belgium Brewing – and to honor the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit of our community by highlighting a tremendously successful, home-grown brand at the new stadium,” Colorado State President Tony Frank said. “I’ve had the privilege to work closely with Kim Jordan and more recently with Christine Perich on a variety of occasions, and I never cease to be amazed at the passion and creativity they bring to any challenge. We’re proud of them as CSU alumni, and we know that Colorado State University is just one of the many organizations that have benefited from the generous, community-minded spirit they continue to foster at New Belgium. We are truly grateful for their support of our students, academic programs and now a one-of-a-kind game-day experience for Rams fans.”
New Belgium CEO and CSU alumna Christine Perich
Jordan co-founded New Belgium in 1991 and was the longtime CEO before stepping down and tapping Perich as her successor. Perich has been instrumental in negotiating this agreement.
“This is another great opportunity for us to collaborate with Colorado State University and help support their athletic program,” said Perich. “We have more than 70 CSU alumni working at New Belgium, so the connection is deep and meaningful for us. It’s almost hard to imagine New Belgium without Colorado State considering all of the talent that has come out of there.”
Record-breaking fundraising
New Belgium’s gift is the latest is a series of fundraising milestones that set CSU apart from many of its peers:
CSU recently announced it had raised $197.8 million for the 2015-16 fiscal year – the most ever raised by a university campus in Colorado.
CSU in the spring received two anonymous $20 million gifts – one to name the field at the on-campus stadium in Sonny Lubick’s honor, and one to CSU’s Institute for Biologic Translational Therapies – and another $13 million for scholarships and infrastructure, including the Michael & Iris Smith Alumni Center at the new stadium, from alumnus Michael Smith.
CSU set records for both academics ($166 million), and athletics ($31.8 million) fundraising in 2015-16.
Athletics has increased its fundraising 440% since 2012 ($5.89M in FY 2011-12, $31.8M in FY 2015-16)
To date, CSU has raised more than $635 million in its quest to raise $1 billion through “State Your Purpose – The Campaign for Colorado State University.”
“New Belgium Brewing continues to be such a tremendous supporter of Colorado State University across the board,” said Brett Anderson, vice president for university advancement. “They invest in our students and our institutional success time and time again. Their gift to the new on-campus stadium speaks to their focus on community-building and their desire to support places and things that bring people together. We are so thankful for their continued partnership and support.”
Stadium fundraising ahead of projections
The New Belgium gift continues CSU’s powerful momentum in fundraising for the $220 million on-campus stadium. More than $51 million has been raised since the project was approved in December 2014. CSU fans are gobbling up premium seating for the highly anticipated inaugural season, with more than 90 percent of the entire inventory sold 13 months prior to the first game – representing 120 percent of the amount planned within the stadium’s financial model:
Seventeen of the 22 suites have been sold.
Indoor club seating is completely sold out.
Only a handful of loge boxes remain.
Fewer than 10 percent of outdoor club seats remain.
More than 2,300 commemorative bricks to be displayed in the north plaza have been sold, with nearly 1,600 of the bricks purchased by first-time donors to athletics.
“It is once again humbling for Colorado State to be the beneficiary of New Belgium’s generous support and vision for our future,” said Joe Parker, CSU’s director of athletics. “Together we will be able to create a unique game-day experience for our fans by introducing the New Belgium Porch; a gathering place that reflects the best of Colorado State and the culture of our community. We cannot thank New Belgium Brewing enough for their continued support.”
About New Belgium Brewing
New Belgium Brewing, makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale and a host of Belgian-inspired beers, is recognized as one of Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work and one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small Businesses. The 100 percent employee-owned brewery is a Platinum-level Bicycle Friendly Business as designated by the League of American Bicyclists, and one of World Blu’s most democratic U.S. businesses, and a Certified B Corp. In addition to Fat Tire, New Belgium brews ten year-round beers; Ranger IPA, Rampant Imperial IPA, Slow Ride Session IPA, Snapshot Wheat, Shift Pale Lager, Sunshine Wheat, 1554 Black Ale, Blue Paddle Pilsener, Abbey Belgian Ale and Trippel. Learn more at www.newbelgium.com.
AlumniAthleticsDivision of AdvancementOn-campus stadiumStadium
Tony Phifer
More posts by Tony Phifer
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In the course of an address delivered by Mr. T. Ponnambalam Pillay, M.R.A.S., the Retired Excise Commissioner of Travancore, at Chidambaram, on "Tamil learning" on the evening of the 9th January, before the Saiva Prakasa Vidya Salai, on his way back from Conjeevaram, after presiding over the Saiva Mahasamajam, he is reported to have given the following sketch of the life of the late Mr. Arumuga Navalar, the Famous Tamil Scholar, Philosopher, Saiva Theologian, preacher and founder of the above-said institution, and we have great pleasure in publishing the same for the benefit of the followers of the Saiva Siddhanta Religion.
Arumuga Navalar was born of respectable and wealthy parents, about eighty years ago in the Parish of Nallur in Jaffna. Everything in the world was in his favour, and his parents were therefore in a position to give him the best possible education, available at the time. As was usual, he was first inducted into Tamil, and Sanskrit was added to the curricula of his studies. Owing to the enterprise of Christian missionaries – particularly the American – English education had made rapid strides at the time in Ceylon, and it was sought even by people from the adjacent continent. As his education could not be completed without it, Navalar was given the benefit of it. At the time he completed his education missionary influence was dominant all over the Island. His guardians naturally turned to them in order to secure for their most promising ward, advancement in the world. The Missionaries on their part, were prepared to enlist him into their services, as his erudition and intelligence had already forced themselves on their attention. This kind of association with the missionaries was a good school for him for further study, which was in short, a kind of Post-graduate education. For during the short period he was connected with them, he had not only learnt their ways and the tenets of the Christian Religion in all its details, but also closely observed with great sorrow the harm they were inflicting on his own religion. Arumuga Navalar found that a large number of his countrymen were embracing Christianity, not on conviction, but owing to certain undesirable influences brought to bear on them. After a connection of some years with the missionaries, he thought that it was time for him to dissociate himself from them and work for the amelioration of his countrymen. His country was not the little island of Jaffna. It was the land where the Tamil language and the Tamil Religion – the Saiva Siddhanta were prevailing. It therefore lay between Pt. De Galle at the Southern extremity of Ceylon and the famous Venkadam – the modern Tirupathi, which is generally considered as the northern limit of the land of Tamil.
During the time he was employed under the missionaries our Navalar found time to improve his knowledge of his mother tongue, and that of his ancestral religion. He found capable teachers to help him, particularly in the latter. He ravenously devoured all that he was able to get hold of in that department. At the time he bid farewell to the missionaries, he was well versed in the Saiva Siddhanta including the Agamas. In those days, printed books were rare and owners of Manuscripts which were mostly engrossed on the leaves of the Palmyra palm, were not willing to part with them even as a temporary measure. Notwithstanding these difficulties, young Navalar did his best, but they were minimised owing to the respectable condition of the family library. Fully equipped as he was for his self-imposed task, he set his heart on preventing people from becoming converts to Christianity on insufficient knowledge. For he had no objection for any one of his co-religionists to embrace that faith on conscientious conviction. Aware of what he was about, the Christian missionaries – particularly those with whom he worked, treated him with the highest respect, and one of them even went to the length of writing a short account of his career. To attain the object he had in view, Navalar began with preaching the Saiva Siddhanta. Accustomed as he was to listen to the trained eloquence of the missionaries, in course of time, he became a perfect master in the art of public speaking, and his lectures were effective particularly whenever he touched on the shortcomings of the Bible. One of his duties when he was employed under the missionaries was to translate their Sacred books into Tamil, and this opportunity gave him every facility to study every portion of it carefully, compare notes with his own religious tenets and jot down whatever he considered to be defective in that great system. Those preaching's brought round him a large number of followers, and there was every sign of the revival of the Saiva Siddhanta within a short time. Respectable and wealthy people both in Ceylon and Southern India, co-operated with him and the late Ponnusamy Thevar, father of the late Pandi Thuraisami Thevar, and elder brother and Chief Minister the then Sethupathy of Ramnad was the foremost amongst them. This enabled Navalar to print and publish all the leading Tamil works on Religion and morality that had not seen the light of the day, and thus save them forth destruction. The printed books that existed then, with the exception of those that were brought out under the auspices of the defunct "old college" were full of grammatical and typographical mistakes. Navalar did also a great 'service' in bringing out correct editions of most of the important ones of these. I shall not trouble you with a list of the works published by him as they are known to you. His original works were in the direction of Prose writing as he wanted to be practical and be of real service to the public. The prose was all his own and the style inimitable. Excepting the late Thandavaraya Mudaliar – author of Panchatanthra in Tamil, Arumuga Navalar was the first to popularise Tamil prose. If we eliminate some of the great commentators who have written very terse and obscure Tamil Prose, it may fairly be said that he was the father of Tamil prose. His graduated Series of Readers for Schools, his catechisms of the Saiva Religion, and his prose renderings of the Periapuranam and Tiruvilayadal Puranam are excellent Tamil books. The University of Madras has complimented him by adopting the last mentioned books as texts for the B.A. and other examinations. It is generally supposed that he was not a poet. But, as I have already stated, the object of his whole life was to prove useful to the public, and he did not therefore want to waste his time in building high rhymes which he was able to do as is evident from some of the pieces that are extant.
In Jaffna he established a model School under the designation of "Saiva Prakaasa Vidya Salai" the first of the kind where secular and religious education was imparted to Hindu boys. The first batch of students of this institution were afterword's some of the greatest scholars of the day. When the students had passed out of the highest class, he had arranged for a system of post-graduate study, and whenever possible, he himself took up some of the subjects in that advanced class. The Saiva Prakasa Vidhya Salai did not stand alone. Similar institutions were founded by public-spirited men in other places on its model, and at the present moment they are spread all over the Province. The present Hindu College of Jaffna, though not directly founded by him, its existence is due to the influence of his teachings.
After making the necessary arrangements for carrying on the work of the School at Jaffna, and for periodical preaching of the Saiva Siddhanta, Arumuga Navalar left for Southern India where his fame had already preceded him, that he may work amongst the people there. Though it is thirty years since he met with his premature death, his name continues to be a household word both there and in Ceylon. He established his Head Quarters at Madras and founded a press to meet the increasing demands due to his activity. It may not be out of place to mention here that every farthing that was derived from the sale of books, was devoted to the institutions founded by him and other public beneficence. From Madras, he toured through the Southern districts, preaching the Saiva Siddhanta and the regeneration of Tamil. He also advocated reforms in the management of Saiva temples and charitable institutions such as the monasteries of Tiruvaduthurai and Dharmapuram. There is no doubt that people appreciated his labours, and this fact is evident from the formation of several societies to carry out the objects of his mission. But all of them died a natural death with the Oozing out of their enthusiasm on the part of the people, and our Navalar had to carry on his work single-handed. As a result of his teachings, the temple priests who were grovelling in ignorance, awoke to the situation and began to educate their sons and learn the Agamas. It was in this Sanctified place, (Chidambaram) that he worked harder than anywhere else, and it is refreshing to note that everything connected with the shrine here, is carried on, on authorised lines, that the Dikshathars (the priests of this particular temple) are educated and that they adopt every means in their power to spread education amongst that community. The recital of the Thevaram and other sacred hymns which was in a state of desuetude, was resuscitated and brought into every day practice. It is with pleasure I note that two Boarding Schools have been established in this city for the teachings of these hymns – one under the auspices of the Hon. Dewan Bahadur Ramasamy Chettiar and the other under the Mudaliars of the place. Under the scathing invective of Arumuga Navalar, the heads of the several Mutts which were dens of iniquity, were trembling in their shoes and were doing their best to reform themselves. In this city, he established this school on the model of the Saiva Prakasa Vidhya Salai at Jaffna. It is very gratifying to me to note that its records have been as satisfactory as the parent institution, and the present management speaks volumes in favour of those concerned, particularly as the school is conducted on the lines chalked out by its founder - the great Arumuga Navalar.
In doing his work, he met with considerable opposition, but he was able to carry everything before him. In the early days of his preaching, the title of Navalar was conferred on him by the learned in Southern India headed by that great Scholar and Philanthropist Ponnusamy Thevar, having been struck by his fervid eloquence, unparalleled as it was in those days. Though he had made Madras his headquarters, he visited Jaffna now and then, and towards his latter days, he spent his time there in introducing reforms amongst the Hindu Community and supervising his pet school. As in the case of all reformers, his life was short-lived. He died in Jaffna in the fifty-four year of his life before he was able to complete the work he had set to himself.
The late Arumuga Navalar was one of those rare spirits that lived for the sake of others extinguishing self altogether. The object of his whole life was to place his mother tongue in its pristine purity, and restore the Saiva Siddhanta to its place as one of the oldest religions of the world. The spirit he has infused has not died out, and I am sure that it will live till the Tamil language and Saiva Siddhanta lives. In Ceylon his memory is held green and every man and woman quote him as their authority for everything in their daily concerns. It may be safely said without exaggeration that but for him, no vestige of the Siddhanta would have been left in that island, and everybody would have embraced Christianity.
While ministering to the requirements of the Souls, Mr. Navalar did not neglect the material advancement of his people. He was always ready to further it and when occasion required he never hesitated to remedy any disabilities or political wrongs under which his countrymen were labouring, by heading any movement.
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Fashion Archives: A Look at the History of Gladiator Shoes
06.17.2017 | Fashion Fabric Sourcing
The gladiator look has made a comeback- this time looking a little more dressed up than it’s previous iteration as a sandal. Lace-up high heels have been all over the runways, and this version of the gladiator style has really taken off.
The Introduction of Footwear in Ancient Civilization
It’s almost as though footwear history has come full circle- the first version of shoes were the basis of what we are seeing on the runway today, basic soles that had been tied to the feet with cord. These were made about 10,000 years ago, but believe it or not, it actually took some time before people really started to wear shoes.
One would think society would immediately realize the benefits of comfort and cleanliness. But on the contrary, in its earliest years, footwear was typically representative of an unclean, material world, so most people preferred to go barefoot.
It was the ancient Greeks that made shoes and sandals fashionable. Their beliefs about footwear were quite different- they felt that their securely-laced sandals helped to separate them as mortals from the Underworld.
Between 1000-700 BCE. they were creating beautiful sandals for a variety of activities. Other than the added benefit of “protection” from a fiery doom, Greeks were more interested in form over function when it came to their footwear.
Though the strappy shoes were primitive in construction, they were often lavishly decorated with colorful dyes and rows of amulets (or cosmetikos). Everyone including courtesans, soldiers, and philosophers had a pair.
Roman Footwear
While the ancient world had many iterations, apparently the Roman Empire perfected the strappy sandal, because it is this version that designers have been modeling their shoe creations after even today.
After conquering Greece, the Romans went on to conquer shoemaking and created the iconic gladiator sandal. The gladiator style featured significant improvements: the straps and sole were reinforced with metal studs, and an upper was added, making the sandals more resistant to wear and tear. This allowed the Roman army to be able to travel further, and improved the performances of gladiators during their fights.
Roman gladiators were slaves and prisoners, pitted against one another in a fight to the death. The rare few able to survive several years of these fights were granted their freedom.
Thus, the shoes they wore became a symbol of strength and courage, and were a source of pride for the Roman Empire.
Wanting to exude these qualities without stepping into a fighting pit, members of the elite classes subsequently began commissioning luxurious versions of their own, featuring colors and embellishments that were off-limits to the rest of the population. After the Roman Empire fell, the art of sandal-making was largely lost for a time, and the gladiator sandal itself would disappear for well over a thousand years before resurfacing in the modern fashion world.
A New Era of Sandals
Strappy sandals began popping up in fashion and beachwear going into the 20th century. However, the full gladiator style didn’t start popping up on runways until the 1960’s.
This bold look featuring straps that snaked all the way up the leg paired perfectly with the mini skirt, which was wildly popular at the time. In 1968, Vogue even ran a full spread of Paco Rabanne looks, accessorized with the full-length, strappy gladiator shoes.
Patti Boyd was photographed by paparazzi decked out in a pair covered with fringe. The gladiator sandals’ classical origins and unconventional aesthetic appealed to 60’s counterculture, and fit right in with the hippie style of dress. This modern, high fashion take on these shoes shaped the style as we know it today.
Gladiators remained in fashion throughout the 70’s. However, their popularity waned in the 80’s and for much of the 90’s, save for a brief resurrection during Gianni Versace’s 1993 Spring collection, which borrowed heavily from ancient roman aesthetics.
It wasn’t for another ten years that gladiator shoes would make a full reappearance.
The early 2000’s marked the beginning of the gladiators’ most recent resurgence. Calvin Klein accessorized just about every outfit in the Spring/Summer 2002 collection with these strappy sandals. The collection set a new precedent for the shoe style- these gladiators were made from leather, linen, or satin, bringing softness and elegance to its look.
Other designers followed suit throughout the decade, creating their own fashionable takes on gladiators, adding details such as heels, metallic finishes, bright colors, or zippers.
The gladiator style continues to grow and change, with today’s versions typically consisting of a heel with gladiator-inspired laces or straps. This shoe is still going strong, and likely to stick around for a few more seasons at the very least.
Jessica Bucci
Jessica has been trained in a wide variety of textile and fiber processes, traditional as well as computer-aided, which she uses in both her design and sculptural work. Jessica has also served as a teaching assistant for beginning weavers and drawers.
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Former Steelers FB Kreider Enjoying The Retired Life
By Lucas Campbell
Long a fan favorite of the team, former Steelers fullback Dan Kreider seems to have been one of the last in a breed of dinosaurs at the position. In this, I mean the lead blocking, throwback-style fullbacks whose face masks got mangled each and every game and who’s primary responsibility was running into a brick wall of defenders on every play, while the running back’s who they blocked for received all the stats and glory.
A three-year starter at fullback for the University of New Hampshire, Kreider was in talks with a few teams leading up to the 2000 NFL Draft, including Pittsburgh and Miami.
“After the draft, I talked to the Steelers and they said, ‘Hey, come on in, we only have one fullback, Jon Witman, on the roster,’ so my agent and I felt this was the best fit,” Kreider said, according to Tom Arnold, a correspondent for LancasterOnline.com. “Miami wanted me to come down and try out.”
After going undrafted, he was picked up by Pittsburgh and eventually landed onto the practice squad. He actually lauds being put on the practice squad, even calling it a break of sorts, almost like a full college season between the practices and preseason games. However, five games into the season, his “redshirt” was removed whenever Witman went down with an injury and Kreider was pressed into duty, playing in the final 10 games. He was even voted by his teammates as the “Rookie of the Year” ahead of first and second-round picks like Plaxico Burress and Marvel Smith.
Despite never making a Pro Bowl, he was revered by fans as a punishing lead blocker for the likes of the soon-to-be Canton-bound Jerome Bettis, Duce Staley, Amos Zereoue and Willie Parker. His playing days in Pittsburgh ended after eight seasons and, much like many former Steelers, he ended his career with the “Pittsburgh West” of the NFL, the Arizona Cardinals in 2009.
Since his retirement from the game, Kreider has kept himself busy, including the joys of being a father and family man. His father, his brother and Dan all own investment properties around his hometown of Lancaster, PA and they work together maintaining them.
“I do everything from moving stuff around to maintenance,” he said, according to Arnold. “I keep myself busy.”
Post-football, Kreider shares the views of a lot of the “armchair quarterbacks” out there, including views on the concussion protocol of the league.
“When you’re a young guy coming up, you want to play through any type of injury,” Kreider said, according to Arnold. “You want to go out and impress the coaches. I can remember a couple times I went back on the field, and now I think, ‘What was I doing?’ ”
I hope the next generation of players will be better educated about the effects of concussions.”
He also feels players should step away from the game when the time is right, and doesn’t fault many of the younger players this past off season who, in their primes, decided to hang up the cleats, including several 49ers. In fact, Kreider injured his neck after signing with Arizona, and he didn’t make the decision: his body made it for him.
“One day while working out I felt something pop in my neck,” he said, according to Arnold. “I tried to play through it, but eventually had to tell the staff. After the 2009 season, they offered me a contract but there were too many stipulations, so I felt it was my body telling me to retire.”
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Singapore. The unintended consequences of abusing state authority
George W Bush went to war in Iraq in 2003 under false pretences, claiming it had weapons of mass destruction which turned out to be completely untrue. Not only that he deliberately side stepped the UN which specifically forbade military action. Beside the great loss of life and destruction resulting from his abuse of power, the US military suddenly found that their efforts at recruitment for the Army began to decline drastically. At one point, the Generals were so alarmed at the falling numbers of new recruits that they feared the security of United States itself may be threatened. Americans who all along took pride in serving in their armed forces were suddenly not wanting to have anything to do with it. George W Bush managed at one stroke to discredit the US Armed Forces by his subterfuge. The result was a discredited military shunned by his own people.
Take Lee Kuan Yew. Since the 1970s, he systematically and routinely abused the legal system by appointing corrupt judges to eliminate his political opposition. Over the years we have had a series of politically motivated cases where the opposition has been disgraced, imprisoned and bankrupted for nothing more than criticizing him and his government. His victims were as you know, JB Jeyaretnam and a series of others including myself and Dr. Chee Soon Juan who as we speak is being subjected to the same punishment now.
What this is done is to thoroughly discredit the legal system in Singapore. To the last man, every Singaporean has completely lost faith in the administration of justice in their country. And we see the same consequence in Singapore as America finds itself in. From my last communication with the Law Society in Singapore a couple of months ago, I understand there are no more than 3,000 lawyers in active practice in Singapore with a population of 4.5 million!
Imagine that. Singapore has a population of 4.5 million but it has only 3,000 lawyers! I had written about this in an earlier post. It is something like 1 lawyer for a about 1700 people! If indeed Singapore is a financial hub and various other hubs it claims to be, it has to have 10 times that number of lawyers.
The reason for the lack of lawyers is this. Lee Kuan Yew has managed single handedly to thoroughly disgrace and discredit the judiciary and Singapore police by openly using it as an instrument for suppressing dissent. Each time a political dissident is hauled to court on trumped up legal charges, the state controlled media gives it full publicity, thereby sending a signal to everyone the dire consequences of exercising one's civil rights.
Singaporeans I believe also have human values. And having values, they dislike having anything to do with the legal profession, let alone being a lawyer. So lawyers already practicing there are leaving the profession and there are no takers to join it.
What is worse, it is not just that the present lawyer population is small, in fact it is actually shrinking. In fact 10 years ago, there were more lawyers in Singapore than there are now.
Lee Kuan Yew may or may not have learnt his lesson which is this. Abusing the law has it's consequences. And one of which is this. You are not going to get young people to become lawyers. And without lawyers, any ideas of greatness is nothing more than a pipe dream.
The Common Man said...
I have been following your blog for quite some time now. I hope that you can take some personal criticism on your writing too.
I like the fact that you are taking on current events and showing your point of view for all to read. Its very fresh perspective, especially considering that local newspapers are quite one sided.
However, unlike local newspapers, which talk about variety of subjects, your blog seems to be mainly about Singapore Judges and Dr Chee.
Could you please please please please write about the man on the street (the Common Man) and some examples of how he/she is affected by the current events? It is after all the common man that you are appealing to. Or is your audience merely the Singapore Judiciary and people in the legal profession?
I’m a common man, and it would be nice of you to write about the more mundane stuff.
Hope you take this as a positive criticism, and improve your blog by writing about more varied topics. Its getting quite boring reading the same stuff in different sentences.
Sun Mar 22, 07:22:00 PM PDT
I've personally known lawyers who got out of the profession to:
1. teach in schools, instead of practise, and not even at university (instead of practise);
2. retrain as a doctor;
3. become a theatre actor
4. become a dancer with the Singapore Ballet Company.
All of them have privately said that they did not want to muddy their hands in a corrupt system. And mind you, they were not talking about the courrupt system that we think kicks in only in politically sensitive cases - they wer referring to your average joe in trouble with the law.
Mon Mar 23, 08:29:00 AM PDT
To the common man,
Thank you for your letter. I am writing for the common man. It is the absence of the rule of law that affects every aspect of life of the common man. Without that you have nothing.
Mon Mar 23, 01:56:00 PM PDT
I for one enjoy and always look forward to Gopalan's new entries.
Though I agree with you that he does repeat his messages all the time, I feel it is a necessity. I call it drumming it in. Just like advertising, repetition is a powerful thing. Say a thing often enough and people remember.
If you ask me, I think Singaporeans are in dire need of repeated deconditioning.
Keep up the hammering, Gopalan.
I'm a bit concerned with recent developments in Singapore. It appears that merely witnessing an "illegal" protest is now an offense. One blogger claimed that he had been interrogated and threatened by police over his postings. Another blogger has been "missing" for a couple weeks. Today a popular blog, SingaporeMind, was shut down. If the above are true, they are alarming developments.
Perhaps election is imminent. Recall that they banned political podcast and postings prior to the last election.
Tue Mar 24, 08:33:00 AM PDT
Renaldi said...
what's happening in Singapore is saddening.
The people of Singapore has been under siege from its own government.
The corrupt government of Singapore has taken possession of the people of Singapore much like the devil taking possession of a person. That person is subdued much like the people of Singapore has been subdued by corrupt ruler.
Tue Mar 24, 06:14:00 PM PDT
Hope everyone is reading of the latest "crackdowns" (on websites), the arrest of a blogger and the disappearance of another on http://wayangparty.com/. Also read the chatter that's going on in forums like 3in1kopitiam.
This is despotic rule at its height.
Classified said...
At last there are people who can see through the deception of the Singapore government!
Singapore is Disneyland with the Death Penalty. The Singapore government manipulates it's citizens to be docile and afraid to speak out, while making it seem as though Singapore is "clean" and "perfect".
Thank you very much for writing this blog Gopalan, keep going!
The voice of truth can not be silenced!
Same Same to the journalists ~~~ have you seen another uninspiring newspaper than the Straitjacket Times aka 154th aka Lee's Newsletter.
(The last alias is invented by me) But I think I will lose the fun of writing too if I am ranked 154th.
Thu Mar 26, 05:28:00 AM PDT
Singapore Island. Now a complete concentration cam...
Singapore. The unintended consequences of abusing ...
Singapore is "Grooming youth leaders"
Singapore. Minds destroyed
Singapore. Singapore charges another journalist
The dirty tricks of the government of Singapore.
Singapore. The effectiveness of activism for democ...
"Stability is priority", Lee Kuan Yew's Singapore ...
Lee Kuan Yew, the Singapore strongman welcomes new...
Singapore is giving up the business of money laund...
A worrying time for the one party state Singapore'...
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Peisong Han, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Biostatistics
Office : 734-615-7439
peisong@umich.edu
Michigan Experts Profile
Peisong Han is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics. He received his Ph.D. in Biostatistics from the University of Michigan in 2013. Before joining the University of Michigan in 2018, Dr. Han was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science at the University of Waterloo in Canada from 2013 to 2017. His primary research interests include (i) missing data problems in public health studies and survey sampling, and (ii) data integration, especially when summary information is available for some studies and individual-level data is available for others.
Ph.D., Biostatistics, University of Michigan, 2013
M.S., Statistics, Michigan State University, 2008
B.S., Mathematics, University of Science and Technology of China, 2006
Missing data problems; Data integration; Biased sampling problems; Case-control studies; Survey sampling; Empirical likelihood; Longitudinal(correlated/clustered) data analysis; Estimating functions
Han, P., Kong, L., Zhao, J., and Zhou, X. (2019) A General Framework for Quantile Estimation with Incomplete Data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society - B. To appear.
Han, P., and Lawless, J. F. (2019) Empirical Likelihood Estimation Using Auxiliary Summary Information with Different Covariate Distributions. Statistica Sinica. To appear.
Han, P. (2018). A Further Study of Propensity Score Calibration in Missing Data Analysis. Statistica Sinica, 28, 1307-1332.
Han, P. (2018). Calibration and Multiple Robustness When Data Are Missing Not At Random. Statistica Sinica, 28, 1725-1740.
Han, P. and Lawless, J. F. (2016). Discussion of "Constrained Maximum Likelihood Estimation for Model Calibration Using Summary-level Information from External Big Data Source" by Chatterjee, Chen, Maas and Carroll. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 111, 118-121.
Han, P. (2016). Combining Inverse Probability Weighting and Multiple Imputation to Improve Robustness of Estimation. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, 43, 246-260.
Han, P., Song, P. and Wang, L. (2015). Achieving Semiparametric Efficiency Bound in Longitudinal Data Analysis with Dropouts. Journal of Multivariate Analysis, 135, 59-70.
Han, P. (2014). Multiply Robust Estimation in Regression Analysis with Missing Data. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 109, 1159-1173.
Han, P. (2014). A Further Study of the Multiply Robust Estimator in Missing Data Analysis. Journal of Statistical Planning and Inference, 148, 101-110.
Han, P. and Wang, L. (2013). Estimation with Missing Data: Beyond Double Robustness. Biometrika, 100 (2), 417-430.
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Findings Fall 2010
From the Dean: The Power of this Place
The Peace Corps Changes Lives
Collaboration's Many Branches
Where We Live: Neighborhoods
Our Town: Tecumseh
Mexico & Caribbean: Migrations
Europe: Public Health Plans
Roadways: Air Pollution & Health
Kenya: Mosquito Nets for Rural Areas
China: Fighting Infectious Disease
Artley Recycling on Campus
Ho at Cleveland Clinic Adu Dhabi
Smith in the Philippines
Auld on Michigan
Parekh's View from D.C.
On The Heights
PUBHLTH 200 & an Old Lab
Lessons from Deepwater Horizon
Summer Interns' Window Views
Obama & CDC's Frieden: UM '10
SPH Digest
Student Snapshot
On October 14, 1960, John F. Kennedy challenged students at the University of Michigan to serve their country in the cause of peace by living and working in developing countries. Fifty years later, his vision is still transforming lives. (More about Peace Corps at Michigan.)
How did the Peace Corps change you? That's the question we put to more than a dozen School of Public Health students, alumni, faculty, and staff who have volunteered for the corps since its inception on the steps of the Michigan Union in 1960. Today, UM ranks fourth among U.S. universities in the total number of volunteers (2,331, as of last year) to have served in the corps, and SPH has contributed dozens upon dozens of volunteers. A sampling of their stories follows.
Sierra Leone, 1962-1964, Marvin E. Hanson
SPH degree: MPH '69, medical care administration
The Peace Corps was officially established on March 1, 1961, and Marvin E. Hanson began his service the following year. Because the organization was in its infancy, and because Sierra Leone was "very much a developing country," Hanson says he and his fellow volunteers were to a large extent "left to our own devices as to how we were to be of service." If a school needed Latin teachers, they taught Latin. If a community needed a school, they helped build one. "We were young, we were challenged, we were needed (I think), and we were having fun," Hanson recalls. "My eyes were moist when it was time to leave my village of Pujehun after two years."
"Whenever I've had to prepare a resume or a job application, my lead item, front and center, was that I was among the first Peace Corps volunteers and that I am a graduate of the University of Michigan. In fact, I think I will have my eulogy begin with those two major accomplishments."
Liberia, 1969-1972, Robert Wolfe
Current job: Professor Emeritus of Biostatistics, UM SPH
Robert Wolfe and his wife, Janet, spent three years teaching science and math to high-schoolers in Liberia, mostly in Monrovia, the capital. Wolfe says the experience taught him a lot about being an American and opened his eyes to the ways that different cultures and perspectives "lead us to make different assumptions about how things are and how they work." Among other things, he learned that "perspective is local, and what's important in Africa is very different from what's important in the U.S. And you work on what's important where you are."
"Before I went to Liberia I was in graduate school, in mathematics, which is a field in which you make up problems and then solve them. After coming back I became a statistician, which is a field where you look at the problems around you and try to solve them. The Peace Corps had a tremendous impact upon my career choice, and it's undoubtedly why I'm in public health."
South Korea, 1972-1975, Tom Moore
SPH degree: MPH, '77, environmental health sciences
Current job: Staff toxicologist, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
As a tuberculosis-control officer, Tom Moore worked on a government-sponsored treatment program aimed at reducing the number of active TB cases in South Korea (approximately four percent) between 1972 and 1975. The program was already quite robust, Moore says, and he and his fellow volunteers merely "added a bit more manpower. Any Peace Corps volunteer will tell you that what you experience on a personal level is much more of a reward than what you're actually able to provide in terms of any expertise, particularly as a 23-year-old." Moore says he is "still living the experience." He met his wife, Jeong, during his Peace Corps service, and they have a daughter whom Moore teases for being a "Peace Corps kid."
"An important aspect of the international experience is the opportunity to compare and contrast the cultures of different societies by living closely with members of that other culture. Koreans, being a Confucian-based society, have a quite different perspective on personal and familial relationships that we as Americans don't necessarily embrace. We emphasize individual achievement—our own individuality—and it tends to isolate us. Whereas in Korean society, there's much more demand on the individual within the family to conform to certain expectations. But at the same time you can draw strength from the support that other family members provide."
Kenya, 1978-1980, Monica Dynowski Smith
SPH degree: MPH, '85
Current job: Human Capacity Development Specialist, U.S. CDC Global AIDS Program, Botswana
The year after she graduated from college, Monica Dynowski Smith signed up for the Peace Corps and wound up teaching English and biology in a secondary school in rural Kenya. Having grown up in suburban Los Angeles, "quite literally not thinking too much about where eggs and beef come from, she says, Smith found life in rural Africa quite eye-opening.
"One of my brightest students in Kenya got pregnant and had to drop out of school. So I went to the local family-planning agency and asked them to come and speak to the students, and they said they couldn't, because they weren't allowed to provide such information to teens. So I got very much more interested in population and over-population, and that's what led me to Michigan. After completing my MPH, I became one of the first UM Population Fellows and was posted to Botswana, where I still live. I think had I not joined the Peace Corps, I might be in California working for city government as a planner or something—who knows? The Peace Corps made me want to go overseas again and do something important."
Nepal, 1988-1990, Peter Rycus
SPH degree: MPH, '93, population planning and international health
Current job: Registry manager, Extracorporeal Life Support Organization (ELSO), UM Department of Surgery
Peter Rycus spent his first year in Nepal teaching math, science, and English in the public school system, and his second year conducting teacher-training sessions for math and science teachers. He met his wife, Meena Bajracharya, during his service, and the two return to Katmandu whenever possible with their son to visit Meena's family. Rycus says a key part of his Peace Corps service was the knowledge and experience he brought back with him to the U.S. You're not USAID," he says. "You're not going to make huge differences on a big scale. You're going to make friendships, and make small differences for a few people."
"In Nepal, everyone just likes talking. Over here in the States, it's a beautiful day, and my wife is, like, 'Where is everyone?' Well, everyone is inside watching TV. In Nepal, they're outdoors. It's a whole society. When you go to parties, whole families go together. They all get along, and they're all playing. Here, people are so segregated by their age groups. Family is very, very big over there, compared to here."
Mali, 1989-1991, Kris Holloway
SPH degree: MPH '96, dual degree in public health policy and administration and health behavior and health education
Current job: Director of University Relations and Marketing, Center for International Studies, Northampton, Massachusetts
Although originally sent to rural Mali to plant trees, Kris Holloway quickly realized she could be more effective by supporting an "amazing" young midwife named Monique Dembele, and so Holloway spent her two years in the Peace Corps working in the area of women and children's health, with a focus on birth, infancy, and nutrition. Despite "zero prior training" in midwifery, Holloway grew to love the work—and Monique. She says, "Monique was the real change agent. I simply reflected her best ideas back to her so she could see how good they were." Holloway and her husband, John Bidwell, a fellow Peace Corps volunteer, kept in touch with Monique long after they'd left Mali and even brought her to the U.S. for a visit. Monique died in childbirth in 1998. In 2006, Holloway published a book about their friendship, Monique and the Mango Rains, which has been optioned for a film..
"Mali's still changing me. I met my husband there. I am in touch with Monique's kids, all young, growing adults now. I'm still fundraising for her clinic. My kids talk to her parents. For me, my Peace Corps experience isn't like this isolated experience that I look back on—it's an ongoing part of who I am and what I do. It's expanded my definition of who I consider my family to be."
Ecuador, 1996-1998, Shelley Coe Stoll
SPH degree: MPH '96, health behavior and health education
Current job: Research specialist, UM Center for Managing Chronic Disease, Ann Arbor
A class on community-organizing with UM SPH Professor Barbara Israel helped convince Shelley Stoll to volunteer for the Peace Corps, where she knew she'd have the opportunity to live for a long time among people in another culture and "really get to know them." Stoll spent two years in Ecuador working as a community health educator, helping to create sustainable community-improvement programs, offering nutrition and cooking classes to women and sex-education programs to teens, and even helping to launch a cooperative to raise chickens.
"Another thing I really liked is that people in my village did not live separated from nature. Most Ecuadorians may not have a lot of material goods, but they enjoy this beautiful country. Living there really emphasized to me how most people in the U.S. are so disconnected from the natural world. One of the things I can't stand about malls is that they're all manmade, artificial stuff, and there's no natural beauty. I still avoid them."
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, 1997-1999, Rebecca Cheezum
Current job: Fourth-year UM SPH doctoral student, health behavior and health education
Rebecca Cheezum had been out of college just five weeks when she joined the Peace Corps in 1997. "I had wanted to live in a developing country for a long time," she remembers, "so Peace Corps seemed a financially feasible way to do that. And it was an opportunity to do something positive." As a volunteer in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Cheezum ran programs for high school-aged students that focused on topics like personal development, sex education, drug and alcohol use, and self-esteem. She also helped run the country's first HIV-prevention group.
"I'd come from a pretty sheltered background, and so seeing what poverty looks like, and having close friends and people that I truly cared about living in severe poverty, was hard. Some of my friends had to leave school. They were very intelligent, but they couldn't finish school because they didn't have enough money for books and paper and pens. They'd come to my house to visit, and they wouldn't have eaten because they didn't have food. That experience was what led me to public health. I didn't even know what public health was until I was there, but seeing some of these circumstances, and the impact they had on people's health, was powerful to me. I wanted my career to be related to reducing these disparities, hopefully, or at least reducing the impact they might have on people's health."
Kyrgyzstan, 1999-2001, Jennifer Dickson Keith
Current job: Research associate, Public Health Management Corporation, Philadelphia
Her job as an English teacher in a small village in Kyrgyzstan led Jennifer Dickson Keith to do leadership and environmental work with young people, including orphans, and that experience "absolutely, 100 percent pushed me into public health," Keith says. Living in a mountainous region of the country with poor access to fresh food also fueled her interest in nutrition and health. Although she misses the friends she made in Kyrgyzstan, Keith doesn't miss the cold. "It's nice to have the seasons back, all four of them, instead of just two—cold and colder."
"A lot of the ways the Peace Corps changes you sound like little things, but they add up. To this day, I just don't shower that much. In Kyrgyzstan I was in the mountains, so it was cold eight months out of the year, and I showered about once a month. You would never undress all at the same time because you would freeze. That stuck with me, and today, I'm, like, 'Nope, not today, no need.' When I got back to the U.S. I went to a supermarket with my sister, and she had to lead me out by the hand, I was so overwhelmed. Things like packaging—if I see food in excessive packaging, I just can't buy it."
Burkina Faso, 2000-2001, Rebecca Coulborn
SPH degree: MPH Õ08, epidemiology
Current job: Epidemiologist, Doctors without Borders, Nigeria
From the start, Rebecca Coulborn found herself humbled by her surroundings in Burkina Faso. Working as a community-health volunteer, she taught residents of her village the science behind various diseases and then watched as members of a village theater troupe took the information she'd given them, developed it into a skit, translated the skit into multiple languages, and performed it on market days. "They were amazing," Coulborn remembers. Her Peace Corps work made her rethink her priorities and "definitely motivated me to want to work internationally for a good portion of the rest of my life," she says.
"I find it a very humbling experience to live in this setting. It really makes me appreciate all the blessings IÕve had in my life. I still take things for granted— think that's human—but it makes me appreciate what I have so much more. Yeah, you have to put up with heat, you have to put up with insects, with electricity that comes and goes. But you live so much more deeply in Africa. It's very common in many countries in Africa to stop strangers and ask, 'How are you?' and 'How is your family?' And to really ask these questions, not just passively, and to really want the answer. It's really community-focused, and that's something we miss out on in the West. We're always so stressed and pressed for time. I think that Africans have it right in terms of stopping and smelling the roses."
Fiji, 2003-2005, Katrina Ellis
SPH degree: MPH/MSW '08
Current job: First-year UM SPH doctoral student in health behavior and health education
During her Peace Corps service, Katrina Ellis lived in the coastal city of Sigatoka, where she worked as a health-promotion officer with Fiji's Ministry of Health, developing and presenting health information on a range of topics, including nutrition, infectious disease, physical activity, and sexuality. She also gave free aerobics classes. The experience "definitely transformed me," she says. "The Peace Corps is what brought me into the field of health and social work and led me back to grad school."
"Fiji is a very communal place. A lot of things are centered around community and religion, and people may stay in the villages or communities where they were born for their whole lives. Seeing things from that perspective made me more interested in learning how cultural and social factors affect people's health, family behaviors, and health-related decision-making. That's something that really stuck out: how one person's health impacts the community. Seeing that in a different culture led me to reflect on things that I had experienced in the States with my own family and made me want to find ways to assist individuals and families here on the road to wellness."
Morocco, 2006-2008, Terry (Callan) VanDuyn
Current job: Content developer, HealthMedia, Inc., Ann Arbor
As a community health educator in a remote village high in the Atlas Mountains, Terry (Callan) VanDuyn learned the meaning of the word "cold." Most houses were unheated, and VanDuyn learned to fill her Nalgene bottle with hot water at night and cuddle up to it. "You start to complain," she remembers, "and then you realize everyone around you has been dealing with this for their whole life, and you're, like, what are you complaining about? Put on another blanket." VanDuyn taught basic sanitation skills (teeth-brushing, washing hands with soap and water), worked on an irrigation project, and trained women to conduct health-education sessions.
"I tried to start a lot of projects that did not end up being successful, but I think that was a good part of the experience-- learning to experience a not-success not as a failure, but as progress towards something."
Honduras, 2007-2009, Allison O'Donnell
Current job: First-year MPH student, health management and policy
If there's such a thing as Peace Corps DNA, Allison O'Donnell has it. Her grandfather Kevin O'Donnell served as the first director of the Korean Peace Corps, from 1966 to 1970, and as the fourth director of the Peace Corps itself, from 1971 to 1972. Her aunt Megan Patton worked for the Peace Corps in Nepal in the 1980s. "I always had the notion I wanted to do Peace Corps," Allison says. In Honduras, Allison helped distribute water-purification filters to rural households and conducted HIV-prevention sessions with taxi drivers and prison inmates, among others. As an SPH student, she's perpetuating another family legacy: her father, Michael O'Donnell, received his Ph.D. from SPH in 1994.
"Honduras made me much more relaxed and flexible and laid-back and easygoing. The concept of time is a lot different there, and I had to learn how to accept things moving at a slower pace. I also had to learn how to be flexible and deal with all sorts of last-minute changes whenever I planned a meeting or an event. Being back in America, that's really helped me to just be OK with things going wrong, people canceling, stuff not happening the way it's supposed to happen."
Botswana, 2010-2012, Omosalewa Oyelaran
SPH degree: MPH/MHSA '07, health behavior and health education, health management and policy
In April, Omosalewa Oyelaran began her Peace Corps service in Botswana, where she is a district community liaison for the Tonota subdistrict, which includes some 13 villages. All Peace Corps volunteers in Botswana work to support the country's National AIDS Coordinating Agency's Strategic Framework, aimed at preventing new infections by 2016. Omosalewa works primarily to promote and coordinate HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and education activities among community agencies. She's also involved with the women's and adolescent support groups. Because today's Peace Corps is committed to community-capacity building, Omosalewa says she relies heavily on both evidence- and community-based principles she learned at SPH. She spent her first few months in Botswana assessing community needs so that the services she provides during her stay can meet those needs, enhance the lives of district residents, and be sustainable long after she leaves.
"If people are interested in doing the Peace Corps, I would say to them, do it, and know that it's a service. I think some people are, like, 'I'm going to do the Peace Corps and change the world.' But really, you're going to change yourself, and you're going to have an impact on a small portion of something. It's not the whole world--but change happens one step at a time, and that step can move an individual, a group, or an organization forward by an inch or by five or 500 inches."
By Leslie Stainton.
Preview of Peace Corps documentary video to be broadcast in late fall on public television and the Big Ten Network:
Tomorrow's Volunteers
It's fitting that Whitney Goldman and Jacob Deering met during a class at Michigan on developing countries, because that's where they're going to spend their first two years as newlyweds. The two SPH graduates (MPH, '10) got married in August and are now waiting to hear where the Peace Corps plans to send them later this year or early the next. Africa is high on the list of possibilities—a prospect both find appealing, given that they did an SPH internship together in South Africa in 2009. Goldman has also done volunteer work in Ghana and Kenya.
Why the Peace Corps? Deering, a native of Traverse City, Michigan, says he's eager to learn all he can about the world. "From language to customs, it's nice to get out of your comfort zone." Goldman, who grew up in suburban Chicago, says she appreciates the perspective that overseas work provides. "People are often just working so hard to have an existence that we take for granted here. Seeing that is really humbling."
Unlike many who volunteer fresh out of college, Goldman and Deering come to the Peace Corps with rigorous graduate training in public health and are therefore likely to be paired with a local organization that can utilize those skills. Despite the many challenges they know they're likely to confront—isolation, linguistic and cultural barriers, tough living conditions—the two are eager to serve in the corps. "It's the best thing you could ever ask for," says Goldman. "One of the most formative experiences in your life, and you get to share it with the person that you love most in the world."
Deering is hopeful they'll wind up in a rural setting. "I'm really looking forward to being disconnected from things that plug in," he says with a grin.
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LeBron James signs his contract with the Lakers
Sorry, Joel Embiid, but LeBron James isn’t going to just Trust the Process and bounce from Los Angeles to Philadelphia. Instead, King James signed his four-year contract on Monday.
Officially signed with the @Lakers @KingJames pic.twitter.com/A5jHZxXEP4
— Klutch Sports Group (@KlutchSports) July 10, 2018
Even though there were calls for James to pull out of his deal with Los Angeles, this was always going to be the end result. He’s made his choice, which was certainly heavily influenced by his desire to continue furthering his influence in Hollywood and continue building his production company.
James’ four-year deal in Los Angeles gives the Lakers at least three years to do something positive before he has an option to potentially bounce.
The Lakers have been busy bringing in other veterans to help James and Co. be competitive in the ultra-difficult Western Conference this next season. Adding the likes of Rajon Rondo and Lance Stephenson should add toughness and help defensively.
But ultimately, it’s going to come down to whether the young talent on Los Angeles’ roster can continue to grow and thrive under the leadership of James, who always seems to make his teammates better.
Most fans seem to get that, while at least a few aren’t convinced this will turn out well.
Predicting the NFL’s eight last place teams in 2019
Vincent Frank - July 9, 2019
Winners and losers from Russell Westbrook blockbuster
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mysvu| Calendar| Directory| Jobs| Tools
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Stephanie Hardy Appointed Director of Library Services
Hannah King · June 12, 2015
Southern Virginia University Provost Madison U. Sowell announced that Stephanie Hardy, former instructional services librarian, has been appointed the university’s new director of library services.
“She has been working full time in the Von Canon Library since 2012,” said Provost Sowell. “In addition to her graduate degree in library science, she has enjoyed considerable management experience in the private sector.”
Hardy will replace Dr. Christopher Richardson, who served as director of library services for nearly four years. Richardson will now serve as the library director and director of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at Union Presbyterian Seminary in Richmond.
“One of my greatest joys as provost has been working with Dr. Christopher Richardson,” said Provost Sowell. “He is truly ‘a man for all seasons.’ He served as interim library director from August to December 2011 and then was appointed as library director in January 2012. He has performed exemplary work as an administrator, librarian, and professor; he will be sorely missed.”
Hardy said that she was “ecstatic and very humbled” to be selected for the position.
“Christopher has been a wonderful mentor and example for me from day one,” she said. “Under his direction, the library is not just meeting the needs of the students and the faculty, but exceeding them. We want to continue to have customer service at the forefront of our goals, and to proactively find new and creative ways to connect people with information resources.”
Hardy received a master’s degree in library and information science from San Jose State University and a bachelor’s degree in psychology with an emphasis in learning and cognition from Brigham Young University. She and her husband, Kenneth Hardy, owned a real estate company for a number of years. She also has experience working as a real estate consultant and project manager for developments including Monterra Realty. The Hardys have seven children — five of whom have attended Southern Virginia — and 15 grandchildren.
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Tag Archives: Bernie Lomax
Labor Day Weekend at BERNie’s
Posted on September 7, 2015 by synchromiss
The BURNing Man festival took place under the sign of VIRGO, during the week leading up to LABOR DAY, the LABOR DAY WEEKEND, and in the DESERT on the SAND.
The BURNing MAN event of 2015 took place during the last MO[O]Nday in August until the first MO[O]Nay in SeptEMBER. This year it started under a “superMOON.”
Welcome, VIRGO!
Then, we have JEWish VIRGOan Presidential candidate BERNie SANDers, whose birthday coincides with the BURNing MAN event. BURNing MAN ends on SeptEMBER the 7th, 2015, while Mr. SANDers’ birthday begins on the 8th. We find the word EMBER (meaning “FIRE“) in SeptEMBER. During BURNing MAN, a large wooden effigy known as “the MAN” is set aFIRE, or BURNed, at the culmination of the festival. The culmination ritually takes place on a SATUR[N]day.
BERN, “the MAN.”
Feel the BERN/BURN, MAN!
The film “WEEKEND at BERNie’s” stars Andrew McCarthy, who moved to BERNARDsville, New Jersey as a teenager and attended the town’s public high school BERNARDs High School. The film’s setting takes place in the NEW YORK Hamptons, a beach surrounded by SAND. BERNie SANDers is a NEW YORK native.
Andrew McCarthy starred in “St. Elmo’s FIRE.” The setting for the sequel “WEEKEND at BERNie’s II” takes place in the VIRGIN ISLANDs. “Richard,” played by JEWish actor Jonathan Silverman (SILVER MOON), is poisoned in the film, and must receive the blood of a VIRGIN in order to be cured.
In BERN, Switzerland, there is a famous sculpture called the “Ogre Fountain” or “the Kindlifresserbrunnen,” which translates to “Fountain of the Eater of Little CHILDREN.” Theories suggest it’s a depiction of a JEW, the Greek god CRONUS eating his CHILDREN, or the Roman god SATURN eating the months. Another theory suggests it’s a carnival character intended to scare DISOBEDIENT CHILDREN. One can view those who attend BURNing MAN are seen as DISOBEDIENT CHILDREN. SATURN, the god of AGRICULTURE, is very similar to VIRGO, in that VIRGO (Greek-Demeter/Roman-Ceres) is another sign representing the HARVEST. SATURN is depicted with a sickle, or ears of CORN. The constellation VIRGO is depicted holding a sheaf of wheat.
SATURN, the CORN god. CORN/CRONus.
VIRGO, the sign we are currently under, is depicted holding the wheat.
BERNard Nadler was a character on the show LOST. The show took place on a DESERTed ISLAND surrounded by SAND. There’s a famous ROSE garden (“ROSEgarten”) also located in BERN, Switzerland. The character who played BERNard was married to a woman named ROSE.
LOST’s BERNard Nadler (right), and ROSE (left) DESERTed on an ISLAND surrounded by SAND.
The ROSE Garden (ROSEngarten), Bern, Canton BERN, Switzerland
BURNing MAN takes place in Nevada’s BLACK ROCK DESERT. The BLACK ROCK was the ship found shipwrecked on the LOST ISLAND.
LOST’s “BLACK ROCK.”
Back to the MOON:
The 2015 MTV VMAs (which took place on August 30th) coincided with a superMOON. The MOONman is the trophy awarded to the winners. “WALK the MOON” debuted their hit song “Shut Up and Dance” during the preshow awards. The song was also nominated for “best ROCK video.” Kanye West received the “Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.” Michael Jackson is a.k.a. the MOONWALKer. He was also a VIRGO, and synchronistically had a birthday just a day before the VMAs aired (August 29th). This is also the day of the superMOON.
The MOONman award.
How does LABOR Day (the day women give bEARTH) take place under the sign of the VIRGIN (VIRGO)? This IS the question. 😉 Hope everyone is having a good LABOR Day WEEKEND!
The WEEK[E]ND performed at the 2015 VMAs, and was nominated for “Best Male Video.”
The WEEK[E]ND‘s on FIRE!
Posted in 5D, Age of Aquarius, alien, aliens, allegory, Apophenia, archetype, archetypes, Ascension, astrological archetype, astrological archetypes, astrology, astrotheology, cloudship, cloudships, Code Cracking, Codes, conspiracy, cosmology, Crystals, Divine FEmiNINE, Energy Work, Esoteric, etymology, extraterrestrial, extraterrestrials, gematria, Healing, Health, Jupiter, language, lightship, lightships, lightworker, lightworkers, Logo, Logos, metaphor, metaphors, metaphysical, metaphysics, mysticism, mythology, Nature, numbers, numerology, occult, occultic, occultism, paranormal, Pareidolia, Pi, pop culture, sacred bull, sacred cow, Sacred Masculine, Semiology, Semiosis, semiotic, Semiotics, Shift, Sigil, Sigils, spiritual, starseed, starseeds, Symbol, Symbolism, Symbols, Sync, Synchromysticism, Synchronicity, tarot, Taurus, The Shift, UFO, Uncategorized | Tagged 2015 Video Music Awards, 2015 VMAs, 2016 Presidential election, 3D, 4D, 5D, 6D, agriculture, allegory, Andrew McCarthy, Apophenia, archetype, archetypes, ascension, astrological archetype, astrological archetypes, astrology, August, Bern, Bern Switzerland, Bernard, Bernard Nadler, Berne Switzerland, Bernie Lomax, Bernie Sanders, Black Rock, Black Rock Desert, Black Rock Desert Nevada, Black Rock LOST, Black Rock ship LOST, burn, burner, burners, Burning Bush, Burning Man, Bush, Ceres, code, code cracking, codes, corn, Cornus, cosmology, Cronus, Decode, decoded, Demeter, Egyptian mythology, ember, embers, esoteric, esoteric studies, esoteric symbolism, esotericism, Fire, Full Moon, Geb, Greek Mythology, harvest, Jeb Bush, Jew, Jewish, Jonathan Silverman, Judaism, Kanye West, Kindlifresserbrunnen, Kronos, Labor Day, Labor Day Weekend, LOST, Mercury, Michael Jackson, moon, Moonman, Moonman award, moonwalker, MTV, MTV VMA, MTV VMAs, mythology, New York, occult, occult studies, occult symbolism, occultic, occultics, occultism, Ogre Fountain, pareidolia, Persephone, pop culture, president, Roman mythology, Rose, Rose Nadler, Rosengarten, sand, sandman, Saturday, Saturn, September, Shift, Shut Up and Dance, Shut Up and Dance Walk the Moon, St. Elmo's Fire, supermoon, Supermoon 2015, Switzerland, sync, synchromystic, Synchromysticism, synchromystics, Synchronicity, the Shift, The Weeknd, virgin, virgo, VMA, VMAs 2015, VMAs Supermoon, Walk the Moon, Weekend at Bernie's, Weekend at Bernie's II, wheat | 5 Replies
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You Low
Pages:19 Words:5054
You Low Essay
Essay Topic: Literature, Mark Twain
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day United States. Therefore, its literary tradition begins as linked to the broader tradition of English literature.
However, unique American characteristics and the breadth of its production usually now cause it to be considered a separate path and tradition.
We will write a custom essay on You Low specifically for you
* | Colonial literature Owing to the large immigration to Boston in the 1630s, the high articulation of Puritan cultural ideals, and the early establishment of a college and a printing press in Cambridge, the New England colonies have often been regarded as the center of early American literature. However, the first European settlements in North America had been founded elsewhere many years earlier.
Towns older than Boston include the Spanish settlements at Saint Augustine and Santa Fe, the Dutch settlements at Albany and New Amsterdam, as well as the English colony of Jamestown in present-day Virginia.
During the colonial period, the printing press was active in many areas, from Cambridge and Boston to New York, Philadelphia, and Annapolis. The dominance of the English language was hardly inevitable. [1] The first item printed in Pennsylvania was in German and was the largest book printed in any of the colonies before the American Revolution.
[1] Spanish and French had two of the strongest colonial literary traditions in the areas that now comprise the United States, and discussions of early American literature commonly include texts by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and Samuel de Champlain alongside English language texts by Thomas Harriot and John Smith. Moreover, we are now aware of the wealth of oral literary traditions already existing on the continent among the numerous different Native American groups. Political events, however, would eventually make English the lingua franca for the colonies at large as well as the literary language of choice.
For instance, when the English conquered New Amsterdam in 1664, they renamed it New York and changed the administrative language from Dutch to English. From 1696 to 1700, only about 250 separate items were issued from the major printing presses in the American colonies. This is a small number compared to the output of the printers in London at the time. However, printing was established in the American colonies before it was allowed in most of England. In England restrictive laws had long confined printing to four locations: London, York, Oxford, and Cambridge.
Because of this, the colonies ventured into the modern world earlier than their provincial English counterparts. [1] Back then, some of the American literature were pamphlets and writings extolling the benefits of the colonies to both a European and colonist audience. Captain John Smith could be considered the first American author with his works: A True Relation of Such Occurrences and Accidents of Noate as Hath Happened in Virginia… (1608) and The Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles (1624).
Other writers of this manner included Daniel Denton, Thomas Ashe, William Penn, George Percy, William Strachey, Daniel Coxe, Gabriel Thomas, and John Lawson. The religious disputes that prompted settlement in America were also topics of early writing. A journal written by John Winthrop, The History of New England, discussed the religious foundations of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Edward Winslow also recorded a diary of the first years after the Mayflower’s arrival. Other religiously influenced writers included Increase Mather and William Bradford, author of the journal published as a History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620–47.
Others like Roger Williams and Nathaniel Ward more fiercely argued state and church separation. And still others, like Thomas Morton, cared little for the church; Morton’s The New English Canaan mocked the religious settlers and declared that the Native Americans were actually better people than the British. [2] Puritan poetry was highly religious in nature, and one of the earliest books of poetry published was the Bay Psalm Book, a set of translations of the biblical Psalms; however, the translators’ intention was not to create great literature but to create hymns that could be used in worship.
[2] Among lyric poets, the most important figures are Anne Bradstreet, who wrote personal poems about her family and homelife; pastor Edward Taylor, whose best poems, the Preparatory Meditations, were written to help him prepare for leading worship; and Michael Wigglesworth, whose best-selling poem, The Day of Doom, describes the time of judgment. Nicholas Noyes was also known for his doggerel verse. Other late writings described conflicts and interaction with the Indians, as seen in writings by Daniel Gookin, Alexander Whitaker, John Mason, Benjamin Church, and Mary Rowlandson.
John Eliot translated the Bible into the Algonquin language. Of the second generation of New England settlers, Cotton Mather stands out as a theologian and historian, who wrote the history of the colonies with a view to God’s activity in their midst and to connecting the Puritan leaders with the great heroes of the Christian faith. His best-known works include the Magnalia Christi Americana, the Wonders of the Invisible World and The Biblia Americana. Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield represented the Great Awakening, a religious revival in the early 18th century that asserted strict Calvinism.
Other Puritan and religious writers include Thomas Hooker, Thomas Shepard, John Wise, and Samuel Willard. Less strict and serious writers included Samuel Sewall (who wrote a diary revealing the daily life of the late 17th century),[2] and Sarah Kemble Knight. New England was not the only area in the colonies; southern literature is represented by the diary of William Byrd of Virginia, as well as by The History of the Dividing Line, which detailed the expedition to survey the swamp between Virginia and North Carolina but which also comments on the different lifestyles of the Native Americans and the white settlers in the area.
[2] In a similar book, Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West, William Bartram described in great detail the Southern landscape and the Native American peoples whom he encountered; Bartram’s book was very popular in Europe, being translated into German, French and Dutch. [2] As the colonies moved towards their break with England, perhaps one of the most important discussions of American culture and identity came from the French immigrant J.
Hector St. John de Crevec? ur, whose Letters from an American Farmer addresses the question what is an American by moving between praise for the opportunities and peace offered in the new society and recognition that the solid life of the farmer must rest uneasily between the oppressive aspects of the urban life (with its luxuries built on slavery) and the lawless aspects of the frontier, where the lack of social structures leads to the loss of civilized living.
[2] This same period saw the birth of African American literature, through the poetry of Phillis Wheatley and, shortly after the Revolution, the slave narrative of Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano. This era also saw the birth of Native American literature, through the two published works of Samson Occom: A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul and a popular hymnbook, Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, “the first Indian best-seller”.
[3] The revolutionary period also contained political writings, including those by colonists Samuel Adams, Josiah Quincy, John Dickinson, and Joseph Galloway, a loyalist to the crown. Two key figures were Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Paine. Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin are esteemed works with their wit and influence toward the formation of a budding American identity. Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense and The American Crisis writings are seen as playing a key role in influencing the political tone of the period.
During the revolution itself, poems and songs such as “Yankee Doodle” and “Nathan Hale” were popular. Major satirists included John Trumbull and Francis Hopkinson. Philip Morin Freneau also wrote poems about the war’s course. During the 18th century, writing shifted focus from the Puritanical ideals of Winthrop and Bradford to the power of the human mind and rational thought. The belief that human and natural occurrences were messages from God no longer fit with the new human centered world. Many intellectuals believed that the human mind could comprehend the universe through the laws of physics as described by Isaac Newton.
The enormous scientific, economic, social, and philosophical, changes of the 18th century, called the Enlightenment, impacted the authority of clergyman and scripture, making way for democratic principles. The increase in population helped account for the greater diversity of opinion in religious and political life as seen in the literature of this time. In 1670, the population of the colonies numbered approximately 111,000. Thirty years later it was more than 250,000. By 1760, it reached 1,600,000.
[1] The growth of communities and therefore social life led people to become more interested in the progress of individuals and their shared experience on the colonies. These new ideals are accounted for in the widespread popularity of Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.????????? Post-independence In the post-war period, Thomas Jefferson’s United States Declaration of Independence, his influence on the United States Constitution, his autobiography, the Notes on the State of Virginia, and his many letters solidify his spot as one of the most talented early American writers.
The Federalist essays by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay presented a significant historical discussion of American government organization and republican values. Fisher Ames, James Otis, and Patrick Henry are also valued for their political writings and orations. Much of the early literature of the new nation struggled to find a uniquely American voice in existing literary genre, and this tendency was also reflected in novels. European forms and styles were often transferred to new locales and critics often saw them as inferior.
First American novels It was in the late 18th and early 19th centuries that the nation’s first novels were published. These fictions were too lengthy to be printed as manuscript or public reading. Publishers took a chance on these works in hopes they would become steady sellers and need to be reprinted. This was a good bet as literacy rates soared in this period among both men and women. Among the first American novels are Thomas Attwood Digges’ “Adventures of Alonso”, published in London in 1775 and William Hill Brown’s The Power of Sympathy published in 1791.
[1] Brown’s novel depicts a tragic love story between siblings who fell in love without knowing they were related. This epistolary novel belongs to the Sentimental novel tradition, as do the two following. In the next decade important women writers also published novels. Susanna Rowson is best known for her novel, Charlotte: A Tale of Truth, published in London in 1791. [4] In 1794 the novel was reissued in Philadelphia under the title, Charlotte Temple. Charlotte Temple is a seduction tale, written in the third person, which warns against listening to the voice of love and counsels resistance.
In addition to this best selling novel, she wrote nine novels, six theatrical works, two collections of poetry, six textbooks, and countless songs. [4] Reaching more than a million and a half readers over a century and a half, Charlotte Temple was the biggest seller of the 19th century before Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Although Rowson was extremely popular in her time and is often acknowledged in accounts of the development of the early American novel, Charlotte Temple is often criticized as a sentimental novel of seduction.
Hannah Webster Foster’s The Coquette: Or, the History of Eliza Wharton was published in 1797 and was also extremely popular. [5] Told from Foster’s point of view and based on the real life of Eliza Whitman, this epistolary novel is about a woman who is seduced and abandoned. Eliza is a “coquette” who is courted by two very different men: a clergyman who offers her the comfort and regularity of domestic life, and a noted libertine. She fails to choose between them and finds herself single when both men get married. She eventually yields to the artful libertine and gives birth to an illegitimate stillborn child at an inn.
The Coquette is praised for its demonstration of this era’s contradictory ideals of womanhood. [6] Both The Coquette and Charlotte Temple are novels that treat the right of women to live as equals as the new democratic experiment. These novels are of the Sentimental genre, characterized by overindulgence in emotion, an invitation to listen to the voice of reason against misleading passions, as well as an optimistic overemphasis on the essential goodness of humanity. Sentimentalism is often thought to be a reaction against the Calvinistic belief in the depravity of human nature.
[7] While many of these novels were popular, the economic infrastructure of the time did not allow these writers to make a living through their writing alone. [8] The first author to be able to support himself through the income generated by his publications alone was Washington Irving. He completed his first major book in 1809 entitled A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty. [9] Charles Brockden Brown is another early American novelist, publishing Wieland in 1798, Ormond in 1799, and Edgar Huntly in 1799.
These novels are of the Gothic genre. Of the picaresque genre, Hugh Henry Brackenridge published Modern Chivalry in 1792-1815; Tabitha Gilman Tenney wrote Female Quixotism: Exhibited in the Romantic Opinions and Extravagant Adventure of Dorcasina Sheldon in 1801; Charlotte Lennox wrote The Female Quixote in 1752, and Royall Tyler wrote The Algerine Captive in 1797. [7] Other notable authors include William Gilmore Simms, who wrote Martin Faber in 1833, Guy Rivers in 1834, and The Yemassee in 1835. Lydia Maria Child wrote Hobomok in 1824 and The Rebels in 1825.
John Neal wrote Logan, A Family History in 1822, Rachel Dyer in 1828, and The Down-Eaters in 1833. Catherine Maria Sedgwick wrote A New England Tale in 1822, Redwood in 1824, Hope Leslie in 1827, and The Linwoods in 1835. James Kirke Paulding wrote The Lion of the West in 1830, The Dutchman’s Fireside in 1831, and Westward Ho! in 1832. Robert Montgomery Bird wrote Calavar in 1834 Niguel Miller and Tacoya Hughes and Nick of the Woods in 1837. James Fenimore Cooper was also a notable author best known for his novel, The Last of the Mohicans written in 1826.
[7] Unique American style Edgar Allan Poe portrait. With the War of 1812 and an increasing desire to produce uniquely American literature and culture, a number of key new literary figures emerged, perhaps most prominently Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, James Fenimore Cooper, and Edgar Allan Poe. Irving, often considered the first writer to develop a unique American style[citation needed] (although this has been debated) wrote humorous works in Salmagundi and the satire A History of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker (1809).
Bryant wrote early romantic and nature-inspired poetry, which evolved away from their European origins. In 1832, Poe began writing short stories – including “The Masque of the Red Death”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” – that explore previously hidden levels of human psychology and push the boundaries of fiction toward mystery and fantasy. Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales about Natty Bumppo (which includes The Last of the Mohicans) were popular both in the new country and abroad.
Humorous writers were also popular and included Seba Smith and Benjamin P. Shillaber in New England and Davy Crockett, Augustus Baldwin Longstreet, Johnson J. Hooper, Thomas Bangs Thorpe, and George Washington Harris writing about the American frontier. The New England Brahmins were a group of writers connected to Harvard University and its seat in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The core included James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. Ralph Waldo Emerson.
In 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), an ex-minister, published a startling nonfiction work called Nature, in which he claimed it was possible to dispense with organized religion and reach a lofty spiritual state by studying and responding to the natural world. His work influenced not only the writers who gathered around him, forming a movement known as Transcendentalism, but also the public, who heard him lecture. Emerson’s most gifted fellow-thinker was perhaps Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), a resolute nonconformist. After living mostly by himself for two years in a
cabin by a wooded pond, Thoreau wrote Walden, a book-length memoir that urges resistance to the meddlesome dictates of organized society. His radical writings express a deep-rooted tendency toward individualism in the American character. Other writers influenced by Transcendentalism were Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, George Ripley, Orestes Brownson, and Jones Very. [10] Just as one of the great works of the Revolutionary period was written by a Frenchman, so too was one of the great works about America from this generation, viz.
, Alexis de Tocqueville’s two-volume Democracy in America, which (like the colonial explorers) described his travels through the young country, making observations about the relations between democracy, liberty, equality, individualism and community. The political conflict surrounding Abolitionism inspired the writings of William Lloyd Garrison and his paper The Liberator, along with poet John Greenleaf Whittier and Harriet Beecher Stowe in her world-famous Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
These efforts were supported by the continuation of the slave narrative autobiography, of which the best known examples from this period include Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. At the same time, Native American autobiography develops, most notably in William Apess’s A Son of the Forest and George Copway’s The Life, History and Travels of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh.
Moreover, minority authors were beginning to publish fiction, as in William Wells Brown’s Clotel; or, The President’s Daughter, Martin Delany’s Blake; or, The Huts of America and Harriet E. Wilson’s Our Nig as early African American novels, and John Rollin Ridge’s The Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murieta: The Celebrated California Bandit, which is considered the first Native American novel but which also is an early story about Mexican American issues. Nathaniel Hawthorne. In 1837, the young Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) collected some of his stories as Twice-Told Tales, a volume rich in symbolism and occult incidents.
Hawthorne went on to write full-length “romances”, quasi-allegorical novels that explore such themes as guilt, pride, and emotional repression in his native New England. His masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, is the stark drama of a woman cast out of her community for committing adultery. Hawthorne’s fiction had a profound impact on his friend Herman Melville (1819–1891), who first made a name for himself by turning material from his seafaring days into exotic and sensational sea narrative novels.
Inspired by Hawthorne’s focus on allegories and dark psychology, Melville went on to write romances replete with philosophical speculation. In Moby-Dick, an adventurous whaling voyage becomes the vehicle for examining such themes as obsession, the nature of evil, and human struggle against the elements. In another fine work, the short novel Billy Budd, Melville dramatizes the conflicting claims of duty and compassion on board a ship in time of war. His more profound books sold poorly, and he had been long forgotten by the time of his death. He was rediscovered in the early decades of the 20th century.
Anti-transcendental works from Melville, Hawthorne, and Poe all comprise the Dark Romanticism subgenre of literature popular during this time. American dramatic literature, by contrast, remained dependent on European models, although many playwrights did attempt to apply these forms to American topics and themes, such as immigrants, westward expansion, temperance, etc. At the same time, American playwrights created several long-lasting American character types, especially the “Yankee”, the “Negro” and the “Indian”, exemplified by the characters of Jonathan, Sambo and Metamora.
In addition, new dramatic forms were created in the Tom Shows, the showboat theater and the minstrel show. Among the best plays of the period are James Nelson Barker’s Superstition; or, the Fanatic Father, Anna Cora Mowatt’s Fashion; or, Life in New York, Nathaniel Bannister’s Putnam, the Iron Son of ’76, Dion Boucicault’s The Octoroon; or, Life in Louisiana, and Cornelius Mathews’s Witchcraft; or, the Martyrs of Salem. Early American poetry Walt Whitman, 1856. See also: American poetry.
America’s two greatest 19th-century poets could hardly have been more different in temperament and style. Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was a working man, a traveler, a self-appointed nurse during the American Civil War (1861–1865), and a poetic innovator. His magnum opus was Leaves of Grass, in which he uses a free-flowing verse and lines of irregular length to depict the all-inclusiveness of American democracy. Taking that motif one step further, the poet equates the vast range of American experience with himself without being egotistical.
For example, in Song of Myself, the long, central poem in Leaves of Grass, Whitman writes: “These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me … ” Whitman was also a poet of the body – “the body electric,” as he called it. In Studies in Classic American Literature, the English novelist D. H. Lawrence wrote that Whitman “was the first to smash the old moral conception that the soul of man is something ‘superior’ and ‘above’ the flesh. ” Emily Dickinson (1830–1886), on the other hand, lived the sheltered life of a genteel unmarried woman in small-town Amherst, Massachusetts.
Within its formal structure, her poetry is ingenious, witty, exquisitely wrought, and psychologically penetrating. Her work was unconventional for its day, and little of it was published during her lifetime. Many of her poems dwell on death, often with a mischievous twist. One, “Because I could not stop for Death”, begins, “He kindly stopped for me. ” The opening of another Dickinson poem toys with her position as a woman in a male-dominated society and an unrecognized poet: “I’m nobody! Who are you?
/ Are you nobody too? ” American poetry arguably reached its peak in the early-to-mid-20th century, with such noted writers as Wallace Stevens and his Harmonium (1923) and The Auroras of Autumn (1950), T. S. Eliot and his The Waste Land (1922), Robert Frost and his North of Boston (1914) and New Hampshire (1923), Hart Crane and his White Buildings (1926) and the epic cycle, The Bridge (1930), Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams and his epic poem about his New Jersey hometown, Paterson, Marianne Moore, E.
E. Cummings, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Langston Hughes, in addition to many others. Realism, Twain and James Mark Twain, 1907. Mark Twain (the pen name used by Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835–1910) was the first major American writer to be born away from the East Coast – in the border state of Missouri. His regional masterpieces were the memoir Life on the Mississippi and the novels Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Twain’s style – influenced by journalism, wedded to the vernacular, direct and unadorned but also highly evocative and irreverently humorous – changed the way Americans write their language. His characters speak like real people and sound distinctively American, using local dialects, newly invented words, and regional accents. Other writers interested in regional differences and dialect were George W. Cable, Thomas Nelson Page, Joel Chandler Harris, Mary Noailles Murfree (Charles Egbert Craddock), Sarah Orne Jewett, Mary E.
Wilkins Freeman, Henry Cuyler Bunner, and William Sydney Porter (O. Henry). A version of local color regionalism that focused on minority experiences can be seen in the works of Charles W. Chesnutt (African American), of Maria Ruiz de Burton, one of the earliest Mexican American novelists to write in English, and in the Yiddish-inflected works of Abraham Cahan. William Dean Howells also represented the realist tradition through his novels, including The Rise of Silas Lapham and his work as editor of the Atlantic Monthly.
Henry James (1843–1916) confronted the Old World-New World dilemma by writing directly about it. Although born in New York City, he spent most of his adult years in England. Many of his novels center on Americans who live in or travel to Europe. With its intricate, highly qualified sentences and dissection of emotional and psychological nuance, James’s fiction can be daunting. Among his more accessible works are the novellas Daisy Miller, about an enchanting American girl in Europe, and The Turn of the Screw, an enigmatic ghost story.
Realism also influenced American drama of the period, in part through the works of Howells but also through the works of such Europeans as Ibsen and Zola. Although realism was most influential in terms of set design and staging—audiences loved the special effects offered up by the popular melodramas—and in the growth of local color plays, it also showed up in the more subdued, less romantic tone that reflected the effects of the Civil War and continued social turmoil on the American psyche.
The most ambitious attempt at bringing modern realism into the drama was James Herne’s Margaret Fleming, which addressed issues of social determinism through realistic dialogue, psychological insight and symbolism; the play was not a success, as critics and audiences alike felt it dwelt too much on unseemly topics and included improper scenes, such as the main character nursing her husband’s illegitimate child onstage. Beginning of the 20th century Ernest Hemingway in World War I uniform. At the beginning of the 20th century, American novelists were expanding fiction’s social spectrum to encompass both high and low life and sometimes
connected to the naturalist school of realism. In her stories and novels, Edith Wharton (1862–1937) scrutinized the upper-class, Eastern-seaboard society in which she had grown up. One of her finest books, The Age of Innocence, centers on a man who chooses to marry a conventional, socially acceptable woman rather than a fascinating outsider. At about the same time, Stephen Crane (1871–1900), best known for his Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage, depicted the life of New York City prostitutes in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets.
And in Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945) portrayed a country girl who moves to Chicago and becomes a kept woman. Hamlin Garland and Frank Norris wrote about the problems of American farmers and other social issues from a naturalist perspective. More directly political writings discussed social issues and power of corporations. Some like Edward Bellamy in Looking Backward outlined other possible political and social frameworks. Upton Sinclair, most famous for his muck-raking novel The Jungle, advocated socialism. Other political writers of the period included Edwin Markham, William Vaughn Moody. Journalistic critics, including Ida M.
Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens were labeled The Muckrakers. Henry Brooks Adams’ literate autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams also depicted a stinging description of the education system and modern life. Experimentation in style and form soon joined the new freedom in subject matter. In 1909, Gertrude Stein (1874–1946), by then an expatriate in Paris, published Three Lives, an innovative work of fiction influenced by her familiarity with cubism, jazz, and other movements in contemporary art and music. Stein labeled a group of American literary notables who lived in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s as the “Lost Generation”.
The poet Ezra Pound (1885–1972) was born in Idaho but spent much of his adult life in Europe. His work is complex, sometimes obscure, with multiple references to other art forms and to a vast range of literature, both Western and Eastern. He influenced many other poets, notably T. S. Eliot (1888–1965), another expatriate. Eliot wrote spare, cerebral poetry, carried by a dense structure of symbols. In The Waste Land, he embodied a jaundiced vision of post–World War I society in fragmented, haunted images. Like Pound’s, Eliot’s poetry could be highly allusive, and some editions of The Waste Land come with footnotes supplied by the poet.
In 1948, Eliot won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Stein, Pound and Eliot, along with Henry James before them, demonstrate the growth of an international perspective in American literature, and not simply because they spend long periods of time overseas. American writers had long looked to European models for inspiration, but whereas the literary breakthroughs of the mid-19th century came from finding distinctly American styles and themes, writers from this period were finding ways of contributing to a flourishing international literary scene, not as imitators but as equals.
Something similar was happening back in the States, as Jewish writers (such as Abraham Cahan) used the English language to reach an international Jewish audience. And a small group of Arab American writers known as the Al-Rabitah al-Qalamiyah (a. k. a. the “New York Pen League”) and under the leadership of Khalil Gibran, were absorbing modernist European influences and thereby introduced innovative forms and themes into Arabic-language literature. American writers also expressed the disillusionment following upon the war.
The stories and novels of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) capture the restless, pleasure-hungry, defiant mood of the 1920s. Fitzgerald’s characteristic theme, expressed poignantly in The Great Gatsby, is the tendency of youth’s golden dreams to dissolve in failure and disappointment. Fitzgerald also elucidates the collapse of some key American Ideals, set out in the Declaration of Independence, such as liberty, social unity, good governance and peace, features which were severely threatened by the pressures of modern early 20th century society.
Sinclair Lewis and Sherwood Anderson also wrote novels with critical depictions of American life. John Dos Passos wrote about the war and also the U. S. A. trilogy which extended into the Depression. F. Scott Fitzgerald, photographed by Carl van Vechten, 1937. Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) saw violence and death first-hand as an ambulance driver in World War I, and the carnage persuaded him that abstract language was mostly empty and misleading. He cut out unnecessary words from his writing, simplified the sentence structure, and concentrated on concrete objects and actions.
He adhered to a moral code that emphasized grace under pressure, and his protagonists were strong, silent men who often dealt awkwardly with women. The Sun Also Rises and A Farewell to Arms are generally considered his best novels; in 1954, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Five years before Hemingway, another American novelist had won the Nobel Prize: William Faulkner (1897–1962). Faulkner managed to encompass an enormous range of humanity in Yoknapatawpha County, a Mississippian region of his own invention.
He recorded his characters’ seemingly unedited ramblings in order to represent their inner states, a technique called “stream of consciousness”. (In fact, these passages are carefully crafted, and their seemingly chaotic structure conceals multiple layers of meaning. )
He also jumbled time sequences to show how the past – especially the slave-holding era of the Deep South – endures in the present. Among his great works are Absalom, Absalom! , As I Lay Dying, The Sound and th .
You Low. (2016, Sep 06). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/85751-essay
We will write a custom sample essay onYou Lowspecifically for you
Topic: You Low
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The Friends of WNYC Transmitter Park
Friends of WNYC Transmitter Park (FTP) is a community-based all volunteer group founded in December 2016.
The mission of the Friends of Transmitter Park is to protect and care for Transmitter Park in partnership with the local community [and NYC resources.] We treasure Transmitter Park as a sanctuary and refuge for insects, birds, plants and wildlife, and honor it as a sacred common space for all Greenpoint residents and visitors. As our neighborhood undergoes drastic transformation, we seek to preserve the spirit of Transmitter Park, especially the equity of access to the waterfront, open air, and passive natural green space, which we regard as an inviolable human right. The Friends of Transmitter Park pledge to serve as stewards of the park and representatives of the Greenpoint community as we fulfill our mission to safeguard and cultivate Transmitter Park for the benefit and enjoyment of all.
WNYC Transmitter Park is a 1.6-acre waterfront destination park located along the East River in Greenpoint, Brooklyn where Greenpoint Avenue terminates at the river. The park opened in 2012 after a two-year, $12 million redevelopment project. The park offers natural wetland landscaping, a nautically-themed children’s play area, a pedestrian bridge and a pier with stunning views of Manhattan. The park offers places for fishing, play and active recreation.
Subway: G to Greenpoint Ave
Ferry: East River Ferry to India Street Pier
Lawn and benches for passive recreation
Native plant gardens
Playground with spray shower
Ferry Slip
Greenpoint became a thriving community in the 1850s. Ferry service began to shuttle passengers across the East River from the current site of the park to 10th, 14th and 23rd Streets in Manhattan. The pedestrian bridge in the park crosses over an excavated ferry slip. Following the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 and subsequent bridges and tunnels, ferry use began to decline and was eventually eliminated. By the 1930s, the unused Greenpoint ferry slip –surrounded by low-scale buildings that would not create transmission interference – was ideal for transmission of WNYC’s programming.
WNYC Transmitter
WNYC radio station, the “voice of New York City,” was founded in 1924. Programming was broadcast through a transmitter located on the 25th floor of the Municipal Building in downtown Manhattan. The construction of skyscrapers throughout lower Manhattan in the 1920s and 1930s created interference for WNYC’s transmission signal. For over 50 years, WNYC transmitted from what is now the park. The property include a building with simple Art Deco detailing and two four-legged galvanized steel structures that rose 304 feet in the air – Greenpoint’svery own Eiffel Towers! The transmitter was used until 1990, when the station began broadcasting from the Meadowlands in New Jersey. The two towers were torn down several years later, but the small one-story building remains. There is still a stone plaque that reads “Transmitter House of Radio Station WNYC, Constructed 1936.”
Friends of WNYC Transmitter Park (FWTP) is fiscally sponsored by Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn (OSA). For more information about OSA, please visit www.osanb.org.
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Millennialfolk TC Jew News
A Path Forward For Public Judaism In The Twin Cities
This idea I want to share is hard to describe, and I didn’t understand it until I was already in it. I had never been part of what might be a trend or a movement. The earliest memory I have as an adult feeling this idea was on the beach in Jamaica with some of my closest friends during college. That night on the beach, Jon Leener and I shared a conversation where we envisioned a future where every Jew could connect in their own way to our shared tradition and how he and I felt compelled to find our place in the world to facilitate that.
Today he and I are part of the same group of people working towards the same goal, the early parts of that idea discussed then and on so many other evenings in other places around the world, but we are just two of perhaps thousands.
The next time this feeling swelled to the surface was only six months into my time as the Engagement Manager for YALA – Young Adult Leadership Action. I had the opportunity to staff the pilot program called 248CAN: Community Action Network (now in its second year) back in early 2018. This was the first time that I had seen someone try to quantify impact.
Lionel Mitelpunkt suggested that there could be a way to connect numerous groups and programs around the world – but more importantly the people responsible for them. This network of rabbis, educators, and other professional Jews, was loosely defined and its members didn’t pay dues to a central organization. The organizations in which they worked didn’t matter – it was their missions. It was about a bigger idea – a vision. It was a unifying message – allowed to be phrased differently by each community to correspond to their beliefs, needs, and resources. If you were in it, then people worked with you to figure out how to make things happen. It wasn’t exclusive, but it wasn’t apologetic. Common ground is sought – but not at the expense of being understood and respected.
The deeper I dove into this network – this wave, the more I realized that I had arrived late to the party. Earlier in life, I had felt that I had missed out on the development of Israel and being a chalutz in any of its manifestations. Just like my dream of being a cowboy, an Indiana Jones-esque archaeologist, or an early kibbutznik, I was too late to be part of the early work of building this network. But unlike before, there was still a lot of work to be done. It seemed everyone agreed that we needed to help empower other Jewish doers to take charge of their own Jewish lives – however that made sense for them. The “however” is still being created and figured out.
Over the coming weeks and months, I am looking forward to sharing these lessons, insights, and anecdotes with the community that I have come to love like a homeland – on par for me as an individual as our national homeland of Israel. What I hope to share will be challenging for some, but hopefully will resonate with many. I hope to explore the path forward for public Judaism in the Twin Cities, and see it as a case study of sorts – an incubator to serve as an example for communities all over the U.S. and the world.
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Albert Milgrom says:
“Path Forward…” article
Apparently no attachment to your roots in “Yiddishkeit”? As if identity
with Israel is the be-all? What about us Twin City Jews who identify with
where our parents came from and were born? Shtetl Russia is no longer?
Would like some opinions, as many American Jews, we have our issues with
Israel. –Al Milgrom
Pingback: Herding Goats | TC Jewfolk
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Methodology and PRINCIPLES
The claim that a video shows a flood in İstanbul Airport
CLAIM / Video: The new airport of İstanbul was flooded because of heavy rainfall.
It was claimed in a video shared on social media that the airport flooded is İstanbul Airport which has been recently opened.
In the video shared by numerous accounts on Facebook and Twitter on November 15, 2018, it can be seen that the apron which the airplanes used for parking was flooded. The number of shares and views of the video which was first shared on Facebook on November 15, 2018 by a page named Adını Sen Koy reached about 5,000 and over 200,000, respectively.
The same video was shared on November 15, 2018 by news sites such as A Haber, Milliyet and Akşam with the claim that it was shot in Kuwait.
https://teyit.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kuveyt-havalimani-su-basti-iddia-video.mp4
Nevertheless, the claim that the video shows a flood in İstanbul Airport on November 15, 2018 is false. Besides, the second claim that video was shot in Kuwait is also false. Actually, the flood in the video happened in one of the terminals of Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City due to a heavy rain on August 31, 2017.
The video was shot in Mexico in 2017
The so-called video shows a flood in one of terminals of Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City due to a heavy rain in August 2017. It is possible to see that the video was shared on Twitter and YouTube on close dates with the same claim.
Date of the video shared on social media is August 31, 2017. According to news of Mexico News Daily published on August 31, 2017, the heavy rain which happened in the previous day brought the operations of the airport and public transport system to a standstill for a short time. The official Twitter account which shared updated news about the airport informed that the operations of the airport interrupted for a while because of heavy rain restarted at 10.30 pm in the same day. A Spanish news site announced that the operations of Benito Juarez International Airport in Chilango came to a standstill at 6:40 pm.
The building seen in the video is terminal building of Benito Juarez Airport
A building comes into view behind the airplanes in 13th second of the video. The same building can be seen in another video on Google Maps which indicates that it is the terminal building of Mexico City Benito Juarez Airport.
The terminal building seen in the so-called video.
Screen image of the video showing the airport on Google Maps.
A building in colors of Mexican flag (green, white and red) is noticed in 18th second of the video. The same building is seen in a footage showing an airplane which was loaded and landed at Benito Juarez Airport on November 10, 2017. The said green-white-red building draws attention in another video dated July 5, 2018.
The airplane seen in the video flew from New York to Paris on November 15
It can be said that the airplane which appears at the beginning of the video related to this claim belongs to Air France, as understood from the tail section.
Furthermore, registration code of this airplane which belongs to Air France comes into view in the video.
It is understood that the type of the airplane of Air France is Airbus A380-861 when the video is watched carefully. Registration number of the airplane on tail section is “F-HPJD” as well.
It can be found out from Flight Radar 24 that the airplane of Air France coded “F-HPJD” has just taken off from New York John F. Kennedy Airport when the claimed video was shared on November 15, 2018.
The airplane coded “F-HPDJ” took off from New York at 6:40 pm on November 15, 2018. Location of the said airplane was close by Ireland over Atlantic Ocean at 12:20 am on November 16, 2018.
Information about the airplanes which took off from İstanbul Airport on November 15, 2018 can be obtained from Flight Radar 24. The list shows that codes of all airplanes which left the ground from İstanbul Airport start with “TK”. It means these airplanes belong to Turkish Airlines. Besides, it can be said that tickets for only İstanbul Atatürk Airport can be purchased from online ticket service of Air France.
Location of the video is not Kuwait
According to an analysis of the Kuwaiti news site, Arab Times, the so-called video was shared on November 15, 2018 by social media users with the claim that it was shot in Kuwait, but its location was Mexico. Additionally, Aviation 24 reports that the same video belongs to an airport in Mexico.
The video was shared on social media by Indian users who thought that the airport was Mumbai Airport. In response, the fact-checking website in India, Boom stated in its analysis dated July 11, 2018 that the video was shot in the airport in Mexico City on August 31, 2017.
To conclude, the claim that the video shows a flood in İstanbul Airport is false. The video was shared by social media users with the aim of showing the flooding on apron of Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, the capital of Mexico on August 31, 2017 due to heavy rain.
Twitter, Tweet of a Mexican user, August 31, 2017
YouTube, The video showing the heavy rain in the airport, August 31, 2017
Mexico News Daily, The news about the heavy rain on August 30, 2017 August 31, 2017
Flight Radar 24, Route of the airplane of Air France, November 15, 2018
Flight Radar 24, List of the airplanes taking off from İstanbul Airport, November 15, 2018
Air France, Online ticket sales service
Turkish Airlines, The airplanes in fleet
Google Maps, A video shot one of the terminals of Benito Juarez Airport
Mexico Airport, List of the airlines providing service in Benito Juarez Airport
Chilango, The news about the heavy rain on August 31
Boom, Related analysis, July 11, 2018
Arab Times, Related analysis, November 15, 2018
Studying Political Science and Public Administration at Ankara University. During summer 2017, he did an internship at a local magazine in Berlin. Alican is interested in modern Turkish history. He wants to continue his graduate degrees in areas such as media or sociology.
teyit.org is an independent fact-checking organization based in Turkey.
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HomeBrawl in Cell Block 99 review
Brawl in Cell Block 99 review
November 15, 2017 The Anomalous Host Film Reviews2017, 99, action, block, brawl, carpenter, cell, Craig, drama, film, Jennifer, movie, review, vaughn, vince, violent, Zahler
Skip-able Intro
So you remember when I said, “my next review is going to be on a very controversial film that you’ve probably never heard of that you’ll likely only be able to see on a porn site“? Well, guess I lied. I’m putting that on hold for a review or two. Or three. Lately I’ve been getting bogged down replaying The Witcher (the first one from 2007), which I’ve finished playing and am in the process of reviewing, but that involves finishing editing/uploading the “movie-version” like I did. That takes a while, especially for that game. I don’t plan on doing the whole “play and record” thing with the next game I play, because going back and editing footage takes a long time and it becomes frustrating seeing my output suffer as a result.
So I was going to watch and review that “controversial” film, but that got sidelined when I found out about this other movie released recently, still playing in theaters, and is an indie movie. Well where I live, “movie in theaters” and “indie” don’t go well together, so it’s not playing anywhere near me. So I opted for the next best thing. Vudu.com, rented it there for $7.99. It was worth it.
Holy crap, it’s a miracle. A film starring Vince Vaughn that is actually good. I usually take a disliking to this guy, something about his aura and personality in his roles just turns me off. It’s why I was rooting against him in Dodgeball and wished they went with the alternate ending (sure they would’ve lost to the bigger assholes, but at least the bigger assholes were doing something with their lives and were fun and hilarious to watch, especially Ben Stiller [makes me wonder why he doesn’t play the bad guy more often, because that’s when he’s at his most entertaining]).
Plus that would make for a logical continuation, making this movie sort of a sequel to that movie. Vaughn becomes more down on his luck, and more angry, and doesn’t get the bisexual chick, so he settles for a straight chick played by Jennifer Carpenter (which, in all fairness, is a pretty good deal all things considered). Hell, I think the movie is also a sequel to Requiem for a Dream, since Vaughn asks her early on if she “fell off the bandwagon” (ie started doing dope again for those of you who think I’m talking about a western/musical flick or something). Those would be decent films to watch prior to this one, starting with Dodgeball for the “good old fun times,” then Requiem for “everything crashing down and everyone becoming miserable because life sucks”, and then this film to see where it goes from there.
“Nobody!”
Also kind of fits, considering that Vaughn’s big time Hollywood days seem to be behind him. That doesn’t seem to be a bad thing here, at least not for us viewers, not sure what that means for him financially. But in any case, this role is perfect for Vaughn. Plays a more dead-serious guy, occasionally making a wisecrack to give a peek into his more comedic side. But make no mistake, he plays a grim character in a grim film with other grim characters and a grim environment. And grimy prisons.
The film starts with him getting laid off from his job, and follows immediately by learning that his wife was cheating on him. So you would think the film is going to be a slow downward spiral from there right? Well, not quite. They actually manage to rebound for a period of time, both in regards to their finances and their relationship. But there was only one way Vaughn (I’ll refer to him by his character name from now on: Bradley) could do it, and that’s by resorting to illegal activities: being a drug carrier. He didn’t want to do it, he’s clearly a guy with a troubled past who wants to do the right thing and live an honest life. But economic conditions just won’t allow for it. It’s the only way he can achieve the American dream of having hard work and effort pay off, maintaining a sustainable income, being able to support his wife and household, and help raise a family. But, of course, it eventually goes wrong and he winds up in prison. Seriously, has there ever been a decent movie made where someone makes a successful living off the drug trade with no repercussions that messes up their life somehow? I don’t think so, because that’s a bad message to send, because the film industry needs to keep people honest and off drugs. Except marijuana, thank God.
In fact, the film even mentions the hypocrisy of such a system.
“I’m aware that the system is harder on guys who distribute drugs than those who commit acts of violence against women and children.”
Life isn’t fair, but people must make due with what they’ve got, and hope they make the right decisions, and consider how much they’re willing to sacrifice in terms of their morals. And his hard work and effort does have some payoff, with his wife, a house, and a baby on the way.
And her life was hard too.
Because Bradley’s life has been hard and he’s had a hard upbringing, he is a hard man. And by hard, I mean he has a high pain threshold and can beat the shit out of just about anyone. An aspect of his past life he wants to leave behind, but eventually finds himself in a state where that isn’t possible. He’s basically forced to fight in prison. And it’s this portion of the movie where it becomes a cut above the rest (though the previous section was still good too). It transitions from drama to action, and the action is very well done. Some honest to God effort put into the fight choreography and directing.
With each fight scene and each situation Bradley is put into, the situation and the environment and lighting becomes darker and darker. The chances of him getting free to eventually see his wife and daughter become more and more bleak. But what he does he does for his wife and daughter, for his family. To say why, and how it all turns out, would be spoiling things, and I’m not going to do that, because I don’t do that for new movies that I enjoy unless I get neck-deep into some philosophical/thematic/metaphorical/symbolic discussions that are brought up in the film. This film isn’t that deep in that regard, but there is stuff to talk about below the surface (guess that could be considered a pun in this case).
Because Bradley loves his wife and sacrifices much of his time for her, working jobs to support her, he is willing to do “less than legal” things to make that happen, which he discusses with her (how refreshing, a film where the husband who traffics drugs doesn’t keep it from his loved one). The reasons Bradley ends up in prison. He could’ve gotten away when some Mexican thugs decided not to do things his way during a drug pickup, when a shootout with police ensues. But he doesn’t, because he hates how disrespectful the thugs were to him, the country, and to the police. The whole thing could’ve been avoided, but that’s not how it turned out. So Bradley ends up helping the police take them down, though it results in him going to prison. He keeps his mouth shut due to loyalty, which results in him staying in prison. When his wife’s life is threatened, he does things he doesn’t want to do to try and keep her safe. Everything he does in the film is either out of sacrifice for her, or out of sacrifice for his patriotic morals. And the film doesn’t hide that what he does isn’t exactly the most noble deeds, as he is almost constantly in a bad place whenever he is “working.” Christ, makes me want to get high just typing all this down; it’s making me depressed.
As for the downsides to this movie, aside from personal tastes in how entertaining I can find a film, there were a couple moments where the film tries to be extra violent, but it just comes off as looking fake. It’s only for 2 very very brief moments, but they’re there.
Let me show you how badass I am by destroying this mannequin!
Other than that, the film is solid enough, but it’s the fight scenes during the latter half of the movie that truly make it memorable. Plus there’s a moment where Carpenter gets a hold of a gun and uses it, which put a smile on my face.
All in all, well-made movie. A bit depressing, yet also having a somewhat pleasant (probably not the right word, but thesaurus.com says that’s an appropriate antonym for “depressing,” so…) ending. Has me eager for the director’s next film, which is titled Dragged Across Concrete and will star both Vince Vaughn and Mel Gibson, and is currently in post-production. Considering how the director doesn’t shy away from violence in his films, at all, and how much Mel Gibson loves putting violence into his films… oh God, there is hope for the film industry yet.
Because we’re bored with the current state of the film industry.
← The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings review
Child Bride review →
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Netflix.com: Slightly more, but the added convenience of keeping the movies and TV shows as long as you want, and being able to stream a selection of movies and TV shows over the computer, or networked media device. Netflix is getting better all the time, now with great original series like House of Cards. Find all plans and how to maximize your return on this post: How Much Netflix Costs.
For me, it means i don’t have to have the computer hooked up to my TV, i can stream the shows over the network and have my computer in another room. It also means I can watch the shows full screen, using my remote and/or Xbox controller, to pause, skip, select shows, etc. It’s also more convenient for me than having to navigate to a website, and surf around using the keyboard/mouse, and having all that computer hardware sitting on my coffee table.
Perhaps no one deserves more credit for threatening the old TV business model than Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings. As the driving force behind the world’s largest streaming video service, with about 130 million subscribers, he’s taught consumers to expect an abundance of old and new shows and movies, without the irritation of commercial interruptions, for just $8 a month.
The ps3 already has netflix, hulu and youtube. What’s more- by enabling media file sharing on your pc and ps3- you can stream ANY stored video from your pc to your ps3. The Playon software seems completly useless *SCAM. I stream movies and tv shows from my pc to the ps3 every day and it’s completly free. Netflix is cheap as heck- you get a month free and then its like 12 bucks a month. Youtube is also free.
I had planed to purchase another set of Terk leapfrog transmitter and receiver , but thanks to an Amazon review on the product I realized that the 2.4 ghz systems where becoming obsolete due to the saturation of WIFI signals .So I deduced that it wasn't that my Terk system failed it was that my neighbor got new internet service . The Nyrius set up works perfectly at 5.8 ghz and I can even run my microwave w/o interference . and it pays for its self because the cable/satellite crooks charge upwards of $7 a month to "rent" additional units . My primary TV in the family room I use this on my kitchen TV ,the remote works a room away no issues . I have additional receivers coming for use on my patio this summer and for the work shop in my garage .Now if only the ... full review
Roku – This nifty little device streams a batch of different free internet channels like Blip.tv, Twit.tv, and even your Flickr photostream. You can also use it to access your Netflix and Amazon Video On Demand Accounts, making it a great alternative to a TiVo or other DVR. A new Roku will set you back anywhere from $80 - $120, depending on the model you choose.
FuboTV offers two plans. The first, “Fubo, includes more than 70 channels for $45 per month, and the second, “Fubo Extra,” bumps the package up to 80-plus channels for $50, though your first month on either plan will be discounted by $5. Both plans include a healthy mix of both sports and nonsports channels, such as NBC Sports Network, NFL Network, NBA TV, and the Pac-12 Network on the sports side, along with staples like HGTV, FX, and widespread local network channel support on the other. In August 2018, FuboTV signed a multiyear deal bringing the Turner networks — including TNT, TBS, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, TruTV, TCM, and HLN — to the service. Not only did the service add these channels, but it did so without upping the price.
You'll never have to bug someone for their Xfinity password to stream a live channel again (because you'll have any channel you need and then some). Hulu, Vue, DirecTV NOW and FuboTV are our top picks for all-encompassing premium packages. These will all include local broadcast channels like ABC and NBC, so you won't have to worry about an HD antenna.
Next, connect the HDHomeRun box to your home modem or router using the included ethernet cable. Just plug one end of the ethernet cable into the box and the other end into the ethernet port on the modem or router. The HDHomeRun will always need to stay connected to the modem or router, so make sure you've got room nearby to set up the box and antenna. You could also invest in a longer ethernet cable if you need to.
Like PlayStation Vue, AT&T's DirecTV Now has several tiers, starting with $35 a month, going to $50 for 80+ channels, $60 for 100+, and $70 for 120+. That does include Viacom stations and all the networks except CBS; the priciest plan offers up multiple Starz-related channels; HBO and Cinemax are here but for $5 per month extra each; Showtime is $8 per month extra.
We like the Leaf Metro because its small profile easily tucks away, without sacrificing much functionality. Though its range is limited to approximately 25 miles, it’s perfect for those living in smaller apartments or rented rooms, especially in urban environments where over-air TV signals are plentiful. To compound the versatility enabled by its tiny size, the antenna comes in either black or white, and you can also paint it to match your interior. Plus, its adhesive coating means it will stick to most any surface and can be moved to other locations with ease. An included 10-foot coaxial cable allows for fairly flexible installation.
YouTube TV ($40/mo.): YouTube’s newest venture entered the market as one of the cheapest and simplest. Its channel package is small, there aren’t that many add-ons at the moment, and the service isn’t even available in every city or town in the United States yet (although the range is expanding every day; check here for updates). But if watching local stations live matters a lot to you, then you should know that YouTube TV is making that the cornerstone of its business — along with unlimited DVR cloud storage and enough portability that you should be able to shift easily from one device to another while watching a show you’ve recorded.
The moment for me when the idea of dropping TV service became a long term prospect rather than just a short term experiment so I could write this article, was when I plugged in the antenna. The fact that I can get such high quality output, for network and PBS channels I had been paying for makes it hard for me to envision going back to a cable TV subscription. In addition, I have to sit through far fewer commercials (though I suspect that may change over time). Watching Netflix movies on the TV is much more satisfying than on the smaller computer screen and of course the freedom to watch current TV programs on my own schedule is a huge benefit when juggling the demands of work and family. I know there will be times during the year when a sports event I want to watch will be unavailable. But there's just no arguing with the dramatic cost savings. Pay TV is undeniably a richer experience, but is it worth a 330% premium? Not for me.
You can watch most of your favorite network shows by simply streaming them directly from the networks' web sites. They're often available a few hours after they air, and regularly have additional goodies like behind-the-scenes footage or teasers for upcoming episodes. In addition to official network sites, more and more useful tools are popping up every day to help you get your TV fix online.
Another often-ignored cord cutting technology is the indoor TV antenna, the modern equivalent of the old-school “rabbit ears,” which can cost under $10 and gives free access to network content. It’s not on-demand (unless you shell out extra for a recording device), but for live events like the Super Bowl or the Oscars, having an antenna could be a lifesaver.
Showtime has made itself an add-on with just about any service that offers the option. It's available through Hulu, Amazon Prime, and CBS All Access, plus the live TV streaming services (below). Or use the apps on Apple TV, iOS, Android, Roku, and Xbox One. The price to get Showtime those services is generally a couple buck lower per month, a $24 a year savings.
Thanks for mentioning Fancast. We think our offerings are second to none, and in addition to Fox and NBC shows like Family Guy or The Office, we ALSO have great Viacom hits like The Colbert Report, The Daily Show and South Park – as well as an extensive collection of classics. Your readers might be interested to see the full list of our TV library, all of them free, and full-length of course. It’s at http://www.fancast.com/full_episodes
Currently have Uverse which is great but uber epensive. Dropping it end of Feb when move into new home, Already ordered and received two Roku units; will subscribe to Netflix and HuluPlus at $7.99/month each. Putting antenna in attic for local OTA, which is free, of course. 6.0 mgbs ATT dsl $25/month, but that’s not just for TV. Phone,Internet and TV for about $66+tax/month. Currently pay $176/month. Saves me more than $1200/year and still provides almost all the programming I actually use. Ditch’em.
Philo, like nearly every other service listed here, gives you a long list of popular cable channels to watch live over the internet. But it differs significantly in what content is supports — or more accurately, doesn’t support. Despite boasting a bevy of channels, including Viacom-owned favorites like MTV and Comedy Central (absent from many competing services), the four major networks — Fox, NBC, CBS, and ABC — are not carried by Philo, nor is anything from ABC’s parent company, Disney. That means, along with no local affiliates, there is also no ESPN. When it comes to locals, though, many viewers can get them over the air with a simple (and affordable) HD antenna for free.
John Feffer, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus says he appears on RT as well as the U.S.-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, commented "I’ve been given the opportunity to talk about military expenditures in a way I haven’t been given in U.S. outlets". On the fairness issue, he said: "You're going to find blind spots in the coverage for any news organization".[142]
The New Republic writer James Kirchick accused the network of "often virulent anti-Americanism, worshipful portrayal of Russian leaders."[212] Edward Lucas wrote in The Economist (quoted in Al Jazeera English) that the core of RT was "anti-Westernism."[185] Julia Ioffe wrote "Often, it seemed that Russia Today was just a way to stick it to the U.S. from behind the façade of legitimate newsgathering."[12] Shaun Walker wrote in The Independent that RT "has made a name for itself as a strident critic of US policy."[213] Allesandra Stanley wrote in The New York Times that RT is "like the Voice of America, only with more money and a zesty anti-American slant."[61] David Weigel writes that RT goes further than merely creating distrust of the United States government, to saying, in effect: "You can trust the Russians more than you can trust those bastards."[45]
The interface is great. It's fast, smooth, and incredibly simple. You have all your basic channels on the front page in a grid, letting you access your movies, TV shows, and music from iTunes, as well as streaming channels like Netflix, Hulu Plus, and sports sites like MLB.tv, NBA, and NHL. It even has a list of recent and popular movies along the top if you aren't sure what you want to watch, which is kind of fun. Anything else you want to play can be shot to the Apple TV through AirPlay on an iOS device, or via AirPlay mirroring on a Mac. It isn't ideal, but it'll get the job done for just about anything you want to watch.
With thousands of available “channels,” Roku’s platform connects to virtually every major streaming service online. More importantly, the interface is very intuitive; you can quickly search for content across providers by actor, series, or movie titles, or the specific genre you’re looking for. The Roku interface will even tell you which services offer what you want for free, and which will charge for it. The remote is also super handy, allowing you to control power and volume on most TVs as well as voice search at the press of a button.
There is NO WAY to get FREE CABLE TV over the air, with an HDTV antenna. It is not possible to get HGTV, The History Channel, AMC, CMT, TVLand, and those other types of channels over an HDTV antenna! I wish these websites and these phony ads would stop fooling people into buying these “magic sticks” and “magic TV” antennas claiming that they will be able to watch CNN, TNT, TBS, The Science Channel, Biography, National Geographic, etc. without paying a cable company. It is NOT TRUE. They can stream whatever with a subscription, but guess what? THEY STILL NEED TO PAY THE CABLE COMPANY FOR INTERNET ACCESS AND THAT COSTS ABOUT $80 A MONTH WHEN YOU CANCEL THE BUNDLES!
YouTube is another option for online viewing that can take the place of your cable or satellite package. The popular web channel shares many movies and TV show episodes for legal viewing. YouTube won’t offer an abundant selection of quality movies and TV show episodes. Still, there are some available, and it’s free with your Internet access package.
Steven, not sure why you’re so angry. If you go back through the article, in the options discussed, yes, not all of them are completely free. Some of them have up front costs or costs for equipment when you first start. After that, however, many of them are free or monthly subscription cost free (not all of them).The main one, using an antenna and watching over-the-air television, is something you can do without a recurring monthly cost. If you don’t have a TV and antenna up front, yes, you’ll have to pay for those. You’ll also have to pay for an over-the-air DVR if you want to record programming. But after you pay for those costs there are no monthly costs. Sorry you weren’t happy with the article, but there are quite a few options in the article that you can do for free. Best of luck to you, and happy new year!
The majority of cable and satellite TV providers offer customers packaged deal pricing on a contract basis. Generally, rates are locked in for two or more years, although companies may include an increase in cost after six or 12 months. Customers should ensure they do research about their contract and what it entails before locking in service with one company.
It’s really not that big of a shock that a major TV provider has inconsistent customer service at best. We pitted DIRECTV and DISH against each other in the customer service department, and DISH falls short on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI1). From our experience, you can expect longer hold times with DISH’s customer service department.
Before deciding to cancel, you should also make sure you have a reliably fast Internet connection. Most streaming video services need 5 to 10 megabits per second in bandwidth for smooth streaming, and you’ll want an average speed of at least 15 to 20 Mbps to deal with pauses and buffering. Even with a true gigabit connection, you could still occasionally run into buffering issues.
Laura M. LaVoie resides in a 120 square foot house in the mountains of Western North Carolina. There she has a solid internet connection and access to some of the best craft beer in the country. Email her at [email protected] Disclosure: Streaming Observer is supported by readers. Articles may contain referral links. For more information, see the disclosure at the bottom of the page.
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Madison Schramm
Book Review Roundtable: What to Make of the Suez Canal Crisis
History April 2019
Jordan Chandler Hirsch, Madison Schramm, Danny Steed, Philip Zelikow
What lessons does the Suez Canal crisis hold for policymakers today? We assembled a roundtable to review the recently published book "Suez Deconstructed" to tackle that question.
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1. The “Lessons” of History, Theory, and Statecraft
In Suez Deconstructed, Philip Zelikow, the late Ernest May, and a team of scholars set out to provide students and foreign policy practitioners with a practical guide to navigating the complexities and uncertainties of international diplomacy. The book, Zelikow writes, is meant to serve “as a sort of simulator” to help readers grapple with the challenges that decision-makers confront in major crises.[1] The authors seek to accomplish this goal by focusing on the perspectives of all the major parties involved in the 1956 Suez crisis, which, in Zelikow’s words, “can offer a master class” for those seeking lessons for statecraft.[2]
As the authors show in rich detail, the episode was enormously complex: The crisis took place in the context of the Cold War and directly involved both the United States and the Soviet Union, positioning Washington against its NATO allies Britain and France, as well as Israel, while aligning the Americans with Gamal Abdel Nasser’s largely antagonistic Egypt. Further complicating matters, the crisis was directly linked to regional conflicts in the Middle East, especially the Arab-Israeli dispute; occurred early on in the nuclear age; contributed greatly to the eventual collapse of European colonial empires; and forced policymakers to operate in conditions of deep uncertainty. The objective of the book, Zelikow writes, is to force readers to ask themselves: “What would I do if I had been a character in this story, with the reasonably available information?”[3] Readers, in short, are meant to come away from the book with deeper insights about the experience of crisis decision-making.
Three Perspectives on Suez
This whole approach is certainly both novel and creative, a point on which the three reviewers in this roundtable, Jordan Hirsch, Madison Schramm, and Danny Steed, are agreed. In their respective reviews, each contributor highlights the book’s unique structure. The book, Hirsch writes, “disorients” the reader by employing a “Rashomon-like structure.” All three reviewers also agree that the book achieves, at least in part, its goal of providing students and practitioners with a guide to foreign policy decision-making. They write that Zelikow’s “observation” chapters, in which he outlines and discusses what he refers to as each actor’s “value judgments,” “reality judgments,” and “action judgments,” offer the reader a valuable framework for thinking about how each side in the crisis viewed the situation. Finally, the reviewers agree that the book’s focus on the Suez crisis is especially helpful, given their belief that future conflicts are likely to be similar in nature. Thus, both Hirsch and Schramm specifically refer to the war in Syria and potential conflicts over the South China Sea as scenarios where Suez Deconstructed could provide a useful lens. Steed likewise writes that the book’s lessons will be particularly applicable “to the types of conflicts we have seen so far this century.”
The reviewers, of course, found a few aspects of the book worthy of criticism and did not view its key takeaways exactly the same way. In her contribution, Schramm writes that Suez Deconstructed would have benefitted from more detailed discussion “of how intelligence and intelligence agencies affected each state’s decision-making,” as well as of the variation of views held by different policymakers within each country involved in the crisis. In her view, one of the book’s principal contributions is that it forces readers to consider “other states’ motivations in a crisis.” Applying that lesson to the current crisis in Syria, she writes, “Policymakers would do well to unpack not just the level of Iranian involvement in Syria, but why Iran is involved at all.”
Although he believes the book provides “nothing new” to “serious historians searching for new insights into the crisis itself” because that is not its main focus, Steed argues that one of its “implicit” lessons is “that the impetus and momentum for large policy decisions often passes between political actors, much like how momentum shifts among and between teams in sports.” The book, he notes, suggests that France’s determination to confront Nasser illustrates this sort of dynamic, as Paris’ refusal to change course had a significant impact on British policy.
For his part, Hirsch identifies two significant takeaways from the book. The first, he asserts, is that “policymakers are informed as much by honor and will as by interest.” Factors like prestige and status, he writes, played very key roles in shaping both French and British behavior in 1956. Second, Hirsch writes that Suez Deconstructed highlights “the centrality of relationships between statesmen, which drove events just as much as, if not more than, money, power, and ideas.” French-Israeli relations, he argues, were to a great extent a function of the emotional bond that existed between leaders on both sides. Similarly, he writes, the personal relationship between British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and the American secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, hamstrung the policies being pursued by the Western powers. Perhaps most importantly, Hirsch notes that many of the key decision-makers during the crisis were influenced to a considerable degree by their experiences from the 1930s and the road to World War II. “Together,” he writes, “these elements suggest that statecraft, particularly in a crisis, is not an entirely rational enterprise.” What Suez Deconstructed really shows, he therefore concludes, is “that statecraft is not only about impersonal forces, it’s about intangibles.”
The Need for Guidance
The reviewers rightly emphasize a number of valuable insights from Suez Deconstructed, but I see two key takeaways from the book that are somewhat different. The first has to do with methodology, and here the reviews by Steed and Hirsch provide helpful insights. Although, they observe, the book is extremely rich in historical detail and offers a new approach to learning about decision-making, there is something quite odd about it: Suez Deconstructed provides no explicit argument or set of arguments for readers.
Zelikow and May, of course, are very much aware of the pitfalls involved in teasing out “the lessons of history.”[4] Indeed, Zelikow discusses this issue on the very first page of the book. “There are,” he writes, “many studies of statecraft. But few of them help readers understand how to do it, so the skills do not necessarily advance.” Although history can be of assistance, “knowing exactly why a bridge fell down does not make you a civil engineer.” As for “parables” and “axioms,” they tend “not to amount to much more than a warning: Be careful. Consult with others. Don’t build on a mud pile. And don’t appease Hitler.”[5] The authors’ decision to not lay out an explicit set of lessons based on their analysis of the Suez crisis is, then, intentional. The book’s approach, Zelikow writes, is meant to put the “burden on the reader to evaluate and compare these different viewpoints,” and deliberately avoids “inserting our own later judgments of whether we think the leaders were right or wrong.”[6]
This sort of approach, however, is problematic. To be sure, the organizational strategy the authors employ and the depth of their analyses of each side’s perspectives are, respectively, innovative and instructive. But for a book whose main objective is to serve as a guide to the practice of statecraft, it is quite puzzling that readers are left without much guidance as to what one should take away from the whole Suez story. The job of scholars, of course, is to make sense of the complex issues they study, such that the key insights derived from their analysis are clearly and logically spelled out. As one historian writes, “the facts never just speak for themselves.” One of the analyst’s principal tasks, in fact, is to “make them ‘speak’ by drawing out their meaning and providing appropriate commentary—that is, by bringing out the handful of major points [she/he] want[s] the reader to note.”[7] Suez Deconstructed, however, avoids making these sorts of judgments. Even Zelikow’s insightful “observation” chapters, unfortunately, do not really leave readers with a sense of what the authors consider to be the key takeaways of each section. This, as Steed points out, is “a shame, because there is a clear need in the present era for wisdom to help guide decision-making.”
Drawing from Theory
In this respect, the authors might have capitalized more effectively on their innovative approach by integrating some of the methods that international relations scholars employ to study these sorts of issues into their analysis. Zelikow, however, explicitly rejects that way of studying statecraft. “Don’t look to political scientists to help,” he writes on the book’s first page. “They have better things to do.” Political scientists, he implies, are basically uninterested in making policy recommendations. “Policymakers,” he writes, “are to political scientists as insects are to entomologists. Only some of the more eccentric entomologists write how-to manuals to guide the ants.”[8]
There is no doubt that political science has its share of problems, and it is true that at least one influential scholar has recently highlighted the field’s dwindling influence on national security policy.[9] Nevertheless, in saying that students and practitioners of statecraft have little or nothing to learn from political scientists, Zelikow perhaps goes too far. After all, when making decisions, policymakers are, in effect, relying on theoretical frameworks about how the world operates.[10] Any policy analysis, Marc Trachtenberg writes, must “speculate about what would happen if various alternative policies were adopted by drawing on a certain general sense for how things work.”[11]
And it is precisely in the realm of theory and in the formulation of generalizable knowledge that political scientists and international relations scholars have the most to offer. Consider, for example, one of the main substantive themes in Suez Deconstructed: Israel’s concerns about a potential shift in the balance of power in the Middle East and its attendant motivations to launch a preventive war against Egypt before the latter grew into an unmanageable threat.[12] International relations scholars have long recognized the incentives states have to launch preventive conflicts and, consequently, have posited that the risk of war is greater under such conditions.[13] In that sense, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s concerns about this issue are hardly surprising, and framing the matter in those terms would have helped readers more thoroughly understand the significance of this sort of factor.
The same could be said for the way in which some decision-makers involved in the crisis interpreted the intelligence available to them. As Schramm points out, one of the reasons why people like Eden viewed flawed intelligence reports without skepticism was “because it confirmed what they wanted to believe.” Psychological biases, in other words, resulted in suboptimal decisions. This, again, is an area where political scientists have provided important insights, ones that could help elucidate these sorts of problems and underline their significance to readers seeking policy-relevant knowledge.[14]
The point here is not to criticize the historical approach the book takes. In fact, that sort of approach can be extremely valuable. Instead, it is to highlight a missed opportunity for the authors to provide readers with more concrete policy takeaways. To be sure, there are real limits to what one can learn from studying something in a completely abstract way. In that sense, the book’s rich historical discussion very effectively offers readers the chance to consider major policy dilemmas in a manageable way. Indeed, this is one of the main reasons why scholars like Trachtenberg consider it so important “to do the sort of work that can draw theory and history together.”[15]
But the analysis should not simply stop there. Readers need guidance, especially for a book like this one, when it comes to comprehending the significance of the events of 1956, as well as for evaluating each side’s decision-making. Incorporating some international relations theory could go a long way in this regard, by helping readers understand what to focus on in the substantive chapters, as well as what the main implications are for statecraft.
The Primacy of Political Considerations
With this in mind, I would argue that the principal takeaway from Suez Deconstructed is quite different from what the other reviewers describe and perhaps different from what the authors intended it to be as well. One of the core insights of international relations theorists, especially those of a realist bent, is that considerations relating to power oftentimes are at the heart of international politics.[16] Moreover, serious diplomatic problems can very easily arise when states ignore such considerations, or act contrary to what they would seem to prescribe. Indeed, individual states, as well as the international system as a whole, are likely to run into trouble when they fail to base their decisions on pragmatic, political calculations.[17]
And what stands out most prominently from the account the authors give in Suez Deconstructed is the extent to which the key actors in the story behaved in ways that simply failed to support the achievement of their political goals. The result, rather unsurprisingly, was that most of them ultimately failed to achieve their objectives. In fact, most of them emerged from the crisis either weakened or in a less favorable position than they otherwise might have been.
Take the case of Israel. To be sure, Jerusalem had an understandable concern about the Soviet Union’s major arms sale to Egypt in 1955 and the effects it might have on the regional balance of power. Indeed, for international relations theorists it is hardly surprising that Ben-Gurion was attracted to the notion of a preventive war that had the potential to topple Nasser’s regime. “This is the only chance,” he said, “that two not-so-small powers [Britain and France] will try to destroy Nasser, and we shall not stand alone while he grows stronger and conquers all the Arab world.”[18]
But what Suez Deconstructed makes clear is that by late 1956, when the decision to go to war was reached, the situation appeared far less dire than it had the previous year. Within several months, Israeli intelligence reports had grown much less alarmist about the implications of the arms deal, and the threat no longer appeared so severe.[19] But Ben-Gurion was ultimately persuaded to go to war anyway.
That decision, it seems, was made against his better judgment, for he clearly understood that Israel lacked a viable political strategy to deal with the consequences of the war. As Zelikow points out, Ben-Gurion felt that using force likely would not solve Israel’s security dilemmas and might very well put Jerusalem on the defensive in the realm of international opinion.[20] Likewise, Ben-Gurion understood the need to have American support for the sort of operation Israel was planning in conjunction with France and Britain. Indeed, he had initially directed his advisers to stipulate to Israel’s allies that the war had to be launched “with the knowledge of the United States.” He was, he said, “most of all… worried about America. America will force us to withdraw. America does not need to send military forces. America can say that she is breaking diplomatic relations, stopping Israeli fund raising, loan guarantees and more, she will consider what’s more important to her—we or the Arabs.”[21] Yet, even with this foresight, Ben-Gurion decided to go ahead anyway.[22] The results, of course, were just what he had predicted. Jerusalem, in short, ultimately paid the cost of ignoring power and political realities when Washington forced Israel to withdraw from the Sinai early in 1957.[23]
The Israelis at least had other important strategic reasons for going to war. For example, they had an interest in strengthening their relationship with France, they recognized that Nasser might pose a threat to them in the longer term, and they had reason to believe that the French might prove more willing to assist them in developing a nuclear program if they went along with Paris’ plan. But the same cannot be said for France and Britain.[24] To be sure, Paris and London had a strategic interest in the Suez Canal, but the Egyptians were having no trouble operating it.[25] As for Nasser’s support for the Algerian rebels, French policy in that area was itself driven more by emotional considerations than by practical ones. In addition, neither country appeared to have a viable political plan in place for the period that followed the fighting. Finally, London and Paris repeatedly overstated the threat Nasser posed to their interests, comparing him to Hitler and Mussolini. Thus, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower informed Eden at one point that, aside from the fact that attacking Egypt would only serve to strengthen Nasser, it seemed to him that France and Britain were far too concerned about the Egyptian leader. The Europeans, he said, were “making of Nasser a much more important figure than he is.”[26]
These miscalculations, Suez Deconstructed suggests, seemed to stem primarily from the European powers’ obsession with status and prestige.[27] “Eden,” Jill Kastner and David Nickles write in the book, “was preoccupied with maintaining Britain’s great power status.”[28] The problem, according to one U.S. official, had a great deal to do with “Britain and France’s fear for their prestige.”[29] The connection between these sorts of feelings and the two countries’ overreactions to the nationalization of the canal seems clear. Nasser, Eden wrote to Eisenhower, simply could not be allowed to get away with it, otherwise “our influence and yours throughout the Middle East will… be irretrievably undermined.” The French, for their part, compared the move to Hitler’s remilitarization of the Rhineland.[30] Had they instead focused their attention more squarely on geopolitical concerns, their misguided attempt at regime change likely could have been avoided.
The same criticism could be made of Nasser’s policies. The Eisenhower administration, it seems clear, was initially eager to cooperate with the Egyptian president. Indeed, the White House was even willing to support an Israeli cession of part of the Negev desert in exchange for an Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement.[31] But Nasser was simply unwilling to pursue a cooperative policy toward the United States, focused as he was on the “Arab Cold War” and his quest for leadership of the Arab world.[32] Thus, even after the Americans supported Egypt in the wake of the Israeli-French-British attack, Radio Cairo continued to criticize U.S. policy.[33] Given this sort of attitude, it is hardly surprising that Nasser ultimately got himself into trouble in 1967 when he provoked a war with Israel that proved a disaster for Egypt and the rest of the Arab world.[34]
Even the Americans, who for the most part did seem to pursue a policy in line with their key political objectives, were not entirely free from blame.[35] “Everyone,” Zelikow observes, “seems to have misjudged the strength, speed, and depth of Washington’s opposition to the Israeli-French-British assault on Egypt.”[36] To be sure, by October 1956 the Eisenhower administration had tried to make clear that it would oppose such an operation, but the Americans were not entirely unambiguous in this respect. Although he subsequently altered his position, Dulles at one point went so far as to tell his French interlocutors: “If… after [a diplomatic] effort has been made, Nasser rejects the conditions presented to him, the basis would exist for a strong action which would be supported by many countries in the world and by the United States.”[37] And even after the war had erupted, Eisenhower implied that he objected more to the “very poor vehicle” the Israelis, French, and British had used “in bringing Nasser to terms” than he did to the spirit of the policy itself.[38] The administration, then, likely could have moved more energetically to head off a conflict in the Middle East.
What all of this suggests, of course, is that decision-makers, rather than focusing their attention on what Hirsch calls “intangibles,” would be better served by basing their choices on strategic and political considerations. It surely was not in Israel’s interest to have a confrontation with the United States that resulted in a coerced withdrawal from the Sinai. Similarly, it was not in the interest of either France or Britain to ignore U.S. interests so blatantly at a time when Washington had considerable leverage to shape the behavior of both countries. Nor did it make sense for Nasser to alienate a superpower that appeared interested in developing a working relationship with him, for reasons that essentially had to do with prestige. All sides, in other words, would have been better served by pursuing policies more in line with realist principles. That, to my mind, is the real lesson to take away from Suez Deconstructed.
Galen Jackson is an assistant professor of political science at Williams College and an associate editor at TNSR. His book project deals with the Cold War diplomacy of the Arab-Israeli conflict from 1967 to 1979.
2. A War for Our Time
By Jordan Chandler Hirsch
The Suez War of 1956 is rarely included in the pantheon of crises featured in the study of statecraft. Seminal works on strategy, such as Yale historian Donald Kagan’s On the Origins of War, typically examine more famous episodes, like the outbreak of World War I or the Cuban Missile Crisis. Perhaps that is because Suez seems like a blip compared to other conflagrations of the era, such as the Soviet invasion of Hungary or the battle for Berlin. Seen as a “Middle East” war, Suez is sandwiched between the more “decisive” conflicts of 1948 and 1967. Suez also scrambled the traditional Cold War divisions that make for compelling study in other cases: At one point in the conflict, Washington aligned itself more closely with Moscow and Cairo than with London and Paris.
In Suez Deconstructed, Philip Zelikow, a historian at the University of Virginia and former counselor of the Department of State, argues that students of strategy have as much to learn from Suez as its much-studied cousins. In making this case, Zelikow is joined by Ernest May, who was a venerated Harvard historian, and the Harvard Suez Team, a group of six scholars recruited to conduct research for the project. The authors began their work in the 1990s, but were interrupted, among other things, by Zelikow’s service in government and May’s death in 2009. Zelikow has returned to finish the book at an auspicious moment for examining the kind of war that Suez represents — a multi-power crisis, in which states of every size and strength play major roles.
Neither a work of political science nor pure history, Suez Deconstructed instead aims to be a historically rooted how-to manual for statecraft. The book seeks to convey the experience of “masterminding solutions to giant international crises,” Zelikow writes, by providing “a sort of simulator that can help condition readers just a little more” before confronting their own crises.[39] It sets up that simulation by scrambling the storytelling. First, Suez Deconstructed divides the crisis into three phases: September 1955 through July 1956, July 1956 through October 1956, and October through November of that year. In doing so, the authors hope to show that “most large problems of statecraft are not one-act plays” but instead begin as one problem and then mutate into new ones. This was the case with Suez, which began with Egypt purchasing Soviet arms and which became a multipronged battle over an international waterway.[40] Second, the book proceeds through these phases not chronologically but by recounting the perspectives of each of the six participants: the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, Israel, and Egypt. The goal — and the effect — is to deprive the reader of omniscience, creating a “lifelike” compartmentalization of knowledge and perspective.[41]
Zelikow encourages readers to assess Suez by examining three kinds of judgments made by the statesmen during the crisis: value judgments (“What do we care about?”), reality judgments (“What is really going on?”), and action judgments (“What can we do about it?”).[42] Asking these questions, Zelikow argues, is the best means of evaluating the protagonists. Through this structure, Suez Deconstructed hopes to provide “a personal sense, even a checklist, of matters to consider” when confronting questions of statecraft.[43]
The book begins this task by describing the world of 1956. The Cold War’s impermeable borders had not yet solidified, and the superpowers sought the favor of the so-called Third World. Among non-aligned nations, Cold War ideology mattered less than anti-colonialism. In the Middle East, its champion was Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who wielded influence by exploiting several festering regional disputes. He rhetorically — and, the French suspected, materially — supported the Algerian revolt against French rule. He competed with Iraq, Egypt’s pro-British and anti-communist rival. He threatened to destroy the State of Israel. And through Egypt ran the Suez Canal, which Europe depended on for oil.
Egypt’s conflict with Israel precipitated the Suez crisis. In September 1955, Nasser struck a stunning and mammoth arms deal with the Soviet Union. The infusion of weaponry threatened Israel’s strategic superiority, undermined Iraq, and vaulted the Soviet Union into the Middle East. From that point forward, Zelikow argues, the question for all the countries in the crisis (aside from Egypt, of course) became “What to do next about Nasser?”[44]
Israel responded with dread, while, Britain, France, and the United States alternated between confrontation and conciliation. Eventually, the United States abandoned Nasser, but he doubled down by nationalizing the Suez Canal. This was too much for France. Hoping to unseat Nasser to halt Egyptian aid to Algeria, it concocted a plan with Israel and, eventually, Britain for Israel to invade Egypt and for British and French troops to seize the Canal Zone on the pretense of separating Israeli and Egyptian forces. The attack began just before the upcoming U.S. presidential election and alongside a revolution in Hungary that triggered a Soviet invasion. The book highlights the Eisenhower administration’s anger at the tripartite plot. Despite having turned on Nasser, Eisenhower seethed at not having been told about the assault, bitterly opposed it, and threatened to ruin the British and French economies by withholding oil shipments.
Throughout, Suez Deconstructed disorients. As the story crisscrosses from terror raids into Israel to covert summits in French villas, from Turtle Bay to the Suez Canal, names and places, thoughts and actions blur. Venerable policymakers scramble to comprehend the latest maneuvers as they struggle with the weight of history: Was Suez another Munich? Could Britain and France still project power abroad? Would a young Israel survive?
The Lessons Are There if You Look for Them
By utilizing its Rashomon-like structure, the book evokes the harrowing nature of high-stakes diplomacy: the incomplete intelligence, the uncertain signaling among allies and adversaries, and the sheer number of contingencies that leaders must account for in navigating a multifaceted confrontation. But aside from Zelikow’s brief observations, it leaves readers to contemplate these factors on their own. In that regard, Suez Deconstructed is less interactive study than study-by-fire. The approach conveys much about the atmospherics of decision-making, and Zelikow is right to prefer it to platitudes and aphorisms about strategy. But it may be difficult for readers to compose Zelikow’s checklist without further guidance.
Even so, it is possible to extract several key lessons about statecraft. Chief among them is the extent to which policymakers are informed as much by honor and will as by interest. Britain and France, for example, ultimately joined forces to invade Egypt, but they did so for different reasons and with different degrees of resolve. As Zelikow notes, in the mid 1950s, France, recently beaten in Indochina, seemed beleaguered, while Britain “still seemed big,” boasting a “far-flung network of bases and influence.”[45] But appearances could deceive. France was led by men who “had been heroes of the resistance” during World War II and were determined to restore their country’s honor.[46] Outwardly strong, meanwhile, Britain suffered from a gnawing sense of exhaustion.
This imbalance of morale would shape each nation’s actions during the crisis and contribute to Suez’s strange outcome. France’s Socialist-led coalition, Zelikow writes, was “driven by ideas and historical experience.”[47] It possessed a vision of restoring French pride and a dedication to defeating what it saw as “antimodern throwbacks” in Algeria backed by a Mussolini-like figure in Cairo.[48] It was thus undeterred when complications arose and “more creative in [its] policy designs.”[49] But because Washington, Moscow, and Cairo all judged France by its seeming lack of material power and its recent defeats alone, they underestimated its will.[50]
British leaders, equally eager to topple Nasser and more capable of acting independently than the French, nevertheless struggled to overcome their nation’s fatigue. Initially behind the government’s desire to punish Nasser, the British public, as the book details, “[lost] its appetite for military adventure” as diplomacy commenced.[51] British Prime Minster Anthony Eden had long argued for the need to reconcile with anti-colonialism and with Nasser, its chief Middle Eastern apostle. The British public, tired of war, could not long support Eden’s reversal. London ultimately joined French-Israeli strikes not so much out of conviction but to save face — avoiding the embarrassment of abandoning the demands it made of Nasser.
The second lesson that emerges is the centrality of relationships between statesmen, which drove events just as much as, if not more than, money, power, and ideas. One of the central drivers of the war, in fact, was the bond between French and Israeli statesmen. France’s Socialist leaders had all fought in the French Resistance during World War II. They sympathized with Israel, feeling morally obligated to prevent another massacre of the Jewish people and, as one author in the book describes, viewing Israel’s struggle “as a sort of sequel” to the fight against fascism.[52] The Israelis, many of whom were former guerilla fighters themselves, easily related to the French and appreciated their support. Paris and Jerusalem grew closer for practical reasons as well: France sought Israel’s aid in addressing the Algerian revolt. But the relationship extended beyond material interest. As one chapter relates, during French-Israeli negotiations regarding the attack on Egypt, “there was an emotional connection between [the French and Israeli leaders] that documents do not easily capture.”[53] The affection between French and Israeli officials repeatedly propelled the war planning forward.
If intimate ties catalyzed the invasion of Egypt, so, too, did combustible ones — none more so than the rancor between Eden and Dulles. Eden detested Dulles as moralistic, legalistic, and tedious (as related in Suez Deconstructed, he once described Dulles with the quip, “Dull, Duller, Dulles”).[54] Their mutual disregard plagued U.S.-British cooperation. At key moments, Eden believed, Dulles would intervene with a maladroit statement that would harm planning or undermine British leverage. In early October 1956, for example, Dulles stated that there were “no teeth” to the diplomatic plan that the powers had been devising and that when it came to issues of “so-called colonialism,” the United States would “play a somewhat independent role.”[55] For Eden, feeling isolated, this statement “was in some ways the final blow,” spurring him to join the French-Israeli initiative.[56]
The statesmen of the Suez Crisis were haunted by history as much as they were guided by pride and personality — another striking theme that surfaces in Suez Deconstructed. Zelikow begins his overview of the world in 1956 by stating that “[t]hey were a wartime generation,” nations that had “lived through conclusive, cataclysmic wars, some more than one.”[57] Those experiences permeated their approaches to the crisis. French and British leaders could not help but see Nasser as a 1930s potentate. Indeed, after the crisis, Guy Mollet, the French prime minister in 1956, compared Suez to “Algeria, Spain, and Munich.”[58] As one author in the book explains, “‘Algeria’” meant Nasser’s role in fomenting the Algerian revolt. ‘Spain’ represented the parallel between Israel and the beleaguered Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s,” which was destroyed as the French government did nothing, and “‘Munich’” represented the failure of the democracies to stop dictators in time.”[59] Although the British — policymakers, the press, and the public — did not share the Algerian and Spanish analogies, they, too, saw in Suez “the lesson of World War II: appeasement of dictators led to more demands and, eventually, to war.”[60] For Israel, Nasser’s threat to drive the Jews into the sea was especially haunting. And for Nasser, Dulles’ brusque revocation of the offer to finance the Aswan Dam was yet more colonial degradation. Suez Deconstructed offers a vivid sense of how difficult it is for policymakers to step back from their own experiences, let alone embody the perspectives of their counterparts. It is a rare quality in world leaders to be able to make historical analogies without fully embracing them, thereby becoming trapped.
Applying History’s Lessons to Today
Together, these elements suggest that statecraft, particularly in a crisis, is not an entirely rational pursuit. This is a vital lesson for today’s leaders. For much of the past 70 years, the wars most prominent in the American imagination have been nuclear standoffs and insurgent street fights. The wars of the coming decades, however, are likely to look more like Suez than Berlin or Iraq. They will likely be multi-state conflicts, in which states of every size and strength play major roles. These contests will be byzantine. Like Suez, they will be local skirmishes and global crises simultaneously. They will feature webs of overlapping rivalries and alliances (and rivalries within alliances), strategic and ideological considerations at multiple levels, and high-stakes signaling amid confusion and disinformation.
Such conflicts have already begun to emerge, and policymakers have largely failed to adjust. In Syria, for example, two great powers (the United States and Russia) and three regional powers (Israel, Iran, and Turkey), as well as a paramilitary terrorist organization, Hezbollah, have vied for influence in the midst of a failed state, wracked by civil war, with myriad factions and a lingering Islamic caliphate. In East Asia, meanwhile, claims over islands in the South China Sea could spark a multi-power war in a global economic hinge point — one that could quickly draw in the United States. These conflicts have not become worldwide conflagrations (despite, in the case of Syria, the unimaginable toll on Syrians themselves). But in a time of geopolitical flux, when nations probe wobbly balances and crumbling power hierarchies, the relevance of Suez — a crisis that occurred before the Cold War’s ossification, and in many ways was caused by the uncertainties of the pre-Berlin-Wall world — becomes all too apparent.
To navigate this environment, policymakers will need to grapple with everything from budgetary constraints to new forms of power projection. But at bottom, they will need to recall the elements that have long moved leaders and nations, but have recently been forgotten: pride and emotion, personality and temperament, context and history. In other words, they will need to understand that statecraft is not only about impersonal forces — it’s about intangibles. The Suez crisis is an ideal history from which to glean that understanding, and Suez Deconstructed gives readers an enlightening and engrossing opportunity to gain it before facing a crisis of their own.
Jordan Chandler Hirsch practices law in Washington, D.C. He was formerly a Next Generation National Security Fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a staff editor at Foreign Affairs.
3. Suez Deconstructed: Muddying the Waters to Clarify Decision-Making
By Madison Schramm
For over sixty years, scholars have investigated the political crisis that erupted in the wake of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal. These works have tended to focus on discrete elements of the conflict, emphasizing, for example, the logic of economic diplomacy,[61] British politics,[62] or Israeli border security.[63] In the recently published Suez Deconstructed: An Interactive Study in Crisis, War, and Peacemaking, Phillip Zelikow, Ernest May, and the Harvard Suez Team provide an important service to current and future policymakers by illuminating not just what to think about a given crisis, but how to think in a crisis.
The United States will face a number of foreign policy challenges in the years ahead, including the rise of transnational right-wing populism, the international (and domestic) consequences of climate change, and ending America’s “endless” wars while avoiding leaving behind dangerous power vacuums. Analysts and policymakers alike would do well to follow the lessons that this book has to offer: namely to rigorously analyze the motivations and priorities of one’s opponents and partners, and to be wary of simple parables.
Suez Deconstructed has somewhat of an unorthodox organization. Designed as a teaching tool to assist students and policymakers, the text is structured to facilitate the careful assessment of state decision-making. The book is divided into three sections: The first section examines how the leaders from each of the involved countries in the Suez Canal crisis perceived Nasser prior to nationalization of the canal. The second section discusses how decision-makers in each capital responded to Nasser’s nationalization of the canal. The final section explores what actions decision-makers took leading up to and following Israel, Britain, and France’s invasion of Egypt. The authors draw from memoirs, newspaper articles, and primary source material from the Soviet Union, Israel, France, Britain, the United States, and Egypt.
In the introduction, Zelikow and his co-authors ask readers to remain cognizant of three questions while appraising each state’s decision-making throughout the crisis: First, to consider “value judgments,” or how states characterized the imminent challenges they faced; second, to evaluate “reality judgments,” or how policymakers from each country weighed the facts on the ground; and lastly, to examine how each state designed its policies and strategies. Following each section, Zelikow offers observations organized around these three questions. This structure forces readers to grapple with the complexities of crisis decision-making and allows the authors to convincingly challenge the notion that the outcome of the crisis was, at any given point, a foregone conclusion.
The Optics of a Crisis
The organization of Suez Deconstructed provides an excellent template for assessing state decision-making. Through this, the authors succeed in illustrating the complexity of the crisis. Like most conflicts, the Suez Crisis is not a simple tale. It is precisely for this reason that the lessons from the text are so rich.
By assessing each state individually, the authors provide substantial evidence that the actors involved had different interests and threat hierarchies. For example, while both U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower and Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev were consumed by the Cold War, only the United States was preoccupied with the Israeli-Arab conflict and Egyptian politics. French perceptions were unduly motivated by the Algerian revolt, while the British were motivated by their waning influence in the Middle East. Egyptian leaders were concerned about the future leadership of the Middle East and their own economic development, while Israel was preoccupied with its border security.
In descriptions of international conflict, analysts frequently treat complex, multi-player conflicts as dyadic — examining only two actors, despite the fact that more states were critical to determining the contours of decision-making. However, by considering all parties to the Suez Crisis individually, Zelikow, May, and the Harvard Suez team illustrate the precarious nature of foreign policy decision-making. For example, the British decision to go through with Operation Musketeer — the codename for the planned British-French invasion — cannot be divorced from Britain’s coordination with the French and Israeli governments and their respective perceptions of Nasser. Although the parsimony of analyzing a crisis from one vantage point or level of analysis can be enticing, the authors illuminate how the bipolar nature of the Cold War, the personalities of individual policymakers, and domestic politics all affected different states at different times throughout the crisis.
Historical narratives often present a simple sequence of events with a mono-causal explanation. However, as the authors of Suez Deconstructed illustrate by approaching the crisis from multiple vantage points, crises are multi-causal and the perceptions of individual actors rarely converge neatly. U.S. foreign policy decision-makers can particularly benefit from this lesson. Consider the current crisis in the South China Sea: The focus tends to be on U.S. and Chinese foreign policy. However, this ends up marginalizing the roles of other claimant and non-claimant states, ultimately resulting in a narrow interpretation of the conflict with less predictive leverage for policymakers. Think, for example, how the 2016 election of Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines changed the balance of power in the region. With the election of Duterte, the United States lost the Philippines as a close partner in pushing back against China’s nine-dash line. Understanding how Duterte and (and other leaders in the region) view the disputed islands will be essential to determining the best path forward for U.S. foreign policy in the region.
The authors also challenge some of the conventional wisdom regarding the crisis itself. For example, previous analyses often point to the Czech Arms Deal as the point at which U.S. and British opinion turned against Nasser. However, the arms deal was actually a key factor in convincing Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Anthony Eden to support financing of the Aswan Dam project. In Suez Deconstructed, the more critical turning point for the United States seems to have been the failure of talks between Nasser and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, while for the British is was the summary firing of the commander of the Arab Legion in Jordan, John Glubb.
Another piece of conventional wisdom the authors challenge is the conception that Eden’s illness can fully account for his decision-making in 1956. His botched gall bladder surgery and associated illness is frequently used as an explanation for his hawkishness during the crisis. As the authors point out, however, both U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Eisenhower were hospitalized at different points throughout the crisis as well, and yet there is no evidence that their illnesses increased their support for coercive action in Egypt.[64] Furthermore, other important actors, like British treasury secretary, Harold Macmillan, at least initially largely agreed with Eden’s assessments, challenging the claim that Eden’s illness can independently explain his decision-making.
While Suez Deconstructed ably presents the difficulties that decision-makers face in a crisis and challenges reductionist accounts of history, the book left a few interesting topics under-explored, no doubt due to the already substantial breadth of the volume.
First, the book lacked a sufficient discussion of how intelligence and intelligence agencies affected each state’s decision-making. How did the analyses from MI6 and the CIA inform British and American thinking? There were important distinctions between the agencies with regard to their assessments of Nasser and Egypt as well as their individual organizational capacities. While the CIA and American officials had befriended the Free Officers, the group within the Egyptian military that led the coup in 1952, the British were still disadvantaged by their reliance on the Wafd party, a popular and powerful group under the monarchy. During the Suez crisis, Eden widely shared the intelligence from Lucky Break, claiming Nasser had developed deep ties with the Soviets. This seemed to confirm his prior suspicions and support his chosen course of action to attack the canal. However, U.S. intelligence was more measured regarding the threat of Nasser and warned that direct Soviet involvement, rather than being a foregone conclusion, would result only if military action were taken against Nasser. While the authors note in the conclusion that “Part of it has to do with the peculiar influence that British intelligence exerted in that year, and not in a helpful way,”[66] this topic deserved more concerted investigation. What can this teach us about the influence of intelligence during a crisis?
Second, there was more to explore regarding the variation in threat assessment within each state. The American and British ambassadors to Egypt, for example, seemed to take a much more moderated tone than leaders within the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff and the British Ministry of Defense. Although his concerns were dismissed by many in Washington, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Henry Byroade explicitly challenged plans for Operation OMEGA — a plan developed under Eisenhower in the spring of 1956 to erode Nasser’s power and build up support for King Saud in Saudi Arabia as a new leader in the Middle East. Similarly, British Ambassador to Egypt Sir Humphrey Trevelyan was much more moderate in his assessments of Nasser than government officials in London, and it seems he was not immediately informed of British military planning. How did the sidelining of these ambassadors’ voices affect American and British decision-making during the crisis?
Despite some of these shortcomings, however, Suez Deconstructed adds depth and perspective to existing accounts of the 1956 crisis. Scholars and policymakers alike will benefit from the insights of the text, namely that policymakers ought to rigorously assess the motivations and goals of all states involved in a crisis and be wary of simplistic narratives. Ultimately, Suez Deconstructed illustrates the challenges of decision-making and the complexities of international crises, providing important lessons for contemporary U.S. foreign policymakers.
Madison Schramm is a Ph.D. candidate in international relations at Georgetown University and the Hillary Rodham Clinton Research Fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security.
4. Deconstructing History’s Lessons for Statecraft
By Danny Steed
The Suez Crisis holds quite a special place in U.K. history, and not a happy one at that. It was, more than any other country, Britain’s failure — so much so that it can be very easy to forget the role that other countries played in a crisis that continues to be rich in lessons for current and future policymakers. The crisis itself has been described in numerous ways over the decades: Chester Cooper, former CIA officer and diplomat, labelled it “The Lion’s Last Roar,”[67] hinting at the end of British imperial might. From the Egyptian point of view, journalist Mohamed Heikal called the crisis, “Cutting the Lion’s Tail,”[68] — a clear bias that it was less the result of British failure and more of Egyptian success under the leadership of Col. Gamal Abdul Nasser. For others, “The less said about Suez the better,”[69] such has its ghost haunted political memory in a way that is only rivalled by the 2003 Iraq War.
With such positions firmly ingrained in the historiography of Suez, one can rightly ask what is there that is new to add? Philip Zelikow, the late Ernest May, and the Harvard Suez Team offer their recent book, Suez Deconstructed, which, in this author’s opinion, certainly proves American-Israeli historian Michael Oren’s view that Suez is a “crisis for all seasons”[70] from which observers are certain to draw lessons on all sides. Adopting Oren’s view implicitly, Zelikow and his co-authors seek to offer an historical work with a new objective: Instead of trying to simply unearth new historical insights into the crisis, the work is offered as a way to generate lessons on statecraft itself.
As Zelikow notes in his introductory remarks, “There are many studies of statecraft. But few of them help readers understand how to do it…”[71] In order to try to do just that, the book combines the efforts of the Harvard Suez Team,[72] whose scholars offer their own country-specific chapters on the six key players involved in the crisis — Britain, Egypt, France, Israel, the United States, and the Soviet Union — highlighting each country’s view of events. Typically, such an attempt would be presented in the style of an edited volume, but this work differs because the structure is driven by Zelikow’s guiding hand.
The book is split into three acts, each of which poses a central question: What to do about Nasser’s Egypt? What to do about the crisis? And what to do about the war? The overall analytic underpinning distinguishes between “value judgements,” “reality judgements,” and “action judgements,” which each of the six actors must consider. This matrix is put forward in order to draw lessons about statecraft from the leaders who were making decisions at the time. The traditional weakness that afflicts most volumes with numerous contributors is variance in quality and consistency of direction throughout. This, however, does not afflict Suez Deconstructed, whose direction and consistency must be commended.
One point of criticism to note is that serious historians searching for new insights into the crisis itself will be disappointed. Ultimately, there is nothing new in the historical detail on offer, and those with a familiarity with the events of Suez will be able to digest its content very quickly. Having said this, the work will hold strong appeal for those without such prior grounding, as a very useful “one-stop-shop” to the crisis whose strength lies in its inclusivity of all players involved. This, no doubt, is the core target: not only students who are searching for broader guidance and lessons to take on their way to careers as practitioners but, one also hopes, for established practitioners (be they in military or political service) who are continuing their studies.
Dissecting History
Given this objective, the areas of the book with the most to offer are Zelikow’s “observation chapters” between each section, as these serve to weave the historical narrative into the broader lessons that the authors are seeking to extract from this historical episode. In so doing, Zelikow succeeds, most of all, in showing readers how no country’s policy position at Suez was fixed and that the journey each participant took was, in reality, a very messy affair with numerous changes throughout. Moscow was employing its “opportunistic strategy.” Israel was “riveted to [its] local problems,” while Britain was concerned less with the global Cold War than with its own “regional influence in the Middle East,” and the French were preoccupied with the Algerian revolt. The Egyptians had clear concerns but unclear options, and Washington was alone in needing to “juggle concerns about all three levels of conflict.”[73] Nobody, therefore, arrived at the Suez Crisis in a political vacuum. And although this is a well-established fact in the Suez historiography, it could have been emphasized more explicitly as a broader overarching lesson for statecraft, given that the context these actors were already operating in greatly informed the value judgements that were then taken into the crisis itself.
Zelikow’s transitional chapters are valuable in revealing how each country’s value judgements greatly informed its belief about what courses of action were available and, consequently, what action judgements it then reached. Britain, which had the most skin in the game, as it were, was the country most concerned and arguably the most predictable in its (eventual) response in resorting to the use of force against Egypt. American attitudes are rightly highlighted as seeming “to fluctuate, from person to person or one day to the next.”[74] This caused much consternation in London, but those changeable attitudes did evolve into a measured view against the use of force by President Dwight Eisenhower that Britain was ultimately at great fault for ignoring by opening hostilities against Egypt.
One particular observation that Zelikow makes is of note: the French push to use force. So often, the historiography on the Suez Crisis is focused on the collusion — the conspiracy between Britain, France, and Israel to find a pretext to invade Egypt — particularly the British government’s role therein because of its ardent denials after the fact. Thus, it is often overlooked that in the latter stages of the crisis it was the French who became the driving impetus for the use of force against Egypt. Zelikow’s view on this matter, informed greatly by Charles Cogan’s chapters on Paris, judges the French as being “more creative in their policy designs.”[75] Here, the French are rightly credited in that their policy design more accurately appealed to London’s desires to use force against Egypt while anticipating Israeli concerns about having an emboldened Egypt on its doorstep at the same time. This, in turn, identifies another lesson for statecraft that seems left implicit at this stage of the book: that the impetus and momentum for large policy decisions often passes between political actors, much like how momentum shifts among and between teams in sports. At the moment when Britain was seriously contemplating a humiliating reversal on the diplomatic front, “it is the French who throw Eden a lifeline of political and military opportunity.”[76]
The final observations that Zelikow makes — “What to do about the war?” — are instructive in illustrating which countries were the most instrumental in halting the crisis, America being the most paramount. Zelikow is quite right that everyone “seems to have misjudged the strength, speed, and depth of Washington’s opposition” to the use of force.[77] This included Nasser, who, although ultimately anticipating the British resort to force, certainly did not plan for Eisenhower to rescue him “from a gamble that could have turned out so catastrophically”[78] for his regime, as it had for his forces. The French blamed British military lethargy and over-caution for the failure to re-secure the Suez Canal and depose Nasser every bit as much as they did American political opposition, whereas Moscow and Cairo, of course, both tried to claim that it was their curbing of imperialist ambitions that was the ultimate reason for the cessation of hostilities — not the far more decisive role of American displeasure with its allies’ actions. While French criticism of British military performance was certainly valid, it was the steadfast refusal of America to condone the use of force that was the decisive factor in halting the crisis.
Lessons Worth Learning
Suez Deconstructed is a fine work that does not shy away from attempting a new approach to analysing a much-discussed moment of intense geopolitical contest in order to try and identify broader lessons in statecraft for current or future policymakers. In this, the book succeeds but, in this reviewer’s opinion, only implicitly, as readers are left to categorize those lessons for themselves. While the book makes clear the lessons learned by the countries involved — for example, the French learned that its government must retain as much independence for its military as possible[79] — the broader lessons for statecraft itself are curiously not made explicit, even in Zelikow’s otherwise superb observational chapters.
That’s a shame, because there is clear need in the present era for wisdom to help guide decision-making, particularly for time-poor leaders who operate in ever faster cycles of events, dominated by information flows that are seen as increasingly unreliable and permeated with “fake” news. Scholarship that categorizes and explicitly outlines advice for policymakers is sorely needed, yet readers will need to extract some of these lessons from Suez Deconstructed for themselves, including that context in the political world is always multi-dimensional, with each country bringing its own unique viewpoint to the table and trying to shape one another’s when attempting to influence the policy agenda. Despite the lack of explicit articulation, Zelikow’s three levels of conflict remain effective in ensuring readers empathize with which level mattered more to which participant. For those seeking careers in diplomacy or as analysts, this kind of empathetic reasoning will serve as a key professional skill.
Other lessons include the important role that context plays in driving the value judgements an actor makes in approaching any political event or crisis, the influence of those value judgements in conditioning an actor’s belief in which courses of action are available and possible, that personal relationships between leaders matter every bit as much — indeed perhaps even more so — than established national ones (as seen in the fluctuating relationship between the Eden and Eisenhower governments, in particular), that calculating and anticipating the desires and reactions of other actors is a most uncertain pursuit based, at best, on shaky information, and that policy momentum can easily pass between nations (as evidenced by Britain’s loss of impetus for the use of force that was then taken up by the French).
These lessons highlight a relevant broader lesson that certainly applies to the types of conflicts we have seen so far this century: those that feature the lack of control of any one actor on events, especially as those events proceed. While a nation may initiate a policy course of action (including the use of force), the dynamics of events and the effects of actors with their own contexts and policy desires shapes a future reality that policymakers did not intend. For those in positions of authority, it is important to remember that the policy outcome will rarely match with the ideal one was striving for in the first place. Policy positions will need to adapt to circumstances, and policymakers will need to exercise understanding about what other actors — especially allies — desire.
Suez Deconstructed certainly merits a place on any course’s reading list for the Suez Crisis because of its efforts to draw broader lessons of statecraft, even if imperfectly achieved. The real difficulty that the book highlights is the meta-challenge for history as a discipline itself, namely, the sheer difficulty of robustly unlocking and categorizing the lessons of historical episodes for future practitioners to learn from. In this, Zelikow rightly notes that Suez becomes such an instructive study “because it is so humbling,”[80] and, for Suez in particular, one is reminded that the crisis’ biggest truism is, in fact, the biggest truth of all: that Suez really is, in the words of Kipling, “No End of a Lesson.”
Dr. Danny Steed, formerly lecturer in strategy and defence at the University of Exeter, is now head of strategy at ReSolve Cyber, a specialist cyber security consultancy. His next book, The Politics and Technology of Cyberspace, will be published by Routledge in 2019.
5. Author Response: Lessons Learned
By Philip Zelikow
This is an excellent roundtable. All the reviewers grasped, understood, and welcomed the innovation in the research design, and everyone appeared to have profited from it.
Galen Jackson, who introduced the roundtable, struggled with my early remarks about the similarity of international relations (IR) theory to entomology in relation to the practical advice they give to the objects of their study.
Entomology, as well as IR theory, are perfectly respectable scientific pursuits. Jackson makes the IR theorists’ argument that policymakers act on theories, usually implicit, about the world. By adducing, articulating, and testing such theories, IR theorists argue that they thereby can improve the quality of policymakers’ thought, assuming the policymakers attend to the scientific findings.
People do act on theories about people and the world. Usually they carry a number of such theories in their head simultaneously, most of which often have some measure of validity under certain circumstances. Few such theories are invariably true.
The practical problems in application thus become apparent. It is these practical problems that play out in each individual’s interactive judgments assessing reality, juggling values, and evaluating possible actions. There are more interactions in each individual’s government which, in turn, interact with such compound judgments in the other governments involved. This is what my co-authors and I attempted to break down and illuminate in Suez Deconstructed.
There can be value in slapping theoretical labels on some of the judgments in these complex mixtures, to say — as Jackson does — that here the Israelis are worried about a changing power situation (though this too fluctuates) or there we see a known psychological pattern. If that helps a theoretically conversant reader follow some facets of the story, all the better.
But if we authors inserted these hindsight theoretical labels on each of the many varieties of behavior exhibited in this study, the net effect would make them less lifelike. The first risk is that we would typecast behavior in ways that do not fit the multi-causal reality. The second risk is to invite the associated generalizations about the implications of the theorized behavior, generalizations that might not be valid in that case.
This combination of selective typecasting, plus their associated generalizations, can be deadly (sometimes literally). It is a pathology occasionally exhibited by some of the characters in our story. The entomologists may wish to notice and extract such data for their disciplinary purpose. But such labeling would detract from our goal, which was to heighten philosophical realism and practical insight.
In the other reviews, I was only puzzled in reading Danny Steed’s statement that the book added nothing new to historical knowledge about the Suez crisis (a statement which Jackson quotes in his overview). The actual substance of the review essays by both Jordan Hirsch and Madison Schramm seem to repeatedly belie that assertion — it is even belied somewhat in Steed’s own piece.
One such contribution, that at least one reviewer appears to have misunderstood, is my argument that Israel was a big winner — not a loser — in the crisis. I thought that came through in the book, prefigured by a remarkable statement David Ben-Gurion made to the Israeli cabinet. Part of the irony of Israel’s gain is that their 10 precious years of border security and relative peace came, in part, from the innovative creation of the U.N. Emergency Force — which was not Israel’s idea at all. In fact, the book’s little creation story of this force makes another small contribution.
But it is my fault I did not attempt to list and spotlight these and the many other ways my co-authors and I thought we were adding to the historical understanding of the Suez Canal crisis. So many facets of this seemed to emerge from our approach, some relatively subtle but vital. Reassuringly, the reviewers actually and frequently display their grasp of many such points. That is a mark not only of their conscientious engagement with the book — it is also, in turn, a testament to the selection and recruitment of the reviewers by TNSR.
The striking takeaway from the essays in this roundtable is the reviewers’ common hunger — really an almost desperate hunger — for me to spell out more of the lessons, to distill and feed readers the axioms of good statecraft. As if that’s really how people learn it.
What’s happily evident to me, from the reviews, is how much these particular readers have already learned from their engagement with the book, working through the details of the situations, experiences, and varied perspectives. That is usually how people learn in real life.
Philip Zelikow holds chairs in history and in governance, both at the University of Virginia. His scholarship focuses on critical episodes in American and world history. He has served at all levels of American government, including policy work in the five administrations from Reagan through Obama.
[post_title] => Book Review Roundtable: What to Make of the Suez Canal Crisis
[post_name] => book-review-roundtable-what-to-make-of-the-suez-canal-crisis
[lead] => What lessons does the Suez Canal crisis hold for policymakers today? We assembled a roundtable to review the recently published book "Suez Deconstructed" to tackle that question.
[type] => Book
[endnotes] => [1] Philip Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed: An Interactive Study in Crisis, War, and Peacemaking (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 2018), 2.
[2] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 2.
[4] May, in fact, has co-authored an entire book on the matter. See Richard E. Neustadt and Ernest R. May, Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers (New York: Free Press, 1986).
[6] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 124.
[7] Marc Trachtenberg, The Craft of International History: A Guide to Method (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), 190.
[9] Michael C. Desch, Cult of the Irrelevant: The Waning Influence of Social Science on National Security (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019).
[10] Incidentally, historians, whether consciously or not, must do the same thing. This is a major theme in Trachtenberg, The Craft of International History, 30–50.
[11] Marc Trachtenberg, “The Problem of International Order and How to Think About It,” The Monist 89, no. 2 (2006), 222, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27903976.
[12] For example, see Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 27, 45–48, 236–238.
[13] For example, see Jack S. Levy, “Declining Power and the Preventive Motivation for War,” World Politics 40, no. 1 (October 1987), 82–107, https://doi.org/10.2307/2010195; Stephen Van Evera, Causes of War: Power and the Roots of Conflict (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999), 73–104; Dale C. Copeland, The Origins of Major War (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000).
[14] For examples of important political science literature in this area, see Robert Jervis, Perception and Misperception in International Politics (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976); Deborah Welch Larson, Origins of Containment: A Psychological Explanation (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985).
[15] Trachtenberg, The Craft of International History, 44.
[16] For important works by realist scholars, see for example Kenneth N. Waltz, Theory of International Politics (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1979); John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (New York: W.W. Norton, 2001).
[17] Marc Trachtenberg, “The Question of Realism: A Historian’s View,” Security Studies 13, no. 1 (Fall 2003), 156–94.
[18] Quoted in Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 236.
[19] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 127, 332 n. 8.
[20] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 48, 196.
[21] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 200, 239.
[22] According to Zelikow, Ben-Gurion seems to have been carried away by the thought of “restructuring the Middle East…. Visions of sugar plums danced in his head.” Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 233.
[23] Another way to demonstrate the weakness in Israeli policy in 1956 is to compare it with Israel’s stance in 1967, which resulted in a quite different American reaction. As one U.S. official put it roughly a year later, “[T]he situation in 1967 was different from that in 1957. The rights and wrongs were clearer in 1957 and the failure of the arrangements negotiated at that time were a major reason for our present difficulties.” See Telegram from the Department of State to the Embassy in Jordan, August 7, 1968, in FRUS, 1964-1968, Vol. 20: Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1967-1968 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2001), 453.
[24] On French-Israeli nuclear cooperation and its relationship to the Suez crisis, see Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 237, 265; Avner Cohen, Israel and the Bomb (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998), 49–50, 52–60.
[25] In any case, the lease on the canal was set to expire in 1968. Moreover, Nasser had offered to indemnify the Europeans for the nationalization.
[26] Quoted in Zelikow, Suez Deconstructed, 144.
[27] Incidentally, this is another area where incorporating some concepts from international relations theory might have helped this message resonate with readers. On status and prestige, see for example Joslyn Barnhart, “Status Competition and Territorial Aggression: Evidence from the Scramble for Africa,” Security Studies 25, no. 3 (2016), 385–419, https://doi.org/10.1080/09636412.2016.1195620; Deborah Welch Larson and Alexei Shevchenko, “Status Seekers: Chinese and Russian Responses to U.S. Primacy,” International Security 34, no. 4 (Spring 2010), 63–95, https://doi.org/10.1162/isec.2010.34.4.63.
[28] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 71.
[29] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 161.
[31] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 26–27. The administration was also initially willing to finance the Aswan Dam.
[32] The classic work on this issue is Malcolm H. Kerr, The Arab Cold War, 1958-1970: Gamal ‘abd Al-Nasir and His Rivals (New York: Oxford University Press, 1971).
[34] Nasser also subsequently got Egypt involved in a costly war in Yemen. On these mistakes and the road to the 1967 war, see Guy Laron, The Six-Day War: The Breaking of the Middle East (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2017), 55–85.
[35] Due to space constraints, I do not evaluate Soviet policy. In general, however, the Soviets do not seem to have pursued the sort of deeply aggressive strategy during the crisis that many writers now say they did. Their decision to arm Nasser, however, certainly did not square with an approach that took power and political dynamics into account. Not only did it fail to buy Moscow any great influence in Egypt, but it increased the likelihood of a Middle East war that it clearly did not want. And even if it had improved the Kremlin’s position with Nasser, it is unclear what exactly that would have gotten the Soviets in strategic terms.
[39] Philip Zelikow, Ernest R. May, and the Harvard Suez Team, Suez Deconstructed: An Interactive Study in Crisis, War, and Peacemaking, 2.
[40] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 2.
[43] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed.
[52] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 63-64.
[60] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 207.
[61] See Diane B. Kunz, The Economic Diplomacy of the Suez Crisis (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991); Guy Laron, Origins of the Suez Crisis: Postwar Development Diplomacy and the Struggle Over Third World Industrialization, 1945-1956 (Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 2013).
[62] See Leon D. Epstein, British Politics in the Suez Crisis (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1964); Saul Kelly and Anthony Gorst, eds., Whitehall and the Suez Crisis (New York: Frank Cass, 2000).
[63] See Benny Morris, Israel's Border Wars, 1949-1956: Arab Infiltration, Israeli Retaliation, and the Countdown to the Suez War (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1997) and Michael B. Oren, "Escalation to Suez: The Egypt-Israel Border War, 1949-56," Journal of Contemporary History 24, no. 2 (1989): 347–75, https://doi.org/10.1177/002200948902400208.
[64] Rose McDermott, Presidential Leadership, Illness, and Decision Making (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
[66] Zelikow, et al., Suez Deconstructed, 322.
[67] Chester L. Cooper, The Lion’s Last Roar: Suez 1956 (London: Harper and Collins, 1978).
[68] Mohamed H. Heikal, Cutting the Lions Tail: Suez Through Egyptian Eyes (London: Corgi Press, 1988).
[69] Peter J. Beck, “’The Less Said About Suez the Better’: British Governments and the Politics of Suez’s History, 1956-67,” English Historical Review Vol. CXXIV (June 2009): 508, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cep146.
[70] Michael B. Oren, “Suez: A Crisis for all Seasons: A Review Essay,” Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 12, no. 2 (Winter 1994): 104–07, https://doi.org/10.1353/sho.1994.0028.
[71] Philip Zelikow, Ernest R. May, and the Harvard Suez Team, Suez Deconstructed: An Interactive Study in Crisis, War, and Peacemaking (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 2018), 1.
[72] Which originated as a teaching project at Harvard and grew into a broader funded project.
[73] Zelikow et al., Suez Deconstructed, 124–25.
[contents] => 1. "The 'Lessons' of History, Theory, and Statecraft," by Galen Jackson
2. "A War for Our Time," by Jordan Chandler Hirsch
3. "Suez Deconstructed: Muddying the Waters to Clarify Decision-Making," by Madison Schramm
4. "Deconstructing History’s Lessons for Statecraft," by Danny Steed
5. "Author Response: Lessons Learned," by Philip Zelikow
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Graduate unemployment: Same, same, but different.
When you have the opportunity to travel abroad and immerse yourself in another culture, you begin to notice more similarities than differences between your culture and the one you are visiting. As they say in Thailand, “Same, same, but different.” The TYO international interns run Professional Competency classes at An-Najah University, and from talking to the students, the interns found that a lot of the issues facing recent graduates in Palestine are similar to any other country. However, given the complex political situation in Palestine, there are some unique obstacles that recent graduates have to overcome.
At the end of one of the Professional Competency classes, a handful of 3rd and 4th year students gathered to candidly share their perspective on unemployment for college graduates.
Like many civil engineers, Amjad and Omar are concerned with their odds of finding work because their major is particularly popular and unfortunately has a lack of available positions in Palestine. They estimate a lengthy search to find their first job- for the first 2 or 3 months they plan to focus their search locally, but after that they will consider a search abroad. The correlation between the popularity of a degree and a shortage of available graduate positions is an all too common trend in many countries. In the US, one of the most popular degrees is psychology, however, data also shows that psychology graduates are the most unlikely graduates to find relevant work.
The students are painfully aware of the weak job market in Nablus and throughout Palestine. Despite their desire to remain near their homes, they are willing to move overseas to develop their skills and return again in the future. Enas, a third year English literature major, would be willing to look overseas, especially since she has family that is already living and working in the UAE. Again, young graduates traveling abroad for opportunity is a trend seen elsewhere in the world. New Zealand is constantly losing it's brightest and most skilled young people to countries that can provide more opportunity and money. Many return back home with their acquired skills and wealth, just as the Nabulsi's, but inevitably many don't return. This is so common in New Zealand, politicians regularly debate about the “Brain Drain” that haunts the country.
A university degree is not a one-way ticket to a dream job. Latest figures from the US suggested that “nearly half of the nation's recent college graduates work jobs that do not require a degree.” When asked if they knew any recent graduates who have found employment, Ramsis, a 4th year information technology major, commented that he knew of two people who successfully found positions immediately after graduation. However, he was acutely aware that their situation was an anomaly for An-Najah graduates.
Yes, Nabulsi graduates are facing similar unemployment issues to graduates from all around the world, but an added factor in the current political situation. Nablus is still economically recovering from the Second Intifada and is relying on positive outcomes from the Middle East Peace Process to make dramatic economic advances, this lagging economy greatly effects prospects for new graduates. Thus, students are feeling forced to search for work abroad or face sustained unemployment.
Despite the many obstacles Nabulsi students face, they are sill optimistic about a brighter future for themselves and their peers in the class. After all, these students have enrolled in extra-curricular coursework to further prepare themselves for the leap from academia to the ‘real’ world.
TYO's professional competency classes for enrolled students at An Najah National University, like those discussed above, are made possible through generous support from the Abdul –Hameed Shoman Foundation (AHSF).
-TYO Interns, Katherine and Celia
STEP!, Internship Programtomorrowyouth March 5, 2014 an najah national university, employment palestine, international interns, job skills, middle east unemployment, palestinian youth, professional competency1 Comment
Standing & Stepping Out in Solidarity: International Women's Day
Women's Empowermenttomorrowyouth March 6, 2014 economic empowerment, international women's day, women's day1 Comment
Fighting unemployment and changing cultural norms
STEP!, Youth Service Learningtomorrowyouth March 4, 2014 nablus, Tomorrow's Youth Organization, TYO, women, women's economic empowerment, women's empowerment, youth empowerment, youth service learning
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From the FINKA to your table
As we team up with A&E District to launch A&Eats: The Search for Miami’s Next Great Restaurant Concept, we’re sitting down with some of Miami-Dade’s boldest restaurateurs, whose business have thrived thanks to original concepts and sturdy business plans to create the deliciously unexpected, quite often in the most unexpected places.
All of which describes Eileen Andrade to a T. The 26-year-old is the brains behind West Kendall’s trailblazing FINKA Table and Tap, and last Sunday — a little over a year from its official opening — the establishment was abuzz, bustling with a crowd you’d expect at a recently opened trendy South Beach resto, not nearing the county’s boundaries with the river of grass.
“Opening a 260 seat restaurant in West Kendall was definitely ballsy, and I guess my biggest fear was not being able to fill up the space,” she shares. “We’ve been able to fill up the house every night to the point where we have a wait. That has obviously been pleasantly surprising and overwhelming, in a good way.”
She joined us on one of the steel stools that line the treated and tiled concrete bar, where specially skilled bartenders make suggestions to newcomers and regulars alike about what craft cocktail or beer they’d like according to their usual choice of drink. This is a struggle they take on diligently, and one that has become Andrades’ — and the restaurant’s — mission. “Every day is about educating people, and it’s cool in a way because I feel we have given another perspective to Miami locals. But there’s still a lot of work to do in this area and hopefully this will inspire others to give Kendall a chance,” she explains.
Pleasing the untried palates of Kendall’s more traditional diners proved to be a worthy feat. According to Andrade, “[I] knew that was something that was going to be an issue. I thought we’d get over it quickly, like maybe six months in. We still have people asking for Presidentes and Heinekens, and they just don’t get why we don’t carry them.”
They don’t carry mainstream selections because instead they opt for local brews like MIA Brewery’s 305 golden ale, Wynwood Brewing’s La Rubia, and J Wakefield’s Amber Waves, along with other national craft selections like Michigan’s Bell’s Double Cream Stout and Brooklyn’s Sixpoint Resin.
The cocktail menu offers 10 drink selections, with the house versions of traditional drinks like the Cuban Old Fashioned, and original concoctions such as the The British are Coming — a shaken cocktail with Martin Miller’s gin and a grapefruit-rosemary syrup. They set out to create something that could compete with the most requested drink not on the menu — the classic Mojito. “I guess that’s the risk in Kendall,” she admits. “For the most part if I could sway at least half or 75 percent of the people to try something new then I’ve done my job.”
But the ambitious craft cocktail program was always part of Andrade’s vision. In fact, it’s one of the reasons why she opted for such a large establishment. She explains, “There were two reasons as to why we opened such a big restaurant. One, the investment to make the restaurant larger to get approved for a liquor license was less than purchasing one, and two, my mom. She told me ‘If we are going to do this, let’s go big or go home.’”
A supportive mother may not seem like anything out of this world, until you take under consideration that her mother Nancy Andrade is the restaurateur and owner of two outposts of her grandparent’s — Cuban immigrants Raul and Amelia Garcia’s — iconic local restaurant chain, Islas Canarias. “So I thought if my mom has that much faith in me with my ideas and my concept then I might as well just do it, and go for it.”
Growing up in the kitchens of her family’s restaurants was definitely helpful for the young entrepreneur, but it’s something Andrade has always had in her. Her grandfather passed away last week, and it was at the funeral that she was reminded about her early years as a business owner. “She brought the story up and I thought ‘Damn! I’ve loved to make things and own businesses since I was in the second grade”. So what’s the story you might be wondering? “It goes back to me in second grade; I would sell these bracelets that were custom made, and would set up in my little corner — I even had an employee! I ended up getting sent to the principal’s office at Conchita Espinosa Academy of the Arts. The reason I got caught is because someone tried to open up their own business and they got caught and ratted me out.” This person who ratted out, ironically, was the same person reminding her of the story — her best friend. “I guess it’s in my blood,” she concludes.
It’s this more creative and bold side of the young Andrade that sets her apart from the rest of her family. “I don’t know if it was a mistake or a blessing that I made a sign that read ‘FINKA by the owners of Islas Canarias’” she explains, “because when older crowds would drive by they’d think ‘Oh! Islas Canarias!’ and when they got here, they’d be like ‘What the hell is this?’”
The later might not be the most appropriate reaction to the ingenuity and bold flavors found in the dishes offered at Finka, but they’re definitely indicative of what’s so very different from what customers expected of the brand. They might have the same owners, but this generation has a very different concept. At FINKA, Andrade finds transformational ways to fuse the three gastronomic cultures that shaped the young restaurant’s concept: Korean, Peruvian, and Cuban.
At first glance, even to the savvier palates, the mix might seem hudge-pudgy. But once you sink your teeth in a spoonful of that Cuban fried rice — tossed with shrimp, maduros, pineapples, and red peppers, then topped with a fried egg and doused with cilantro aioli — all of a sudden, things begin to make sense.
It was during a trip to Korea, which took place a little over a year prior to opening the restaurant, that Andrade had a sudden realization, “I went to Korea and tried the food and fell in love, and thought it would mesh well with Caribbean food because Korean flavors are so intense, very flavorful, but also very homey, very casero, just like Cuban and Peruvian food,” she explains. “My mentor was Peruvian, which is how that fell into the mix. Peruvian food now is known as something modern, but really it’s very similar to Cuban food. You have your seco de cordero, chaufa, and all that stuff is very homey.”
Today, everyone who frequents the restaurant can attest that one of the greatest things about it is that it offers something for everyone. It’s also what sets the young chef very much apart from the more traditional restaurants in the area. And that’s exactly what Eileen wants to be known for.
“That’s what I’d like to continue pushing in the future with any restaurant we open from here on out,” she says. “To be an entirely different concept, so when they think it’s from the owners of FINKA, they’re not expecting to have a Cuban fried rice. Maybe it’ll be pho or Vietnamese-style chicken wings or whatever. Something completely different, where you can’t compare the two.”
So what are Eileen’s consejos for someone looking to open a restaurant? “Two things that might be contradictory, but, don’t be afraid to take risks and look at what everyone else is doing that is successful. All of the successful people are taking risks. Push it as far as you can, but still make it idiot proof, where the business works so well it carries the concept.”
That’s how, a year later, Eileen Andrade’s Finka is still as much of a surprising success as the day it opened.
The author has a personal connection with a staff member at this restaurant who was not interviewed for this story.
By Paula Echevarria
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Clown College
Don’t Be A Clown
I’m sure that every American has seen a clown. I don’t mean someone who acts like a clown. I’m talking real clowns with the garish make-up, fright wigs, baggy clothes and huge feet.
I don’t like clowns. I know that’s a classic cliché, but I’m serious about it. I really don’t like them. They’re not funny. They’re not even mildly entertaining. I suspect that clowns were created because people didn’t have television or even comics. Anything would seem funny back then, especially back when there was stuff like the Black Plague and The Crusades.
It’s an insult to be called a clown. “Hey, clown!”–those are fighting words. What if I said: “You should go see my doctor. He’s a clown” ? I guarantee you wouldn’t. Clowning around isn’t good. That’s how people get hurt.
Sports teams aren’t called The Clowns, with the exception of the great Negro Baseball League team, the Indianapolis Clowns. I suspect they only got that name because the white man forced it on them.
I normally eschew research, but I have done a cursory review of the history of clowns. They’ve been around a long time. Evidently, ancient Egyptians started this foolishness. Clowns have been big in France for a long time. Of course. In France, they have serious, white-faced clowns called clown blanc. These are dignified clowns. One more reason to hate the French. It also might explain why they love Jerry Lewis. Jerry Lewis, by the way, made a movie called The Day The Clown Cried, which was so awful it couldn’t even be released. Figures.
We Americans are known for our circus clowns. They tromp around in over-sized shoes doing “tricks” like stilt-walking, making balloon animals and juggling. Those are all nifty, but shockingly annoying when performed by a clown. Most of them, thank God, are mute. Sometimes, they show up at kids’ parties. That’s always a downer.
My earliest clown memory was at The Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus I attended in Knoxville, Tennessee when I was probably 6 years old. We sat near the floor and a clown made a balloon dog and gave it to me. He terrified me (the clown, not the dog). If he’d handed me a Chupacabra, I wouldn’t have been more frightened.
Oddly enough, I got a clown mask at that circus. It’s probably because I begged for stuff all the time for no reason. It was a white plastic “bald” head with a big red nose attached and shocks of red clown hair on both sides. Once we got it home, I couldn’t even look at it. My Uncle Jack wore it once without his dentures. He scared the crap out of me–and my mother. You don’t forget seeing a toothless clown smoking a Phillip Morris non-filter.
We’ve seen our share of evil clowns. I think The Joker is a clown. Captain Spaulding from The Devil’s Rejects is certainly a clown. Of course, there is the Insane Clown Posse and its legion of Juggalos. The modern-day clown does much more harm than good.
Stephen King knew that clowns weren’t funny when he wrote It about Pennywise The Clown. Pennywise lived in the sewer and killed children. The Master of Horror knew there was great symbolism in an evil clown floating among the turds. Remember the film, Poltergeist? A kid gets strangled by a clown. Clowns can’t be trusted.
Who is the most famous of all clowns? Emmett Kelly? Lou Jacobs? How about serial killer John Wayne Gacy? I bet a hell of a lot more people are familiar with his work. Part-time clown, full-time murderer.
John Wayne Gacy: He was a barrel of laughs.
Ronald McDonald may well be the best-known modern clown. His shtick involves peddling gut-busting fast food. In a way, he, too, is a serial killer. It may come as no surprise, but I’ve had serious beef with Ronald–and I’m not talking about a Quarter Pounder with cheese.
I once worked in a large law firm. I decided that we should work the phone bank during the PBS Spring Telefund Drive. Since I was in charge, I chose Saturday morning, so my kids could see me on TV. A lot of kids would call. It was always fun. Plus, we had a former Miss Kentucky hosting.
Now, this didn’t sit well with everyone. Some folks in my firm thought we should work during Masterpiece Theatre or some other haughty programming, as though our clients were sipping brandy and watching PBS in the evening. One of my partners simply said that he didn’t like Kentucky Educational Television. Now, that guy was a clown, figuratively speaking, at least.
One of oddities of those Saturday mornings was that Ronald McDonald worked with us. That’s right–Ronald Freakin’ McDonald himself. Most of us know that there is no THE Ronald McDonald. There are a bunch of Ronalds scattered about the country. It’s like a gang.
This Ronald was a professional clown, for sure. He arrived at the TV station with a couple of handlers–his posse, I suppose. I imagined a limo with him sitting in the back dragging on a Marlboro and swigging Scotch. That probably didn’t happen, but he did carry a gym bag with his big-ass shoes in it. He would sweep into the studio in full regalia, like some kind of rock star. His job was to tempt kids to call in or, better yet, get the parents to do so.
Ronald McDonald engaged in one of his typical fraudulent phone calls.
Each year, I awaited Ronald’s arrival with seething contempt. I would tell people things like that he was outside smoking (which he probably was, but I can’t prove it). I would claim that he reeked of Jim Beam 8 Star. I would deride his gym bag. I told our host that Ronald was a “conceited jackass.” She didn’t argue. I would find out the extension for his phone and forward my calls to him. He would talk to our host in his stupid sing-song voice on camera and then sound like Krusty The Clown when the camera was off. I imagined hitting him over the head with a folding chair during those breaks. Who the hell did he think he was, anyway?
One of my law partners (he’s the one on the right) trying to explain some simple concept of telephone etiquette to the buffoonish McDonald.
Fortunately, I never attacked him. I had enough trouble at that firm without being the guy who killed Ronald McDonald. Oddly enough, I like McDonald’s. Ronald, though, is another story.
I’ll admit that I had no real reason to dislike Ronald, other than the obvious–the clown thing. He’s probably a fine fellow. Maybe this says more about me than it does him, but you get my point.
Not everyone has the same issues with clowns as I do. Some folks like clowns. Otherwise, we wouldn’t see them. I used to have a secretary who liked clowns. At least she like Emmett Kelly. She is a fine person. As far as I know, she has no affinity for serial killers or Ronald McDonald.
I once worked with a lady who would occasionally dress like a clown and do face-painting for kids. She was also a fine person, but the clown get-up made her look evil. It didn’t really make her evil. At least, I don’t think so.
Clowns are so freaky that psychology recognizes fear of them as a disorder. It’s called coulrophobia. Coulro is from the ancient Greek meaning “stilt walker.” There is no record of clowns in ancient Greece, and I know of no one afraid of stilt walkers. In any event, that’s what it’s called. Clowns are so creepy that they caused a disease named after something almost totally unrelated to their evil.
If you are a clown, let’s get one thing straight: I’m not scared of you. I would gleefully beat your ass. I just don’t like you. If you think that’s fear, bring it on, clown! See? That sounds like an insult, doesn’t it?
If you want to be a clown, you can go to Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Clown College. Seriously (is that the right word?), you can. Penn Jillette is an alumnus, but he’s not a clown. Weird.
As a parent, I have many fears for my children. I can’t imagine the horror of one of them telling me that he has decided to attend Clown College. What could possibly have gone wrong in your childhood that Clown College seems like a wise career choice? Then again, Penn Jillette has done quite well for himself. Maybe I’m the clown.
So, if you’re a clown, and this offends you, I’m sorry. Not really. Almost no one likes clowns. It’s time we all admit it. I would enjoy your juggling and stilt walking just the same without the clown accoutrements. Now, stop clowning around.
Barnum and Bailey, Captain Spaudling, Circus, Clown College, clown phobia, Clowns, coulrophobia, Emmett Kelly, Jerry Lewis, John Wayne Gacy, Lou Jacobs, McDonald's, PBS, Penn Jillette, Pennywise, Poltergeist, Ringling Bros., Ronald McDonald, Stephen King, The Day The Clown Cried, The Devil's Rejects
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Fantasy posts, Historical posts, Writing Tips
Heraldry.
A great device to give both historical and fantasy novels depth, are a Coat of Arms. A family history, or tradition, encompassed into a heraldic emblem, a brightly painted shield and banner, complete with family motto. This can give characters an intriguing edge, stories from their family’s past hinting at hidden secrets and mystery.
In a historical novel, especially those set in the High Middle Ages, they can be used to show authenticity, being such an important aspect of that age. Whilst in a fantasy novel, they are equally useful giving the authors world credibility and tantalising the reader into what the mythical land holds.
Heraldry in a Historical context
Some people date the start of heraldry as far back as ancient Egypt, when standards topped with the names of kings and gods, can be seen depicted in their art. However, the type of heraldry we would recognise as such today, started to appear in the middle ages when large armies, all being equipped with full helmets and faceplates, required some way for individuals to recognise one another. A crest on a helmet and a colourful design on a shield was a simple method of ensuing that they could tell friend from foe. The ‘coat of arms’ was developed further in the crusades, when knights found the use of a surcoat, worn over the armour, was beneficial to protect the knight from the hot sun and also could be used to display the knight’s family colours and affiliation. In fact, the three Lions of England, which is still used on the badge of the England’s football and cricket teams shirts, was first used by Richard ‘The Lionheart’ I in this conflict.
With so many different families, knights, and designs, spread throughout Christendom, it naturally became difficult to remember what devices belonged to who, so it became the responsibility of the ‘Herald’, a nobleman’s messenger, to remember them all and inform his lord, who was who. Hence the study of Heraldry was born, and the various rules and protocols associated with it.
Any historic novel set in the High Middle Ages must incorporate this branch of history, as it played such an important part in that time period.
Heraldry in fantasy novels
Like many aspects of our own history, heraldry is also found in many great fantasy novels. In Mark Lawrence’s Broken Empire series – where our world turns into a twisted shadow of our past – heraldry once again signifies the ruling families of the competing nation states. Whilst in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive novels, we find the Knights Radiant. Ten orders of knights, each one following one of the Heralds – an elite group of semi-godlike beings who formed them. Each order wear armour etched with magical glyphs that represent their order and hold mystical properties, a neat adaption of the symbology so important to Heraldry.
However, it is in the Game of Thrones novels, by George R R Martin, that Heraldry really plays a huge part. The ruling families of Westeros all have family emblems and mottos that define their houses. The Lions of Lannister, the dire wolves of house Stark in the North, the Roses of Highgarden, all are known by their family traditions and house emblems. It is not surprising that heraldry plays such an important part in these novels, as so much of the story was inspired by the War of the Roses, the great conflict that divided England in the Middle Ages for generations.
Common devices used in Heraldry.
I couldn’t possibly list all the thousands of variations of heraldry and their meanings, however, if you want my (very) condensed and simplified versions of heraldry, here goes…
Firstly, you have the more simple shield designs, these tend to be in the form of the Cross, Saltire, cheques, stripes, or chevrons. These types of designs were called ordinaries.
However, the number of ordinaries’ variations were obviously limited, so powerful ruling families would commonly mount “charges” on their shields or banners. These could be man-made objects such as arrows, spears, or axes (as well as hammers, sickles, or horns) etc.
But more commonly were animals, such as lions, dragons, boars, unicorns, fish, Eagles, or any other thing that took their fancy.
These were displayed in typical poses, such as Passant:
Vol:
Rampant:
To distinguish various branches of the family, smaller symbols such as a crown, Rose, fleur-de-lis, or crescent could be added to distinguish seniority.
When various powerful families were joined together through marriage or other means (such as murdering their rightful heirs and stealing their castles and lands) they needed to combine two or more designs on the shield. This was called “Marshalling” and could either involve dividing the shield, quartering it, or dividing it up as many times as necessary so different branches of any given family could be represented.
This entry was posted in: Fantasy posts, Historical posts, Writing Tips
Tagged with: Coat of Arms, Crusades, Family moto, Fantasy Heraldry, Game of Thrones, Heraldry, Historical Heraldry, Using Heraldry in writing
Fleur De Lii says
And what of the Fleur de Lis?A widely used symbol appearing on a number of Royal families’ coats of arms as well as on crests of cities. In medieval France the lily embellished the tapestries of the Queens’ chambers and yet was branded into the living bodies of the women who sold the only asset left–themselves.
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Carol Barnum, Ph.D.
Professor of Information Design and Co-Director of the Usability Center, Southern Polytechnic State University
Author of Usability Testing and Research
Carol Barnum is the director of the Usability Center at Southern Polytechnic and a professor of information design and communication, where she teaches a graduate course in usability testing. Usability Center clients include those in software, hardware, websites, training, and documentation. The lab was established in 1993 via funding from an IBM Million Dollar Total Quality Management Grant. Barnum is the author of numerous articles and five books, with the most recent book, Usability Testing and Research, winning the top award publication award from the Society for Technical Communication's international competition. She is a Fellow of STC, a recipient of STC's Jay Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching Technical Communication, and the lead author of an article that won a Distinguished Award in this year's STC journal competition. An invited speaker at conferences around the world, this year she has spoken in Montreal, Canada; Limerick, Ireland; Changchun, China; and Christchurch, New Zealand.
Laura Vennie
Usability Specialist, Whirlpool
Laura Vennie is a Senior Usability Specialist within Global Consumer Design at Whirlpool Corporation. Laura joined Whirlpool in 2000 and currently provides usability and human factors solutions to the Microwave category. Vennie has a Masters Degree in Engineering from Purdue University and a Bachelors Degree from Michigan Technological University.
Sara Ulius Sabel
Sara Ulius Sabel joined the Whirlpool usability team in January 2004 as a Usability Specialist in the Fabric Care group. In this role, she is responsible for the user interface design, interaction design, and human factors and usability research for washers, dryers and related laundry products. She holds three degrees: a Bachelor's degree in Psychology with a minor in Art and Design from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; a Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Michigan; and a Master's degree in Learning Technologies, also from U of M. Prior to joining Whirlpool, Sabel's academic and professional interests focused on utilizing technology and design to facilitate learning. As an undergraduate, she worked with faculty members to design online course materials to support art and architecture history courses and, while a graduate student, she managed the online graduate programs for the University of Michigan's College of Engineering. Sabel's past research includes internet navigation and wayfinding, on-line collaborative and educational tools, and corporate professional development programs. Sabel has experience with Web and database design and has developed educational software tools and interactive multimedia museum exhibits for children.
Stephen Blosser
Assistive Technology Specialist at the MSU Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD) and Client Advocacy Office
Stephen Blosser is the technical director and assistive technology design engineer at the Artificial Language Laboratory, an assistive technology specialist at the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities, and assistive technology design engineer for the Michigan AgrAbilty Project - all at Michigan State University (MSU). Blosser is also a rehabilitation engineer consultant for Michigan Rehabilitation Services and has many affiliations including being a member of the Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America the Accommodating Technology Committee at MSU, and the Michigan Association of Higher Education and Disability (MiAHEAD). Blosser graduated in 1974 from Western Michigan University with a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering.
Michael J. Hudson
Director, MSU Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities (RCPD)
Michael Hudson serves as Director of the MSU Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities. His intensive focus on ability and skill development aids his quest for excellence despite his own blindness. Hudson exclaims, "Disabilities need not limit achievement they merely mandate a greater level of creativity, commitment and a repertoire of compensatory techniques." As Director, He leads a team of 15 professionals, countless volunteers and numerous part-time employees on a mission of maximizing ability and opportunity for over 1,000 students and employees with disabilities. Collaboration with campus and community partners solidifies his belief that, given the proper team, nearly any problem can be overcome once identified and understood. Beyond work, Michael lives a full and rewarding life. His Masters in university administration and Bachelor's in Psychology helped prepare him for a life of impact. His family including a wife and two children enrich his perspective enhancing his care and compassion for others.
Joseph A. Konstan, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota
Author of Word of Mouse: The Marketing Power of Collaborative Filtering
Joseph A. Konstan is Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota, where he teaches user interface design and HCI research to graduate and undergraduate students. His research spans much of human-computer interaction, including information mining and visualization and online survey research techniques. He is probably best known for his work in collaborative filtering (the GroupLens project). He is co-author of Word of Mouse: The Marketing Power of Collaborative Filtering, a book that reviews three dozen good and poor examples of personalization in research and deployed systems. Konstan received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1993. He is President of ACM SIGCHI, with over 4500 members dedicated to advancing the science and practice of human-computer interaction. He is an ACM Distinguished Lecturer and an IEEE Distinguished Visitor.
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Friday, September 16, 2005, 8:00 p.m. at Clapp Recital Hall Works by David Gompper, Joseph Dangerfield, John Berners and Evan Chambers
Sunday, December 4, 2005 at 8:00 p.m. at Clapp Recital Hall Pianist Patricia von Blumröder performs John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano as well as pieces for the same preparations by David Gompper and German composer, Bernd Thewes.
Sunday, February 5, 2005, 8:00 p.m. at Clapp Recital Hall Works by Franco Donatoni and Paul Siskind
Thursday, February 16 2006, 4:00 p.m. at Clapp Recital Hall North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference Works by Yannay (Rhapsody) and Robert-Diessel (Dialogue)
Saturday, April 1, 2006, 7:30 p.m. at Ferguson Hall, Lloyd Ultan Recital Hal University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Works by Berg, Dahn & Donatoni
Sunday, April 9, 2006, 8:00 p.m. at Clapp Recital Hall Featuring Guest Composer, Stephen Dembski Also including works by Dahn and Berg
Monday, April 10, 2006, 8:00 p.m. at Harper Hall, The University of Iowa Works by Giacinto Scelsi, Adam Greene, Michael Finnissy & David Evan Thomas
Monday, April 17, 2006, 8:30 p.m. at Morphy Hall, University of Wisconsin-Madison Works by Berg, Dahn & Donatoni
Monday, May 1, 2006, 8:00 p.m. at Clapp Recital Hall The University of Wisconson Contemporary Chamber Ensemble will perform seldom heard virtuoso works by Carter, Cowell, Crumb, Nohai-Seaman, Schwendinger, and Feldman
Wednesday, May 3, 2006, 8:00 p.m. at Clapp Recital Hall The University of Minnesota New Music Ensemble will perform works by Ruth Crawford, George Crumb, Doug Geers, Jennifer Higdon & Olivier Messiaen
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Lynn McKinnis
PT, DPT
Lynn graduated from St. Louis University in 1981.
She is a staff physical therapist at Concordia Visiting Nurses in Butler, PA, an adjunct professor in the Physical Therapy Dept at St. Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania, and a Faculty Affiliate at the University of Montana and University of South Florida.
Lynn is known for her work in the field of diagnostic imaging as it relates to the physical therapy profession. In 1997 she authored Fundamentals of Orthopedic Radiology, the first imaging textbook written by and for physical therapists. Currently, Fundamentals of Musculoskeletal Imaging is in its fourth edition, translated into several other languages, and used by the majority of DPT curriculums in the USA. She collaborated with a radiologist for a new text, Musculoskeletal Imaging Handbook: A Guide for the Primary Practitioner, written for all primary access clinicians, including physician assistants and nurse practitioners.
She has lectured across the USA, in many tDPT programs, and has presented numerous continuing educational courses at state and national APTA and AOTA conferences.
Lynn became Pennsylvania’s first Orthopedic Clinical Specialist in 1989, and twenty years later received the APTA’s Outstanding Contribution to the Professional Literature Award for her publications on diagnostic imaging for physical therapists.
Medical Imaging in Rehabilitation
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Home Culture
Republican Fearmongering Has Come to Its Natural Conclusion: Donald Trump – Sam Seder’s Majority Report
Sam Seder and former RNC Chair Michael Steele appeared on “All In With Chris Hayes” last night, and the argument about the Republican Party gets heated. – Sam Seder’s Majority Report
http://majority.fm/report/
Sam Seder is an American comedian, writer, actor, film director, television producer-director, and progressive talk radio host. His works include the film Who's the Caboose? (1997) starring Sarah Silverman and Seder, as well as the television shows Beat Cops (2001) and Pilot Season (2004). He also appeared in Next Stop Wonderland (1998). Seder also made guest appearances on Spin City (1997), Sex and the City (2000) and America Undercover (2005).
Republican Staffers Run From Reporters After Trump’s Twitter Tirade
Pharma Company Hikes Infant Medication Price By 100000% & More Deepwater Drilling Deregulations
Chuck Todd Is Mad That Bernie Sanders Isn’t A Flip-Flopper
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Gay Marriage – an attack on Religious Freedom
Posted on May 26, 2014 by Kevin Short
In honor of another state, Pennsylvania, being forced to allow Gay marriages, in spite of the Supreme court’s argument that individual states had the right to define marriage in their own states, I am rerunning our argument on the issue – to wit, that gay marriage is ultimately an attack on the first amendment.
If you are a Christian in an increasing number of states, you no longer have the right to your convictions, at least not if you own a business. Due to the inclusion of “Sexual Orientation” in the anti-discrimination laws of numerous states, several florists, bakers and others in the wedding industry have cases in the courts because they refused to provide services for gay weddings or gay civil commitment ceremonies. One of the more well known cases involves a baker in Washington State (http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/same-sex-wedding-cake-refusal-could-cost-christian-baker/), but there are cases in Colorado (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/07/gay-colorado-couple-sues-bakery-for-allegedly-refusing-them-wedding-cake/), Vermont – in a case involving a Church group – (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2013/06/will-churches-be-sued-over-gay-marriage-its-already-happened-and-a-judge-ruled-church-teaching-irrelevant/), and other places. The argument being raised by the left is that this is discrimination against homosexuals. Except, that’s really not what these cases are about – after all, I am unaware of a bakery that refuses to bake a birthday cake for a gay client, – these bakers are saying they will not be involved with a particular type of event (a gay marriage) not with a particular type of patron.
The real issue then comes down to our religious rights as American citizens. While there is no current evidence that prosecutors are seeking to put Christians in jail if they refuse to support gay themed events, the use of fines or threats to business licenses is still a use of force to compel Christians to abandon parts of the Bible that are unpopular with society, and is similar to the Jizya (a tax in Islamic nations on non-Muslims), this of course is unconstitutional.
The entire linkage of gay rights to the Civil Rights movement is a result of poor thinking: Homosexuality is defined by activity (sexual acts and relationships between persons of the same gender). That is why I believe that homosexuality can’t be compared to ethnic origins or gender. Despite claims that homosexuality is biologically derived, no blood test, tissue sample, or genetic testing has ever been devised that can determine who is gay and who is normal. To illustrate what this difference is, I would say the statement “Sam is a homosexual,” is closer to the statement that “Sam is a fisherman” than it is to saying “Sam is a black man.” If Sam is a black man, he truly was “born that way,” but if I note that Sam is a fisherman I am referring to an activity that he engages in. If homosexuality is an activity, then any statement of its moral orientation is by definition a statement of religious belief.
Morality is of course a religious question, to argue that a particular activity is morally permissible is as much a statement of religious belief as is the statement that it is morally impermissible. In effect, then, this application of the law becomes an establishment of religion, something that government is prohibited from doing under the first and fourteenth amendment (which protects our rights at the state level). Whether the threat of force is by means of fines, imprisonment or death is ultimately an immaterial question when it comes to our constitutional rights and liberties. As a Christian, I ultimately don’t care about what a gay couple’s tax rate is, whether they can collect each other’s social security benefits, and I’m not fond of any regulations suggesting who can visit whom in the hospital. Perhaps, if I may suggest it, then, any states ability to recognize a gay union only extends to the relationship of that couple to the state, not their relationship to other citizens. Otherwise, that state has overstepped its bounds.
2 thoughts on “Gay Marriage – an attack on Religious Freedom”
Linuxgal on June 7, 2014 at 1:08 pm said:
People who prefer to use the left hand are also defined by their activity, yet this preference, which like homosexuality has no physical marker to indicate it, is the result of prenatal brain wiring (the less probable of a bifurcated two-lobe “strange attractor” if you are up on chaos theory) and is not a matter of choice. In terms of Christian morality, homosexual activity should be processed under the general aegis of the sin of fornication, But for some reason it is front in center, If you visit any religious social media platform, the conversation will inevitably turn to homosexuality.
If the church refuses to perform the actual wedding ceremony that is one thing, but the church has already ceded the underlying concept of matrimony to the state (“by the power invested in me by the State of Washington I now pronounce you man and wife.”). Since it is now a state-recognized union of two persons, under the equal protection clause and the establishment clause in the Bill of Rights, it must be applied with equality without regard to gender and without taking historical religious norms as a hindrance. This issue, which is building to a crescendo as we speak, is only a step away from a final resolution at the SCOTUS level.
Kevin Short on June 7, 2014 at 4:32 pm said:
False on multiple fronts. But the key with homosexuality to a Chrostian is Romans 1 – its acceptance marks a serious decline at the societal level.
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Guantanamo Prisoner Al-Nashiri’s Case Demonstrates Unfairness of Military Commissions
Marjorie Cohn,
Six States Are Improving Tax Credits for Working Families
A photograph of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. (Photo: Wikipedia)The issue of terrorism has been front and center in the national discourse since 9/11. Guantánamo has become a symbol of US hypocrisy on human rights. Lawyers handling the criminal case of Guantánamo prisoner Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri argued several pre-trial motions last week. But just as they raised some fascinating legal issues, the hearings revealed the basic unfairness of the military commissions for adjudicating criminal cases. People can be put to death after a trial that affords a reduced level of due process.
Defense motions raised issues of whether the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause applies in military commissions; whether a military commission can legally try defendants for the crimes of conspiracy and terrorism; whether the government has been eavesdropping on confidential attorney-client communications; whether the accused can be excluded from pre-trial sessions in which classified information is discussed; whether the defense is entitled to parity with the prosecution in subpoenaing witnesses; and how much discovery the prosecution must turn over to the defense. Judge James Pohl took the motions under advisement. That means he postponed ruling on them until later.
In 2006, in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, the Supreme Court struck down the military commissions President Bush established in 2001 because their procedures did not comply with the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) and the Geneva Conventions. The Court ruled that members of al-Qaeda are entitled to the protections of Geneva’s Common Article 3, which includes being protected from the “passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.”
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Read more stories about Guantanamo at the Caging Human Rights series on Truthout.
The Hamdan Court also said the commissions must follow procedural rules that basically parallel courts-martial proceedings under the UCMJ. Yet the Military Commissions Act of 2009 (MCA) [sec. 948b] says the UCMJ “does not, by its terms, apply to trial by military commissions except as specifically provided in this chapter.” It declares that this chapter is “based upon the procedures for trial by general courts-martial under [the UCMJ], ” but it also provides that “[j]udicial construction and application of [the UCMJ], while instructive, is therefore not of its own force binding on military commissions.”
It remains to be seen whether the new, improved military commissions will pass constitutional muster if and when they get to the Supreme Court.
The Defendant’s Right to Confront Witnesses Against Him
The defense sought a ruling from the judge that the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution applies in this military commission in which the accused can get the death penalty. In Boumediene v. Bush, the Supreme Court ruled that Guantánamo detainees have a constitutional right to habeas corpus, since, although Guantánamo is on Cuban soil, the United States exercises complete jurisdiction and control over the US base there. Thus, the al-Nashiri defense argued, other constitutional rights, including the right to confrontation, apply in military commissions held at Guantánamo.
Also Read: Contention and Confusion in Guantanamo Pre-Trial Hearings for Al-Nashiri Military Commissions
The Confrontation Clause gives the accused in a criminal case the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses against him. When the prosecution presents hearsay statements of unavailable witnesses, the accused is denied the right of cross-examination. As Justice Scalia wrote in the leading Confrontation Clause case, Crawford v. Washington, the Clause “commands, not that evidence be reliable, but that reliability be assessed in a particular manner: by testing in the crucible of cross-examination.”
Hearsay is a statement that was made out of court but later offered at a hearing to prove the truth of the matter asserted in the statement. Although hearsay is presumed inadmissible unless it fits one of the exceptions in federal courts, the Military Commission Act (MCA) makes it easier to secure the admission of hearsay in military commission trials.
The Federal Rules of Evidence contain several exceptions to the ban on hearsay evidence, and many of them require that the person who made the hearsay statement be unavailable to testify at the present hearing. But when the proponent of the hearsay statement wrongfully procures the unavailability of the absent witness, the exception won’t be available as a vehicle to admit hearsay statement. This is called forfeiture by wrongdoing.
The prosecution wants to use the testimony of Fahd al-Quso against al-Nashiri. Al-Quso is unavailable to attend the trial because the US government killed him in a drone strike last year in Yemen. Thus it could be argued that the prosecution (the government) wrongly procured al-Quso’s unavailability by killing him.
In Giles v. California, the Supreme Court held that in order for forfeiture by wrongdoing to prevent the admission of a hearsay statement, the proponent of the statement must have killed the witness to prevent him from testifying. Thus, the defense will have to prove that the government killed al-Quso to prevent him from testifying against al-Nashiri.
The defense argued that the prosecution’s evidence will seemingly be full of unreliable double- and triple-hearsay (for example, “he said she said that he said X”). FBI reports in these cases typically contain hearsay statements of witnesses from Yemen, Afghanistan or Pakistan who are not available for trial.
The Constitution governs courts-martial and the evidentiary rules courts-martial use largely follow the Federal Rules of Evidence. Thus, it should be a no-brainer that the Constitution’s Confrontation Clause would apply in military commissions. Nevertheless, Judge Pohl seemed inclined to decide on a case-by-case basis.
The Crimes of Conspiracy and Terrorism Are Not Triable Under the Law of War
The defense asked the judge to dismiss the conspiracy and terrorism charges against al-Nashiri. Military commissions were established to try war crimes. The commissions are bound by Congress’ power to “define and punish … Offenses against the Law of Nations.” In order to vest a military commission with jurisdiction over an offense, it must be an established offense of that subset of the law of nations known as the law of war.
Conspiracy is not part of the law of war. A plurality of the Supreme Court stated in Hamdan that conspiracy is not a war crime under the traditional law of war. Terrorism is also absent from the law of war. In Tel-Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that terrorism itself is not an offense against the law of nations. The Second Circuit reaffirmed the lasting force of Tel-Oren in United States v. Yousef.
Salim Hamdan was tried under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. He was acquitted of conspiracy but convicted of providing material support for terrorism for acts done between 1996 and 2001. He appealed and, in 2012, in Hamdan II, a three-judge panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his material support conviction, holding that the 2006 MCA did not intend to criminalize pre-2006 conduct that was not considered a violation of the international laws of war. The panel concluded that material support was not a violation of the international law of war.
Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al-Bahlul was convicted of conspiracy by military commission. A three-judge panel of the DC Circuit reversed his conviction but the entire DC Circuit decided to hear the appeal. So this issue is currently pending in the Court of Appeals in Al-Bahlul.
These issues may well get to the Supreme Court. If prosecutors are foreclosed from charging conspiracy and terrorism in the military commissions, they may only be able to try high-level terrorism suspects in the commissions, for crimes such as murder, attacking civilians and hijacking. It is the “smaller fish” who have been charged with conspiracy and terrorism.
The prosecution asked the judge to dismiss the conspiracy charge against al-Nashiri but then tried to “bargain” with the defense and the judge to allow jury instructions on vicarious liability. That would mean that al-Nashiri could be convicted even if he didn’t personally carry out the crimes charged. The defense was adamantly opposed to the prosecutor’s proposed bargain.
Eavesdropping on Confidential Attorney-Client Communications
In February, it was revealed that the rooms in which attorneys meet with their clients at Guantánamo were equipped with listening devices made to look like smoke detectors (even though smoking is not allowed there). The attorney-client privilege is part of federal law, and the Supreme Court has interpreted the right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment to include the right to effective counsel. It is well established that an accused does not enjoy the effective aid of counsel if he is denied the right of private consultation with him. Yet there is no provision in the MCA that addresses the monitoring of communications between the accused and his attorney.
At the hearing last week, the defense asked Judge Pohl to temporarily suspend the proceedings until the defense could be fully informed of the extent of any third party monitoring of defense communications during legal visits with their clients. The defense also asked that necessary precautions be taken to ensure that such monitoring not take place in the future.
Neither of the two witnesses who testified at the hearing had knowledge of any eavesdropping on defense communications. But Navy Capt. Thomas Welsh, the Staff Judge Advocate for the Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay (JTF-GTMO) testified that guards denied to defense counsel that any monitoring occurred because they feared they “could end up in court.” The defense raised dangers of such an “insecure” system.
Right of Accused to Be Present at All Hearings
A classified defense motion was heard in a secret session. The motion asked the judge to order the government to reveal information “related to the arrest, detention and interrogation” of al-Nashiri. Evidence obtained by torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment is inadmissible in military commissions. Although al-Nashiri was tortured for several years while in custody at the CIA black sites, the judge said that al-Nashiri was not himself the source of the classified material at issue.
The defense sought to prevent al-Nashiri from being removed from the courtroom during closed sessions. If the accused is not allowed to hear the evidence, he could not assist his counsel in objecting to legally objectionable material. Richard Kammen, al-Nashiri’s lead attorney, said: “Let’s say in a hearing the government presents something in good faith that is simply untrue. Let’s say some agency gives them incorrect information. He will never be in a position to say to us, ‘That’s not true.’ And waiting til trial is way, way, way too late in a capital case.”
The UCMJ gives the accused the right to be present during all proceedings except jury deliberations. The MCA does not provide for the exclusion of the accused from any part of the trial unless he is disruptive, and classified information cannot be presented to the jury unless it is disclosed to the accused.
The Right of the Accused to Subpoena Witnesses
The defense requested that it be permitted to subpoena witnesses without requiring that the prosecution preview them. In the alternative, the defense asked for the right to see the prosecution’s witness list. The MCA provides, “The opportunity to obtain witnesses and evidence shall be comparable to the opportunity available to a criminal defendant in a court of the United States.” The defense is seeking parity with the prosecution to protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
Providing Defense Counsel With Discovery Provided to Habeas Counsel
There are about 3,000-4,000 documents that the government turned over to al-Nashiri’s lawyer in his habeas corpus (civil) proceeding. The documents are currently under a protective order. In Boumediene, the Supreme Court held that a habeas court must have the authority to admit and consider relevant exculpatory evidence. Defense counsel in al-Nashiri’s military commission want discovery of those documents because they may contain potentially exculpatory information. The prosecution’s burden to produce discovery information in a capital case is greater than that in a civil proceeding. Moreover, the MCA says the accused is entitled to exculpatory and mitigating information known to the prosecution.
Scope of Exculpatory Evidence Provided in Discovery
The prosecution sent out to government agencies Prudential Search Requests requesting “information or documents potentially material to the preparation of the defense,” yet the prosecution refuses to provide the defense with all of the material it received. The prosecution says that in death penalty cases, mitigation evidence is “limited to evidence of an accused’s character, background, and the circumstances of the offense.” But the Supreme Court has defined mitigating evidence as “evidence which tends logically to prove or disprove some fact or circumstance which a fact-finder could reasonably deem to have mitigating value. Thus, a State cannot bar the consideration of … evidence if the sentence could reasonably find that it warrants a sentence less than death.” The prosecution is demanding the defense demonstrate that discovery is necessary, but the defense argues that the law provides for liberal discovery in order to protect the right to a fair trial.
Military Commissions Provide a Reduced Level of Due Process
Since Bush established the first military commissions in 2001, they have been controversial, so much so that the Supreme Court struck them down and Congress re-enacted them twice – once in 2006 and again in 2009 – providing slightly more due process each time. But the level of justice military commissions furnish remains inferior to that afforded in federal courts and military courts-martial. President Obama suspended the military commissions upon taking office in January 2009 in order to review whether to continue using them. In July of that year, he decided that military commissions were an appropriate forum for trying some cases involving alleged violations of the laws of war, even though he preferred federal criminal courts for detainee trials. Obama apparently chose political expediency over considerations of justice.
Marjorie Cohn
Marjorie Cohn is professor emerita at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, former president of the National Lawyers Guild, deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and a member of the advisory board of Veterans for Peace. Her most recent book is Drones and Targeted Killing: Legal, Moral, and Geopolitical Issues.
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