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Policies and Rates
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March 25, 2019 | Study reveals key details about bacterium that increases risk for stomach cancer
UCLA research on Helicobacter pylori also is a step forward in electron microscopy
Wayne Lewis | March 25, 2019
This article was originally published by the UCLA Newsroom
M ore than half of the people in the world host colonies of a bacterium called Helicobacter pylori in their stomachs.
Although it’s harmless to many, H. pylori can cause stomach cancer as well as ulcers and other gastric conditions. Doctors tend to prescribe multiple antibiotics to defeat the microbe, but that strategy can lead to antibiotic-resistant superbugs.
Now, a finding by UCLA scientists may lead to a better approach. The researchers have determined the molecular structure of a protein that enables H. pylori to stay alive in the stomach, and elucidated the mechanism by which that protein works.
Z. Hong Zhou, the study’s corresponding author and a UCLA professor of microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics, said the findings answer questions that have been sought ever since 2005, when two Australian scientists won a Nobel Prize for their discovery of H. pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease.
The UCLA study, which was published online by Science Advances, was co-led by Keith Munson, a recently retired senior researcher in UCLA’s Division of Digestive Diseases.
H. pylori thrives in the harsh environment of the stomach due to its urea channel, a protein in the bacterium’s inner cell membrane that detects the environment’s acidity and acts as a gate. When conditions in the stomach grow too acidic, the urea channel opens to let in a compound called urea. Urea is normally excreted as a waste product in urine, but it also can be found in relatively small concentrations in the stomach. H. pylori uses it as raw material for neutralizing the acid that otherwise would kill the bacterium.
The research revealed the three-dimensional molecular structure of the urea channel, both when it is open and when it’s closed, using cryo-electron microscopy, or cryo-EM, an imaging technique that detects electrons rebounding from frozen samples. Comparing the open and closed channels offered insight into the changes that take place when the “gate” opens, and the cryo-EM images provided previously unseen details that are important for understanding the activity of the protein, which is shaped like a hexagonal prism.
Zhou, Munson and their colleagues also engineered variations of the urea channel, shuffling different amino acids into key spots. They tested those variations at different levels of acidity to see which substitutions interfered with the protein’s action. The experiments enabled the scientists to identify which parts of the urea channel are involved in sensing acidity and altering its shape to let in urea.
The UCLA discovery could lead to future research on ways to fight H. pylori more effectively by sabotaging its survival mechanism.
“The urea channel is a viable drug target for eradication of this human pathogen, which remains a significant health risk throughout the world,” said Zhou, who also is director of the UCLA Electron Imaging Center for NanoMachines at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.
The findings also represent a technical advance.
“We believe this is the highest resolution yet attained by cryo-EM for a membrane protein showing minimal mass outside the membrane,” Zhou said.
UCLA’s Yanxiang Cui and Kang Zhou were co-first authors of the study. Other authors were David Strugatsky, Yi Wen and Dr. George Sachs, all of UCLA.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Veterans Affairs Greater West Los Angeles Healthcare System. The Electron Imaging Center for NanoMachines, supported by the NIH and CNSI, provided instrumentation.
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EJNMMI Radiopharmacy and Chemistry
EJNMMI Radiopharmacy and Chemistry publishes new research in the field of development of new imaging and radionuclide-based therapeutic agents for application in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging. The journal provides a platform for chemists, pharmacists and basic scientists to present their views and scientific work. In addition, the journal provides insight into novel concepts of imaging or radionuclide-based therapeutic agent applications of relevance for the whole molecular imaging community.
The journal reports original research articles, review papers, guidelines on the application of imaging or radionuclide therapy agents, editorials, and letters to the editor. Research articles on novel radiochemistry, new radiopharmaceuticals including their first biological evaluation, molecular imaging agents including optical imaging, MRI, and hybrid probes, are the main focus of the journal. To translate imaging and radionuclide therapy agents to the clinic, legislative issues related to their production and safety can be presented as well in the form of guidelines or position papers.
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Home worldNews
Canada says Cuba will have a role to play in Venezuela’s return to…
TOPICS:CanadianChrystiaduringFILEforeignFreelandministernewsPhotospeaks
FILE PHOTO – Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks during a news conference at United Nations headquarters in New York, U.S., June 3, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Cuba will have a role to play in Venezuela’s return to democracy, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Friday, even though Ottawa and Havana disagree on whether President Nicolas Maduro should stay in office.
Freeland made her remarks in a televised Toronto news conference after meeting Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez. Cuba is a strong ally of Maduro, whom most western nations want to step down in favor of opposition leader Juan Guaido.
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence last week called on Canada to do more to engage directly with Cuba over what Pence called its “malign influence” on the Venezuelan crisis.
“I think we are seeing an international convergence around the need for a peaceful transition in Venezuela resulting in free and fair elections and the return to democracy. Cuba will have a role to play in this,” Freeland said.
When pressed to be more specific about what Cuba could do, she declined to answer.
Freeland’s meeting with Rodriguez was the second in less than a month. The two ministers met in Havana on May 16 for talks that centered on Venezuela.
Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Sandra Maler
This post was originally posted on Reuters: World News – View Original Article
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ENGLERT THEATRE
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Call the box office with any questions
Preacher Lawson was born In Portland, Oregon, but raised most of his adolescence in Memphis, TN. He moved 20 times before the age of 10, but if you asked him what city he’s from he’d say Orlando, FL. Because that’s where he grew as a comedian.
He started writing jokes when he was 16, then decided to perform for the first time a year later on a bet with his mother. Best decision of his life.
In 2015 Preacher won the title of Funniest Comedian In Florida, in 2016 he was crowned the winner of the Seattle International Comedy Competition. He’s continued the wave of momentum on into 2017 and he’s on quite a roll this year so far – having made his television debut on NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” followed by an appearance on Comedy Dynamic’s “Coming To The Stage” soon after. In 2017, Lawson made a big splash on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” where he made it to the final ten contestants. He will next be seen on America’s Got Talent: The Champions which premieres January 7, 2019.
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Does the use of the symbol slash for “or” come from the use of “|” in computer programming? [closed]
Closed. This question is off-topic. It is not currently accepting answers.
Want to improve this question? Update the question so it's on-topic for English Language & Usage Stack Exchange.
Does the rise of acceptance in "/" for "or" come from the use of "|" in computer programming (For "OR")?
If not is there any correlation?
etymology punctuation symbols slash
curiousdannii
Hanry HuHanry Hu
As someone who extensively uses /, I'm certain it has nothing to do with logical |. – A.S. Feb 29 '16 at 1:03
No. Slash has been used this way long before people programmed computers. – Drew Feb 29 '16 at 2:34
The use of "/" for "or" is longstanding. In fact, and/or has, for as long as I can remember, been quite common as a substitution for "and" or "or". – Hot Licks Feb 29 '16 at 2:47
(Though it's likely that the use of "|" for "OR" in math and programming was influenced by the use of "/" in English.) – Hot Licks Feb 29 '16 at 2:49
No, @Chris, my example was completely accidental and incidental but it indeed exhibits the customary "and/or" sense - combining objects of similar/close properties. I wouldn't use "/" to combine (wildly) different categories. – A.S. Feb 29 '16 at 17:47
The concept of computer programming includes at least formal logic, circuit design, and the use of modern programming languages. For simplicity, I'll just take Babbage's difference engine of 1822 as a convenient starting date for the sake of comparison.
In English, the virgule dates back to the mid 19th century according to Oxford Dictionaries, so may be argued to start around the same time as computer programming. However, it traces its etymology to usage "as a comma medieval MSS" (etymonline). Arguably, the concept of disjunction was already inherent in this usage.
Note that "/" isn't always simply a logical or in English. An example from thepunctuationguide is office/dining room, in which "/" is equivalent to the Latin preposition cum, as in *office-cum-dining room", where it has an element of conjunction. Compare the Latin phrase summa cum laude - it isn't simply best or praised - it's both (excuse my poor Latin).
The vertical bar as disjunction in computer programming can be traced back to the Backus-Naur Form (follow the links in this stackoverflow answer) from about 1958 or 1959 (see also ALGOL 58), where the vertical bar represents choice. Here's an example of such an expression:
digit ::= "1" | "2" | "3" | "4" | "5" | "6" | "7" | "8" | "9"
So there seems to be little correlation between the etymology of the disjunctive "/" in English and that of computer programming's "|", other than perhaps that both are particularly visual representations of some kind of list separator.
LawrenceLawrence
Do you know why is inclusive OR called disjunction which upon naive reading would mean exclusive OR (i.e. XOR). Conjunction seems like a better choice for OR. – A.S. Feb 29 '16 at 21:32
@A.S. I don't know for sure, but if you go back through the earlier maths of set theory and Venn diagrams, the notion of conjunction (and) was already formalised as intersection. The truth-table definition of the logical and already had this background, leaving set union for the inclusive or / disjunction. Note that exclusive or doesn't quite map as nicely to set union, and the mathematical discipline of logic likely had greater weight than English semantics in the definition of programming's and and or. – Lawrence Feb 29 '16 at 23:19
Having looked up detailed definition of conjunction, it seems like an OK, if somewhat ambiguous, choice for AND. But I'm still bothered by math/logician's choice of disjunction for inclusive OR since dis doesn't resonate with "inclusion" at all and resonates well with XOR (which is equal to the union of two disjoint sets A\B and B\A). Most "lay terms" for mathematical objects do correlate at least slightly with English semantics - or at least don't contradict it. – A.S. Mar 1 '16 at 1:16
@A.S. Perhaps this is an instance of a semantic shift of sorts: separate to split to choice to aggregate. The set-union understanding of logical disjunction has the notion of an aggregate of the various choices. As you say, the plain English word disjoint has the opposite sense. – Lawrence Mar 1 '16 at 8:13
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Joseph G. Maternowski
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Joseph G Maternowski
Email: jmaternowski@hessianmckasy.com
Joseph G. Maternowski chairs the Environmental Law Practice Group at Hessian & McKasy, P.A., advising clients on environmental matters that arise in business and real estate transactions, litigation related to contaminated property and the defense of enforcement actions brought by state and federal environmental agencies.
Mr. Maternowski is highly respected by his clients and peers for delivering successful results and for his unique experience and zealous client advocacy. For example, in 2004 he successfully represented a small business owner in a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) enforcement proceeding. A state district court judge awarded a precedent-setting attorney's fee award of $112,000 to Mr. Maternowski's client under the Minnesota Equal Access to Justice Act. Minnesota Law & Politics named that case as "Lawsuit of the Year."
Demonstrating his knowledge of environmental and business law, Mr. Maternowski recently assisted a Fortune 500 company in conducting site investigations and cleanups at manufacturing sites and in evaluating ongoing environmental compliance at operations across the country.
While Mr. Maternowski and his team have broad knowledge in environmental law, he uses the many resources of Hessian & McKasy's attorneys by appropriately involving business lawyers, real estate lawyers and experienced litigators who have unique and required expertise. An excellent colleague concerned with being effective as well as efficient, Mr. Maternowski employs a team approach involving paralegals, associates and others as needed to provide the best services for clients.
Growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in a family of seven, Mr. Maternowski learned the importance of hard work, loyalty, respect and serving others. Those values have been the hallmark of Mr. Maternowski's legal career and his longstanding community service. In his law practice, he does everything possible to make sure his clients' best interests are served in the often technical and complicated world of environmental and business law. He draws on his vast experience, including time at the Minnesota Attorney General's Office where he represented the MPCA, to present his clients with the best information and most effective advice and advocacy. He serves as a trusted adviser throughout the case, building a strong relationship with his clients.
"Nothing is more important than to have my client's confidence, knowing that my colleagues and I will always be their advocates," Mr. Maternowski said.
Mr. Maternowski is equally active in the community, serving as a mentor to law students past, Chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association's Environmental, Natural Resources and Energy Law Section, and as Chair of the Board of Directors of Eco Education, a non-profit group that conducts educational programs in Twin Cities schools.
"I feel privileged to be able to practice law in this community and I feel it is my duty to give back," Mr. Maternowski said.
A testament to Mr. Maternowski's integrity is that he is frequently sought out by other counsel to serve as co-counsel or to provide assistance on matters as a retained expert.
Mr. Maternowski is admitted to practice in Minnesota and the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. As a Qualified Neutral under Rule 114 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice, Mr. Maternowski is frequently involved with alternative dispute resolution including mediation and arbitration.
Litigation - Cost Recovery and Enforcement Defense
Other Major Projects Where Mr. Maternowski Has Assisted Clients Include:
Served as Common Counsel for a group of clients in a multi-million dollar Superfund cost recovery litigation involving contaminated scrap yard property in Minnesota.
Challenged federal, state and local environmental enforcement actions and obtained substantial reductions of civil and administrative penalty assessments.
Assisted clients involved with the purchase of commercial and industrial property in complying with the "all appropriate inquiry" standard and, where appropriate, advised as to the availability of liability assurances from state voluntary cleanup programs.
To follow developments in environmental law and compliance, please visit Mr. Maternowski's website and blog at www.EnviroAttorney.net.
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Note: **Being named to the list or receiving the award is not intended and should not be viewed as comparative to other lawyers or to create an expectation about results that might be achieved in a future matter.
Minnesota State Bar Association, Environmental, Natural Resource and Energy Law Section Council, Chair, 2009 - 2010, Vice Chair 2008 - 2009, Member 1996 - Present
Ramsey County Bar Association, 2006 - Present
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U.S. Court of Appeals First Circuit
Temple University School of Law, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1984, J.D.
Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut 1978, B.A.
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David Beats Goliath: Court Orders State to Pay Defendants' Attorneys Fees, December, 2000
California's Proposition 65: Without a Product Warning, You May Pay the Price
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Alfred Schumann v. Sheryl Corrigan, Commissioner, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, (Olmsted Cty., Minn. Dist. Ct.. 2004)
State of Minnesota v. Rollies Sales & Service, Roland Walsh and Dale Walsh, (Douglas Cty., Minn. Dist. Ct., 1999)
Presentations and Appearances:
"Current Issues in Storm Water Regulation," Lorman Educational Services, - September 1, 2010
"BP Oil Spill: How the Law Can Help," WCCO Radio's "Minnesota Law, Presented by Moss & Barnett" - June 19, 2010
"Minnesota Equal Access to Justice Act - Attorney Fees Recovery Available to Small Businesses," WCCO Radio's "Minnesota Law, Presented by Moss & Barnett" - June 20, 2009
"CERCLA/RCRA Update," Minnesota CLE and the MSBA's Environmental Natural Resources and Energy Law Section 5th Annual Minnesota Environmental Institute - April 23, 2009
"Cleaning Up Contaminated Property," WCCO Radio's "Minnesota Law, Presented by Moss & Barnett" - June 14, 2008
"Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Basics," Minnesota CLE and the MSBA's Environmental Resources and Energy Law Section at the 4th Annual Minnesota Environmental Institute - April 23, 2008
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List of s-CRY-ed characters
1 Inner characters
1.1 Kazuma
1.2 Kanami Yuta
1.3 Kunihiko Kimishima
1.4 Biff
1.5 Ayase Terada
1.6 Dread Red
1.7 Akira Mijyou
2 HOLY characters
2.1 Ryuho
2.1.1 Zetsuei
2.2 Mimori Kiryu
2.3 Scherice Adjani
2.4 Straight Cougar
2.5 Urizane
2.6 Martin Zigmarl
2.7 George Tatsunami
2.8 Asuka Tachibana
2.9 Elian
2.10 Unkei
2.11 Emergy Maxfell
2.12 Sou Kigetsuki
2.13 The Dars Group
3 Mainland Alters
3.1 Kyouji Mujo
Inner characters
After the Lost Ground was separated from the Mainland, a sense of order had to be reestablished. A modernized city was crafted in the middle of the island, protecting its citizens from the "Wasteland" outside by use of a grand wall surrounding it. This was crafted primarily as defense against the scourge known as "Alter Users"; the uncivilized ones still living in the wasteland being branded "Native Alters". However, many normal people also live outside the wall, and there is a slight prejudice of them among city dwellers, hence the term "Inners".
Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi (Japanese), Steven Jay Blum (English)
Age 16 - Clad in a black, one-sleeved jacket throughout and first appearing in episode one, Kazuma, known as The Shell Bullet and referred to by HOLY as 1st degree criminal NP3228 in the anime, and Kazuma "The Treasoner" in the manga, is one of the two main protagonists of the s-CRY-ed series, though is usually featured first in every version of the story. A Native Alter from the Lost Ground, he was initially classified as a Class "C" Alter User by HOLY (a militaristic anti-Native Alter organization composed of Alter Users), but was risen to Class "A" after defeating Asuka Tachibana. However, when Kazuma and Ryuho violently clash in Episode 13, Tachibana states that their power has to be of Class "S" in order to cause so much devastation. Kazuma is regarded as the most dangerous Native Alter in the Lost Ground for good reason; he is an entirely reckless person with little regard for his own safety and nearly unstoppable when enraged into a frenzy. He will do anything for the right price, although he does show his strong convictions and deep concern for his closest friends. He lives with the young girl Kanami Yuta (who is also an Alter User) in an abandoned dentist's office, and the two of them seem to have a very strong, brother-sister type bond, despite both being unrelated orphans. The primary focus of the story is his fierce clash with Ryuho, the most powerful Alter User in the HOLY organization and how their rivalry shapes the Lost Ground throughout the series. If Ryuho represents order, Kazuma would represent chaos; this is particularly why their strong convictions clash so violently with one another so early on. Kazuma has stated that he finds the unpredictability of the Lost Ground to be quite enjoyable, while Ryuho quite literally stakes his life on ending all forms of chaos throughout. Ironically, towards the end of the series, the one person Kazuma is forced to ally himself with his non other than Ryuho himself. Though by the end of the series, even though they do come to respect one another, they would still never call themselves friends and part ways soon thereafter. And even though Kazuma thoroughly detests the HOLY organization, even very early on, he was a former student of current HOLY member Straight Cougar, to whom Kazuma still refers to as his "big brother"; though this is more of an nickname, common in Japan between males, rather than a true fraternal relation.
A perfect representation of his personality, Kazuma's Alter power is the Shell Bullet, an alloy fusion-type Alter. In its first form, his right arm is covered in a protective metal alloy and three curved fins are created on his right shoulder blade. In this form, the fins disintegrate, granting him three shots, and propel him forward at a great velocity. When a fin is disintegrated, Kazuma shouts either "Shocking First Bullet" if it is the first fin, "Annihilating Second Bullet" if it is the second fin or "Exterminating Last Bullet" if it is the third top fin. It is stated that these "bullet" techniques were taught to him by Straight Cougar.
Later in the series, Kazuma combats the Crystal Alter form, the physical manifestation of the "Other Side", and, through a broken piece of its body, evolves his Alter to its second form, in which his armor is thickened and the fins are replaced by a propeller that allows him flight for much longer intervals and greater speed. In this form, his Alter entirely replaces his arm, instead of merely covering it, and three fins appear over the right side of his face, near his eye. His second form's ultimate attack is known as "Shell Bullet Burst", and, as expected, is much more powerful than any of his first form's moves and can be used infinitely. This Shell Bullet will even regenerate and reattach itself if cut off.
Near the end of the series, Kazuma gains access to the third form of his Alter by fully tapping into the "Other Side" during his final battle with Kyoji Mujo. In this form, the metal alloy covers his entire body and he gains the appearance of a humanoid cross between a samurai and a lion. The propeller is replaced by a tail-like whip, which he uses to propel himself into the air, and is capable of spaceflight. He can also now launch Shell Bullet attacks, which are vastly stronger than those of his second form, with both arms (known as his "Proud Fist"). This attack is sufficiently powerful enough to punch an opponent clear through dimensional barriers.
While it was never completely explained or noticed by other characters (Kanami points it out once, but never mentions it again), the unnatural evolution of Kazuma's alter ability seems to be causing physical destruction to his natural body the more he uses it. The damage seems to increase from the first use of his second form, snowballing out of control by the time his third form is discovered. His right arm constantly spasms in pain after a battle, regardless of how difficult or easy it was and bares numerous alter scarring from each overuse. His right eye remains shut without use of his Alter, and its iris is a noticeably brighter color as well, while the right side of his bangs seem to dull color where the second form fins attached to the side of his head. By the end of the series, it seems that the damage has spread throughout all of Kazuma's body, leaving his body, and the majority of his now alter scarred face, in overall terrible shape. In the final episode (26-Dream), Kazuma and Ryuho, both weary from battling the battling against the Mainland invasion for months, decide to finally settle who is the strongest before they finally part ways. They both use their most powerful attacks, and, although it is never said who wins the fight, a fist is shown clenching in a manner similar to Kazuma's during the final scene. In his very last scene, Kazuma is seen years later, still wearing the same ragged clothes, and challenging the Mainland's military before punching through a rock wall and forming the series' logo.
In the manga, his Alter abilities are noticeably different. His first Shell Bullet form has infinite usage, and, rather than using the fins on his back, his ammunition comes from his strong convictions and/or feelings. Also, like the second Shell Bullet in the anime, it has the ability to regenerate injuries (e.g.: if the arm is cut off). His final Alter form covers most of his body in patches, leaving it with a rather gruesome looking appearance. He is also able to change the shape of his alter to suit his needs in combat e.g.: Learning the Shell Bullet of Velocity, which is based on Cougar's attacks. This form is renamed the "Death Bullet" in the English translation, though still retains the "Shell Bullet" moniker in the original Japanese version. Also, in the English adaptation, Kazuma's name is mistranslated as "Kazuma Torisuna, the Treasoner" which is just the romaji of his "Treasoner" title. In Japanese, he is solely "Kazuma, the Treasoner".
Additionally in the manga, Kazuma is stated to have an actual brother figure by the name of Taiki Aono, a member of the illustrious "Super HOLY". They both share the same birthmark on their right hands (to which is stated why Kazuma wears his glove to cover it).
By the end of the manga, Kazuma is in far worse shape than the anime; missing his entire left arm, a quarter of his right leg, while his right eye has noticeably been clawed away, leaving three pronounced scars across it. However, he is seen able to once again simulate full mobility under the influence of his ultimate Alter form in the epilogue.
Kanami Yuta
Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (Japanese), Carrie Daniels (English)
Kanami is an eight year old orphan girl who lives with Kazuma in wastelands of the Lost Ground. While she knows nothing of Kazuma's alter ability or his missions at first, she constantly has telepathic dreams about him by using her Alter ability without her knowledge (e.g., scrying). While awake, all she knows is that Kazuma brings home money from whatever he is out doing, though sometimes the pay is not enough to support the both of them. Though obviously more responsible and mature than Kazuma when it comes to running things, she often affectionately calls him Kazu-kun, a name which he detests, and is still very much wet behind the ears on many other details surrounding both her and Kazuma's current situations. During the middle of the series, in which the abandoned dentist's office where she and Kazuma had been living is destroyed, and with Kazuma also missing in action, she is sold into slave labor with many other Inners. She and the rest of the Inners are eventually saved by Ryuho, and, while she accepted Ryuho as her new ally (even though she remembered him as Kazuma's enemy), she still vigorously searched for Kazuma any way she could, even risking her life to do so. Towards the end of the series, she is kidnapped by Kyoji Mujo, using her as not only his shield, but his ultimate spying ability as well, all thanks to her Alter ability. Kanami's peril is essentially the main reason behind Kazuma and Ryuho storming inside Mujo's stronghold so quickly. After she is rescued, she is seen living alongside Mimori and many other Inners at the very end of the series, still hoping that one day Kazuma will return to her, with her very last appearance being several years later, now as an adult, shown after the ending credits of the final episode. She finally admits her true feelings for Kazuma and that she loves him, to which he says he knew all along. It's unknown if Kazuma ever came back to her, or if he reciprocated her feelings.
In the manga, Kanami has no Alter abilities and is solely a normal little girl; though her role remains the same.
Kunihiko Kimishima
Voiced by: Takumi Yamazaki (Japanese), Lex Lang (English)
Age 17 - Mainly just called Kimishima, he was one of Kazuma's only friends, and typically stated to be his best friend. At first, he seems to have hired Kazuma, due to his impressive reputation as the Alter User who'd do anything for money, to fight with various thugs across the wasteland, including other Alter Users. This partnership eventually lead towards their close friendship. A running joke early on is that every vehicle he uses is destroyed as a direct result of someone's Alter power. Although he has no Alter ability himself, Kimishima is often willing to put himself in dangerous situations, such as defending the Lost Ground from a HOLY crackdown, or defending his friends. He has a crush on Ayase Terada, another of his and Kazuma's close Alter User allies, though she never reciprocates his feeling, actually stating that she was in love with Kazuma instead. Near the middle of the series, he is severely injured and later dies from wounds inflicted during a conflict with HOLY, something which drives Kazuma virtually insane with anger and grief; an event that ultimately leads to an epic clash between him and Ryuho, plunging the Lost Ground into its second uprising.
In his final scene, Kazuma is seen laying Kimishima to rest inside his treasured car, to which Kazuma vehemently fought against HOLD the previous night to retrieve.
In the manga, Kimishima mostly fills the same role, but remains alive and well at the end, now married to Ayase Terada.
Voiced by: Ginzou Matsuo/Bin Shimada (Japanese), Eddie Brumbaugh (English)
The first opponent Kazuma faces in the series, Biff is a recurring character in the series with the alter ability "NR Hammer," which creates a large mecha that, predictably enough, has a gigantic hammer for a right arm. Later on, he gets captured and his abilities are refined immensely, though he is also brainwashed and stripped of all will in the process, to the point that his vocabulary becomes limited solely to "Hammer!". While ordered to stake his life on killing Kazuma at the end, he eventually breaks free just before falling to his death, finally recalling, all with tears in his eyes, his original name and speaking it aloud.
Ayase Terada
Voiced by: Kumiko Nishihara (Japanese), Michelle Ruff (English)
Age 17 - Introduced in episode 4, she is a Native Alter and close friend of Kimishima. Her Alter ability, "Noble Tempest", manifests itself as a very tiny sea urchin hair ornament, which, when activated, turns everything her hair touches into water. She does not like to fight, but uses her power when she needs to, especially when it's to save her family. Later on, she gets captured and, under threat of HOLY withholding medical treatment from her sickly younger brother, has her alter abilities refined extensively. This allows her to entirely control any body of water, or even create her own. She can even alter the chemical reactions within water and manifest a gargantuan alter by using a special conch-like apparatus that resembles a necklace. Towards the middle of the series, after she returns, she engages into a fierce battle to the death with Kazuma against her will, solely for her brother's sake. However, when it looks like she had won, she finds out that her brother has died and loses the will to live immediately thereafter. As Kazuma, who had nearly lost his own will to live before, finally engages a fierce counterattack, Ayase deactivates her Alter and dies in his arms.
In the anime, Ayase seemed to have taken a liking towards Kazuma, though it is not confirmed if she had the same feelings for Kimishima. In the manga, however, she is only introduced in the last page, revealed to have married Kimishima.
Dread Red
Voiced by: Yukitoshi Hori (Japanese), Peter Spellos (English)
A corrupt native alter who enslaved Kanami's village to hoard precious gems from the Earth in payment for his protection. His Alter was a gigantic mecha-octopus that can attack with its tentacles and even spray a presumably toxic kind of ink. Revealed to have been one of the Native Alters whom Kimishima had asked for assistance back in episode 6, Red declined, stating in episode 14 how lucky he was to have done so now that he is isolated from HOLD after the second uprising. He sets up a criminal organization and captures Inners as slave labor to dig up precious metals so he can soon escape out of the Lost Ground to safety. However, Ryuho disposes of Red without even using his full Alter power. His name is never revealed in his only episode appearance, except in the episode's ending credits.
Akira Mijyou
Only featured in the manga, she is the leader of the Native Alter User corps LAWLESS, the arch nemesis of HOLY which supports chaos in the Lost Ground. Akira is a strong-willed woman with a curiously non-feminine appearance. She harbors feelings for fellow LAWLESS member Hannish Lightning and allies herself with Kazuma in his crusade against HOLY. Her Alter is the "Sound Staff", a large polearm-like weapon able to summon sonic-based attacks.
HOLY characters
Within the city walls stands a powerful organization bent on bringing order back to the Lost Ground. With the mentality of "Only Alter Users can defeat other Alter Users", a specialized group of Alter Users was formed to deal with the scourge of Native Alters outside the wall, calling itself HOLY. Consisting mostly of reformed Native Alters themselves, HOLY, along with its non-Alter security division HOLD, hold a constant vigil over the Lost Ground's wasteland. Typically it is HOLD who attempts to maintain order, but when Native Alters are spotted, or cause a ruckus, HOLY is called in.
Ryuho
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese), Jason Spisak (English)
Age 18- Formerly introduced in character in episode 2, Ryuho is the second protagonist of the series. An exceptionally gifted Alter User, and the strongest in the entire HOLY organization, he comes from a very affluent background; the polar opposite of his rival Kazuma. While Kazuma represents chaos, Ryuho would represent order. However, both he and Kazuma are more alike than either one cares to admit; with Ryuho possesses equally strong convictions and drive, partially the reason why the both of them locked horns so violently in only their first meeting. An incredibly powerful rivalry, which drives both of them nearly to the point of insanity in defeating the other, it stems back to their upbringings, and thus, entirely different rigid worldviews; Kazuma being left on his own to fend for himself, with Ryuho having the calm order of his life so callously swept out from under him in a very traumatizing childhood event. This scarring tragedy is particularly why Ryuho forms such strong convictions into adulthood. During his calm childhood years, he had latent Alter abilities that were unable to manifest until a strange Crystallized Alter entity from the "Other Side" (which Ryuho is lead to believe was a Native Alter, hence his joining in HOLY to eradicate them), leveled his home and killed his mother and treasured doberman pincher. This event is what gave birth to his Alter, a humanoid-like doll he named after his late dog, Zetsuei. Later on in the series, Kazuma gives Ryuho the title of "Master of Zetsuei".
Before being shaped into a bitter man by HOLY, Ryuho was a rather sweet child, not at all spoiled by his rich upbringing. He didn't like fighting and actually cursed the fact that he was an Alter User. When he was ten years old, he met his best childhood friend, Mimori Kiryu, the daughter of the most powerful family on the Mainland, who was invited to a party that Ryuho's Father, Ryu Tairen, was hosting. The two of them connected immediately, with Mimori enamored by not only the Lost Ground, but the fact that Ryuho was an Alter User as well. During this night, Ryuho was startled and created a fragment of his Zetsuei Alter out of a pillar. Mimori was drawn to the crystal, asking if she could keep it, and it soon became her own private keepsake of him, which she keeps long into adulthood and wears as a necklace. Their friendship continued for around half a year, but soon Mimori had to return back to the Mainland, and not long after, Ryuho's mother Keika and his dog Zetsuei were both killed by the Crystallized Form of the "Other Side", and from that moment on, Ryuho changed into an empty, entirely callous man, driven with everything inside him to purge the Lost Ground of chaos and Native Alters, haunted by this event for the remainder of the series.
As the series begins at episode 1, Ryuho is the HOLY Member initially dispatched to capture Kazuma. At this time, he swiftly defeats Kazuma with little effort, but the outcome, coupled with Ryuho's smug attitude, ignites a fire within Kazuma and it's not long before he escapes and becomes Ryuho's most sought after capture. As Kazuma repeatedly crushes every attempt by HOLY, Ryuho grows so demented by him that he steps in personally to finally cease his actions. Though not their first one-on-one battle, it is the first in which Ryuho goes entirely all out, summoning not only the full power form of his Alter Zetsuei, but a near homicidal rage for killing Kazuma once and for all. He eventually becomes so clouded that he even refuses the advice, or aid, from fellow HOLY members. This epic battle eventually sends the Lost Ground into its second uprising, with Ryuho temporarily losing his memory in the process.
His convictions remain as strong as ever, but without any of he hatred that had so fueled him early on. Without knowledge that he is even an Alter User himself, he reappears and actually saves a village of Inners from the corrupt Native Alter Dread Red, without even summoning his Alter. Scherice and Urizane, both two of his closest allies in HOLY arrive to take him back, but he does not recognize them and swiftly refuses, choosing instead to protect the village. After a devious ploy by other HOLY officers, and former allies, Unkei and Kigetsuki, Ryuho's memory is restored after defeating them. Sickened however by HOLY's methods in coaxing him to return, which included kidnapping his new found friend Kanami (ironically, Kazuma's closest ally whom he doesn't recognize), and even altering his own memories, he remains true to his convictions and admits that now he is finally able to see clearly. While not attacking either Urizane or Scherice, he makes it clear that he has no intention of returning to HOLY. Urizane respects his decision, but warns that they might be enemies the next they meet. Scherice, smitten with Ryuho, however, decides to stay wherever he is and disbands from HOLY as well. Later, after another attack by Kigetsuki, and the reappearance of both Kazuma and Mimori, Ryuho and Kazuma join forces to defeat him. However, it was a ploy crafted by new HOLY mastermind, an Alter User from the Mainland, Kyoji Mujo, who uses the HOLY EYE satellite to contact the both of them, and reveals that Ryuho's father, Tairen, is dead. Mujo claims that Tairen killed himself to protect Ryuho, although it is likely that Mujo himself actually killed him.
Shortly after receiving the satellite transmission, Kazuma and Ryuho storm Mujo's alter-enhanced HOLY HQ, intending to defeat him once and for all and begrudgingly join forces. There, Ryuho fights four crucial battles. The first is against Martin Zigmarl, his former commanding officer of HOLY. During this fight, Zigmarl reveals to Ryuho that the Crystal was not a Native Alter, but a sentient being created purely from Alter energy, and he essentially lied to him about the details to keep him motivated. It is here that Ryuho finally unlocks the true power of the "Other Side" by morphing Zetsuei into an Alter armor, which he uses to defeat and kill Zigmarl; though Zigmarl stated that was his plan from the start; to harness Ryuho's full ability to defeat Mujo. The second battle is against the Crystal embodiment where Ryuho actually is impaled and killed. However, due to Scherice sacrificing herself by using her unstable, healing Alter power, he is revived. As both Kazuma and Ryuho storm into the heart of Mujo's stronghold, Mujo summons the Crystal embodiment to handle Ryuho, while he personally takes care of Kazuma. During this battle, Zetsuei's second form proves no match against the Crystal until Ryuho summons the power of his third form once more and finally defeats it, sending it back to the dimension from whence it came. In the final battle in Mujo's stronghold, Ryuho and Kazuma tag-team in their final Alter forms to defeat Mujo once and for all. Following Mujo's defeat, Ryuho and Kazuma join forces for several months to destroy the massive military invasion from the Mainland. During this time, they come to respect one another, but still can't call themselves friends. Just as they are about to part ways and handle the invasion separately, Kazuma realizes that finally they are free to fight one another without distraction. Ryuho is rather amused by the proposal and the two battle to decide who was really the strongest after all. After the earth shaking battle, it seems that both combatants were rendered unconscious, but slowly a hand raises itself over the battle field, signaling itself as the winner. There is much debate as to who the victor really was, as, just before the first goes up, it forms Ryuho's straightened edge pose before slowly, one finger at a time, clenching into a fist (Kazuma's typical process of fist-clenching). During an interview with the director, however, he reported that he wanted the viewers to decide who they wanted to be the victor.
Ryuho's name was incorrectly listed as Ryuho Tairen. Tairen was his father's given name, with Ryu 劉 being the family name; making his correct name Ryuho Ryu.
In the manga, Ryuho's personality and Alter abilities coincide with his anime persona, though in this version, he is noticeably much more of a pawn of HOLY, with his mother actually faking her death in order to sell him to the organization solely for papers out of the Lost Ground. At the end of the manga, he actually chooses Scherice as his lover, while in the anime, even though Mimori is the only one left alive, he dismisses her.
Zetsuei
Ryuho's alter is named Zetsuei, after his deceased childhood doberman, which he used as material to first form it. At stage one, Zetsuei assumes a humanoid form with permanently crossed-arms and two long purple ribbons that can stretch to any length desired and cut like blades. Zetsuei also has a mind of its own, and can react at super speed without Ryuho's guidance. Zetsuei is very powerful, the most powerful Alter in HOLY, and, at first is much stronger than Kazuma's Shell Bullet. At stage 2, Zetsuei's form changes to resemble a serpentine form, with greatly increased speed and power. This stage also has two rocket arms, and two regular arms. The "rocket arms" are called "Vigorous Right Fist Fukuryuu" and "Vigorous Left Fist Garyuu". The third attack's (which is a more powerful version of stage one's ribbons) name is only mentioned and used once in the last episode, called "My Tender Fist, Raitsujin." A fourth attack, possibly the same as Raitsujin, is used in Episode 13. It is known as "The Tender Fist, Resshin." In the third and final stage, Zetsuei becomes a harmonic Alter, just like Kazuma's Shell Bullet, meaning it forms on Ryuho's body. In this form, Ryuho and Zetsuei's speed are nearly invisible. The weapons for this stage are Ryuho's fists, which are given incredible cutting power, strong enough to easily cut multiple air jets, and even battleships at longer distances, in half. Also, Ryuho's "shoulder spikes" can be removed to form a purple, diamond-shaped sword, resembling Mimori's keepsake necklace, that is powerful enough to cut the fabric of space and contend with Kazuma's Proud Fist attack. After using Zetsuei at stage three, Ryuho begins to show signs of Alter scarring the same as Kazuma, with two scars appearing more prominently across his face the more he uses the ability. Though, under extreme cases of stress, such as episode 13, Alter scarring could also be seen on Ryuho's forehead, similar to Kazuma's gloved right hand.
Mimori Kiryu
Voiced by: Yuko Nagashima (Japanese), Dorothy Elias-Fahn (English)
Age 17- First prominently appearing in episode 2, the daughter of one of the most prominent families on the Mainland that funds both HOLD and HOLY, Mimori visits the Lost Ground as a child and becomes enamored by Ryuho and the entire mythology surrounding the chaotic land. As the series starts, as an adult, she decides to finally return to the Lost Ground to not only visit Ryuho after a 7 year absence, but also join the HOLY staff as a scientist to learn more about the Lost Ground than she ever could from the Mainland. Deep down, she always wished to be with Ryuho, but soon becomes aghast upon seeing that he is no longer the sweet little boy she once knew, and is now a dominating, rather violent man when it comes to handling Native Alters, especially Kazuma. Extremely idealistic and opposed to violence in any shape, his change in attitude literally breaks her heart. Despite his constant warnings for her not to interfere with HOLY's missions, and numerous vague threats to leave the Lost Ground, Mimori constantly rushes to the aid of everyone, HOLY users and Native Alters alike, at one point even aiding Kazuma and Kimishima directly behind Ryuho's back.
She keeps an Alter pendant of Ryuho's that she obtained from their first childhood meeting and is her most cherished position. Towards the end of the series, in which Ryuho finally is able to see past his hatred, she realizes that he never really changed at all, much to her joy. At the very end, she lives in an Inner village alongside Kanami and works to reestablish the entire Lost Ground as an orderly, peaceful society. While she meets up with Ryuho one last time, he dismisses her advances, unable to put her in anymore danger.
In the manga, Mimori's personality is largely the same, though she actually works for LAWLESS, HOLY's arch nemesis, and first treats Kazuma after his battle with Ryuho.
Scherice Adjani
Voiced by: Masayo Kurata (Japanese), Lara Jill Miller (English)
Age 15 - The first HOLY member seen in the series, she often works alongside Ryuho, if only to provide a mental balance to his excessive disdain for Native Alters, although it quickly becomes apparent that she has a crush on him. Although it is stated that she is an Alter user in the first episode, she does not use her full Alter power until much later, nor is it hardly even explained beyond merely calling it "dangerous". Finally revealed to be called "Eternal Devote", her Alter has the ability to bypass physical barriers; its lowest form is somewhat similar to astral projection, and can deliver a shock wave of pain, or heal a person. After training herself near the end of the series, she finally able to manifest its full form; summoning a gigantic, near angelic Alter, capable of even reviving the dead. However, this can only be used once, as Scherice must sacrifice herself to do so.
Scherice's devotion to Ryuho is explained near the end of the series. Years ago, when she was a Native Alter, she was rescued from certain death (held hostage by other hostile Inners) by Ryuho, an event that left her so moved to still be alive that she eventually joined HOLY alongside the one man who had granted her that second chance. This is recalled after she finds Ryuho laying dead after his battle with the Crystal embodiment in episode 23. Here she finally summons forth her full Alter to revive Ryuho, though she ends up sacrificing herself in the process.
In the manga, Scherice can use her alter to heal and also can fuse herself with other Alter users to boost their powers. When doing so, she can control their bodies if they are unconscious, as seen when Ryuho was brought to the brink of death after protecting her from a blow from one of the Super Holy members. She can leave their bodies on her own will after fusing. She remains alive at the end, still by Ryuho's side.
Straight Cougar
Voiced by: Kyousei Tsukui (Japanese), Crispin Freeman (English)
Age 21 - Also known as Cougar Straight in the manga. He lives his life by his one main philosophy: the faster you do one thing, the more time you have for the next thing. The reasoning for this mentality is revealed later; he was refined by the Mainland, drastically shortening his life, to which he doesn't want to waste a single second of any of his remaining time. His Alter follows his philosophy, called "Radical Good Speed", which can alter any sort of motor vehicle into a pink, Alter-enhanced hot rod of sorts, drastically improving its, and anything else's, speed to, in his own words "shorten the world". Though, the downside to this is that the vehicle is usually destroyed from the excess of speed, to which Cougar thinks nothing of. His Alter also has the harmonizing ability, similar to Kazuma's, in which he forms a protective shell over both his shins of his legs, making him one of the fastest characters in the series. Though this ability seems to have come from him being privy to the "Other Side", enabling him to also form a full body Alter, similar to both Ryuho and Kazuma's ultimate forms. Ironically, however, despite this obsession with speed, he's usually found carrying around a book that he never seems to have time to finish. Before joining HOLY, Cougar lived in the wastelands alongside his young apprentice Kazuma, (the two seemed to have a mentor/student relationship) to whom he passed on his "bullet" techniques. Even after joining HOLY, Cougar remains extremely lax about conduct and never thinks twice about breaking the rules, even if it might get him into trouble. HOLY commander Martin Zigmarl has stated on one occasion, however, that it's probably one of Cougar's most trustworthy traits.
When Mimori Kiryu is transferred to HOLY, Cougar becomes immediately smitten and constantly flirts with her. Though he knows that she is in love with Ryuho, it seems to amuse him more than an actual serious attempt on his part. He claims to have trouble remembering names, constantly teasing Mimori by calling her "Minori", though it is unknown if this is merely an act for humor, since he seems to be able to control when he does it. (For example, in episode 3, after Ryuho mentions that Kazuma is now the number 1 threat of HOLY, Cougar is immediately able to recall his name).
Towards the end, he buys precious time for Mimori to escape into Kyoji Mujo's stronghold, but soon finds himself highly outclassed in not only power, but also his prized speed by Mujo. He is apparently fatally injured, but swoops in during the final battle to save Kanami and the Elian clones so both Kazuma and Ryuho can fight unrestrained. During this moment, he says his final goodbyes to Kazuma with "Grant a man his last request" and disappears, leaving Kanami safely outside the headquarters for Mimori and company to find.
The last of his Alter power was stated by Mujo to have been drained, and Cougar embraced his end, living out his last few months in solitude; still reading the same book, and tutoring a new group of young Alter users. During the very last episode, in which the entire world looks on to Kazuma and Ryuho's final epic battle, he is seen at peace, telling Ryuho to go back to Mimori if he can. His arm then goes limp and the viewer is left to infer his fate. There is still much debate whether Cougar actually died or not, due to it never being stated outright, but it is heavily implied that he finally succumbed to both his injuries and refinement that many characters previous spoke of, including himself.
In the manga, Cougar was Kazuma's mentor and they both near-identical attacks, much like in the anime. He is, however, brutally murdered by fellow HOLY officer Urizane in volume 3.
Urizane
Voiced by: Bin Shimada (Japanese), Kirk Thornton (English)
Age unknown - A highly eccentric lover of watermelons to such a degree that they they even take the form of his Alter. Constantly seen with numerous watermelons at any given moment, he will fiercely snap back if anyone so much as tries to touch one of them, even if he previously offered. His Alter power is never named, but he can morph melons into literally anything from explosives, shields, platforms, or even teleportation devices. While initially given the air of a gluttonous cretin, he is, in fact, one of the noblest HOLY members in the series. He plays a pivotal role in the final battle against Kyoji Mujo by disabling his entire system with a tremendous Alter watermelon punch. At the very end, with HOLY disbanded, he joins Elian to cultivate a watermelon farm. During the final episode, they both broadcast Kazuma and Ryuho's battle to the entire world.
The biggest departure from the anime, Urizane of the manga is a cold and utterly ruthless villain under HOLY command. He murders Straight Cougar before battling both Kazuma and Ryuho in a duel-sided battle to the death, ending with his defeat, to which he promptly committed suicide thereafter. His Alter is largely the same, though he also has the power to cultivate "Watermelon-men", which he uses to keep Mimori at bay while he battles both Kazuma and Ryuho.
Martin Zigmarl
Voiced by: Yuuji Takada (Japanese), Jamieson Price (English)
Noticeably of much older age than every other Alter User and stated to be the very first one, Martin Zigmarl is the commanding officer of HOLY. An American immigrant to Japan, he was also the very first Alter User to be refined. This left his mysterious Alter power extremely unstable, to which it causes rapid aging in the user with each use. This is presumably why he takes on a much older appearance than any other Alter User, even early on. His Alter is not revealed until the last quarter of the series and is called "Alter Alias". It consists of two parts: An armor that protects the upper section of his body and a stand-alone mecha can move both independently or controlled by Zigmarl, similar in a way to Ryuho's Zetsuei. Using both the armor and mecha, Zigmarl can create nearly unstoppable shock waves of compressed air and takes on new levels of physical strength. Due to continual use of his Alter throughout his final face off with Ryuho, Zigmarl grows more and more elderly, finally dying of premature aging. In the end, he states that he only fought to awaken Ryuho's latent Alter ability in order for him to defeat Kyoji Mujo.
In the anime, Zigmarl is a very noble man with strong convictions about his cause; hence the formation of HOLY. However, he is not above directly using his loyal followers to further his own goals, with the prime example being Ryuho. When Kyoji Mujo takes over HOLY, Zigmarl is usually in disdain whenever facing the man, and repeatedly lies to his face and secretly keeps his own agenda going.
In the manga, however, Zigmarl's personality is noticeably just as, if not more so, demented as Kyoji Mujo's. His face is nothing but a front, as in reality is revealed to be a pretty boy at 19 years of age. His Alter is both the "Human Warp", to which, as its name implies, allows him to teleport wherever he so chooses, and that of the powerful "Galan Du", with a noticeable similarity to the Crystallized Alter Embodiment from the Other Side in the anime. He is then killed by said Alter, who takes on the role as the primary villain throughout the final volume.
His last name in romaji has been spelled as anything from Jigmar to Zigmarl, but is revealed in episode 21 to be Sigmar on a login screen. (1).
George Tatsunami
Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Derek Stephen Prince (English)
Possessing the Alter "Big Magnum" - a huge revolver that can decimate whole houses with a single bullet - George Tatsunami is a dangerous lunatic, always exploiting his Alter power to bend people, especially Inners, to his will. His heavy-handed tactics have earned him a bad reputation among Inners of the Lost Ground, to which HOLY commander Martin Zigmarl states is actually beneficial. However, it is also stated to have caused 30 casualties even before the series began. He first appears in Episode 4 and that remains his only appearance.
Tatsunami of the manga is identical to the anime; and his role and fate wind up similar too. He is either driven to the point of insanity or suffers so much mental trauma that he loses the ability to summon his Alter.
Asuka Tachibana
Voiced by: Tetsuya Iwanaga (Japanese), Dave Wittenberg (English)
Age 16 - Possessing one of the most versatile Alters in the series, Asuka Tachibana is a member of HOLY and wielder of the 'Eternity Eight'. When not engaged in battle, Tachibana has a refined, somewhat relaxed demeanor, though when conflict arises, he takes great pride in acting professional and literally battling in HOLY's name. Very early in the series, a bitter, but yet unrequited rivalry with Kazuma arises after he is embarrassed by Kazuma's cheap blow during his escape from HOLY headquarters (Episode 3). Over the next two episodes (episode 5), Tachibana is called in to be the medical unit's (more specifically Mimori's) bodyguard while they traverse the wasteland, with strict orders from Martin Zigmarl to be on the lookout for 'that' guy, Kazuma. Tachibana is eager to prove his mettle, stating he more than welcomes putting that idiot in his place. However, following Kazuma's resurgence, Tachibana confronts of him, but is made a mockery of again with little effort on Kazuma's behalf. This defeat leaves Tachibana crushed with desolation. Even his one light in life, his girlfriend Cammie, is unable to console him. This is further impeded by his dismissal of HOLY due to his defeat. Unable to face his future as an unemployed Alter User, Tachibana takes matters into his own hands. Still injured, he shows up at the ongoing skirmish between HOLY and an entire group of Native Alters (Kazuma included), and disrupts Ryuho's finishing blow solely to take the credit for killing Kazuma himself, all in hopes of being allowed back into HOLY. Kazuma is just as enraged as Ryuho, countering with his final bullet, which unearths the ground and sends the both of them tumbling beneath the surface. Barely alive, Tachibana and Kazuma begrudgingly join forces with one another to make it out, unanimously agreeing to have their battle then. It is here that Tachibana and Kazuma begin to connect personally. After seeing the true insight into the kind of man Kazuma really is, Tachibana comes to realize that he's actually envious of him, and that his entire life up until now was essentially just a weak delusion. Once escaping, the two decide to finally finish their fight, with Kazuma smashing through Tachibana's Eternity Eight and leaving a fierce blow from Last Bullet attack. Though still alive in the aftermath, and still disbanded from HOLY, Tachibana accepts his new life with the same kind of courage Kazuma has always shown. He slowly rises up and disappears from HOLY and from the series for a good chunk of episodes. He finally reappears midway through the series, living on his own in the wasteland and working as a broker, helping merge the ghetto and metropolis. He later becomes an invaluable ally to both Mimori at the others until they both relocate Kazuma and Ryuho.
Tachibana's Alter, the Eternity Eight, consists of eight small emerald orbs that act as an extension of his will. He can manifest any number at a time, though the maximum seems to be set at eight. These orbs allow him to control minds (although some alter users can resist this effect by a force of will), form a shield or a sword, heal himself or others, fly at great speeds, or even light darkened areas, etc. After his disappearance from HOLY, he is revealed to have trained and now able to manifest a bow to fire his Eternity Eight as an arrow, aptly named "Eternity Extra Shot".
In the manga, Tachibana retains the same abilities and role, though he plays a much less significant role in the entire story. As revealed from his battle with Akira Mijyou, he noticeably much more conceited than his anime counterpart.
Voiced by: Takayuki Inoue (Japanese), Tony Oliver (English)
Elian Zigmarl - The eyes and ears of HOLY, Elian is the cloned son of Martin Zigmarl; though the fact of such remains unknown until much later. Elian's Alter allows him to create and control electronic devices that can allow him to observe anyone or anyplace over large areas and is often referred to as "Absolute Perception". It is heavily implied that this Alter is a product of refinement and not a natural Alter, which could also be said of Elian himself, being a clone. He plays a relatively small role, though his information gathered is incredibly crucial in many key scenes. Toward the end of the series, Kyoji Mujo even uses more twin clones of Zigmarl, who are known as Elian 3 and 4, to control the mass areas of the HOLY HQ after it is reformed.
Elian does not appear in the manga.
Unkei
Voiced by: Kenyu Horiuchi (Japanese), Michael McConnohie (English)
A secret weapon of HOLY commander Martin Zigmarl, fellow member Unkei is a professional script writer with a large pink Afro whose scripts are always on time and delivered exactly to specification. Using his Alter power Mad Sprict (the C and P are intentionally switched to illustrate his warped screenplays and how they affect reality), he envelops his enemies in a storyline so powerful it is almost impossible to separate the illusion of his script from reality. His power is mostly used to brainwash new members of HOLY.
When Kazuma pretends to join HOLY in an attempt to free the Native Alters captured in the uprising, he, along with Mimori and Scherice, becomes a victim of Unkei's Mad Sprict without even realizing. Even Kazuma is almost tempted, but he manages to break free during his sparring match with "Ryuho" upon noticing that Ryuho (not the real one, an illusion in Unkei's script) acts nothing like the real deal. With his intense rivalry and hatred of the man, Kazuma explodes free, leaving Unkei in denial of such a possibility. Kazuma and Unkei do not battle, however, as Kazuma must rush off to save his Native Alter friends.
Following the epic clash between Ryuho and Kazuma which splits the Lost Ground and leaves both men missing in action, Unkei is dispatched once again, this time under strict orders by Martin Zigmarl to relocate Ryuho and tempt him back into HOLY by any means necessary, even if it means tampering with his own memories. Working alongside fellow HOLY Kigetsuki, the combination of both Alters prove too much for the amnesic Ryuho and he is quick to buy into their schemes. However, thanks to Ryuho's new friend Kanami, who remains unaffected by Unkei's Alter, and, just like Kazuma before him, with his intense rivalry and dislike of the man, he too is soon to break free. This is the last straw for Ryuho; even though he does regain his memories in the process, he snaps back at both Kigetsuki and Unkei, disgusted with their methods and engages them both in battle. With Kigetsuki bailing on Unkei, he is left at Ryuho's mercy and takes the opportunity to beg, but Ryuho is quick in landing a solid blow that finishes him off. Just before Unkei goes tumbling off from a peak to his death, he uses the last of Alter power to absorb himself into one of his screenplays, stating he wants to live. It is unknown if this act killed him or actually did keep him alive in written word. In the end, Zigmarl does not take the loss of Unkei lightly and feels like it's something he's personally responsible for.
Unkei also does not appear in the manga.
Emergy Maxfell
Voiced by: Isshin Chiba (Japanese), Richard Cansino (English)
One of the most bizarre characters in the series, Emergy Maxfell, also known as "Maxfell on the Cliff," or "Pinch Maxfell," is one of the most unstable, but yet powerful Alter Users within HOLY. With the Alter of "Super Pinch Crusher", a gigantic mecha which has the ability to grow stronger as the situation at hand becomes more deadly, Emergy is rarely used outside of top priority missions. While his Alter is nearly unstoppable, it has one fatal drawback: Emergy must anger his enemies to a point where they have to put him in a "pinch" to even be able to call his Alter's power. Emergy has stated that during a traumatic childhood he was desperate for someone to save him and his Alter took on the role of his protector, visualizing itself after an old toy he clung to. With his Alter finally active, Emergy then becomes extremely boastful of his invincible hero, similar to that of a small child hiding behind the coattails of their parents. His Alter takes on several forms; the first being a gigantic yellow robot bearing a gigantic "P" (presumably standing for Pinch) atop its head and going by the name "Super Pinch Crusher". In this form, its main weapon, other than its sheer physical power, is its "Powered Rifle". When even greater danger is at hand, Emergy summons forth his "Pinch Bird", a gigantic crimson mecha which combines with Super Pinch Crusher to form "Super Pinch Crusher". Here his massive Alter comes with many abilities, ranging from a rapid volley blast dubbed "Hazard Rapid Fire" or the extremely powerful "Reversing Flash Cut". Emergy also possesses several tricks of his own, including his unused "Pinch Guard".
Even a bother to fellow HOLY members, Emergy is first called in episode 10 to aid in the capture of Kazuma and several other Native Alters. He coaxes Kazuma into getting angry by bluffing that he planted explosives in the toys of numerous Inner children and then takes a tremendous beating before finally awakening his Alter. The battle is an extreme clash between the overly dependent Emergy and the highly independent Kazuma, which the latter even states as such. Though even Kazuma is taken aback by Super Pinch Crusher, he is quick to bring out his upgraded Shell Bullet, stating proudly that it's what his determination rewarded him with. Even Emergy is frozen by terror by its power as it destroys his mighty Alter with little effort. In tears and mentally shattered that his hero could possibly be defeated, Emergy stumbles backwards to the edge of a cliff as the remnants of Super Pinch's sword crashes into the rocks and sends him plummeting to the depths below.
He is not killed, however. In the following episode, he had been retrieved by HOLY, though his mind is shattered beyond repair. He had regressed to that of a small child, presumably also unable to summon his Alter, and asks Ryuho if he wants to play with him and his toy robot. He makes no further appearances, so his later fate is unrevealed.
Based on his Alter power, Emergy is a fairly obvious parody of early mecha shows. With a costume also heavily resembling Kamen Rider, even his watch and bright red scarf are clichés of that genre. He first appears in episode 9.
Emergy does make one appearance as a HOLY officer in the manga, though with little personality and role. He's merely just an Alter User in HOLY with a giant robot Alter.
Sou Kigetsuki
Voiced by: Hiro Yuuki (Japanese), Tony Oliver (English)
One of the more arrogant members of HOLY, Kigetsuki is a young man with an extremely misogynistic personality; a trait is shown perfectly with his Alter; the three Tokonatsu Sisters (Shoka, Chuka, and Banka), literally human-seeing puppets that represent Kigetsuki's "perfect women". However, it is soon revealed that each one of them are merely fragments of his natural Alter; a gigantic monster going by the name "Burning Summer", which is able to control lava and heat. Kigetsuki states that he did extensive training at HOLY to make his dream women appear more human, which could also be how he changed the original form of his Alter so much as well.
Playing only a background role for the first half of the series, Kigetsuki importance skyrockets a quarter through the final half, where he becomes the top member of Kyoji Mujo's "new" HOLY. He is originally called in alongside Unkei to bring the amnesic Ryuho back to HOLY by any means by Martin Zigmarl, however when the mission fails, Kigetsuki is quick in retreating and leaving his teammate Unkei behind. He is later confronted, but reveals that he was loyal to Kyoji Mujo the entire time, not Zigmarl. Mujo disbands the original HOLY and puts Kigetsuki as his top man in his next mission.
Here, Kigetsuki must hold his own against both Kazuma and Ryuho and even other ex-HOLY members, including Scherice, Cougar, and Tachibana. His Burning Summer Alter is soon defeated, morphing back into the Tokonatsu Sisters. Kigetsuki is outraged, ordering his women that if they really do truly love him, they will stand back up and finish the job. However, Cougar is smug to reveal that even Kigetsuki's own Alter has no true feelings for him. In a rage, Kigetsuki retreats again, vowing to return. However, he is last seen either unconscious or dead at Kyoji Mujo's feet, before having his entire body absorbed straight into the giddy Mujo's open mouth.
In addition, Kigetsuki also does not appear prominently in the manga.
The Dars Group
(Pronounced as "darth" or "darths") Nameless, faceless, hive-minded servants of HOLY, these masked soldiers, apart from looking identical, all possess an identical Alter power. At first, this power is the use of large, powerful, disembodied hands, often used to restrain Native Alters, however, later Dars show variations of this power. In reality, the Dars are actually Native Alters who have been captured and refined extensively by The Mainland, because they either possessed "weak" Alters or opposed HOLY. No matter what their abilities were before, they are entirely changed and stripped of all personality and free will, leaving them with no sense of individuality and the perfect, forever loyal minions. While usually always male, at the very end of the series, many different types of Dars are shown; though each 'type' remains uniform with one another.
Although they may be grunts of HOLY, because of their refinement they are exceptionally powerful and know no fatigue, allowing them to continue without tiring. Initially, only the basic Dars with the Arm Alters were shown, but in episode 12, Kazuma is put up against a new type of self-multiplying Dars that continually morphs its other bodies into an Alter of mist to avoid any kind of damage. Kazuma is only able to defeat them with Kimishima's guidance, as he was able to figure out their strategy. Midway through the series, the Native Alters that Kazuma teamed up with early on are revealed to be a multi-limb Alter type of Dars capable of combining with others. At the very end of the series, during the Mainland's military infiltration of the Lost Ground, numerous types of new Dars are seen, though their Alters have very few screen time. During this episode it is stated that there is no longer a reliance on captured Native Alters to create Dars, as now they are cloned en masse in Mainland facilities.
The Dars do make a small appearance in the manga as Martin Zigmarl's ultimate weapon, the "Upgraded Alter User Collective", which he uses to overwhelm Kazuma in the final volume. However, each one of the 1000 users are defeated after only a single blow by Kazuma.
Mainland Alters
Kyouji Mujo
Voiced by: Tetsu Shiratori (Japanese), Michael Lindsay (English)
The primary antagonist of the series, though not introduced until halfway through the series. This Alter User from the Mainland boasts extreme power over others with his own Alter, merely called "Absorption". This power allows him to absorb the power of other living things and literally imagine a physical kind of Alter in any kind he so chooses. While initially stated to be the Mainland's representative after the Lost Ground chaotic second uprising, Mujo soon defects and becomes an independent and unstoppable renegade thanks to his own greed and endless thirst for the ultimate power, which he speaks of frequently as the "Other Side". In episode 22, Mujo comes in contact with the "Other Side" after coaxing Kazuma and Ryuho to once again open the door and manages to absorb the power of the Crystallized Alter Embodiment which had killed Ryuho's mother. This grants him a nearly unstoppable new power that he uses to reform HOLY HQ and that also allows him to summon the Embodiment as a stand alone Alter. Mujo can even use this ability to enhance his own body, with his favorite method being to use both the Embodiment's powerful black and white arms to himself, calling them "Black Joker" and "White Trick", and usually referring to them as Light and Darkness or Heaven and Hell. In episode 24, while his Alter Embodiment handles Ryuho, Mujo is defeated by Kazuma's ultimate Alter form and is forced to take refuge in "the Other Side". Thinking of themselves victorious, Kazuma and Ryuho reunite, only to be greeted by a monstrous new Kyoji Mujo, gleefully stating he has finally satisfied his unquenchable thirst for power at last. Armed with several new kinds of weapons, including some strange red lasers of some sort, he goes berserk, destroying even his own HQ just to kill both Kazuma and Ryuho. However, his merriment is quick to fade upon finding that his lasers have not even dented Kazuma or Ryuho's new Alter forms. Ryuho states that he's finally put the hatred of his past behind him and now it's Kazuma's turn. With a laugh, Kazuma casually strolls up to Mujo, taking several direct hits from his lasers without even flinching. Mujo is mortified, nearly wailing with terror by that point as Kazuma finally delivers the finishing blow to the top of his head. His body slowly disintegrates before exploding into nothing. In the end, Mujo ends up losing the power he had so craved for his entire life in only a matter of seconds.
Very little of his backstory was ever revealed, but it was stated that he grew up in the wastelands and willingly chose to be refined, due to his disgust of always living in the shadows of more "prosperous" Alter Users, such as Ryuho, and essentially all of HOLY as well.
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1916 United States House of Representatives elections
(Redirected from United States House of Representatives elections in Mississippi, 1916)
Elections to the United States House of Representatives in 1916 were held for members of the 65th Congress, coinciding with the re-election of President Woodrow Wilson.
← 1914 November 7, 1916[a] 1918 →
All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives
218 seats needed for a majority
Second party
James Mann Champ Clark
Republican Democratic
Leader since
Leader's seat
Illinois 2nd Missouri 9th
196 seats 230 seats
Seats won
216[b] 214[c]
Fourth party
Progressive Socialist
6 seats 1 seat
Fifth party
Sixth party
Prohibition Independent
1 seat 1 seat
Speaker before election
Champ Clark
Elected Speaker
Wilson eked out a narrow re-election, but his Democratic Party lost seats to the Republican Party. Wilson's hybrid approach, which injected a progressive element into Democratic policies, had proved to be dissatisfying to much of the nation. International affairs also became important in the traditionally non-interventionist United States, as voters attempted to determine which party would be best served to keep the nation from entering The Great War.
Republicans actually won a plurality of seats in the 1916 election. Even so, when the 65th Congress convened in April 1917, the Democrats narrowly maintained control of the House, forming an alliance with third-party (Progressive and Socialist) members. Not since the 34th Congress (1855–57) had the party with the most seats not been part of the ruling government. This Congress is the last example to date of a type of coalition holding power in the House, rather than a single party winning a majority of seats.
Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana, became the first woman ever elected to congress.
1 Special elections
2 Election summaries
3 Early election date
6 North Dakota
7 South Carolina
8 South Dakota
9 Non-voting delegates
9.1 Alaska Territory
Special electionsEdit
See also: List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives and 1917 United States House of Representatives elections
There were special elections in 1916 to the 64th United States Congress.
Special elections are sorted by date then district.
This election
First elected
California 10 William Stephens Progressive 1910 Incumbent resigned July 22, 1916 to become Lieutenant Governor of California.
New member elected November 7, 1916.
Progressive hold.
Successor was not elected to the next term, see below.
Y Henry Stanley Benedict (Progressive) 62.82%
Joy Clark (Independent) 23.59%
Henry Clay Needham (Prohibition) 4.32%
George Clark (Unknown) 3.54%
James H. Ryckman (Socialist) 3.01%
Rufus V. Bowden (Democratic) 1.83%
John C. Wray (Unknown) 0.89%
Election summariesEdit
Democratic [d] Republican
District[e] 10 10
At-large 1 1
District 7 7
District 11 4
1 1[f]
District 12 12
+2 at-large 27 6
Maine[g]
4 1[h]
+2 at-large 18 18
District[e] 6 2
2 216[b]
19 2[i]
House seats
The Democrats retained control of the House by forming a coalition with the three Progressive members and the single Socialist member, combining to form a razor-thin majority of 218 Representatives.
House seats by party holding plurality in state
80.1-100% Democratic
80.1-100% Republican
60.1-80% Democratic
60.1-80% Republican
Up to 60% Democratic
Up to 60% Republican
Net gain in party representation
6+ Democratic gain
6+ Republican gain
3-5 Democratic gain
3-5 Republican gain
1-2 Progressive gain
no net change
Early election dateEdit
Maine held its election early, on September 11, 1916. There had previously been multiple states with earlier elections, but between 1914 and 1958, Maine was alone in holding early elections.
CaliforniaEdit
Main article: 1916 United States House of Representatives elections in California
See also: List of United States Representatives from California
This race
California 1 William Kent Independent 1910 Incumbent retired.
New member elected.
Democratic gain.
Y Clarence F. Lea (Democratic) 48.8%
Edward H. Hart (Republican) 42.8%
Mary M. Morgan (Socialist) 5.5%
Jay Scott Ryder (Prohibition) 2.9%
California 2 John E. Raker Democratic 1910 Incumbent re-elected.
Y John E. Raker (Democratic) 71%
James T. Matlock (Republican) 29%
California 3 Charles F. Curry Republican 1912 Incumbent re-elected.
Y Charles F. Curry (Republican) 66.7%
O. W. Kennedy (Democratic) 23.4%
Ben Cooper (Socialist) 6.2%
Edwin F. Van Vlear (Prohibition) 3.7%
California 4 Julius Kahn Republican 1898 Incumbent re-elected.
Y Julius Kahn (Republican) 77.2%
J. M. Fernald (Democratic) 15.7%
Allen K. Gifford (Socialist) 5.6%
Henry W. Hutchinson (Prohibition) 1.5%
California 5 John I. Nolan Republican 1912 Incumbent re-elected.
Y John I. Nolan (Republican) 84.7%
Charles A. Preston (Socialist) 9.6%
Frederick Head (Prohibition) 5.8%
California 6 John A. Elston Progressive 1912 Incumbent re-elected.
Y John A. Elston (Progressive) 64.6%
H. Avery Whitney (Democratic) 22.6%
Luella Twining (Socialist) 8.7%
Harlow E. Wolcott (Prohibition) 4.1%
California 7 Denver S. Church Democratic 1912 Incumbent re-elected.
Y Denver S. Church (Democratic) 51%
W. W. Phillips (Republican) 36.4%
Harry M. McKee (Socialist) 7.2%
J. F. Butler (Prohibition) 5.3%
California 8 Everis A. Hayes Republican 1904 Incumbent re-elected.
Y Everis A. Hayes (Republican) 68.6%
George S. Walker (Progressive / Democratic fusion) 23.8%
Cora Pattleton Wilson (Socialist) 7.5%
California 9 Charles H. Randall Prohibition 1914 Incumbent re-elected.
Y Charles H. Randall (Prohibition) 57.8%
Charles W. Bell (Independent) 32.7%
Ralph L. Criswell (Socialist) 9.5%
California 10 Vacant William Stephens (Progressive) had resigned July 22, 1916 to become Lieutenant Governor of California.
Republican gain.
Successor was not elected to finish the term.
Y Henry Z. Osborne (Republican) 49.5%
Rufus V. Bowden (Democratic) 25.7%
Henry S. Benedict (Progressive) 11.1%
James H. Ryckman (Socialist) 7%
Henry Clay Needham (Prohibition) 6.8%
California 11 William Kettner Democratic 1912 Incumbent re-elected.
Y William Kettner (Democratic) 44.5%
Robert C. Harbison (Republican) 35.7%
James S. Edwards (Prohibition) 15.6%
Marcus W. Robbins (Socialist) 4.1%
MontanaEdit
See also: List of United States Representatives from Montana
This was the last time Montana used an at-large district until its representation was reduced to one in 1992. This was also the first time a woman was elected to Congress.
Montana at-large
2 seats on a general ticket John M. Evans Democratic 1912 Incumbent re-elected.
Y John M. Evans (Democratic) 26.7%
Y Jeannette Rankin (Republican) 24.3%
Harry B. Mitchell (Democratic) 22.3%
George W. Farr (Republican) 21.2%
John McGuffey (Socialist) 2.8%
Albert F. Meissner (Socialist) 2.7%
Tom Stout Democratic 1912 Incumbent retired.
North DakotaEdit
See also: List of United States Representatives from North Dakota
North Dakota 1 Henry Thomas Helgesen Republican 1910 Incumbent re-elected.
Y Henry Thomas Helgesen (Republican) 59.9%
George A. Bangs (Democratic) 38.3%
V. Gram (Socialist) 1.8%
North Dakota 2 George M. Young Republican 1912 Incumbent re-elected.
Y George M. Young (Republican) 71.7%
Hugh McDonald (Democratic) 24.6%
Samuel O. Olson (Socialist) 3.7%
North Dakota 3 Patrick Daniel Norton Republican 1912 Incumbent re-elected.
Y Patrick Daniel Norton (Republican) 65.2%
Charles Simon (Democratic) 26.5%
Anton Klemmens (Socialist) 8.3%
South CarolinaEdit
Main article: 1916 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina
See also: List of United States Representatives from South Carolina
South Carolina 1 Richard S. Whaley Democratic 1913 (Special) Incumbent re-elected.
Y Richard S. Whaley (Democratic) 95.4%
J. O. Ladd (Republican) 4.6%
South Carolina 2 James F. Byrnes Democratic 1910 Incumbent re-elected.
Y James F. Byrnes (Democratic) 98.5%
Isaac Myers (Republican) 1.5%
South Carolina 3 Wyatt Aiken Democratic 1902 Incumbent lost renomination.
Democratic hold.
Y Frederick H. Dominick (Democratic) 100%
South Carolina 4 Samuel J. Nicholls Democratic 1915 (Special) Incumbent re-elected.
Y Samuel J. Nicholls (Democratic) 99.4%
G. F. Mills (Republican) 0.6%
South Carolina 5 David E. Finley Democratic 1898 Incumbent re-elected.
Y David E. Finley (Democratic) 100%
South Carolina 6 J. Willard Ragsdale Democratic 1912 Incumbent re-elected.
Y J. Willard Ragsdale (Democratic) 99.1%
W. L. McFarlan (Republican) 0.9%
South Carolina 7 Asbury F. Lever Democratic 1901 (Special) Incumbent re-elected.
Y Asbury F. Lever (Democratic) 93.5%
I. S. Leevy (Republican) 6.5%
South DakotaEdit
See also: List of United States Representatives from South Dakota
South Dakota 1 Charles H. Dillon Republican 1912 Incumbent re-elected.
Y Charles H. Dillon (Republican) 58.1%
O.D. Anderson (Democratic) 40.2%
H.W. Fenner (Socialist) 1.7%
South Dakota 2 Royal C. Johnson Republican 1914 Incumbent re-elected.
Y Royal C. Johnson (Republican) 60.1%
J.J. Batterton (Democratic) 34.7%
E. Francis Atwood (Socialist) 3.4%
R. Clendening (Prohibition) 1.8%
South Dakota 3 Harry L. Gandy Democratic 1914 Incumbent re-elected.
Y Harry L. Gandy (Democratic) 55.6%
John G. Bartine (Republican) 40.9%
B.M. Mulcahy (Socialist) 3.4%
Non-voting delegatesEdit
Alaska TerritoryEdit
See also: List of United States Representatives from Alaska
Alaska Territory at-large James Wickersham Republican 1908 Incumbent lost re-election.
Y Charles A. Sulzer (Democratic)
James Wickersham (Republican)[1]
Wickersham would later successfully contest the election and was seated January 7, 1919.
1916 United States elections
1916 United States presidential election
1916 United States Senate elections
64th United States Congress
^ Maine held early elections on September 11, 1916.
^ a b Includes 1 Independent Republican.
^ Democrats maintained control of the U.S. House after the 1916 elections by forming a 218-member coalition with the three Progressive members and the one Socialist member.
^ Progressives won 6 seats, and there was 1 Prohibitionist and 1 Socialist.
^ a b At-large seat eliminated in redistricting.
^ Prohibition
^ Elections held early.
^ Socialist
^ 1 Socialist and 1 Prohibition.
^ "Our Campaigns - AK Territorial Delegate Race - Nov 07, 1916". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
Dubin, Michael J. (March 1, 1998). United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses. McFarland and Company. ISBN 978-0786402830.
Martis, Kenneth C. (January 1, 1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989. Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0029201701.
Moore, John L., ed. (1994). Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections (Third ed.). Congressional Quarterly Inc. ISBN 978-0871879967.
"Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
Office of the Historian (Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1916_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections&oldid=936228233#Mississippi"
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Freidank
Freidank (Vrîdanc) was a Middle High German didactic poet of the early 13th century. He is the author of Bescheidenheit ("practical wisdom, correct judgement, discretion"[1]), a collection of rhyming aphorisms in 53 thematic divisions, extending to some 4,700 verses. The work was extremely popular in the German Middle Ages and is transmitted in numerous manuscripts, as well as in a Latin translation (Fridangi Discretio).
2 Bescheidenheit
4 Editions
Life[edit]
Nothing about Freidank's life is known with certainty, such hypotheses as there are based on the language and content of his work Bescheidenheit. He would have been born in the later 12th century, and was likely of Swabian origin.
Freidank (Vrîdanc, Vrîgedanc) literally translates to "free thought"; passages in Freidank's poetry allude to the freedom of thought, and the name may be an assumed epithet,[2] although Freidank (Fridanc, Fridangus) is also recorded as a German family name in the later medieval period; one Bernhard Freidank is mentioned in Helbling's Lucidarius (but it has been argued that this may in fact be a reference to the poet himself.[3]). Wilhelm Grimm (1834) argued that the author is Vrîdanc is a pseudonym and that the author of Bescheidenheit is Walter von der Vogelweide. This hypothesis was immediately rejected by the majority of scholars; according to Bartsch (1878), the only German philologist convinced by Grimm's idea was Wackernagel.[4]
Based on the contents of Bescheidenheit, its author was educated in writing and proper speech, and it is likely that he was a cleric by education. It seems likely that in 1228–1229 he was involved in the Sixth Crusade of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II, as the section about Acre seems to refer to this period.[5]
Freidank may have died in 1233, if he was the magister Fridancus whose death was reported in the annals of the Cistercian monastery at Kaisheim. The chronicler Hartmann Schedel claimed to have seen a monument with Freidank's epitaph in Venetian Treviso in 1465. Gion (1870) argued that the Freidank buried in Treviso died in the 1380s and is not to be confused with the author of the Bescheidenheit.[6]
Bescheidenheit[edit]
The didactic poem Bescheidenheit was composed in the early 13th century, between about 1215 and 1230. It is a collection of rhyming aphorisms in 53 thematic divisions and about 4,700 verses which encapsulate the folk wisdom and experience of the period. Critical editions of the work were published by Wilhelm Grimm (1834, second edition 1860) and by H. E. Bezzenberger (1872, reprinted 1962).
Due to its linguistic elegance, the work was very popular throughout the late medieval period and well into the German Renaissance. It has been transmitted in numerous manuscripts and also in a Latin translation ("Fridangi Discretio") and was quoted by contemporary authors, including Hugo von Trimberg and Rudolf von Ems. Manuscript editions gave way seamlessly to printed editions (Sebastian Brant, 1508). Some quotes have survived as proverbs still current in Modern German. The name of Freidank became a standard authority for wise sayings, and was often invoked as the author of gnomic sayings.[7]
Grimm divided the work into 54 sections or chapters, as follows: 1. von gote (God), 1b. von dem avê Marjâ (Hail Mary), 2. von der messe (mass), 3. von der sele (the soul), 4. von dem menschen (Man), 5. von den juden (Jews), 6. von den ketzern (heretics), 7. von wuocher (usury), 8. von hôchverte (pride), 9. von der werlde (the world), 10. von sünden (sins), 11. von dem rîchen und armen (rich and poor), 12. von triuwe und untriuwe (faith/truth and faithlessness/untruth), 13. von dieben (thieves), 14. von spile (play, sport), 15. von dieneste (service), 16. von rehte und unrehte (right and wrong), 17. von dem alter (age), 18. von edele unde tugende (nobility and virtue), 19. von blinden (the blind), 20. von dem honege (honey), 21. von gewinne und guote (profit and possessions), 22. von sorgen (sorrow), 23. von arzâten unde siechen (leeches and the sick), 24. von nîde (envy), 25. von lobe (praise), 26. von scheltenne (scolding), 27. von gesellen (fellowship), 28. von zorne (wrath), 29. von dem himelrîche und der helle (heaven and hell), 30. von den pfaffen (priests, clerics), 31. von künegen und fürsten (kings and princes), 32. von den wîsen unde tôren (the wise and fools), 33. von milten und von kargen (the generous and the avaricious), 34. von der 'ere (honour), 35. von trunkenheite (inebriation), 36. von friunden (friends), 37. von minne und wiben (love and women), 38. von erkantnisse (insight), 39. von dem hunger (hunger), 40. von wâne (madness), 41. von guote und übele (good and evil), 42. von unkünde (the unknown), 43. von tieren (beasts), 44. von schatze und pfenninge (wealth and money), 45. von Rôme (Rome), 46. von Âkers (Acre), 47. von der zungen (language), 48. von liegenne unde triegenne (lies and deceptions), 49. von dem Endekriste (the Antichrist), 50. von den zehen geboten (the Ten Commandments), 51. von dem tôde (death), 52. von dem jungesten tage (the Last Judgment), 53. ein gebet (a prayer).
Goliard
Der Renner
W. Grimm, Vridankes Bescheidenheit (1834; 2nd ed. 1860).
H. E. Bezzenberger, Fridankes Bescheidenheit (1872).
^ Matthias Lexer, Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch (Leipzig, 1872–1878), s.v. "bescheidenheit".
^ Grimm, Vridankes Bescheidenheit (1834), 40f.
^ Friedrich Heinrich von der Hagen, Germania, Volume 4 (1841), 194–210.
^ Karl Bartsch, "Freidank" in: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie vol. 7 (1878), 336–338.
^ no. 46 in the W. Grimm edition; P. 157 line 9 (Der bû den man ze Jaffe tuot) refers to the fortifications of Jaffa built by Frederick II in 1228/29.
^ J. Guion, Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie (ZfdPh) 2 (1870), 172ff., cited after Bezzenberger (1872) p. 21.
^ Bezzenberger (1872), 242–244. E.g. Hans Sachs (1558) attributes a saying to Freidank that is not actually found in any known text of Bescheidenheit, "Freidank spricht 'schweigen ist gar gut, reden besser, wer im recht thut.'"
"Freidank" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Freidank.
German Wikiquote has quotations related to: Freidank
Works by or about Freidank at Internet Archive
Freidank in the German National Library catalogue
CiNii: DA0378797X
MusicBrainz: 1c04c764-41f4-46ae-a2e3-4dc31f161710
RERO: 02-A000066166
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Freidank&oldid=870407424"
12th-century births
13th-century deaths
German poets
Christians of the Sixth Crusade
Crusade literature
13th-century German poets
German male poets
Articles with Internet Archive links
Wikipedia articles with CINII identifiers
Wikipedia articles with RERO identifiers
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Hearing Aids & PSAPs
DA2210/DA2223
About Energous
Stephen R. Rizzone
Cesar Johnston
Brian Sereda
Neeraj Sahejpal
AirFuel Alliance
iPowerUp and Energous Corporation Sign JDA for Wire-Free Charging
iPowerUp and Energous Corporation Sign JDA for Wire-Free Charging https://energous.com/wp-content/themes/movedo/images/empty/thumbnail.jpg 150 150 Press Release Press Release https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8e8420cb18bfc1f35e200d0155ab3988?s=96&d=mm&r=g 08.11.2014 11.28.2018
Pleasanton, Calif. – August 11, 2014 – Energous Corporation (“Energous” or “the Company”) (NASDAQ: WATT), the developer of WattUp™, a disruptive wire-free charging technology for electronic devices that provides power at a distance with complete mobility under full software control, today announced a joint development agreement (JDA) with iPowerUp, Inc., a leading designer of multi-function smartphone battery charging cases and mobile electronics accessories. Energous and iPowerUp will work on designs to embed WattUp into iPowerUp products.
“Wire-free charging represents the next major evolution for powering mobile devices,” said Jerry Bessa, CEO of iPowerUp. “WattUp’s unique technology will offer our customers unparalleled flexibility and convenience for charging their phones.”
“iPowerUp’s range of mobile charging solutions is the ideal showcase for our WattUp technology,” said Stephen R. Rizzone, CEO of Energous Corporation. “Mobile accessories are part of Energous’ go-to-market strategy and will bring us many steps closer to a world in which WattUp is the ubiquitous delivery mechanism for wire-free power.”
WattUp is a revolutionary, patent- and trademark-pending solution that delivers intelligent, scalable power via the same radio bands as a Wi-Fi router. WattUp differs from current wireless charging systems in that it delivers meaningful, useable power, at a distance, while allowing users to roam while charging. The result is a true wire-free experience that saves users from having to remember to plug in their devices or place them on a mat.
About iPowerUp, Inc.
iPowerUp was founded in 2007 to answer the growing desire for elegantly designed, multi-function battery chargers and mobile electronics accessories. iPowerUp consistently provides customers with the most innovative and stylish designs available on the market. Jerry Bessa, CEO, has led iPowerUp to a position of pre-eminence in the fast-paced mobile communications industry. For more information, contact Alexis Baxley (Marketing & PR) 805-639-4149 (abaxley@ipowerup.net). For additional information please visit http://www.ipowerup.net.
About Energous Corporation
Energous Corporation is developing WattUp™, a wire-free charging technology that will transform the way people charge and power their electronic devices at home, in the office, in the car and beyond. WattUp is a revolutionary, patent- and trademark-pending solution that delivers intelligent, scalable power via the same radio bands as a Wi-Fi router. WattUp differs from current wireless charging systems in that it delivers meaningful, useable power, at a distance, while allowing users to roam while charging. The result is a wire-free experience that saves users from having to remember to plug in their devices or place them on a mat. Energous will initially license WattUp to the wearable and mobile-accessory markets and will expand to other markets such as Wi-Fi routers and smartphones over time. For more information, please visit www.energous.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that are intended to be covered by the “safe harbor” created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as “believe,” “expect,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “seek,” “intend,” “plan,” “estimate,” “anticipate” or other comparable terms. All statements in this release that are not based on historical fact are “forward looking statements”. While management has based any forward looking statements included in this release on its current expectations, the information on which such expectations were based may change. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors including those risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors and in Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our recently filed registration statement on Form S-1. We urge you to consider those risks and uncertainties in evaluating our forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein (or elsewhere) to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
MZ North America
Matt Hayden
Direct: +1-949-259-4986
Email: matt.hayden@mzgroup.us
Web: www.mzgroup.us
Source: Energous Corporation
Released August 11, 2014
Energous Corporation Provides Second Quarter 2014 Update
Energous Corporation Reports Second Quarter 2014 Results
© 2020 Energous Corporation. All rights reserved.
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Prioritizing People and Their Human Rights
Commentary, Culture Wars, Lee Harding December 31, 2019
“We don’t serve your kind,” is the last thing a customer wants to hear. It should also be the last thing a service provider would want to say. But Jessica Yaniv might have just proved us wrong. The male-to-female transgender activist may have provided the otherwise inconceivable moment that this can and should be said. That’s because Yaniv, known for complaining about female aestheticians who wouldn’t wax her private parts, is now complaining that gynecologists won’t treat people with male genitalia.
It may make perfect sense to you that a doctor who specializes in female private parts would not want to look at male ones. Ah, but we live in a fantasy world now, where chromosomes and biological realities don’t apply. This means that Yaniv’s parts are no longer male, but female, because (s)he has declared (her)self a woman. Therefore, her scrotum and penis are female.
Indeed, the whole future is female, according to some memes and t-shirts. And if all it takes to make something “female” is to say it is, then I suppose that’s possible. The only problem is that any objective view of Yaniv’s private parts would tell you they’re male. That is their outward appearance, and their inward reality—everywhere but in Yaniv’s mind and will.
Yaniv complained in a December 2 twitter post, “a gynecologist office that I got referred to literally told me today that ‘we don’t serve transgender patients’”.
“And me, being me, I’m shocked.. and confused… and hurt.”
“Are they allowed to do that, legally? Isn’t that against the college practices? @cpsbc_ca”
The B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons are tagged there. And Yaniv, being Yaniv, does get “shocked . . and hurt.” But last time it wasn’t against gynecologists who didn’t want to touch her junk, it was aestheticians.
Yaniv made international headlines for issuing complaints against many aestheticians who would not give her a brazilian, or female, wax job on her private parts. The procedures for male parts are different, of course; it involves a different kind of wax and is more difficult.
Why couldn’t Yaniv just go to someone who does “brozillians” or “manzilians” instead? Probably because that doesn’t enforce transgender rights upon the unwilling. Nor does that instance offer the potential to earn money from human rights commissions for suffering “discrimination.” Again, this is when someone wants to hear, “We don’t serve your kind.”
Amazingly, though, Yaniv found a way to lose. The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal decision issued October 22 said, “human rights legislation does not require a service provider to wax a type of genitals they are not trained for and have not consented to wax.” They determined that Yaniv “engaged in improper conduct,” “filed complaints for improper purposes,” and found Yaniv’s testimony to be “disingenuous and self-serving.” Yaniv was also “evasive and argumentative and contradicted herself.”
The result was that the court ordered costs of $2,000 payable to three of the complainants. It was a rare occasion that a complainant not only failed to win, but even materially lost.
Six weeks later, Yaniv wants another go. Yes, this woman has balls!
On December 3 Yaniv tweeted, “The @cpsbc_ca has confirmed to me that the refusal I’ve received is discrimination under the BC Human Rights Code and against their code of Ethics.”
Yaniv also promised to file a complaint with the college, tweeting, “Trans people need to be included, not excluded from society. Pre and post gender affirming surgery care is super important!”
Is Yaniv going on the offensive and calling it self-defence? It sounds a lot like when s/he swung a cane at a reporter but claimed to be the victim when three RCMP cruisers soon arrived.
The public has little sympathy for Yaniv, also known for inappropriate sexual comments regarding underage girls and immigrants. If twitter replies are any indication, the public doesn’t understand this at all.
“[W]hy do you keep trying to force people to touch your balls?” asked SaraGonzalesTX.
“But just WHY would you go see a Dr who is checking on female body parts if you don’t have them???” asked @LiveL0veClean.
Craig Bryce (@Boom1979) was more forthright. “What a joke. Subverting basic biology to placate someone with a mental illness is the height of stupidity! Calling it discrimination is an insult to anyone who has received actual discrimination. Appalled at this decision by the so called medical professionals.”
Fortunately, the college can change its mind quickly. Medical associations and whole societies can rediscover sanity—whenever they’re ready to acknowledge reality. Never was the admonition, “Get real,” so apt.
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Elizabeth Warren’s post-debate rebuke to Bernie Sanders is revealed in hot mic audio
Hot mic audio has been released revealing Senator Elizabeth Warren’s harsh rebuke to Senator Bernie Sander’s after the first Democratic presidential primary debate of the year.
‘I think you called me a liar on national TV,’ Warren is heard saying, apparently referring to Sanders denial of her claim that he warned her in 2018 that no woman could beat Donald Trump.
‘What?’ Sanders is heard replying. Warren repeats: ‘I think you called me a liar on national TV.’
As billionaire Tom Steyer awkwardly tries to disentangle himself from the confrontation, Sanders blasts back: ‘You know, let’s not do it right now…’
Elizabeth Warren refused to shake Bernie Sanders hand at the end of debate. Now audio has been released showing Warren accused Sanders of calling her a liar
‘What?’ Sanders is heard replying. Warren repeats: ‘I think you called me a liar on national TV’
The confrontation had become the most hotly discussed moment of Tuesday’s debate, after Warren apparently refused to shake Sanders’ hand in a visibly testy exchange.
On Wednesday night, debate host CNN aired the audio as an ‘exclusive scoop’ on Anderson Cooper 360.
After the moment became the subject of speculation, CNN spent the entire day digging through audio files from various microphones at the event to come up with audio of the exchange.
Warren’s confrontation with Sanders — as the rest of the Democratic field shook hands and smiled — followed sparring in the debate over reports that Sanders told Warren in a private 2018 meeting that a female candidate couldn’t beat Trump.
As billionaire Tom Steyer (center) awkwardly tries to disentangle himself from the confrontation, Sanders blasts back: ‘You know, let’s not do it right now…’
The tense exchange sparked tremendous speculation about what they were saying
Warren confirmed the remark, while Sanders denied that he’d never told Warren a woman can’t win.
‘As a matter of fact, I didn’t say that. And I don’t want to waste a lot of time on this because this is what Donald Trump, maybe some of the media would want. Anybody who knows me knows it is incomprehensible that I would think that a woman could not be president of the United States,’ the Vermont senator said in the debate.
‘Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by three million votes. How could anybody in a million years think a woman could become president of the United States? And let me be very clear, if any of the women on this stage, or any of the men on this stage, win the nomination – I hope that’s not the case, I hope it’s me – but if they do, I will do everything in my power to ensure they are elected in order to defeat the most president in the history of our country,’ he added to applause from the audience.
CNN’s Abby Phillips, one of the debate moderators, asked again: ‘Senator Sanders, I do want to be clear here, you’re saying that you never told senator Warren that a woman could not win the election?’
‘That is correct,’ he responded.
But Phillip then turned to Warren and asked: ‘Senator Warren, what did you think when Senator Sanders told you a woman could not win the election?’
The audience laughed at the question.
Sanders and Warren sparred several times during the Tuesday debate in Des Moines, Iowa
‘I disagreed,’ Warren replied. ‘Bernie is my friend, and I am not here to try to fight with Bernie. But, look, this question about whether or not a woman can be president has been raised and it’s time for us to attack it head-on.’
She then went on to attack the record of the men on stage – Sanders, Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, and Tom Steyer – while praising her and Amy Klobuchar’s record as political candidates.
‘The best way to talk about who can win is by looking at people’s winning record. So, can a woman beat Donald Trump? Look at the men on this stage. Collectively, they have lost ten elections. The only people on this stage who have won every single election that they’ve been in are the women. Amy and me,’ she said.
‘So true,’ Klobuchar chimed in.
Warren continued: ‘And the only person on this stage who has beaten an incumbent Republican anytime in the past 30 years is me. And here’s what I know. The real danger that we face as Democrats is picking a candidate who can’t pull our party together or someone who takes for granted big parts of the democratic constituency. We need a candidate who will excite all parts of the Democratic Party, bring everyone in, and give everyone a Democrat to believe in. That’s my plan and that is why I’m going to win.’
UNSW researchers say platypuses are on the ‘brink of extinction’
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Kurt Cobain's 'Unplugged' Sweater Heads to Auction Again | RS News 10/10/19 Rolling Stone
Kurt Cobain's custom 1993 Fender Mustang, used on Nirvana's In Utero tour, is up for auction Guitar World
Kurt Cobain's cardigan worn on MTV Unplugged goes up for auction for $50,000 The Independent
Kurt Cobain's custom-built Fender Mustang is up for auction MusicRadar
Kurt Cobain's Guitar & Famed 'MTV Unplugged' Cardigan to Hit Auction Block HYPEBEAST
Expected to reach half-a-million dollars, the Mustang is "the most thoroughly documented Cobain guitar to come to market"Expected to reach half-a-million dollars, the Mustang is "the most thoroughly documented Cobain guitar to come to market"
Kurt Cobain's custom 1993 Fender Mustang, used on Nirvana's In Utero tour, is up for auction | Guitarworld
Kurt Cobain's Guitar & Famed 'MTV Unplugged' Cardigan to Hit Auction Block: The olive green sweater remains unwashed 25 years after the Nirvana frontman's death.The olive green sweater remains unwashed 25 years after the Nirvana frontman's death.
Kurt Cobain Fender Guitar & 'MTV Unplugged' Cardigan Auction | HYPEBEAST
The guitar was played on Nirvana's In Utero tour and is forecasted to fetch up to $500,000The guitar was played on Nirvana's In Utero tour and is forecasted to fetch up to $500,000
Kurt Cobain's custom-built Fender Mustang is up for auction | MusicRadar
“In @RadioAmy's #PileOfStories; Kurt Cobain's unwashed sweater is up for auction! https://t.co/iH3KLoPkD4”
Bobby Bones Show on Twitter: "In @RadioAmy's #PileOfStories; Kurt Cobain's unwashed sweater is up for auction! https://t.co/iH3KLoPkD4"
“One of Kurt Cobain’s guitars is going up for auction? Here’s your chance, but $$$ https://t.co/dyx8W3Eu76”
Alan Cross on Twitter: "One of Kurt Cobain’s guitars is going up for auction? Here’s your chance, but $$$ https://t.co/dyx8W3Eu76… "
“Kurt Cobain’s ‘Unplugged’ Sweater Heads to Auction Again – Rolling Stone https://t.co/aDzVieOxc2”
David Amoyal on Twitter: "Kurt Cobain’s ‘Unplugged’ Sweater Heads to Auction Again – Rolling Stone https://t.co/aDzVieOxc2"
“Kurt Cobain's 'Unplugged' sweater, guitar, head to auction https://t.co/ML3IrKeWw9”
Richard Crouse on Twitter: "Kurt Cobain's 'Unplugged' sweater, guitar, head to auction https://t.co/ML3IrKeWw9"
The famed cardigan Kurt Cobain wore for Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance and one of his custom custom Fender guitars are heading to auction this month.The famed cardigan Kurt Cobain wore for Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance and one of his custom custom Fender guitars are heading to auction this month.
How Much Are Kurt Cobain's Guitar & Cardigan Worth?
Filtering what’s happening in music to save you time, money and effort.Filtering what’s happening in music to save you time, money and effort.
A Journal of Musical ThingsRemember the cardigan Kurt Cobain wore for Nirvana's Unplugged gig? It's for sale. - A Journal of Musical Things
Nirvana's legendary late frontman, Kurt Cobain's widow, Courtney Love shared a new photo on her verified and official Instagram page and made an importantNirvana's legendary late frontman, Kurt Cobain's widow, Courtney Love shared a new photo on her verified and official Instagram page and made an important statement. As you will read the cap
Kurt Cobain's Widow Courtney Love Makes Unexpected Metaphysical Announcement
The iconic garment worn by the late Nirvana frontman has been listed on Julien's Auctions under the Icons and Idols: Rock 'n' Roll category.The iconic garment worn by the late Nirvana frontman has been listed on Julien's Auctions under the Icons and Idols: Rock 'n' Roll category.
Kurt Cobain’s ‘MTV Unplugged’ sweater — never washed — heads to auction - National | Globalnews.ca
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Hitting the markt
← Ethos presents, Homebaked
Crowdfunding Ethos Magazine →
Berlin’s Markthalle Neun is leading the city’s gastro charge, creating a space that simultaneously supports independent producers and incubates new businesses; teaches people about good food and provokes debate about localism, sustainability and identity. And sells some damn tasty fare. Fiona Shaw spoke to co-owner Nikolaus Driessen.
Published —
Writer —
Movement —
Food and Drink , Tourism
Born of bold red brick and cast iron, Markthalle Neun looms up from Kreuzberg’s narrow Eisenbahnstraße. Originally one of 14 market halls across Berlin, the revitalised building reopened in 2011, 120 years after it was built. Nikolaus Driessen is one of four owners, a neighbour who developed a taste for taking on the failing market. ‘Markthalle Neun is typical of such a building in Germany,’ he says. ‘It was really quite progressive when it was built. Most were destroyed during the war and this one survived; but, after the war, people started to save money and preferred supermarkets. When I first came across it in 2009 it was dying.’
The decline of Markthalle Neun mirrors a pattern of markets in the UK – and, to some extent the US – facing similar fates. ‘For us it is not a Berlin problem, but a German problem,’ says Driessen. ‘Lunch was always the big thing, then people started to work and lunch didn’t happen any more. So people didn’t cook. Dinner was never anything special. We started to lose our techniques and our recipes. And our ability to cook – certainly in comparison to Italy or France. After the war, food became all about getting the belly filled, not making a feast. People lost their value for good food – both the taste, and socially. Still now we spend 11% of our income on food – that’s less than anyone else in Europe.’
The market exterior ©Markthalle Neun
As ever, a move in one direction provokes a reaction in the opposite. Driessen says: ‘It became so ingrained – so one-sided – that doing something differently was inevitable. As more things become more global there was need for more diversity; for regional produce; for localism.’
Driessen’s partners, Bernd Maier and Florian Niedermeier are both confirmed foodies, hailing from southern Germany with its rich food culture. ‘I was a neighbour – we just heard that the building was being sold for the best price,’ remembers Driessen. ‘The city had decided to sell because they couldn’t manage it any more. They had decided it wasn’t their job to run it as a public institution. We wanted to have a stake in what was happening in front of our door. Bernd and Florian are very much into food – since… forever – and have always dreamed of running a market. We didn’t know each other at the time; they are friends from childhood. We do get along very well though. It’s kind of magic… A good fit from every angle.’
Initially, the team focused directly on trade from regional producers, creating a Farmer’s Market on Fridays and Saturdays. ‘We needed time to build up the project and get people used to coming,’ says Driessen. ‘But we had lots of requests from people who wanted to sell ready to eat food. That didn’t fit with what we were doing on Fridays and Saturdays, but we saw all these great concepts – that’s where the idea for the street food night came from. It was a really new concept in Germany – people knew it from Asia and other countries, but not in Germany at the time.’
Fresh, locally sourced produce ©Markthalle Neun
Street Food Thursday rapidly proved a huge success. Driessen says: ‘It really boosted the economy. We saw incredible development of businesses – some later opened different restaurants and venues. We had the first food truck in Berlin, selling Alpine pasta – now they have countless trucks. We have other tenants who’ve really established their businesses here: a brewery; tofu producers; a butcher. It’s created a new food economy, using the market as a platform to experiment and test.’
Driessen’s background is in economics and microfinance. Pre-Markthalle Neun, he worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, raising microfinance for projects and then in media. Even so, raising the money to buy the building proved anything but straightforward. ‘It was so difficult to get credit from the bank – it is still very difficult, in spite of our background. The whole process is opposing what we are trying to do here. If we just wanted to prolong Aldi’s lease, it would have been easy. That’s what they were interested in. Security. We went to all the green banks, telling them how great and good it would be for everyone. In the end, it still all came down to length of Aldi’s contract. It makes it almost impossible for small businesses – it’s like the European standards for butchers. I think 25% of butchers here closed down because they couldn’t match up to it. We are not helped by how the world is running.
Local butchers at the market ©Markthalle Neun
‘I am an absolute believer that food affects everything. We have a saying in German – you are what you eat – and there are major lessons that need to be taught. Everybody who buys food has a choice – even just starting with an apple or some milk, you can change how the world looks for better or for worse. We should be thinking about our connection with food – about food miles. There is a strong political movement in Germany – the Green party has become quite big. We have our roots in nature and food and we manage to bring these people together. We like to combine these two influences. Everyone can find a reason to buy good food.’
Berlin has found itself at the centre of a foodie flurry; with renewed interest in food and ingredients reflecting the city’s experimentalism and environmental credentials. ‘It is very easy for people to try themselves out here,’ says Driessen. ‘We have a gastronomy sector full of people who maybe always dreamed of doing something; here they can rent a stall and gain a couple of qualifications for admin; it’s not that difficult. Financially – it’s easy to step in. People can try out their business and their menus. Lode and Stijn started in the market and have opened their own restaurant. We have really succeeded in becoming a circle in terms of the people – they care about the products they use – they want to have good food and good farming. When they later open restaurants, they’ll continue to work with suppliers in the market.
The city’s history has created a unique legacy. ‘We have a special situation in Berlin,’ Driessen says. ‘With the coming down of the wall, the huge state-run companies that surrounded Berlin disappeared, leaving lots of free land and empty space. You didn’t have to be rich to buy it or inherit it, so people used it to develop their projects. It makes this whole movement quite unique. People have come to food from totally different backgrounds – an Italian baker who studied history and decided he wanted to bake bread. They’ll look at it differently to someone who has a classical bakery. There are different influences with strong and special personalities. It can’t just happen anywhere. Berlin is full of these people. Whereas once it was the capital of music, it’s now the food sector. We have a lot of interesting people.’
Kreuzberg is the melting pot at the centre of Berlin’s new scene. Once the area was surrounded on three sides by the Wall; now, elegant graffitied apartments rub against hipster cafes and cultural centres; hippies and artists sit alongside bitcoin entrepreneurs and old Turkish men drinking coffee you can stand a spoon in. The mix, says Driessen, is important. ‘Very different groups of people come here. Our roots are in Kreuzberg and the neighbourhood and we try and attract people from here. It’s crucial for a place to have its DNA and a market should always reflect its direct surroundings. That’s one reason why we kept the supermarket there. Aldi is a hardcore discounter and we chose to keep it – not because they pay lots of rent, but we believe it’s crucial – people buy there. We make sure we have mix of people and something there for the neighbours – something for families; for older people. It’s very social – you can sit down to a very democratic restaurant. It is for groups and people on their own; for people who like to cook and find out the newest trends, or contact the producers. Variety is important.’
©Markthalle Neun
The market also supports an educational strand, with cooking classes for young people. ‘I would like us to do more,’ admits Driessen. ‘The kitchen school idea is to teach children from when they’re little – make them conscious of their food. And give them more understanding of the marketplace as a place to learn. We will have more and more workshops, but it’s not super-regular yet.’
October also sees the market’s second festival – the Stadt Land Food (City Country Food) Festival, explore ideas around food and identity. Again, it is a story of action and reaction. Two years ago, at the city’s International Green Week Berlin festival – the world’s biggest food fair – a demonstration sprang up, showing the alternatives to the commercial farming and big business food fayre it showcases. ‘January proved difficult though,’ admits Driessen, ‘because we have nothing on the fields. We needed to do it in October. This year’s version is about the importance of identity – it picks up on current concerns, like the refugee crisis in Germany. We are organising dinners with the camp that’s next to the market – food plays a crucial role when it comes to integration. We didn’t want to do purely focus on the refugee thing, so we are looking at the influence of food on identity and vice versa. It’s going to be fun.’ Alongside a huge outdoor market, taking over the streets around Eisenbahnstraße, will be a political congress and 11 curated Food Labs regarding different products – from bread to beer, each with an expert to talk about it.
Stadt Land Food festival ©Markthalle Neun
Markthalle Neun is doing good work. It’s supporting businesses and making people think about sustainability. But, perhaps most importantly, it’s become a focal point for the local community. ‘We don’t care that much in a way,’ smiles Driessen. ‘If somebody comes out of Aldi, we’re just happy that he’s happy with the bread. That he likes it and buys it. We don’t want to be a preacher. People who are interested can get involved deeper, but others don’t have to. We try to make it attractive to all sorts of people.’
Made in Palestine
By Lucy Chesters
KeepCup and the Reusable Revolution
By Patrick Hurley
— Food and Drink , Social Innovation
Beer, people, planet
By Andrew Beattie
— Environment , Food and Drink , Social Innovation
Let’s talk: Coffee cups
By Lyndsey Dodds , Peter Goodwin
— Environment , Food and Drink
24 hours in: Saint Petersburg
By Ben O'Leary
— Tourism
Community , Sustainability
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Added on December 4, 2019 Richard Foss newsletter
Inching toward modernity [restaurant review]
Sloopy’s hasn’t changed much in 50 years, and that’s just fine
Sloopy’s plant dominated interior reflects its ‘60s era origins. Photo by Brad Jacobson (CivicCouch.com)
In 1967 the song “Hang On Sloopy” was three years old, no longer high in the charts but a staple with bar bands across America. The earworm groove and sunny, optimistic lyrics suited South Bay surf culture well, despite the fact that the tune was written by a teenager in Dayton, Ohio about a local jazz singer named Dorothy Sloop. The lyrics were vague enough that nobody cared what they meant, and it sounded great blasting from an AM radio.
So great, in fact, that a North Manhattan Beach restaurant was named Sloopy’s in honor of the song. The interior reflected the hippie era, a space full of plants, tables cut from tree trunks, more plants, a big open fireplace, and plants, plants, plants, including a tree that grew through a hole in the roof. The café had a relatively simple menu of sandwiches, burgers, salads, and not much else, and in that famous summer of love it became a hangout for young locals.
Sloopy’s has changed remarkably little since then, though the famous tree was removed a decade ago thanks to worries falling branches. The interior now boasts a jungle of more than a hundred plants amid weathered wood walls and art in a variety of media. If you’re looking for a place with genuine character, look no further. The menu has changed some — there are coffee drinks we had never heard of in ’67, and those burgers are now available with toppings like kimchi, guacamole, and harissa aioli. Besides the sandwiches you can get fish and chips, a ribeye steak, and a few pastas and other items. In several visits, most dishes were conventional but satisfying, but there were a few standouts.
We tried starters of crisped brussels sprouts and their “famous” zucchini sticks, the latter partly because I find it hard to turn down fried zucchini and partly to see if it justified the hyperbole. It came to the table looking a bit burnt, but looks were deceiving — the batter and breading were dark but crisp and tasty. I don’t know if it qualifies as famous, but it’s a good start to a meal. So were the brussels sprouts, which had been tossed with a mild sweet chili glaze before being dusted with Parmesan. The sprouts were in large chunks and not as crispy as those preparations where it’s sliced extremely thin and fried, but if you like more varied textures and a moist interior you might favor this version.
Among the entrees we’ve tried was the kimchi burger, Montonara chicken pasta, seared salmon, ribeye steak, and an item they call a “spicy tuna sushi burrito” that was highly recommended by our server. While she enthused about that item at length, it was the least successful thing we had here. Creating an overgrown tempura shrimp, cucumber, carrot, and spicy tuna sushi roll and adding guacamole isn’t a bad idea, but the balance was off. The tuna wasn’t very spicy even to the person at our table with the wimpiest pepper tolerance, and there was more rice than anything else, so it was very filling without being very flavorful.
The other things we tried were all at least decent and some very good. The kimchi burger was made with a moderate version of spicy nappa cabbage so that it enhanced but didn’t dominate, and the dash of sesame oil vinaigrette added a hint of toasty nuttiness to the mix. The Montonara pasta wasn’t like any other recipe by that name, since this “mountaineer’s” pasta usually includes kale and salt pork in a tomato sauce rather than chicken and mushrooms in a pesto cream sauce, but by whatever name it was a good meal.
The steak and salmon would have been hard to imagine on Sloopy’s menu in the early years, but both were unexpectedly well presented and executed. They didn’t try to do anything fancy with either one, unless you count the truffle-smoked onion strings that adorned the steak, but that’s just fine. The lemon caper sauce was sparingly applied and suited the fish without overwhelming it, the potato and carrot mash and the brussels sprouts on the side were a good choice of accompaniments, and the portion was big enough for a hearty appetite. For just over 20 bucks for the fish and just under 30 for the steak, it was a deal.
The place where Sloopy’s shows surprising creativity is on their breakfast menu, which has standards like a breakfast burrito and pancakes, but also a variety of benedicts, a panko-crusted fried egg over quinoa, and duck confit hash. On the morning that we showed up they also offered a lobster benedict with sautéed asparagus and spinach, and we found that and the confit irresistible.
The lobster benedict at Sloopy’s. Photo by Richard Foss.
That benedict was remarkable when it arrived, the lobster tail removed from its shell and cooked, then put back on the tail to be topped with asparagus, poached eggs, fresh lemon zest hollandaise, and a dusting of paprika. The plate was finished with crisp breakfast potatoes and was so beautiful that we had to ask our server if she ever serves this to anyone without them pulling out their camera to get a shot. She said no, and we believe her because I would have gotten one even if I didn’t need it to illustrate this article.
The duck confit “hash” was tasty, but not a hash by any normal description. There were duck and potatoes in the bowl that arrived, but also spinach, tomatoes, and enough gravy that it was much more like a stew. Considered as a duck stew topped with poached eggs it was just fine, but I was looking forward to a hash with crisp potatoes and duck, and that’s not what arrived. Let hash be hash and stew be stew, and never the twain shall meet.
Sloopy’s has a small wine list and a better beer selection, both sufficient to complement meals but not particularly exciting. They also have desserts, but the portion sizes were large enough that we skipped that on all three visits.
Sloopy’s opened in a time of cultural shift and has thrived when almost all others have disappeared — you might even say they have hung on. (You knew that was coming, didn’t you?) They are likely to keep hanging on because they offer good food in a characterful and attractive environment, at a price that is modest enough for everyday dining near the beach.
Sloopy’s is at 3416 Highland Avenue in Manhattan Beach. Open 8 a.m. — 9 p.m. Oct-Feb., 7 a.m – 9:30 p.m. Mar-Sep. Street parking, beer and wine served, wheelchair access okay to front tables. (310) 545-1373. Sloopysbeachcafe.com. ER
by Richard Foss
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UltraSoC-led consortium secures £2m Innovate UK funding
PORTFOLIO NEWS 26.07.2019
UltraSoC, a portfolio company of eCAPITAL, has secured £2m in support from Innovate UK (the innovation agency of the UK Government), for an ambitious co-funded project that will improve the safety and security of tomorrow’s connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs).
The project, a collaboration between UltraSoC, the Universities of Southampton and Coventry, and cybersecurity specialist consultancy Copper Horse, aims to improve the security and safety of citizens and infrastructure by developing the world’s first on-chip monitoring solution for CAVs.
The project is based on UltraSoC’s unique embedded analytics technology, which allows technology companies to design self-monitoring capabilities into the microchips that power their products. Machine Learning (ML) experts from the University of Southampton will work alongside UltraSoC engineers to develop algorithms and code to intelligently identify security and safety issues, while the Institute of Future Transport at Coventry University will develop a testbed demonstrator representing a full-scale automotive functional architecture to prove the resulting solutions. Finally, Copper Horse will model cybersecurity scenarios and test the robustness of the project’s output.
UltraSoC’s embedded analytics deploy dedicated hardware to identify security problems such as hacking far more quickly and reliably than traditional software techniques. The complexity of connected and autonomous automotive systems and their critical safety implications create a compelling need for such capabilities.
Cybersecurity and functional safety risks in these CAV applications are real. We are proud to have been recognized by Innovate UK for our ability to deliver safer and more secure systems for the automotive industry. We look forward to collaborating with our partners and consultants in following through to deliver an improved embedded infrastructure for connected and autonomous vehicles which will ultimately improve the safety of our citizens and infrastructure.
Aileen Ryan,
UltraSoC’s Chief Strategy Officer
Willi Mannheims, Managing Partner at eCAPITAL, comments: “We are excited about this step towards a cybersecurity solution for autonomous driving. UltraSoC is fitting 100 % to our cybersecurity fund. UltraSoC has developed a novel approach to cybersecurity that places anomaly detection directly into the silicon, enabling hardware-based threat detection. This can identify attacks very quickly – in microseconds rather than milliseconds. It is also more robust than traditional techniques, because it is ‘below the OS’ and is therefore very hard for an attacker to detect, circumvent or subvert.”
Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government. With a strong business focus, its aim is to drive productivity and economic growth by fostering new ideas and innovations. Since 2007, it has invested around £2.5bn to help businesses across the UK to innovate, with match funding from industrial partners taking the total value of projects to over £4.3bn.
Professor Siraj Shaikh from the Institute of Future Transport at Coventry University, added, “We are delighted to be working alongside UltraSoC and its partners to ensure that any CAV system delivered to market, is fit for market: robust and thoroughly tested.”
Mark Zwolinski, Professor at the University of Southampton, also commented, “Our team is a leading authority in on-chip machine learning methods and we look forward to working closely with UltraSoC’s engineers to develop an embedded analytics solution to meet the stringent criteria of these mission critical and life-protecting systems.”
David Rogers MBE, CEO of Copper Horse, said: “While many companies are trying to tackle cybersecurity risks from the outside-in, UltraSoC’s technology is at the core of the device and hence is able to address concerns from the inside. We are delighted to have been part of the Innovate UK grant bid and look forward to working on the security of the solution, based on known and potential attacks.”
About UltraSoC’s automotive embedded analytics technology
UltraSoC’s embedded analytics creates an independent monitoring infrastructure that can operate without interfering with the operation of the main system and, being hardware-based, responds much more quickly than conventional solutions. Unexpected or anomalous CPU transactions can be immediately flagged or blocked; faults or malicious attacks in sensor systems can be similarly detected. Developers can also implement ‘black box’ type forensic trace capabilities, logging on-chip activity and creating a digitally signed record that can be used to track the progression of a malicious attack, or determine legal liability.
For these reasons, UltraSoC’s technology and experience fits perfectly in safety-critical and security applications: providing greater insights and monitoring that allow automotive system developers to more easily satisfy the functional safety, risk assessment, testing, reporting and traceability requirements of standards such as ISO26262, IEC 61508, EN50126/8/9 and CE 402/2013, and facilitating the move to cybersecurity standards such as ISO21434 and SAE J3061.
UltraSoC’s recently-announced lockstep solution supports any processor type, and is specifically targeted at safety-critical applications such as those in automotive system design. The UltraSoC Lockstep Monitor is a hardware-based, scalable solution which significantly helps functional safety by checking that the processors at the heart of a critical system are operating reliably, safely and securely. Lockstep operation is needed for automotive safety standards such as ISO26262.
For more information on UltraSoC’s embedded analytics for automotive applications, see here.
About eCAPITAL
eCAPITAL is a venture capital firm that provides early to growth stage funding to technology companies in the fields of software & information technology, cybersecurity, industry 4.0, new materials and cleantech. Founded in 1999, eCAPITAL has a history of supporting entrepreneurs determined to build companies with lasting significance. Partnering with eCAPITAL means joining an international network of business leaders, entrepreneurs, technologists and potential partners. eCAPITAL is located in Germany and currently manages funds with over EUR 220 million under management.
UltraSoC Technologies Ltd
Andy Gothard / David Marsden
St John’s Innovation Centre
Cowley Road, Cambridge, United Kingdom
eMail: andy.gothard@UltraSoC.com
eMail: david.marsden@UltraSoC.com
eCAPITAL ENTREPRENEURIAL PARTNERS AG
Sylvia Richter
Hafenweg 24
Tel.: +49 251 70 37 67 0
eMail: info@ecapital.vc
http://www.ecapital.vc
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Home › Dead by Daylight Forums › Discussions › General Discussions
Lot of banning going on with forum accounts lately
Aesthetiks Member Posts: 28
January 13 in General Discussions
anyone else notice a lot more people with BANNED icons popping up. Silencing folks in a time like this seems to be the incorrect way to handle dissatisfied customers
Aven_Fallen Member Posts: 2,840
If they cannot behave...
ppo8820 Member Posts: 519
How does one get banned here?
TragicSolitude Member Posts: 1,787
By not following the forum rules https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/87004/forum-rules
I think a lot of warnings at least are given out for "making light of serious issues" (see the rules), but I expect a lot of bans come from getting into a heated argument with another forum member. You'll notice a lot of disrespectful and derogatory posts that lack anything constructive, or one member specifically targeting another member and "calling them out" for whatever reason (which is a no-no, even if you're right). Accusing a member of anything publicly isn't taken well; if you think they're posting bait, ignore it; if you think they're using an alt account, flag it; use the official means to report cheaters; etc.
DepressedClownMain Member Posts: 831
https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/120461/lot-of-banning-going-on-with-forum-accounts-lately
What do you mean every single person knows that blocking feedback is the way to go
Peanits Dev∙Community Manager › Dev, Community Manager Posts: 4,875
I can ensure you that it has nothing to do with censorship. There are plenty of people here who are voicing concerns and giving negative feedback. The difference is whether or not it's being done in a civil and constructive way or if they're insulting people. This goes for people who defend our decisions as well; insulting the people criticizing us is not okay. Negative feedback is welcome, but that's not a green light to attack people. We can all share our thoughts without attacking each other.
They ignore it, but I haven't really shown any signs of censorship I wouldn't jump to that conclusion.
Boosted_Dwight Trusted › Member, Trusted Posts: 2,209
After a change as big a Ruin I'd imagine there would be a lot of people with interesting words to give to BHVR.
Hero_awesome Member Posts: 23
Preety sure there's a preety small group agreeing with your changes. And there survivor mains.
NoOneImportant Member Posts: 210
I actually appreciate the fact that hostile and insulting posts are taken seriously here. Too many people think it’s okay to completely belittle someone because they disagree, and it’s not.
For what it’s worth I’ve made several comments that are critical of the decisions the devs make on this forum, but never had a warning because I always try to avoid insults. So I don’t think people are banned for disagreeing, but probably for getting too heated.
Something to add:
Most likely the posts which lead to a Ban are not visible anymore because they either got moved to an archive or were deleted straight away.
This can also lead to some confusion why certain people are banned.
smappdooda Member Posts: 179
DBD: 1984 edition.
oxygen Member Posts: 955
Obviously more people will "cross the line" when controversial changes get announced and people are passionate about what's happening.
From fairly understandable heated arguements going a little too far when people are passionate enough, to legitimately ascended garbage like justifying/encouraging review bombing or just mindlessly attacking BHVR in a way that's far from constructive.
just because Im paranoid doesn't mean people aren't watching me :O
They're definitely not visible, anymore. Even posts that just get the member sent a warning are removed.
csandman1977 Member Posts: 553
I reported a post that was just a hate filled rant with some choice words that really weren't needed. The whole thread got removed.
Huff Member Posts: 93
I like the way you put it. Pretty much what I was gonna say.
It makes perfect sense to me that there's a lot of people getting banned when there's constantly people recently trying to bypass the language filter, and insulting each other, and constantly commenting with completely irrelevant things, and trying to start arguments with people, and just generally being children. There's still plenty of people complaining about things they're unhappy with, me being one of them, and I haven't been bothered. I doubt a lot of other people complaining civilly have been bothered either.
SpaceCoconut Member Posts: 1,061
As a PSA the term "Willful Ignorance" is deemed as an insult "You're saying so and so is ignorant" even "though the term was originally—and still is—used in legal contexts, the phrase "willful ignorance" has come to mean any situation in which people intentionally turn their attention away from an ethical problem that is believed to be important by those using the phrase (for instance, because the problem is too disturbing for people to want it dominating their thoughts, or from the knowledge that solving the problem would require extensive effort)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willful_blindness
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/why-we-blame/201709/willful-ignorance-and-self-deception
I expect to be banned before March lol
Witas Member Posts: 208
Considering how internet is, I bet some BHVR devs already had the chance to learn ... Interesting facts about their families 🤣
Colton147 Member Posts: 279
Feedback and criticism is fine.
Harassing and threatening the developers is not fine.
dont_ask_me_again Member Posts: 462
ummmhmmm. /s
I know why you give people titles... just so you can allow them to jebait when you bring them up. (As with my post)
When I first came to the forum I loved that person and how they thought about matters... even defended them before... but yeah nothing they did was productive and it just attempted to shadow major problems with BVHR rn which don’t pretend doesn’t exist right now.
If you have no adversaries you create silence... period. And you removed adversaries and people were agree’ing with my post and how I responded my friend.
Just get behaviour to do the right thing... I don’t main killer and I know what they’re going to be going through - especially the people who don’t play this game 24/7 with a full time job etc. You’re being unfair to them.
There’s going to be a killer shortage at rank 1 if there’s nothing for them to ease the stress.
This is all assuming you accept that your playerbase is likely above age of 18+ or whatever the game is rated.
Post edited by dont_ask_me_again on January 14
Definitely see a vibe of this to a degree mainly by some very acquainted followers of DBD in the “title” sense... hope it gets changed around here... it doesn’t feel like everyone is getting treated like competent people.
The devs aren’t the problem... the problem stems higher up and what’s also not fine is for them not being sure everyone can enjoy the game without a great deal of stress.
I’m a competitive player but it in a way I’m just caring about the casual player that’s tried their best to be competitive with the time they have if they so choose to take the route.
C3Tooth Member Posts: 348
Anyone see yourself in this case?
Just the same as you pay the game and demand everything and insult if the game doesnt turned out to your liking, like the Devs are your grooms.
brokedownpalace Member Posts: 3,822
Wouldn't it depend if you were using it as an insult, tho? Developmentally delayed is a medical term but depending on the context can be insulting. Are you claiming that you were having a discussion about the law with somebody? Or did you use a legal term as an insult?
I feel like people who get warnings or bans probably deserve it most of the time. I'm not exactly the nicest person on these forums and I haven't received a warning. Maybe I've slipped under the radar, though..
The_Second_Coming Member Posts: 1,110
Careful, using the term "willful ignorance" will get you jai...oh wait.
There's no way to use the term and have it be positive - but observing it as a behavior is not an insult, especially when it's blatantly represented by the people being criticized for exhibiting said behavior.
Peppa_Pigsaw Member Posts: 81
Few friends have gotten banned for stating the developers didn't play their own game and/or were bad at it.
Which they are. But we don't talk about that.
Speaking of not talking about things...
I read an old thread about people being shadow banned not too long ago. It was a thread from September of 2018 as a matter of fact. I only read it cause it was listed that it had a reply..but strangely enough even though the thread listing said it had a reply, the reply was missing when I went into the actual thread.
It was deleted in the last week, along with a much newer thread asking about shadow banning...issue is, if you google "dead by daylight forum shadow ban", it's still the first in the search results...click the link and the thread no longer exists. That's how you know it was deleted recently. It's placement in the search rankings.
Basically, shadow banning is when you are set to "private" in so many words. You can read posts, and in theory still post, but nobody can see your content except you, and they more or less bank on the fact that you don't notice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_banning
Here's a picture of the search results (save this link!):
https://gyazo.com/e16f56038259d39cb954050920bd8d3f
Here's a link to a thread of it actually happening to someone:
Sure, you could call it a "bug"...but I feel like it's far too convenient.
It tends to feel like that actively try to silence/get rid of that which makes them look, well...that which matches their Behavior.
I know multiple people who have suffered the same fate, it does definitely exist and it wouldn't surprise me if these posts get deleted or a mod goes "Actually we don't do that." When multiple people have claimed they do in fact do that.
But I'm just an entitled killer main, so obviously im making stuff up because I'm angry about the Ruin change.
its just been a lot more bans than usual on here i would imagine. the game has great qualities, but seems as if it just lacks a direction, and instead of responding to the community with something like
"WE NEED TO REMOVE RUIN IN ORDER TO GET A BASELINE ON WHAT GAMES WILL LOOK LIKE WITHOUT IT SO WE CAN QUICKLY TAKE MORE ACTION FOR BETTER GAME BALANCE."
.. but we don't hear anything because they take forever in terms of balance adjustments; where as in games like league of legends they are CONSTANTLY changing the meta and balancing/rebalancing.. because at the end of the day balance is basically whack a mole with the stuff that ends up rising to the surface
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Florida among the 36 states with major tax changes in 2020
By Florida Business Daily Reports | Jan 18, 2020
Florida was included in a new analysis from the Tax Foundation identifying 36 states that have major changes to their tax codes taking effect this year.
Florida job growth this year projected at 1.9%
Job growth in Florida is expected to reach 1.9 percent by the end of 2020, down from the state's 2019 job growth of 2.5 percent, according to a new study by Kiplinger that assessed state economic outlooks.
Florida lacks adequate funds to weather moderate recession
Florida would lack adequate revenues to manage a moderate economic downturn without raising taxes or cutting services, according to a new analysis from Moody’s Analytics.
David Borrero Pledges To Support Congressional Term Limits
2020 Florida state house candidate, David Borrero, (district 105), has committed support for term limits on Congress by signing the Term Limits Convention pledge.
Florida ranks fourth in annual tax climate ranking
Florida finished fourth in a new study by the Tax Foundation showing which states are best at structuring their tax systems
Term Limits Day Comes to New Port Richey Florida
Thursday, Feb. 27th is National Term Limits Day.
Jeff Hinkle Pledges To Support Congressional Term Limits
Florida state house candidate, Jeff Hinkle, (district 4), has committed support for term limits on Congress by signing the Term Limits Convention pledge
U.S. Term Limits Praises Sayd Hussain for Signing Pledge
Florida house candidate (district 91), Sayd Hussain, has committed to defend term limits in Florida by signing the term limits pledge.
Strong Support in Florida CD-19 for Term Limits on Congress
U.S. Term Limits (USTL), the leader in the non-partisan national movement to limit terms for elected officials, praises 2020 U.S. House candidate for Florida (district 19), State Rep. Heather Fitzenhagen for signing the pledge for an amendment to term limit Congress.
College football coach is highest-paid public employee in Florida
By Florida Business Daily Reports | Jan 4, 2020
Dan Mullen, head football coach at the University of Florida, earned $6.1 million in 2018, making Mullen the highest-paid public employee in Florida last year, according to a ranking by the website GOBankingRates.
Funding for arts agencies in Florida to reach $26.6 million in FY2020
Legislative appropriations for Florida arts agencies are projected to reach $26.6 million for fiscal year 2020, which equates to $1.25 per capita in the state, according to a report from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA).
Florida levies a total tax on lodging of 6%
By Florida Business Daily Reports | Dec 27, 2019
Hotel room bills in Florida tack on a total state lodging tax of 6 percent, the 25th highest lodging tax rate in the nation, according to a study by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).
11 counties in Florida are now 2nd Amendment sanctuaries
Eleven counties in the state are now under a Second Amendment sanctuary law or ordinance, according to updates from the website Gunrightswatch.com and media reports.
23,089 borrowers in Florida filed for student loan forgiveness in 2nd quarter
Borrowers in Florida who sought forgiveness of their student loans in the second quarter of 2019 numbered 23,089, according to a new state-by-state analysis by the U.S. Department of Education.
$646.9 million in federal research dollars flowed to Florida in FY 2018
Federal agency research dollars going to Florida totaled $646.9 million in fiscal year 2018, according to a new analysis by the Research!America alliance.
Ford O’Connell Pledges to Support Term Limits on Congress
By Press release submission | Dec 19, 2019
U.S. Term Limits (USTL), the leader in the non-partisan national movement to limit terms for elected officials, praises 2020 U.S. House candidate for Florida (district 19), Ford O’Connell, for signing the pledge for an amendment to term limit Congress.
Florida received $15.2 million in public broadcasting funds last year
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting allocated $15,249,491 in fiscal-year 2018 to support public television and radio in Florida, the seventh highest amount among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, CPB reported.
Florida 2-year college students pay $3,250 in tuition and fees
By Florida Business Daily Reports | Dec 7, 2019
Florida two-year colleges charged students $3,250 in tuition and fees during the 2018-19 academic year, the 10th lowest cost among 49 states examined, the College Board said in a new report.
27 U.S. House members from Florida make $174,000 annually
Each of the 27 U.S. House of Representatives members representing Florida draws an annual salary of $174,000, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Strong Support in Florida’s House District 105 for Congressional Term Limits
By Press release submission | Dec 5, 2019
House candidate Pedro Barrios (district 105), has committed to defend term limits in Florida by signing the term limits pledge.
1 VA reports increase in number of appointments at North Florida/South Georgia VA HCS health facility in The Villages in August
2 57 retail trade businesses in Flagler County have between five and nine employees in 2016
4 136 real estate, rental and leasing businesses in Flagler County have between one and four employees in 2016
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All posts tagged "stocks"
David Shapiro owns stock in nine of study’s top 100 greenhouse gas emitters
David Shapiro has made climate change an issue in his campaign for Florida’s 16th Congressional District. Yet despite that focus,...
By Ryan NicolAugust 14, 2018
David Shapiro owns stock in three companies he publicly denounced in op-ed
David Shapiro, a Democratic candidate in Florida’s 16th Congressional District, issued some tough talk back in February when he took...
By Ryan NicolAugust 8, 2018
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Floyd Rose will be closed for year-end inventory counting from 1/1/20 until Tuesday 1/7/20 close
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George Lynch is one of the most recognizable names in the world of heavy metal guitar. With a career spanning more than thirty years, George has recorded more than twenty albums, toured the entire globe many times, and is the one of the most recognizable endorsees of the worlds finest guitars and equipment. Born on September 28, 1954 in Spokane, WA, George Lynch began learning to play guitar at the age of 10. A naturally gifted musician, his guitar playing quickly progressed and became a creative outlet for him during his teenage years performing with several bands, most notably Sergeant Rocks. In the late 1970s, George moved to Los Angeles, California where he formed two bands, The Boyz and Xciter. With Xciter, Georges technical abilities and unique style was a very important draw to the bands fan base. Playing the L.A. club circuit, it was clear that he was already taking the necessary steps that would lead him to success in the 1980s and his partnership with legendary band Dokken.
When George Lynch joined Dokken in the early 1980s, success came very quickly. As history proves, much of the bands album sales and credibility is the result of George LynchÂs guitar abilities and songwriting. With Dokken, Lynch recorded five albums from 1983 to 1988, all of which did remarkably well in the United States, Europe and Asia. This worldwide success made George Lynch one of the most influential rock guitarists in modern music, even earning the band a Grammy nomination in 1989 for Best Rock Instrumental. 1989 was also the year the George parted ways with Dokken and began the new decade with a different approach
enter the Lynch Mob. At present, George Lynch has been busy in the studio and on the road. His latest solo record titled Legacy features a collection of songs that influenced the musician throughout his career This special edition EP release celebrates thirty years of George LynchÂs guitar playing with an amazing 4 track offering for the fans. Legacy injects us with a super charged dose of Georges signature style and proves once again why hes one of the most respected guitar players of the last 3 decades! George is also working on a new album project called T & N with Jeff Pilson, Mick Brown and Brian Tichy. George Lynch is always evolving as a musician. And with the George Lynch guitar legacy comes remarkable business opportunities. Many musical instrument manufacturers consult with George creatively to produce equipment. As a result, many quality products bear his name.
The most notable is his endorsement with ESP Guitars. ESP has held George as their highest profiled endorser for close to 20 years. Electric guitar pickup guru Seymour Duncan has also honored George with his own signature series pickup called the Screamin Demon. Now a highly regarded standard in the guitar world, the Screamin Demon reigns as one of Seymour Duncans most popular items to date. George also conceived the design for a triple amp selector switching system called the Tripler which is manufactured by Morley. American Recording Technology manufactures and distributes the George Lynch Signature guitar, patch and speaker cables. In 2005, Randall Amplifiers revealed a new George Lynch modular amp called the Lynch Box. Also of note, George Lynch and Robert Keeley have developed the Lynch Time Machine, a unique and powerful effect unit that is gaining a lot of interest and momentum within the guitar industry. To keep up to-date with the current news & tour schedules of George Lynch, please visit www.georgelynch.com and dont forget to visit www.shadowtrainmovie.com, a new documentary George Lynch is involved with, titled "ShadowTrain: Under A Crooked Sky."
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1061898-cis-is-a-potent-checkpoint-in-nk-cell-mediated-tumor-immunity
CIS is a potent checkpoint in NK cell-mediated tumor immunity
Rebecca B Delconte, Tatiana B Kolesnik, Laura F Dagley, Jai Rautela, Wei Shi, Eva M Putz, Kimberley Stannard, Jian-Guo Zhang, Charis Teh, Matt Firth, Takashi Ushiki, Christopher E Andoniou, Mariapia A Degli-Esposti, Phillip P Sharp, Caroline E Sanvitale, Giuseppe Infusini, Nicholas PD Liau, Edmond M Linossi, Christopher J Burns, Sebastian Carotta Show all
Nature Immunology | NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP | Published : 2016
DOI: 10.1038/ni.3470
Gabrielle Belz Author Medical Biology (W.E.H.I.)
Andrew Webb Author Medical Biology (W.E.H.I.)
Edmond Linossi Author Medical Biology (W.E.H.I.)
Laura Dagley Author Medical Biology (W.E.H.I.)
Charis En-Yi Teh Author Medical Biology (W.E.H.I.)
Awarded by National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia
Awarded by Austrian Science Fund (FWF)
Awarded by AbbVie
Awarded by Bayer PHARMA AG
Awarded by Boehringer Ingelheim
Awarded by Canada Foundation for Innovation
Awarded by Canadian Institutes for Health Research
Awarded by Genome Canada
Awarded by GlaxoSmithKline
Awarded by Janssen
Awarded by Lilly Canada
Awarded by Novartis Research Foundation
Awarded by Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation
Awarded by Pfizer
Awarded by Takeda
We wish to thank N. Nicola for helpful comments and discussion, P. Rueda and C. Quillici for technical assistance, Tracy Wilson for generating the wild-type and SH2-mutant CIS expression plasmids, R. Anderson for the E0771.LMB cells, and L. Town, K. Elder, T. Camilleri and J. Sutton for excellent animal husbandry. We are grateful to the staff of the WEHI Bioservices, Monoclonal antibody facility, Flow cytometry facility and Clinical Translational Centre. This work is supported by program and project grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia (1027472 to S.C., N.D.H. and G.T.B., 1013667 and 1098960 to M.J.S., 1047903 to G.T.B., 1016647 to J.G.Z., S.E.N. and W.S.A., 1049407, 1066770 and 1057852 to N.D.H., and 1078763 to D.H.D.G.), as well as an NHMRC Independent Research Institute Infrastructure Support scheme grant and a Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Scheme grant. N.D.H. is a recipient of a Melanoma Research Grant from the Harry J Lloyd Charitable Trust and R.B.D. is supported by a Leukemia Foundation scholarship. This work was also supported by fellowships from the NHMRC (GNT0461276 to N.D.H., 1058344 to W.S.A., 545952 to D.S.H., 1090236 to D.H.D.G., 1089072 to C. T., Australia Fellowship 1078671 to M.J.S.), the Australian Research Council (G.T.B.) and the Menzies Foundation (N.D.H.). E.M.P. is supported by a Schroedinger Fellowship from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): J-3635. The SGC is a registered charity (number 1097737) that receives funds from AbbVie, Bayer PHARMA AG, Boehringer Ingelheim, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Genome Canada, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Lilly Canada, the Novartis Research Foundation, the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation, Pfizer, Takeda, and the Wellcome Trust [092809/Z/10/Z].
Lymphocyte Activation
Mice, Knockout
Binds
Anti-Pd-L1 Antibody
Cytotoxicity, Immunologic
Melanoma, Experimental
Cancer-Therapy
Interferon-Gamma
Natural-Killer-Cells
Molecular Targeted Therapy
Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling Proteins
Immunologic Surveillance
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By vlad666, May 18, 2019 in Main Discussion - Norwich City
canarydan23 475
19 minutes ago, BroadstairsR said:
I am more fascinated by the inference that the term is correct because 'football has a language of it's own.'
Yes, you're getting it.
And I've given you examples; just because you've meekly dismissed them as not relevant doesn't make them so I'm afraid.
It's not just football either. Context is everything. Let's look at diving. It's literal meaning is to plunge head first into water. In the context of Football it's feigning contact to win a foul. In Boxing, to take a dive is to throw a fight.
If Yellow Wal said that Bamford is a diver, you wouldn't jump in with your size 9s and say, "Errrrr, if you look at Wiki then it means jumping into water, he doesn't do that". And yet here you are taking umbrage with a perfectly legitimate objection to the journeyman tag being given to Leroy Fer in a footballing context.
PurpleCanary 699
Yes, Purple I am aware of that.
We seem to be getting deep here and you are correct, but the term is by precise dictionary definition related only to the level of qualification involved and nothing else and not derived from the the need of the workman to move around to find employment. Most didn't in any case and were assigned permanently to one employer.
Neither can there be many modern day footballers who have to constantly move from club to club to play, and I wouldn't label any that do journeymen in any case.
I am more fascinated by the inference that the term is correct because 'football has a language of it's own.'
I am happy to go one level deeper and leave it there. The dictionary definition only relates to what they were, which was a level below master craftsman. It doesn't take in why they were called journeymen, which was because they were paid by the day, and that did often involve moving around to find a day's work. As opposed to the master craftsmen, who had a studio and worked there, or carried out long-term projects at country houses and the like.
Trevor Hockey's Beard 111
15 hours ago, Yellow Wal said:
Hardly a journeyman. From us to QPR to Swansea.in five years.
From us to QPR to Swansea to another club in 5 years, and not a Journeyman?
I am down on Fer as I was so excited when I first saw him play for us, he seemed to have so much potential, but he just hasn't developed and fulfilled his earlier promise. So you could say he is an ideal candidate for our recruitment model of identifying players who are under-performing, but we can probably find players who are better and cheaper abroad.
BroadstairsR 273
But "dive" is a general term not just connected with diving into water and to call Bamford a "diver" is actually correct.
I am getting nothing except that you seem top want to create a new language entirely related to football.
18 minutes ago, PurpleCanary said:
So you are now denying the dictionaries. Which one The Oxford, Chambers, Wiki?
I repeat. Most journeymen did not move around for work, ie uproot, in the Middle Ages. Most were by necessity connected to a guild, usually in the employment of a master craftsman. Fixed employment. It is a term of status not of lifestyle, irrespective of the origins.
Footballers who move from club to club are, by definition, inaccurately labelled as such even though football apparently has it's own language which refutes any dictionary definition.
Edited May 20, 2019 by BroadstairsR
5 minutes ago, BroadstairsR said:
Why would I create it? It already exists.
I genuinely don't know what you're pressing at here. A journeyman in football is quite simply not what you refer to. Even your precious Wiki gets it and has a separate page to define "journeyman" in a sports context and even has its own page for "journeyman" in a boxing context. And this is despite you not being able to find another definition in any English language dictionary you have consulted.
How many English language dictionaries have you referred to that supports calling Bamford a diver, something we appear to agree on?
When someone shouts at a player to stick it in the mixer, do you think of an appliance for mixing foods? Or a soft drink that can be mixed with alcohol?
I'm enjoying this.
So you now need to quote Wiki as a standard for accuracy? Marvelous.
Consult a real dictionary at least.
2 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:
All these weird footballing term you keep throwing up may well be within the vocabulary of the average street corner boy on a regular basis, but it hardly makes them correct in the proper sense with regards English language usage.
But wiki says they should be apparently.
I don't generally use Wiki but as you did initially I thought it might be a helpful medium to guide you towards understanding what is a very simple concept.
Just now, BroadstairsR said:
But wiki says they should be apparently.
You're floundering now, Broadstairs. You were a bit silly, we've all been there.
Football has a vernacular that doesn't always conform to "the proper sense with regards English language usage."
I'm staggered this needs explaining to a football fan.
When does the new season start? I can't wait.
1 minute ago, canarydan23 said:
How can I possibly be floundering when faced with the absolute nonsense that you are spouting?
Or is it just another example of the usual lack of debating skills that is often exhibited on this forum that reveals a need to attack the man not the ball, as they say.
"Football has a vernacular that doesn't always conform to "the proper sense with regards English language usage."
Do you dispute this?!
Just now, canarydan23 said:
How can I possibly dispute this with you going to such great lengths to justify it?
That doesn't make it in the slightest bit an accurate use of the English Language.
I happen to like accuracy in the use of our language, especially when publishing it on any media, including a football forum and if somebody bandies about a word like "journeyman" without this tenet I take pleasure, even light heartedly, in sometimes picking upon the matter.
What's the expression for "tongue in cheek" in the language of football, by the way?
You've learned something today Broadstairs. Smile and be glad.
Did you really think people were referring to food processors when they said to put it in the mixer? I think my wife would have something to say if I put a size 5 mitre ball in her Magimix.
What on earth are you on about now? 5 mitre Footballs in your wife's Magimix. Eh?
At least you seemed to have stopped going around in circles, just like a Magimix in fact, with your argument even though it doesn't seem to stop you continuing to spout rubbish.
Yes, I have learned something today, but I won't insult you by telling you what it is.
P.S. Buy a proper dictionary for your wife's next birthday present, she could educate you a bit and away from the basic language of the football terraces that you seem to revel in.
And the floundering starts again.
You were so close to understanding something, Broadstairs. One day it might happen; I don't think it's going to be today.
Give up fella.
You are being silly now. Do you really think that I am the slightest bit interested in understanding the language of the football terraces, if that's what your ramblings are now referring to?
Just do yourself a favour and just give up.
(Besides that mixer of yours probably needs cleaning.)
No. I am clearly not doing that. I am pointing out that the dictionary definition as you quoted it does not help with explaining why they were called journeymen and what was the significance of that, and thereby how the term relates to describing footballers.
I should hardly be surprised that your posts miss the point, since your pontificating on another thread about Pontus Jansson and his career with Sweden was factually wrong in pretty much every significant respect.
Mr Angry 177
I think the phrase is “Play the ball, not the man”. Never heard anyone say “Attack the ball, not the man”.
"No. I am clearly not doing that."
Yes you are. What exactly are you defending here and what has Pontus Jansson got to do with things? He is a current Swedish international after all and he was captain of his national side. What's factually wrong with that then? I don't recall adding much else in support of the player.
I repeat the term "journeyman" has always referred to status rather than lifestyle and is therefore incorrectly used in relation to footballers who have had many clubs necessitating movement around the country etc.
Ouch. It's really getting quite embarrassing now. Uncomfortable viewing but somehow compelling.
I thought I could talk some sense into you as I have young children but I've failed you BroadstairsR and for that I apologise. I should be able to explain such a simple and basic premise to anyone, regardless of their obvious limitations.
Vague insults will never win an argument.
Especially one as weak as yours is.
No need to apologise, btw, I've enjoyed this insight into how the other half lives.
Oh! Vague insult there and for that I apologise.
No need to apologise, btw, I've enjoyed this insight into how the other half lives.
The half with three digit IQs?
16 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:
Blimey there's no way at all I can compete with that.
Terrace language wins then.
My tale is firmly between my legs.
6 hours ago, BroadstairsR said:
I mentioned your Jansson posts because they are a good example of your fallibility with facts and your disinclination to admit you’ve got something wrong.
"He [Jansson] is not just a current Swedish international , Mr. S., he's also the captain of his national side. As I pointed out, TJ, he has captained Sweden, not least at the latest World Cup and Euro finals.”
Every one of those claims is either at best misleading or simply wrong. As far as competitive games go Jansson is not a current Swedish international. He hasn’t been in the 23-man squads for their last five games, let alone got on as a sub, let alone started a game.
He has captained Swedish second-string teams in at least two friendlies but he is not and as far as I can see never has been captain of the team proper. He certainly was not Sweden’s captain in last year’s World Cup (that was Granqvist) and only filled in for the first game as a player before being left out, and he has never played in a single match for Sweden in a European Championship finals tournament, either in 2012 or 2016, let alone captained the side in such.
I must say it is a kind of special talent that can get so much so completely factually wrong in two short sentences.
7 hours ago, canarydan23 said:
I can only quote Wiki as I have neither the time nor the inclination to investigate the matter that you clearly have:
"On 15 May 2018, Jansson was named in Sweden's final 23 man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.] On 18 June, Jansson was named in the starting lineup ahead of Manchester United's Victor Lindelöf for Sweden's opening game of Group F in a 1-0 win against South Korea.] Sweden reached the World Cup Quarter-Finals of the tournament after beating Switzerland in the last 16, however England knocked out Sweden in a 2-0 win on 7 July 2018, the match also saw Jansson play in an unfamiliar striker's role, with Jansson brought on as a second half substitute to try score a goal with Sweden trailing at the time.
On 6 September 2018, Jansson was once again named Sweden captain in a 2-0 defeat against Austria."
"He has captained Swedish second-string teams in at least two friendlies but he is not and as far as I can see never has been captain of the team proper."
Factually incorrect then. Does that make both of us wrong or just me, as you seem at great pains to point out?
Is this "special talent" confined to just me?
Surfer 424
Anyway, Potter now confirmed as new Brighton boss - so Hughton to take over Swansea?
zema abbey football genius 6
10 hours ago, canarydan23 said:
We call Ipswich s(um, we don't actually think they are a layer of dirt
That’s exactly what I think they are
Icecream Snow 249
26 minutes ago, Surfer said:
Would have thought West Brom was more likely. Wouldn't be surprised if he even thought Boro was more attractive than Swansea.
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Documents filtered by: Recipient="Randolph, Edmund" AND Period="Confederation Period"
sorted by: date (ascending)
[From Thomas Jefferson to Edmund Randolph, 30 December 1783]
To Edmund Randolph
[Annapolis, 30 Dec. 1783. Entry in SJL reads: “E. Rand. European news. Dutch commotions—but 7. states—not fault of delegates but want of money.” Not found.]
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-06-02-0342
Note: The annotations to this document, and any other modern editorial content, are copyright © Princeton University Press. All rights reserved.
Jefferson Papers
Randolph, Edmund
“[From Thomas Jefferson to Edmund Randolph, 30 December 1783],” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-06-02-0342. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 6, 21 May 1781–1 March 1784, ed. Julian P. Boyd. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952, p. 431.]
From Jefferson to Randolph [18 July 1783]
From Randolph to Jefferson [30 January 1784]
All correspondence between Jefferson and Randolph
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To John Adams from John Sullivan, 15 – 19 March 1776
From John Sullivan
Winter Hill March 15th 1776
Your very Acceptable Favour of the 7th Instant1 Came to hand this Day. You could not have Conferred a greater obligation on me than by giving yourself the Trouble to write me; but when you give me to understand that my Services are acceptable in Your Eyes and in the Eyes of the Congress in General I already Esteem myself fully rewarded for all my toils; and cannot but persevere in my Endeavours to Deserve the good opinion of the Congress and my Country.
The Enemy after having been Severely handled by our Shot and Shells for a few nights found us in full possession of Dochester Heights. This Threw them into the utmost Consternation. They Endeavoured to Elevate their Cannons So as to Breach our works by Sinking the Hinder wheels of the Cannon into the Earth but after an unsucesful Fire of about two Hours, they grew weary of it and Desisted. They then ordered Lord Piercey2 with 3000 Troops on board the Transports and to proceed to the Castle from whence he was to Come and attack our works on the South while the Granadier and Light Infantry were to Land from Boston on the North Point of Dochester Called Nook Point and attack our Lines on the other Side: This was no more than we Expected and had therefore prepared Signals at Roxbury to notify us of the Enemys movement and upon their making an Attack at Dochester we were to Land in our Boats on the North of Boston And Carry the Town Sword in hand. I was appointed to Command the first Division, and General Green the Second. General Heath was to Remain in Cambridge with the Troops left here and the attack was to be made by 4000 we not having Boats to Carry more. Our Boats were prepared and men Paraded by them Ready to Embark and all Seemed to be in Longing Expectation for the Signal: but the Reknowned Lord Piercey Disappointed us for he Instead of his Prospect Glass took a Multiplying Glass3 and viewd our people from the Castle and made them fifty thousand when in fact we only Sent our four thousand. This prevented their attack and Deprived us the pleasure of Walking the Streets of Boston for that time. The Troops then thought of nothing but Quitting the Town and have been Ever Since preparing for their Departure.
<Sund> Tuesday June [i.e. March]<18> 19th 1776 4
Dear Sir I had not time on the 15 Inst. to finish my Letter and now beg Leave to give you Some further Intelligence viz. on Saturday Evening our People took possession of Nook Hill near Boston. They5 Continued a Cannonading all night without hurting a Man. In the morning they found the Approaches So near and being Suspicious that we were about taking possession of Noddles Island they Embarked Early on Sunday morning and fell Down to the Castle. We Saw the Ships under way about 8 in the morning and the River full of Boats with Armed Soldiers. This gave an Alarm as Some Suspected they were about to Land at Dochester but having a full view of them with a Glass from Plowed Hill I found they were going on board the Ships. I then took my Horse and Rode Down to Charlestown Neck where I had a Clear view of Bunkers Hill. I Saw the Sentrys Standing as usual with their Firelocks Shouldered but finding they never moved I Soon Suspected what Regiment they belonged to and upon taking a Clear view with my Glass found they were only Effigies Set there by the flying Enemy. This Convinced me that they were Actually fled for if they meant to Decoy us they would have taken away Every appearance of Men. By this time I was Joined by Colo. Mifflin who with my Brigade Major agreed to go up Sending two persons Round the works to Examine whether there was any of them in the Rear of the works while we went up in the front. I at the Same time Sent for a Strong party to follow us on to the Hill to assist us in Running away (if necessary). We found no persons there and bravely Took a fortress Defended by Lifeless Sentries. I then brought on the party to Secure what we had So bravely won and went Down to the other works where we found all Abandoned but the works not Injured in any part. We hailed the ferry Boat which came over and Informed us that they had abandoned the Town. We then gave Information to the General who ordered me with the Troops under my Command to take possession of Charlestown and General Putnam with 2000 men to take possession of the works in Boston and on Monday morning his Excellencey Make his Entry into Boston and Repaired to Mr. Hancocks House where we found his Furniture Left without Injury or Diminution. Indeed General Grant6 Sent for the man Left in Charge of the House and Desired him to Examine whether any of the Furniture was Damaged which he Said was not (Though I believe the Brave General had made free with Some Articles in the Cellar). Indeed the Buildings Except the old wooden ones have Suffered but very Little by the Rebel Army. We found about forty good Cannon, a fine 13 Inch mortar and great Quantity of Stores which they in their Hurry have Left for our use. They Spiked up the Cannon but we can Easily Clear them. I Shall this Day visit your House or rather mine and Inform you what State it is Left in and for your Sake and the Lady who gave it me as well as my own Shall see that no Injury is Done to it in future.7 Till I can have the pleasure of Seeing you and your family in full possession. I Expect to march for New York in two or three Days part of our Army having marched Some Days Since and the whole is to follow to prevent them getting possession of that Important Post.
I have Seen Common Sense and admire it <and wish that your Bretheren had a Sufficient share of it>. It Takes well with the Army and the People in General and I hope So Rational a Doctrine will be Established throughout the Continent as the only Doctrine which will work out the Salvation of America. You ask me if we have any Colonels fit for Brigadiers and who they are. I will undertake to Recommend one Viz Colo. Stark8 who is an old veteran and has better pretensions than any other Colonel in the Army though by Down right Dint of Blunder he was Ranked below other Colonels in the Army when by the very Principles the Committee pretended to go upon he Should have been the first. This Recommendation I Submit to your wise Consideration. I beg you to make my most Respectful Compliments to Colo. Hancock, Mssrs Adams, Pain and Garey and believe me to be Dr Sir with much respect your most obedt. Servt.
Jno Sullivan
RC (Adams Papers); docketed: “Sullivans March 15 1776.”
1. Not found.
2. Maj. Gen. Lord Hugh Percy (1742–1817) of the 5th Regiment of Fusiliers (Worthington C. Ford, comp., British Officers Serving in the American Revolution, 1774–1784, Brooklyn, 1897; DNB description begins Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biography, New York and London, 1885–1900; 63 vols. plus supplements. description ends ).
3. That is, instead of a telescope, he used a magnifying glass (OED description begins The Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford, 1933; 12 vols. and supplement. description ends ).
4. 19 March was a Tuesday, but his writing “June” is inexplicable.
5. That is, the British.
6. Maj. Gen. James Grant (1720–1806) of the 55th Regiment of Foot (Ford, British Officers; DNB description begins Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee, eds., The Dictionary of National Biography, New York and London, 1885–1900; 63 vols. plus supplements. description ends ).
7. Sullivan continues the banter regarding JA’s house that he began in his letter to JA of 21 Dec. 1775 (above).
8. John Stark (1728–1822) of New Hampshire, a veteran of the French and Indian War, who, despite the recommendation of Sullivan and conspicuous service to the American cause, remained at the rank of colonel. His failure to win promotion caused him to resign his commission in March 1777. When Burgoyne invaded New York, the New Hampshire General Court made Stark a brigadier general. Stark’s victory in the Battle of Bennington in Aug. 1777 won him the rank of brigadier general in the Continental Army (DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, New York, 1928–1936; 20 vols. plus index and supplements. description ends ).
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0021
Sullivan, John
“To John Adams from John Sullivan, 15 – 19 March 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/06-04-02-0021. [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 4, February–August 1776, ed. Robert J. Taylor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979, pp. 53–56.]
From Sullivan to Adams [21 December 1775]
From Sullivan to Adams [4 May 1776]
All correspondence between Sullivan and Adams
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Hogville >
RB Sports Discussion >
Women Razorback sports (Moderators: JHicks3636, LadybackBBFan, flippinhogmana, Kevin McPherson) >
Topic: Arkansas adds talented recruiting class.
Author Topic: Arkansas adds talented recruiting class. (Read 9388 times)
Otis Kirk
Hall of Fame Hogvillian
Surfing the web at Hogville.net
Arkansas adds talented recruiting class.
https://www.nwahomepage.com/pig-trail-nation/hog-recruiting/mike-neighbors-signs-class-ranked-in-top-15-nationally/1597105091
brs_hogfan
Re: Arkansas adds talented recruiting class.
Although our class is ranked 15th, I notice that ASGR rankings don't even include Marquesha Davis. She is a great player -- highly underrated imo.
Hogville encourages you to do business with the following...
LadybackBBFan
Remember this class will also include Barnum who obviously they can not talk about. but coach has said she will be eligible next year.
psycHOGlogist
All-American Hogvillian
Skepticism is a virtue.
Quote from: brs_hogfan on November 14, 2018, 01:54:32 pm
The ASGR ratings are, at this point, incomplete. Davis USED to be listed as a Hog commit there, but she is not there now. This actually made me concerned that something had happened regarding her status, but that's not the case. There are other schools listed whose classes are also incomplete, and there are still a handful of blue-chip kids (including national #1 Haley Jones) who haven't committed yet. When it's all said and done, I think we have a top 20 class. ASGR had Davis listed as their #59 player in 2019, fwiw, when she was listed as a Hog commit. No reason to think that's no longer the case. On offers alone, she is easily a top 100 kid.
I don't know anything about ASGR. Regardless, per ESPN all four of our 2019 freshmen girls are very high 3 star recruits with ratings of 90. Therefore, this a very good class since ratings of 91 through 95 are 4 stars. I couldn't find anything definite on our class rating in SEC by ESPN, but apparently 7th or 8th. Nevertheless, ESPN doesn't include Amber Ramirez who, if included, would bump up our 2019 SEC class standings.
Other than Amber Ramirez, we didn't sign any ESPN top 100 players--all 4 & 5 star players. In any event, considering that we were picked last last year and near the bottom this year in the SEC, Mike Neighbors is an outstanding recruiter. Recruiting even higher rated players will come when our team is picked higher in the SEC and that will happen after we upset a couple of SEC teams we are not expected to win against.
The thing about BB recruiting services is that you can’t just rely on one. These services don’t see every player equally often, or even multiple times. Dan Olson, who does Hoopgurlz for ESPN, is fine, but Bret McCormick of ASGR is every bit as knowledgable. The PN guys are ok, too. Coaches, and fans, shouldn’t worry too much about what a single recruiting service has to say. It’s not like there is an extremely solid reason that one player is a 90/3-star for Olson and another is a 91/4 star; the same kid may not even be seen by another service, or may be rated a strong 4-star. Just my opinion, but seeing how kids are rated across services is a much better indicator than any one rating.
Just to riff on this one bit more: the last comment Olson has on Oberg’s profile is from ... wait for it ... 2014. She wasn’t even listed on his site until after she committed, and he hasn’t had a chance to see her since then. I’m not knocking him at all; no one can see every kid multiple times and be fair about it.
OK, one more riff on this ... because I’m obviously spending too much time thinking about it. Looking at other kids who are ranked 90 (which is like a “gentleman’s B” rating) — look across the state to Jonesboro’s Kayla Mitchell. She’s ranked 90. She’s a good little player, but not a P5 level talent. She is committed (and perhaps signed by now) to Lamar. Do you think Neighbors went all the way to Maryland to get Makayla Daniels — also a 90 — when he could have had a player of the alleged same ability from Jonesboro? The last time Olson saw Kayla Mitchell was 2016. Ok, I’m beating a dead horse here, but you can’t just go by Hoopgurlz. Or any individual service.
Thank you for coming to my way-too-long Ted Talk!
« Last Edit: November 15, 2018, 09:18:38 pm by psycHOGlogist »
Quote from: psycHOGlogist on November 15, 2018, 07:21:55 pm
Very good commentary on recruiting. On average, no doubt all re rating services are good, but i agree that the opinion of a coach is probably better for an individual player that he is recruiting.
nwahogfan1
How well did Oberg play last summer after taking all of her junior season off because of injury??? What was the injury? Back? Is that a concern? The picture I am looking at of her makes her look like she is not in playing shape for a fast pace game. I assume this is not a concern with our staff? What is her strengths? Weaknesses?
Did we meet all of our needs?
Those are all great points. My own impression is that Prospects Nation has the most complete view i.e. watches more games in person because it has a team of reviewers. But even then it depends on which game(s) they watch. A player can have a good day or a bad day as we all know.
Quote from: nwahogfan1 on November 17, 2018, 07:56:35 am
It was last summer that Oberg did not play, so your question is difficult to answer. She had a very nice high school season before that, but suffered the injury in June. She spent the summer rehabbing, working out, etc., within her limits. In her most recent interview with RD (in August of this year), she said she had lost about 30 lbs. Obviously, I don't know what picture of her you're looking at, but chances are it may not be recent.
The injury was bulging discs in the back. The severity of the injury matters in giving a prognosis, but most bulging discs in athletes are treated well with PT, rest, and continued therapeutic exercise. Moderate injuries heal within ~6 weeks. Is it a concern for the staff? I have no idea.
Her strengths are her shooting touch (she can hit all the way out to the arc), her passing ability, her athleticism for her size (no one is going to confuse her for Marquesha Davis, athletically, but Oberg has good footwork and can maneuver well to get her own shot on the block). She takes up space well in the paint and can start the break with a good outlet pass.
Her weaknesses, I would say, are that she's not 6'5", and that she likes to put the ball on the floor when she gets the ball inside. The latter can be fixed.
Did we get what we need? Yes and no. We really need size, and she gives us some of that. But she's not super tall. She's similar in some ways to Chantel Osahor, who CMN had at Washington. She's taller than Osahor (who was 6' in shoes) and a little less wide-bodied, but she can shoot and clog the lane. The 2019 class was noted to be relatively thin when it came to post players, and CMN went out and got a VERY good one. And he's got a 2020 committed as well.
I think he's putting the pieces together rather well.
I don't know the thinking of the staff, but Oberg's back injury certainly concerns me. I'm not specialists so I really don't know; but, in a fast paced game like basketball, I'm concerned that it will be a reoccurring problem. Her height is much less of a concern. Girls with more height are rare and athletic girls with height are rarer still. Since she is a talented player, she is better than most taller girls.
After watching this team play the 1st half of the season and right after getting destroyed on the inside by Ms St. it is clear we are not ready to compete with the upper tier teams. I am not talking about winning but we can not even compete with them especially on the boards and points in the paint.
We really need size and length added at several positions on our team. Will this class do that? Will this class help us on the boards? Will this class help us with inside defense/scoring? Will this team add toughness?
Oberg is a bigger body but is she the answer down low? Her Back really scares me. Is she a rebounding machine in HS?
I would love to add a JUCO or a transfer at the PF or C spot. Add some length and an older inside player for toughness and for rebounding/inside scorer
Quote from: nwahogfan1 on January 04, 2019, 09:43:55 am
Our scholarships are full for next year unless someone transfers. In fact we will have 16 players and only 15 scholarships. We got a couple of 6'3" and 6'4" JC's under Dykes. They did not really help us in spite of one of them being a Juco All American. Mike reached the final four with a center at 6'1" who led the nation in rebounding - so it can be done. You are forgetting Barnum in the mix next year also. Coach has told me that he is not worried about Oberg's back. He has also said that they are not looking at adding anyone for next year, but that could change if someone transfers.
flippinhogmana
Nathan J Allison - Brothers to the Bone Books
update on Oberg -
By Grant McGinnis Share this story:
Posted On: 12/7/18 11:40 AM
Bloomington Kennedy vs the Academy of Holy Angels. It was a game that both teams had circled on the calendar a long time ago, an encounter between two schools located just 5 miles apart on opposite sides of I-494. More importantly it marked the return of Destinee Oberg to the gym where she dominated for years. In the end, there was one thing that became abundantly obvious: It’s Frankie V’s house now.
Francesca “Frankie” Vascellaro is a talented sophomore who has taken over as the go-to player at Holy Angels.
That would be Frankie Vascellaro, a talented sophomore who has sprouted to 6 feet tall this year and unveiled a whole new level of potential. On Thursday night, she scored 25 points to lead Holy Angels to a 71-62 victory. “It was an important game for us and our coaches,” Vascellaro said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be as easy as it was when we had Destinee on our team.”
The Holy Angels game plan was built around stopping Oberg. “We switched around our entire defense,” Vascellaro explained. “If she did get the ball we tried to collapse on her, and we wanted to play a lot in front of her. We also had to have people to cover the outside in case they were shooting.”
That’s pretty much how it went. Oberg, as usual, found herself in a traffic jam in the paint, which put the ball primarily in the hands of Kennedy’s shooters. The Eagles were good beyond the arc – senior Samantha Husting made four 3s in the second half – and that’s what enabled them to keep it close until the final 30 seconds.
Dealing with a painful back injury, Destinee was rather tentative in the early going. She was having trouble elevating for rebounds, and her movements were slower than usual. Although she was pulling down defensive boards, and managed to play 15 of the 18 minutes, Oberg wasn’t much of a factor offensively. That enabled Holy Angels to build a 12-point lead early in the game. After thwarting a Kennedy run, Holy Angels led by 7 at the intermission. Oberg was much more effective after that.
Early in the second half, Kennedy made a push, eventually took the lead, and were up by as much as 5. A 14-1 Stars run flipped the momentum and Holy Angels was in front by 10 with a minute and a half remaining. Kennedy then scored 7 points in a row to pull within three at the 30-second mark, but the Stars made four straight free throws and iced it with Isabelle Henry’s layup at the buzzer.
Sophomore Rachel Kawiecki played a crucial role in stopping Destinee Oberg.
Vascellaro scored the first bucket of the game and went on to score nine more. She was also a perfect 4-for-4 at the line. She wasn’t the only one scoring. Isabelle Henry had 16 points that were crucial, as were four threes and 18 points from senior Emma Mastre. Senior point guard Alex Walker did a nice job of distributing the ball, freshman Kassie Caron and sophomore Rebecca Little provided good minutes off the bench, and 5’11 sophomore Rachel Kawiecki was crucial in containing Oberg down low. Holy Angels was 10 of 11 at the line in the second half. Kennedy’s leading scorer Zaraya March was held to just 9 points, Husting had 14 and Isabelle Miller had 12. Oberg finished with 9. The Eagles are now winless at 0-5.
Vascellaro goes from a supporting role to center stage
The win moved Holy Angels’ record to 4-1, with their only loss coming to Iowa powerhouse Dowling Catholic. Besides Kennedy, the Stars have defeated Cretin-Derham Hall, Minnehaha Academy and the defending 3A state champions from Cooper. Honestly, we were not expecting much from the Richfield-based team, and not just because Oberg left. Junior forward Kaylee VanDerWerf transferred home to Burnsville, leaving an even bigger hole. The graduation of Megan Meyer and Riley Thalhuber hurt as well, meaning AHA had lost four of its top five players. The onus is now on Vascellaro, Mastre, Walker and twins Isabelle and Emma Henry. All five delivered on Thursday.
“I think that last year we were not as fast-paced as a team. This year all of our players are athletic so we can really get up the court five at a time,” Vascellaro said. “That’s what has really helped us be such a good team this year, at least better than everyone thought we were going to be. Our ability to shoot from the perimeter, shoot from mid-range and to get layups really helps us, too.”
Vascellaro has been nothing short of remarkable. In the season opener she scored the Stars first 10 points and quickly established herself as the new alpha. Frankie went on to score 24 that day and has followed it up with games of 18, 23, 15 and now 25. That’s a 21-ppg average – nearly double her output of last year – while the Henry sisters have combined for almost 24. Mastre is averaging just under 10. “Last year the offense was run a lot through Destinee. Of course there were other contributors but it was things like assists and rebounds,” Frankie said. “Now I have gone from that to taking on a bigger scoring role since there is such a big deficit with all of our players gone… Even before we found out that Destinee was leaving I knew going into this year that I was going to have to play a bigger role. I know what I have to do, and I just try to get it done every game.”
Now that teams have seen game film on the “new” Vascellaro, there has been more emphasis on defending her. Kennedy double-teamed Frankie down low as much as possible but she was still able to hit the short jumper (often with a sweet spin move) that has become her trademark. “I am aware that I do that shot quite a lot,” she said with a laugh, “but I do try to mix it up. If they are expecting it, being able to pump fake and then dish it out is really effective.”
Oberg is plagued by uncertainty
While Vascellaro is off to a sizzling start, things have not gone well for Oberg in Bloomington. The fact that Destinee played at all on Thursday is remarkable. She has been out since the second game of the season after leaving the floor in severe pain. Earlier in the day Oberg had been consulting with doctors about the possibility of having back surgery. She hadn’t practiced in 10 days but insisted on playing against her old team. For that she deserves our respect.
Prep Girls Hoops had Oberg ranked #1 in the class of 2019 for nearly three years before she was supplanted by Wayzata’s Kallie Theisen and Stillwater’s Sara Scalia. At 6’2, with a big body and nice touch, Destinee has been considered a ‘can’t miss’ prospect. I remember sitting with several Division 1 coaches at a game when she was in the 8th grade. I asked the recruiter next to me – an assistant at one of the top 5 programs in the country – what it was about Oberg that got them all so excited. “It’s her feet,” he said. “They are so light.” Then, without pause, he said this: “She’ll play in the WNBA.”
Now it is unclear what the future holds for Oberg. After choosing Arkansas from a vast array of offers, Destinee transferred to Kennedy for her senior year. She worked hard over the summer, shed a large amount of weight, and got herself in the best condition of her career. Back injuries can be so uncertain, though. If she has surgery, that will probably end her high school career. If not, she’s likely to play in pain for the next three months. That would be an unfortunate end for a player who, when healthy and fired up, is literally unstoppable.
Not an encouraging report about Oberg.
ladybackfan
She definitely needs to worry about her health over ANYTHING. But if she had back surgery after high school basketball is over. That would give her about 7-8 months before her first college game. Never had back surgery so I do not know how long they take to heal.
Hate to hear this. Hope she is on the mend, one way or the other (surgery or not).
I an sorry for Oberg. Tough to be really good at a sport but because of pain you are unable to play your best or may have to give it up entirely.
Mike told us he is not worried about her back. Then he is lying to himself or he knows something we don't or he is a magician because if Oberg can not compete in HS then she can not compete in the SEC. Backs are very tricky and risky. Wish her nothing but the best/
Any answers? Has she had surgery? What are the doctors saying? Rehab? Rest? Surgery? Give up the sport? What is she hearing?
« Last Edit: January 09, 2019, 07:29:27 pm by nwahogfan1 »
I watched her play last night against Bentonville West. She is very athletic with a lot of talent and potential. Although she is listed as 6' 0", she has very long arms and can definitely post up players as well as shoot from out and drive. She was very unselfish last night - often passing up guarded shots to unguarded players who then missed the shot. I can see why she may be unranked as she either is not aggressive at taking over a game like Chelsea or her coach does not want that done. My only question is defense as when you play defense against players who will not play college basketball - what can you do against SEC competition. She definitely has the potential to be in the mix and help us next year, but will have to learn a completely different offensive system and pace of play. She can also be a great offensive rebounder.
Quote from: LadybackBBFan on January 09, 2019, 09:56:06 am
I don't know if she brings it every night but I've seen her play some pretty spectacular defense in some games. And definitely an excellent OR player.
Quote from: brs_hogfan on January 09, 2019, 03:00:25 pm
My problem was that she was not guarding someone who was an offensive threat so I never saw her go against someone with offensive skills.
There’s only three other kids in her conference that can push her and two of them are on the same team. So if you want to see her play against someone then you gotta go to the Fayetteville game or the bentonville game. Then in state tournament you will get a few more options.
Highlights from Oberg’s current season dropped today on twitter. Short, but she looks okay. Maybe a little stiff, but certainly not hobbling.
https://twitter.com/CourtsideFilms/status/1084522260927516673?s=20
Quote from: psycHOGlogist on January 13, 2019, 10:04:00 pm
What will her ideal playing weight? And how long will it take to get there? And if she does get body into SEC shape will that be like a magic pill for her back? ?
We need Davis to really be a big timer on the boards and physical on the inside. I love it that she is 6' tall and I hear very athletic.
What player on our team or in women's bb does her game resemble?
Quote from: nwahogfan1 on January 13, 2019, 10:39:52 pm
I have not seen her that much but I would say no one on Arkansas now, but possibly Victoria Vivians from Mississippi State who graduated last year.
I have watched her play quite often but nobody jumps out to me as being a particularly close match. She uses her athleticism to score most of her points around the basket and she is very fast and good on breaks. She can shoot the three. Her ball handling is good but not exceptional. I haven't seen a mid-range game from her (but maybe just not in the games I have watched) so that would be a significant difference with Victoria Vivians if true.
I’d definitely say we don’t have a Vivian’s on our hands. Body type is much different and Vivian’s is just a pure bucket getter. Davis is definitely more athletic than Vivian’s but in my estimation their offensive game is much different.
Quote from: CandleStick on January 14, 2019, 10:33:33 am
Well who is she like then? I said I have not seen her much - two games in fact over the last two years.
She reminds me of a Rennia Davis, but behind in terms of basketball experience. Davis is bigger (6'2") and had/has a more polished game, but the athleticism and length are similar? Maybe?
She's hard to compare...
She’s very hard to compare to someone. She’s one of those kids that we will compare other kids to her in the future. I’m not saying she’s a superstar or anything she’s just different in a really good way. I say she’s not comparable to Vivian’s because Vivian’s was thicker and could go into the post if need be. She was a mismatch nightmare at miss state. I don’t believe Marquesha will be strength wise big enough to go into the post against SEC defenders.
I watched Marquesha again last night in the Springdale-Fayetteville game. Unlike what I posted earlier, she had a good mid-range game going. But she also wasn't as strong defensively as I have seen her in the past. Sasha Goforth, whom she was assigned to guard, had an easy time against her as Marquesha did not get out on her on 3's fast enough and did not fight around screens hard enough. Anyway, I think she will be a great player for us but she definitely will need to bring defensive intensity to each game.
Quote from: brs_hogfan on January 19, 2019, 07:33:05 am
Part of the problem is that the Fayetteville coach is a good coach while I do not think much of the Springfield coach.
I can't really comment on the relative strengths of the coaches too much. But one thing did strike me as odd about the Springdale coach's strategy. Marquesha played without even a minute's break when at times she was clearly winded. That was part of the reason she wasn't effective guarding Sasha imo, who did get some breaks. Still, I understand you want your best player on the floor. The head scratcher to me was when at the start of the fourth quarter, with Springdale down by 40, and all of Fayetteville's starters pulled for the game, Marquesha was still playing and continued to play through much of the quarter. That made no sense to me.
At any rate, I am still very confident that Marquesha is an outstanding defender because I have seen her lock down on some great players in the past. She is athletic, has long arms, and is fast. This just wasn't her game (defensively; she did fine offensively). She is going to be a big asset for us along with the other top talent we have coming next year. It's going to be exciting to watch.
Oberg seems to be doing well:
https://twitter.com/ArRecruitingGuy/status/1092297206927933440?s=19
Davis also recently had a monster night:
https://twitter.com/Shsreddogbball/status/1091765638568296448?s=19
Oberg joined the 2000 point club.
https://twitter.com/Destineeoberg/status/1093725104247394304
Quote from: LadybackBBFan on November 14, 2018, 03:19:58 pm
Where did she play this year? Did she sit out at Arkansas or a JUCO because of grades and not practice or was a part of the team? Paid her own way?
Just curious what happened there because at 6'2 she would help this team?
Quote from: nwahogfan1 on March 08, 2019, 06:47:37 am
She has been on campus since last summer. She practiced with the team before Italy and I think the first semester, but not the second. I do not know what the difference is and coach is pretty closed on the subject. I do know that they tried to get her eligible last summer and fall, but maybe the denial closed the subject for this year.
Even if he is very concerned, that was the only possible statement (that is not stupid) that Mike could have said. If he said he was concerned that is like telling the player, "I don't have any confidence in you." A BIG "No No."
Oberg played this year and did quite well. She is a 2000 pt. scorer and is playing in the Minnesota North South game. Have faith in our coaches.
AlmaHog2011
Quote from: LadybackBBFan on March 08, 2019, 10:34:57 pm
I think Mike will take us to new heights. He will get more of the instate talent than we have ever gotten. Arkansas girls HS Basketball is always very talented unfortunately they mostly go to out of state to top 5 programs. Keep them and we will not be overmatched like we were today. Size is a thing he will have to get from somewhere but IMO he is the best recruiter we have had for the girls. And like I said his style and his way he goes about business is something you can recruit too. Northside has a great one but she is a pure point guard. Already committed.
jackflash
just wondering with the womens run to the SEC finals. if it open a chance for another big this year
Quote from: jackflash on March 11, 2019, 09:21:18 am
Well, we'd have to free up a schollie for that. Right now, if Stout is done (as expected), Barnum is eligible (as reported), and no one else leaves, we don't have an open spot.
Should someone leave, though, and the right person is out there -- either someone who is committed to a program who changes coaches, or a grad transfer -- you'd have to think that maybe?
samhog49
I was fortunate to tune in to 99.5FM espn radio today at 2:00 pm to listen to the Coach Neighbors on the Average Bros Sports Radio. He is such an interesting man and we are truly blest to have him as our Ladybacks head coach. What I found so interesting was his comments about the players that we have coming in for this next basketball season. He spoke of their strengths and abilities and just how excited of not only him but of the players. We are on the right path and our future certainly looks not only bright but brilliant. Go Hogs!!
Quote from: psycHOGlogist on March 11, 2019, 12:18:02 pm
Stout is playing her last year - that is why she was honored on Senior Day.
Hogfan_14
Band Nerd
Quote from: samhog49 on March 11, 2019, 08:38:31 pm
Thank you! I obtained the segment for this, for any/all that are interested. Speaks specifically about all of the new players coming next year, including the 4 signees, Amber Ramirez, and Barnum even.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/51d8rmm9j1nqfue/AvgBros-2019-03-12-CoachNeighbors.mp3?dl=0
« Last Edit: March 12, 2019, 04:47:51 pm by Hogfan_14 »
Quote from: Hogfan_14 on March 12, 2019, 02:28:59 pm
I enjoyed listening to that. Thank you.
I certainly thank you for finding the talk show segment. I listened yesterday and was impressed with the show and listening to Coach Neighbors but to be able to replay and hear the comments on the incoming players is such a bonus for us who are real Razorback fans. Again, I appreciate you doing this.
Quote from: logic on March 12, 2019, 05:13:30 pm
I could not get any sound?
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Community › Local Wedding Boards › Ohio-Cincinnati
Ohio-Cincinnati Local Wedding Boards All Boards
vermontjersey, knottie5e1d97bbe779471d, knottied52b9fa98f899e69, knottie7f27a3ba3988aa7f, knottie1224ee35e28aecb4 and 328 others joined.
This Week's Leaders in Ceremony and Vow Ideas
Ohio-Cincinnati
Inner envelope dilemma!
abromanello member
January 2010 in Ohio-Cincinnati
I know the outer envelopes for the invitations should state "Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Smith." For some reason, I thought the inner envelopes could be more personal, such as "Uncle Kevin and Aunt Linda." Am I way off? I've seen online that the outer shoud be "Mr. and Mrs. Kevin Smith" and the inner should be "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." I don't like this, but don't want to stray too far from what's expected. Any advice?
Re: Inner envelope dilemma!
michaelandjulie2 member
I am doing my inner envelopes with less formal names, but not titles such as aunt or uncle.
(Outer)
Mr. and Mrs. John Doe
(Inner)
John and Jane
Jill, Jack, and Joe
Audge.Podge
I'm no etiquette expert, but I have always seen it done in the less formal way, with the inner envelope using first names only, so that's what I would expect to see.
hrparker
TECHNICALLY the outer envelopes and inner envelopes should be addressed using the same level of formality (i.e. if you use titles on the outer, use the same titles on the inner). For example:
Outer envelope:
Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith
Inner Envelope:
At some point, brides decided to ignore this and get all cutesy with more familiar titles on the inner envelopes, and it's become a tradition in and of itself. It's not "traditional etiquette," but people do it anyway. So long as you're not making anyone uncomfortable by doing the less formal titles on the inside, and you don't mind that you're not following "strict traditional etiquette" then do what you want.
Thanks for the info, I feel better about using less formal names on the inside now. Thanks!
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Apple’s iPhone and Apple Watch Announcements: I Told You So.
Olivier Blanchard / September 14, 2018
Meet The New iPhone: Almost The Same As The Old iPhone.
Two weeks ago, I wrote a piece titled “Apple’s September 12 Event: Bracing For Another Disappointment,” in which I predicted that 2018 would be much like 2017, and 2016, and 2015: instead of introducing exciting, truly innovative products and capabilities, Apple would continue to showcase its post-Jobs culture of uninspired “also-in” incrementalism. 10% more of this, 20% more of that, bigger screen, more pixels, rapid-fire paroxisms of predictable magniloquence… I wanted to be wrong. I really did. As it turns out, I wasn’t. The “event” was as lackluster as I feared it would be.
Credit where credit is due, though: The A12 chip is solid. Its specs are great. 7nm all the way. It’s impressive. And Apple could just have left it at that, without claiming that the A12 is the industry’s first 7nm processor, which… is an interesting claim, given that both Huawei and Qualcomm also produce 7nm processors now, and Samsung may not be too far behind. (Note to Huawei: The Kirin 980’s competition will be Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855, not the 845.)
So iPhone has a great processor, but it is on par with what premium Android phones will be offering in late 2018 and early 2019 as well. What else did we get? Ah yes. More pixels. More screen size. Incremental improvements. Oh, and more colors. Don’t forget the gorgeous new colors. Aren’t they gorgeous? Here is what I wrote two weeks ago:
Here is what I expect from the event: With regard to the new iPhone, another year of predictable incrementalism. Here’s my go-to template for all Apple product announcements now: “x% more [insert feature here].” That’s mostly it. We’re going on what… year three of this now? Year four? I’ve lost count. So on September 12, what I expect to hear between endless streams of flowery superlatives about the edge-to-edge screen that probably won’t be, and the mystical tactile poetry of the the premium materials chosen to contain iPhone’s soul, is something along the lines of x% more battery life, x% faster processing, x% more glass, x% brighter colors, x% better camera, x% more emojis, and on, and on and on. 10% more of this, 20% more of that. And that will basically be it.
Incrementalism taking the place of innovation.
I wasn’t wrong.
I will refrain from addressing iPhone’s modem problem today, but we will be revisiting it here soon. It won’t just be a 5G compatibility discussion either. I realize that it may be a bit soon for that. The real problem still boils down to download speeds, and Apple’s decision to replace Qualcomm modems with Intel’s is still a head-scratcher for me. (Shouldn’t Apple want to put the best possible gear into its devices?) Anyway. A discussion for another day. Soon.
I don’t really have much to add to the iPhone discussion. The collective sighs of boredom and disappointment were palpable on Twitter and other social media platforms during and after the event. They seem to get a little louder and sadder each year. Outside of the still rather large community of Apple superfans, “Uninspired and Boring” seemed to be the biggest themes in that event’s word cloud. Popular consensus appeared to be that “Apple has lost its touch.” Based on my social feeds, the absurd daisy-chain of scripted beatitudes delivered from the stage and the sitcom-like cadence of applause from the audience inspired more scorn than excitement. As one of my colleagues remarked in private, “Sharks jumping sharks jumping sharks.”
Even Tim Cook’s sartorial choices on what is generally Apple’s most important stage production of the year, raised a few eyebrows. (Ageism has no place in my world, and this next observation isn’t about that. I want to be very clear on this point. But even I have to admit that, optics-wise, a tech CEO probably shouldn’t go out of his way to come across as a resident of a retirement community on the one day when he should be doing everything in his power to convey that he is a youthful spirit with his foot squarely down on the innovation accelerator.) When your company’s reputation is increasingly that you have lost your design touch, your innovation magic, and your ability to keep up with the pace of technology, coming across as a dynamic, culturally-vibrant, and even “cool” CEO does matter. Perhaps if Apple were still pumping out amazing and revolutionary products, Tim Cook’s show-and-tell day wardrobe wouldn’t matter, but that isn’t the world we live in anymore. At least not lately. We are social creatures, visual creatures; we read cultural cues, both obvious and subtle. It may seem petty and irrelevant to point this out, but here we are: Welcome to 2018 and the internet. Everything is analyzed. Every detail matters.
Another detail that also didn’t escape the more astute observers among us is that “iPhone XS” sounds like “iPhone excess.” I think that probably qualifies as a “I’ll just leave this here” bit of social media commentary about where Apple is with its brand right now.
The Apple Watch’s New Market Frontier: Selling Wearables to Boomers (sort of).
On the Apple Watch front, Apple did make smart decisions, and I was wrong about something. here’s what I said the other week:
I doubt that it will introduce any radically new (and useful) capabilities, like tracking blood oxygen saturation levels for instance, or empower users to dive deeper into the monitoring and management of their own health, which is where I think the Apple Watch could really shine.
I haven’t checked into the Series 4’s blood oxygen saturation monitoring capability, but I was wrong about one thing: Apple did empower users to dive deeper into the monitoring and management of their own health. Some of the ECG, advanced HRM, and accidental fall monitoring features were nice additions. Unfortunately, as anyone who tracks their heart rate regularly already knows (like athletes, for instance), a wrist sensor fitted into the back of a watch is unlikely to provide consistent, reliable readings. Those of us who track our heart rates (for medical or athletic reasons) use elastic chest straps and/or other sensors that adhere properly to our skin. So… great idea, and I think that Apple was right to go with it, but Apple should have also released an optional HRM iStrap. (The Apple Watch could use a dongle-like accessory or two, right?) Accessories are where the real money is, Tim.
I was also surprised that Apple seemed under the impression that bringing decades-old HRM features like heart-rate zone alerts to a smart watch was all that innovative. Wearable makers like Polar brought these features to the consumer market twenty years ago. As one of my training partners sneered in a private message during the event, “way to go, Apple. Welcome to 1998!” As for the feature that uses the watch’s accelerometer to detect possible falls, I will skip over the slew of obvious false-alarm scenarios it will have to contend with, and point to the fact that LifeAlert-type wearables have been giving seniors a lifeline to medical help after a fall for decades as well.
Which leads me to a pro/con observation about where Apple may be going with this: On the one hand, I think it is brilliant to be aiming Apple Watch at older users. Healthcare wearables are a huge emerging market. And with younger consumers shunning watches altogether, where could Apple really turn to find growth for the category? Logic: If younger consumers don’t wear watches, market to older consumers. So Apple is. And with the X’er market feeling flat, the great new frontier was obviously Boomers, and the older, the better. Problem: Older Boomers don’t necessarily like newfangled gadgets, so they aren’t exactly going to rush out to buy a $400-$600 electronic watch. But their kids might. I could be wrong, but what I see here is Apple’s attempt to give affluent X’ers a reason to buy Apple Watches for their elderly parents. I will know if I was right sometime in mid to late January. If so, good move, Apple. It was a smart play. Sort of.
The problem though, is that if I am right, Apple is going about this cart first, horse second. What Apple should have done for this use case is create a wearable with a bigger face and a simple interface specifically for seniors. First: The Apple watch’s screen fonts are probably too small for someone who needs reading glasses to read a restaurant menu. Second, many seniors, especially those on the older side, aren’t going to feel comfortable enough with any tech to set up an ECG using a tiny watch, then send a PDF of it to their doctor. Third, if you have ever tried to use an Apple Watch screen with an unsteady hand, you already know how frustrating such a small interface can be for seniors afflicted with common types of motor control challenges. Not to mention that a lot of men have big fingers to begin with, and a tiny screen isn’t all that great for them even on a good day. It isn’t to say that it won’t be a wonderful tool for millions of users entering their sixties, seventies, eighties, and nineties, but will they be the rule, or will they be the exception? Only time will tell.
The short of it: Apple Watch, like Google Glass, seems a bit like a product in search of a purpose – as opposed to a product designed to solve specific problems. I suspect that if the AARP went to Apple product designers and asked them to develop a form factor for a wearable to be used primarily by seniors, the first batch of prototypes would look nothing like the Apple Watch Series 4. And so, in my mind, what I suspect is an attempt by Apple to convince X’ers to buy Apple Watches for their elderly parents this holiday season will be a success from a sales perspective, but in the real world, I fear that the beneficiaries of those gifts will not derive much utility from them. There are cheaper and more effective ways of achieving what Apple is showcasing without shelling out the price of a light-duty Chromebook. Still, if I were a marketing product manager at Apple, and a redesign wasn’t an option anytime soon, I would have probably went with this strategy as well. What else can Apple do at this point? If nothing else, it creates a beachhead for future products. That alone is worth the attempt.
As for athletes, the Apple Watch doesn’t do what sports wearables already do much better, and occasionally at a lower price, so you won’t be seeing me or most of my cycling, running, hiking, sailing, skydiving, adventure-racing, and triathlete buddies running out to buy one – at least not for sports or performance-related reasons. The fact that Apple Watch may be the best-selling smart watch in the world isn’t so much a reflection of Apple’s brilliance as it is the result of smart watches still being a product category in search of an eager market: Apple or not, short battery life, high prices, low utility, and the perceived uselessness of a watch face that looks like black glass 95% of the time all conspire to make smart watches a hard sell. Only Apple has pumped serious money and resources into trying to make smart watches happen, and only Apple fans have been properly trained for decades to buy whatever Apple tells them to. Like it or not, it’s a great combination. Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, Huawei and Google haven’t been doing that, and traditional watchmakers testing the connected watch waters haven’t exactly been all-in with a technology that doesn’t really excite anyone just yet.
Imagine that you’re a brand manager for Casio. You know that your price points are $35 to $150. Are you really going to take a huge chance on a watch that has to be recharged every 24-36 hours, may not be fully waterproof or impact-resistant, and comes with a $299-$500 MSRP? Where are you going to sell it? At Walmart? Target? Best Buy? At the mall? And what do you get for that? Phone notifications and a watch face that looks blank most of the day? Not exactly a great sales pitch. So the low-end passes.
Now imagine that you’re a brand manager for Rolex, Tag, Omega, or Panerai. Your median price point is in the thousands. Are you really going to see value in a $600 watch that feels and weighs like a made-in-China kid’s watch, has to be recharged every day or two, and doesn’t even show your logo or a signature watch face 95% of the time? You would be asking your smartwatch technology partner how to make the watch feel expensive, how to add weight to it, how to make sure that the logo and watch face stay on 24/7 so that people can actually see it when a customer wears it on his or her wrist. But how would you price it? Nobody is going to buy a $3,000 Chinese-made smartwatch, no matter whose logo is on it when you turn it on, and you can’t be selling a $699-$999 watch, right? So the high-end passes.
And that is why Apple has the best-selling smart watch in the world: Because no one else is really all that sold on a product category that still has a lot of technical hurdles to overcome before the pricepoint becomes aligned with the watch’s value to users, and the ownership experience becomes aligned with the expectations of enduring brands.
Aside from all of the above complaints and caveats, Apple still puts out very good products. They’re slick. They’re pretty. They work well. There is nothing inherently wrong with the new iPhones, or the new Apple Watches, and presumably the new Apple [insert product category here]. Apple is a great company that makes great stuff. It’s just… Apple has become just another also-in company now, and for someone who remembers the golden age of Apple design and innovation, it is difficult not to feel a great deal of disappointment over this. Much of Apple’s success today is the result of two things: 1) decades of outstanding marketing, and 2) momentum earned by years of brilliant innovation. Sadly, those years are, at least for now, squarely in the rear view mirror, as evidenced by what we witnessed this past week. And as much as it pains me to say it, contrary to what your car’s sideview mirror may read, when it comes to Apple, objects in the mirror may actually be farther than they appear.
Maybe things will be different next year. One can hope.
Senior Analyst at Futurum Research
Olivier Blanchard has extensive experience managing product innovation, technology adoption, digital integration, and change management for industry leaders in the B2B, B2C, B2G sectors, and the IT channel. His passion is helping decision-makers and their organizations understand the many risks and opportunities of technology-driven disruption, and leverage innovation to build stronger, better, more competitive companies. A trusted source of analysis and insights on digital business and digital innovation, Olivier also travels the globe speaking about business technology, Disruption as a Model (DaaM), and the impact of innovation on markets and culture. He is also the best-selling author of Social Media RIO: Managing and Measuring Social Media Efforts in Your Organization, and co-author of Building Dragons: Digital Transformation in the Experience Economy. Blanchard is based in Greenville, South Carolina.
Latest posts by Olivier Blanchard (see all)
Global wearable sales double YoY, women users lead the way - January 15, 2020
Dynamic Spectrum Sharing: how 5G’s secret accelerator pedal starts changing the game in 2020 - December 31, 2019
Why Facebook’s XR-centric plan to take on Android makes little business sense - December 30, 2019
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Anime Review: Nisekoi – False Love
By Lord Hobbitsfork | Thursday, April 9th, 2015 at 3:00 pm
Nisekoi – False Love
Original creator: Naoshi Komi
Directed by: Akiyuku Shinbo, Naoyuki Tatsuwa
Character Design by: Nobuhiro Sugiyama
Produced by: Aniplex, Mainichi Broadcasting System, SHAFT
Voice cast: Kana Hanazawa, Kouki Ouchiyama, Nao Toyama, Kana Asumi, Mikako Komatsu, Takehito Koyasu, Yumi Uchiyama, Yuuki Kaji.
Air dates: Season 1 currently streaming on Crunchyroll
2nd season scheduled to start in Japan in April
How old were you when you were first in love? What promises did you make to the one you loved, and what value are they now? What is the nature of true love? Is it something wholly spontaneous, or can it be born of long association and bonds of mutual friendship and respect, even among seemingly implacable foes, or over long spans of time and space? When is love true, and when is it false? If more than one person can lay claim to it, which one holds the real key to your heart?
These are questions that poets, writers, and artists of every stripe have wrestled with ever since humans could first communicate, and often, our delving reveals more questions than answers. In the series Nisekoi – False Love, based on the manga by original creator Naoshi Komi, those questions get a new lease on life.
This series brings a number of plot elements we’ve seen many times before, some of which are, indeed, as timeless as love itself. Warring families, incompatible couples, star-crossed lovers, the soaring triumphs and crushing defeats, all the archetypes are there. And it all starts, innocently enough, with a childhood promise.
High school student Raku Ichijo is the heir to a yakuza faction known as the Shuei-Gumi. Raku isn’t really interested in his family business, however. He longs to go to college and pursue a normal career. He is also blessed with an extraordinary ability to cook, a natural talent he puts to use every evening cooking for all the members of the Shuei-Gumi. Ten years earlier, he made a promise to a young girl, whose face he doesn’t remember, to meet again and be married one day. He carries the legacy of that promise with him at all times in the form of a locket to which the aforementioned young lady holds the key. However, after ten years, the promise remains unfulfilled, and the locket closed. However, that promise is about to come back and hit him fully in the face, in the form of a schoolgirl’s knee.
That knee belongs to Chitoge Kirisaki, the daughter of a rival crime family known as the Beehive gang. Needless to say, there’s no love lost between these families, and the same is true of Chitoge and Raku. She unexpectedly hops a wall on her way to her first day at Raku’s school, kneeing Raku right in the face. In the mayhem, Raku loses his locket, and after formally meeting Chitoge in class, he forces her to help him look for it, since she apparently helped him lose it. They quickly learn they do not like each other at all. Meanwhile, Raku’s been madly crushing on another classmate of his, Kosaki Onodera, since junior high, and he secretly wishes she was the girl he made the promise to so many years before.
Returning home, Raku learns to his horror that the rival families have decided to seal the breach between them by pairing their respective heirs. Yes, you guessed it. Chitoge and Raku have to pretend to be lovers. The fate of the city is in their hands, and there are those who would rather not see them together, such as Chitoge’s longtime and overprotective bodyguard, Claude, and his protégé’, a young hit man – actually make that hit woman – named Seishiro, who, over time, starts to have feelings herself for Raku. Now, the implacable foes have to pretend to be red-hot lovers to everyone in school, an act that is closely followed not only by Kosaki, but also by Claude, whose half-hearted attempts at stealth surveillance drive Raku to the point of madness.
Add to this scenario another young lady, Mariko Tachibana, who shows up claiming to be Raku’s fiancée. To complicate things further, there are apparently multiple keys to Raku’s locket, and it appears that the main players in this comedy of errors have all met before – ten years prior, to be exact, and all in the same place. The vicissitudes of teenage life are awkward enough to deal with without all of this.
There are parallels in this series that this writer has seen many times before. Ranma ½ comes to mind, not to mention Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew. I like the way the show’s producers have reversed the dynamic of the warring families’ heirs from being star-crossed lovers to completely at-odds with each other, at least at first glance.
Currently streaming on Crunchyroll, Nisekoi-False Love is twenty episodes long, and while harem anime isn’t to everybody’s taste, this one offers a little more than what appears on the surface, if you’re willing to delve a little and read between the lines.
The second season is slated to start in Japan on April 10, and Crunchyroll has already announced that it will be a part of their springtime simulcast lineup. If you haven’t seen this series yet, I recommend you start now and catch up on the story arc before jumping into season 2, as I’m sure you’ll enjoy it that much more knowing the background story and everyone involved.
Nisekoi – False Love is a series with its share of surprises – or maybe not, depending on how jaded an anime viewer you are. But the biggest surprise, at least to this writer, is the way its creators have tackled those age-old questions that always swirl around affairs of the heart, in the guise of yet another teenage harem anime. I recommend it, but only if you’re willing to open the key to your own heart first.
Topics: Animated, Reviews, Streaming, TV Reviews
Tags: Akiyuku Shinbo, Anime, Aniplex, Crunchyroll, harem, Kana Asumi, Kana Hanazawa, Kouki Ouchiyama, Love, Mainichi Broadcasting System, Mikako Komatsu, Nao Toyama, Naoshi Komi, Naoyuki Tatsuwa, Nisekoi, Nobuhiro Sugiyama, Spring, Streaming, Takehito Koyasu, Yumi Uchiyama, Yuuki Kaji
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The first episode of Game of Thrones Season 2 paints the picture of the season to come: various lords of Westeros see their claim to the debatably-vacant throne as the only true one. The result is all out war. They say that technological advancements are made most heavily in war, but the truly clued-in people know that it’s quotes that are made.
Here are the best quotes from Game of Thrones Season 2 Episode 1.
While you’re here, check out our compilation of the 39 best quotes from Game of Thrones Season 1.
1. “You love your children. It’s your one redeeming quality, that and your cheekbones” – Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion admits Cersei’s redeeming qualities, quoting her love for her children and then her cheekbones as an afterthought.
2. “You can’t trust anyone in King’s Landing, they’re all liars. Good liars, bad liars, one or two great liars” – Tyrion Lannister
Tyrion tells Shae that she/one can’t trust anybody in King’s Landing, letting her know that they’re all liars. It’s interesting that he says there’s one or two great liars; it’s possible that he’s referring to Baelish and Varys, but that’s just speculation.
3. “Power is power” – Cersei Lannister
After Baelish smugly tells Cersei that knowledge is power, the queen demonstrates a wicked display of her power. She tells her guards to move forward, seize Baelish, and cut his throat. At the last moment she tells them she’s changed her mind. They obey each of her commands totally, and have Baelish’s life in their hands for a moment when they have a knife to his throat. After this, she simply says to Baelish that power is power.
4. “You insult yourself, Kingslayer. You’ve been defeated by a boy, you’re held captive by a boy, perhaps you’ll be killed by a boy” – Robb Stark
After Jaime Lannister asks Robb if it insults him to be called boy, Robb diplomatically handles the condescending remark by telling Jaime he insults himself, saying he’s held captive by a boy and might just be killed by one.
5. “What you just did is punishable by death. You will never do it again. Never” – Joffrey Baratheon
Surprisingly, this quote and death threat is directed toward his mother. The helplessness of Cersei to control the wild king is apparent with him even directing veiled death threats at her.
6. “Joffrey, Renly, Robb Stark – they’re all thieves. They’ll bend the knee or I’ll destroy them” – Stannis Baratheon
Davos’ suggestion for Stannis to make allies with either Renly or Robb Stark is shot down with the stiff authoritarianism that we were told to expect from Stannis in Season 1. He reveals he has no plans to side with anyone; the throne is rightfully his and he will claim it for him, and only him.
7. “For the night is dark and full of terrors” – Lady Melisandre
The first time the Red Priest says her iconic line, which she may be in the running with the Starks for the prize of using a single phrase the most, is in the introduction to Stannis and his crew. She says this after burning seven status to represent the seven gods which most Westerosi people worship.
8. “You want to lead one day? Well learn how to follow” – Jeor Mormont
After Jon Snow gets angry with Jeor, the Old Bear puts Jon in his place, saying that in order to lead in the future he will first need to learn how to follow and not be too headstrong.
Check out the episode before this, Season 1 Episode 10’s quotes, or view an entire list of our favorite quotes from Season 1.
Image credit: HBO
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You are here: Home / Digital Library News / Random House Has Positive News for Libraries and Their eBooks
Random House Has Positive News for Libraries and Their eBooks
October 19, 2012 By Mercy Pilkington 1 Comment
An article in Library Journal affirms what librarians have known but what publishers need to remain aware of: libraries own their ebooks, exactly in the same way that they own print books.
This affirmation came directly from one of the Big Six publishers that has been criticized for its business practices concerning ebook lending of its titles. Random House, whose price increase on digital versions of its titles for library lending, reiterated what can be great news for libraries, mainly that when a library purchases an ebook for lending to its patrons, that book is the property of the library.
That makes sense, so why would that need to be officially restated? Because not all publishers feel that way. Some have instituted practices in which an ebook can only be loaned a predetermined number of times, and then it becomes unavailable and must be repurchased, essentially artificially factoring in “wear and tear” on a computer file. Others will not even allow libraries to purchase their digital editions, with concerns over how the ebooks will be licensed to the libraries.
Random House, however, has argued that its business model says there’s no such thing as a license on an ebook. Once it’s purchased, it becomes the property of the library, just as its print counterpart always has.
According to an interview for Library Journal conducted by Michael Kelly, Random House’s Skip Dye, vice president of library and academic marketing and sales, had this to say:
“We spend a lot of time discussing this with librarians, at conferences and elsewhere, and it’s clear that there is still some confusion out there around whether libraries own their ebooks. Random House’s often repeated, and always consistent position is this: when libraries buy their RH, Inc. ebooks from authorized library wholesalers, it is our position that they own them.”
And the libraries agree. Kelly also spoke to Robert C. Maier, director of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC), who stated, “Our primary reason for wanting ownership is to assure that the content could be migrated to a different platform if necessary or desirable in the future,” he said. “Our primary motivation in this project is to solve the resource sharing challenge by being able to circulate e-content to any resident of the Commonwealth from a common collection. We welcome Random House’s clear statement that they consider their ebooks to be owned by the purchasing library.”
Digital lending from public libraries has been slow to catch up to the popularity of digital reading, primarily because publishers continue to voice concerns over licensing, piracy, and fair compensation. Hopefully, as more major library systems showcase highly successful pilot programs and more publishers adopt the attitude that an ebook really is just a book, lending will continue to grow.
Filed Under: Digital Library News, Digital Publishing News, E-Book News, e-Reader News
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Newtown Shooter Headed for the Memory Hole?
Stacy McCain thinks that just because Newtown Massacre shooter was a sexually confused, as well as autistic, he will disappear from history.
Mass Murderer Also Gay Pedophile?
This might give gay pedophiles a bad reputation:
The state’s attorney report on the horrific murders at the Sandy Hook Elementary School by shooter Adam Lanza found no “conclusive motive” for his actions but did document unsettling facts about the 20-year-old killer, including computer files he kept on the rights of pedophiles, a movie about man/boy love, instant messages concerning “homosexual fantasies,” numerous mass murder documents, and a computer game entitled “School Shooting.”
Jammie Wearing Fools: “Well, this will probably be the last you ever hear about Adam Lanza from the mainstream media.” Indeed.
Nope, no such luck. The fact that he got guns legally and used them illegally will be the point of any reference to him by the media for the foreseeable future. The fact that he was a homosexual pedophile will not be mentioned, as it will not fit the agenda. Witness serial killer John Wayne Gacy, for whom the homosexual aspect of his motivations is thoroughly documented, but rarely emphasized, and certainly not used as a reason for suspicion of homosexuals.
In any event, crazy is it's own excuse; there's rarely an overt cause for it, and the symptoms occur in clusters, with several dysfunctions commonly occurring in the same victim It's more important to detect, treat, and if necessary, control the insane than it is to similarly control the vast majority of sane.
Labels: gun control, mental health, Newton
I Take Back Everything Bad I Ever Said About Hollywood
Via Wombat-socho's Live at Five:1.31.13, the best movie news I've ever heard:
“Sharknado” Stars Ian Ziering, Tara Reid Returning For The Sequel
There is a god after all. Gratuitous Tara Reid below the fold:
Labels: Cuties, movies, sharks, stupid, weather
Better Late Than Never Obamacare Schadenfreude
We had places to go and people to see this morning, so this morning's Obamacare Schadenfreud roundup was delayed. However, we're back now, and there's no reason not to. However, first, the now customary weather report. Clear blue sky here (except for the road salt haze while driving) , and temperatures here crept above the freezing mark for most of the day. Hoping for 40s and maybe even low 50s tomorrow and Sunday. Wohoo!
A TV crew recorded the scene as workers at a small business were informed what changes Obamacare was going to make in their coverage.
"I don't know how President Obama thinks he's helping us."
Silly girl, he doesn't. He's all helping people without jobs, and the only way to do that is take the money from people with them.
Up in the great state of Washington, children with Obamacare insurance were denied coverage for some grave diseases thanks to Obamacare:
"Administrators at Seattle Children's today said they predicted this would happen, and it's even worse than they expected," says the local news anchor. "Patients being denied specialty treatment at the hospital by insurance providers on the Washington health benefits exchange. Children's filed request on behalf of 125 of their patients. Of those, they say they got only 20 responses, eight of which were denials. Dr. Sandy Melzer says all this comes after reassurances of certain unique specialty cases would still be covered."
Dr. Sandy Melzer says, "Well, some of the patients who were denied are ones who clearly would fall into that unique category. A two-year-old with new significant neck mass that was being evaluated for infection or malignancy, an older child with a chronic severe medical condition requiring multidisciplinary care here, a baby that had a skull abnormality."
The anchor explains, "Children's went ahead and treated those cases anyway, but Dr. Melzer said they can't afford to keep doing that it way."
About 20% of people who signed up for Obamacare on the exchanges have not yet paid for their insurance, and are thus not really enrolled yet:
Around one in five people who picked health insurance policies on the state and federal exchanges last year haven't paid their first month's premiums, according to insurers polled by CNNMoney. These folks will likely see their policy selection canceled and they'll be left uninsured.
Some 2.1 million people signed up for a plan in time for their coverage to start January 1, according to the Obama administration. But with the payment deadlines stretching until January 31 at the latest, anywhere between 12% and 30% of those folks still haven't paid up, insurers say.
My guess is that they're waiting for another round of Calvinball rule making; hoping that the Preznit will change it to something they don't have to pay for.
Currently only about about 50% of the uninsured say they intend to get insurance through the Obamacare exchanges, while about 40% say they will not. My guess is that of the 50% who do, half will actually find a round tuit.
Hey, remember that silly video that Richard Simmons made for the California Obamacare exchanges? It only cost the State of Incoherence California $1,370,000 to make.
People in California can’t even reach someone on the phone to complain about the ObamaCare trainwreck and these morons spent over a million dollars to produce this horror show of a video? What the hell is wrong with these people?
A California senator is seeking to audit the state’s ObamaCare exchange after a Watchdog.org storyrevealed that $1.37 million was spent on a campaign featuring an eight-hour web stream starring a gyrating Richard Simmons.
The Jan. 16 event — now immortalized on YouTube — showed celebrity fitness trainer Simmons writhing on the ground to an MC’s chant of “Get Covered, hashtag, uh-huh,” a reference to Covered California, the state exchange. At one point, he snuggles up to a contortionist following a dance-off.
Covered California faces a $78 million deficit during the next fiscal year due to cutbacks in federal funding.
At least I don't pay California taxes anymore, but most of our families do. But then, the Maryland exchange may just be even more of a basket case.
Labels: health care, Obamacare, schadenfreude
Maybe It Just Wanted a Coke
Chilling game of hide and seek with a hungry polar bear
The target, a surveyor, was returning to his car in the remote town of Barrow, Alaska, when he saw the great white beast.
With no time to unlock the door of his vehicle and climb inside, he tried to duck out of sight.
But the hungry bear was not giving up, and a terrifying chase began.
First, the beast stood up on its furry haunches and eyed its prey. Then it loped around the car, and even climbed over the bonnet to try to reach him.
After a few laps of the car the bear almost caught up, managing to land a few heavy swipes on his prey.
The man eventually managed to take refuge in a neighbouring truck which was unlocked.
His back and head were covered in more than 100 deep scratches where the massive claws had managed to rip through his thick winter clothes and padded coat.
Aw, but they're so cute...
Labels: bears, wildlife
Slackers!
Wombat-socho has the great collection for the week, "Rule 5 Sunday: All Hail The Superb Owl!" up at The Other McCain.
Labels: Cuties, education, stupid
Your Friday Monkey Dacker Banging on the Drums Like a Chimpanzee
An old 1970 TV (too young for me, too old for my kids.
Labels: Monkey Dacker, wildlife
Taylor Swift Attacked at Grammys!
They should have her checked for a concussion.
Labels: Cuties, humor, music
Tort Trial of the Decade
Stacy McCain on the suit Michael Mann is pursuing against Mark Steyn and National Review:
Mark Steyn vs. a Thin-Skinned Bully
Lawsuits don’t make for interesting journalism. No tort has ever earned “Trial of the Century” status. So it is that even a defamation case involving a famed writer like Mark Steyn and a notorious “scientist” like Michael Mann gets relatively little attention.
Steyn’s recent column about the case doesn’t capture what is so outrageous about Mann’s lawsuit: A tenured academic whose particular hustle is the taxpayer-funded “climate change” racket ought to have the decency to pocket his ill-gotten cash and leave honest men alone, but Mann is evidently the shameless sort who thinks he deserves both government money and a good reputation.
Now a tedious douchebag says Steyn “specializes in whipping right-wing readers into a froth of know-nothing indignation”?
Absurd — that’s my job!
Well someone has to do it.
The suit is over a column the Steyn ran about climate science:
Climate scientist Michael Mann is suing National Review and Mark Steyn, one of its leading writers, for defamation. It’s a charge that’s notoriously hard to prove, which is no doubt why the magazine initially refused to apologize for an item on its blog in which Steyn accused Mann of fraud. Steyn also quoted a line by another conservative writer (Rand Simberg) that called Mann “the Jerry Sandusky of climate science, except that instead of molesting children, he has molested and tortured data.” (Simberg and the free market think tank for which he works, the Competitive Enterprise Institute, are also named in the suit.)
Since there is pretty good evidence that Mann did indeed torture the tree ring data until it told him what he wanted to see, the discovery for this trial could be illuminating.
Labels: climate, Legal, science
Chesapeake Bay Freezes Over
or, rather parts of it anyway: Maryland ice breakers clearing Chesapeake waterways
I posted this as a possibility a few days ago, and right on time, here it is:
This winter’s chilly weather has crews breaking up ice on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries for the first time in years.
The Department of Natural Resources’ John Gallagher says this is likely the most ice Maryland has had in at least five years. Crews started breaking up ice Wednesday around Kent Narrows to keep the waterway accessible. The freezing weather has created ice about 6 inches thick.
The state has four boats available to break up ice. They are kept near Smith Island, Annapolis, Cambridge and Kent Narrows.
A friend of mine who crosses the Patuxent River at Solomons daily posted this picture online showing the Patuxent River frozen across:
Credit: Paxfish
The temperature is supposed to head into the 40s in the next few days; that should take care of it.
Labels: Chesapeake Bay, sea ice, weather
Cleaning Out the Obamacare Schadenfreude Freezer
We were in single digit temperatures again this morning when we wok up, but the sky is blue, and the forecasts are calling for a warm up. I think we need to clean out the bread heels out of the freezer so we can get that caribou that wandered into our yard one morning off the back deck and safely frozen.
Similarly, we need to get a few juicy morsels of Obamacare Schadenfreude out of the "special folder" where the get stored until use:
Found at Wombat-socho's Live at 5: 1.29.14: President Ignores Obamacare Stumbles While Taunting GOP
from Theo's
But, he said, the overhaul here to stay and it is time to move on.
But Mr. Obama made no mention of the extensive glitches that marked the debut of the law’s federal portal, HealthCare.gov, which serves 36 states.
Rather than dwell on the law’s struggles, Mr. Obama rebuked House Republicans for holding dozens of votes to repeal all or part of his main domestic achievement.
Move on? Isn't that phrase reserved for use in getting the people to overlook the affair you've lied under oath about, or the four men you let die in one of our foreign embassies?
FactCheck.org, the liberal leaning "independent" fact checking agency, fact checks the Preznit's SOTU Obamacare statements:
The president said that “because of the Affordable Care Act … more than 9 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage.” But that total includes Medicaid renewals, not just new recipients that gained Medicaid coverage because of the health care law.
The 9 million figure includes three groups: 2.1 million Americans who have chosen insurance plans on the federal or state marketplaces, 3.9 million who were determined eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and an estimated 3.1 million young adults under age 26 who joined their parents’ plans as a result of the Affordable Care Act’s requirements. Obama specifically referenced that last number:
Obama: Already, because of the Affordable Care Act, more than 3 million Americans under age 26 have gained coverage under their parents’ plans. More than 9 million Americans have signed up for private health insurance or Medicaid coverage.
But the Medicaid category includes more than just those signing up “because of the Affordable Care Act.”
As Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said in announcing that 3.9 million “learned they’re eligible” for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program in October and November: “These numbers include new eligibility determinations and some Medicaid and CHIP renewals.” So not everyone was a new enrollee who gained Medicaid coverage because of the law. Some of the Medicaid numbers reported by the states included those renewing their already existing coverage.
Also, Obama didn’t claim that all of those signing up for coverage had been uninsured, and, in fact, we know that not all of them were. For instance, members of Congress and their staffs signed up for exchange plans, as required by the law, instead of continuing to get coverage through the program for federal employees.
Would you be shocked that Jeffrey Sing from National Review gave him harsher reviews:
In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Obama repeated one of the biggest lies behind the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and it wasn’t that you could keep your health-care plan or your current doctor. In fact, most people don’t even know it’s a lie. That became obvious when he received a standing ovation after saying it: “Because of this law, no American can ever again be dropped or denied coverage for a preexisting condition like asthma, back pain, or cancer.” The president and his supporters keep pretending that, before the ACA, an insurance company could drop individual policyholders, when in reality it could not.
Comes as a shock, doesn’t it? But the truth is that for decades there have been safeguards in our health-insurance system to protect people just like the physician’s assistant, Amanda Shelley, mentioned by the president.
Before 1996, if you purchased individual health insurance through a broker, you would have been offered a “guaranteed renewability” option. This would guarantee that your policy could not be canceled if you developed an expensive and chronic condition. The insurance company would also have to renew the policy on its anniversary date without charging a higher premium because of the chronic condition. This option was so popular that, by 1996, 75 percent of people buying individual health insurance also bought the guaranteed-renewability option.
Then, in 1996, Congress passed the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Among HIPAA’s many mandates was the requirement that all individual insurance plans have guaranteed renewability. It also prohibited all group health-insurance plans sold to businesses from denying coverage to individuals because of preexisting conditions. And so, for the past 18 years, all insurance companies have been legally forbidden from dropping an individual policyholder who developed a chronic illness and have not been able to raise anyone’s rate because of it.
Sometimes what you say isn't so much the lie as the assumptions behind the statement. But it's OK if you get to ruin the healthcare system as a consequence of your oversight. You've got get everybody into your system, beating and dragging them the whole way.
Democratic senators intervene in Hobby Lobby case, urge justices to deny ObamaCare exemption
Democratic senators intervened Tuesday in the Supreme Court fight over whether ObamaCare can force the company Hobby Lobby to provide contraceptive coverage to workers, arguing that "secular" businesses should not be exempt from the mandate.
The 19 senators planned to file a brief before the court, which is still weeks away from considering the closely watched case. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who planned to make her case on the Senate floor, adamantly defended the Obama administration's side.
"What's at stake in this case before the Supreme Court is whether a CEO's personal beliefs can trump a woman's right to access free or low-cost contraception under the Affordable Care Act," she said in prepared remarks.
But Republican senators returned fire, jumping to Hobby Lobby's defense in a brief of their own.
"The ability to practice the faith we choose is one of our great constitutional rights. The Obama administration's contraceptive mandate stomps on that right," Sen. David Vitter said in a statement. He joined Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas; John Cornyn, R-Texas; and Mike Lee, R-Utah in the brief.
Tom McGuire, at Just One Minute, demolishes Paul Krugmann's attack on the woman featured in the Republican response to the SOTU:
. . .Paul Krugman is deeply interested in this, presumably as long as we can show the Congresswoman to be lying or misinformed:
I’d be interested, by the way, to know the details about the constituent described in the official GOP response, who supposedly faced a $700 a month rise in premiums. What kind of plan did she have? Did that number include subsidies? The ACA is supposed to keep health costs to 8 percent of income, so the only way you could get numbers like that is if the individual (a) had a really bare-bones policy offering hardly any protection and (b) has an income well over $100,000.
As to "an income well over $100,000", I am surprised that such an authority would fail to grasp that for unmarried individuals the subsidies disappear at $46,000. That said, a Silver Plan in Washington for a single mom age 58 (per WhitePages.com) and no kids with no subsidy would be $6,226 per year, which at $519/month is less than the $700/month premium hike we are examining.
But Krugman has embedded a second major misunderstanding:
The ACA is supposed to keep health costs to 8 percent of income...
"Health costs"? Come again? The subsidies are meant to keeppremiums at (or near) 8 percent of income. Wait'll he gets a lod of the deductibles and co-pays!
The ObamaCareFacts site refers people to the Kaiser-Permanente subsidy calculator, so here we go: a family of four (non-smokers, national average, mom and dad are forty) earning $55,125 (taken from ObamaCareFacts site as 250% of Federal Poverty Line although Kaiser disputes that):
The premium, pre-subsidy: $9,700. Subsidies of $5,569 per year bring the premium cost down to $4,130 per year. That is 7.5% of $55,125. So far, so good.
However! The fine print, which I recall was initially obfuscated by the ObamaCare website, includes this, on deductibles and co-pays:
Your out-of-pocket maximum for a Silver plan (not including the premium) can be no more than $10,400. Whether you reach this maximum level will depend on the amount of health care services you use. Currently, about one in four people use no health care services in any given year.
If the family does spend $10,400 and hit the out-of-pocket cap I am pretty sure that will represent more than 8% of total income. Hey, insurance is complicated to buy.
While I believe in cheap insurance with high deductibles, what Obamacare got was expensive insurance with high deductibles, especially for the young.
One reassurance to gay couples that just got married and found high Obamacare costs, they may be able divorce and save money.
How A Divorce Can Boost Health Insurance Subsidies
What happens with premium tax credits if a couple gets divorced? If the premium tax credit is based on the previous year's income when the couple filed taxes jointly, many wouldn't qualify. But once someone is divorced, one individual might have little income. What is the subsidy based on in that situation?
If a couple divorces, each person's eligibility for premium tax credits will generally be based on his or her own annual income. The former spouse's income won't be counted, even if the couple filed taxes jointly the previous year. Premium tax credits are available to people with incomes up to 400 percent of the 2013 federal poverty level ($45,960 for an individual).
During the application process, people are asked to project their income for the year. If someone estimates income that's more than 10 percent lower than the previous year's taxes or wage information or Social Security data would suggest, the system will flag it. At tax time next year, the Internal Revenue Service will reconcile an individual or family's actual income against the amount that was projected. People who received too much in tax credits may have to repay some or all of it.
The situation may be different for couples that are separated but not yet divorced, however. If each files taxes as "married filing separately" neither will be eligible for premium tax credits on the exchange.
How Republican Plan Could Replace Obamacare
The combined effect of its changes, the plan’s authors say, would be revenue neutral and competitive with Obamacare in terms of coverage. No independent entity has scored the plan, however, and a reasonable assumption is that in the long run, the plan would leave more people uninsured than Obamacare.
By design, the plan is less ambitious than Obamacare. And it is less ambitious than a Republican plan that might have been proposed had Obamacare never passed: It leaves the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored coverage in place, capping it rather than ending it. And it does away with most of the health care payment and delivery system reform that Obamacare’s authors and supporters hoped would slowly reshape the system.
What the proposal’s authors are betting, however, is that at this point the public does not want grand ambition so much as attainable, practical improvement. And they are willing to bend, if necessary, to get there. The plan has not yet been turned into legislation, and at least some of its details remain subject to change and negotiation. It’s designed as a conversation starter rather than a final proposal, a starting point meant to build consensus rather than the final word.
Because the conversation is happening now, following years of blistering attacks on Obamacare, the plan works within the confines of the GOP’s criticism of that law: For political and practical reasons, it’s designed to minimize disruption to the health system rather than transform it, even where bigger disruptions might make for better policy. It’s a necessary and productive starting point, but it also reveals how much the Republican party has limited its options by waiting so long to start talking about its own ideas. The plan sheds some light on Republican ideas about health policy—but also serves as a reminder that those ideas remain in Obamacare’s shadow.
Well, that's all for today. Oh, George Will has a column out, and it's old but good. All clean, and ready for a new batch.
Breakfast With a Twist
It could be lunch or dinner too, I suppose:
Labels: Cuties, dance, music
Gun Control Costs Maryland 30 Jobs
Gun company Beretta bringing 300 jobs to Gallatin
Beretta, one of the world’s leading gun manufacturers, will be moving manufacturing operations to Gallatin, bringing more than 300 jobs to the region.
The company will invest upwards of $45 million to bring a manufacturing and research and development facility to Middle Tennessee, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced Wednesday morning.
For much of the past year, Beretta has been scouting for locations for a manufacturing facility after the state of Maryland passed stricter gun legislation, company officials said. The family-owned, Italian company had expressed frustration about the new laws and said it might be looking for a new home for a factory currently located in Accokeek, Maryland.
Jeff Reh, general counsel for Beretta, said the company was looking a state that supported Second Amendment rights, and had other key attributes, including a competitive tax environment, good quality of life and was focused on corporate recruitment.
I know at least two people personally who have worked at the Beretta facility in Accoceek. 300 jobs isn't a a huge number in the Maryland economy, currently at 6.7% unemployment, which is doing about the same as the national average. Still, that's 300 families who will either have to move, or lose their jobs. Good job, O'Malley, legislature!
Labels: gun control, Maryland, unemployment
Things That Make You Go Hmmm!
Labels: climate, weather
Pennsylvania Fracking Gets Another Clean Bill of Health
No major water quality impacts from drilling
At least so far so good, as far as local natural gas drilling and local water quality are concerned - that's the conclusion of a local geologist and expert in water quality, and that's what he told the Clinton County Natural Gas Task Force Tuesday.
Dr. Md. Khalequzzaman, a professor at Lock Haven University outlined a data study based on collections of samples from a 60-mile stretch of the the Susquehanna River, from Keating to Williamsport, during an unusual five-day "weather event" last June.
In his view based upon the data collected, the Marcellus Shale impacts on that stretch of river were minimal, despite the upsurge in drilling activity.
Another story for another time, might be the former era of coal mining, with the accompanying contamination that created acid mine drainage (AMD), and the impact of the agricultural industry on the Susquehanna River Basin leading to Chesapeake Bay.
Tests focused on minerals and phosphates, contained in the high flow, along with testing for ph levels, temperature, salinity, flow and other factors - over 20,000 data points in all.
After examining the findings, he concluded "no signature elements associated with Marcellus Shale" were found in any significant or measurable amounts.
This was clearly a short term study, designed to find whether fracking fluids were being washed in to the Susquehanna system under high rain/run off conditions. While it alone cannot completely clear fracking from the charge of wide spread water pollution, it's just another nail in the coffin.
Labels: Chesapeake Bay, energy, fracking, natural gas, pollution
Farmers to Appeal EPA "Bay Diet" Victory
Speaking of lawsuits, another one that's been simmering for some time now is the suit farmers lost against the EPA to prevent the EPA from determining how the various cut backs in pollution called the "Bay Diet" were to be divvied up.
The American Farm Bureau Federation this week asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to reverse a Sept. 2013 federal court ruling that upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s total maximum daily load (TMDL) for the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The court will decide whether EPA exceeded its Clean Water Act authority by mandating how nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment runoff should be allocated among farms, construction and development activities, as well as homeowners and towns throughout the 64,000 square mile Chesapeake Bay watershed.
“This case involves whether EPA can assume authority over land use and water quality policy decisions that Congress specifically reserved for state and local levels of government,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “Last year the district court ruled that EPA can dictate how and when states and localities must restrict land uses, even to the point of banning development or demanding that specific areas be taken out of agricultural use.
“These are uniquely local decisions that should be made by local governments,” continued Stallman. “That is why this power is specifically withheld from EPA in the Clean Water Act.”
I'm not a lawyer, but I don't expect them to win this one, unless it goes all the way up to SCOTUS.
Labels: agriculture, bay diet, Chesapeake Bay, EPA, Legal, pollution
EPA to Appeal Chicken Shit Ruling
EPA appeals ruling in West Virginia farm case
The legal battle over how to define agricultural stormwater — and exactly when permits are required for animal-farm operators — is not over yet in West Virginia.
The EPA filed a notice this month that it will appeal an October 2013 ruling by a federal district court judge that the agency had no legal right to demand that chicken farmer Lois Alt obtain a permit for her Hardy County operation.
Supporting the EPA in its appeal are several environmental groups, including Food and Water Watch, the Potomac Riverkeeper and Earthjustice.
At issue is whether certain types of discharges from the animal-feeding operation of a farm are considered agricultural stormwater and thus exempt from the Clean Water Act, or whether they are “process wastewater” from industrial operations and therefore regulated. (See our in-depth story on the issue here.)
We've been following the story of the Alt Farm suit for quite a while now. It's been an amazing journey, with EPA filing suit, then attempting to drop the suit when it looked like they were going to lose, with the Alts and their supporters forcing the decision. Now EPA wants another bite of the apple.
One of the more interesting pieces of the story is how EPA fought the entry of farmers allies (the Farm Bureau) and went along with environmental NGO's doing the same on EPAs behalf.
Expect vigorous opposition from the agricultural community as the result of an EPA victory is essentially to bring agriculture under the same rules as a steel mill.
Note that this article comes from the Bay Journal, a nominally independent Chesapeake Bay news service, which just happens to be heavily funded by the EPA Bay Program.
Publication is made possible through grants from the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program Office, the Campbell Foundation for the Environment, the Town Creek Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Chesapeake Bay Office, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and by donations from individuals. View expressed in theBay Journal do not necessarily reflect those of any governmental or grant-making organization.
Previous posts on the Alt Farm case:
Chicken Rancher Sues EPA
EPA to Farm Bureau: Butt Out!
EPA Drops Chicken Shit Law Suit
Farmers Win Right To Help Fellow in Fight With EPA
Chicken Shit Farmer Wants Day In Court
Chesapeake Farmers Fear Regulation
Man Bites Dog
CBF Denied Entry into Shitty Court Case
CBF Challanges Exclusion from Chicken Shit Law Suit
EPA Loses Chicken Shit Law Suit
Farmers Crow Over Victory in Chicken Shit Law Suit
Labels: $#I*, agriculture, Chesapeake Bay, EPA, Legal
Obamacare Schadenfreude - The Post SOTU Whiteout Edition
We woke this morning to another 3-4 inches of crystalline global warming lying on the ground, and the sound of snow shovels scraping on pavement, courtesy of Tropical Winter Storm Leon. When we looked out we discovered that the scraping sound had been one of our neighbors clearing the snow from our driveway! Do I look that old? But anyway, thanks, whoever you were.
Yesterday's Obamacare Schadenfreude was overshadowed by the lead up to the State of the Union Address last night, which sucked up most of the coverage. Did I watch? No, my bullshit detector is far too sensitive to subject it to such a concentrated dose. However, if you would like to hear someone else's take on it, may I suggest Ann Althouse ( "Are you going to have sex with me or do I have to rape you?"), the Vodka Pundit Stephen Green (Nobody’s listening. Nobody cares. So in my best John Cleese voice I’ll just add, “This is a lame duck!”), or even Kevin Williamson, a man after my own heart who wrote even before the event:
The annual State of the Union pageant is a hideous, dispiriting, ugly, monotonous, un-American, un-republican, anti-democratic, dreary, backward, monarchical, retch-inducing, depressing, shameful, crypto-imperial display of official self-aggrandizement and piteous toadying, a black Mass during which every unholy order of teacup totalitarian and cringing courtier gathers under the towering dome of a faux-Roman temple to listen to a speech with no content given by a man with no content, to rise and to be seated as is called for by the order of worship — it is a wonder they have not started genuflecting — with one wretched representative of their number squirreled away in some well-upholstered Washington hidey-hole in order to preserve the illusion that those gathered constitute a special class of humanity without whom we could not live.
It’s the most nauseating display in American public life — and I write that as someone who has just returned from a pornographers’ convention.
It’s worse than the Oscars.
Irina Shayk at 2012 Oscars
At least the Oscars has lots of good looking models and actresses in low cut gowns and side boob. At the SOTU you get Babs Mikulski.
Now, onto some minimal Obamacare Scahdenfreude:
That whole “keeping your doctor” thing not quite working out for Tennesseans so far
...in less populated regions than California, the effects of these smaller networks is likely to be even more acute. ObamaCare coverage has been up-and-running for almost a month now, and several Tennesseans have been experiencing the new reality firsthand, via the Free Beacon:
WSMV’s Nancy Amons reported two cases of Obamacare enrollees who have been notified that they will no longer be able to see doctors they were able to visit when they were on their previous plan.
Shawnna Simpson’s fifteen year old daughter was hurt last week in a cheerleading accident. Simpson called her family doctor and learned that they do not accept her current health insurance plan, BlueCross Network E.
“We have health insurance at this point that is worthless,” Simpson said of the plan that she pays $600 a month for. … We can’t use it in the county that we live” she said.
BlueCross Network E is a micro network – a very small network with limited doctors and hospitals. Neither Vanderbilt nor TriStar are in the network.
Even a US Senator has found out that Obamacare won't cover his chosen oncologist:
Tom Coburn: My new ObamaCare coverage won’t cover treatment from my cancer specialist
Coburn didn’t reveal who his doctor is, but needless to say, losing your doctor is not an uncommon experience in the new golden age of “universal” health care, even for cancer patients.
The Oklahoma Republican’s spokesman confirmed to POLITICO that since the senator enrolled in his health insurance plan under Obamacare, his coverage has been reduced and he lost coverage for his cancer specialist. Coburn will continue to pay out of his own pocket and see the oncologist, his office said…
“We hope the White House will work with us to make sure Americans who can’t afford to pay out of pocket don’t lose access to life-saving care,” spokesman John Hart said. “As Dr. Coburn’s experience shows, the American people are about to learn they’re going to lose access to not only their doctors and plans, but their specialists and treatments.”
Have provider networks shrunk that much even among “gold” and “platinum” plans on the exchanges? That’s what Coburn, who’s already survived previous bouts with cancer, would have purchased, I assume. It’s no secret that “bronze” and “silver” plans help pay for their lower premiums by keeping provider networks comparatively small; I assumed one of the benefits for shelling out for a cadillac plan would be a robust network. Not robust enough, apparently.
You might remember that Republicans added the amendment that required Congress people and their more senior staff to take Obamacare, as a bit of a bitter pill (not quite poison, but unpleasant) to the legislation, so you might say that Coburn has been hoist on his own petard. Or you could say that he's putting his money where is mouth is, since he is paying to keep his doctor.
And finally, this from, again, the VodkaPundit: Your ♡bamaCare!!! Fail of the Day
Labels: Cuties, health care, movies, Obamacare, schadenfreude, snow, weather
A "Bottle Bill" for Maryland?
Remember to save that can!
Proposed Md. bill calls for 5-cent bottle deposit
A "bottle bill," to be introduced in the General Assembly this week, could mean 5-cents back in consumers' pockets for each can or bottle they recycle in Maryland. The Maryland Public Interest Research Group, or PIRG, delivered 7,500 signed petitions to Gov. Martin O'Malley's desk Monday in support of the bill. "With the bottle bill, Maryland has the opportunity to get to an achievable goal of 80 percent container recycling by 2020," says Joanna Guy with PIRG.
Gov. O'Malley included increasing container recycling in his Climate Change Plan released in the summer of 2014. Proponents say if implemented, it will triple what the state is recycling now.
Almost $1.00 worth!
"Proponents" tend to exaggerate in support of their programs. I find this hard to believe.
Under the proposed program, consumers would bring their bottles and cans to deposit spots, likely at grocery stores, and redeem their money there. The locations of the deposit spots are still unknown.
Right now, we have "free" recycling at county waste sites. All cans, bottles and miscellaneous plastic and metal can be dumped in a common bin, and sorted later. We make that minor effort routinely. Like most of our semirural neighbors, we take our own trash to a central site rather than having a trash service pick it up, but even if we did use one of the several private trash haulers, they would accept and sort the recyclable material.
Under the new system, we will pay extra up front for the bottles and cans, have to keep those separate, (just what the garage needs, another trash recycling bin), and return them to the grocery store to get a few cents back.
"It's good for the state for many reasons. We recycle 22 percent of cans and bottles a year. That's four billion pieces of trash, three billion of which end up in the Bay in rivers and streams. It's a huge waste of money and a problem for the environment, says state Sen. Brian Frosh, D-Montgomery County.
Huh? You really think that if 4 billion cans and bottles are created, and only 1 billion recycled, 100% (or near enough) of the remainder end up in the Bay and streams?
I have to say, although cans and bottle do wash up on the beach after a big storm, they do not form a majority, or even a significant fraction of the trash.
Frosh is introducing the bill whose only opponents are the beverage companies. He says that's because it's a win-win for the state, and its counties in particular.
"The counties will not only get the value of the raw materials recycled, but will get the redemption fee," he says. That means that consumers who choose to recycle bottles and cans at the curb will relinquish their five cents per bottle to their respective county. "Any unredeemed deposits would go to recycling programs and expanding those recycling programs," Guy says.
So there's the real agenda. It's a hidden tax, that you only pay if you're lazy.
I've lived in other states with and without a "bottle bill." Oregon was not particularly cleaner as a result of having a bottle bill, back when a nickel was worth a lot more than it is now.
One good thing about it though, is there's no excuse for poverty; any poor person should be able to make a living pouring through trash, or even picking up streets after careless teenagers. For that, I might even stop recycling my bottles and cans and throw them out on the street for them to glean.
Labels: beer, Cuties, recycling, trash
Science, Solving the Great Mysteries One at a Time
For a long time, it has been known that the Three-Toed Sloth, (NSFW link, believe it or not) a slow moving vegetarian of the South and Central American jungle tree tops, makes a visit to the jungle floor, risking its life to predators, just to take a shit. Seeing as how gravity should take care of the problem if the the sloth suffered incontinence, and seeing as how that's the way it's relative the Two Toed Sloth takes care of the problem, the mystery is why they bother.
Now, a team of scientists from Wisconsin has concocted proposed a story to account for the for the Three-Toed version's potty preferences. This might be a good week for researchers from Wisconsin to be visiting Amazonia.
Writing last week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the Wisconsin researchers assembled all these pieces in a different way. They started by trying to understand what would compel the sloth to brave the dangers of a weekly visit to ground zero.
Its distant evolutionary cousin, the two-toed sloth, stays safely in the canopy, out of the jaguar’s view. The visit to the ground, the researchers concluded, could not be for the tree’s benefit, because the sloth’s dung would not make much difference to its nutrition. Rather, they assumed, it was to favor a critical component of the sloth’s ecosystem, the pyralid moth. The descent to the sloth’s midden affords the pregnant moths in its fleece a chance to lay eggs.
Or, you know, they could just fall out, and fall down where the poop is. It's not like the sloths are moving that fast.
The moths’ caterpillars are coprophagous or, to put it more bluntly, consumers of excrement. They grow to maturity in the sloth’s dung pellets and, on hatching, flutter up to the trees to find a sloth host. Burrowing into its fur, they mostly shed their wings and live there happily for the rest of their days, mating and dying in a safe, protected environment. After they die, their bodies are decomposed by the host of fungi and bacteria in the sloth’s fur. The metabolic products of this decay, especially nitrogen, are the feedstock for the specialist algae that grow in the sloth’s hair shafts. The researchers guessed that the sloths might be eating the algae from their own fur, and that this could be the purpose of the whole system.
We'll leave that one until the end.
Leaves are poor sources of nutrition, and animals that depend on them, like gorillas, often require large guts to hold them all. The sloth, having to climb along thin branches, can’t afford a big gut. It moves slowly because every calorie counts, and it pays to slow down its metabolism. But the invention of giving over its fleece to algae farming would go a long way to solving its problem of limited nutrition.
Dr. Pauli and his colleagues guessed that the sloth might be overcoming the poverty of its leaf diet by eating the algae on its fleece, and that the moths were essential fertilizer for the algae. In their paper they report much evidence in support of their hypothesis. The greater the infestation of moths, the more nitrogen a three-toed sloth carries in its fleece and the greater the amount of algae. An analysis of stomach contents showed the sloths were indeed eating the algae.
I'm not sure I'm entirely clear on this (I should probably read the paper). Do the moths eat the algae ridden hair, obtain their nitrogen from the hair, which the sloth produced (hair, being a protein is chock full of nitrogen, but hair isn't digestible by most mammals)? Does this make this a way to recycle the nitrogen and carbon from sloth hair, via the algae and moths?
It's all a nicely spun story, but as in all thing evolutionary there is no exact answer. There is no "purpose" that a particular adaption exists, as if someone thought about it. The real answer is "because it works, for now."
The next important question is how a moth eaten, algae covered beast gets close to so many great chests.
Labels: Cuties, science, weird, wildlife
The Unbearable Stupidity of Andrea Mitchell
Point #1: Iran was more or less an ally until Bush included them in the "Axis of Evil" speech.
Point #2: Breaks in on Congresswoman discussing NSA for Justin Beiber news.
Labels: politics, stupid, TV
In Which I Agree With Alex Baldwin
Shouldn't happen often:
Alec Baldwin: TSA ‘A Disgrace’ For Patting Down My Infant Daughter
Actor Alec Baldwin was furious yesterday after the Transportation Security Administration singled his 5-month-old daughter out as a potential terrorist.
The 30 Rock star was apparently traveling back to the United States from the Bahamas when his infant daughter was “randomly selected” for an enhanced screening.
The TSA must go.
Posted by Fritz at 11:43 PM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: TSA
Flood Insurance Drowning in Debt
Federal flood program $24B in debt
As the federal flood insurance program drowns in billions of dollars worth of debt, Congress‘ top watchdog is proposing a novel solution: Have the private property owners — not taxpayers — foot the insurance bill.
Listen to the cute chick explain it.
The National Flood Insurance Program “has accrued $24 billion in debt, highlighting structural weaknesses in the program and increasing concerns about its burden on taxpayers,” the Government Accountability Office said in a report released this week.
As a result, some analysts reached by the congressional watchdog agency called for greater involvement from the private sector and eliminating government subsidies “so individual property owners — not taxpayers — would pay for their risk of flood loss.”
But Congress has been unable to act, drafting legislation that would put reforms on hold but doing little to stop the growing debt, now saddling the flood insurance program with a $24 billion deficit. In the meantime, leading lawmakers blame the Federal Emergency Management Agency for not providing accurate information on the effects of the cost increases.
“What Congress is trying to do right now is to undo some of the reforms, to actually delay the reforms that were adopted in July of 2012, which will actually accelerate insolvency of the program,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.
If the government weren't willing to insure flooding knowing it would be losing money, insurance companies would be willing to write policies that wouldn't. Yes, they'd be more expensive than current policies, but they would reflect the true costs of building in flood zones.
Labels: Chesapeake Bay, flooding, insurance
Cow Burps Blow Roof Off Barn
German cows cause methane blast in Rasdorf
Methane gas released by dairy cows has caused an explosion in a cow shed in Germany, police said.
The roof was damaged and one of the cows was injured in the blast in the central German town of Rasdorf.
Thanks to the belches and flatulence of the 90 dairy cows in the shed, high levels of the gas had built up.
Then "a static electric charge caused the gas to explode with flashes of flames" the force said in a statement quoted by Reuters news agency.
Emergency services attended the farm and took gas readings to test for the risk of further blasts, said local media.
Cows are believed to emit up to 500 litres of methane - a potent greenhouse gas - each per day.
Color me skeptical. The lower explosive limit of methane in air is about 5%. It's hard for me to imagine that a barn is poorly enough ventilated to accumulate 5% of methane in the air without the cows using up a majority of the oxygen and succumbing to oxygen starvation.
I'm more inclined to think that natural gas or propane heating went wrong and blew the roof, but that cow burps were a sexier story.
Labels: agriculture, natural gas, weird
Obamacare Schadenfreude, Back In the Deep Freeze
The second "polar vortex" of the year arrived as forecast yesterday afternoon, after our brief flirtation with above freezing temperatures (most, but not all of our snow is gone), and this morning the temperature was back to 12 F.
Similarly, after a couple of days of light output Obamacare Schadenfreude has ramped back up to a fever pitch in anticipation of the SOTU.
America's Worst Congressman Says Obamacare unraveling because the young aren't as stupid as he expected:
Perhaps it takes retirement for Democrats to be honest about the status of ObamaCare, and about its unsustainable structure. Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), who recently announced his retirement from the House, told American University Radio last week that the dearth of enrollments from young, healthy Americans in ObamaCare would “unravel” the whole system — and that furthermore, they’d be right to avoid it:
From the "Yeah, like that's gonna happen department", Ted Cruz thinks the Preznit should use the SOTU address to apologize for the lie of the year:
“For the State of the Union, one of the things President Obama really oughta do is look in the TV camera and say to the over 5 million Americans all across this country who've had their health insurance canceled because of ObamaCare, to look in the camera and say, ‘I’m sorry,’ ” Cruz said on CBS’s "Face the Nation."
Cruz said that, in addition to apologizing, Obama should offer fixes for the law.
“But then, Bob, here's the real kicker. If you're really sorry, you don't just say you're sorry. You actually do something to fix the problem,” he added.
Speaking of the lie of the year, the numbers suggest that only about 1/3 of Californians kicked off their health insurance by Obamacare have succeeded in getting new policies:
The latest version of such inflation is Covered California's jubilant announcement last week that "500,108 Californians enrolled for health insurance and selected plans through the end of 2013."
By the end of October, the executive director of California's Obamacare exchange confirmed that up to 900,000 people in the state would lose their current health insurance by the end of 2013--not including those who may lose it through their workplaces in 2014. Many of those are among the 500,000 or so who signed up for Obamacare through Covered California by the end of 2013--about 330,000, according to McCormack. That also means that only about 200,000 previously uninsured people signed up for Obamacare.
As for the other 600,000 or so, no one know what happened to them--they are just uninsured. The state refused to participate in President Barack Obama's proposed "fix" for those who had their policies canceled.
Success! If by success you mean standing triumphant on the smoking ruins of the healthcare system.
Another "unintended" consequence of Obamacare is that many people who are able to get health insurance through the exchanges are unable to similarly insure their children, who are forced into Medicaid, making them medical wards of the state.
Children who qualify for Medicaid, the safety-net program for the poor and disabled, can’t be included on subsidized family plans purchased through the federal marketplace, a fact that is taking many parents by surprise and leaving some kids stuck without coverage.
And in New Hampshire, some parents who’ve enrolled in private plans for themselves alone are finding out later that their children aren’t eligible for Medicaid after all, leaving their kids with no options.
“The children are getting stuck in this spot where we’ve enrolled the parent, but we can’t bring the children back on the family plan,” Maria Proulx, senior legal counsel for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Hampshire, told a state advisory board panel this month.
Walmart and Walgren's pharmacies report that they are unable to provide free prescriptions to people who have lost their primary care physicians as a consequence of Obamacare.
Walgreens' and Walmart's pharmacies announced this month that they will help with the botched Obamacare rollout by providing free prescriptions to customers whose insurance coverage is pending. The move, while well-intentioned, only helps those possessing a prescription, leaving anyone still seeking a doctor’s assistance stranded.
The policies of both corporations this month were simple: those who can prove they signed up for Obamacare through HealthCare.gov and have a prescription can file it for free, even as they are not yet covered because of the system's inefficiency. The problem is that to have a prescription, patients must go to a doctor, and their pending insurance applications mean they will have to either handle the full cost of a visit themselves. If they wait until their application is no longer pending, they are not eligible to receive the benefits from the pharmacies’ programs.
But this one, no doubt, will receive lots of attention in the MSM. North Carolina Blue Cross cuts benefits for gay couples:
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina recently cancelled insurance polices which were previously purchased by gay and lesbian couples who opted to purchase a family insurance policy from the company.
The health insurance company opted to cancel the policies after stating that the language in the respective policies was geared more towards married couples and not gay couples. Terms such as “spouse” and “opposite sex” were used in the health insurance contracts, making them invalid.
Gay couples who purchased family coverage from Blue Cross have the option to instead purchase individual health care coverage.
I anticipate a couple of pairs of cute lipstick lesbians and gay males on TV tearfully explaining how their feelings are being hurt by having to by separate Obamacare policies.
But gay couples can take consolation in the fact that Obamacare manages to fund abortions through the back door: Surprise! Secret Abortion Fees Buried in ObamaCare Premiums
Insurance companies working under the Obamacare umbrella have secretly added a surcharge to cover the cost of abortions, an apparent violation of federal law that forbids the practice, congressional leaders charge.
Consumers signing up for insurance in an Obamacare exchange won’t find a single sentence telling them that they will pay at least $1 a month to fund abortions.
“The president promised when the health care bill passed that it would not cover abortion. We knew that was an empty promise as the bill stipulated a $1 a month surcharge for plans that covered abortions,” said Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., who chairs the House’s Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Health. “On top of that … it’s near impossible to decipher which plans include abortion and at what cost!”
To fix this, a House bill will be introduced this week to demand full disclosure and a separate itemized premium. It also will prohibit federal subsidies for Obamacare insurance plans that cover abortion. That bill, HR-7, or the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” will be introduced by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
What? Product labeling? No way the democrats will support that.
Michelle Obama would like you to send $10 for her next well earned vacation to save Obamacare from those awful Republicans:
Friend —
Earlier this month, because of what you did, it became illegal for insurance companies to discriminate against the up to 129 million Americans living with pre-existing conditions. Young Americans are able to stay on their parents' health care plans as they get on their feet, and we can now know that our insurance companies won't put lifetime caps on our coverage.
You should be so proud of that. That happened because you organized, you talked to your friends and neighbors, and you chipped in what you could, when you could, to elect Barack and a Congress who supported his agenda.
Today, I'm asking you to do it again.
So before Barack gives his State of the Union address tomorrow, chip in $10 or more and help protect Obamacare:
https://my.democrats.org/State-of-the-Union
GOP rolls out it's healthcare plan
Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Richard Burr, R-N.C., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, would repeal Obamacare as part of the Patient Choice, Affordability, Responsibility and Empowerment Act. But in crafting a replacement, the lawmakers were cognizant of both the popular and unpopular aspects of Obamacare.
Under the replacement proposal, as is the case with Obamacare, insurers would be barred from imposing lifetime limits on medical claims and required to allow individuals to remain on their parents’ policies until the age of 26.
Under the rules of Obamacare, insurers can only charge three times as much to older Americans as they charge younger Americans, one of the factors that has driven up the price of insurance for the young. The Coburn-Burr-Hatch proposal would create a federal benchmark allowing insurers to charge older Americans five times as much. However, states would be permitted to set their own ratio below that amount, or opt out of the requirement altogether.
This is a pretty big one, as the age differential is one of the big factors in making O-care policies have either outrageous prices or deductibles for the young. I would have gone further, but that would be unpopular with older people, a significant block for the the Republican.
To address those with pre-existing conditions, who have been among the major targeted beneficiaries of Obamacare, the GOP proposal would require insurers to offer coverage to anybody who has applied as long as they have maintained continuous coverage, regardless of whether they are switching health plans or shifting from employer-based health care to the individual market. The theory is that this would offer some protection to those with pre-existing conditions without having the same effect on premiums as Obamacare’s full ban on the practice. At the same time, the idea is that this would create an incentive for everybody to maintain their insurance coverage, thus negating the need for the individual mandate.
Pre-existing conditions is a tough one. People are generally against the "pre-existing conditions" clauses on insurance, but most don't understand how they help keep costs down for the rest of us. People need to be made to understand that to cover "pre-existing conditions" rates have to go up on everyone, effectively making it a charity situation.
For years, most free market health care proposals began with the idea of ending the discrimination in the tax code that gives an unfair advantage to those who obtain health insurance through their employers. But in consideration of the backlash against the way that Obamacare has disrupted people’s insurance coverage, the new GOP proposal would maintain the employer health insurance bias. Instead of scrapping the employer health insurance tax exclusion, the proposal would merely cap it at 65 percent of the average plan’s costs.
Agreed. Another, better way to do it, in my opinion, would be to give individuals the same tax break for buying insurance that companies get. Too much tax cut? Too bad. Make it up by taxing NGOs.
The savings generated by capping the exclusion would be used to help finance tax credits to be offered to individuals earning up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level (or annual earnings of about $35,000 for an individual). A new division of the U.S. Department of Treasury known as the Office of Health Financing would administer the credits. Obamacare’s subsidies are more generous and go up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level.
I would prefer low taxes in general to an exclusion that gives tax breaks to the 3 X poverty level. I want a leveler field, not one with a steep slope to get out out of "3 X poverty".
In cases where individuals qualify for a tax credit high enough to cover the cost of a plan but never sign up for insurance, states have the option of automatically enrolling them in a default policy, though the individuals would also have the ability to opt out.
The proposal would also expand the use of tax free health savings accounts, for instance, by allowing funds to be withdrawn to pay premiums for long-term care insurance and COBRA.
Tax free is better. A good provision, but one which will not be popular with democrats, as they prefer to take the money in taxes, and dole it back out in favors that buy votes.
Instead of expanding Medicaid, as Obamacare does, the Coburn-Burr-Hatch proposal would reform it to give more flexibility to states and allow Medicaid beneficiaries the option of using their tax credit to purchase private coverage.
What, federalism? Heaven forfend that New York and Mississippi both get to run Medicaid the way they want.
In addition, the proposal encourages states to adopt medical malpractice reforms and requires hospitals and insurers to improve price transparency.
Yeah, the doctors support would be nice, but the insurance companies and hospitals are where the big money is. Count on insurance companies to oppose this. I would also have preferred to see an explicit rejection of the "insurance company bailouts" in Obamacare, but the fact they are not mentioned gives me some hope.
. . .Ultimately, the new Coburn-Burr-Hatch plan would not usher in a free market for health insurance in the United States, which would require fully ending the distortion of the tax code and removing far more regulations. What it does do is offer individuals more freedom than now exists under Obamacare.
As was noted yesterday, this approach has some political risks. Instead of a solid opposition to Obamacare as a unifying factor, now the Republicans have a plan that can be snipped at and torn apart piecemeal. But is that an improvement over the unfounded, but generally accepted as true charge that the Republicans have no plans for improving healthcare?
Labels: health care, Obamacare, photography, weather
A New Super Bullet for Liberals to Inveigh Against
A New Bullet Has Been Invented. This is What it Looks Like.
Not satisfied with the destructive power of hollow-point bullets or large-caliber guns? G2 Research has you covered with the new "Radically Invasive Projectile" (R.I.P., clever) an exploding bullet they say can "take the civilian and law enforcement markets by storm, and truly become the last round you’ll ever need."
The bullet is manufactured with bullet points containing trocar angles (edges with three angles reaching one point) to penetrate flesh more easily. It acts like a full metal jacket bullet when penetrating solid objects like "sheet rock, plywood, sheet metal or glass and still performs its original intent. The bullet shreds through solid objects and only then, expands its energy."
The result? Gun owners say that the expanding bullets prevent over-penetration (shooting through a target, or, say, the walls of your house) and make sure the bullets don't ricochet. But the new R.I.P. rounds are also sure to cause horrific wounds in their target.
And here they are in action:
It does look a little nasty, but is it worse than what happens with ordinary hollow points?
Eh, I wouldn't want to get hit by either one. Isn't deadliness a desirable property in bullets? It's easy to make them less deadly; just make them lighter and slower.
But according to Americans Against the Tea Party's Richard Rowe, himself a weapons enthuisiast, the new bullet bears an unmistakeable resemblance to a tool of war banned by the Hague Convention (Hague IV 1907, Article 23E): Flechette rounds.
Well, yes, and hollow points are also banned in war. We accept things in personal protection that we don't allow in war. I don't know that it makes much sense, but that's the way it is.
Posted by Fritz at 5:00 AM 1 comment: Links to this post
Labels: gun control, guns
Midnite Music - 'Baby, Baby'
Beth Hart does Aretha Franklin.
Labels: Cuties, music
Will the Bay Freeze Over?
With a new blast of Arctic air approaching, this is not a trivial question:
Chesapeake Bay Mainstem could freeze
At the Chesapeake Bay, temperatures have dropped below freezing and ice is beginning to form.
That means the Chesapeake Bay Mainstem may freeze for the first time in more than 20 years, according to a tweet Friday morning from Steve Vilnit, director of fisheries marketing for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
Although the water is around the freezing point of 32 degrees now, salt water freezes at lower temperatures, according to Mark Trice, program manager for water quality programs at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. But these could come next week.
"Looking at what the forecasts are with very low temperatures headed into next week, I would expect that we would see some surface ice around the Bay Bridge," he said. "How thick I can't say, but it's not something that's that unusual. We saw similar conditions back in 2004 and also some ice cover back in 2011."
The freeze will seem mild in comparison to the last event of this kind, though.
"I don't think this is going to be as bad as the biggest freeze that we had in our generation, which was back in 1976-1977 when we had ice covers that ranged from the Susquehanna River all the way down to the Pawtuxet River," he said.
I presume they're talking about the upper Bay, near Annapolis, and that he meant the Patuxent River (there is a Pawtuxet River, but it's in Rhode Island).
Since I have lived in Maryland (I came in 1985), I have never seen the Bay freeze across, but I have seen the Patuxent River near Solomons freeze across, and I have seen the Bay here at Long Beach freeze out about a quarter mile from shore. I was surprised the last blast of arctic air did not produce more ice on the shore line, but perhaps the wind kept it too well mixed. The water is very cold now. While I haven't used a thermometer to test it, it is clear the Bay is down near the freezing mark; the tide covers ice frozen to the beach now without melting much of it.
I guess we'll find out in a few days.
Labels: Chesapeake Bay, sea ice
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Feedback Arena
Reggae / Dancehall
Drake - 0 To 100 / The Catch Up
By GreenHitz.com, June 12, 2014 in Hip-Hop
Venom_ismc
its cool...i would play it
Juan Parker
Its street! i can roll with this.
denai
this too haha
Stanislas Van Thillo
Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986), who records under the mononym Drake, is a Canadian recording artist, rapper, songwriter, and actor. He was born in Toronto, Ontario. He first garnered recognition for his role as Jimmy Brooks on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation. He later rose to prominence as a rapper, releasing several mixtapes like Room for Improvement before signing to Lil Wayne's Young Money Entertainment in June 2009.
Drake's EP, So Far Gone (2009), spawned the hit single "Best I Ever Had" and the moderate hit "Successful". His first studio album, Thank Me Later (2010), debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and generated notable singles, "Over" and "Find Your Love". It was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). His second album, Take Care (2011), is his most successful to date, topping charts in the United States and Canada and producing multiple hit singles, including "Headlines", "Take Care", "Make Me Proud", and "The Motto", the last of which is also credited for popularizing the widely used acronym YOLO. In promotion of Take Care, Drake embarked on the worldwide Club Paradise Tour, which became the most successful hip-hop tour of 2012, grossing over $42 million. His third studio album Nothing Was the Same was released on September 24, 2013. It has so far been supported by the singles "Started from the Bottom" and "Hold On, We're Going Home".
Drake has sold over 5 million albums worldwide. His work has earned him a Grammy Award, three Juno Awards, six BET Awards, and set several significant Billboard records. With twelve number-one singles, Drake has more than any other artist on Billboard's Hot Rap Songs chart. With ten number-one singles, he also has more than any other rapper on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, passing Jay-Z in August 2012. He is one of two artists (the other being 50 Cent) that has simultaneously occupied the chart's top three positions.
Drake, along with being a record producer under the pseudonym C. Papi, has also written songs for other artists, including Alicia Keys and Jamie Foxx and Trey Songz. He featured as a voice actor in Ice Age: Continental Drift as the mammoth Ethan. Drake was tied with Rihanna for the most nominations at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards. He was ranked No. 2 on MTV's Hottest MCs in the Game VII list in 2012. Drake became the #1 Rhythmic artist of 2012 based on Mediabase.
Follow @Drake on twitter!
MusicMaster202
cool track
Rob Geecheeboi Wilson
nice job....keep up the good work!!!!
Bernard Hagler
Hot record.... Drake Always bring that heat!!!! 100
World Famous DJ Mike
Banger, Banger
2dar3
Adding to my set
D.J. Goode
dooopeee tooo sweet
DJ KOSIGN
Banger!
DeejPaola
DJ Paola
where you've been ???
big one from drake!!!!
fcebrun
Another smash.
DJ SIXX
His work has earned him a Grammy Award, three Juno Awards, six BET Awards, and set several significant Billboard records.
djpayday
worddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd
Addiktion
This is a banger!
@djvolumetmu
im downloading this track real quick
Dazziko
dj fax
Hot track, Drake continues to light up the charts
cowboyfan94604
another Drizzy hit!!
DJ Alter Ego
I love it! Its hot!
dj bossman
drake always spit flamez
jaz77
LocationGilas
i like this track thanks
trakkprofessors
nice track sound like a little borwn jaimes simple to
dj infotek
this dude is giving us a nice old school beat. im feeling this all the way
sco785
THIS IS A FASHO BANGA!
DJSmooth78
0 to 1millie.
maaaaaaaadddddddd
djlittle
mdpgc
nice track...thx
Jacorro Bryant
drake of the rack
TTYOUNG24
DOPE ASS TRACK
Dj Facedown
Dj Face
djredlite
dude is hot cant take that from him
dope is back
Marcus L-Spade Johnson
Damn I hate to say it but...... This go hard! lol
Mark Caines
this song is hot i need it
suprice
this song is balling
DJMrmoney
HO;D UPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
THAT BOY AINT PLAYIN
HE KEEP DROPPIN OUT THAT REAL
b-real90
this track is ho its got an old school sound to it
djrawtune
cool song Bro
Djdirty Johnson
ceo_had2doitrecords
KG Classic
muthafuckin legend. follow us @lavaarmedia @had2doitradio @breadNbutterFA
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Tag: Han Ji-min 한지민
October 5, 2014 September 7, 2015
The Fatal Encounter (역린) – ★★★☆☆
The Fatal Encounter (역린)
The year is 1777. King Jeongjo (Hyeon Bin (현빈) has only been in power for a year yet has survived numerous assassination attempts, while the political machinations within the kingdom due to conflict with the rival Noron group has resulted in a tenuous grip on power. Paranoid and afraid, King Jeongjo retreats to a small study to protect himself and to find a resolution to the crisis, trusting only his eunuch servant Kap-soo (Jeong Jae-yeong (정재영). Unbeknownst to King Jeongjo, another attempt on his life will soon be made by a collusion between his young grandmother Queen Jeongsun (Han Ji-min (한지민) and Noron military General Goo Seon-bok (Song Yeong-chang (송영창). Yet the conspirators have also enlisted the services of an assassins guild led by Gwang-baek (Jo Jae-hyeon (조재현), who orders his best killer Eul-soo (Jo Jeong-seok (조정석) to carry out the task lest his girlfriend Wol-hye (Jeong Eun-chae (정은채) be killed instead. In the final 24 hours leading up to the attack, King Jeongjo must use every means at his disposal to save himself, his mother Lady Hyegyeong (Kim Seong-ryeong(김성령), and the very kingdom itself from the sinister coup.
The paranoid King retreats to his secluded study to avoid assassination
The Fatal Encounter (역린), also known as The King’s Wrath, is a visually impressive feature debut by director Lee Jae-gyoo (이재규), whose previous credits have largely applied to television dramas. Director Lee makes to leap to film with incredible confidence and fortitude, expertly constructing the ominous tone leading to the assassination attempt with beautifully realised composition and quite lovely cinematography. His prowess is often astonishing, ranging from scenes depicting a dark foreboding rain-soaked palace at night to stunningly colourful scenes in which the King’s clothes are dyed and worshipped; from ethereal shots on a lake during clandestine meetings to tense and sexually-charged confrontations between the King and his young grandmother. From beginning to end, The Fatal Encounter is a gorgeously attractive film.
Yet while the film is consistently visually engaging, unfortunately the same cannot be said for Choi Seong-hyeon’s (최성현) script which, while competently written, becomes weakened due to the overly-ambitious narrative juggling act and the vast number of characters within. Set in the 24 hours leading up to an assassination attempt, the narrative attempts to fill in the gaps of certain complex relationships and historical events by employing flashback sequences. This is itself is an effective storytelling device, however the great number of flashbacks utilised within the narrative structure proves a great distraction from the main tale of King Jeongjo’s efforts at securing stability within the kingdom, becoming subsumed beneath the weight of so much excess. With far too many protagonists and antagonists to cover, it’s difficult to invest in the King’s struggles, or to care that this could potentially be his final day on earth.
Scenes in which King Jeongjo confronts his grandmother are intense
The Fatal Encounter features a stellar cast, headlined by superstar Hyeon Bin as the King. The actor is an imposing presence as the royal leader, conveying a restrained strength and stoicism that is expected of such a role. The stoicism does however occasionally veer towards blankness, while the absence of subtlety suggesting paranoia is something of a missed opportunity. Interestingly it is Jeong Jae-yeong who steals the limelight as devoted eunuch Kap-soo, as he impressively balances his unquestionable loyalty to the King with nuances suggesting disquiet as well as a range of emotional angst. The best moments of the film come from the interplay between the King and Kap-soo as their relationship is explored and develops into new territory.
For the myriad of other talents within The Fatal Encounter, their characters tend to be limited to one-dimensional stereotypes, yet the cast all perform competently. Han Ji-min is particularly impressive as femme fatale grandmother Queen Jeongsun, conveying an intense sexual energy in her scenes with King Jeongjo which she has clearly perfected from her similar characterisation in Detective K.
The abundant cast results in so many narrative strands and sub-plots, in multiple time streams no less, that The Fatal Encounter loses the sense of urgency required in making the countdown to assassination compelling. While director Lee excels in crafting a visually striking film, and in executing a kinetic action-filled finale well, the overly-ambitious narrative structure ultimately combines to make The Fatal Encounter a mediocre period piece.
The Fatal Encounter is consistently visually impressive
The Fatal Encounter is a visually arresting feature film debut by Lee Jae-gyoo, who confidently and impressively constructs beautifully realised compositions of the ominous 1777 era. Yet the film loses agency due to the combination of an overly ambitious narrative structure in conjunction with an over abundance of characters, resulting in a very attractive period film that is difficult to invest in.
Busan International Film Festival (제19회 부산국제영화제) Festival News Korean Festivals 2014 Reviews
Han Gong-ju (한공주) - ★★★★★
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Syfy released Promotional Photos of Krypton episode Mercy
D. Bevers - July 28, 2019 0
Syfy has released five Promotional Photos of Krypton episode "Mercy" (2.08) that will be aired on Wednesday, July 31 at 10:00-11:00 PM. Get a first...
Syfy reveals Official Synopsis of Krypton episode Mercy
Syfy has released the Official Synopsis of Krypton episode "Mercy" (2.08) that will be aired on Wednesday, July 31 at 10:00-11:00 PM. OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS Dev and...
The CW reveals Official Synopsis of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow episode Miss Me, Kiss...
D. Bevers - January 19, 2020 0
The CW has released the Official Synopsis of DC's Legends of Tomorrow episode "Miss Me, Kiss Me, Love Me" (5.03) that will be aired...
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The CW has released a 20-seconds Teaser Trailer video of Black Lightning episode "The Book of Markovia - Chapter One" (3.10) that will be...
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Her Final Goodbye; Leslie’s Obituary
In: Journal
By Leslie Means
Last week I was saddened by an obituary I read in a small-town newspaper. The passing of this individual was, of course, heartbreaking, but the obituary was equally upsetting.
It took me less than 30 seconds to read about this person’s life. This individual needed more than just a few words about his or her time on earth. That’s when I decided to write my own obituary. I think it’s something adults should do every five years.
It’s one less thing our loved ones will have to do when we pass on. This is our chance to have a memoir published for the world to see. Below you will read my obituary. Most of it is true, but I did have to make up the end – obviously.
Leslie Means: Born Dec. 10, 1981, died TBD.
Leslie was born on a chilly December morning in Hastings, Neb. Her parents, Keith and Linda Waechter, had already done this three times prior. That made Leslie’s entrance a little less scary but still exciting.
She had three older sisters at home. They, too, shared an L name, which made it difficult for people to keep them all straight. She loved her sisters very much, and they became her best friends.
As a girl she enjoyed long bike rides near her parents’ farm. She spent numerous hours on those country roads in rural Webster County. Some of her best memories were made in what some would consider “the middle of nowhere.” To Leslie, those roads were always more than “nowhere” – they were the world. She spent most of her life sharing her love of Nebraska to anyone who would listen to her.
Math wasn’t her strong suit, but she spent hours in books and eventually wrote her own line of children’s books. And even though her 20s revolved around the TV world, she never let it get to her head. Leslie knew she could make more money at the local fast food joint than as a TV personality. That always kept her grounded.
She met less-than-desirable men during college. One got a girl pregnant, another had a bit of a drug problem. When she came across Kyle, she knew she was in for the long haul. Kyle was the most handsome gentleman she had ever met. His demeanor was much like her fathers, which she greatly appreciated. She considered her wedding day, Dec. 31, 2004, one of her greatest accomplishments.
On Aug. 3, 2008 and again on July 2, 2010, Leslie welcomed her daughters, Ella and Grace, into the world. On both of those days, Leslie understood what unconditional love meant. The girls gave Leslie such joy. She considered being a “Mama” the most important and rewarding work. Wow, she loved those girls.
She spent most of her days talking to random strangers through the internet and newspaper. She was always surprised how many people enjoyed reading what she had to say. Leslie often wished she could share her gratitude with those strangers. It meant so much to her.
When her girls graduated from high school, Leslie decided to finally write the romance novel she’d been dreaming about. The novel was so popular; it was made for the big screen. Leslie was thrilled to have enough money to pay off her own student loans. The leftover cash covered her girls’ college tuition and helped her build a dream home on the same country road she grew up loving.
In retirement, Leslie spent most of her evenings watching the sun set over miles and miles of cornfields. If she wasn’t enjoying a quiet night at home with her family, she was hosting a wine party for all of her friends.
Leslie passed in her sleep. Her husband was by her side. She requested, no tears and please, no carnations at her funeral. She would like to make it her final party, with plenty of drinks to serve! She also asked for very little sad music and would instead like guests to hear Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Boyz 2 Men and Brittany Spears tunes.
She wants all to know, especially loved ones, how much you meant to her. She knows just how blessed she was.
P.S. Obviously the last few paragraphs were made up. I could estimate the date of my death, but – eh, I don’t think I want to go there.
P.S.S It is kinda cool to know that there is a very, very high chance this will be read at my funeral. It should be like that. In my mind, we should plan our final day down to the last details!
P.S.S.S I hope I didn’t offend anyone with this post. I did a funeral/death segment during my NTV days once, and upset a few people. That’s not my intention. Death is inevitable. Might as well chat about it.
P.S.S.S.S The feature image is from O’Brien-Straatmann-Redinger Funeral Home & Cremations. These guys are great. I’ve already told them I want my body to be in their hands at the end. They make me smile – and that’s important.
and finally, P.S.S.S.S.S – my editor at the Hub is fantastic. But – he changed a few words around in my column for this week. Um, I had to change it back. You just don’t mess with an obituary – especially when it’s written by the person who is dead! Anyway, if you would like to read the correct grammar version, check it out in the Hub!
Oh wait – one more thing. I am quite serious about NO carnations. Eeew! They are a funeral flower after all. 😉 Let’s stick with zinnias – please? Thanks!
Kearney HubLeslie Means
Leslie Means
Leslie is the founder and owner of Her View From Home.com. She is also a former news anchor, published children’s book author, weekly columnist, and has several published short stories as well. She is married to a very patient man. Together they have three fantastic kids. When she’s not sharing too much personal information online and in the newspaper – you’ll find Leslie somewhere in Nebraska hanging out with family and friends. There’s also a 75% chance at any given time, you’ll spot her in the aisles at Target.
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Arata Isozaki, Installation Designer Of First Louis Kahn Retrospective, Receives Pritzker Prize
Celebrated Japanese architect Arata Isozaki wins the world’s premier lifetime achievement award in the building arts. In Philadelphia, he is known for his creative installation design of the first retrospective devoted to Louis Kahn. Lance Knickerbocker has the story
Unraveling Myths About Philly’s Pioneering African American Architect
Amy Cohen separates fact from fiction surrounding one of Philadelphia’s most famous architects, Julian Francis Abele
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In this essay Mickey Herr examines women’s roles and social norms through the history of a dollhouse spanning seven generations
The Origins of Morris Arboretum & The Mansion From Which It Bloomed
Joyce Munro walks us through the gardens of Lydia Morris in Chestnut Hill where her Victorian summer home, Compton, once turned critics cold with its flamboyant style
Replicas Of William Rush Originals Return To Fairmount Water Works
Missing for decades, two signature sculptures come home to Fairmount Water Works. A. Leonard Pundt has the details on how conservation efforts and carefully-crafted reproductions brought the iconic public artwork back to life
Ghost Station At Art Museum Rises From The Dead
Harry K. walks us through the origins of the mothballed “Art Museum Station,” now being renovated at the PMA, and one man’s visionary plan for mass transit in Philly that never came to be
Gehry, PMA Break Ground On Major Renovation
The $196 million “Core Project” to renovate key areas of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and create nearly 100,000 square feet of new space began this morning with an official ceremony
Reassessing Horace Trumbauer
Architect Horace Trumbauer left an indelible mark on the city’s landscape, yet even today he remains largely underrated. Karen Chernick talks with Bruce Laverty, curator of architecture at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, about the man behind some of Philadelphia’s most iconic architecture
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Feature Scene List: Impactful Nebraska Music Developments of 2017 | Year In Review
Scene List: Impactful Nebraska Music Developments of 2017 | Year In Review
by HN Staff | published December 22, 2017
#dio fest #good living tour #Harouki Zombi #hi fi house #lincoln calling #lucy's pub #milk run #nebraska hardcore showcase #omaha girls rock #outrspaces #queerfest #r&b #Simon Joyner #the bay
As is tradition at each year’s end, we asked a group of Nebraska music scene contributors about their favorites in local music, shows and developments while also looking ahead to 2018. So far, they have dug into the memorable live moments, single-serving tracks, compelling visuals and albums of the year.
Today, our responders give their opinions on the year’s most impactful developments in Nebraska music. While some issues have been divisive (cultural appropriation in art) and others a bummer (Milk Run’s closing), many point to positives like the scene’s youthful uprising and an increase in inclusivity and visibility for marginalized groups. Read on for more of their responses.
Kait Berreckman, Kait Berreckman Band/Omaha Girls Rock
It hasn’t been fun, but I think, like so many other issues in our country, it’s really important for us to have conversations about how to be more inclusive and sensitive, maybe just more authentic to ourselves in our art. I don’t have the answers, I do have my own opinions, but what’s impactful about these conversations is the opportunity they’ve given us to take a look inside at our own blind spots and amplify the voices of color and other marginalized groups who are sharing their authentic experiences. I’m thankful for places like HiFi House and my community at Omaha Girls Rock who are working to make it easier to have more productive conversations.
Omaha Girls Rock 2017 | photo by Lindsey Yoneda
Maya Khasin, The Morbs/Plastic Garbage
The inaugural QueerFest saw the development of a platform specifically celebrating queer artists in Nebraska. In a political climate that frequently oppresses and suppresses queer experience, a festival carving out that space in an all ages venue sends an explicit message that we have a community that will unapologetically stand behind LGBTQIA community members.
This year has revealed a lot about how the Nebraska music scene struggles with injustice, discrimination, and restoration. As we look toward the future, organizing spaces and events that explicitly prioritize justice and representation becomes critical for the vitality and authenticity of our scene.
Top: Once A Pawn at Queerfest | Bottom: Histrionic at Queerfest | photos by Arianna Bohning
Zach Schmeider, The Sydney
I’m not trying to be biased, but the Hear Nebraska Good Living Tour is so essential to the state. The Norman’s work so hard to bring great music to all parts of Nebraska and they do it with style and poise. We are lucky to have them working diligently for the cause.
Ben Eisenberger, Hussies/Screaming Plastic
Milk Run once again finding itself homeless. Of course the spirit and sentiment live on (not like DIY is going anywhere) but I think Milk Run in both of its iterations was a pretty needed space for Omaha. It’s nice to the have the addition of a space like OutrSpaces, and odd shows in other houses, but Omaha needs a modest, somewhat dingy, drab, all-ages venue hosting shows on the regular. Our city is large enough to make it happen (of course I’m sure sustaining it is the rough part) but small enough to where the police and city aren’t breathing down anyone’s necks, so it’s just something that’s definitely missed. Of course, listen to me, all talk and no walk.
I saw a “For Rent” sign in the infamous triplex’s yard the other day, so hopefully that’s a sign that the building is staying, at least for a bit. But you can’t help wonder what’s going to go down with all of the bogus Farnam gentrification (speaking of which, thank you Trey and Lallaya).
Ben Buchnat, HN Social Media Intern
I think the most impactful development for the local scene was Milk Run getting shut down again during Hardcore Fest. There aren’t a ton of DIY all-ages places in Nebraska to begin with, and seeing such a prominent one go down was such a bummer. I just turned 21, and it’s tough to try and get involved in a music scene when most of the venues are mainly 21-plus. I really hope something comes up and fills the void, because this was a huge blow.
Stone at Milk Run | photo by Ben Semisch
Dominique Morgan, Dominique Morgan & the Experience
R&B is having the year it deserves. Musicians with full bands are conquering The Waiting Room and Reverb. Its been five years in the making but we are finally here!
Enjoli at The Waiting Room for Benson First Friday Femme Fest | photo Lauren Farris
Theo Marzorati, Vega
I think Nebraska has a lot of younger bands out right that are touring very hard and are very talented. These acts show the surrounding areas that Nebraska has a lot of great music to offer the world. I hope the scene in Nebraska stays positive for the years to come.
Better Friend at Duffy’s Tavern | photo by Peter Barnes
The Ambulanters on the Good Living Tour | photo by Lauren Farris
Marq Manner, Omaha Entertainment & Arts Awards
I might have said this last year, but I still feel like our scene is young again and building again. I see next year being more of that. I have felt like we were in a downtime recently and I truly feel like we are coming out of that. I think soul music, R&B, blues, Jazz and real country is what is next for local Nebraska … including longtime players and young musicians.
David McInnis, Lucy’s Pub
New labels, bands and publications are expected with scene expansion, organizational increases and hard working publications (such as yourselves). Look out for more opportunities and great growth in general.
Shannon Claire, KZUM
I have to give it to Queerfest, with DIO Fest coming in a close second. Both of these events were held at The Bay, a perfect venue for DIY culture and supporting the “misfits” of our community. Queerfest had me misty eyed at least 3 times, seeing SO many youth present literally and figuratively, was really moving. The line up was stacked full of great diverse bands and prolific poets. It took me back to being an adolescent in the 90’s and thinking about how different my friends and my life could have been if we had public events that supported and were made up of LGBTQA community members. It was really cool. All you really want at that age is to feel included, and that event was able to provide just that. Congrats again to event founder/organizer, C Balta, and everyone who worked together to bring a safe creative event for younger generations to attend.
Tim McMahan, Lazy-i
The Harouki Zombi / Noah Sterba / Simon Joyner controversy was divisive on many levels and its impacts are still being felt throughout the Omaha music scene, unfortunately.
L Kent Wolgamott, Lincoln Journal Star
This isn’t specific to 2017 per se. Rather, it’s a culmination of trends that began about a decade ago. At its simplest – there are more concerts, venues, bands and solo artists in Nebraska now than any time in the 30 plus years I’ve been writing about music here. The reasons are multiple – Lincoln’s population growth to 250,000, which I was told was a “magic number” for music in a city to take off – and it did. Then there’s the building of Pinnacle Bank Arena here that combined with CenturyLink in Omaha means “Nebraska’s getting everything out there,” as an arena manager told me. The growth in the number of clubs/music venues has provided places for the burgeoning corps of musicians to play. All of that is interesting/important/impactful because it has raised the visibility of music in Nebraska, made it more accessible to more people and allowed the local community to thrive.
The 1975 at Pinnacle Bank Arena | photo by Lauren Farris
Nate Van Fleet, See Through Dresses
Dana Murray getting his new recording studio up and running, and getting his first new release out into the aether is a really cool step for the music community. He’s going to produce some really special music there.
Amanda DeBoer Bartlett, Omaha Under The Radar
I’m so grateful for the work and vision of OutrSpaces. They are diligent about bringing new and underrepresented genres to Omaha, and they do so with a high level of professionalism.
Chicago Academy for the Arts at Omaha Under The Radar
Split the Stick at Omaha Under The Radar
Menmosyne Quartet at Omaha Under The Radar | photos by Marti Vaughan
Sam Crisler, HN Editorial Intern
I’d say the birth of House Fest was as interesting a development as any in the scene this year. The two-day festival at Lucy’s Pub brought the Nebraska DIY community together like no other event has since I’ve been involved with the scene. If this year’s festival was any indication of what Lucy’s and We’re Trying Records are capable of doing with the event in the future, the DIY scene is in good hands going forward.
Idlefox at House Fest | photo by Lauren Farris
Walk By Sea at House Fest | photo by Lauren Farris
Malik Shabal, M Shah
I think the most interesting or impactful Nebraska music development of 2017 was the Lincoln Calling festival. It was really awesome to see so many people come out to enjoy some awesome touring artists, as well as a few local acts. I think it showed how much people in the community care about the local music scene, and I think it shows a lot of promise for local music festivals/events in the future.
Sarah Bailey, Briner/Tragic Martha
I’m interested to see where the joined forces of Hear Nebraska and The Bay are headed. I’m very excited about the mission of Rabble Mill, especially in regard to educating and empowering youth in Nebraska. Professional development to help young Nebraska musicians can only mean great things for the youth involved and the future of the music scene here.
Taylor Sankey, Milk Run
Um, are you kidding me? The launch of Rabble Mill is so incredibly exciting! I wish I had the same resources when I was in my most impressionable years, but seeing these opportunities arise for young people is amazing and I’m anticipating everything that will come to be in the years to follow because of this development! You guys rock.
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Reviews & Editorials
Hype Malaysia
Events Hype’s Exclusive: #FMFA15 Partygoers, Brace Yourselves For A Darude Type Of Storm
Hype’s Exclusive: #FMFA15 Partygoers, Brace Yourselves For A Darude Type Of Storm
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Who knew that the humble beginnings of being an amateur musician to playfully meddling with music production can lead one man to defining electronic dance music and making history?
Ville Virtanen otherwise known as Darude is a Finnish electronic dance music producer and DJ from Eura, Hinnerjoki. He started making music in 1996 and released the hit single “Sandstorm” in late 1999 and subsequent album “Before the Storm” in 2000. His music is characterised by its progressive/uplifting (trance) style.
Source: facebook.com/Darude
“Sandstorm” was a smash hit #3 in Finland and UK, selling platinum and holding the #1 spot on the Finnish Dance Chart for 17 consecutive weeks. Word quickly spread about the track, which found global success. After becoming the #3 single in the United Kingdom (becoming the first record by a Finnish artist to do so), “Sandstorm” eventually sold 2 million units worldwide, and was the world’s biggest selling 12-inch single in 2000.
If you haven’t already heard it multiple times in the past like seriously we can’t even fathom why you wouldn’t have, listen to it here:
Now, that says a lot for someone who didn’t have to rely on social media to promote his music!
In December last year, it was announced that Darude has been added to the league of top DJs/producers who will be performing at the upcoming Future Music Festival Asia 2015 (FMFA 2015). And now that we’re just a few weeks shy of what is slated to be the best FMFA event we’ve ever seen, we caught up real quick with the man himself when he rang us up over the weekend for a little chat. Needless to say, we were ecstatic.
Here’s what went down:
Hi Ville! Thank you so much for calling. Where are you right now and what are you currently up to?
Hello! I’m here, I’m currently in my studio.
I know you probably get this question a lot, about “Sandstorm”. That was a defining moment for your career as well as the electronic dance music scene. Do you remember how you were inspired to make that track?
Ohh, oh man. I don’t remember specifics but when I was making that track, around that time, I was basically studying and poorly! So I would go out 2 or 3 or 4 times a week – just sober, not that much of actually partying. I just went out to listen to local DJs and I wasn’t a DJ myself at that point. They were playing playing all kinds of German dance music and trance. I pretty much ran home to my computer after that and started making music. I was analysing what I heard and just was inspired by it and tried to make a little myself. It was a really cool time because I wasn’t thinking of anything, just driven by what I heard and inspired to make something similar.
Source: Darude official press pic
Well, I have to say that has been immortalised for me, coming from a dance music fan who saw you play in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia about..easily more than 10 years ago! Do you remember that?
You came there! Yes, I do remember that. I played in Kuala Lumpur for the first time and I remember that it was such craziness. It was maybe 2002 or maybe 2003.
So, considering the fact that you’ve been around for way longer than most of the EDM-styled DJs/producers, what do you think are the biggest changes that the scene has gone through?
Well, I think that the sort of generic answer to that question is..everything in music seems to evolve and it has. A genre becomes popular and then it peaks after 2 years and then it goes back down. We had what happened to trance in 2001/2002, and then there was a huge thing with dubstep and it’s still here, and then there’s trap which has been huge, and of course EDM. But if you want to talk about EDM..I don’t really like that term. What people usually think EDM is these days..that sound is going to be toning down a little bit to make way for more melodic things and musical things. Maybe people are just tired of jumping up and down!
Source: dancemusicnw.com
And while we’re on the topic of music, I read somewhere that in 2013, you said that you were working on an artiste album. Is that still in the works and are there any interesting collabs that you can talk about?
Yes! I can finally talk about that. I finally have something due well not today but to show very soon. We’re about to release a single, the first single off my upcoming album. It has been mastered and it’s ready to go, and we are timing it with Future Music Festival. I think we’re scheduling the release for sometime towards the end of March. I’m very happy about that because it has been a long time coming. My family had some hard times and that took up a lot of my time, and then there’s also all kinds of record label stuff that goes into play here but finally, it’s ready. And it couldn’t be a better time too because I get to play my new music at Future Music Festival, both Australia and Singapore.
You have my highest respect for first introducing me to dance music way back when I was only 19 years old and that’s something I’ll always remember you for. What kind of legacy would you hope to leave for your other fans?
Oh wow. Legacy is a big word here haha. I don’t see myself as someone who’s leaving a legacy or anything like that but if somebody remembers me because of “Sandstorm” or any other tracks of mine, or even when I meet fans, things like that touches my life quite deeply. I love to, if possible, go hang out with people and just talk to them. If I want to be remembered for something, it’s how I connect with people. Because they are what keeps me going.
Some of us, like myself, have not seen you play live in a decade. What can your fans expect from you, from your upcoming gig at Future Music Festival Asia in Singapore next month?
It’s really good leading to this! Well, I like festivals and I know festivals are tricky because the stages are huge and we’re detached from the crowd and such. But I like making eye contact with people to get involved more with the crowd. As a DJ, I feel like I need to be some sort of a performer and engager, and people need to feel like there are emotions exchanged when I play. So they can expect that.
Thank you so much for the chat, Ville, and see you next month at FMFA 2015!
Thank you so much! I feel like we’ve basically met already. See you next month and please do come say hi.
The full FMFA 2015 lineup can be found here. Special thanks to our friends from Milk PR and Livescape Asia for making this interview happen!
For more information on Darude, hit up his website or Facebook page.
#Darude
#FMFA15
#FMFA2015
#Sandstorm
FMFA 2015
FMFA 2015 Lineup
FMFA Singapore
Hype's Exclusive
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Eats, sleeps, & breathes music, but drinks mostly coffee & okay, some wine - sometimes, a little too much. A little too obsessed with the number seven, is deathly afraid of horror movies, believes that she writes better than she speaks, & currently feeling a little strange writing a profile about herself.
#CoffeeRun: deadmau5 Takes Darude On A Little Epic “Runstorm”
April Fools’: YouTube Partners With Darude For A Massive Sandstorm Troll
(UPDATE) #FMFA15: Livescape Asia Confirms Cancellation Of Festival
(UPDATE) #FMFA15: Livescape Asia’s Appeal To Hold Festival Turned Down
#FMFA15: Livescape Asia’s Statement Regarding Permit Issues + Contingency Plans
#FMFA15: The Lineups + Ins & Outs + Essentials Of The Festival
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Introduced as the bigger Hobie 14, the Hobie 16 revolutionised the multi hull scene when it first appeared in 1971. Forty plus years later, this boat continues to attract great sailors. Powerful enough for the world champion, yet forgiving enough for the novice, the 16 can be characterised as the Laser of the catamaran world. It’s a dual trapeze boat for two or more crew that can be sailed in strong winds.
The First Hobie 16 Worlds
It all started on Monday, November Ist 1976. The initial two days of competition were devoted to qualifying races for those teams yet to earn their spot to compete in the final event. Fifty-one entries came from all over the world already prequalified, leaving open another 33 slots to unqualified skippers. A total of 77 teams were on hand to race during those first two days in hope of filling one of the remaining chances at the title.
Two races were staged on Monday, “kona” conditions prevailed, with the wind blowing from the south at 5 to 10 knots. The third through sixth races of the qualifying series were run on Tuesday, with wind increasing through the day from 5 to 15 knots, steady from the west. Total points were tallied for the entire six race series to determine the qualifiers.
Wednesday, the first day of championship racing, was dramatic. Eighty-four teams would compete through Friday (each team racing twice per day) for the final cut. Wind for the first two races was a stiff 18 to 20 knots, increasing for the third and fourth races to small craft warning intensity of 25 knots with gusts over 30 knots. These last two races proved to be almost too challenging, boats flipped at every mark, sails were damaged, and it took plain strength and courage just to finish.
The third race turned into a matter of survival as one of the teams turned turtle and crew member Steve Crawford was nearly drowned when trapped by his trapeze wire, tangled around his ankle and holding him two feet under water. Only quick thinking on the part of Crawford’s skipper, Keith Logan, who dived under giving Crawford breaths of air, as he hung trapped under the boat, and the unselfish abandonment of their own race position by Russ Eddington and Jim Black of California, who shot across the course to render assistance, saved Steve’s life.
Altogether 17 boats did not finish in the four races of the day.
The Hawaiian winds continued to batter the Hobie sailors on Thursday. Ranging from 20 to 25 knots, with gusts to 35 knots, the forceful winds persisted as the major factor in the competition. Boat repair on the beach between races was a mad scramble. Many boats flipped in each race, sometimes only to go over again after being righted. Undaunted but unbelievably tired, the crews continued to race. Hobie Alter chose to sail one race without a jib, and almost 25% of the boats in the last race sailed with reefed mains, to reduce the power of the sail. Competition was keen, the challenge served only to knit the international contestants closer together as they shared strategy and reports on the beach between their struggles on the water.
The top five teams to watch for were becoming apparent. As of Thursday night, they were Froome and Driscoll of Hawaii, Loufek and Canepa of California, Hutchings and Lynn of Hawaii, and two Australian teams-Horsley/ Forbes, and Bray/Joyce.
The gods relented and competition continued on Friday under much less severe conditions. Winds ranged from 5 to 20 knots, considerably more gentle than during the week but still blowing inconsistently with devastating gusts. The scheduled four races were held, series scores for each team were compiled from the skippers’ best five races, and the top half of the field , 42 teams, were announced at a banquet at the Kaimana Hotel. These final 42 teams would race twice on Saturday to determine the World Champion Hobie 16 skipper and crew.
Dino and J.D. (that’s Froome and Driscoll) took a third in their first race of the day and put in a 27th place in their last race, which would obviously be counted as their throwaway. Three other Hawaiian teams moved into the top five positions overall, relishing the familiar conditions which other skippers were finding so strenuous. “Whiz Kid” Loufek and “Goat Horns” Canepa stood in the top five as the lone Californians.
The Australian teams continued to place consistently and the day’s milder events brought on some new faces as the leaders in each race, including: the Tahitian team of Gerald Sachet and Heneri Lucas; the Puerto Rican team of Ronnie Ramos and Eugene Balzac, the South African team of Gordon Monsen and Andrew Wilson, and five Californian teams-Russ Eddington and Jim Black, Rich Eddington and Brian Lewis, Wayne Schafer and Mike Holmes, Randy Hatfield and Kim Jacob, and Bob and Jana Seaman.
Between races and after-hours, everyone luxuriated within the plush and hospitable embrace of the Outrigger Canoe Club. The setting was tropically perfect and the food and service were impeccable. Helpful in every way, their staff proved to be such an asset that we are forever spoiled “mahalo” to Norm Riede, Dave Hoffman, Bob Costa, Fran Pearson and their numerous assistants.
The tension and excitement were evident Saturday morning. Racers were absorbed in concentration. Crowds lined all the beaches of Waikiki to watch the Hobie Cats pound through the surf. Each capsize was greeted with collective oohhs and aahhs from the shore, most everyone carried a score sheet and kept track of their favourite sailors, and some of the Hobie sailing lingo was creeping into conversations along the beach among the “fans” that had followed the competition daily.
Arithmetic showed that several of the top skippers were still in contention for the title. The races were the longest so far, and the lead boats changed on every leg of the course. Not until the first boats crossed the finish line of the final race was it evident that Froome and Driscoll had won the event with near perfect sailing, remarkable endurance, and their own style of “hooting and hollering” through the courses.
They edged out Richard Loufek and Jeff Canepa of California by a scant 24 points overall. The top fifteen Hobie 16 teams would include six Hawaiian teams, five Californians, three Australians and a Puerto Rican team. The competition was intense, the conditions unforgiving, and the laurels well earned.
For now, it is “pau”, until next year when the best will again challenge each other and the elements for possession of the pie.
Written by Beth Parker 1976
First Published in Hobie Hotline
Volume 6, Number 1, Jan-Feb 1977
1976 Honolulu Hawaii USA
1978 San Padre Island Texas USA
1980 St Croix US Virgin Islands USA
1982 Papeete Tahiti
1984 Fort Walton Beach Florida USA
1986 Suva Fiji
1988 Scheveningen The Netherlands
1991 Langebaan South Africa
1993 Guadeloupe French West Indies
1995 Huatulco Mexico
1996 Dubai United Arab Emirates
1997 Sotogrande Spain
1998 Airlie Beach Australia
2002 Noumea New Caledonia
2004 Riviera Maya Mexico
2005 Nelson Mandela Bay Sth Africa
2010 Waihai China
2014 Jervis Bay Australia
2016 Dapeng China
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Mission and Student Learning Outcomes
Honors Program Benefits
Honors Program Alums
Honors Requirements and Applying to Honors
Honors Special Topics Courses
Study Abroad and Study Away
Honors Program Student Awards
Phyllis G. Betts Award for Academic Excellence
Honors Program Citizenship Award
Great Ideas Grants
Recent Honors Events
Information on Honors Requirements and Expectations
Honors Semester in London
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Honors courses are open to students formally admitted to the University Honors Program. Designed for talented and self-directed students, the Honors Program's curriculum complements the Liberal Arts Core and major curricula. Honors sections of LANG 120, Humanities Program courses, and other courses count toward Honors Program requirements to graduate with Distinction as a University Scholar or Recognition as an Honors Scholar. For more information on these acknowledgements and other Honors Program requirements, see the tabs below or contact the Honors Director, Patrick Bahls, at pbahls@unca.edu or the Honors account at honors@unca.edu.
Applying to the Honors Program
There are three means of admission to the Honors Program.
1. Entering as a first-year student in the first semester of college.
[Note: at this time, applications from students entering the university in Fall 2018 are no longer being accepted.]
Many students apply for the Honors Program as high school seniors, upon their acceptance to UNC Asheville. Applicants must also complete in-person or at-a-distance meetings with Honors faculty; more information will be made available to those who complete the online application. Please note that the Honors Program does not rely solely on traditional measures of academic achievement in high school (e.g., GPA or standardized test scores); rather, we seek students who distinguish themselves by a passion for authentic learning, willingness to take risks in a scholarly setting, and interest in applying their academic skills in a community context. If you care deeply about your studies, we encourage you to apply! For more information about the application process, please contact the Honors Director, Patrick Bahls, at pbahls@unca.edu or the Honors account at honors@unca.edu.
2. Entering after one or more semesters of study at UNC Asheville.
Students who have completed at least one semester of study at UNC Asheville may join the program provided they have a cumulative UNC Asheville GPA of 3.5 or higher and a letter of recommendation from a UNC Asheville instructor who can speak to the student's fitness for the Honors Program. Recommendation letters should be emailed directly to the Honors Director, Patrick Bahls, at pbahls@unca.edu and to the Honors account at honors@unca.edu. Note: typically continuing students are only admitted to the program between terms or during the first two weeks of a given term.
3. Entering as a transfer student upon acceptance to UNC Asheville.
Transfer students who wish to apply to the Honors Program must have an overall GPA of at least 3.5 and two letters of recommendation from instructors at the institution from which they are transferring. Recommendation letters from the instructors should be emailed directly to the Honors Director, Patrick Bahls, at pbahls@unca.edu and to the Honors account at honors@unca.edu. Note: typically transfer students are only admitted to the program between terms or during the first two weeks of a given term.
Notes. The UNC Asheville Honors Program may grant Honors credit for honors coursework taken at other institutions, on a case-by-case basis. The Program also holds memoranda of understanding with several community colleges in North Carolina; these agreements help students obtain honors credit for courses taken in these colleges' honors programs. (See the accordion tab below for more information on these programs.) Please meet with the Honors Director about getting credit for honors coursework taken elsewhere than UNC Asheville.
Requirements to remain in good standing with the Honors Program
To remain in good standing with the Honors Program, students must meet the criteria listed below. Ordinarily, students not meeting these requirements will have one semester after falling below the standards to comply. In special cases, as indicated below, the Honors Program Director will regularly assess the standing of students who make significant progress toward compliance. Students who remain in noncompliance with no progress after one semester will be suspended from the program and will have to reapply for admission through the Honors Program office.
Students must maintain an overall GPA of at least 3.25. A student whose overall GPA falls below 3.25 will have one semester in which to raise the GPA to the minimum level. If after one semester, the GPA remains below 3.25, the student may request a waiver from the Honors Program Director to remain in the program. The Director, after consultation with the student’s instructors for the term in question, may grant such a waiver in extenuating circumstances.
Regular enrollment in Honors courses
Students must complete at least 3 hours of Honors credit every other semester. Students not meeting this criterion may request a waiver from the Honors Program Director to remain in the program. The Director may grant such a waiver in extenuating circumstances.
Requirements to graduate with Distinction as a University Scholar
1. Complete a minimum of 21 hours of credit in Honors courses.
Additionally, these 21 hours must include at least two 3 or 4-credit-hour Honors Special Topics seminars at the 300-level or higher, and an Honors section of LA 478. Readings in Honors courses and Honors Undergraduate Research may count toward the 21 hours, as can study abroad courses at the 300-level or higher. More information about getting credit for study abroad courses can be found in the tab below or by visiting the Honors office.
2. Achieve an overall GPA of at leat 3.25 and a GPA for Honors courses of at least 3.5.
3. Successfully complete a service-learning project as part of the Honors section of LA 478. Centered on civic engagement and culminating in a service-learning experience, Honors LA 478 will bring together students from all disciplines for research, discussion, and group projects dealing with diversity, equity, and inclusion. Important registration information: Students wanting to enroll in Honors LA 478 must contact the Honors Program director no later than the end of pre-registration of the semester prior to the one in which the student plans to enroll in the course. Demand for Honors LA 478 is always high, and students are encouraged to plan far in advance.
Requirements to graduate with Recognition as an Honors Scholar
Beginning in Fall 2016, the UNC Asheville Honors Program will confer this new form of recognition on students who do not meet the rigorous conditions required for Distinction as a University Scholar but who still show sustained involvement with and contribution to the program. Unlike Distinction, Recognition as an Honors Scholar will not appear on a student’s official university transcript. Rather, students will receive a certificate acknowledging their achievements and the honor will be recorded officially in the Honors Program’s records.
To receive Recognition as an Honors Scholar, students must complete at least 12 hours of Honors coursework at UNC Asheville, which must include at least one 3- or 4-hour Honors Special Topics seminar and an Honors section of LA 478. They must also maintain an overall GPA of at least 3.25 and a GPA of at least 3.5 in Honors coursework.
For more information on Recognition, please contact the Honors Director, Patrick Bahls, at pbahls@unca.edu or the Honors account at honors@unca.edu.
Receiving Honors credit for honors courses taken elsewhere
If you have honors credits from an honors program or honors college at another institution of higher education before transferring to UNC Asheville, you may receive Honors credit at UNCA for this prior work. All such recognition of honors credit is handled on a case-by-case basis. Please contact the Honors Director, Patrick Bahls, at pbahls@unca.edu for more information.
Note. The UNC Asheville Honors Program has signed formal memoranda of understanding with the following two-year colleges in North Carolina, guaranteeing recognition of a specific number of credits of honors coursework; please contact Patrick Bahls for more information on these agreements:
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College
Haywood Community College
Robeson Community College
Southwestern Community College
Wake Technical Community College
Wayne Community College
Receiving Honors credit for study abroad courses
To receive Honors credit for study abroad courses:
Students must come to the Honors Program office before leaving for study abroad and have their names added to the Honors Study Abroad list. Students may receive up to 6 hours of Honors credit for one semester of study abroad coursework or 9 hours of Honors credit for a full year of study abroad, provided they take courses at the 300 level or above. Students may receive at most 4 hours of Honors Special Topics credit (HON 373 or HON 374).
To receive Honors credit, each student must write a reflective essay of three or more pages highlighting some of their experiences and describing ways in which they gained new insights into their selves and other world cultures. Photos from the study abroad experience should be included and formatted as JPEGs. These essays and photos must be submitted to the Honors Program Director and Assistant and are due before the end of the second week of classes after students return. The Honors Program may publish excerpts from student essays and students' photos on the Honors website.
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Email: honors@unca.edu
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h+ Media | Beyond Otaku: Transhumanism and Judaism - h+ Media
Does Humanity Need an AI Nanny? The Million Year Life Span
Beyond Otaku: Transhumanism and Judaism
August 18, 2011 Editorials, Transhumanism
authors Joshua Fox
Transhumanism seeks to bring about a radically transformed future, one in which every aspect of our human existence is changed for the better. The ideology, though not explicitly dependent on any one culture, is in practice tightly bound with Silicon Valley way of life: intellectual, elitist, Americentric, secular, and technophilic.
Ethnic groups world-wide have developed distinctive elements such as oral traditions, literature, song, visual art, crafts, languages, family structures, ritual, moral systems, and much more. If Transhumanism completely remakes mankind in its own image, we will lose the best of thousands of world cultures, from New Guinea to Lappland. Transhumanists counter that in their preferred future, people will be permitted to retain their atavisms Amish-style, or else to adopt for themselves features of any culture, just as people today can choose punk, Goth, Otaku, or polyamory.
These alternatives leave a thin broth in place of yesterday’s rich stew. Western civilization has already swamped thousands of now-dead cultures, eliminating both their good and their bad aspects. Transhumanism threatens to wipe out all the rest.
Many transhumanists strive to based their principles and beliefs on culture-neutral rational principles, such as utilitarianism. Yet cultural neutrality does not require neutralizing culture. Transhumanism also believes in “Humanity Plus,” in enhancing the best of what makes us human. This includes not only universal values, but also those found in the tremendous variety of cultures. There is a more out there than furries and anime. We must open a path into the future for these myriad cultures.
The path-breaking Transhumanism belief-system does draw on richer historical roots than are readily visible in its future-looking ideas. Though these are less important influences, they serve as a reminder that not all is rationalist-libertarian-atheist. Transhumanism has drawn on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s Jesuit learning, as well as the Taoist and Buddhist insights of East Asia, the Paleolithic lifestyle represented by today’s hunter-gatherers, and the Russian Orthodox traditionalism of Nikolay Fedorovich Fedorov. This essay will trace the connection to Transhumanism of another source: The Jewish culture, religion and ethnic group.
The Roots of Apocalyptic
The Singularity is a modern apocalyptic, the End of Days: the looming threat of world-destroying nanobots, or an superintelligent machine as world-devouring demon-god. Along with that, the Singularity offers the promise of a Messianic Transition Guide to lead us to utopia, with a Singleton AI as benevolent god-figure–or, as Eliezer Yudkowsky has put it, an entity greater than any god ever imagined.
The idea of the apocalypse (originally meaning “revelation”) emerged in Judaism during the late Biblical period, under the influence of Persian Zoroastrianism. The idea reached the form we know today around the turn of the era, emerging in both Judaism and Christianity.
As Steven Kaas points out, the concept of Singularity differs sharply from the religious version of the Abrahamic religions. Still, there is no doubt that the Rapture of the Nerds evokes many of the same feelings as the Jewish and Christian Apocalypse. And of these two religious visions, the Singularity more closely resembles the Jewish version, in which the Messianic era is purely earthly, a much-improved political situation, with people living their lives in a material Utopia, not transfigured into a spiritual existence.
There is precedent for strivings towards an earthly Messianic era, with overtones of Transhumanism. Socialists, and particularly the idealists of the late nineteenth century, looked forward to the hell-and-heaven of a secular End of Days, with science and technology as guides. Theodor Herzl likewise offered a technophilic and universalistic solution to the age-old problem of anti-Semitic persecution. Libertarians, who are disproportionately represented among Transhumanists, envisage a Utopia brought about by the elimination of government interference in society.
A disproportionate number of Jews are leaders in Transhumanism, as also in these other Utopian ideologies. This may be due to the influence on Jews of their tradition’s materialist apocalyptic; or this may simply be another case of Jews’ outsized representation in many areas of endeavor in modern society. But either way, a glance at any list of well-known Transhumanists shows that the Jewish people has contributed disproportionately towards this effort to improve humanity’s future. Ironically, the number of Jews involved also means that Judaism also gets a disproportionate amount of the anti-religious reactions common in the movement.
Israel and the Future
The Jewish people has re-built its national home in Israel. This state leads the world in many areas of interest to Transhumanists: computer science, software and hardware development, bio-tech, and others. I’ll refer you to an article by Hank “Hyena” Pellissier in an earlier issue of H+Magazine for the details, and I’ll let Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fill in the picture, with his speech at the United Nations in September 2009:
…. The allure of freedom, the power of technology, the reach of communications should surely win the day. Ultimately, the past cannot triumph over the future. And the future offers all nations magnificent bounties of hope. The pace of progress is growing exponentially ….
What seemed impossible a few years ago is already outdated, and we can scarcely fathom the changes that are yet to come. We will crack the genetic code. We will cure the incurable. We will lengthen our lives. We will find a cheap alternative to fossil fuels and clean up the planet.
I am proud that my country Israel is at the forefront of these advances – by leading innovations in science and technology, medicine and biology, agriculture and water, energy and the environment. These innovations the world over offer humanity a sunlit future of unimagined promise ….
Figure 1: Theodor Herzl’s rejected proposal for a Zionist flag: Stars of David for the Jewish heritage; seven stars for the seven hours of the working day; white background to symbolize purity.
Moral Complexity
I have traced several lines of connection between Judaism and Transhumanism: The rise of apocalyptic, with a focus on a material rather than an other-worldly Utopia; the outsized contribution of Jews to Transhumanism; and the role of the state of Israel in benefiting humanity through technological progress.
But I have not traced a connection between Transhumanism and Judaism as a religion. In Transhumanism, attitudes towards religion range from evangelical atheism to a diffuse personal spirituality. Support for organized religion is few and far between, with Lincoln Cannon’s Transhumanist Mormonism and Tohamer Toth-Fejel’s Catholicism as notable exceptions. There is no explicit connection between the Jewish religion and transhumanism. But Judaism, though it includes religion in the post-Enlightenment sense of personal spirituality, is more than that. It is also an ethnic group, an ancient civilization, a state, and a system of rules for daily life, including ethical principles
There is another area where Judaism’s contribution is crucial. Judaism was the origin of ethical monotheism. Other civilizations have established their own moral systems, all related through their origin in our evolutionary past, but the moral backdrop established by Judaism has spread world-wide through the civilization in which Transhumanism thrives, to a large extent through the medium of Christianity. We define morality here not simply in the narrow sense of “altruism,” but, in accordance with the Jewish legal system, as “the best way to order society and human life.”
Jewish religious law frames its commandments as divinely inspired imperatives , not merely as calculations of personal benefit, nor as arbitrary customs. The laws are not necessarily moral injunctions. Seen from the ethical perspective commonly adopted by Transhumanists, which tries to be culturally neutral while taking its guidance from Enlightenment principles such as individual choice, the ethical weight of the precepts vary from the immoral to the moral.
Some of Jewish religious law, like divorce regulations, are from the modern perspective immoral. (We should note, however, that such Biblical commandments as the extermination of enemy tribes are proto-Jewish, not Jewish; the religion has evolved radically since the writing of the Bible.)
Other rules, like dietary taboos, are morally neutral. Yet others, like rules for sexual behavior, are immorally restrictive of liberty from a modern Western perspective, yet considered key to morality by billions of people worldwide, including those who are followers of an Abrahamic religion.
But many of the religious precepts of Judaism are explicit demands for just behavior towards others, without hope of immediate reward. It is this ancient background, more than any utilitarian calculations or abstract deontological universal imperatives, which has shaped our altruistic feelings into what we call “morality” today.
Transhumanism as a whole has a “techno-volatile” world-view, foreseeing either tremendous benefit or tremendous harm from technology. This makes the definition of morality critical; when we set technology on a course, we may find that it takes us to a destination far beyond what we can imagine today.
There is thus a tension between simplicity and complexity in moral definitions. On the one hand, as technological power tends to an extreme, it is much easier to extrapolate its effect under simpler moral calculations.
David Pearce’s negative hedonism, the elimination of suffering, can be extrapolated to a world where no living being, neither human nor any other animal, experiences the subjective pain which today serves as a low-level driver for higher-level behavioral choices. Eliminating suffering is important, and it would be unfair to deprecate Pearce’s philosophy for “compromising” by seeking nothing more than the total elimination of pain. Yet morality as we intuit it, whatever it is, is much more than that.
Another Transhumanist philosophy, one which Hugo de Garis calls “Cosmism” and reluctantly advocates, ascribes primary moral value to increased intelligence. It is simple to extrapolate this morality under radical technological improvement, and relatively simple to guide the future towards perfection under this moral system. All that is needed is to fill the world with intelligent thought, and the ideal is achieved. Yet morality, again, is far more than that. An “artilect,” a superintelligence which is able to maximize intelligent thought by converting the world to ultraefficient computer processors, computronium, and then setting these processors to intelligent thought, would not have achieved moral perfection, as most of us see it.
The Singularity Institute is working on the formal definition of a decision-theory based on utilitarianism, which in the limiting case fulfills each human’s true desires with the help of a friendly superintelligence. Again, a simple definition and a relatively simple extrapolation.
The definition does try to subsume, within its compact specification, the complexity of individual human volition. And no doubt the ultimate solution, if any, will be based on something like this approach. Yet each individual’s desires sometimes contradict each other, as the science of heuristics and biases has shown. For example, the Trolley Problem, which poses certain moral quandaries to test subjects, produces results which apparently contradict not only each other but also utilitarian ethics. The “Framing Effect” bias produces mutually contradictory answers to moral questions by a single respondent depending on how the situation is described. Though the utilitarian formula “the greatest good for the greatest number” can cover pretty much any moral system with an appropriate choice of definition for “good” (technically, a utility function), human morality simply doesn’t work that way, and human morality is the only kind we can work with.
Moreover, in a world where different people want different things, reconciling their desires may be impossible. Ben Goertzel, Chairman of Humanity+, describes a Coherent Aggregated Volition which tries to average out human desires. But game theory has known, at least the 1940s, of difficulties and paradoxes in rules-based preference aggregation, as for example Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem. The notion that one could average out human desire is a simplification.
Worse, even if one could average out human desires, what would emerge would not necessarily look like what most Transhumanists consider morality. It seems likely, for example, that an average of all humans’ attitudes towards homosexuality would work out to condemnation, or at least disapproval.
Eliezer Yudkowsky of the SIAI attempts to solve this with his proposal for Coherent Extrapolated Volition, in which the desires of humanity are not only averaged, but also extrapolated into the future towards what “we would wish if we knew more, thought faster, were more the people we wished we were.” The results of this extrapolation are not known precisely, but the dominant assumption seems to be that this future wisdom would be based on the liberal-secular-Western principles of the culture which surrounds the SIAI–augmented with other as-yet-unknown moral sentiments. The presumptuous notion that humans’ desires would converge under extrapolation at all, and that the SIAI’s host culture would serve as the core of this outcome, are simplifications with little evidence to support them.
Ray Kurzweil’s approach at least resolves the problem of oversimplification. He believes that humans will merge with machines. Rising intelligence and power will be controlled directly by humans, and thus will reflect human values in all their complexity. Unfortunately, humans are unreliable, and we cannot rely on individuals to use their power responsibly, particularly since their minds’ architecture could change in new and unpredictable ways as they merge with their computers; nor is there any guarantee that we will merge with our computers before a standalone AI self-improves itself to super-human intelligence levels.
Socialists also tried to discard our complex and contradictory morality, which was brewed by human societies out of the original psychological ingredients created by evolution; they wanted to eliminate the complex “bourgeois morality” and replace it with simple formulas like “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need,” “for the good of society,” and “for the good of the state.” Then, as the power of the state trended towards totality, the results were 100 million deaths and much more suffering.
In contrast to these simplifications, real human morality is a complex and internally inconsistent mess, as Joshua Greene has described. Morality is built of ad hoc and sometimes contradictory modules designed by evolution, and then further developed in human societies. If we really want a moral future, we must set our technology on a course towards true morality, which is deeply human, and not simple at all.
What is usually called morality, in the larger civilization in which Transhumanism is embedded, has been shaped by its Jewish origins. No one will develop brain-altering drugs to implement a morality based on the Jewish religion, or any other; nor will anyone assign a super-human AI to make this happen. The results would differ too often from personal definitions of morality in a world with thousands of cultures and billions of individuals. But the principles which emerge from this ancient, inconsistent source serve as a reminder that the world is not simple, nor is the definition of what it means to make the world a better place.
Joshua Fox works at IBM, where he co-founded the Guardium Data Redaction product and now manages its development. He has served as a software architect in various Israeli start-ups and growth companies. He received a BA in Mathematics and Judaic Studies from Brandeis and a PhD in Semitic Philology from Harvard. He is a long-time supporter and now a Research Associate of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Links to his talks and articles are available at his website and blog.
Live Long and Prosper. Umm, we’ll Get Back To You On That Prosper Bit
The Singularity and Transhumanism
Humanity+ @ Silicon Valley
Interview: Gabriel Rothblatt Congressional Candidate in Florida’s 8th District
Time Travelling Transhumans (T^3)
Future Shock Levels
Doc Freezy September 5, 2011, 1:07 am
Religion has no place within the walls of 21st century society, it bears no benefits to those ‘believers’ and should be admonished by anyone who encounters it. The sooner humanity grasps the spiritual enlightenment of atheism, the sooner the world will have less chaos and evil. Religion is ignorance manifest.
zeev September 4, 2011, 12:47 pm
i’ve considered the theme of messianism in judaism (and christian baptist thought) versus the theme of techno-utopianism.
just as with the trend of budhhism being adopted in the west disproportionately by secular jews ( jubu’s they are frequently called ) who have become american neo-budhist figureheads such as sharon salzburg, you are also seeing this with transhumanism.
key the biggest name so far—-mr singularity himself, ray kurzweil.
there is a new brand , if , ill defined breed–not really priests——-of figureheads involved in the messy variety of groups under the transhumanism umbrella.
the problem here is of social cohesion.
on one hand , messianic movements have clear hierarchy. on the other —transhumanist technoutopianism has a magazine –H+, and possesses numerous associations with various associations.
of course, transhumanism is the messianic embrace of where a technouptopian model can lead the human mind, a place of less pain, more ethics, less suffering ( highly budhist ideas), but the wiser utopianists, are focussing on the satanic problems of where techno embrace has already led us , the problems of further concentration of power, the problems of the use of communications technology to control increasing numbers of people with fewer resources.
technoutopianism, needs a satan. it needs a concise theory of what is wrong and what are the damaging attributes of man which, in particular, technology itself ( enumerated for each specific technology area) exacerbates .
ultimately. transhumanism needs to be filled with more ideas, in order to eventually hack off the excess, then polish what’s left for presentation to the masses—for presentation and a promotional religion.
it’s going there. and i for one would love to be part of that. I’m a lawyer, i like to read about organizational psychology, and i am very confident giving public speeches as well 🙂
Smith September 1, 2011, 1:38 pm
All religion is evil.
Hank Hyena August 30, 2011, 4:50 am
great article, Joshua. I appreciate you writing about this topic, that I also wrote about, and others before me. Can you make sure the Israeli H+ chapter sees it? I will let them know about it. Also there is a week-long transhumanist conference there in October – I am going to try to attend. I really see Israel as a leading light in H+.
Eray Ozkural August 29, 2011, 10:56 am
I mean to say above that SCIENCE has disproven religion, so what is there to talk about? Creationism is false. Dualism is FALSE. Supernatural entities? Well, there is simply no room for that in our universe. There may be room for it in mythological fiction, but am I giving examples from, say, Greek mythology, talking about how Apollo was a model of transhuman, or something silly like that. What stupidity that would be!
As if mythology is related to reality in any way, it may be related to our mental imagination and ability of producing fiction, but if you would like to read good fiction, read the novels of transhumanist science fiction writers. Therein you will find a much stronger spirit of transhumanism than in any mythology!!!!!!
If you are looking for something sacred, you can find it in the wonder of the physical universe. You can find it in the courageous quest of natural philosophy: that is true transcendence, when man discovered the principles of reasoning, or the laws of physics. When you refer to gods that do not exist, when you talk of ancient mythology that has absolutely no basis in natural philosophy, you are merely belittling yourself. Mythology is fiction. Those holy books have no more value than horror novels. I recommend that you see it at that, and do not try to force your ignorant opinion on true philosophers.
I am rightly offended when the ignoramus suggest things like positivism is like religious dogmatism, that they are two sides of the same coin. What stupidity, and there is not a god I can complain to! Science is not dogmatic, it is based on a process that extinguishes the dogma, that is how science and natural philosophers have resolutely disproven the farce of religion, that creationism is false, that dualism is false and so forth. Yet, the subhuman rears its ugly head, in the form of ignorant obsessions and latent lies this time (and not necessarily in the form of religious fundamentalism, yet still these ideas are unmistakably sub-human), likening anti-religion to the dogma of religion, to irrational belief (faith) in supernatural entities that do not, and cannot possibly exist.
What must I say? Must I respect these foolish views? The answer must be a resounding NO. There is no way for a truly rational mind to respond, a mind that has purified itself from the false philosophy and mythology of the sub-human. I suggest you follow my example, and denounce your petty religions if you would like to transcend in any way. Transcendence begins with the liberation of the mind from human (and sub-human) delusions and prejudice. Our present culture is mired with all sorts of delusion and falsehood, the primary of which is religion. Use the power of your mind and break free of them!
@tom: Who says that scientists need the help of priests? Do you seriously think that any of the real scientists who lead the scientific revolutions believe in religion? If anything, priests will make noise, and I don’t want to give a single megabyte to a priest. Religion is obsolete, has been obsolete for so long, but we scientists have to live among delusional primates and we are supposed to respect their ignorant, foolish, banal beliefs based on mythology? Their time is over, there is no more respect for religion!!!
Indiscriminate anti-religiosity, especially against religions of the superstitious variety which posit supernatural entities, is a certain primary attribute of a trans-sapient mind. So, I cannot even respectfully disagree.
The people who try to associate religious falsehood with transhumanism have absolutely no idea about the philosophical foundations of transhumanism.
For instance, it is obvious that they do not know that artificial intelligence research is firmly founded on the philosophy of positivists, who view religion with as much vengeance as I do. Religion is the enemy of the true philosophers (of Aristotle and his creed, up to Carnap) and I am rather tired of explaining this to people who have the philosophical maturity of a child.
Believing in some sort of a supernatural deity, a bedtime story for undeveloped brains, is a condition of weak intelligence and culture. There is no place for such inferior minds in a transhuman culture. It is that simple, why cannot you accept that? 🙂 It is logically impossible for a transhuman to believe in mythology. You might as well be talking about how transhumanist the God of thunder Thor is, you just sound ridiculous.
noahtron September 11, 2011, 4:23 am
there’s more to judaism than blind faith. your argument is invalid. and i’m having real problems with the tone some of the things you’re saying here. please get off your high horse – you have a certain kind of faith too!
tom August 27, 2011, 4:40 pm
“moral behavior or by any means necessary”
its intertwined. and moral behavior is the optimizing means necessary.
Eray Ozkural
would it not be beter to take any help offered ?
even from prists wishing to upload ?
if one can achive the goal faster and have allies againt direct opposition ?
Judaism Shmudaism , if they (or anything they bring) help , who cares ?
PJ Manney August 22, 2011, 6:16 pm
Hi Joshua. Thanks for the article.
I believe it is crucial in any comparison of transhumanism and Judiasm to discuss the concept of Tikkun Olum (Repairing or Perfecting the World).
Jews and H+ers have many things in common. Maybe it’s why so many are both. Both are used to a challenging, cerebral life. Both see the world differently and appreciate things no one understands but them. Both self-identify as outsiders in a hostile, dominant culture and console themselves that their separateness allows greater moral, ethical or intellectual clarity.
It is the pursuit of Tikkun Olam that unites them both. Many Jews believe by performing Mitzvots — good deeds — they set an example others can follow and this perfects the world, so the powerless can positively influence others. Many H+ers dedicate their lives to their research or writings and hope someone will use it to change the world for the better. But some think Tikkun Olam means they are responsible for the world, even if they are not a welcome part of it. Since they know best, they must fix it, however possible, regardless of opinions or cost. Jews and H+ers have cultures that meditate upon this choice, however this mentality is not reserved for Jews or H+ers. All Abrahamic religions think this. It gives them moral authority. The American Empire called it “Manifest Destiny” or “my way or the highway.” 😉
Ultimately, the question to every society is this: Which way is best? Positive change (whatever that means) only through moral behavior or by any means necessary?
Lincoln Cannon August 21, 2011, 2:00 pm
Eray, the failure of mind here is that of indiscriminate anti-religiosity, which is made possible only within the context of reactionary dogmatism. Indiscriminate anti-religiosity and religious fundamentalism are two sides of the same coin.
Matthew August 21, 2011, 1:07 am
@ Eray
No, it turns out that Yudkowsky doesn’t believe that and asking the question belies my trust in your rationality.
But maybe its just ignorance that prompts that question rather than a lack of reasoning ability.
I had stated earlier about my ignorance about wanting Jews who are only culturally Jewish to denounce their faith by Jews actually complaining about its commanded genocidal past. OF course, past Jews are not present Jews. But why would one want to be associated with that?
But they don’t. Too nice I guess.
Eray Ozkural August 20, 2011, 11:52 pm
Obviously, the most futile (for the lack of a better word) attempt would be to try to train AI’s so that they believe in the false gods of heavenly religions (judaism and the other two abrahamic-moronic religions that are just like it) if that’s what Yudowski’s strange proposals are.
Can anybody tell me if that is the case?
I would love to speak politely about this. Yet, it is much better to speak the truth.
Religion is a farce. It has nothing to do with transhumanism.
I intend to destroy religion. I don’t want to deal with uploaded priests or anything stupid like that.
Judaism is no better than other mythological delusions. This religion bears the mark of the sub-human and must be buried deep along with the rest of human-animal’s history.
If anything, it should survive as the ultimate failure of mind to be ridiculed.
Beo August 20, 2011, 8:16 pm
>Then, as the power of the state trended towards totality, the results were 100 million deaths and much more suffering.
Results of what?
>Unfortunately, humans are unreliable, and we cannot rely on individuals to use their power responsibly
There is one extreme solution – constant and full interconnection. Logical end of Kurzweil’s merging.
Seth August 20, 2011, 11:03 am
Transhumanism, capitalism, democracy as we know it, etc. are all based on renaissance and enlightenment philosophy. Transhumanism and everything that makes it possible is western civilization. And should western civilization take us to new and greater heights at the expense of a few cultures, that’s evolution for you.
Nikki Olson August 20, 2011, 8:48 am
Joshua, are you familiar with the work of Mitchell Heisman? He wrote a 1900 word essay on the Singularity and its roots in Judaism:
http://cupwire.hotink.net/articles/37979
Matthew August 19, 2011, 2:34 pm
Ok, but simply because Jews are over-represented in areas of influence doesn’t mean that it was Judaism that caused that behavior. They were simply the first group to write down their monotheistic myth (and have it stick).
Are you simply warning other transhumanists of the complexity of human value?
There isn’t any need to censor a book if people don’t like it. Censor is the wrong word. OF course people can read and enjoy an interesting story.
I really appreciate the notion that Judaism has evolved beyond the bible. So, where do I go to find Jews wanting certain parts of the bible removed because they find them offensive? Or at least an official pronouncement of condemnation for certain obviously hateful/wrong/etc passages?
I would be really surprised and impressed if there was an official book that actually made corrections, rather than a sub-group of liberal minded Jews, such as yourself, whom obviously disagree with certain “proto-Jewish” sentiments of the past.
Hey, I know people change, and cultures change. I just want to see someone of the faith actually say it, rather than take it as obvious that certain odious passages should just be ignored.
Also, I say this in basic ignorance so it isn’t meant as a criticism of Judaism as a culture which is distinct from it as a religion. But they are intertwined, a major position of this article, no?
Joshua Fox August 19, 2011, 9:24 am
@Matthew
>certain parts of the bible removed
They don’t censor the Bible. The process of careful hand-copying with error-checks and notes on the correct text kept the text of the Bible almost unchanged, from its canonization in the late first millennium BCE through today.
However, the reinterpretation of the Bible, sometimes to the point that explicit injunctions were reversed, also began as soon as it was canonized or before.
For example, the Bible mandates debt-forgiveness every seven years; but when the economic system developed so that long-term lending was clearly to everyone’s benefit, and especially for the poor, it was enabled, with a rather transparent legalistic excuse.
Anyway, that doesn’t have much to do with my points about transhumanism, other than that in human society, principles of justice evolve in a messy and sometimes illogical way.
Lincoln Cannon August 19, 2011, 1:30 am
Joshua, thank you for this, particularly for the reminder that much of beauty and morality is complex and manifest in our diverse religions and cultures.
ADNI organ vitrification gene therapy Science Media Factory Fermi Paradox James Hughes Rudi Hoffman Janet Sawicki musician renewable energy Bruno Latour
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EU leaders to hand May Brexit package
November 25, 2018 at 10:19am
Edited by Bouli Hadjioannou
EU leaders gathered on Sunday to make a formal offer of a Brexit package deal to Prime Minister Theresa May that she and they hope can survive fury in the British parliament to ease Britain out of the bloc in March.
After 18 months of negotiation, including some last-minute brinkmanship from Spain seeking guarantees of a role in the future of Gibraltar, the 27 national leaders will endorse terms for withdrawal and an outline of future EU-UK ties at a tightly choreographed summit that will conclude with a visit from May.
The biggest question now facing the European Union is whether May’s divided minority government can steer the deal, which foresees London following many EU rules to keep easy trade access, through fierce resistance in parliament in the coming weeks from both supporters and opponents of Brexit.
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, among the first to arrive, refused to be drawn on what might happen if the deal fails, saying it was up to British lawmakers to decide.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country is one Britain’s closest trading partners, praised May’s handling of the difficult negotiations and said he was confident that she could see the deal through the London parliament.
Saying the EU “hates” Brexit, Rutte said: “Nobody’s winning — we are all losing.” But, he said, the deal was an acceptable compromise for all that gave May a chance to clinch a solution.
Grybauskaite said there were at least four possible outcomes if the British parliament blocks the package and named three – that Britons would hold a second referendum, hold a new election to replace May or return to Brussels to try and renegotiate the package. A fourth is that Britain will simply crash out of the bloc on March 29 without legal clarity.
Both sides have been making preparations for such a “no deal” scenario, though the EU insists Britain has more to lose. The pound has strengthened since the deal came together over the past 10 days, but companies and investors remain nervous.
Summit chair Donald Tusk said “no one will have reasons to be happy” when Brexit is concluded but quoted British rock star Freddie Mercury of Queen, who died 27 years ago on Saturday, to say: “Friends will be friends right till the end.”
The 27 EU national leaders will gather for an hour or so to formally endorse both a detailed treaty setting out the terms on which Britain will leave in an orderly manner in March and a declaration outlining how Britain can keep close to its biggest market by following many EU rules after a 2-4-year transition.
They will then meet May briefly as she seeks momentum to get the package through the British parliament in the coming weeks.
BRITISH OPPOSITION
The Democratic Unionist Party, whose votes from Northern Ireland have helped May to govern since she lost her majority in a misjudged snap election last year, said it would try to block a Brexit deal it called “pitiful” – partly because it binds London to many EU rules it will no longer help set and partly as the DUP fears it could weaken the province’s ties to Britain.
No one knows what will happen if parliament rejects May’s plan, which she and EU leaders say is the best deal available.
In an open letter to the nation, published on Sunday, May said she would campaign “heart and soul” to get her Brexit deal through: “It will be a deal that is in our national interest – one that works for our whole country and all of our people, whether you voted Leave or Remain,” she said.
Sunday newspapers said different factions in her own Conservative party were preparing alternative plans to keep Britain closer to the EU should her deal fail as many expect.
Wrangling over how to keep open troubled Northern Ireland’s land border with the EU without creating disruptive customs barriers with the Irish Republic dogged much of the 18 months of talks before accords were struck this month. Another relic of the imperial past, Britain’s 300-year-old naval base on Spain’s southern coast, threatened to derail plans at the last minute.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to boycott Sunday’s meeting if he did not get amendments to the deal to ensure Madrid gets a say in Gibraltar’s future ties with the EU.
After officials wrangled through the night, he announced on Saturday afternoon that he had such written pledges. Brussels officials said those essentially confirmed what most EU leaders had already understood – that Spain must have a binding say over how any future EU-UK trade pact might affect Gibraltar.
May will meet Sanchez for face-to-face talks during the summit, officials said.
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04.28.16: NA Votes to Sack Minister
Posted by Giancarlo Fiorella April 28, 2016
For the first time since coming to power in December, the opposition-controlled National Assembly used its power today to remove government ministers, voting to sack Rodolfo Marco Torres as the head of the Ministry of Education.
By approving the voto de censura [literally, “censure vote”; akin to a vote of no confidence], the National Assembly essentially stated that it does not believe that Torres was able to satisfactorily conduct his duties. Venezuela is currently suffering through the worst food scarcity crisis in decades.
The most direct event that led to Torres’ removal from his post was his contempt before the National Assembly after his refusal to appear as summoned last Tuesday and today to provide an explanation for the food scarcity crisis in the country.
The legislature’s PSUV bench protested the vote, and claimed that it was an illegal move given a string of decisions by the Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ) which severely limit the National Assembly’s powers. Before the vote, PSUV deputy Ricardo Sanguino said:
This session is illegal [“esta sesion es irrita”] because it ignores a sentence by the Tribunal Supremo de Justicia.
National Assembly president Henry Ramos Allup answered Sanguino defiantly, and continued to stress that he believes the TSJ rulings are nothing but an illegal attempt to tie the National Assembly’s hands, saying:
[The National Assembly] will not abide by any decision by the [TSJ’s] Constitutional Chamber, nor any of its other Chambers, so long as the decisions are contrary to the Constitution.
Normally, following a vote of censure against a government minister, the President of the Republic must ask that minister to resign. Given Maduro’s stance on the National Assembly, it is not certain that he will do so.
MUD Deputy Accuses Torres of Corruption
During today’s parliamentary session, MUD deputy Carlos Berrizbeitia took the floor to point out that while he was Minister of Nutrition, Torres personally signed contracts that awarded money to three companies owned by a man named Naman Wakil. An accused fraudster, Wakil is suspected of having moved $5.85 million in embezzled money to shell companies registered under the name of former Minister of Nutrition Carlos Osorio’s in-laws, Jesus Tomas Marquina Parra and Nestor Marquina Parra.
According to Berrizbeitia, Torres awarded government contracts to three shell companies named Perdigao Industrial, Casa Sociedad Anonima and Atlas Sistema Internacional. Berrizbeitia also said that the companies were all registered through a law firm out of Miami, Florida called Morgan and Morgan, which is owned by Osorio’s in-laws.
Berrizbeitia provided documentary evidence showing that at least $160 million flowed into the shell companies, $5 million of which went to Wakil personally.
The documents allegedly show that the contracts overpaid for products. For example, a contract signed on February 9, 2009 shows that Torres approved the purchase of a tonne of chicken for $1,870, when the average price was $1,238. Berrizbeitia explained:
That order totaled $25 million. The surcharge added up to $14 million. [Speaking to the PSUV deputies] This is the homeland you’ve got for yourselves. Those dollars belong to the people, and you’re protecting this [behaviour].
Another document shows how, in June 2008, Torres approved the purchase of 15,000 tonnes of meat at a price of $4,740 per tonne, when the average price was $2,071. As a result, the contract funneled $31 million “extra” dollars into Wakil’s shell company.
Capriles: 1.1 Million Recall Signatures and Counting
Miranda state governor Henrique Capriles has just announced that the opposition-led recall referendum signature drive [url=http://www.talcualdigital.com/Nota/125608/mas-de-un-millon-de-firmas-se-han-recolectado-para-el-revocatorio?platform=hootsuite]has collected 1,102,236 signatures in its first 48 hours[/url], with 600,000 of those coming in the first day alone.
For this first step in the process, the Consejo Nacional Electoral only requires 195,721 signatures, but [url=https://invenezuela.wordpress.com/2016/04/27/04-27-16-good-lines/]impressive turnouts at signature-collecting stations throughout the country yesterday[/url] suggested that the goal would be easily met.
Armed Group Allegedly Attacks Recall Signature Rally
El Nacional reports that an armed group allegedly attacked a rally to collect signatures as part of the recall referendum process at the Universidad Central de Venezuela earlier today.
Below, a picture allegedly showing the site after the attackers left:
Poll: 60.3% Would Vote to Recall Maduro
A poll by the Venebarometro firm released today found that 60.3% of Venezuelans would vote to recall Maduro if the referendum were held today. The figure mirrors the percentage of Venezuelans who voted for the opposition in December’s parliamentary elections, and would be more than enough to have Maduro removed from office.
The same poll found that while 57.5% of Venezuelans want the recall to take place this year, 33.7% would not disagree if it were held in 2017. The year in which the recall takes place is important: if it takes place this year, there would be a presidential election, which could usher in a non-PSUV president; if held next year, Maduro would be replaced by Vice-President Aristobulo Isturiz.
The poll also found that 84.1% of Venezuelans consider the situation in the country to be bad, while 15% see it positively.
The poll was conducted between April 1 and 8. It sampled 1,200 homes and has a margin of error of 2.37%.
Questions/Comments? E-mail me: invenezuelablog@gmail.com
Posted in: Daily updateTagged: Carlos Berrizbeitia, Enrique Marquez, Naman Wakil, Rodolfo Marco Torres, VenebarometroPermalinkLeave a comment
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Jaipur Hotel Accommodation
Search 934 hotels in Jaipur
Find out more about Jaipur
Exploring Jaipur
The 300-year-old Rajasthani city of Jaipur is known as the Pink City of India for the glowing rose-pink paint applied to all its buildings in 1876 and still evident today along several of its wide avenues. Originally a massive walled compound with seven gates, it contains palaces, forts and imposing state buildings and is one of India’s favourite tourist destinations. As India’s first planned city, Jaipur’s wide boulevards divide nine districts, making orientation and getting around its ancient central area far easier than in most Indian conurbations.
Jaipur is a city of temples and grand monuments, with the Govind Devji Temple the second most important Vaishnavite temple in the world. Set on a hill at the city’s heart is Moti Doongari Temple, devoted to Lord Ganesha and built to protect the city. Galwh Bagh, the Monkey Temple, located on Jaipur’s eastern edge, is a tourist favourite for its troupes of monkeys. The fascinating landmark of Jantar Mantar, set close to the City Palace and the Alsisar Haveli, is a UNESCO World Heritage site constructed as an observatory between 1727 and 1734. The lovely, 200-year-old Hawa Mahal (Palace of the Breezes) is an extension of the City Palace built to allow the Raja’s wives and concubines to view the city streets unseen.
Sights nearby
Jaipur’s massive forts and magnificent royal palaces are the major landmarks here, along with the teeming streets, fascinating local markets and museums displaying the city’s long heritage.
- Amber Fort
Massive Amber Fort dates from the early 17th century and began life as a royal palace complex. The Sheesh Mahal with literally thousands of mirror tiles lining its walls and ceiling is the main sight here, and the complex can be accessed by an elephant ride.
- Jaigarh Fort
The strongest of Jaipur’s three fortifications, Jaigarh Fort was never conquered and is home to the world’s largest cannon, legendarily only fired once as an experiment which proved its range of 35kms.
- Madhavendra Palace
Set in the smallest of the three forts, Nahagarh Fort, the fading splendours of this charming smaller palace are well worth a visit.
- Jah Mahal Palace
Stunningly set in the centre of a lake covered in summer water hyacinth, romantic Jah Mahal Palace was built in the Rajput style.
- City Palace
The splendid City Palace is the home of the Maharaja of Jaipur, and its vast complex covers almost a seventh of the city area. The Chandra Mahal is the Maharaja’s residence, with other palatial structures home to a textile museum and two massive silver vessels.
Eating and drinking and shopping nearby
Jaipur’s gastronomy is famed for its use of spices, using recipes based on its long history as a royal city. Dried fruits, curds and ghee are essential ingredients, and the city’s eateries also offer Indian regional cuisines and international menus. Food options are everywhere, from street vendors to local eateries and specialist restaurants in hotels such as the Bissau Palace Jaipur. Due to Jaipur’s popularity as an international tourism destination, visitors unused to highly-spiced food can easily find Mexican, Italian, Thai and Chinese eateries. The city is a shopaholic’s delight for its variety of things to buy and places in which to splurge. Textiles, saris, intricate gold jewellery, leather goods, wood and marble carvings, metalwork and much more are found in buzzing bazaars, and Mirza Ismail Road is a hub for fashion, antiques and traditional Jaipuri clothes. For conventional shopping, try Ganpati Plaza’s upscale mall close by the Hotel Mansingh.
Jaipur’s airport is located outside the city at nearby Sanganer town and hosts scheduled services to Bangkok and Singapore via Delhi. A direct flight runs to Dubai, and domestic routes to Mumbai, Chennai and several other Indian cities give a choice of routes for visitors. Getting around the city is by bus, auto-rickshaw or the RTDC tourist bus operated by the city’s tourism authority. Taxis are safer than auto-rickshaws although twice the price, and are best booked by phone.
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Online Payments & Money Transfer
Tech and Startups
Social Entreprenuership
India Microfinance
Microfinance Private Equity
PE, venture funds eye offbeat sectors to ride out downturn
New Delhi, May 7 The downturn is prompting Private Equity and Venture Capital funds to look at offbeat sectors, as evident in the spurt in investment interest in education, health and microfinance areas in the past ten months or so.
With traditional favourites such as real-estate, infrastructure and IT drying up, funds are focusing on sectors where the outlook is still upbeat to insulate themselves from segments directly exposed to the global financial market turmoil.
Education, for instance, has caught the fancy of PE fund managers, with high returns, scalability and huge mismatch in supply and demand being the key drivers. PE and VC funds have already made over 30 investments worth $300 million in education-related companies in the past 24-months, with much of the activity coming in the recent months.
Among the proposals, Religare Venture Capital Ltd announced in April a 50:50 joint venture with a leading PE player, Milestone Capital, for managing a Rs 600-crore Healthcare and Education fund to be raised domestically.
Mr Sunil Godhwani, CEO and Managing Director, Religare, said: “Healthcare and Education are two sectors which we believe are poised for balanced growth and we have the requisite domain expertise on healthcare which we intend to leverage for the larger benefit of investors of the fund.”
A recent poll conducted by Venture Intelligence — a research service focussed on private equity and venture capital — among 90 PE investors found that over 80 per cent of them were interested in investing in education. According to a CLSA Asia Pacific report, India’s education and training sectors offer private institutions an estimated $40-billion market that could grow at about 15 per cent yearly.
Microfinance is another area that has caught the fancy of the funds, with PE players investing around $250 million in the sector in the last two years. The logic is that microfinance is mainly focussed on rural areas, which has been rather insulated from the downturn. Some of the major private equity investments up to March 2009 include SKS Microfinance’s $75- million investment in Sandstone Capital; Share Microfin’s $27-million fund infusion in Aavishkaar Goodwell; Ujjivan Financial Services’ $21-million investment in Unitus, and MAS Financial Services’ $20-million deal with ICICI Venture and FMO.
There is renewed interest in healthcare as well. Among recent deals, Inventus Capital Partners, a US-based venture capital firm, has invested an undisclosed sum in Insta Health Solutions Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore-based hospital information technology solutions company.
On the trend, Mr Ajay Kumar Kapur, CEO, SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd, said: “I think an idea that has not been funded before is more attractive for a venture capitalist. So, yes, the trend will sure continue… It’s just not VCs who are increasingly looking at the untried; smart entrepreneurs too are pursuing the ‘me too’ strategy with incremental lead over the competition.”
Mr Luis Miranda of IDFC Private Equity said he expected the trend to increase. “VCs are investing in these new sectors either because they see interesting opportunities or because they can’t find opportunities in the sectors they are in currently. ” Funds will increasingly look at alternative sectors for investments in the current market situation, he said.
hindu businessline
Related Items:Education, Healthcare, IDFC Private Equity, Inventus Capital Partners, MAS Financial Services, PE Fund Managers, Private Equity Funds, Sandstone Capital, SIDBI Venture Capital, Ujjivan Financial Services
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Double Duty Drug: Statins May Fight MS
Posted by healtheo360 on Mar 22, 2014 3:14:46 PM
Jaykayl/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Cholesterol-busting statins may have an unexpected benefit for patients with multiple sclerosis, a new study found.
Researchers in the U.K. studied 140 patients diagnosed with the most severe form of the disease, known as secondary progressive MS. They found that high doses of statins -- about double the average amount that patients take to keep their cholesterol levels in check -- reduced the rate of brain shrinkage in these patients.
“I see hundreds of patients with secondary progressive MS in my clinic,” said Dr. Jeremy Chataway, a neurologist at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London and lead author of the study, published Tuesday in The Lancet.
“These patients are physically disabled and have no treatment,” Chataway added, calling the study ”an exciting first step.”
Statin treatment led to a 43 percent reduction in the rate of brain shrinkage in the patients in the study, according to Chataway. The hope is that putting the brakes on this shrinkage will slow the progression toward physical disability.
Neurology experts not involved with the research said the new findings are promising -- but preliminary.
“Patients with secondary progressive MS are usually a step away from a cane, or already bed-bound or in a wheelchair,” said Dr. John Cobroy, professor of neurology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. The study is both well-executed and interesting, he said, but added that he feels the results should be further analyzed in advanced trials before doctors rush to give statins to all patients with MS.
While past research has suggested that the anti-inflammatory properties of statins may curb the damage in the brain seen in MS, researchers are still steps away from a full understanding of this relationship. Still, if statins -- a widely used drug with a good safety profile -- prove to have benefits against MS as well, they may be a welcome option against a disease for which treatments are so sparse.
This study “gives us first indications for treating and helping restore what’s potentially lost,” said Dr. Timothy Coetzee of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. “It’s proof of concept that you can take an existing strategy and repurpose it to target something else.”Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio
Overweight Dogs Have Shorter Life Spans
Posted by healtheo360 on Oct 30, 2013 10:27:42 AM
iStock/Thinkstock(LONDON) -- Overweight dogs that have a shorter life expectancy than a pooch that eats sensibly and gets exercise, the U.K.’s WALTHAM Center for Pet Nutrition says.
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Home » Blog » 2014 » May » N4028: Defining a Portable C++ ABI -- Herb Sutter
N4028: Defining a Portable C++ ABI -- Herb Sutter
By Blog Staff | May 26, 2014 04:59 PM | Tags: None
Defining a Portable C++ ABI
by Herb Sutter
Goals, Non-Goals and Constraints
The primary goal is to:
Enable writing portable C++ code that will be compiled to an object file that can successfully:
link with object files created by other conforming C++ compilers, or different versions of the same compiler, on the same platform; and
be called using FFIs from other language compilers/runtimes on the same platform, such as Java JNI and .NET PInvoke, if those FFI implementations support the (single) C++ ABI for that platform.
Here a target platform has the same meaning as de facto in C, namely the combination of:
Operating system: Such as Windows, OS X, Android, iOS, etc. The OS determines things like the binary format (such as PE, COFF, and ELF), the meaning of pointers (such as the legality of stealing low bits and the rules for high bits above bit 48), and more.
Processor family: Such as x86 or ARM. This affects the instruction set targeted by code generation, alignment, endian-ness, and more.
Bitness: Such as 32-bit or 64-bit. This affects the size and interpretation of pointers and references, size_t, and ptrdiff_t, and more.
This largely maps to “object files that could reasonably be expected to be part of a single executing program,” since a given single running program will be running on a given OS and processor at a time.
Examples and corollaries:
It should be possible to ship a single (not “fat”) compiled binary library for Windows x86 32-bit whose interface uses C++ features such as classes, virtual functions, and overloading, and have that be usable with code compiled by other compilers for Windows x86 32-bit.
It should be possible for an operating system API to expose a well abstracted modern C++ API that uses features like classes, virtual functions, and overloading, and also meets normal OS API requirements for ABI stability.
Notable non-goals and constraints:
We need not, and should not, try to guarantee some “universal C++ ABI” whereby a single ob-ject file could link with other object files on different platforms, such as 32-bit ARM Linux and 64-bit x86 Windows. That would defeat the original purpose of C and C++ to be a portable lan-guage that can generate executable code that is competitive with handcrafted platform-specific code on a given platform.
We must not change or restrict anything that is expressible today in platform-specific ways. Any new capabilities must be purely additive. All of the various incompatible compiler option flavors and standard library implementation flavors that are allowed today must still be preserved, both for compatibility and because most of them exist for good reasons (sometimes you do want packing, sometimes you do want a non-default calling convention, etc.).
We should accommodate that some vendors, such as Microsoft, feel they must be able to break the standard library ABI on every major release (see next section).
We should accommodate that some vendors, such as GCC, feel they must not break the standard library ABI (see next section).
Rick Wildes said on Jun 18, 2014 12:47 PM:
How will std::abi and extern "abi" work for debug builds? My thought would be they would always be comparable to release and when compiling debug many more types would be different from std and std::abi.
Rick Wildes said on Jun 20, 2014 06:25 AM:
On a related question (sorry for the multiple posts) will the things inside of std::abi have to be forced to bind to a run-time link-able version version of the platform run-time? Again this would mean if I was building a binary (DLL/SO/EXE) that statically linked in the C/C++ run-time so it was embedded privately into my binary most things in std::abi would likely have to be different types. In particular std::allocator<> would need to use the shared implementation and this would have a ripple effect making a lot of other types different.
I really like this proposal and I hope it gets into the standard (and implemented widely). Something like this is way overdue in C++ and the approach of this proposal seems to be a good way to address C++ ABI issues.
Cesar Mello said on Jul 30, 2014 10:17 AM:
Thank you so much for making the world a better place Herb!!! Best regards!
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Series to Watch
by Sagenass | created - 21 Sep 2015 | updated - 1 day ago | Public
Prime Video (14)
Drama (93) Thriller (46) Crime (34) Mystery (29) Comedy (23) Sci-Fi (22) Action (17) Adventure (9) Fantasy (9) History (8) Romance (6) Horror (5) Music (3) Sport (3) War (3) Biography (2) Documentary (2) Western (2) Animation (1) Musical (1)
Husband Wife Relationship (16)
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Based On Novel (13)
One Word Series Title (12)
Psychotronic Series (12)
Brother Brother Relationship (10)
Mother Son Relationship (10)
Police Detective (9)
Two Word Title (9)
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Female Nudity (8)
Murder Investigation (8)
Brother Sister Relationship (7)
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Serial Killer (7)
Sex Scene (7)
Supernatural Power (7)
Based On Book (6)
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111 titles
1. Homeland (2011– )
TV-MA | 55 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A bipolar CIA operative becomes convinced a prisoner of war has been turned by al-Qaeda and is planning to carry out a terrorist attack on American soil.
Stars: Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Damian Lewis, Rupert Friend
Votes: 287,001
2. Friday Night Lights (2006–2011)
TV-14 | 44 min | Drama, Sport
A drama that follows the lives of the Dillon Panthers, one of the nation's best high school football teams, and their head coach Eric Taylor.
Stars: Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Zach Gilford, Aimee Teegarden
3. The Sopranos (1999–2007)
TV-MA | 55 min | Crime, Drama
New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano deals with personal and professional issues in his home and business life that affect his mental state, leading him to seek professional psychiatric counseling.
Stars: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli
4. Lost (2004–2010)
TV-14 | 44 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
The survivors of a plane crash are forced to work together in order to survive on a seemingly deserted tropical island.
Stars: Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Yunjin Kim, Evangeline Lilly
5. Dexter (2006–2013)
By day, mild-mannered Dexter is a blood-spatter analyst for the Miami police. But at night, he is a serial killer who only targets other murderers.
Stars: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, David Zayas, James Remar
6. Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014)
TV-MA | 55 min | Crime, Drama, History
An Atlantic City politician plays both sides of the law by conspiring with gangsters during the Prohibition era.
Stars: Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham
7. Bloodline (2015–2017)
TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Thriller
A family finds themselves forced to face their past secrets and scars when the black sheep returns home.
Stars: Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini, Sissy Spacek
8. TURN: Washington's Spies (2014–2017)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, History, War
A Long Island farmer bands together a group of childhood friends to form an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America's fight for independence
Stars: Jamie Bell, Heather Lind, Samuel Roukin, Daniel Henshall
9. The Killing (2011–2014)
TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A police investigation, the saga of a grieving family, and a Seattle mayoral campaign all interlock after the body of 17-year-old Rosie Larsen is found in the trunk of a submerged car.
Stars: Mireille Enos, Joel Kinnaman, Billy Campbell, Liam James
10. Weeds (2005–2012)
TV-MA | 28 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
When a suburban mother turns to dealing marijuana in order to maintain her privileged lifestyle after her husband dies, she finds out just how addicted her entire neighborhood already is.
Stars: Mary-Louise Parker, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould, Kevin Nealon
11. The Wire (2002–2008)
TV-MA | 59 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The Baltimore drug scene, as seen through the eyes of drug dealers and law enforcement.
Stars: Dominic West, Lance Reddick, Sonja Sohn, Wendell Pierce
12. Arrow (2012– )
TV-14 | 42 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
Spoiled billionaire playboy Oliver Queen is missing and presumed dead when his yacht is lost at sea. He returns five years later a changed man, determined to clean up the city as a hooded vigilante armed with a bow.
Stars: Stephen Amell, Katie Cassidy, David Ramsey, Susanna Thompson
13. Bosch (2014– )
An L.A.P.D. homicide detective works to solve the murder of a thirteen-year-old boy while standing trial in federal court for the murder of a serial killer.
Stars: Titus Welliver, Jamie Hector, Amy Aquino, Lance Reddick
14. Mozart in the Jungle (2014–2018)
TV-MA | 29 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
Love, money, ambition and music intertwine in Mozart in the Jungle, a half hour comedic drama that looks at finding yourself and finding love while conquering New York City. A brash new maestro Rodrigo stirs up the New York Symphony as young oboist Hailey hopes for her big chance.
Stars: Gael García Bernal, Lola Kirke, Saffron Burrows, Hannah Dunne
15. Legends (2014–2015)
60 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Follows a deep-cover operative named Martin Odum, who has an uncanny ability to transform himself into a different person for each job. But his own identity comes into question when a ... See full summary »
Stars: Sean Bean, Morris Chestnut, Ali Larter, Tina Majorino
16. The Knick (2014–2015)
TV-MA | 58 min | Drama, History
A look at the professional and personal lives of the staff at New York's Knickerbocker Hospital during the early part of the twentieth century.
Stars: Clive Owen, André Holland, Jeremy Bobb, Juliet Rylance
17. Outlander (2014– )
TV-MA | 64 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
An English combat nurse from 1945 is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743.
Stars: Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Duncan Lacroix, Tobias Menzies
18. Empire (2015– )
TV-14 | 42 min | Drama, Music
A hip-hop mogul must choose a successor among his three sons who are battling for control over his multi-million dollar company, while his ex-wife schemes to reclaim what is hers.
Stars: Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Jussie Smollett, Bryshere Y. Gray
19. Sports Night (1998–2000)
30 min | Comedy, Drama, Sport
Casey McCall and Dan Rydell are sports anchors and best friends. On "Sports Night," their nightly cable program.
Stars: Josh Charles, Peter Krause, Felicity Huffman, Joshua Malina
20. Making a Murderer (2015– )
TV-14 | 60 min | Documentary, Crime
Filmed over a 10-year period, Steven Avery, a DNA exoneree who, while in the midst of exposing corruption in local law enforcement, finds himself the prime suspect in a grisly new crime.
Stars: Dolores Avery, Steven Avery, Laura Nirider, Ken Kratz
21. The 100 (2014– )
TV-14 | 43 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Set ninety-seven years after a nuclear war has destroyed civilization, when a spaceship housing humanity's lone survivors sends one hundred juvenile delinquents back to Earth, in hopes of possibly re-populating the planet.
Stars: Eliza Taylor, Bob Morley, Marie Avgeropoulos, Isaiah Washington
22. Drunk History (2013– )
TV-14 | 22 min | Comedy, History
Historical reenactments by A-list talent are presented by inebriated storytellers.
Stars: Derek Waters, Bennie Arthur, Craig Cackowski, Maria Blasucci
23. Chance (2016–2017)
TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Stars: Hugh Laurie, Ethan Suplee, Greta Lee, Stefania LaVie Owen
24. The Man in the High Castle (2015–2019)
TV-MA | 60 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In a dystopian America dominated by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, a young woman discovers a mysterious film that may hold the key to toppling the totalitarian regimes.
Stars: Alexa Davalos, Luke Kleintank, Rufus Sewell, Rupert Evans
25. Skam (2015–2017)
Not Rated | 30 min | Drama, Romance
The story of young teenagers and pupils on Hartvig Nissens upper secondary school in Oslo, and their troubles, scandals and everyday life. Each season is told from a different person's point of view.
Stars: Josefine Frida Pettersen, Lisa Teige, Iman Meskini, Ulrikke Falch
26. The Crown (2016– )
Follows the political rivalries and romance of Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped the second half of the twentieth century.
Stars: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Matt Smith, Tobias Menzies
27. The Exorcist (2016–2018)
TV-14 | 45 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Follows three priests dealing with cases of a demonic presence targeting a family and a foster home.
Stars: Alfonso Herrera, Ben Daniels, Kurt Egyiawan, Hannah Kasulka
28. One Tree Hill (2003–2012)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
Half-brothers Lucas and Nathan Scott trade between kinship and rivalry both on the basketball court and in the hearts of their friends in the small, but not so quiet town of Tree Hill, North Carolina.
Stars: Chad Michael Murray, James Lafferty, Hilarie Burton, Bethany Joy Lenz
29. Better Things (2016– )
TV-MA | 22 min | Comedy, Drama
An actress raises her three daughters while juggling the pressures of working in Hollywood and being a single parent.
Stars: Pamela Adlon, Mikey Madison, Hannah Alligood, Olivia Edward
30. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005– )
TV-MA | 22 min | Comedy
Five friends with big egos and slightly arrogant attitudes are the proprietors of an Irish pub in Philadelphia.
Stars: Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson
31. My Name Is Earl (2005–2009)
TV-PG | 22 min | Comedy
A ne'er do well wins $100,000 in the lottery and decides to right all the wrongs from his past with his newfound realization.
Stars: Jason Lee, Ethan Suplee, Jaime Pressly, Nadine Velazquez
32. 3% (2016– )
TV-MA | 49 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A thriller set in a world sharply divided between progress and devastation, where people are given the chance to make it to the "better side" but only 3% of the candidates succeed.
Stars: Bianca Comparato, Vaneza Oliveira, Rodolfo Valente, Zezé Motta
33. Person of Interest (2011–2016)
TV-14 | 43 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An ex-CIA agent and a wealthy programmer save lives via a surveillance AI that sends them the identities of civilians involved in impending crimes. However, the details of the crimes--including the civilians' roles--are left a mystery.
Stars: Jim Caviezel, Taraji P. Henson, Kevin Chapman, Michael Emerson
34. Feud: Bette and Joan (2017– )
TV-MA | 45 min | Biography, Drama
Planned anthology series centering on famous feuds, including Bette Davis and Joan Crawford that is discontinued at the moment.
Stars: Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon, Judy Davis, Jackie Hoffman
35. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017– )
A housewife in the 1960s decides to become a stand-up comic.
Stars: Rachel Brosnahan, Michael Zegen, Marin Hinkle, Tony Shalhoub
36. The Kominsky Method (2018– )
An aging actor, who long ago enjoyed a brush with fame, makes his living as an acting coach.
Stars: Michael Douglas, Alan Arkin, Sarah Baker, Nancy Travis
37. Riverdale (2017– )
While navigating the troubled waters of romance, school and family, Archie and his gang become entangled in dark Riverdale mysteries.
Stars: K.J. Apa, Camila Mendes, Lili Reinhart, Cole Sprouse
38. Manhunt (2019– )
45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
London Metropolitan police detective Colin Sutton tracks down a serial killer.
Stars: Martin Clunes, Katie Lyons, Claudie Blakley, Stephen Wight
39. Killing Eve (2018– )
TV-14 | 42 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After a series of events, the lives of a security operative and an assassin become inextricably linked.
Stars: Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer, Fiona Shaw, Kim Bodnia
40. The Punisher (2017–2019)
TV-MA | 53 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
After the murder of his family, Marine veteran Frank Castle becomes the vigilante known as "The Punisher," with only one goal in mind: to avenge them.
Stars: Jon Bernthal, Amber Rose Revah, Ben Barnes, Jason R. Moore
41. Bodyguard (2018– )
A contemporary thriller featuring the Royalty and Specialist Protection Branch of London's Metropolitan Police Service.
Stars: Richard Madden, Sophie Rundle, Vincent Franklin, Ash Tandon
42. Lucifer (2015– )
TV-14 | 42 min | Crime, Drama, Fantasy
Lucifer Morningstar has decided he's had enough of being the dutiful servant in Hell and decides to spend some time on Earth to better understand humanity. He settles in Los Angeles - the City of Angels.
Stars: Tom Ellis, Lauren German, Kevin Alejandro, Lesley-Ann Brandt
43. Travelers (2016–2018)
TV-MA | 45 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Hundreds of years from now, surviving humans discover how to send consciousness back through time, into people of the 21st century, while attempting to change the path of humanity.
Stars: Eric McCormack, MacKenzie Porter, Nesta Cooper, Jared Abrahamson
44. Manifest (2018– )
TV-14 | 43 min | Drama, Mystery
After a turbulent, but routine flight, those onboard discover the world has aged five years, and soon a deeper mystery unfolds.
Stars: Melissa Roxburgh, Josh Dallas, J.R. Ramirez, Luna Blaise
45. The Haunting of Hill House (2018– )
TV-MA | 50 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Flashing between past and present, a fractured family confronts haunting memories of their old home and the terrifying events that drove them from it.
Stars: Henry Thomas, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Kate Siegel, Victoria Pedretti
46. Future Man (2017– )
TV-MA | 30 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
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The J.B. Priestley Society
Johnson Over Jordan
At the time of its completion J.B. Priestley considered Johnson Over Jordan the finest and most ambitious work he had created for the theatre. Calling it his ‘adventure in theatre’ it was a massive departure from the naturalistic dramas that had made him famous as a playwright around the globe.
Priestley applied his interest in the time theories of Dunne and Ouspensky, and Jung’s model of the unconscious by taking his central character, Robert Johnson, out of three-dimensional time and placing him in a four-dimensional, non-chronological universe. To do this Priestley also took Johnson out of this life altogether and the action of the play takes place as preparations are made for his own funeral. As these continue Johnson begins a very personal four-dimensional in-and-out-of-dream-time experience in his afterlife where he is given the opportunity to experience again certain moments and also face his worst fears and anxieties. At times frightening, lurid and emotional Johnson tries to discover who he is, who he was, and eventually attempts to rediscover his own best self.
The play explores universal human questions about the nature of happiness and success, ignorance and knowledge, family responsibility, love and loss, the oneness of humanity, death and corruption. Robert Johnson is an Everyman. His attempt to make sense of a life half lived and find his own true, best self leads us to consider the same for ourselves. At the end of the play when Johnson shivers and turns up the collar of his coat and walks towards that blue space and the shining constellations a part of us goes with him and we experience a sense of loss that comes only through understanding.
John Braine, a fellow Bradford author, summed up better than anyone else this understanding and what Priestley was trying to achieve in this neglected masterpiece of the theatre:
‘Some of the critics acclaimed it for what it was, recognized instantly its power and grandeur, its enormous range, its masterly use of techniques… they too became citizens of eternity, they gave themselves to the play… I saw the Bradford Civic production, and am always grateful that I did. It was a magnificent production… But now as I write, I look back and remember going out of the theatre into the Bradford streets, taken out of myself, a citizen of eternity, strangely exultant and free…’
Johnson Over Jordan is an extraordinary piece of creative writing whose original 1939 production made use of every aspect of the theatre: dance sequences and ballet; elaborate costumes and masks designed by Academy Award winner Elizabeth Haffenden; an original score by Benjamin Britten; innovative reflected lighting effects; and complex stage design. As well as offering us all this, the play also offers the possibility that we can all, with effort, discover or rediscover our true Selves and gain wholeness. It also impels us to enjoy the moments in life as they happen and because of this, Johnson Over Jordan is in the end, not a play about death and what comes next, it is a magnificent play about life.
Journal 15 of the J.B Priestley Society celebrates Johnson Over Jordan in its 75th anniversary year. Free to members, the Journal is also available to download via our download page.
The Good Companions (1957)
Sunday 24 November at 1:15pm Square Chapel, Halifax Starring Jeanette Scott, John Fraser, Eric Portman, Celia Johnson With an introduction and a small exhibition curated by the JB Priestley Society Adapted from J.B. Priestley’s famous novel charting the ups and downs of a struggling touring concert party, this endearing musical comedy features an outstanding array of …
The J.B. Priestley Society’s Open One-day Conference
J.B. PRIESTLEY: EXPERIMENTAL DRAMATIST At the International Anthony Burgess Foundation The Engine House, Chorlton Mill, Cambridge Street, Manchester Saturday 6 April 2019, 10.00-16.30 (Tea and coffee available from 09.30) The keynote conference lecture will be given by the internationally-renowned author on modern spirituality Anthony Peake, whose most recent book Time and the Rose Garden discusses …
J.B. Priestley : the Other Stratford Writer 28/04/19
At the Stratford Playhouse 12.30 – 1.30pm Rosalie Batten’s book ‘Priestley at Kissing Tree House’ is an evocative account of her times as Priestley’s secretary in the house near Stratford. Her daughter Sophie Fyson will be joined by Broadcaster and writer Barry Cryer, and JBP Society Chair Lee Hanson for this fascinating discussion and insights …
Read All Our News
Access The JB Priestley Store
© 2020 JB Priestley Society
Special thanks to Special Collections, University of Bradford for the use of archive imagery.
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Identifying and Working with Archetypes in Your Dreams May 7, 2019
Filed under: Archetypes,Beloved archetype,children,consciousness,Dreams,Dreamwork,Ego,Emotions,Father archetype,Inner work,Instincts,Jungian psychology,Living,Love,masculinity and femininity,Mother archetype,Mythology,Orphan Archetype,Personal Growth,Psychology,Queen archetype,Sage archetype,symbolism,the Beloved,The Lover Archetype,the Mediatrix archetype,the shadow,The Warrior Archetype,Uncategorized — jeanraffa @ 5:05 pm
Tags: Archetypes, feminine and masculine archetypes, Jungian psychology, self-discovery, The Institute for Dream Studies
This wonderful book was written by Justina Lasley, founder of the Institute for Dream Studies.
In my last post I answered questions from students at Justina Lasley’s and Tzivia Gover’s Institute for Dream Studies about what brought me to dreamwork and how it has influenced my life. Their remaining questions were about identifying and working with archetypes in dreams.
Archetypes are universal, unconscious psychic forms, or images. Contents of the collective unconscious of humanity, they are the psychological equivalent of our physical instincts. Although we are not normally consciously aware of our instincts or their archetypal images, they nevertheless predispose us to perceive our experiences and behave in certain predictable ways.
We cannot directly know the archetypes, but we can learn about them from their symbolic manifestations in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and imagination. Examples of the primordial images which populate the treasure trove of our dreams include animals, objects, people, themes, and motifs. With our preference for the conscious ego’s rational processes above all our other functions, western culture tends to devalue the psyche’s natural, intuitive, imaginative processes. This split between the rational mind and nature created the seriously dysfunctional attitudes and practices which have brought us to the brink of destruction.
When you can see and acknowledge the very real power of archetypes in your dreams and waking life, you will understand yourself with all your bright and shadow qualities better. The more self-aware and self-accepting you become, the more compassion you will feel for yourself and others. Over time your dysfunctional ways will abate and you will discover and live the meaning and purpose of your life. As you grow in consciousness, others will be affected. The ripple effect will take over and you will become part of the solution.
This is precisely what the students at the Institute for Dream Studies hope to do with their lives. They were particularly interested in the four basic feminine and masculine archetypes I’ve written about in my new book, The Soul’s Twins: Mother, Father, Queen, Warrior, Mediatrix, Sage, Beloved, and Lover. Here is their first question:
Q: Does it take a while for one to determine their dominant archetype(s)?
Yes. During my first two or three years of dreamwork I focused almost entirely on understanding the meaning of the symbols and images in my dreams. I examined them from three perspectives: my personal associations for the symbols, my culture’s associations for them, and the archetypal associations for them in myths from every culture. I also looked for manifestations of their negative sides in the hope of recognizing and befriending my Shadow. I knew from my Jungian studies that it was my major barrier to deeper self-knowledge.
In those early years I was mostly doing intellectual head work and paid little attention to my emotional responses to the images, themes, or overall feeling of my dreams. I knew very little about the archetypes and wasn’t terribly interested in them. And it rarely occurred to me to look for any connection between my inner/dream life and my attitudes and behavior in waking life. Mostly I was just compiling fascinating data.
My tenth birthday was one of the last times I saw my father. His death some months later was the impetus for my Orphan’s awakening.
This was fun and very useful, but I craved more. I began to notice uncomfortable recurring archetypal themes. I wondered what they had to do with the way I acted and felt. I saw how I covered up my inner realities with outer attitudes and behaviors that weren’t true to what I knew myself to be and feel inside. I wanted to know who I was beneath my persona, why I was the way I was. I wondered what the underlying complexes and archetypal patterns were that seemed to trigger strong emotions. When I noticed that many of my attitudes and behaviors centered around stereotypes about masculinity and femininity, I began to study and write about that. I was following my intuitions and instincts, and was rewarded when a hidden new world of archetypes opened up for me.
My first strong connection was with my Warrior. He was very good at defending and protecting me, but soon I saw that he was often overly quick to do so. So I began to look for what he was defending. I found her in my dream emotions and occasional glimpses of sad, vulnerable, self-pitying Orphan girls who I eventually identified as different versions of my immature Mediatrix. She was suffering from feelings of abandonment she didn’t understand and just wanted her Mother. In waking life my personal mother had been too busy trying to be a surrogate Father/provider to give me the comforting nurturance I needed. I realized my Warrior had made it his job to defend this rejected child I didn’t want to admit to, so I focused on developing the nurturing Mother in myself so that together, she and my conscious ego could love this childish part of me. That meant I had to give my Warrior another job. Now his goal-oriented determination and persistence help my Sage with my writing. Over time other archetypes have revealed themselves, each with their own issues, strengths and weaknesses.
Only recently has my Queen stood out as my powerful personal authority who’s been with me all along without my knowledge. With help from my Warrior and Sage, she has given me the confidence to make my own way through life on my own terms. Last to awaken have been my Beloved and Lover. This development has brought more forgiveness, compassion, and satisfaction to my life than ever before. It’s been thrilling to watch them blossom.
Next time I’ll answer the last question, which is about my dominant archetype, the Mediatrix. Until then, sweet dreams, my friends. And happy Mother’s Day to all who have birthed and protected new life in themselves.
The Shape of Water: The Shape of Change? January 30, 2018
Filed under: Archetypes,Beloved archetype,Communication,consciousness,feminine thinking and communicating,Hero's Journey,Love,Mythology,the Beloved,The Warrior Archetype,The Wisewoman Archetype,Uncategorized,uniting opposites — jeanraffa @ 12:01 am
Tags: Archetypes, dream symbols, Film: The Shape of Water, inner work, interconnectedness, psychological awareness, Self knowledge, symbolism, the hero's journey, uniting opposites
Filmgoers may have laughingly dismissed Godzilla, the Teenage Werewolf, and The Creature from the Black Lagoon in the 1950’s, but nobody laughs at the real-life monsters we see on television every day in the form of terrorists, genocidal dictators, and political leaders who incite divisiveness and spout nuclear threats. We get it. Dystopia is us. Our problems are caused by humanity’s psychological and spiritual ignorance, and they will not be resolved until enough individuals acquire more mature and humane ways of thinking and behaving. What used to be the role of deities and religious authorities has now become everyone’s job.
Fortunately, there are seers among us to show us the way. They are the courageous and gifted artists who create books and films depicting ordinary people who evolve into heroic individuals. The Star Wars series, Avatar, Arrival, and The Shape of Water are examples. Their mythic themes and archetypal characters limn the shape of our own souls. Everyone enjoys a good story. But do we realize these stories are about us? Do we understand their metaphors and decipher their symbols? Do we apply their lessons to our own lives?
Each of us contains a possible hero like Luke Skywalker, an indomitable Amazon heroine like Princess Leia, a Wise Man like Yoda, a menacing Warrior like Darth Vader. You may relate to Avatar’s Jake Sully, a vulnerable wounded Warrior with the potential to be healed by love, but his counterpart—the dark side’s ruthless, power-hungry Colonel Miles Quaritch—also lives in you. Regardless of your gender you can activate the healing of an Earth Mother like the Na’vi’s Mo’at, a beautiful Beloved like princess Neytiri, or a benevolent Wise Woman like Dr. Grace Augustine. Archetypes are latent patterns of energy in everyone’s soul. They teach and empower us when we listen.
Consider Arrival’s gentle Louse Banks, a linguist who’s tormented by intuitions and visions which fill her with confusion and dread. She’s the image of a person in whom the Mediatrix archetype is activated. When the U.S. Army recruits her to communicate with alien life forms hovering over the earth, she breaks the rules to gain their trust. In a blog post titled “Arrival: How the Feminine Saves the World,” depth psychology expert Carol S. Pearson notes this “reveals how traditional elements of the Lover archetype are morphing to meet new challenges.” The world leaders see the aliens as dangerous threats and are preparing to make war on them. But because Louise is motivated by love, not fear, she sees them as wondrous life forms to communicate with and befriend. This prompts us to ask ourselves: Do I respect people and species different from me? Do I listen to the subtle messages of my body? Do I befriend my thoughts and emotions or try to ignore them?
In The Shape of Water, an even more vulnerable heroine saves the life of an amphibious monster. The year is 1962. Elisa is a mute, mousy janitor on the night shift of a top-secret government research lab desperate to get one-up on the Russians. One night a promising “asset” arrives in a portable tank in the form of a scaly green creature-from-the-Black-Lagoon lookalike from a Brazilian rainforest where he was worshiped as a god. Deeply drawn to this equally voiceless and powerless creature, Elisa initiates a fairy-tale romance with him by playing Benny Goodman on her portable record player, placing hard-boiled eggs on the lip of the tank in which he’s confined, and teaching him sign language when he emerges from the water to eat them.
As it turns out, the real monster in this story is Richard Strickland, a sadistic, square-jawed military officer who tortures the green man, sexually harasses Elisa, and makes racist comments to Zelda, her co-worker. Overhearing the scientists’ plans to kill and dissect her beloved in the name of science, a frantic and determined Elisa enlists the help of Zelda and her gay neighbor, Giles, to rescue him. The remainder of the film builds the tension amid a dreamy, watery green ambiance before reconciling it in a surprise ending that leaves us wondering: What just happened? Is he what he seems? Do I have it in me to do what she did? Does love really have a god-like power? How strong is my Lover archetype? Do I truly know how to love?
The characters in these films play out their roles against a backdrop of mythic themes:
the destructiveness of our shadow Warriors
the crises and suffering necessary for the making of a hero/ine
the need to respect, communicate with, and accept help from other people and species
love’s victory over ignorance and hatred
But here’s a not-so subtle difference. It used to be that only men got to be heroes, but we’re seeing more heroines now. Although the first Star Wars film to appear centers primarily on Luke Skywalker, it is his heroic sister, Princess Leia, who turns him into a hero. The same is true of Avatar’s Jake Sully whose heroism is inspired by the equally heroic Princess Neytiri.
The most recent of these—Arrival, The Shape of Water, and The Last Jedi—convey a theme new to our time which resonates with many souls today: the feminine as savior. Louise, Elisa, and Rey are not fantasy superheroines like Wonder Woman and Aquagirl. And they’re not sidekicks who help the main character accomplish his goals. They are ordinary women who initiate change and accomplish it with the respect and cooperation of healthy, caring men. Louise’s heroism is aided by Ian, a scientist. Giles helps Elisa save the green man. And in the newest Star Wars episode, Rey becomes the last Jedi with the help of Luke Skywalker. The main protagonists are females.
This shift in the spirit of our times is reflected in recent statistics. The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film reports that of the top 100 films in 2014, only 12% featured female protagonists. But then something happened. In 2015 the figure was 22% and in 2016 it jumped to 29%.
Although the data are not in for 2017, we appear to be seeing the beginning of a trend. Water, like earth, has always been considered a feminine element, and in dreams, water and earth symbolize the unconscious self. Societies have unconscious selves too. Like the ocean, our collective unconscious contains monsters, but it also holds overlooked hidden treasures. Is the feminine as savior of the world the shape of change? Are you and I the shape of change?
Note: For more posts like this, please check out the blog of noted author Carol S. Pearson, where this post first appeared.
The Two Sides of Surrender December 13, 2016
Filed under: Carl Jung,Ego,Emotions,Individuation,Inner work,Jungian psychology,Living,Love,mysticism,numinous,Personal Growth,Power and success,Soul,The Warrior Archetype,Uncategorized — jeanraffa @ 12:01 am
Tags: Carl Jung, competition, healthy surrender, inner conflict, mysticism, self-reflection, suffering, unhealthy surrender, winning
The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis, by John Trumbull
After last week’s post Susan wrote:
“Thank you Jeanie so much – a powerful post. Commitment to feeling our experiences, bearing our own cross and the surrender to that. I remember many years ago being very badly burned by steam on my right wrist while cooking something on the stove. I HAD to move on – there were pressing things that needed my immediate attention (it’s a long story so I’ll just give the bones of it). While I was waiting in the car later on wondering how in hell I was ever going to bear this, I also wondered how those being tortured would ever be able to withstand the pain. What went through their minds? What was it that they withstood their pain if they could? Did they surrender to that – the pain? Should I just surrender to it? I did, and the pain was GONE. I will never forget this … a true miracle …”
In a culture which idealizes competition and winning, the possibility that there could be positive side to surrender is difficult to accept. Through our ego’s dualistic, good/bad, win/lose lens, surrender is viewed in the context of a heroic battle. From this perspective it’s bad enough to lose a war, contest, or athletic event when you’ve tried your hardest, but surrendering is out of the question. Giving up is a sign of weakness. A character flaw. A failure. A shameful loss of face.
But this is not the only way of seeing surrender. Occasionally, something unexplainable happens and our perspective changes.
The indispensable condition is that you have an archetypal experience, and to have that means that you have surrendered to life. ~Carl Jung, Zarathustra Seminar, Page 972
Susan’s story suggests this different way of looking at surrender. A healthy way that promotes healing. A way taught throughout history by Sages, Spirit Persons, mystics, and psychological giants like Carl Jung. A way not directed to the outer world, but to the universe within. Few of us discover this way until a time comes in our inner life when our heroic struggle to stay in control and press on regardless only increases our suffering. This happens when we’ve focused overlong on outer-world forms of success while ignoring the conflicting inner forms that our heart and soul require.
As long as we ignore the fact that our outer and inner goals are in conflict, our suffering will continue. Because all the money, fame, status, prestige, public and parental approval we’ve struggled to attain isn’t making us happy. And because admitting we’ve ‘failed’ to achieve the happiness we long for is too painful. So we do everything in our power to repress the realities of our hearts and souls, and that only exacerbates our suffering.
So what heals it? What brings the “real” solution? Surrender. To the realities of our heart and soul. To the fact that we hurt and need help. That we’re miserable. That we want to make a change but are afraid of making a terrible mistake. And to every other reality we’ve hidden behind our persona of having it all together.
A religious conversation is inevitable with the devil, since he demands it, if one does not want to surrender to him unconditionally. ~Carl Jung, Liber Novus, Page 261
But this way requires extreme caution. Because like everything else, surrender is dualistic: God’s way and the Devil’s way. There are helpful and harmful ways to surrender. And it all depends on the impulses to which you surrender.
Unhealthy surrender succumbs to powerful forces from within and without that tempt you to give up living your own life or act out in negative ways. Unhealthy surrender allows others to take responsibility for your life. You stop growing, following your passions, developing your gifts, searching for your unique destiny. Negative surrender wallows in disappointment and self-hatred. It sinks in lethargy, drowns in hopelessness. And it can cause great damage to others in the process. For example, surrendering to your ego’s hatred and revenge by being cruel to others is no solution because your ability to give and receive love is harmed in the process.
Healthy surrender is an act of courage in which you face your suffering. Positive surrender relinquishes your ego’s need to squelch your inner realities. It gives up trying to control people and situations. It stops fighting your heart’s need for feeling, compassion and understanding, your soul’s need for creativity, passion and meaning. It gives up your ego’s pursuit of unfulfilling goals in the outer world and attends to your child’s need for love and intimacy. Positive surrender frees you to live to the fullest with all the life energy you have at your disposal without wasting it on denial, escapism or self-hatred.
Healthy surrender is not a victim’s descent into lethargy. It is a warrior’s ascent to compassionate action which causes the least possible harm to others. It requires a warrior’s focus, self-discipline, and self-examination. It requires patience to consider each step carefully before taking it. Flexibility to walk a tightrope between opposites. Restraint until you acquire the wisdom to know what must be done. And accepting responsibility for the pain you cause others when you do it.
Numinosity, however, is wholly outside conscious volition, for it transports the subject into the state of rapture, which is a state of will-less surrender. ~Carl Jung, CW 8, Para 383.
I know the healing way of surrender is available, but I don’t know why it comes to some and not others. Perhaps Susan’s story provides a clue. Perhaps a commitment to feeling empathy and compassion for the pain of others is a prerequisite. Maybe we have to take the first step.
Image credits: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis by John Trumbull, Angels for You, White Flag, all from Wikimedia Commons. Jung Quotes: Thanks to Lewis LaFontaine.
Hillary Clinton and the Feminine Archetype: Part II September 27, 2016
Filed under: Archetypes,Art,Carl Jung,children,Communication,consciousness,Current Events,Ethics,Evolution,Feminine Energy,feminine thinking and communicating,Jungian psychology,leadership styles,Masculine Energy,Morality,Mythology,Politics,Power and success,Psychology,the shadow,The Warrior Archetype,Uncategorized,uniting opposites — jeanraffa @ 12:01 am
Tags: a new evolutionary era, Anne Baring, Carl Jung, children's welfare, Education, health, Hillary Clinton, solar and lunar consciousness, the feminine archetype, the presidential election, uniting opposites, women's rights
“At the beginning of a new millennium, we are participating in the birth of a new evolutionary era, one with radically different aims and values from those which dominated the patriarchal era. Mythologically speaking, this new era invites the marriage of lunar and solar consciousness and the birth of the ‘child’ of a new kind of consciousness arising in the soul of humanity that would be the fruit of this union and the true ‘saviour’ of our species. . . It is a tremendously exciting, challenging and creative time to be alive.” ~Jungian Analyst Anne Baring, “Awakening to the Feminine.”
An obsession with the solar archetype during the patriarchal era has conditioned us to minimize lunar consciousness. We think the resulting conflicts are inevitable. They’re not. It is possible to live with inner and outer harmony, but we just haven’t evolved that far yet. The multiple wars and societal chaos characterizing the 20th century are finally awakening us to this imbalance and forcing us to take the lunar archetype seriously.
“If we can abandon our addiction to weapons and war, directing the trillions saved on feeding, educating and caring for the children of the world, the result will be an infinitely better world and the possibility of our own survival as a species. We need to challenge the arcane warrior ethos of governments . . .” Baring, “Awakening to the Feminine.”
As Baring notes, feeding, educating and caring for the children of the world is a primary aim of lunar consciousness, and it is crucial that our governments act on this. The fact that Hillary Clinton has devoted her life to this cause is a major reason I say her feminine archetype is well activated. Consider these facts:
Hillary’s Record
Instead of signing on to a prestigious law firm after graduating from Yale, she went to work for the Children’s Defense Fund—focusing her career on the fundamental need for quality public education for every American child. She also worked with teenagers in adult prisons in South Carolina and families with children with disabilities in Massachusetts.
When she was appointed to the Arkansas Education Standards Committee, she investigated public schools throughout the state, listening to parents and teachers and working with a team of educators to create policy that would better prepare Arkansas students for a 21st-century economy. Before that she had already co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, which would later make huge strides in standing up for children in the welfare system.
In 1995, as first lady, she boldly declared “women’s rights are human rights” at a U.N. conference in Beijing. This was much more controversial than it sounds today. Many in the U.S. government didn’t want her to go to Beijing. Others wanted her to pick a less “polarizing” topic. I think it’s a sign of her sincere passion for this cause that she stood up for her beliefs and spoke out about human rights abuses at a time when this was not a popular stance. A Huffington Post article says,
“Globally, no candidate has done more for women’s rights than Secretary Clinton. In her time as Secretary of State, she appointed the first-ever Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues at the State Department; oversaw the creation of the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security; and introduced the Global Health Initiative (GHI), investing $63 billion to help partner countries provide robust maternal and infant health services. Secretary Clinton has worked tirelessly to elevate women’s rights as the key towards economic prosperity and global stability. Her public and private initiatives have appropriated millions of dollars towards providing secondary education to young girls around the world, and tackling the obstacles that face at-risk youths.”
In 1997 she worked with Republicans and Democrats to secure health care for millions of American kids. As first lady she fought to help pass health care reform. When that failed, she worked with Republicans and Democrats to help create the Children’s Health Insurance Program. CHIP cut the uninsured rate of American children by half, and today it provides health care to more than 8 million kids.
As U.S. senator from New York, she supported comprehensive immigration reform legislation, co-sponsored the DREAM Act three times, and worked to expand health care access for low-income immigrant mothers and children.
Hillary’s Character
The presidential candidates are running for the highest office in a system dominated by solar consciousness and numerous examples of corruption. Ideally, we’d prefer the winner to be above ethical compromises, but as Dr. Carl Jung asserts, it is humanly impossible for any individual to exist without a moral shadow. We all have one. It therefore seems more fruitful to compare Clinton’s and Trump’s observable shadows than to hold one of them to an unattainable standard while dismissing the character flaws of the other. I’m not advocating lowering the bar. I’m facing the realities of human nature in a flawed system and only asking that we view the facts objectively and judge accordingly.
Here are the facts as cited by the Washington Post Fact-Checker site. In comparing claims made by both candidates, out of 52 rated claims made by Trump, 63 percent were rated false. Out of 36 rated claims made by Clinton, 14 percent were rated false.
Hillary’s Personality and Likability
“Awakening to the Feminine means becoming protective of the whole of creation; dying to all the divisive ways of looking at life and each other; being born into an utterly different vision of reality.” ~Baring, “Awakening to the Feminine.”
Some perceive Hillary to be harsh and overly aggressive but people who know her disagree. I attribute this to three factors. First, we are unconsciously influenced by longstanding stereotypes about what women’s roles and behavior ‘should’ look like. Second, our history and art have trained us to empathize with white men and go easier on their flaws. Third, we have few cultural models of strong, complex, confident, female leadership.
As Hillary explains in a recent post for Humans Of New York,
“It’s hard work to present yourself in the best possible way. You have to communicate in a way that people say: ‘OK, I get her.’ And that can be more difficult for a woman. Because who are your models? If you want to run for the Senate, or run for the Presidency, most of your role models are going to be men. And what works for them won’t work for you. Women are seen through a different lens.”
Few would disagree that Hillary has a highly activated masculine side. Good. We need that. But we also need a leader with a highly activated feminine side. The fact that Hillary has both convinces me that she is the only candidate capable of leading us safely into the new kind of consciousness required for economic prosperity and global stability.
Click here for The New York Times endorsement, “Hillary Clinton for President.”
A Zen Summer August 16, 2016
Filed under: Animals,Bears,Buddhism,Carl Jung,Dogs,feminine thinking and communicating,Inner work,Jungian psychology,Living,Love,Nature,Psychology,religion,sacred feminine,Spiritual practices,Spirituality,The Warrior Archetype,Uncategorized,writing — jeanraffa @ 12:01 am
Tags: Animals, bears, birds, Carl Jung, dogs, inner work, introspection, Jungian psychology, Karate Kid, Love, mantras, nature, religion, self-awareness, spiritual practices, Spirituality, stones, symbolism of stones, Taoism, trees, Zen Buddhism
You trust your unconscious as if it were a loving father. But it is nature and cannot be made use of as if it were a reliable human being. It is inhuman and it needs the human mind to function usefully for man’s purposes. Nature is an incomparable guide if you know how to follow her. ~Carl Jung, Letters Volume 1, Page 283.
Remember Mr. Miyagi, the Japanese handyman who was a Karate master in the classic 1984 film, Karate Kid? Everyone’s favorite part was the way he used hard work, specific movements, and mantras to train Daniel, a misguided youth. “Wax on, Wax off. Sand the floor. Paint the fence. Paint the house.” For Daniel, the work was grueling, pointless and demeaning until, as shown in this dramatic scene, his suffering led to a revelation akin to a transformational spiritual awakening.
Mr. Miyagi comes to mind when I think about this summer in the mountains. I’m a writer and practitioner of inner work and contemplation…not much of a physical doer. I look forward to being here all year, imagining the pleasures of no deadlines, no agenda. I picture myself spending long hours on the porch reading and writing in peaceful meditation. Then I arrive and barely find the time to publish a weekly blog post or finish reading a book.
Izzy’s job is to carry my water and clippers in her backpack.
Here, my life is centered on my granddog Izzy, and Nature. Like Mr. Miyagi, both are exacting masters. Feed birds. Feed fish. Feed dog. Groom gardens. Groom trails. Groom dog. Pick up trash. Avoid poison ivy. Wash dog. Worry about trees. Worry about rain. Worry about dog. Appreciate boulders. Celebrate rain. Pet dog. Four of these were especially prominent this summer.
My patting boulder. Old lady with fern hat or Green Man?
Appreciate Boulders. I found a new favorite stone on the trail our handyman blazed through the dense forest last winter. It’s huge, mossy, and wrinkled as an old lady wearing a hat of ferns. Or is that Green Man whose face I see in the shadows? I can’t resist reaching out and patting him/her when I pass by. A few days ago I found this in one of my favorite blogs:
“The central symbol of the Zen garden is the stone. For Jung, it signified “something permanent that can never be lost or dissolved, something eternal that some have compared to the mystical experience of God within one’s own soul;” for Cirlot it is “the first solid form of the creative rhythm —the sculpture of essential movement, and the petrified music of creation.” Stones are pure and perfect in their simplicity, yet powerful, mysterious and inscrutable like the gods.” From Symbol Reader, Symbolism of Gardens.
The stone mandala I made about 15 years ago captured in a Yin/Yang moment of shade and sun.
Worry About Trees. The hemlocks are being decimated by a parasite and we’re treating many of them with biennial doses of medicine, but we can’t save them all. On every hike after a big wind I have to remove or circumvent heavy branches and another fallen tree or two. A neighbor across the creek has several dead ones still standing. A few threaten to land on our house.
One evening after a storm with gale force winds we heard a commotion out on the main road. A giant oak had fallen and neighbors with chain saws were cleaning it up. It was there a century ago when the dirt road leading to our property was carved out of the mountainside, and over time its roots were exposed and weakened by erosion. Luckily no cars were beneath it when it finally surrendered to nature’s purposes.
This beech standing on tiptoe could be the next victim of erosion on our mountain slopes.
Celebrate Rain. I don’t know what it is about rain, but it feels magical. One evening Fred and I were rocking on the porch and watching black clouds gathering above the mountains when suddenly the ozone-scented breezes and whisper of raindrops coming up the valley transported me to an unusually intense meditative state. Curious, I checked my heart rate on my Apple watch. Within moments my normal resting rate of 61 beats per minute plummeted to a shocking 45. Cool.
A woman too has a peculiar attitude toward nature, much more trusting than that of a man. ~Carl Jung, 1925 Seminar, Page 123.
Was Jung right, or was he still conditioned by some of the prevailing stereotypes about women in the early 20th century? I don’t know. But I do know I am deeply connected to this land. I love it and trust it, and sometimes I worry about it. Will my grandchildren and great grandchildren love it as much as I do? Will they feed the birds and clear the paths and pat the boulders and love the trees enough to learn their names and do their best to protect them?
Feed Birds? Last week Izzy’s fierce barking woke Fred at 1:30 in the morning. Exhausted from a day of “doing,” I was sleeping like a stone. Thinking she had to go out, Fred took her downstairs. But instead of heading for the front door, she stood transfixed at the glass door to the side porch. What was going on?
The mystery was solved the next morning when we found our biggest, sturdiest, squirrel-proof bird feeders mangled on the ground. Only a scattering of seeds remained. Somewhere in the Nantahala National Forest up the mountain a contented bear was snug in its den dreaming about last night’s tasty meal.
The Asian martial arts are rooted in Zen Buddhism and Taoism. Their spiritual elements gave purpose and meaning to the ancient warriors who loved and practiced them.
The same can be said of those of us who find purpose and meaning in loving Nature, our Mother. If our practices have a spiritual element, so do hers. After all, inhuman though she may be, we come from her, and she’s an “incomparable guide if you know how to follow her.”
Credits: Thanks to Lewis Lafontaine for the Jungian quotes. Karate Kid video from YouTube. “Anyone can slay a dragon quote” image by Brian Andreas from www.pinterest.com. “Try not to change the world” quote by Sri Chinmoy from www.srichinmoybio.co.uk
Which Masculine Archetypes Are Strongest In You? November 17, 2015
Filed under: animus,Archetypes,Creativity,Emotions,Jungian psychology,King archetype,Legal systems,Masculine Energy,Power and success,Psychology,Relationships,Scholar Archetype,Social justice,symbolism,The Lover Archetype,The Magician/Scholar archetype,The Warrior Archetype — jeanraffa @ 12:01 am
Tags: Archetypes, consciousness, emotions, Jungian psychology, King archetype, Lover archetype, Magician/Scholar archetype, psychological awareness, Self knowledge, symbolism, Warrior Archetype
Fascinated by the inner forces that influence human attitudes and behavior, I’ve spent years trying to understand archetypes. Nobody can describe them with any certainty because they are deeply unconscious. However, there are many theories based on research and careful observation of human nature.
My perspective is based on Jungian psychology. Like Jung, I think of the archetype of the Self—our core, circumference and God-image—as an alchemical blend of so-called “masculine” Spirit (animus) and “feminine” Soul (anima). Obviously, Spirit and Soul have nothing to do with gender; everyone contains both. However, using “masculine” and “feminine” to describe these foundational forces of every psyche can be helpful. As metaphors, they help us understand differing and often conflicting forces in ourselves and others. But when, in our ignorance, we assign them to the genders and reject the qualities of our opposite, we repress our fullest potential and obstruct our growth.
I’ve found it helpful to think of four main feminine archetypes as Queen, Mother, Wisewoman and Beloved. These serve our drive for species-preservation and relationship/wholeness. The masculine King, Warrior, Magician/Scholar and Lover serve our drive for self-preservation and individuation. Since the masculine archetypes are more familiar to most of us, I’ll begin with them and discuss the feminine next time.
It is by no means necessary that we all agree with any one way of imagining our instinctual energies. Indeed, the fact that I’ve found it useful to organize them into mental categories simply reflects my masculine penchant for clear, logical distinctions. I could just have easily focused on experiencing them in my body, nature, relationships, needs and emotions. But I was educated with the left-brained academic bias which has dominated Western culture for thousands of years. This does not in any way violate or diminish the power of feminine energy. It simply blinds us to it. Which is why I believe that clarifying the differences that divide us is a necessary step to integrating them.
I also want to note that while everyone is furnished with the same basic patterns of psychic energy, how we and our culture see, activate and manifest them differs. Moreover, each archetype changes as our egos mature through three phases of self-awareness and self-knowledge.
In the first phase we see our King as a cultural Father figure, protector, and preserver of law and virtue who leads us with clear thinking and hierarchical order. The Old King is authoritarian and tradition-bound; questioning his law is taboo. But if we keep growing, he becomes a restless, searching, ego-driven Son/Prince who challenges outdated standards and risks breaking old rules. In turn, the Prince can become a mature and wise masculine sovereign of the psyche who, like England’s Queen Elizabeth I or the legendary King Arthur, actively promotes tolerance, healing change, order, virtue and justice in himself and society.
Our unreflective Warrior is focused on perfecting the body and the world. He proves himself and acquires power and success by influencing others with aggressive, impressive behavior while having little real concern for their feelings. In the Son phase he begins to question his motives, methods and values and struggles to channel his dynamic manifesting activity into work that provides a satisfying outlet for his true talents and ideals. In his final phase he is like Merida, the warrior princess in Disney’s animated film Brave, a Samurai Warrior, or a Star Wars Jedi master who channels his expertise, self-discipline, courage, and moral maturity into activities that heal the broken, protect the vulnerable, defend human rights, and preserve every form of life.
The unreflective Magician/Scholar seeks release from delusion by processing information with focused consciousness and logical thinking. He prefers the objective to the subjective and the known to the unknown and keeps the two sharply separated. In his Son phase he questions tribal wisdom and pursues unorthodox and occasionally original ideas and ways of thinking. The mature Magician/Scholar is a creative, reflective Wise Old Man like Hermes, Avatar’s Dr. Grace Augustine, or Professor Dumbledore whose “magical” knowledge, acceptance, and integration of the visible and invisible forces of life makes him an effective thought leader who can transcend boundaries between people and worlds.
Finally, the Lover is the idealistic and passionate dynamic principle in relationships. In his unreflective phase he seeks emotional release and physical love and pleasure with little compassion or moral responsibility. As Son he treats his Beloved with less selfishness and moodiness and more responsiveness to her differing feelings and needs. The mature Lover is a playful, romantic, aesthetically aware and psychologically balanced lover of life. Like Dionysus, poets Sappho and Lord Byron, or William Blake he appreciates the beauty, worth and inspiration of femininity and honors it in himself and his partners.
The negative poles of the masculine archetypes can be as contemptible as the positive are commendable. The shadow side of the masculine drive for self-preservation abuses and destroys otherness. Whether in a male or female, an unconscious King is a morally rigid, biased, rule-oriented and uncaring tyrant; a Warrior is an abusive invader and wanton destroyer; the Magician/Scholar is a cleverly manipulative, duplicitous, and critical know-it-all; and the Lover, a perverted, hedonistic addict. But when all four are fully developed and partnered with equally mature feminine archetypes, the result is a profoundly powerful, uniquely creative, psychologically whole and spiritually enlightened being.
Next time I’ll address the basic feminine archetypes. Meanwhile, if you’re in the mood for a little inner work you might reflect on which of your masculine archetypes are more fully developed and which could use some growing.
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Dr Rosemary Taylor, Senior Partner of Key Issues, is a qualified teacher with a Masters Degree in Leadership & Management. Early in her career she rose to become one of the youngest Headteachers in the country, before returning to her primary interest in Behavioural Psychology. Her PhD stemmed from an interest in the thinking behind how people respond to, deal with and manage change and led to further study and research within the wider field. Rosemary now works as a consultant and specialist trainer and mentor across both public and private sectors and spends much of her time as a guest speaker, delivering seminars and keynote presentations on the international lecture circuit across Europe, the Middle East and China.
Early in 2007 she was appointed as an advisor to the UN, working in Kuwait in developing senior leaders. In 2012 she was appointed as a consultant for the Council of British International Schools, delivering keynote speeches in London, Madrid, Paris and Beijing alongside workshops for staff, parents and students. Rosemary’s key specialisms reflect her work and experience within a number of related fields and include Developing Effective Leadership & Management; Gender Issues; Understanding the Teenage Brain; Meeting the Needs of 21st Century Learners and Working with the Able, Gifted & Talented.
In 2017 Rosemary joined the Huddl Parenting Organisation as an advisor, speaking at their hugely popular conferences on the theme of The Adolescent Brain, a subject on which she has
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In recent years a fascinating and hugely enjoyable departure for Rosemary has been her intermittent role as a guest speaker for a number of international cruise lines. She has entertained huge audiences around the world with her fascinating, informative and amusing series of lectures entitled Mind Games.
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THE LAST ANIMAL by Abby Geni
Beth Steidle
Beth Steidle is a writer, illustrator, and book designer currently living in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has appeared in Fairy Tale Review, Drunken Boat, DIAGRAM, and several print anthologies. Her first book, The Static Herd, was published by Calamari Press in 2014.
Beth's Articles at KGB Bar Lit
THE INVISIBLES by Hugh Sheehy
LET THE DARK FLOWER BLOSSOM by Norah Labiner
THE ANTIGONE POEMS. Poetry by Marie Slaight. Art by Terrence Tasker.
Abby Geni's debut short story collection, The Last Animal (Counterpoint Press), seeks, in her own words, to explore "one of the great illusions of the human experience... that we are somehow outside of nature—beyond the food chain—that we are not animals ourselves." It's an enduring premise that still feels ripe with possibility—a post-Romantic examination of man vs. nature, prehistory vs. technology, intellect vs. instinct. It's eons subtler than Planet of the Apes, far less satirical than Animal Farm, less epic than Moby Dick, and absent of anthropomorphism. Rather, it's a plainspoken, earnest collection that finds its home somewhere between Megan Mayhew Bergman's quietly moving Birds of a Lesser Paradise and Lydia Millet's darkly absorbing How the Dead Dream. Like Bergman and Millet, Geni's universe is an exotic place. Most of the ten stories are populated by anomalous-but-within-the-realm-of-possibility characters—an octopus handler, a dying, airplane-building hobbyist, a beetle specialist—all grappling with universal troubles: fidelity, familial dysfunction, loss, grief. Yet even here there are outliers, characters both overly recognizable, nearly to the point of being trite, and downright fantastical. "Dharma at the Gate" chronicles the all too familiar self-destructive relationship between two teens—suicidal boy and large-dreaming girl—while a trusty dog paces alongside. In "Landscaping," on the other end of the spectrum, a child literally demands the world from his two mothers, insisting on a river and a mountain before "he walked on his own, step by step, across the black and empty miles," eventually setting foot on the moon. These are not people you'd truly want to meet, but people best admired as if in a zoo, enacting dramas better observed than closely handled.Case in point is the opening piece: "Terror Birds." It's an Arizona ostrich farm drama, told through alternating first person perspectives between a mother and her young son. When Jack witnesses his father having sex with a farmhand—on their patio, in the moonlight, the woman's arms "moving as though she were making a snow angel" (is this a thing I don't know about?)—and later sets loose hundreds of ostriches in half-crazed retaliation. Here we feel privy to insanely intimate acts and, yet, it's difficult to achieve closeness. In a desert of unlikeability, Jack's mother seems often oblivious and timid, Jack's father is a flagrant adulterer, and Jack is ungraspable, his narrative yo-yoing between that of a child ("I liked the Loch Ness plesiosaurus and the blue whale, but for my money, the Terror Bird was the most interesting.") and an adult ("In a stagy, quixotic move, my father took up my mother's hands and began to waltz with her in the watery light."). This sense of distance between the reader-as-voyeur and the protagonist-as-watched-figure feels at odds with the collection's seeming desire to elicit emotion, perhaps the result of stories which can feel both overly polished and not yet fully edited. It's possible that Geni's pedigree precedes her too greatly: she is a graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop (an accomplishment which has the tendency to elicit vastly diverse reactions), recipient of an Iowa Fellowship, first place winner of the Glimmer Train Fiction Open and Chautauqua Contest, with a mention in the 2010 Best American Short Stories. Which is to say: if you read the bio before the book, your expectations are on high alert. And, depending on who you are, it's a resume that either primes your heart for affection or leaves you prepping for a fiery critique of the so-called "Iowa story."That being said, the majority of the stories deserve high marks for technical execution: plots that sail along geometrically blessed inverted checkmarks, snappy hooks, quintessential postmodern non-endings, and a pleasing ratio of dialogue to prose. Opening paragraphs are primed for action, as "Isaiah on Sunday" begins: "He wakes in a panic... Someone is pounding at his front door." And, like Vonnegut's cup of water, the characters' desires are firmly identified, but less easily satisfied. In "Silence," for example, the terminally ill narrator wants to complete construction of his small airplane, an object which functions as a somewhat obvious metaphor for a truer want—a peaceful departure from life. "Captivity," recipient of the first place prize in the Glimmer Train Fiction Open, deserves its own recognition as the standout piece. It's the story of an octopus handler who has, at the age of 31, moved back in with her mother and is still struggling to come to terms over the mysterious disappearance of her brother. The unusual plotline gathers weight within the story's solid construction and consistent pacing, while evocative settings—“A few hanging plants spilled over their containers and trickled like kelp towards the floor.”—generate an aquatic aura. There are a number of clunky moments, however, when Geni succumbs to the Chuck Palahniuk/Dan Brown dispersing-of-interesting-facts disease, in this case an awkward listing of the characteristics of octopi. As a whole, what The Last Animal lacks is true fervor, lush language, or bold, shocking gestures. More focused on functionality than experimental form, the stories remain rooted in straightforward prose and practical pacing. But Geni is smart enough to know the equation: conservative element plus bizarre element can equal satisfactory compromise. In this case, her curious cast and unexpected plots rescue the stories from descent into the pit of the overly ordinary. It's not all that dissimilar from the dressing-like-a-lady lesson: high-neckline pairs with short skirt, long skirt pairs with plunging neckline. Wear a turtleneck and a floor skimmer, and you risk looking frumpy. Wear a plunging neckline and a mini and you risk being mistaken for a lady of the night. So The Last Animal is safety in followed rules. This, in its own way, is fine. There is a distinct comfort in the eminently understandable. Personally, I prefer something a bit more scandalous. Then again, I've never been voted Best Dressed. Abby Geni is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop and the recipient of an Iowa Fellowship. “Captivity” won first place in the Glimmer Train Fiction Open and was listed in 2010 Best American Short Stories; it was also selected for inclusion in New Stories from the Midwest, published by Ohio University Press. Her stories have also received Honorable Mentions in the Kate Baverman Short Story Prize and in Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Competition. She lives in Chicago, where she is at work on a novel.
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kickingparis
Montreal & other places
The Salmon’s Leap
December 31, 2017 ~ KickingParis ~ Leave a comment
Invited by Nancy Lange to write a piece for Eau Secours! a water aid charity in Quebec, about Les Trois Soeurs, or the Three Sisters – the York, Dartmouth and St-Jean rivers in Gaspé, running from the Chic-Choc Mountains to the Baie des Chaleurs, famous for their salmon.
I don’t know much about rivers, in all honesty. I have never lived so far inland as I do now. The smells I recognise most on the air are of salt and seaweed and shifting winds. Not this running silt, this mineral smell of bulrushes and murky water. Not these culverts, streams, brooks and creeks, watercourses and tributaries.
But salmon? I know a little of salmon. The Celts all have their stories of salmon. Wales has the giant salmon of Lyn Llyw – which set against the story I’m about to tell you here, provided the most well-natured and vociferous argument I’ve ever had about the provenance of mythology outside a doomed railway pub on a rainy night in Cardiff. Glasgow City bears two salmon on its coat of arms. And in Ireland, we have the greatest legend of them all (yes, Iestyn, I’m still claiming it), the legend of Fionn, later Fionn mac Cumhaill, leader of the Fianna, the greatest warrior of them all, and his encounter with An Bradan Feasa, or Bradan an Eolais, or the Salmon of Wisdom, if you prefer.
What is a legend but a story that has fought its way upstream to the source of us all? A story that might just tell us who are, collectively. The stories that we tell. The stories that return as the salmon so, as the salmon return to remind us that stories must return to their source, to born again, and carried out to the world anew.
Did you know that the word salmon comes from the Latin salire – ‘to leap’. The salmon’s leap, I have heard, is a mighty thing to behold. The most charismatic of fish, all determination and desperation and fidelity to the land. Out to the world and back again, like the rainfall to the mountains to the rivers to the sea.
We do have our rivers in Ireland. The Lagan and the Foyle, the Bush, the Blackwater. The Quoile and the Shimna. The Six Mile Water, the Kells, the Bann. Along the banks of the last grew nine hazel trees. Nine trees, with nine nuts on each, with all the knowledge of the world in them. That grew and fell and grew again. All the knowledge of world, cycling through.
This then becomes a story of the druid poet Finegas, who lived along the River Bann with one endeavour in his mind. To be the first to catch and cook and eat of the Salmon of Knowledge, who had spent its centuries eating the hazelnuts from the trees along the Bann, and held in its flesh and its juices all that wisdom. And for seven whole years, Finegas tried to catch that fish. Oh, he tried.
The lifespan of the clever, desperate salmon. Born as fry in fresh sweet river, swept down the watercourse to become smolts in the salt and tumble of the sea, and then striking out to the deep water alone. So far, so much with gravity and with currents. But then – but then. Clever loyal fish. Some silent impulse calls, and they must go back home, up the course of the same river. The salmon leap and the salmon fly, desperate crash of bodies against current and water, all spun muscle and flickering rainbow oil. And they spawn and they breed as the cycle renews against the flow of the river water, and eggs hatch, and the cycle continues.
And the sweet oil of the effort is the trick. Finegas, our Druid poet, so hungering for salmon. And after all that work of finally – finally! – catching the famous, fabled fish – he went to lie down. To leave the last job, the menial task of the gutting, the preparing, the roasting, to his apprentice Fionn. The boy Fionn. And as the huge fish lay crackling on the fire, a blister first formed on the charring silver skin, and then broke, and the hot oil of the fish, the oil of the effort that slips around the world, spat out and burnt the thumb of the boy – and he put his finger into his mouth to suck it.
And so it was Fionn, the boy, the lowly apprentice, the cook, who became the first to taste of the Salmon of Wisdom, not Finegas, the elevated Druid poet. And so it was Fionn who gained all the wisdom and the knowledge of the world. By chance? By fate? By grace of the hard work often overlooked and left behind? Who knows.
And so the cycle renewed, and the child became the leader, and the water flowed its course, from source to sea, and back again. And so it goes, and goes again, and goes.
‘You could never declare love like that in English.’
April 17, 2017 April 17, 2017 ~ KickingParis ~ Leave a comment
It’s nearly three full months since I landed in Montreal. For good, I think. I hope. There hasn’t been a lot of new writing yet, just scraps. But a lot of reading, and a lot of trying to listen, and trying to work a country out. More so than I probably ever did in Scotland, or England, or Northern Ireland, for that matter. It takes time. Not to be too quick to judge. Particularly when trying to live in French, not just as a matter of courtesy but as a matter of culture.
And this is in English. But it’s more of a letter home. Whereever that continues not to be.
Some of the reading, in the meantime, from Montrealler Heather O’Neill’s ‘The Girl Who Was Saturday Night’ (2014). Who probably knows more.
‘I took out a pen to jot down some notes. Why did Quebec want to separate this time? We were the original descendants of the losers of the war between England and France for Canada. We had been shit upon for generations. But we were proud and we had finally built our own culture in the sixties. We became urbanized, and in apartments we sat up late reading philosophy books. We got rid of the church, but we stuck to our nationalism. Many of us wanted to leave Canada.
In 1980, after the loss of the first referendum, our premier Rene Levesque had famously said ‘A la prochaine fois‘. Then Quebec didn’t sign the new constitution that was drafted in 1981. Rene Levesque had the Quebec flag flown at half mast.
Finally, a few years ago, Quebec made some propositions for constitutional amendments. We wanted it in writing that we were distinct, that there was something weird and special about us. Since we didn’t have our own country, at least we could have some sort of other protection. But Canada said no. They scoffed. We had asked for a consolation prize and they had laughed in our faces.
If they didn’t think we were going to react badly, they were mistaken. We were going to react badly…We were leaving this damn country that went around calling itself the greatest country in the world.
We would go off on our own. We just wanted to speak French in peace. We wanted to whisper dirty things to our loved ones in French. There was a certain kind of love that could only be expressed in this way.
There was no difference between the expression I like you and I love you in French. You could never declare love like that in English.
We loved in a self-destructive, over-the-top way. A way that was popular in sixties experimental theatre and certain Shakespeare plays. We loved like Napoleonic soliders in Russia, penning beautiful letters while seated on the corpses of our dead horses. We were like drunk detectives who carried around tiny notebooks full of clues and fell for our suspects. We were crazy about the objects of our affection the way that ex-criminals in Pentecostal churches were crazy about Jesus. We went after people who didn’t know we existed, like Captain Ahab did. We loved awkwardly and hopelessly, like a wolf ringing a doorbell while wearing a sheepskin coat that is way too small for him.
They didn’t want to hear these words from a young, silly girl, pregnant with her first child. They wanted to hear it from a man with a huge nose and wild hair. Who tossed women aside and went out into the fray. Everybody wanted Cyrano to show his ugly face and scream his beautiful words. We all knew what a revolutionary looked like, the same way that we knew what a lover was supposed to look like.’
‘Where does a mythology come from? Who are the mythological figures in Quebec culture? They were brand new. Whereas the Greeks had Zeus and Athena, we had people who still lived in Verdun. They had a lot to bear on their shoulders. They had to invent the whole world themselves. They were supposed to have supernatural powers and achieve sainthood. When really they just found themselves peering into the mirror above the bathroom sink, looking to see how they were aging. Sitting in the bathtub, smoking a cigarette, terrified of death like the rest of us.’
Heather O’Neill, ‘The Girl Who Was Saturday Night’ (2014)
Janis, Patti, Viv, Bjork, Carrie & Amanda
(*Sylvia, Frida, Tracey Emin, Georgia O’Keefe, Sinead Morrissey, Marina Carr, Doris Lessing, Simone de Beauvoir, Carson McCullers, Joan Didion, Angela Carter, Charlotte Bronte, Anneliese Mackintosh, Kay Ryan, Elizabeth Bishop, Naomi Shihab Nye, Rachel Amey. Iris Murdoch. )
(learning to be a woman)
Carrie Browstein, ‘Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl’ (2015)
‘I had very little desire to be present, only to be presentational or to pretend.’
‘My story starts with being a fan. And to be a fan is to know that loving trumps being beloved…to be fan is still to be a participant, and to participate is to grant yourself permission to immerse, to willingly, gladly, efface and subsume yourself for the sake of the larger meaning but also to provide meaning…This is what it is to be a fan: curious, open, desiring for connection, to feel like art has chosen you, claimed you as its witness.
I always think about these moments when fans approach me, or write letters, or send messages on social media. I try to recall the sturdiness that comes from recognition…These are the ways fans maneuver through the world, with flimsy connections and strong hopes.’
‘Thus, I decided to retreat, to put the energy further into the performance. My persona would not be about artifice or flamboyancy, it would not be alien or otherworldly, it would be about kineticism, it would be about movement. Again, I returned to the notion that my salvation was to be in motion. I would be galvanic onstage, so that offstage I could try to figure out how to eventually live with a stillness, with myself.’
‘”Little Babies” is a song that sounds like it’s about the fans, and maybe it is. But later I realized that it was probably also about me, some confluence of Corin’s caretaking role toward both me and the audience, feeling taken for granted and misunderstood by both. The role of a woman onstage is often indistinct from her role offstage – pleasing, appeasing, striking some balance between larger-than-life and iconic with approachable, likable, and down-to-earth, the fans like gaping mouths, hungry for more of you.’
‘Musicians, especially those who are women, are often dogged by the assumption that they are singing from a personal perspective. Perhaps it is a carelessness on the audience’s part, or an entrenched cultural assumption that the female experience can merely encompass the known, the domestic, the ordinary. When a woman sings a nonpersonal narrative, listeners and watchers must acknowledge that she’s not performing as herself, and if she’s not performing as herself, then it’s not her who is wooing us, loving us. We don’t get to have her because we don’t know exactly who she is. An audience doesn’t want female distance, they want female openness and accessibility, familiarity that validates femaleness. Persona for a man is equated with power; persona for a woman makes her less of a woman, more distant and unknowable, and thus threatening. When men sing personal songs, they seem sensitive and evolved; when women sing personal songs, they are inviting and vulnerable, or worse, catty and tiresome. [catty??? bad language…]
‘We wanted to be a sonic call to action, anthemic, to either join in or get out, to be shaken from indifference – not only the listeners but ourselves.’
‘It was unnerving to venture back into a world where we might yet again have a label or indexer placed before the term ‘band’. We had spent years attempting to exist free of excess and arbitrary labels that were not descriptions of our music: female, indie, queer. Riot Grrrrl, post-Riot Grrrl music. Now here we were with the potentiality of being a ‘political’ band. But in the interim years we’d realized that denial is its own form of compliance and self erasure. Plus, it’s exhausting. We would go out on the road and play these songs and people could interpret them however the hell they wanted.’
‘certainly the affectlessness remains, the gutlessness…Entitlement is a precarious place from which to create or perform – it projects the idea that you have nothing to prove, nothing to claim, nothing to show but self satisfaction, a smug boredom….It’s an inverted dynamic, one that sets performers up to fail, but also gives them a false sense of having already arrived. I don’t understand how someone would not push, challenge, or at least be present, how anyone could get onstage and not give everything.’
I do not have my weapons here.
July 19, 2016 July 20, 2016 ~ KickingParis ~ Leave a comment
Montreal, July 2016.
The men appraise here. Walking down the street. The first thing is that they catch your eye and – the stare. No catcalls. But a stare. And you can feel the eyes. This happens from park benches. From cars. They stop the cars to let me run past (I run here, I am trying to remind my body what it can do) and I can feel their eyes track me.
I talk about this with J. ‘It’s the village mentality. Everyone is checking each other out in the summer. Whose sister has had a baby, whose brother is dating someone new, where did they get that shirt, bag, apple?
‘But this isn’t everyone. It’s the men. It’s me. I’m not used to this.’
Well…yeah. People have also been covered up for seven, eight months of year, so when there is a little less clothing, they look. But they won’t say anything. You’re safe.’
‘I don’t feel safe. This is not safety, to me.’
The two jackasses in plaid shirts on the subway, Joliette station, Hochelaga. Stoned at 11am, passing a can of energy drink or bug juice or something. Stumbling. And loud, so loud. They’re anglo speakers, in a very French neighbourhood. I do not think I have noticed before how quiet the francophone speakers are. But these voices – or perhaps because I can understand them, and their crudeness, and their leering and staggering, grates like fingernails on a blackboard. My brain is shuddering.
My headphones are half in. I am slowly aware. Something something ‘SQUIRT! SQUIRT!…your fucking girlfriends, man…I wanna meet your fuckin’ girlfriends.’
In the subway car, I watch them (they are aware of this). A girl, a black girl gets on, white jeans. She stands in front of them. Something is said, a snickering, falling about. She flinches and moves to sit on the side of the carriage. It looks like she may have moved so they will no longer amuse themselves with comments about her ass.
Language is a colonial choice here. An imposition. An aggression. A claiming of space. And they are so loud and obnoxious and unnecessary.
I don’t have my weapons here. My words, in French, are stumbling, unsophisticated and more than anything, slow. It takes me seconds to process what is being said, seconds to understand, seconds to formulate a response. Which is often imperfect and so we start again.
My body, my body which I have relied upon to be strong, is oddly clumsy. As if I’m in a different gravity, one where I move too quick, too hard, constantly misjudge space. I’m bruised on my calves from walking into the hard corners of things, I spill water, wine, pickle juice constantly.
(I am not pregnant, before anyone gets any ideas).
I get lost, all the time. I am disorientated, can’t tell North from East, turn the wrong way up streets and constantly get distances wrong.
Then I have to ask directions. And the whole thing starts again.
In Edinburgh, I am fast and sure and strong on my feet. I wear hard black boots and black skinny jeans and dramatic coats and my hair is short. I know where I am going, and I know what to say when I get there. This doesn’t always make me the most sympathetic of humans. It lets me get things done. I enjoy being like this, most of the time.
I do not often – not never, but not often – feel like I have to fight for space there. I am a middle class white woman with a career profile that means I receive some professional recognition. I know what this means.
In Scotland, I had this idea that the claiming of space – aural, visual, physical, online space – did not have to an adversarial act. That somehow there was enough space.
The photograph of Iesha Evans in Baton Rouge. Space held. For a second.
We’re on our way to Nova Scotia. Nouvelle Ecosse. I’m puzzling over a conversation with J’s brother before we left, about a piece of history I know little about, that of Acadie.
In Moncton, it becomes clear. I think of Nova Scotia as the final destination of the thousands of crofters forcibly and brutally removed from the Highlands to form new colonies on Nova Scotia, amongst other places. Cape Breton with its estimates of 25,000 Gaelic-speaking Scot immigrants arriving between 1775 and 1850.
Before Nova Scotia, it was Acadie. French speaking – and strategically valuable – settlements from which tens of thousands of French speakers were forcibly removed to France and to the United States (primarily Louisiana) in mid 1700s, as France treatied with the British Empire, who wanted the land. Le Grand Derangement.
There is no mention on the monuments of the fate of local First Nations Mikmaq people. Except how they saved the first German and Welsh settler families of Moncton during the first winter, with knowledge of maple syrup, samphire, salt marsh grass. No mention beyond this brief saviour role.
Looking around the red clay river banks, I wonder about space and defense and weapons and violence. The most prominent sign we can see is for the local Staples, Tim Horton’s, Subway. Huge great warehouses of them, equally huge car parks. Taking up so much space.
The other photographs of the suppression of the Black Live Matter protesters in Baton Rouge. Sweat and concrete and pressure.
On the subway, I keep staring. I don’t say anything. I am wearing a full length green floral dress, enormous cats-eye sunglasses. They fidget. Show off. Shove each other around. By accident – not entirely by accident – I follow them up the escalator at Berri UQAM. I follow them onto the platform. Then onto the train. They are aware of me now. I realise that I am on the wrong train, the wrong line entirely. I toy with the idea of staying further, seeing if I can actively freak them out but slip out before the doors before they close, walk serenely down the stairs. I like to think that they’ve been successfully freaked out, but I don’t know if they have. If I am only pleasing myself, with the thought that watchful silence can be enough of a weapon.
Aggression and defense. Space and displacement. Action and reaction.
I do not want to need my weapons here. I do not have my weapons here.
Doin’ a Show (pt 1)
August 17, 2015 ~ KickingParis ~ Leave a comment
First note. I’ve had these notes sitting here for a month but until I got the first show out of the way, and it went okay, I couldn’t have been brave enough to put these out there.
Second note. Trying to bring a show together occasionally causes loss of perspective. About everything else. In the world.
Third note. None of this matters. It’s just a bloody poetry show, at the bloody Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Where everyone is telling their story. And yours is no more important than anyone else’s.
Is this a (very long) set or a ‘show’? A script? A story?
Storytelling? Theatre? Live art? Spoken word live art theatre storytelling performance show?
It’s an HOUR. What the f**k am I going to talk about for an hour (How am I going to memorise this?) ? How boring will this be?
mememememememememememememe
I have the attention span of a concussed gnat.
I wonder what the attention span of a gnat actually is?
I would rather do ANYTHING than this.
Oh god, there is a Collective.
I am not pulling my weight. Other people are doing more things. I’m lost, what am I supposed to be doing again?
I know nothing about how to do this.
Maybe I should do something else.
Like break my legs.
Start with the poems. They’re all you’ve got, anyway. Work out the story. There is one. Trust it. Go on. Now just do patter, patter away the show.
Now make it interesting.
(this is not interesting)
I hate every single one of these poems.
I just keep saying the same thing in different ways.
Everyone has heard these a million times before.
Yes, EVERYONE.
‘brief lifeline’ though.
That is a good phrase. I don’t care if it doesn’t make sense. Listen to the sounds of it. Those ‘f’s make it make sense.
Don’t they?
I’m going to draw a picture of a shifty raccoon now.
Is this safe? Acceptable? Timid? Does this ASK ANYTHING ABOUT ANYTHING? I want fierce and awkward and uncomfortable and difficult. ‘We do not live in an age where poetry should warm the heart’ (Miriam Gamble). I fear this is ‘lovely’ and will be delivered in ‘dulcet tones’.
Walking Through Concrete (repost)
August 2, 2015 August 2, 2015 ~ KickingParis ~ Leave a comment
This is a repost: I had deleted it when I changed the blog. It’s not where I am at this moment, not at all. But I think maybe it’s okay to put it back. Originally posted 09 February 2015, after a shitter of a January. That I’d managed to write it and dared to (quietly) make it public was a sign that it was going to get better, that it was over the hump. But I think it’s useful to remember that these things come around, and it’s the same thing, it’s not the end of things, that these things have been before.
The bad days are the ones when every step is like pushing through concrete. The bad days are the ones where all there is in my chest is a gaping hole. The bad days are the ones I know are coming because I lose my words. The bad days are the ones where I buy ankle length white leopard print coats. The bad days are the ones where I can’t stop talking. The bad days are the ones where I can’t go to sleep because then I have to wake up to another bad day. The bad days are the ones where I can’t get out of bed because. The bad days are the ones where I can’t. The bad days are the ones where I shove you back as hard as I can because I can’t bear another endless conversation about you, you selfish cow, and can’t you hear the screaming that is going on inside my skull? The bad days are the one where you aren’t allowed to touch me. The bad days are the ones followed by the bad nights where I might as well keep drinking and hopefully I’ll bash my fucking head in on the way home. The bad days are the bad nights where I am so bright and so loud and so brash I hurt to look at. The bad days are the ones where my response to everything will be ‘I don’t care. I don’t care what they do, or he does, or she does, or we do. They can do what they want. I don’t care I don’t care I don’t care.’ (If I’ve ever said ‘I don’t care’ to you in conversation, I’m having a bad day). The bad days are the ones where it all goes hollow. The bad days are the ones where I can’t even meet your eyes because you might just see that they’re only mirrors reflecting the light and masking the fact that it is just empty inside the skull. The bad days are the ones where the screaming stops and becomes whistling through space. The bad days are the one followed by the nights where I can’t stop crying silently and I can feel your concern through my back and I can’t even speak to you because I have nothing to say. The bad days are the ones where I’m afraid you will realise I have nothing to say. The bad days are the ones where I am so afraid of everything I can’t cross the street without waiting for the traffic lights. The bad days are the one where I expect to fall off a kerb and break. The bad days are the ones where I can feel my teeth shattering to stumps again. The bad days are the ones where the rat has gnawed through to my ribcage, and the hag is riding my back and raking my scalp, and I can feel that dark hound pacing behind, and I am so scared to turn around. The bad days are the ones where the concrete has reached my knees and I just want to lie down on the pavement. The bad days are the days I can’t. The bad days are.
Au Bout Du Monde/At The End Of The World – Haiti, Pt 3 (pt ii)
June 15, 2015 June 15, 2015 ~ KickingParis ~ Leave a comment
The last two and a bit days
Hear how the mouth,
so full
of longing for the world,
changes its shape?
(Mark Doty ‘Difference’ – from My Alexandria)
Friday 8th
Atelier de performance with Guy, Moe and Louis-Karl, trickster energy all round. They’re well met by the young male Haitians, ‘la performance aquatique’, passing of the water bottle a performance in itself.There is one in particular, with a face like Loki, a hook in the nose, a chin that curls slightly up. He’s vocal, provocative, knowledgable and a huge fan of Josephine’s poetry. They talk about Situationism. Mischief recognises – and challenges – mischief.
At one point, we all get up. I roll in the dirt a bit. I’m feeling grotty, but also in need of a stretch. It feels good.
On the way back, traffic jams. It’s hot and bright. So we form a band in the van. Of course. Voila Tribe Called Sauge.* Wilkins, our driver, is patient, endlessly long suffering.
*it is a universally recognised fact that at least three new bands will be formed during any prolonged conference/festival/event, no matter where you are in the world, or in what language.
Back at the hotel, service is a little slow. We wait over an hour for an omlette, a sandwich. It’s verging on painfully hot. L’heure de chaleur.
More events, the Cafe in the evening. Another performance, then home. We have a big day tomorrow. We sleep early.
This is the big day. Camille successfully wrangles the poets before 8am, into minibuses and to Parc De Martissant, in the Martissant Quartier. It’s a long, hot, packed drive – Saturday morning traffic hornet-buzzed – up to the hills above the city. Suddenly there are trees, wide and quiet streets.
The Parc is beautiful. Peaceful and lush. Rebuilt as a tranquil place for the local community (they have problems with gangs, particularly for the children) after the earthquake. There is a library, vegetable gardens, outdoor stone pods – les oeufs D’Aida – separated by running water, over tiled waterways. An exhibition of dancer Katherine Dunham. A staff of over 70, funded by, among others, the Haitian Government, the George Soros Foundation, the EU. We wander, cooing at plants, pathways, tiny green quick lizards. We have an hour or so before the children arrive for the performances.
On the top of the hill, a tree hung with mirrored faces (the work of Pascale Monin, director of the Centre D’art). I’d been loitering behind and come up to find the female poets arranged in the branches. It’s something magical.
After, a circle is formed, hands held. Sharings from Josephine, Natasha, Jean Sioui, Rita. A giving of thanks to Haiti. It’s powerful.
Bibliotheque. Performance for les jeunes with Virginia, Jean Sioui, Louis Karl and Jonathan. Jonathan and I have worked on a translation into French of one of my pieces, the one that I think might translate, have some meaning, here – ‘Are the Kids Alright?’. We perform together, weaving the French and English. It’s good. He meets me halfway.
Then the day becomes very long, more and more and more kids arriving. Another performance, to younger children, which does not translate. They’re too young, and it’s just some random person talking to them in a different language. Jonathan appears and we perform again, a rescue of sorts that redeems it. But it’s getting hot. I wander out to the gardens, all poets pressed into service. They’re here. We’re here. So, it’ll happen.
Back to the hotel. We head to the supermarket, buy cheese, crackers, mangoes, hot sauce. A picnic on Maryan’s balcony with Bella, Jonathan. We’ve discussed the best vegetables to buy, shrink wrapped, in the supermarket. A penknife comes in handy. Tonight, there is to be a grand finale at FOKAL, although exact details are a little hazy. Moe and Jonathan go on ahead to set up, plan the evening.
I swim a little with Bella, then wait with the others at the hotel restaurant. We wait, and wait. No one seems quite clear what’s going on.
Eventually, to FOKAL. And it is amazing. A packed audience of Haitians, musicians, a series of young Haitian slam poets who leave my heart jumping out of my chest. Moe ‘CLICK CLACK POW WOW’ and Jonathan keep things running, performances from Natasha and Marie Andree, Louis-Karl, Guy. Jonathan and I perform ‘Kids’ for the third time that day. A whooping, wild audience, finishing with drums, dancing, shouts through the crowd.
Later that night, we eat, dance, and walk back through the warm streets of Port-Au-Prince after midnight.
There is little time. Too little. My flight at 2pm, Miami, Heathrow, Edinburgh. Retrace steps. The rest will stay in Port-au-Prince tonight, fly back to Montreal the following day. We have been invited to brunch at the house of Yanick Lahens. My case packed, both lighter and heavier than before. I feel warm, calm, a little stunned. I rub the heat deeper into my skin, asking it to stay with me. It does.
My case tucked under the seats of the minibus. We go up through the hills and find another side of the city: the suburbs. The houses here are bigger, still with high walls and barbed wire but with a more relaxed air. The streets are wider, less busy. There are shopfronts. Yanick’s bungalow is serene, elegant, full of art and tiles and light.
I say my goodbyes, quietly, to each person. The hugs are fierce.
The airport. The journey through Port-au-Prince passes more quickly than I remembered. And then I leave.
Josephine Bacon, Natasha Kanape Fontaine and Naomi Fontaine will be appearing at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Saturday 29th August in a joint event with Anna Crowe, Rachel McCrum and Jennifer Williams. This is part of a wider collaboration between the EIBF, the Scottish Poetry Library and the Maison De La Poesie in Montreal, which will see the three Scottish poets performing in Montreal in May 2016. More on the EIBF events here.
Edinburgh International Book Festival
Maison De La Poesie
Les Nuits Amerindiennes is a festival celebrating First Nation literature, poetry and performance from Quebec and Canada, organised by the Montreal based publishing house Memoire d’encrier, and encompassing performances, readings, workshops, lecture, book launches and more. The 2015 festival in Port-au-Prince was the first in what is hoped to be a global series of Les Nuits Amerindiennes.
Memoire D’encrier
Les Nuits Amerindiennes
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Porting an Enterprise App to System z – my experience. Part 1 of 4: The Basics
February 13, 2018 Jim Porell 4 Comments
At the end of 2016 and lasting a few months into 2017, I completed a proof of concept port of a large Enterprise Application that had been running on the Amazon Web Service Cloud to Linux for System z. This was a Docker based application written in Java…so of course, it would be trivial to port. WRONG. While the application is in Java, it called many pieces of open source code. Much of that code hadn’t been ported to System z yet or wasn’t widely adopted. What I thought was a very simple exercise turned into a six month effort.
What I’d like to do, via a series of blog entries, is share my experience in the hope this might help some other organization decide to do a similar porting task. While I’ve been working with mainframes for decades, this was my first Linux porting experience. So I’ll be describing how this experience helped me to Master the Mainframe, though that title seems reserved for university students.
This could be a book, but by breaking it up, it might be easier to understand.
The Basics: High level overview of the application, the development environment, the system set up required to begin the porting exercise and the scope of the port.
The Good: The people who assisted and taught me, the things that ported easily and the simplicity of getting started via the Linux Community Developers system.
The Bad: the new open source for System z, the modifications necessary to open source to run on z, the debug experience and the time necessary to complete the porting process.
The Future and Value. Regardless of the bad experience, there is a great business value in getting these types of Enterprise Apps on System z.
This entry is more about the basic desktop development environment and targeted production on x86 based cloud servers. This is the traditional development environment and primary target of the applications. I needed to fit in and work with this environment before I could ever consider doing the unique activities necessary for success on Linux for System z.
Because of the proprietary nature of the application and intellectual property, I’m not going to name the vendor or application. This overview of the workflow is simplistic, at best, so as to not give away any trade secrets. The vendor is an early start up with an application to handle biometric authentication in a marvelous way. This application has a callable interface to start a request and then, using cloud based services, does some communication with the end-user, does some analytics based on a number of system defined characteristics, logs a number of things for diagnostics, audits and future analytics, provides a go/no-go decision back to the original caller and has a number of applications and user interface applications to manage the cloud deployment. Finally, they have an enormous test suite to emulate and automate the entire end to end workflow.
This vendor was doing all of their development for the x86 platform and originally with any Linux version supported by Amazon Web Services. This included Centos/Red Hat versions. Their first development environment used Maven tooling and pom.xml scripts that targeted deployment into Docker containers. They used Github capabilities to clone and manage the source code libraries within their business.
The first major effort was for me to establish a development environment on my computer and prove that I could work with and build a workable x86 version of the code. My computer of choice was a MacBook Pro 2010 model running the latest MacOS at the time. First thing to do was turn my MacOS into a real developers machine. I installed xcode, Atom, SourceTree, Filezilla and Docker which enabled me to look like a Linux system, edit source files intelligently, manage access to the source files, facilitate cloning of source and execute the code. There were other local variant software that I needed to install using a script that was provided to me. I love the Mac, as did the vendor, who’s entire team used it, so that was really helpful. I then needed a VPN into their system and I was off and running. I used this set up for about two months. One thing I learned, painfully, that the 2010 Mac was SLOOOOOWWWW. What would take 15 minutes to do for them might take me over an hour. So I decided to upgrade to the MacBook Pro Touch Bar quad-core 16GB memory laptop. Now my work completed faster than their 15 minutes, which was a blessing. I can’t stress enough the value of a good starting point on the desktop or laptop for this type of development! It was life changing to me.
Open Source and Operating System Dependencies
The first version of the vendor code used Centos/Red Hat as the target deployment environment. This code runs over 50 Docker containers. Each container is intended to be as small, memory wise, as possible, so it is scalable in a largely virtualized environment. As mentioned earlier, they also used Maven and pom.xml scripts to do their container builds. Each container had a script that would gather necessary pre-requisite open source parts, their Java code and then do the build so there was an executable container. Naming conventions, versioning and more were part of these Maven scripts. 90% of the open source code used was available in a binary form as either an RPG, ZIP or TAR file. Those binaries were either copied into the vendor’s library system or accessed via a URL and dynamically downloaded from the internet during the build process. I’ll get into the System z ramifications of this in the Good and Bad blog entries.
This is the development environment I began my first phase of the port. The prototype I was building was only for a functional test to prove the code could work. We intended to accomplish our test goal with only 40 of the 50 containers being ported. We completed what we thought was a good test level of code after a few weeks of my porting. But then we identified some critical test containers were missing. Unfortunately, the vendor didn’t use the same library management rigor for their test suite and I was going to have to re-base my code.
Rebasing the code and changing Development environments
Unfortunately, that was the tip of the iceberg in changes. I mentioned this was a startup vendor. They had two very large customers that were testing the code when I started. They realized they had a scaling problem, early on. They also realized they had some development inefficiencies. When you get a RedHat, SUSE or Ubuntu distribution, there is a lot of software in the package, like getting the z/OS operating system, MacOS or Windows. As such, the kernel of the large distribution Linux systems can start at 250MB and easily be over 750 MB’s. When you add 100’s of virtualized containers, each having that size as the basic footprint, the overall system runs out of memory pretty quickly. However, if the kernel can start at 18MB and run about 50MB, then greater scale is possible. As development of this application began, the Alpine Linux distribution began and it met the small size requirement. The vendor began to rebase all of their test code and as much of the open source code as they could on Alpine to take advantage of this reduced memory benefit. That was and is an excellent business decision on their part.
Maven is a fairly complex environment for building docker containers. It works. Both the vendor and I proved that it could work. However, in addition to open source code, there are now open docker containers that can be leveraged, as is, to be included in place of an open source binary. However, in order to do that with Maven, the Docker definition files of these open containers must be cut and paste and then modified as part of the Maven script syntax. And each time the container definition changes in the open source world, the Maven scripts need to be hand modified. So the vendor dropped Maven as the base for their container build environment and switched to using Docker build definitions directly. Again, I applaud the vendor for doing this. It simplified the development environment, it gave them access to additional open source code repositories and made everything easier to manage.
The unintended consequences of the vendor’s change from Maven to pure Docker and Centos/RedHat to Alpine was I had to start all over on the port. I’m going to save the details of that for the Good and Bad statements as they are directly applicable to System z.
As far as Linux for x86 cloud environments, this vendor has a world-class development environment, working to create the most reliable, secure and efficient application possible. Ultimately, those attributes must apply to System z deployment as well. I’ll be covering that status in the other blog entires.
AlpineAlpine LinuxAmazon Web Serviceanalyticsapplication developmentavailabilityAWSbenchmarksbusiness resilienceCentoscicscloudCloud deploymentcost avoidanceDockerGitHubhybrid cloud computinghybrid computingIBM MainframeJavaLinux for zLinux on zLinuxONELPARmainframeopen source softwareportingprivate cloudpublic cloudrdmaS390XsecuritySine Nomine Associatessystem integritySystem zunintended consequencesvirtualizationWebspherez/OSz/VM
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4 thoughts on “Porting an Enterprise App to System z – my experience. Part 1 of 4: The Basics”
joe clabby says:
Excellent, honest review of a complex z porting effort! Great story, balanced reporting — nice job!
Garth Godfrey says:
A thorough, detailed account of a real porting effort, with both technical and business issues. Thanks for the insights on where improvements are needed. I hope there are strategic thinkers reading this that can see the opportunities, and invest.
Jim Porell says:
Thanks for the comments Garth. Great to hear from you!
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The Saturday Special with Michael Zwerling- May 17th 2014- Is the CPS Out of Control?- Guests: Julian “Jerry” Dominguez, Co-Author of “A Culture of Fear: an inside look at Los Angeles County’s Department of Children & Family Services”, Fox Sloan, Family Rights Activist and Carin Johnson, Child Dependency Attorney.
MZ’s in-studio guest is the Co-author of “A Culture of Fear: an inside look at Los Angeles County’s Department of Children & Family Services”. This is the first book in history to expose some of the biggest frauds against families in desperation and the law. Learn how the government uses it’s power to harass and punish people who turn up on their radar by threatening to take away that which we hold most dear. Carin Johnson is an attorney based in Walnut Creek and has been practicing Child Dependency law for years and joins the conversation by phone. Fox Sloan is the third guest and tells her personal experience with CPS in Santa Cruz County. Listen to this week’s edition of “The Saturday Special with Michael Zwerling” and spread the word…Read More
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(-) no-till farming (2)
(-) grazing management (1)
How does the amount of land that youth stand to inherit affect their migration and employment decisions?
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This study aims to evaluate the link between climate/weather change and farmer migration in Bihar, India. The influence of cognitive conditions and climate-related stress on farmer migration decisions and the socioeconomic characteristics of migrating and non-migrating farm households are analysed…
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Migration Co-facilitators Issue Zero Draft
The co-facilitators of negotiations on the global compact on migration have presented the zero draft to UN Member States. They also updated delegations on plans for the first round of intergovernmental negotiations, convening on 20 February 2018. The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular…
Adoption of the ecosystem services concept in EU policies ( open access)
The concept of ecosystem services has gained a strong political profile during the last 15 years. However, there is no specific EU policy devoted to governing ecosystem services. This article shows that the ecosystem services concept is already embedded in recent EU (environmentally-related)…
Land Degradation and Development (articles just published)
Modeling variations in soil salinity in the oasis of Junggar Basin, China Ligang Ma, Shengtian Yang, Zibibula Simayi, Qing Gu, Jiadan Li, Xiaodong Yang and Jianli Ding Version of Record online: 15 FEB 2018 | DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2890 Carbon Balance as Affected by Biosolid Application in Reforestations…
A Meta-Analysis of the Literature on Climate Change and Migration
Recent surveys of the literature devoted to climate change and migration emphasize the important diversity of outcomes and approaches of the empirical studies. In this paper, we carry out a meta-analysis in order to investigate the role of the various methodological choices of these empirical…
Exploring the impact of rural-urban migration on urban land use and land cover: a case of Dhaka city, Bangladesh
Recent article published in the Journal of Migration and Development for people who are working on human migration and urban land usage and land cover change, might be interested in this study. As rural-urban human migration occurs in big cities, we often don't fully recognize their impact on the…
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The resurgence of violent conflict in recent years has caused immense human suffering, at enormous social and economic cost. Violent conflicts today have become complex and protracted, involving more non-state groups and regional and international actors, often linked to global challenges from…
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League of Arab States, World Meteorological Organization, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia and UN Environment organized the Regional Training Workshop on Sand and Dust Storms in the Arab Region in Cairo, Egypt from 10 to 12 February 2018. The workshop was hosted by the…
Water Stress is Driving Conflict and Migration. How Should the Global Community Respond?
Water insecurity has driven social distress throughout history, from the Mayan Empire to modern-day Syria. But global efforts to avoid crises have been inadequate. There's a better path forward. The Commentary by Charles Iceland Aqueduct Director discusses the state of current water hotspots, and…
Youth Migration and Labour Constraints in African Agrarian Households
Using panel data from Ethiopia and Malawi, we investigate how youth migration affects household labour, hired labour demand, and income, and whether these effects vary by migrant sex and destination. Labour shortages arise from the migration of a head’s child. However, the migration of the head’s…
'Climate Refugees': Beyond the Legal Impasse?
Current estimates of the numbers of people who will be forced from their homes as a result of climate change by the middle of the century range from 50 to 200 million. Therefore, even the most optimistic projections envisage a crisis of migration that will dwarf any we have seen so far. And yet…
Migration for Adaptation: A Guidebook to Integrate Migration and Translocality into Community-Based Adaptation
The new guidebook seeks to address a gap in the awareness and understanding of migration potentials and risks. It provides a theoretical framework and practical tools for assessing the impact of migration and translocality on the outcomes of development work at the local level and beyond and…
143 Million People May Soon Become Climate Migrants, World Bank Warns (Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration)
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Global Report on Food Crises 2018
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A recent article "Sampling bias in climate–conflict research" in Nature Climate Change has spurred a new chapter in the lively scholarly debate over the potential relationship between climate change and violent conflict. We agree with the article’s authors that there are several forms of sampling…
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MyU: For Students, Faculty, and Staff
Chris Leighton
Leighton Group
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (CEMS)
home » Facilities
Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources
Principal Investigator’s Laboratory (Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science)
Approximately 2400 square feet of laboratory space is available for this research. The following equipment is available in the PI’s laboratory:
UHV sputter deposition system:
This is a commercial system based on a modified version of the Kurt J. Lesker CMS 18. The deposition system consists of a UHV (10-9 Torr) main chamber and a HV load lock chamber. The main chamber has a dry pumping system, the primary pump being a magnetically-levitated turbomolecular pump. The main process chamber has six confocal deposition sources (DC or RF), an oxygen compatible heater stage (up to 850 C), two mass flow channels (Ar and O2) and a residual gas analyzer. The load lock chamber is set up for annealing or cooling in an oxygen pressure up to 500 Torr. Sputtering is possible in total gas pressures up to about 150 mTorr, with 30 mTorr of O2. The deposition sources are powered by three (switchable) power supplies (two DC and one RF). Computer control over the entire system, including source shutters, mass flow control, heater stage temperature, and source power supplies, allows for completely automated growth of compounds, alloys, multilayers, and superlattices.
High pressure oxygen sputter deposition system:
To the best of our knowledge this is the only system of its kind at a US university. Based on the Julich design, it is a three source sputter system designed to operate in pure oxygen at pressures up to several Torr. The unique design almost eliminates oxygen induced re-sputtering problems by thermalizing O ions via collisions with other ions in the dense plasma. The system is capable of deposition temperatures up to 1000 C and the films can be cooled, post-deposition, in one atmosphere of O2. The system has demonstrated capability for deposition of high quality epitaxial films of cuprates, manganites, cobaltites, ferrites, titanates, etc.
UHV molecular beam epitaxy system:
This is a home-built UHV metal MBE system with a base pressure below 10-10 Torr. The system incorporates a large ion pump, titanium sublimation pumps, sorption pumps (for roughing), a set of cryopanels, a residual gas analyzer, and a UHV (10-9 Torr) load lock chamber with in situ plasma etching capability. Deposition sources include a four-source linear electron beam evaporator and three thermal cells, which can be energized simultaneously for alloy growth. Growth can be monitored via two quartz crystal monitors and a sophisticated deposition controller capable of controlling rates down to 0.025 Ås-1, as well as alloy growth from two sources. The system also includes a rotating x-y-z growth stage capable of temperatures up to 1200 C. In-situ structural characterization is achieved by RHEED (Reflection High Energy Electron Diffraction) with a 15 kV electron gun, beam rocking capability, and k-Space image acquisition and analysis software.
Sulfide reactive deposition system:
A home-built 3 source HV sputtering system for the reactive deposition of transition metal disulfides. The system has three 2” magnetron sources, a HV load lock chamber, a residual gas analyzer, a 700 C substrate heater, and a gas flow system capable of handling a H2S/Ar mix as a reactive gas. The latter involves an exhausted gas cabinet, double-walled delivery lines, a corrosive series turbomolecular pump, a N2 dilution system, a rough pump in a fume hood, and a H2S detection system. This chamber has been used for the growth of thin films of CoS2 and FeS2.
Additional synthesis/processing equipment:
In addition to the major items listed above we have a significant number of other items, primarily used for bulk sample preparation. Three 3-zone furnaces are available for CVT (Chemical Vapor Transport) growth of bulk single crystals, primarily sulfides. Two of these systems are set up in fume hoods; the lab has three of the latter, in addition to two laminar flow hoods. For bulk polycrystalline ceramics and sputter target fabrication we have a suite of furnaces, including two tube furnaces up to 1200 C (with a manifold enabling the use of high vacuum, O2, forming gas, N2, or Ar), four standard box furnaces (up to 1200 C), and a high temperature muffle furnace (up to 1600 C). A powder press is also available, along with two glove boxes for sample preparation. Finally, the lab also has a vacuum oven with a liquid nitrogen trap, in addition to a high vacuum magnetic annealer that can achieve 1 x 10-8 Torr, 800 C, and a 500 Oe magnetic field.
3-zone furnaces Bulk synthesis equipment
10 T electrical transport / magnetotransport measurement system (left) and MPMS XL7 SQUID magnetometer (right):
This is a 10 T superconducting magnet with variable temperature insert from 1.25 to 325 K. The system is equipped with calibrated high field thermometers, temperature controller, level meter, pumps, and electronics for DC (current source, voltage source, nanovoltmeter and source/measure unit) and AC (resistance bridge or lock-in) transport measurements. Using combined temperature control on the variable temperature insert and the sample stage heater temperature stability of order 1 mK can be achieved at 10 K. The system is capable of measuring resistivity, Hall effect, magnetoresistance and photoconductivity (via an optical fiber), and has a second probe which enables sample rotation in both planes. One probe is wired with sub-miniature stainless steel coaxial cables to enable low noise, high impedance measurements. A home-built oven insert provides access to temperatures up to 1000 K (in an O2 atmosphere if required) for high temperature transport measurements.
Additional transport probe:
In addition to the above system we also have a high-throughput transport probe where resistivity measurements (using a second AC resistance bridge) can be made from 4.2 - 300 K by insertion in a helium dewar.
Cryocooler/electromagnet:
This is a third transport and magnetotransport measurement system based on a closed-cycle refrigerator with a base temperature of 8 K, mounted within a 1.5 T electromagnet. The cryocooler has optical windows to enable photoconductivity measurements, while the electromagnet is mounted on a rotating table for angle-dependent magnetotransport measurements. Electronics are available for both DC and AC transport measurements.
Liquid nitrogen cryostat/electromagnet: This is a fourth transport and magnetotransport measurement system based on a liquid nitrogen flow cryostat mounted within a 1.5 T electromagnet. The cryostat has a temperature range from 65 to 500 K. The system has dedicated electronics for DC and AC transport measurements, including an AC resistance bridge.
Physical property measurement system: This is a cryogen-free (Evercool-II) Quantum Design PPMS (Physical Property Measurement System) with a 1.7 to 400 K temperature range and a 9 T magnet. The system is equipped with a VSM (Vibrating Sample Magnetometry) option enabling high throughput magnetometry from 1.7 to 1000 K. Electronics required for other measurement options is pre-installed, meaning that the shared 3He, AC susceptibility, heat capacity, torque magnetometry, and AC transport options available in the UMN Physics Department (see section (D) below) can be used in this system. A “break-out box” has also been installed, enabling transport measurements with a wide variety of other electronics for DC and AC transport measurements.
Bulk fabrication equipment:
In addition to the major items listed above we have a number of other items, primarily used for bulk sample preparation. These include three fume hoods, one laminar flow hood, four standard box furnaces (up to 1200 C), a high temperature muffle furnace (up to 1600 C), an 1100 C tube furnace (1”), and a 1200 C tube furnace (3”) with a HV pumping and gas flow manifold for oxygen, a three zone 1350 C tube furnace (used for single crystal growth via chemical vapor transport), two glove boxes, a vacuum oven with liquid nitrogen trap, a powder press, and a high vacuum annealer (1 x 10-8 Torr, 800 C, 500 Oe magnetic field).
UMN College of Science and Engineering Characterization Facility
The University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering Materials Characterization Facility is extensively used in the PIs research. The facility provides access to a wide variety of characterization techniques.
High resolution X-ray diffractometer: The high-resolution (primarily thin film) diffractometer (a Panalytical X’Pert Pro) is used extensively in the PIs research. This instrument is capable of high-resolution wide-angle diffraction, rocking curves, grazing incidence reflectometry, grazing-incidence in-plane diffraction, pole figures, and reciprocal space mapping.
Wide angle X-Ray diffraction: Four additional diffractometers, two general purpose systems, one with multi sample capability, two with wide-range temperature control, and two with line/area detectors. The latter enable high-throughput characterization and are particularly useful for polycrystalline thin films. The complete temperature range covered is from liquid helium to 1400 K.
Microdiffraction: Two microdiffractometers with 2D area detectors are available. In addition to small samples, these systems are ideal for thin film polycrystals, and for orientation/mapping of single crystals. Texture and single crystallinity can be easily verified in these systems. A real-time Laue system is also available for alignment of single crystals.
Scanning probe microscopy: Four multimode scanning probe microscopes are available (two Bruker and two Agilent systems), featuring contact and tapping mode atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, conductive probe, Kelvin probe, etc., some with variable temperature capability.
Scanning electron microscopy: Four units are available for SEM, all based on field-emission guns. Energy dispersive spectroscopy, electron back-scatter diffraction, and cathodoluminescence are all available.
Transmission Electron Microscopy: Four units are available, an FEI Tecnia T12 TEM, an FEI Tecnai G2 F30 cryo scanning TEM, an FEI Tecnai G2 F30 scanning TEM, and the recently acquired FEI Titan G2 60-300 X-FEG aberration-corrected scanning TEM. These systems cover conventional TEM imaging, Z-contrast STEM imaging, EDX and EELS. The PI collaborates with Prof. Andre Mkhoyan at the University of Minnesota on TEM imaging and analysis, as well as Prof. Maria Varela of Oak Ridge National Lab/Universidad Complutense Madrid.
Other spectroscopic / microscopy methods: Also available at the Characterization Facility are Auger electron spectroscopy, ion beam analysis (including Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy and particle-induced X-ray emission), spectroscopic ellipsometry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and microscopy, and visible light microscopy.
University of Minnesota Nano Center (MNC)
The University of Minnesota maintains a state-of-the-art nanofab facility, spanning two buildings and 8000 square feet of clean space, with additional support labs. Equipment items used by the PI include:
Electron beam lithography system: This is a Vistec EBPG 5000+ 100 kV lithography system capable of sub-10 nm linewidths and large area patterning.
Photolithography systems: Full suite of photolithographic patterning tools including mask making capabilities for feature sizes down to 0.5 microns, as well as a direct-write optical lithography system.
Etching Tools: Multiple reactive ion etch, deep trench etch, and ion mill tools, and a focused ion beam tool.
Deposition Tools: Several evaporators (thermal and electron beam), sputtering systems (RF and DC), CVD, and ALD tools, in addition to various spin coating systems. These systems enable deposition of metals, insulators, oxides, nitrides, etc.
Additional miscellaneous items: These include a confocal microscope, a wirebonder, rapid thermal anneal systems, ellipsometers, profilometers, wafer saws, etc.
School of Physics and Astronomy Shared Facilities
The PI is a user of the following instrumentation in the condensed matter physics program.
Physical Property Measurement System: This Quantum Design PPMS system features a field/temperature platform capable of 1.7 – 400 K in a 9 T field. Options include DC and AC transport, DC magnetization, high resolution AC susceptibility, heat capacity, torque magnetometry, 3He temperatures, sample rotation, and an ultra-low field option.
Magnetic Property Measurement System: This 1.7 K, 5 T Quantum Design MPMS is operated as a shared facility. The system is equipped with a custom sample rotator and vector coil set.
Institute for Rock Magnetism
The NSF-funded Institute for Rock Magnetism (IRM) provides access to various magnetometers and magnetic measurement tools, which are used occasionally in the PIs research.
SQUID magnetometry: Two Quantum Design MPMS SQUID magnetometers are available, operating from 1.7 K to 400 K and in magnetic fields up to 5 T, with 10-8 emu sensitivity.
Vibrating sample magnetometers: Two magnetometers operate at low field from 10 K to over 1000 K. One room temperature model is available, with 10-6 emu sensitivity.
Alternating gradient magnetometer: The facility houses one such system, operating at 300K, up to 2.2 T, with 10-8 emu sensitivity.
The IRM also makes available additional equipment, including magnetic force microscopy instrumentation, AC susceptometers, and a Mossbauer set-up.
Neutron Scattering Facilities
The group is also a frequent user of several national user facilities, particularly neutron sources. We use and collaborate with:
The NIST Center for Neutron Research, National Institute of Standards and Technology
The Spallation Neutron Source — Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center — Los Alamos National Laboratory
This project is associated with the College of Science and Engineering
Contact Us | Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science | College of Science and Engineering | University of Minnesota Twin Cities
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Home / Coaching & Development / Games For All / Respect Initiative
Strategic Aim:
We will introduce a detailed initiative to promote respect and discipline towards match officials and each other.
The GAA Respect Initiative aims to promote positive behaviour and to ensure that an enriching environment is provided for the promotion and development of Gaelic Games. This includes respect for and from all participants on and around the field. The initiative is currently being piloted in four counties (Armagh, Waterford, Kilkenny and Sligo) at all levels up to U-12 with national roll out at this level planned in 2010. Download a Poster on the Respect Initiative .Download a Toolkit on the Respect Initiative. This toolkit has been developed to provide Clubs and Counties access to artwork and templates for the various materials being used to promote this important initiative.
Players and coaches line up behind their manager before and after the game to shake hands with the referee, opposing players and coaches
Referees communicate decisions to players in an effective manner
A merit award – based on sporting endeavor and fair play – is awarded to players/teams at the end of each season/blitz
Supporters remain in designated areas at the side of the pitch for the full duration of each game.
Each unit must strive to achieve maximum participation for all players
Referees to be welcomed to the GAA Club.
What is involved?
Implementing the Code of Behaviour
Coach & Referee Education (Young Whistlers)
Designated Spectators` Area
Go Games Programme
Strong Club Leadership
Respect Awareness Programme
Recognition and Merit Awards
A Checklist for Behaviour
Managing Players
The referee will work with the captain and coaches to manage the game effectively. Referees will control the game by applying the rules of the game and by dealing with any instances of dissent firmly. In the event of a player using foul language or behaving in an unsporting manner it is recommended that:
A free is awarded to the opposition and the player is informed that he will be asked to leave the game in the event of repeat behaviour.
In the event of repeated abusive language or unsporting behaviour, the referee instructs the coach to replace the offending player and the game is re-commenced after this.
Managing the Sideline
In the event of a person – other than a player – using foul language or behaving in an unsporting manner it is recommended that:
The matter is brought to the attention of the designated team representative
The representative reminds the person concerned of his/her responsibilities
Where the behaviour continues, the game may be terminated
A full report is provided by the referee to the committee with responsibility for the fixture. Download an Information Booklet on the GAA Respect Initiative .
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Board index General THE FLAME - news and information
THE FLAME: FOREWORD by Adam Cohen
Everything about Leonard Cohen's new book
Post by jarkko » Sun Sep 23, 2018 1:00 pm
In honour and in celebration of his father's 84th birthday, Adam shares with Leonard's friends the Foreword he wrote to his father's last work, The Flame:
This volume contains my father's final efforts as a poet. I wish he had seen it to completion—not because it would have been a better book in his hands, more realized and more generous and more shapely, or because it would have more closely resembled him and the form he had in mind for this offering to his readers, but because it was what he was staying alive to do, his sole breathing purpose at the end. In the difficult period in which he was composing it, he would send "do not disturb" e-mails to the few of us who would regularly drop by. He renewed his commitment to rigorous meditation so as to focus his mind through the acute pain of multiple compression fractures and the weakening of his body. He often remarked to me that, through all the strategies of art and living that he had employed during his rich and complicated life, he wished that he had more completely stayed steadfast to the recognition that writing was his only solace, his truest purpose.
My father, before he was anything else, was a poet. He regarded this vocation, as he records in the notebooks, as some "mission from G-d." (The hyphen indicated his reverence to the deity; his reluctance to write out the divine name, even in English, is an old Jewish custom and is further evidence of the fidelity that he mixed with his freedom.) "Religion, teachers, women, drugs, the road, fame, money... nothing gets me high and offers relief from the suffering like blackening pages, writing." This statement of purpose was also a statement of regret: he offered his literary consecration as an explanation for what he felt was poor fatherhood, failed relationships, and inattention to his finances and health. I am reminded of one of his lesser-known songs (and one of my favorites): "I came so far for beauty, I left so much behind." But not far enough, apparently: in his view he hadn't left enough. And this book, he knew, was to be his last offering.
As a kid, when I would ask my dad for money to buy sweets at the corner store, he'd often tell me to search the pockets of his blazer for loose bills or change. Invariably, I would find a notebook while going through his pockets. Later in life, when I would ask him if he had a lighter or matches, I would open drawers and find pads of paper and notebooks. Once, when I asked him if he had any tequila, I was directed to the freezer, where I found a frosty, misplaced notebook. Indeed, to know my father was (among many other wondrous things) to know a man with papers, notebooks, and cocktail napkins—a distinguished handwriting on each—scattered (neatly) everywhere. They came from nightstands in hotels, or from 99-cent stores; the ones that were gilded, leather-bound, fancy, or otherwise had a look of importance were never used. My father preferred humble vessels. By the early 1990s, there were storage lockers filled with boxes of his notebooks, notebooks containing a life of dedication to the thing that most defined the man. Writing was his reason for being. It was the fire he was tending to, the most significant flame he fueled. It was never extinguished.
There are many themes and words that repeat throughout my father's work: frozen, broken, naked, fire, and flame. On the back of the first album cover are (as he put it in a later song) the "flames that follow Joan of Arc." "Who by fire?" he famously asked, in a song about fate that wickedly made use of a Jewish prayer. "I lit a thin green candle to make you jealous of me." That candle was only the first of many kindlings. There are fires and flames, for creation and destruction, for heat and light, for desire and consummation, throughout his work. He lit the flames and he tended to them diligently. He studied and recorded their consequences. He was stimulated by their danger—he often spoke of other people's art as not having enough "danger," and he praised the "excitement of a thought that was in flames."
This fiery preoccupation lasted until the very end. "You want it darker, we kill the flame," he intoned on his last album, his parting album. He died on November 7, 2016. It feels darker now, but the flame was not killed. Each page of paper that he blackened was lasting evidence of a burning soul.
-Adam Cohen, February 2018
HugoD
Location: Haarlemmermeer /Netherlands
Re: THE FLAME: FOREWORD by Adam Cohen
Post by HugoD » Sun Sep 23, 2018 1:07 pm
Thank you for sharing, this is so beautiful!
Lille 2010, Dublin 2012, Mannheim 2013, Rotterdam 2013, Montréal 2017
Happiness is just the side effect of a meaningful life.
holydove
Post by holydove » Sun Sep 23, 2018 8:48 pm
Thank you, Jarkko, for posting & thank you to Adam for honoring your beloved father by sharing your wonderful insights & very touching memories in this beautifully written foreword. Your words are greatly appreciated & will be cherished.
Post by B4real » Mon Sep 24, 2018 2:12 am
I too will add a thank you to Jarkko for posting this. Also many thanks to Adam for his words dedicated to his father and his father's utmost efforts to complete this last offering for all of us.
As I was reading, these words came instantly to my mind:
“and my father's hand was trembling
with the beauty of the word.”
Also a bit of kismet happenstance here - Adam says one of his favourite songs is Came So Far For Beauty and that was the line we choose to write on LC's memorial bench plaque at Hydra.
Contact John K.
Post by John K. » Tue Sep 25, 2018 12:19 am
This is beautifully written. I am especially taken by this passage:
he wished that he had more completely stayed steadfast to the recognition that writing was his only solace, his truest purpose.
I find it remarkable that Leonard Cohen, who has left a body of work in the English language that stands up to anything written by anyone, ever, would have regrets around not embracing it enough. What more could he have given to the world?
I love to speak with John
He's a pundit and a fraud
He's a lazy banker living in a suit
http://www.johnkloberdanz.com
Frank Van Dael
Location: Herentals (Belgium)
Post by Frank Van Dael » Thu Sep 27, 2018 12:22 pm
Kiitos, Jarkko. And thank you, Mr. Adam Cohen. Thank you so much for sharing.
Location: Porto
Contact Mary72
Post by Mary72 » Sat Sep 29, 2018 11:02 pm
I have just finished reading The Flame. I prefer the canadian cover version published by McClelland & Stewart, is definitely the most loyal to the content of the book.
Post by sebmelmoth2003 » Thu Oct 04, 2018 11:19 am
adam cohen talks to will gompertz about the flame - 07.55 hours approx as broadcast.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172w1fqmrzlc88
baronvonbaron
Post by baronvonbaron » Mon Oct 08, 2018 8:46 pm
Adam is as eloquent in writing as he is in real life.
Last edited by baronvonbaron on Thu Jan 16, 2020 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Leorphane
Post by Leorphane » Sat Nov 24, 2018 8:05 pm
Chimney flames
November again
I feel like a Leorphan
Post by lizzytysh » Thu Dec 13, 2018 4:31 am
Now I have read through this thread, and am feeling a searing, poignant sadness in reading especially Adam's words about Leonard, sharing his private insights into his father, and various means of finding them. We have lost Leonard and Marianne and Esther and Irving Layton and Judith Fitzgerald and more. We are privileged to still have Adam.
Post by lizzytysh » Sat Dec 29, 2018 1:58 am
I have yet to begin reading this book in my hands.
What I resent in reviews is people's tendency to speak of it as pedestrian, uneven, and banal. I remember when I first looked at the photo collection of US here, in the section Jarkko created, Beautiful Losers. Throughout those pages are exceedingly unflattering photos of Leonard, a kind of implicit acknowledgement for everyone's benefit that not all photographs of us are good ones... which, in turn, served as implicit permission and encouragement for us to post a photo of ourself.
From what I've read in comments and reviews, Leonard appears to have done a 'show and tell' for everyone through this book. He KNEW all its entries were not perfect. He knew that he did not have the time to make them so. We have regularly credited him with being brilliant. He has steadfastly and in humility tried to tell us, to impart to us, how much work he had to put into his songs and his poems, his struggles with every word. That these great works did not just 'happen'!!
So, now, we get to see for ourselves what he has shared with us, his vulnerability, as he included so many UNfinished works!! Hard wrought final pieces they would have ended up had he the time.
To me, this serves as ENCOURAGEMENT to all who would write poems, songs, books, showing us that even the brilliant Leonard Cohen sometimes started out with trite phrasing, mundane ideas and words, as he wrestled with them word by word, and line by line, to get to the finished product. And never did find a word that adequately rhymes with orange. He shares with us the process of that most meaningful exercise and enterprise. Kudos to you, Leonard, for your humility, your caring, and your willingness to make yourself vulnerable, when you're not even around any longer to respond, at all.. an act of generousity for the ages. Thank you, Leonard, for your unfailing encouragement of all people.
Return to “THE FLAME - news and information”
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Boeing Black Android smartphone will self-destruct if tampered with
androidNews & Announcements
Boeing has made an entry into the mobile device market with its own Android smartphone called the Boeing Black smartphone.
Yep, it’s black in color, but the name has more to do with the security features it brings to the table than the outer color of the device itself.
According to a BBS report, the Boeing Black smartphone:
… Is manufactured as a sealed device both with [extremely strong glue] epoxy around the casing and with screws, the heads of which are covered with tamper-proof covering to identify attempted disassembly.
Any attempt to break open the casing of the device would trigger functions that would delete the data and software contained within the device and make the device inoperable.
Now that’s taking the idea of physical security to a different plateau. Conceptually, that self-destruct feature is in the same territory as the nuke patch for LUKS cryptsetup by the developers of Kali Linux (see A Kali Linux cryptsetup patch that can “nuke” an encrypted disk).
According to official documents, the Boeing Black is designed from the outset to be secure and modular. A paranoid out-of-the-box security posture is made possible with disk encryption, hardware root of trust, a hardware crypto engine, embedded secure components, trusted platform modules, and Secure Boot. And a built-in modular expansion port ensures that the smartphone’s features can be extended by adding extra sensors, satellite connectivity, extra power capacity, and more.
But don’t think for a moment that this is the type of Android smartphone that you are going to be able to buy from your local electronics store, because it is designed for “U.S. defense and security communities.” That should give you an idea of what the price tag on it will be.
The specs on the device are:
Dual 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processors
lay:4.3-inch qHD (540 x 960 pixels)
Dual SIM cards
Unspecified onboard storage expandable with a microSD card
micro USB, PDMI (Portable Digital Media Interface), modular 24-Pin connector
Those specs are ordinary, but I don’t think those are the reasons Boeing is selling the smartphone. For Boeing and its potential customers, it’s all about security, security, security. You may access official description of Boeing Black smartphone from here (pdf).
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Tags: android hardware
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Samsung Chromebook 2 will be powered by the Exynos 5 Octa processor
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Toh Thye San - Hormone & Antibiotic Free Chickens
With three generations of poultry farmers, Toh Thye San is the leading Antibiotic Residue and Hormone Free Poultry Farm with a mission to provide people with top quality, hygienic, fresh, and safe chicken. They supply to top Singapore restaurants such as Gunther's, André, Burnt Ends, Robuchon, Iggy's, Corner House, and Jamie's to name a few.
A family-owned farm since 1979, Kenny Toh, the family's chief farmer, decided to branch Toh Thye San into poultry farming in 2006 as a result of his love of food and sustainability. Accredited by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA), Toh Thye San's 12 farms are nestled in the Sepang region of Malaysia.
Of the chicken breeds raised in Toh Thye San, Little Farms sources Toh Thye San's GG French Poulet Chickens (also known as the An Xin Chicken), a French breed of chicken sourced from France. The premium choice of poultry, the GG French Poulet Chickens is reared in a clean, airy, and spacious environment with no growth promoters administered. Most importantly, the An Xin chickens are never washed in chlorine, and are hormone, & antibiotic free.
Journey of the GG French Poulet Chicken
In order to ensure their optimal quality of standards, Toh Thye San flies chick hatchlings in from Sabre, South of France, everyday to be reared as breeders at their local farm. Eggs produced by their first generation in-house breeders are then handpicked to be hatched while the rest of the ends are sold off as table eggs.
As the chicks start to develop, they are housed in sheds equipped with warmers to protect their immunity system. Their litter is also regularly changed to prevent the build-up of ammonia, which damages their health and eyesight. For the first ten days of their development, the chicks are fed a special in-house formulation of pre-starter feed, consisting of a nutritious blend of milk, natural amino acids, corn and soy.
After they have grown, the chickens are allowed to roam freely in spacious pens with plenty of natural light and elevated perches. Toh Thye San farmers enter the pens daily to clean the area and encourage movement within the flock.
The chickens are given distilled water and are fed through an automated feeder, which provides a mixture of corn, soy, vitamins, organic selenium, orgacids, origadia and glucosamine. Absolutely no growth promoters are administered to the chickens.
In their final stage of growth, the chickens are sheltered in a peaceful environment with raised floors and plenty of space to roam around. Such so that there is a stocking density of 10 chickens per square meter, a stark difference from the RSPCA's standard maximum of 19.
As a result of such care and passion that goes into raising these chickens, we are proud to be able to source fresh, clean, and flavourful chicken to bring to you and your family.
Celebrate this weekend with us with our chicken special:
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Google Announces Android M, Coming Later This Year
Leave a Comment on Google Announces Android M, Coming Later This Year
Despite many people criticizing Google for being too fast in coming up with another version of Android, the search giant has made it official that the upcoming version of its mobile operating system will be called Android M. The update is said to be released later in the year, with hints that it will be in Q3.
At its annual I/O keynote, Google said that the Developer Preview version of Android M will release today. The new version will be the most polished version of Android and packs some pretty neat features under the hood. Most prominent features that Google discussed and showed off at today’s keynote are as follows.
Better App Permission
Do you ever really check out all the app permissions that are presented to you when you try to install an app from the Play store? Neither do I. It’s a great opportunity for less than honest app developers to slip their apps under the user’s nose without them noticing it. Starting with Android M, that is going to change.
Apps will ask for permission for individual access instead of showing a wall of permissions when installing.
Basically, Android M will follow the footsteps of iOS, showing you a prompt for allowing or denying permission each time an app wants access to parts of your phone. For example, you won’t see tons of details when installing an app. But whenever that app wants access to your camera, your microphone, your media gallery, bluetooth, or anything for that matter, you will be prompted to allow access.
This makes it easier for you to really be aware of what apps are using what features of your smartphone. The phone will remember your permission for each app so you won’t be bothered every time an app wants permission to do something that you previously allowed or denied access to.
Improved Web Experience
Google is giving developers what it calls Custom Chrome Tab. It is basically a Chrome browser in wraps that can be added to apps for opening links. This way, developers can make sure you can visit websites directly from their app without having to leave their app and switch to Chrome, although technically you will still be using Chrome.
Google said users will have access to all the features that Chrome is popular for, including autofills and everything. In addition to all that, Google is also improving how app linking works. The easiest way to describe what it does is by using the example Google showed on stage: If you click on a link to Twitter website, and you have Twitter application on your phone, it will automatically load Twitter.
Although Google Play sales have always been based on Google Wallet, the service never quite took off for average users. Google wants to take another swing at it, and it has chosen a similar name to that of Apple Pay. Called Android Pay, you will soon be able to use your Android phone to pay at over 700,000 Android Pay supported stores in the US.
Replacing Google Wallet, Android Pay wants to take on Apple Pay with nearly identical features.
Google says that Android Pay’s primary focus is on simplicity, security, and choice when it comes to making payment. It uses NFC and can be used with just a touch of your finger (Yes, M will have built-in fingerprint support). Also, to ensure your security, every time you add a credit card to your Android Pay, a virtual account number is created which is used to process all merchant transactions. This way, your real credit card number is never shared with them.
Android Pay will work with any Android phone with NFC radio. It will work on AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Payment with Android Pay is simple. You unlock your phone like normal, tap the NFC, and you’re done. No extra code required. It’s that fast and simple. Also, Android Pay will work with phones running Android KitKat or later.
Fingerprint Support
Android M will have fingerprint support as a core feature of the operating system. Fingerprint in Android is not a new thing. OEMs like Samsung has already done so with their device, and Google wants to take advantage of what it has learned from those. Thanks to the fingerprint support, you can make secure payment using Android Pay.
Fingerprint can also be used to unlock your phone or do a lot more, depending on what developers come up with. The company said that developers will be able to use the fingerprint API to allow fingerprint access to their app and do a lot more — such as authorize transactions and in-app purchases — at the convenience of a touch.
Better Power Consumption
One of the most common complaints about Android phones is the poor battery life. Google knows that too, and to improve its battery life, Google introduced Doze, a new, smarter system to manage power on your Android device.
Twice battery backup thanks to Doze, a smarter power management system.
Basically what it does is it detects motion on your Android device and kills the app that are draining battery power. It does so while making sure you don’t miss your important notification like chats and alarms. According to Google, Doze has proven to deliver twice battery backup compared to previous Android phone running without the new power management system.
Doze will also support USB Type-C. So for future phones that come with USB Type-C port, Doze will be intelligent enough to understand whether you are trying to charge your phone or you are trying to charge another device from your phone. Google seemed confident at today’s I/O keynote that Doze will be one of the biggest key points of Android M.
Other Important Tidbits
Among other things, Android M will feature a better word selection and copy-pasting experience. After much anticipation, Google has finally added floating touch buttons to cut, copy and paste. Huge cheers followed at the I/O conference hall after this bit was revealed.
Volume controls have also been improved to allow you to simultaneously control volume for music, notification, and alarms. Something that is pretty hard and frustrating to do even in Android Lollipop.
Google says Android M is the most polished Android release to date. To prove that to the developers, who will be making awesome things based on what Google has been building, Developer Preview of Android M will release later today on Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9, and Player.
Tags: Android Android M Google I/O
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http://lastprophet.info/category/folders
http://lastprophet.info/category/folders/the-holy-quran
Like 0 10.02.2019, Sunday Folders / Qur'an Recitation
1. O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife [Hawwa (Eve)], and from them both He created many men and women and fear Allah through Whom you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Surely, Allah is Ever an All-Watcher over you.
2. And give unto orphans their property and do not exchange (your) bad things for (their) good ones; and devour not their substance (by adding it) to your substance. Surely, this is a great sin.
3. And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan-girls, then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one or (the captives and the slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice.
4. And give to the women (whom you marry) their Mahr (obligatory bridal money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage) with a good heart, but if they, of their own good pleasure, remit any part of it to you, take it, and enjoy it without fear of any harm (as Allah has made it lawful).
5. And give not unto the foolish your property which Allah has made a means of support for you, but feed and clothe them therewith, and speak to them words of kindness and justice.
6. And try orphans (as regards their intelligence) until they reach the age of marriage; if then you find sound judgement in them, release their property to them, but consume it not wastefully, and hastily fearing that they should grow up, and whoever amongst guardians is rich, he should take no wages, but if he is poor, let him have for himself what is just and reasonable (according to his work). And when you release their property to them, take witness in their presence; and Allah is All-Sufficient in taking account.
7. There is a share for men and a share for women from what is left by parents and those nearest related, whether, the property be small or large - a legal share.
8. And when the relatives and the orphans and Al-Masakin (the poor) are present at the time of division, give them out of the property, and speak to them words of kindness and justice.
9. And let those (executors and guardians) have the same fear in their minds as they would have for their own, if they had left weak offspring behind. So let them fear Allah and speak right words.
10. Verily, those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans, they eat up only a fire into their bellies, and they will be burnt in the blazing Fire!
11. Allah commands you as regards your children's (inheritance); to the male, a portion equal to that of two females; if (there are) only daughters, two or more, their share is two thirds of the inheritance; if only one, her share is half. For parents, a sixth share of inheritance to each if the deceased left children; if no children, and the parents are the (only) heirs, the mother has a third; if the deceased left brothers or (sisters), the mother has a sixth. (The distribution in all cases is) after the payment of legacies he may have bequeathed or debts. You know not which of them, whether your parents or your children, are nearest to you in benefit, (these fixed shares) are ordained by Allah. And Allah is Ever All-Knower, All-Wise.
12. In that which your wives leave, your share is a half if they have no child; but if they leave a child, you get a fourth of that which they leave after payment of legacies that they may have bequeathed or debts. In that which you leave, their (your wives) share is a fourth if you leave no child; but if you leave a child, they get an eighth of that which you leave after payment of legacies that you may have bequeathed or debts. If the man or woman whose inheritance is in question has left neither ascendants nor descendants, but has left a brother or a sister, each one of the two gets a sixth; but if more than two, they share in a third; after payment of legacies he (or she) may have bequeathed or debts, so that no loss is caused (to anyone). This is a Commandment from Allah; and Allah is Ever All-Knowing, Most-Forbearing.
13. These are the limits (set by) Allah (or ordainments as regards laws of inheritance), and whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad) will be admitted to Gardens under which rivers flow (in Paradise), to abide therein, and that will be the great success.
14. And whosoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), and transgresses His limits, He will cast him into the Fire, to abide therein; and he shall have a disgraceful torment.
15. And those of your women, who commit illegal sexual intercourse, take the evidence of four witnesses from amongst you against them; and if they testify, confine them (i.e. women) to houses until death comes to them or Allah ordains for them some (other) way.
16. And the two persons (man and woman) among you, who commit illegal sexual intercourse, punish them both. And if they repent (promise Allah that they will never repeat, i.e. commit illegal sexual intercourse and other similar sins) and do righteous good deeds, leave them alone. Surely, Allah is Ever the One Who accepts repentance, (and He is) Most Merciful.
17. Allah accepts only the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and foolishness and repent soon afterwards; it is they to whom Allah will forgive and Allah is Ever All-Knower, All-Wise.
18. And of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil deeds until death faces one of them and he says: "Now I repent;" nor of those who die while they are disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful torment.
19. O you who believe! You are forbidden to inherit women against their will, and you should not treat them with harshness, that you may take away part of the Mahr you have given them, unless they commit open illegal sexual intercourse. And live with them honourably. If you dislike them, it may be that you dislike a thing and Allah brings through it a great deal of good.
20. But if you intend to replace a wife by another and you have given one of them a Cantar (of gold i.e. a great amount) as Mahr, take not the least bit of it back; would you take it wrongfully without a right and (with) a manifest sin?
21. And how could you take it (back) while you have gone in unto each other, and they have taken from you a firm and strong covenant?
22. And marry not women whom your fathers married, except what has already passed; indeed it was shameful and most hateful, and an evil way.
23. Forbidden to you (for marriage) are: your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your father's sisters, your mother's sisters, your brother's daughters, your sister's daughters, your foster mother who gave you suck, your foster milk suckling sisters, your wives' mothers, your step daughters under your guardianship, born of your wives to whom you have gone in - but there is no sin on you if you have not gone in them (to marry their daughters), - the wives of your sons who (spring) from your own loins, and two sisters in wedlock at the same time, except for what has already passed; verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
24. Also (forbidden are) women already married, except those (captives and slaves) whom your right hands possess. Thus has Allah ordained for you. All others are lawful, provided you seek (them in marriage) with Mahr (bridal money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage) from your property, desiring chastity, not committing illegal sexual intercourse, so with those of whom you have enjoyed sexual relations, give them their Mahr as prescribed; but if after a Mahr is prescribed, you agree mutually (to give more), there is no sin on you. Surely, Allah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise.
25. And whoever of you have not the means wherewith to wed free, believing women, they may wed believing girls from among those (captives and slaves) whom your right hands possess, and Allah has full knowledge about your Faith, you are one from another. Wed them with the permission of their own folk (guardians, Auliya' or masters) and give them their Mahr according to what is reasonable; they (the above said captive and slave-girls) should be chaste, not adulterous, nor taking boy-friends. And after they have been taken in wedlock, if they commit illegal sexual intercourse, their punishment is half that for free (unmarried) women. This is for him among you who is afraid of being harmed in his religion or in his body; but it is better for you that you practise self-restraint, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
26. Allah wishes to make clear (what is lawful and what is unlawful) to you, and to show you the ways of those before you, and accept your repentance, and Allah is All-Knower, All-Wise.
27. Allah wishes to accept your repentance, but those who follow their lusts, wish that you (believers) should deviate tremendously away from the Right Path.
28. Allah wishes to lighten (the burden) for you; and man was created weak (cannot be patient to leave sexual intercourse with woman).
29. O you who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves unjustly except it be a trade amongst you, by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves (nor kill one another). Surely, Allah is Most Merciful to you.
30. And whoever commits that through aggression and injustice, We shall cast him into the Fire, and that is easy for Allah.
31. If you avoid the great sins which you are forbidden to do, We shall remit from you your (small) sins, and admit you to a Noble Entrance (i.e. Paradise).
32. And wish not for the things in which Allah has made some of you to excel others. For men there is reward for what they have earned, (and likewise) for women there is reward for what they have earned, and ask Allah of His Bounty. Surely, Allah is Ever All-Knower of everything.
33. And to everyone, We have appointed heirs of that (property) left by parents and relatives. To those also with whom you have made a pledge (brotherhood), give them their due portion (by Wasiya - wills, etc.). Truly, Allah is Ever a Witness over all things.
34. Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because Allah has made one of them to excel the other, and because they spend (to support them) from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient (to Allah and to their husbands), and guard in the husband's absence what Allah orders them to guard (e.g. their chastity, their husband's property, etc.). As to those women on whose part you see ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly, if it is useful), but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance). Surely, Allah is Ever Most High, Most Great.
35. If you fear a breach between them twain (the man and his wife), appoint (two) arbitrators, one from his family and the other from her's; if they both wish for peace, Allah will cause their reconciliation. Indeed Allah is Ever All-Knower, Well-Acquainted with all things.
36. Worship Allah and join none with Him in worship, and do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, Al-Masakin (the poor), the neighbour who is near of kin, the neighbour who is a stranger, the companion by your side, the wayfarer (you meet), and those (slaves) whom your right hands possess. Verily, Allah does not like such as are proud and boastful;
37. Those who are miserly and enjoin miserliness on other men and hide what Allah has bestowed upon them of His Bounties. And We have prepared for the disbelievers a disgraceful torment.
38. And (also) those who spend of their substance to be seen of men, and believe not in Allah and the Last Day [they are the friends of Shaitan (Satan)], and whoever takes Shaitan (Satan) as an intimate; then what a dreadful intimate he has!
39. And what loss have they if they had believed in Allah and in the Last Day, and they spend out of what Allah has given them for sustenance? And Allah is Ever All-Knower of them.
40. Surely! Allah wrongs not even of the weight of an atom (or a small ant), but if there is any good (done), He doubles it, and gives from Him a great reward.
41. How (will it be) then, when We bring from each nation a witness and We bring you (O Muhammad) as a witness against these people?
42. On that day those who disbelieved and disobeyed the Messenger (Muhammad) will wish that they were buried in the earth, but they will never be able to hide a single fact from Allah.
43. O you who believe! Approach not As-Salat (the prayer) when you are in a drunken state until you know (the meaning) of what you utter, nor when you are in a state of Janaba, (i.e. in a state of sexual impurity and have not yet taken a bath) except when travelling on the road (without enough water, or just passing through a mosque), till you wash your whole body. And if you are ill, or on a journey, or one of you comes after answering the call of nature, or you have been in contact with women (by sexual relations) and you find no water, perform Tayammum with clean earth and rub therewith your faces and hands (Tayammum) . Truly, Allah is Ever Oft-Pardoning, Oft-Forgiving.
44. Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the book (the Jews), purchasing the wrong path, and wish that you should go astray from the Right Path.
45. Allah has full knowledge of your enemies, and Allah is Sufficient as a Wali (Protector), and Allah is Sufficient as a Helper.
46. Among those who are Jews, there are some who displace words from (their) right places and say: "We hear your word (O Muhammad) and disobey," and "Hear and let you (O Muhammad) hear nothing." And Ra'ina with a twist of their tongues and as a mockery of the religion (Islam). And if only they had said: "We hear and obey", and "Do make us understand," it would have been better for them, and more proper, but Allah has cursed them for their disbelief, so they believe not except a few.
47. O you who have been given the Scripture (Jews and Christians)! Believe in what We have revealed (to Muhammad ) confirming what is (already) with you, before We efface faces (by making them like the back of necks; without nose, mouth, eyes, etc.) and turn them hindwards, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbath-breakers. And the Commandment of Allah is always executed.
48. Verily, Allah forgives not that partners should be set up with him in worship, but He forgives except that (anything else) to whom He pleases, and whoever sets up partners with Allah in worship, he has indeed invented a tremendous sin.
49. Have you not seen those who claim sanctity for themselves. Nay - but Allah sanctifies whom He pleases, and they will not be dealt with injustice even equal to the extent of a Fatila (A scalish thread in the long slit of a date-stone).
50. Look, how they invent a lie against Allah, and enough is that as a manifest sin.
51. Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Scripture? They believe in Jibt and Taghut and say to the disbelievers that they are better guided as regards the way than the believers (Muslims).
52. They are those whom Allah has cursed, and he whom Allah curses, you will not find for him (any) helper,
53. Or have they a share in the dominion? Then in that case they would not give mankind even a Naqira (speck on the back of a date-stone).
54. Or do they envy men (Muhammad and his followers) for what Allah has given them of His Bounty? Then We had already given the family of Ibrahim (Abraham) the Book and Al-Hikmah (As-Sunnah - Divine Inspiration to those Prophets not written in the form of a book), and conferred upon them a great kingdom.
55. Of them were (some) who believed in him (Muhammad), and of them were (some) who averted their faces from him (Muhammad); and enough is Hell for burning (them).
56. Surely! Those who disbelieved in Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) We shall burn them in Fire. As often as their skins are roasted through, We shall change them for other skins that they may taste the punishment. Truly, Allah is Ever Most Powerful, All-Wise.
57. But those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism) and do deeds of righteousness, We shall admit them to Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise), abiding therein forever. Therein they shall have Azwajun Mutahharatun [purified mates or wives (having no menses, stools, urine, etc.)] and We shall admit them to shades wide and ever deepening (Paradise) .
58. Verily! Allah commands that you should render back the trusts to those, to whom they are due; and that when you judge between men, you judge with justice. Verily, how excellent is the teaching which He (Allah) gives you! Truly, Allah is Ever All-Hearer, All-Seer.
59. O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad), and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger (), if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination.
60. Have you seen those (hyprocrites) who claim that they believe in that which has been sent down to you, and that which was sent down before you, and they wish to go for judgement (in their disputes) to the Taghut (false judges, etc.) while they have been ordered to reject them. But Shaitan (Satan) wishes to lead them far astray.
61. And when it is said to them: "Come to what Allah has sent down and to the Messenger (Muhammad)," you (Muhammad) see the hypocrites turn away from you (Muhammad) with aversion.
62. How then, when a catastrophe befalls them because of what their hands have sent forth, they come to you swearing by Allah, "We meant no more than goodwill and conciliation!"
63. They (hypocrites) are those of whom Allah knows what is in their hearts; so turn aside from them (do not punish them) but admonish them, and speak to them an effective word (i.e. to believe in Allah, worship Him, obey Him, and be afraid of Him) to reach their innerselves.
64. We sent no Messenger, but to be obeyed by Allah's Leave. If they (hypocrites), when they had been unjust to themselves, had come to you (Muhammad) and begged Allah's Forgiveness, and the Messenger had begged forgiveness for them: indeed, they would have found Allah All-Forgiving (One Who accepts repentance), Most Merciful.
65. But no, by your Lord, they can have no Faith, until they make you (O Muhammad) judge in all disputes between them, and find in themselves no resistance against your decisions, and accept (them) with full submission.
66. And if We had ordered them (saying), "Kill yourselves (i.e. the innnocent ones kill the guilty ones) or leave your homes," very few of them would have done it; but if they had done what they were told, it would have been better for them, and would have strengthened their (Faith);
67. And indeed We should then have bestowed upon them a great reward from Ourselves.
68. And indeed We should have guided them to a Straight Way.
69. And whoso obeys Allah and the Messenger (Muhammad), then they will be in the company of those on whom Allah has bestowed His Grace, of the Prophets, the Siddiqun (those followers of the Prophets who were first and foremost to believe in them, like Abu Bakr As-Siddiq ), the martyrs, and the righteous. And how excellent these companions are!
70. Such is the Bounty from Allah, and Allah is Sufficient as All-Knower.
71. O you who believe! Take your precautions, and either go forth (on an expedition) in parties, or go forth all together.
72. There is certainly among you he who would linger behind (from fighting in Allah's Cause). If a misfortune befalls you, he says, "Indeed Allah has favoured me in that I was not present among them."
73. But if a bounty (victory and booty) comes to you from Allah, he would surely say - as if there had never been ties of affection between you and him - "Oh! I wish I had been with them; then I would have achieved a great success ( a good share of booty)."
74. Let those (believers) who sell the life of this world for the Hereafter fight in the Cause of Allah, and whoso fights in the Cause of Allah, and is killed or gets victory, We shall bestow on him a great reward.
75. And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the Cause of Allah, and for those weak, ill-treated and oppressed among men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our Lord! Rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help."
76. Those who believe, fight in the Cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve, fight in the cause of Taghut (Satan, etc.). So fight you against the friends of Shaitan (Satan); Ever feeble indeed is the plot of Shaitan (Satan).
77. Have you not seen those who were told to hold back their hands (from fighting) and perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and give Zakat, but when the fighting was ordained for them, behold! a section of them fear men as they fear Allah or even more. They say: "Our Lord! Why have you ordained for us fighting? Would that you had granted us respite for a short period?" Say: "Short is the enjoyment of this world. The Hereafter is (far) better for him who fears Allah, and you shall not be dealt with unjustly even equal to the Fatila (a scalish thread in the long slit of a date-stone).
78. "Wheresoever you may be, death will overtake you even if you are in fortresses built up strong and high!" And if some good reaches them, they say, "This is from Allah," but if some evil befalls them, they say, "This is from you (O Muhammad)." Say: "All things are from Allah," so what is wrong with these people that they fail to understand any word?
79. Whatever of good reaches you, is from Allah, but whatever of evil befalls you, is from yourself. And We have sent you (O Muhammad) as a Messenger to mankind, and Allah is Sufficient as a Witness.
80. He who obeys the Messenger (Muhammad), has indeed obeyed Allah, but he who turns away, then we have not sent you (O Muhammad) as a watcher over them.
81. They say: "We are obedient," but when they leave you (Muhammad), a section of them spend all night in planning other than what you say. But Allah records their nightly (plots). So turn aside from them (do not punish them), and put your trust in Allah. And Allah is Ever All-Sufficient as a Disposer of affairs.
82. Do they not then consider the Qur'an carefully? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much contradictions.
83. When there comes to them some matter touching (public) safety or fear, they make it known (among the people), if only they had referred it to the Messenger or to those charged with authority among them, the proper investigators would have understood it from them (directly). Had it not been for the Grace and Mercy of Allah upon you, you would have followed Shaitan (Satan), save a few of you.
84. Then fight (O Muhammad) in the Cause of Allah, you are not tasked (held responsible) except for yourself, and incite the believers (to fight along with you), it may be that Allah will restrain the evil might of the disbelievers. And Allah is Stronger in Might and Stronger in punishing.
85. Whosoever intercedes for a good cause will have the reward thereof, and whosoever intercedes for an evil cause will have a share in its burden. And Allah is Ever All-Able to do (and also an All-Witness to) everything.
86. When you are greeted with a greeting, greet in return with what is better than it, or (at least) return it equally. Certainly, Allah is Ever a Careful Account Taker of all things.
87. Allah! La ilaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He). Surely, He will gather you together on the Day of Resurrection about which there is no doubt. And who is truer in statement than Allah?
88. Then what is the matter with you that you are divided into two parties about the hypocrites? Allah has cast them back (to disbelief) because of what they have earned. Do you want to guide him whom Allah has made to go astray? And he whom Allah has made to go astray, you will never find for him any way (of guidance).
89. They wish that you reject Faith, as they have rejected (Faith), and thus that you all become equal (like one another). So take not Auliya' (protectors or friends) from them, till they emigrate in the Way of Allah (to Muhammad). But if they turn back (from Islam), take (hold) of them and kill them wherever you find them, and take neither Auliya' (protectors or friends) nor helpers from them.
90. Except those who join a group, between you and whom there is a treaty (of peace), or those who approach you with their breasts restraining from fighting you as well as fighting their own people. Had Allah willed, indeed He would have given them power over you, and they would have fought you. So if they withdraw from you, and fight not against you, and offer you peace, then Allah has opened no way for you against them.
91. You will find others that wish to have security from you and security from their people. Every time they are sent back to temptation, they yield thereto. If they withdraw not from you, nor offer you peace, nor restrain their hands, take (hold) of them and kill them wherever you find them. In their case, We have provided you with a clear warrant against them.
92. It is not for a believer to kill a believer except (that it be) by mistake, and whosoever kills a believer by mistake, (it is ordained that) he must set free a believing slave and a compensation (blood money, i.e Diya) be given to the deceased's family, unless they remit it. If the deceased belonged to a people at war with you and he was a believer; the freeing of a believing slave (is prescribed), and if he belonged to a people with whom you have a treaty of mutual alliance, compensation (blood money - Diya) must be paid to his family, and a believing slave must be freed. And whoso finds this (the penance of freeing a slave) beyond his means, he must fast for two consecutive months in order to seek repentance from Allah. And Allah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise.
93. And whoever kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell to abide therein, and the Wrath and the Curse of Allah are upon him, and a great punishment is prepared for him.
94. O you who believe! When you go (to fight) in the Cause of Allah, verify (the truth), and say not to anyone who greets you (by embracing Islam): "You are not a believer"; seeking the perishable goods of the worldly life. There are much more profits and booties with Allah. Even as he is now, so were you yourselves before till Allah conferred on you His Favours (i.e. guided you to Islam), therefore, be cautious in discrimination. Allah is Ever Well-Aware of what you do.
95. Not equal are those of the believers who sit (at home), except those who are disabled (by injury or are blind or lame, etc.), and those who strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives. Allah has preferred in grades those who strive hard and fight with their wealth and their lives above those who sit (at home). Unto each, Allah has promised good (Paradise), but Allah has preferred those who strive hard and fight, above those who sit (at home) by a huge reward;
96. Degrees of (higher) grades from Him, and Forgiveness and Mercy. And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
97. Verily! As for those whom the angels take (in death) while they are wronging themselves (as they stayed among the disbelievers even though emigration was obligatory for them), they (angels) say (to them): "In what (condition) were you?" They reply: "We were weak and oppressed on earth." They (angels) say: "Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to emigrate therein?" Such men will find their abode in Hell - What an evil destination!
98. Except the weak ones among men, women and children who cannot devise a plan, nor are they able to direct their way.
99. For these there is hope that Allah will forgive them, and Allah is Ever Oft Pardoning, Oft-Forgiving.
100. He who emigrates (from his home) in the Cause of Allah, will find on earth many dwelling places and plenty to live by. And whosoever leaves his home as an emigrant unto Allah and His Messenger, and death overtakes him, his reward is then surely incumbent upon Allah. And Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
101. And when you (Muslims) travel in the land, there is no sin on you if you shorten your Salat (prayer) if you fear that the disbelievers may attack you, verily, the disbelievers are ever unto you open enemies.
102. When you (O Messenger Muhammad ) are among them, and lead them in As-Salat (the prayer), let one party of them stand up [in Salat (prayer)] with you taking their arms with them; when they finish their prostrations, let them take their positions in the rear and let the other party come up which has not yet prayed, and let them pray with you taking all the precautions and bearing arms. Those who disbelieve wish, if you were negligent of your arms and your baggage, to attack you in a single rush, but there is no sin on you if you put away your arms because of the inconvenience of rain or because you are ill, but take every precaution for yourselves. Verily, Allah has prepared a humiliating torment for the disbelievers.
103. When you have finished As-Salat (the prayer - congregational), remember Allah standing, sitting down, and lying down on your sides, but when you are free from danger, perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as- Salat). Verily, the prayer is enjoined on the believers at fixed hours.
104. And don't be weak in the pursuit of the enemy; if you are suffering (hardships) then surely, they (too) are suffering (hardships) as you are suffering, but you have a hope from Allah (for the reward, i.e. Paradise) that for which they hope not, and Allah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise.
105. Surely, We have sent down to you (O Muhammad) the Book (this Qur'an) in truth that you might judge between men by that which Allah has shown you (i.e. has taught you through Divine Inspiration), so be not a pleader for the treacherous.
106. And seek the Forgiveness of Allah, certainly, Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
107. And argue not on behalf of those who deceive themselves. Verily, Allah does not like anyone who is a betrayer of his trust, and indulges in crime.
108. They may hide (their crimes) from men, but they cannot hide (them) from Allah, for He is with them (by His Knowledge), when they plot by night in words that He does not approve, And Allah ever encompasses what they do.
109. Lo! You are those who have argued for them in the life of this world, but who will argue for them on the Day of Resurrection against Allah, or who will then be their defender?
110. And whoever does evil or wrongs himself but afterwards seeks Allah's Forgiveness, he will find Allah Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
111. And whoever earns sin, he earns it only against himself. And Allah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise.
112. And whoever earns a fault or a sin and then throws it on to someone innocent, he has indeed burdened himself with falsehood and a manifest sin.
113. Had not the Grace of Allah and His Mercy been upon you (O Muhammad), a party of them would certainly have made a decision to mislead you, but (in fact) they mislead none except their own selves, and no harm can they do to you in the least. Allah has sent down to you the Book (The Qur'an), and Al-Hikmah (Islamic laws, knowledge of legal and illegal things i.e. the Prophet's Sunnah - legal ways), and taught you that which you knew not. And Ever Great is the Grace of Allah unto you (O Muhammad).
114. There is no good in most of their secret talks save (in) him who orders Sadaqah (charity in Allah's Cause), or Ma'ruf (Islamic Monotheism and all the good and righteous deeds which Allah has ordained), or conciliation between mankind, and he who does this, seeking the good Pleasure of Allah, We shall give him a great reward.
115. And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers' way. We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell - what an evil destination.
116. Verily! Allah forgives not (the sin of) setting up partners in worship with Him, but He forgives whom he pleases sins other than that, and whoever sets up partners in worship with Allah, has indeed strayed far away.
117. They (all those who worship others than Allah) invoke nothing but female deities besides Him (Allah), and they invoke nothing but Shaitan (Satan), a persistent rebel!
118. Allah cursed him. And he [Shaitan (Satan)] said: "I will take an appointed portion of your slaves;
119. Verily, I will mislead them, and surely, I will arouse in them false desires; and certainly, I will order them to slit the ears of cattle, and indeed I will order them to change the nature created by Allah." And whoever takes Shaitan (Satan) as a Wali (protector or helper) instead of Allah, has surely suffered a manifest loss.
120. He [Shaitan (Satan)] makes promises to them, and arouses in them false desires; and Shaitan's (Satan) promises are nothing but deceptions.
121. The dwelling of such (people) is Hell, and they will find no way of escape from it.
122. But those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism) and do deeds of righteousness, We shall admit them to the Gardens under which rivers flow (i.e. in Paradise) to dwell therein forever. Allah's Promise is the Truth, and whose words can be truer than those of Allah? (Of course, none).
123. It will not be in accordance with your desires (Muslims), nor those of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), whosoever works evil, will have the recompense thereof, and he will not find any protector or helper besides Allah.
124. And whoever does righteous good deeds, male or female, and is a true believer in the Oneness of Allah (Muslim), such will enter Paradise and not the least injustice, even to the size of a Naqira (speck on the back of a date-stone), will be done to them.
125. And who can be better in religion than one who submits his face (himself) to Allah (i.e. follows Allah's Religion of Islamic Monotheism); and he is a Muhsin (a good-doer - see V.2:112). And follows the religion of Ibrahim (Abraham) Hanifa (Islamic Monotheism - to worship none but Allah Alone). And Allah did take Ibrahim (Abraham) as a Khalil (an intimate friend).
126. And to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is Ever Encompassing all things.
127. They ask your legal instruction concerning women, say: Allah instructs you about them, and about what is recited unto you in the Book concerning the orphan girls whom you give not the prescribed portions (as regards Mahr and inheritance) and yet whom you desire to marry, and (concerning) the children who are weak and oppressed, and that you stand firm for justice to orphans. And whatever good you do, Allah is Ever All-Aware of it.
128. And if a woman fears cruelty or desertion on her husband's part, there is no sin on them both if they make terms of peace between themselves; and making peace is better. And human inner-selves are swayed by greed. But if you do good and keep away from evil, verily, Allah is Ever Well-Acquainted with what you do.
129. You will never be able to do perfect justice between wives even if it is your ardent desire, so do not incline too much to one of them (by giving her more of your time and provision) so as to leave the other hanging (i.e. neither divorced nor married). And if you do justice, and do all that is right and fear Allah by keeping away from all that is wrong, then Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
130. But if they separate (by divorce), Allah will provide abundance for everyone of them from His Bounty. And Allah is Ever All-Sufficient for His creatures' need, All-Wise.
131. And to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And verily, We have recommended to the people of the Scripture before you, and to you (O Muslims) that you (all) fear Allah, and keep your duty to Him, But if you disbelieve, then unto Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth, and Allah is Ever Rich (Free of all wants), Worthy of all praise.
132. And to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is Ever All-Sufficient as a Disposer of affairs.
133. If He wills, He can take you away, O people, and bring others. And Allah is Ever All-Potent over that.
134. Whoever desires a reward in this life of the world, then with Allah (Alone and none else) is the reward of this worldly life and of the Hereafter. And Allah is Ever All-Hearer, All-Seer.
135. O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, be he rich or poor, Allah is a Better Protector to both (than you). So follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you may avoid justice, and if you distort your witness or refuse to give it, verily, Allah is Ever Well-Acquainted with what you do.
136. O you who believe! Believe in Allah, and His Messenger (Muhammad), and the Book (the Qur'an) which He has sent down to His Messenger, and the Scripture which He sent down to those before (him), and whosoever disbelieves in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Last Day, then indeed he has strayed far away.
137. Verily, those who believe, then disbelieve, then believe (again), and (again) disbelieve, and go on increasing in disbelief; Allah will not forgive them, nor guide them on the (Right) Way.
138. Give to the hypocrites the tidings that there is for them a painful torment.
139. Those who take disbelievers for Auliya' (protectors or helpers or friends) instead of believers, do they seek honour, power and glory with them? Verily, then to Allah belongs all honour, power and glory.
140. And it has already been revealed to you in the Book (this Qur'an) that when you hear the Verses of Allah being denied and mocked at, then sit not with them, until they engage in a talk other than that; (but if you stayed with them) certainly in that case you would be like them. Surely, Allah will collect the hypocrites and disbelievers all together in Hell,
141. Those (hyprocrites) who wait and watch about you; if you gain a victory from Allah, they say: "Were we not with you," but if the disbelievers gain a success, they say (to them): "Did we not gain mastery over you and did we not protect you from the believers?" Allah will judge between you (all) on the Day of Resurrection. And never will Allah grant to the disbelievers a way (to triumph) over the believers.
142. Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is He Who deceives them. And when they stand up for As-Salat (the prayer), they stand with laziness and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allah but little.
143. (They are) swaying between this and that, belonging neither to these nor to those, and he whom Allah sends astray, you will not find for him a way (to the truth - Islam).
144. O you who believe! Take not for Auliya' (protectors or helpers or friends) disbelievers instead of believers. Do you wish to offer Allah a manifest proof against yourselves?
145. Verily, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths (grade) of the Fire; no helper will you find for them.
146. Except those who repent (from hypocrisy), do righteous good deeds, hold fast to Allah, and purify their religion for Allah (by worshipping none but Allah, and do good for Allah's sake only, not to show-off), then they will be with the believers. And Allah will grant to the believers a great reward.
147. Why should Allah punish you if you have thanked (Him) and have believed in Him. And Allah is Ever All-Appreciative (of good), All-Knowing.
148. Allah does not like that the evil should be uttered in public except by him who has been wronged. And Allah is Ever All-Hearer, All-Knower.
149. Whether you (mankind) disclose (by good words of thanks) a good deed (done to you in the form of a favour by someone), or conceal it, or pardon an evil, ... verily, Allah is Ever Oft-Pardoning, All-Powerful.
150. Verily, those who disbelieve in Allah and His Messengers and wish to make distinction between Allah and His Messengers (by believing in Allah and disbelieving in His Messengers) saying, "We believe in some but reject others," and wish to adopt a way in between.
151. They are in truth disbelievers. And We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating torment.
152. And those who believe in Allah and His Messengers and make no distinction between any of them (Messengers), We shall give them their rewards, and Allah is Ever Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
153. The people of the Scripture (Jews) ask you to cause a book to descend upon them from heaven. Indeed they asked Musa (Moses) for even greater than that, when they said: "Show us Allah in public," but they were struck with thunder clap and lightning for their wickedness. Then they worshipped the calf even after clear proofs, evidences, and signs had come to them. (Even) so We forgave them. And We gave Musa (Moses) a clear proof of authority.
154. And for their covenant, We raised over them the Mount and (on the other occasion) We said: "Enter the gate prostrating (or bowing) with humility;" and We commanded them: "Transgress not (by doing worldly works on) the Sabbath (Saturday)." And We took from them a firm covenant .
155. Because of their breaking the covenant, and of their rejecting the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) of Allah, and of their killing the Prophets unjustly, and of their saying: "Our hearts are wrapped (with coverings, i.e. we do not understand what the Messengers say)" - nay, Allah has set a seal upon their hearts because of their disbelief, so they believe not but a little.
156. And because of their (Jews) disbelief and uttering against Maryam (Mary) a grave false charge (that she has committed illegal sexual intercourse);
157. And because of their saying (in boast), "We killed Messiah 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allah," - but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of 'Iesa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that man), and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not [i.e. 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary) ]:
158. But Allah raised him ['Iesa (Jesus)] up (with his body and soul) unto Himself (and he is in the heavens). And Allah is Ever All-Powerful, All-Wise.
159. And there is none of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), but must believe in him ['Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), as only a Messenger of Allah and a human being], before his ['Iesa (Jesus) or a Jew's or a Christian's] death (at the time of the appearance of the angel of death). And on the Day of Resurrection, he ['Iesa (Jesus)] will be a witness against them.
160. For the wrong-doing of the Jews, We made unlawful to them certain good foods which has been lawful to them, and for their hindering many from Allah's Way;
161. And their taking of Riba (usury) though they were forbidden from taking it and their devouring of men's substance wrongfully (bribery, etc.). And We have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful torment.
162. But those among them who are well-grounded in knowledge, and the believers, believe in what has been sent down to you (Muhammad) and what was sent down before you, and those who perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat), and give Zakat and believe in Allah and in the Last Day, it is they to whom We shall give a great reward.
163. Verily, We have inspired you (O Muhammad) as We inspired Nuh (Noah) and the Prophets after him; We (also) inspired Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma'il (Ishmael), Ishaque (Isaac), Ya'qub (Jacob), and Al-Asbat [the twelve sons of Ya'qub (Jacob)], 'Iesa (Jesus), Ayub (Job), Yunus (Jonah), Harun (Aaron), and Sulaiman (Solomon), and to Dawud (David) We gave the Zabur (Psalms).
164. And Messengers We have mentioned to you before, and Messengers We have not mentioned to you, - and to Musa (Moses) Allah spoke directly.
165. Messengers as bearers of good news as well as of warning in order that mankind should have no plea against Allah after the Messengers. And Allah is Ever All-Powerful, All-Wise.
166. But Allah bears witness to that which He has sent down (the Qur'an) unto you (O Muhammad), He has sent it down with His Knowledge, and the angels bear witness. And Allah is All-Sufficient as a Witness.
167. Verily, those who disbelieve [by concealing the truth about Prophet Muhammad and his message of true Islamic Monotheism written with them in the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel)] and prevent (mankind) from the Path of Allah (Islamic Monotheism), they have certainly strayed far away. (Tafsir Al-Qurtubi). (See V.7:157)
168. Verily, those who disbelieve and did wrong [by concealing the truth about Prophet Muhammad and his message of true Islamic Monotheism written with them in the Taurat (Torah) and the Injeel (Gospel)], Allah will not forgive them, nor will He guide them to any way, - (Tafsir Al-Qurtubi).
169. Except the way of Hell, to dwell therein forever, and this is ever easy for Allah.
170. O mankind! Verily, there has come to you the Messenger (Muhammad) with the truth from your Lord, so believe in him, it is better for you. But if you disbelieve, then certainly to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. And Allah is Ever All-Knowing, All-Wise.
171. O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians)! Do not exceed the limits in your religion, nor say of Allah aught but the truth. The Messiah 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), was (no more than) a Messenger of Allah and His Word, ("Be!" - and he was) which He bestowed on Maryam (Mary) and a spirit (Ruh) created by Him; so believe in Allah and His Messengers. Say not: "Three (trinity)!" Cease! (it is) better for you. For Allah is (the only) One Ilah (God), Glory be to Him (Far Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is All-Sufficient as a Disposer of affairs.
172. The Messiah will never be proud to reject to be a slave to Allah, nor the angels who are near (to Allah). And whosoever rejects His worship and is proud, then He will gather them all together unto Himself.
173. So, as for those who believed (in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism) and did deeds of righteousness, He will give their (due) rewards, and more out of His Bounty. But as for those who refuse His worship and were proud, He will punish them with a painful torment. And they will not find for themselves besides Allah any protector or helper.
174. O mankind! Verily, there has come to you a convincing proof (Prophet Muhammad) from your Lord, and We sent down to you a manifest light (this Qur'an).
175. So, as for those who believed in Allah and held fast to Him, He will admit them to His Mercy and Grace (i.e. Paradise), and guide them to Himself by a Straight Path.
176. They ask you for a legal verdict. Say: "Allah directs (thus) about Al-Kalalah (those who leave neither descendants nor ascendants as heirs). If it is a man that dies, leaving a sister, but no child, she shall have half the inheritance. If (such a deceased was) a woman, who left no child, her brother takes her inheritance. If there are two sisters, they shall have two-thirds of the inheritance; if there are brothers and sisters, the male will have twice the share of the female. (Thus) does Allah makes clear to you (His Law) lest you go astray. And Allah is the All-Knower of everything."
Source : https://dar-us-salam.com/TheNobleQuran/
Lastprophet.info,
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Hadith and Sirah Research Awards
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One Ramadan Day of the Prophet Muhammad (saw)
Prophet Muhammad in our family lives
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Paul N. Ford
Ford & Cook PLC
South Main Street 404
Jonesboro 72401 AR US
In 1993, Attorney Paul Ford moved his practice to Jonesboro, Arkansas and founded Ford & Cook, PLC. He proudly provides high quality criminal defense and represents people in complex domestic litigation andchild custody matters.
Mr. Ford devotes a significant part of his practice to representing people who have been injured by the actions of others, including medical negligence, nursing home abuse, construction injuries, andtractor trailer wrecks.
It is these types of problems where real life and law cross paths and impact clients and their families on a deep and personal level. The intense desire to make a difference in the lives of people drives Mr. Ford to offer the best legal service possible when they are hurting.
Since 1987, Attorney Ford has worked to help clients with their legal matters. He strives to provide exceptional legal service with a focus on the laws and safety.
After passing the bar exam, Mr. Ford joined his father’s law practice in his hometown of Wynne, Arkansas. While practicing as a public defender, Mr. Ford gained his first experience handling capital murder cases.
He has since tried seven death penalty casesto verdict and has been successful in keeping all of his client’s off death row.
He was honored to represent Jason Baldwin in the case that is now commonly referred to as the West Memphis 3; a case that has been the subject of multiple books, documentaries, and movies.
A graduate of the Spence Trial Lawyers College, which was founded by renowned trial lawyer Gerry Spence to teach the best in trial strategies and personal and client development.
Mr. Ford has been selected as a faculty member of the Keenan Ball College where other lawyers now come to learn these trial techniques. He was recently selected to serve of the Alumni Board for the Trial Lawyers College.
Attorney Ford is most passionate about his work in the community with John 3:16 Ministries, a spiritual boot camp for men with addictions.
In this ministry, he has been able to combine his faith and the practice of law to continue in his passion to make a difference in the lives of people in need of help.
What types of cases Attorney Paul N. Ford & Ford & Cook PLC can handle?
Ford & Cook PLC can handle cases related to laws concerning Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice, Litigation, Divorce, Criminal Defense. We manually verify each attorney’s practice areas before approving their profiles and reviews on our website.
Where is Ford & Cook PLC located?
Ford & Cook PLC is located at 404 S Main St, Jonesboro, AR 72401, USA. You can reach out to Ford & Cook PLC using their phone line (844) 551-6756. You can also check their website www.protectingusall.com.
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Michael Aaron Neufeld
Scott Allen Scholl
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liberal arts blog
Liberal Arts & Natural Sciences at the University of Birmingham
Category Archives: Learning
uoblibarts
Breadth, Learning, Reflection
Our First Five Years: from tiny beginnings to exciting developments
Written by Diana Spencer
Thoughts from the Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences Dean
“The last five years have been exciting times for Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences at the University of Birmingham. With two cohorts now successfully graduated, this makes for a very good moment for reflection.
As Dean, I spend my time between getting better to know and support our students, thinking strategically about where our developing organisation can lead us — and into what new partnerships and opportunities — and working on the nuts and bolts of staffing and our physical resources. All these things are interconnected, but also have their own energies and dynamics.
We are a complex organisation, and in our cultural programme, our rich suite of extracurricular activities (including our overnight trips, which take a lot of planning!), our international band of affiliate students, and our strong links into the academic practice of every one of the University’s disciplinary Colleges, sometimes it’s hard for students and graduates of LANS to keep track of all our achievements. So let me outline some of our current highlights, and our plans for 2018/19.
It remains the case that each of our students graduates with a unique programme of study. Reflect for a moment on that: the enormous flexibility enshrined in LANS genuinely enables all our students to craft something brand new and personally meaningful, drawing on the cutting-edge research from across our truly comprehensive university. When we started out, even I found it hard to appreciate how remarkable that would be in practice.
As our graduates know, with four years of LANS under their belts, and for some of them, a year of further study, employment, or other activities, the importance of reflective practice within LANS is paramount, and continues to shape our ongoing development of our core compulsory and optional modules.
Reflection and in particular, learning through trying, failing, reflecting, evaluating, and moving forward through these cycles, is as central to our educational philosophy as it is to our research expertise, and to the entrepreneurial activities of those with whom we collaborate. Our academic faculty, students, and our professional services team, share these goals, and work with the University and other stakeholders to achieve them.
It is in no small part due to this collaborative ethos that we continue to receive resource investment from the University, and collegial support from and within the shared aspirations of Liberal education programmmes within the UK and globally. It’s in all these contexts that we thrive.
Our pioneering cohorts will recall that the LANS academic team was originally composed of many staff seconded to us temporarily on small proportional percentages, and whose ‘main’ role was based in a disciplinary department. This was ideal in many ways, as it gave us breadth across the University, and also provided flexibility. We really had no idea of numbers of students or what it would be like, in reality, to deliver the programme in those early years…
By 2017, it was clear that LANS was recruiting increasingly well – strong numbers, growth in interest, and exceptional students. This made the temporary nature of most of the personal tutors’ roles with LANS increasingly hard to manage: good colleagues were in demand in their ‘home’ departments just as much as they were in LANS, and the pressures on their time and ability to manage the split looked set, eventually, to eat into time that could otherwise have been spent creatively working with students on academic outcomes.
Moreover, although when we started we had a ‘support’ team of just one (Ruth Johnson), we had already anticipated the new scale we were developing by successfully recruiting additional enthusiasts to the office team (compliments to Neil Nelson and Mary Ann Clarke!).
So from September 2018, this wonderful backbone will now grow further, with the permanent addition of Graham Davies, and another administrator to join Mary Ann.
Professional services’ support is one key piece in the jigsaw, but there’s more to the outcomes of this strategic planning. We know how much students value continuity within all elements of the team. We began to address this, redefining our faculty model, by recruiting two new full-time LANS academics in 2017 (Mircea Scrob and Simon Scott) — their roles, working in particular on our core modules’ ongoing refinement and delivery, has been transformative, and they have brought a freshness of vision and energy that we have all relished!
This investment programme also delivers five new academic colleagues, to be known as Lecturers in LANS and x, with ‘x’ a subject area supported by one each of the five university colleges. These new permanent faculty members will be 50% based in LANS. We are extremely excited by this development and the confidence that this resource shows in us as a team (staff and students).
Thus in September 2018 we expect to welcome a new lecturer to Birmingham, shared with the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, and with a mission to focus on public communication of sciences outside the academy. In addition, we will be joined by an expert in interdisciplinary Humanities, whose background in SportEx, History, Conflict Studies, and expertise in languages (and organising study abroad programmes), will make him an excellent new colleague for our new shared Lectureship connecting the College of Arts and Law with LANS, again, this is a 50% LANS proportion, and as a permanent lectureship. September 2018 also sees our current Director for Natural Sciences, Julia Myatt, add to her portfolio by taking on our 50/50 new lectureship in LANS and Biosciences (representing the College of Life and Environmental Sciences).
In autumn 2019, we will increase by two further permanent shared lecturerships, linking us with the College of Medical and Dental Sciences, and the College of Social Sciences.
But where will we fit these new team members in? We have successfully bid to relocate to a fantastic new suite of rooms. It’s still in our home — the European Research Institute building, but better because bigger and configured specifically as we want it. Some readers may know the exciting open plan flexible-learning space from our Applicant Visit Days – this whole area (including offices, social-, and meeting-space) will now be the LANS Staff and Student Hub, more than tripling our current home. This means that tutors will at last able to be deeply integrated into the spatial dynamics of the community, and more dedicated space can be provided for LANS students to work and socialise in groups, and consult with the LANS student administrative, wellbeing, and experience teams.
This autumn, I myself will become a little semi-detached for a year to give me time to get my next major research project off the ground (my current project, a book about the politics of language change in the late Roman Republic – first century BCE – will be published shortly, Research-in-progress updates will be appearing on my blog: https://dianajspencer.com). After four years as Dean, it’s really important that my research has some space to take shape and for me to produce some preliminary results. Just as we are challenging our students to work interdisciplinarily, we are modelling that behaviour ourselves as academics. I’ll be sending dispatches (and maybe a blog post) about my progress by the end of the year…
For this reason, I am delighted that Julia Myatt will spend the 2018/19 academic year as Dean (we will have a temporary colleague covering for Julia’s work as the LANS NatSci lead, but under Julia’s watchful eye) – I will also be popping in every now and again, generally keeping my ideas and assistance in the mix, and I hope that all of our graduates will continue next year to keep in touch with me, as well as with the rest of LANS!
I will return to the position of Dean in September 2019, and am looking very much forward to that new term of office already!
Finally, we are also in the process of setting up an Advisory Board, comprising internal and external members, and our graduates, to guide LANS through its next phase of development and to advise on strategy — keep an eye out for more communications, and more reports on forthcoming adventures as we look forward to 2018/19…”
Breadth, Graduate Stories, Learning
Graduate Stories – Jennifer Bainbridge
Written by Jennifer Bainbridge
I graduated from LANS in July 2017 with a double major in Economics and Chemistry. After a rather rainy graduation ceremony I flew over to Malaysia for a couple of weeks in the sunshine and sea.
In September, I returned to the UK to start my new graduate role as a Finance and Risk Graduate in Canary Wharf in London for an Oil and Gas Major. The graduate scheme runs for three years with three one year rotations around the trading part of the company. My first role is as a Commodity Risk Analyst which mainly involves working with traders to manage their risk and monitor their profits and losses. It’s a fast paced dynamic environment working with departments across the company including traders and operators both locally and globally.
My new role has taken up the majority of my time but when I have time off I spend it exploring London, planning and going on holidays, at the gym and spending way too much time at dinner and brunch. I’m also involved in a committee for the graduates at my company and organise socials each week. On top of that, I’m about to begin studying towards my CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountancy) qualification.
In terms of how my LANS degree was useful for applying for graduate jobs; I think the biggest benefit was the fact it’s a bit of an USP. You’ll get very good at explaining the course to recruiters (after being met with a blank face when you reel off the degree title). However, once people understand it, the usual response is “I wish I could have done that at university”. I had positive responses at every company I interviewed at, including consultancies, big four, and finance companies.
For applications, I think it’s important to highlight the technical and in-depth knowledge you gain from studying towards a subject major. You can also show how studying a wide variety of subjects not only improves your understanding and appreciation of the wider world, but the softer skills that come from basically designing and studying your own individual degree – from organisation to communication, perseverance to problem solving. The group projects you do in first and second year also useful for competency based interview questions – for skills such as teamwork, leadership, communication, working with people with different working styles/opinions and many more.
Your combination of subjects is important: try to weave a story about why you picked them (it could just be that you wanted to try something new and challenge yourself). I’d definitely suggest spending time looking at the skills required for each application and finding a couple of examples to back up each skill. You’d be surprised at how many of these return to the opportunities provided by the LANS degree.
In terms of employment and future career, I’m very open to different options and pathways. I feel like I’m still at the stage where I can explore and develop a range of skills and the LANS degree definitely made me more open to trying out new things. Whilst I will probably stay in the Finance/Trading industry for a while I’d consider other avenues such as consultancy down the track.
extracurricular, Learning
Lake Coniston Photo Diary
Below is a photo diary of the June 2017 Coniston trip by Simon Scott:
At 8am, we set off by coach from the North Gate for the Lake District. After a pretty good journey, we were welcomed by the team at the Raymond Priestley Centre and had lunch. I think it’s fair to say that most people, if not everyone, was a bit apprehensive about what to expect, but any concerns dissipated pretty quickly when we got straight into the activities:
The groups were pushed in their tasks and had to coordinate and communicate well. It’s worth noting that the team at the Raymond Priestley Centre have a full range of activities to choose from, and every year they select the more advanced ones for LANS students, who have a good reputation for working well together.
After the activities, dinner was ready. I cannot emphasise this enough: I was told that there would be plenty of food and was sceptical about this, but there was way too much and we were never without food for snacks. Everyone was tired after the travelling and activities, so opted for puzzles, Love Island, pool or table tennis, while others read.
Everyone was up on time for breakfast, and then met in the meeting room before starting activities. Two groups went on the water:
Another group went out onto the ropes:
Then the groups switched over after lunch:
After the day’s activities, John addressed everyone in the meeting room to tell us a few things about the following day’s activities.
In the evening, we made packed lunches for the next day and then most people went to the pub after dinner.
After breakfast, we convened in the meeting room before getting stuck into another full day of activities:
Unfortunately, I was confined to the Centre with a foot injury so couldn’t join the groups on their activities. These photos are from later in the day as they worked as one group:
I should mention that the views, not surprisingly, are spectacular (although the photos don’t do it justice):
In the morning, we met up in the meeting room after breakfast. Yesterday saw the end of the main activities: today we had three to choose from, including mountain biking. After lunch, we had time for a group photo before catching the coach back to Birmingham:
It was an amazing trip and the team at the Raymond Priestley Centre made us feel very welcome. People were asking me if they could come again next year. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
Cultural Program, extracurricular, Learning, Theatre
To be or not to be absurd: the existential question of Amedee
contributed by Emil Toescu, LANS team
Amédée, you are the artist: highfalutin with words, working with them, spontaneously. But unable to string them on paper when it matters, but you try.
She’s telling you – she will divorce! Amédée, in all this time, you did no do a thing about it! You just let it grow.
Oh, this antipathy, this pathetic antipathy, la-di-da, like corn is born when thrown, you see!
Amédée, you need to do something about it, you need to overcome these growths, they flourish everywhere, and they might be poisonous, they might be toxic, they might be delirious – they grow and it grows, its nails and hair, all certainly in geometric fashion. Bring on science, bring on numbers, so that we have an understanding: 6 cm in the last hour or so -we do have some control now!
Another flying man – this one depicted by Marc Chagall
It started in the bedroom: the lover, or the corpse, the baby?, a positive or a negative – depends on the point of view, but both and all expressions of a missing…
Amédée, she is going to divorce you, if you don’t do anything about it! – and if you do? Well, Amédée, then you are going to go, with it, with the relation, with the corpse. She had enough of cleaning and brushing, Amédée, and you’ll be floating, up and free, dead or alive – it’s all just a matter of a point of view.
Whatever you feel it is a right description for this case, Eugene! – we’ll drink to that, us all, la-di-da, with the patophysician on duty near the hatstand.
And the clock eventually stops, the moon shines – it don’t mean a thing even if it got that swing…
(it’s all about this Amedee)
Cultural Program, Learning
Banff Mountain Film Festival experience
Contributed by Lizzie Slattery, LANS Y2 student
On Saturday 4th March, LANS went to the Banff Mountain Film Festival on tour in the Birmingham Town Hall. It was quite unlike any other LANS trip we’ve been on before and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The event consisted of the screening of seven short documentary films which had been selected from those shown at the 2016 Banff Mountain Film Festival. Below I’ve given a brief comment on my three favourite and one least favourite films…
Doing it Scared– Filmmakers: Catherine Pettman (trailer)
A short film about a British climber Paul Pritchard completing a very personal challenge. Eighteen years before the filming of the documentary, while climbing the Totem pole in Tasmania, Paul’s rope dislodged a rock above him which fell, hitting his head and leaving him partially paralysed. Following this man on his personal journey and the way that his disability has become something which he immensely values as having taught him valuable lessons in his life. It was an unexpected and interesting outlook on a catastrophic accident which radically changed his life. I was interested in the way he talked about being far more scared on his second ascent, not principally because of his disability but rather because he said he had so much more to lose than when he was younger.
Dream Ride– Juicy Studios; Filmmakers: Lacy Kemp and Ryan Gibb (check it here)
My least favourite of the films, this followed a mountain biker through several North American landscapes. While the footage of the biking and landscapes was stunning, the accompanying poetry was less than. Filled with clichés at every turn, I felt that if the writer had been less concerned with rhyming and more with meaning, he might have produced some more interesting poetry.
La Liste (a 47 min version of the film here, from the RedBull site)
A young French skier Jérémie Heitz undertakes the challenge of skiing 15 of the steepest peaks in the Alps in two ski seasons. A fast paced and gripping film, with Heitz skiing some 4000 metre peaks which look completely vertical. The cinematography is beautiful with some stunning aerial footage of the Alps.
Mira (check further details here)
This was my favourite film, it followed the journey of a young Nepali girl named Mira Rai from her humble beginnings in rural Nepal to becoming a world class trail runner. Her incredible determination, spirit and belief in her own ability were astonishing to watch. I didn’t even know it was humanly possible to run over 110 kilometres through mountainous regions and all weathers. Mira’s tough upbringing in the mountains of Nepal prepared her for future career as a trail runner and gave her an amazing outlook on life. I was struck by her incredible calm and positivity throughout her journey.
LANS Trip to Kiss Me Kate, by Lizzie Slattery
The Welsh National Opera’s production of Kiss Me Kate which LANS attended earlier this month was one of the most fun and unexpected shows I have seen. Having never watched the show before, and knowing very little about it, I went into the performance not knowing what to expect. For the first quarter of an hour or so I didn’t really know what to make of it and found the acting over the top and the pace a little slow. However, once I settled into the show it was fantastic. The mix of hilariously crude humour, fantastic ensemble dance scenes and some surprisingly touching moments between the lead cast members, made it a thoroughly enjoyable show- not to mention the extensive and lavish, operatic solos which punctuated the performance.
The feature of the show which I enjoyed the most was, without a doubt, the tap solo from Alan Burkitt (playing Bill, the drunkard boyfriend of young starlet, Louis Lane). The pace and skill of the dance was breath taking and utterly captured the audience.
The play within a play element of Kiss Me Kate is also part of the fun (and confustion!) of the production and the relationship between Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and Kiss Me Kate’s retelling of it is very interesting. Discussing the play afterwards with other LANS students, we noted how difficult it is for someone with our modern values of gender equality to accept the ‘moral’ of the tale told in the Taming of the Shrew- which is essentially that a women should change herself into a quiet, submissive and obedient in order to be acceptable to a man. I felt that the production left it slightly ambiguous where they came down on the issue; however Kate’s dominant attitude towards Fred (or Petruchio- his character in The Taming of the Shrew) in the final scene and during the cast’s bows, made me think that the show condemned the outdated attitude towards women which it had shown.
As Cassidy put it,
“Although the ending of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew felt a bit out of place with the modern setting of Kiss Me Kate, and doesn’t sit that well with contemporary attitudes, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the production.”
All in all it was an excellent production of Cole Porter’s classic musical, with a fantastic leading cast and extremely strong chorus!
“It was great, it wasn’t what I expected at all. It was very funny, the two gangsters made it. I’d never been to an opera before so I didn’t know what to expect, but it was a very modern play and wasn’t traditionally operatic. Very enjoyable, 10/10 would recommend to a friend”
Miriam, second year LANS student.
”I loved Kiss Me Kate. It was very different to the Marriage of Figaro that we went to last year – more of a musical/opera cross. It was properly laugh out loud funny, from the moment a pigeon got shot out of the sky to the lyrics of Brush up your Shakespeare.”
Cassidy, second year LANS student
LANS trip to the Colour and Vision exhibition, October 2016
A number of Liberal Arts and Sciences students attended the Colour and Vision exhibition at the Natural History Museum, as part of our cultural programme during October 2016. A few of them gave their review of the exhibition below.
‘Visually spectacular and informative with interesting interactive activities, would have liked it to be longer’ — Emily
‘I really enjoyed the whole thing, especially the model of evolution of the eye and seeing how on the way some organisms got themselves freakiest sets of those light sensors. And the colour symbolism wall was really interesting as well – I myself was surprised by my answers. ‘–Ada
‘I thought that there were some amazing parts- the eyeballs of different animals and the bit when you could see what colours other animals see. It was visually so stunning and there was lots to look at. For me it was a little short – I felt like I was just getting into it and all of a sudden it was over which was a shame, but there were some unique parts to the exhibition, like at the end when you were asked to associate certain colours to certain concepts like Femininity, Power and Danger.’ —Cassidy
‘I was slightly intimidated by the large collection of animal specimens. Nevertheless I enjoyed looking at things that were very strange to me— spiny shapes and beautiful burgundy shells. The exhibition tried but did not succeed in linking more to humanity, which I would have enjoyed more than biology. There was an interactive wall of colour cards that you could correspond to different humanity concepts, such as deceit and attraction. But instead of expanding on that, it cut short and ended with a beautifully-shot and colourful video.’ —Jennifer Z
DanceXchange, Mark Bruce Company-Macbeth
Nina, Birmingham REP
adventure Alexander the Great Birmingham Brussels Canada change classical classics communication concert Coniston contemporaneity culture curating digital technologies economics Europe events Exhibition feedback Gender global history ideology interdisciplinarity language leadership London media Music Organisation poetry politics religion review Rome spectacle sustainability sweden technology travel
Diana Spencer on A brief history of (English)…
Diana Spencer on Why Cirque Berserk wasn’t all…
Diana Spencer on A day submerged in The Te…
Diana Spencer on Cardboard Citizen’s Cathy
Diana Spencer on The Power of Cultural Eve…
CAFÉ CULTUREL Science in a Cultural Context
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Decatur Public Library goes live on ByWater Solutions Koha support
Press Release: ByWater Solutions [April 17, 2019]
Copyright (c) 2019 ByWater Solutions
Abstract: ByWater Solutions announced that the Decatur Public Library in Alabama is now live on Koha with ByWater Solutions! ByWater completed the transition of the library’s 96,000 plus holdings from TLC ILS and is providing ongoing support services to the library.
ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America's forefront provider of Koha support, announced today that the Decatur Public Library in Alabama is now live on Koha with ByWater Solutions! ByWater completed the transition of the library's 96,000 plus holdings from TLC ILS and is providing ongoing support services to the library. The library's customized Koha OPAC can be viewed at: https://catalog.mydpl.org/.
Sherry Sakovich, Director at the Decatur Public Library recently commented on the migration:
I just wanted to thank you and EVERYONE at ByWater for taking such great care of us during our migration. Andrew, Jess, Lucas, and Melissa been absolutely incredible. You guys were on fire with answering questions and making adjustments to what we needed with our configuration. Thank you so much to all of you!
About the Decatur Public Library
The purpose of the Decatur Public Library is to provide to all those who live, work, own a business, or attend school in Morgan County, Alabama access to resources to fulfill their informational, educational, cultural, and recreational needs and interests.
Read more at: http://mydpl.org/about-us/
About ByWater Solutions
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality Koha support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha implementation and support with library systems of all sizes.
Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions for Koha support not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: https:bywatersolutions.com
About Koha
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.
Koha's OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies, HTML5, CSS and Javascript, making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org/
https://librarytechnology.org/document/24226
ByWater Solutions
System announcements -- installations
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ARM acquires eSIM specialist Simulity
July 5, 2017 | 10:38
Tags: #acquisition #arm-holdings #connectivity #embedded #esim #financial #internet-of-things #iot #network #sim
Companies: #arm #foresight #simulity-labs #softbank
ARM has officially acquired Simulity Labs, a company specialising in embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM) connectivity, as part of its continuing push into the connected Internet of Things (IoT) market.
Now under Japanese ownership following its acquisition by SoftBank for £24.3 billion last year, ARM appears to be more than willing to splash its newfound cash around in an effort to maintain its lion's share of the Internet of Things (IoT) and embedded computing markets. Simulity, its first major acquisition since the SoftBank deal closed, telegraphs a desire to become a highly-integrated one-stop-shop for IoT technologies, adding connectivity in the form of an eSIM platform to ARM's low-power processing capabilities.
For Simulity's former owner Foresight, the deal is a major payday: Foresight acquired Simulity just eight months ago for £4 million, making ARM's offer of £11.7 million - £11.4 million paid when the deal completed and a further £300,000 to be paid in a year's time subject to certain unspecified conditions - a near-fourfold return on investment. 'The institutional backing of Foresight allowed us to scale the business and continue to build our world leading team and technology, whilst also providing huge credibility in discussions with large global corporates,' said Simulity founder and chief executive Stéphane Fund of the company's former paymaster. 'Foresight has worked closely with us, particularly during the exit process.'
'We are delighted to have supported the management team at Simulity in the rapid growth and transition of their business and successful sale,' added James Livingston, Foresight partner and director of Simulity up until ARM's acquisition. 'The vision of the management team and their deep market knowledge enabled them to develop pioneering technology which will be a key enabler of the IoT market.'
A variant of the subscriber identity module (SIM) technology first introduced by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) for mobile phone use, eSIMs are designed to remain permanently integrated into a device in place of today's removable SIM cards. Rather than swapping a physical card to change mobile providers, as with existing SIM cards, eSIMs support remote provisioning - allowing devices to switch from one provider to another via a configuration update rather than a physical modification. This remotely-updatable nature, coupled with a smaller footprint and increased reliability compared with a socket and SIM card, has made them a popular choice for IoT connectivity.
Microchip acquires Microsemi for £6.06 billion
The semi market shrinks again.
March 2, 2018 | 10:56
Xerox acquired by Fujifilm in £4.28 billion deal
Xerox brand de-emphasised.
February 1, 2018 | 10:52
Asus, HP out first Windows 10 on Arm devices
Up to 22 hours active battery life claimed.
December 6, 2017 | 11:05
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Source: WNYC Public Radio
City Limits Cooperation With Federal Immigration Officials at Rikers
By Mirela Iverac
Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a new bill into law Tuesday [spearheaded by Make the Road NY] that limits the city’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities on Rikers Island.
The law will prevent the Department of Corrections from turning over immigrants with no criminal convictions upon their release, who are not known gang members or who are not on the terror watch list to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said it was an historic day for the city and immigrant communities in New York. “We are sending a strong and unified message that this city will no longer allow innocent immigrants who pose no threat to be unfairly detained and deported due to an antiquated immigration system,” she said in a joint statement with council members Daniel Dromm and Melissa Mark-Viverito.
Bloomberg initially endorsed cooperation with ICE at Rikers, but later this year came out in support of the bill.
Information about prisoners at Rikers is shared with federal immigration authorities under an initiative known as the Criminal Alien Program. Agents from ICE, who are stationed at Rikers, can interview foreign-born inmates and decide whether they want to place the inmate on an immigration hold or detainer.
If a detainer is lodged against an inmate, the DOC will hold him for an extra 48 hours at Rikers after his case is closed to give ICE an opportunity to assume custody of the individual.
“Under the new legislation, if an inmate gets an ICE detainer but has no record of criminal history or pending cases, and no other record of being a threat to the community, the Department of Correction will not honor the detainer,” said Sharman Stein, Deputy Commissioner for Public Information at the DOC.
The Criminal Alien Program, ICE argues, allows them to target an illegal alien with a criminal record and prevent them from being released into the general public and potentially committing other crimes.
But immigration advocates and some politicians have argued the city works too closely with ICE and that many individuals with no prior criminal record end up being deported.
According to the bill, in 2009, the DOC identified 12,710 foreign born inmates, and ICE placed detainers on 3,506 of them. While 22 percent had felony records, more than 50 percent had no prior convictions.
Councilman Peter Vallone, chairman of the public safety committee, who voted against the bill, urged the mayor to “return to his original stance and not support this dangerous legislation.”
“This will make our communities less safe,” Vallone said in a statement released on Tuesday.
To read the original article, click here.
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PUBLICATION IN ACCORDANCE WITH ARTICLE 14 OF THE BELGIAN LAW OF 2 MAY 2007 REGARDING THE PUBLICATION OF MAJOR SHAREHOLDINGS (THE "TRANSPARENCY LAW")
Apr. 5, 2018, 01:01 AM
GHENT, Belgium, 5 April 2018 - Ablynx [Euronext Brussels and Nasdaq: ABLX] today announced, in accordance with Article 14 of the Belgian Law of 2 May 2007 regarding the publication of major shareholdings in issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market (the "Transparency Law"), that it received a notification of shareholdings from FMR LLC on 3 April 2018.
FMR LLC (taking into account the holdings of its subsidiary undertakings) notified Ablynx that as a result of a disposal of voting securities, it has downward crossed the 3% threshold on 29 March 2018 and now holds 1,901,629 voting securities of Ablynx, representing 2.53% of the current 75,253,667 outstanding voting rights of Ablynx (versus 3.70% notified previously on 6 and 7 March 2018).
The notification contains the following information:
Reason for the notification:
acquisition or disposal of voting securities or voting rights
acquisition of disposal of financial instruments that are treated as voting securities
Notification by: a parent undertaking or a controlling person
Persons subject to the notification requirement: FMR LLC
Transaction date: 29 March 2018
Threshold that is crossed: 3%
Denominator: 75,253,667
Details of the notification:
Name of select subsidiaries of
FMR LLC % of voting rights % of voting rights held through financial instruments* Total of both
FMR LLC
Fidelity Management & Research Company
FMR Co., Inc. 0.84% 0.05% 0.89%
FIAM Holdings Corp.
Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Trust Company 0.98% 0.98%
FIAM LLC 0.65% 0.65%
TOTAL 2.47% 0.05% 2.52%
* Type of financial instrument: "Right of Recall"
Chain of controlled undertakings through which the holding is effectively being held: The holdings attributable to FMR LLC arise from holdings of various undertakings for collective investment that are managed by FMR Co., Inc., Fidelity Institutional Asset Management Trust Company and FIAM LLC, each of which are entities that are subsidiaries of, and controlled by, FMR LLC. These undertakings for collective investment have granted FMR LLC discretionary power to vote the securities in accordance with the FMR LLC board proxy voting policy. FMR LLC is not a controlled undertaking.
More information is available in the transparency notifications. A full version of the transparency notifications is available on Ablynx website, under the section Investors.
The articles of the association of Ablynx NV provide for shareholders notification threshold of 3%, 5% or a multiple of 5% of the total number of existing voting rights.
Ablynx is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of Nanobodies, proprietary therapeutic proteins based on single-domain antibody fragments, which combine the advantages of conventional antibody drugs with some of the features of small-molecule drugs. Ablynx is dedicated to creating new medicines which will make a real difference to society. Today, the Company has more than 45 proprietary and partnered programmes in development in various therapeutic areas including inflammation, haematology, immuno-oncology, oncology and respiratory disease. The Company has collaborations with multiple pharmaceutical companies including AbbVie; Boehringer Ingelheim; Eddingpharm; Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA; Merck KGaA; Novo Nordisk; Sanofi and Taisho Pharmaceuticals. The Company is headquartered in Ghent, Belgium. More information can be found on www.ablynx.com.
On 29 January 2018, Sanofi made an offer to acquire all of Ablynx's outstanding ordinary shares (including shares represented by American Depository Shares (ADSs), warrants and convertible bonds) at a price of €45 per share, which represents an aggregate equity value of approximately €3.9 billion. The proposed transaction was unanimously approved by both the Sanofi and Ablynx Board of Directors. The initial tender offer commenced on 4 April 2018 and will expire on 4 May 2018, subject to extension. Sanofi has published an offer document in which it set out the full details of its tender offer, and the Board of Directors of Ablynx published a response memorandum ('memorie van antwoord'), in which it set out its position on the tender offer.
Ablynx:
Dr Edwin Moses
m: +32 (0)473 39 50 68
e: edwin.moses@ablynx.com
Lies Vanneste
e: lies.vanneste@ablynx.com
Follow us on Twitter @AblynxABLX
Ablynx media relations:
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott, Philippa Gardner, Sukaina Virji
e: ablynx@consilium-comms.com
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Dan Katcher or Joseph Sala
t: +1 212-355-4449
pdf version of the press release.pdf
READ NOW: SpaceX just launched and intentionally exploded a rocket for NASA to test a spaceship abort system »
Ablynx NV NewsMORE
SANOFI COMPLETES ITS ACQUITISION OF ABLYNX FOLLOWING THE EXPIRATION OF THE SQUEEZE-OUT PROCEDURE
NOTICE IN RELATION TO THE CONVERTIBLE BONDS DUE MAY 2020
ABLYNX ANNOUNCES WARRANT EXERCISE
SANOFI AND ABLYNX ANNOUNCE THE SUCCESSFUL RESULTS OF THE INITIAL TENDER OFFER PERIOD FOR ABLYNX AND COMMENCEMENT OF SQUEEZE-OUT TENDER PERIOD
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Married Wiki
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Home Biography Kate Mara
Kate Mara Biography
Updated On 15 Nov, 2019 Published On 01 Aug, 2015
Facts of Kate Mara
February 27 , 1983
Family Name :
Birth Country :
Birth Sign :
Kate Rooney Mara
Kathleen McNulty Rooney
Timothy Christopher Mara
Ameriacn
$ 8 million
Tisch School of the Arts, Fox Lane High School
CinemaCon Award 2015
Rooney Mara, Daniel Mara, Conor Mara
Relationship short Statistics of Kate Mara
What is Kate Mara marital status ? ( married,single, in relation or divorce):
How many children does Kate Mara have ? (name):
Is Kate Mara having any relationship affair ?:
Yes4 affair
Is Kate Mara Lesbian ?
4 Affair 2 Children
Kate Mara is best known for her role as Zoe Barnes on the Netflix series House of Cards. She has also made guest appearances in popular TV series like Madigan Men, Ed and Law & Order. In 2004, she had a lead role in WB pilot Prodigy. She has also starred in movies like Brokeback Mountain, Shooter, The Open Road, and Transcendence.
Kate Mara is Married since 2017; Mother of One Kid
Talking about Kate Mara's personal life she is blissfully married to the English actor and dancer, Jamie Bell. Together they seem to be an awesome couple with lots of chemistry and mutual understanding. The duo exchanged vows in a close-knit ceremony on July 15th, 2017.
The couple had been dating since late 2015. Interestingly, both of them worked as co-stars in the movie, Fantastic Four. They became betrothed back on January 2017.
Kate and her hubby Jamie got married in 2017. SOURCE: People
Furthermore, Kate and Jamie welcomed their first child, a lovely daughter earlier this year on May, though the duo remains tight-lipped on revealing further information on their daughter. In addition, she is also the step-mother of Bell's son from his marital relationship with Evan Rachel Woods.
She is a huge animal right supporter and due to that reason, she is vegetarian. According to her, the secret of her fitness goes to following strict vegan diet and consistently working out.
Kate Mara Net Worth
The New York-born actress has a staggering net worth of $14 million, though it might not come as a surprise for many. For those of you who don't know, Kate is the direct descendant of New York Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers owners. And that is why she is a fan of both the teams.
Kate Mara with her father. SOURCE: Star Changes
She has even sung for both the teams. Back in 2006, she missed Steeler's victory at the Super Bowl XL and because of this very reason, her contract now states she is allowed to attend both New York Giants and Steelers match if one of them goes to the finals.
At the moment, Kate currently resides in Los Angeles along with her hubby and children.
So far she has worked in several big blockbuster feature films including 'Iron Man 2,' 'Fantastic Four,' and 'The Martian.' In her long illustrious career, she worked alongside big stars like Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., and Miles Teller.
Quick Facts: Kate Mara
She is the daughter of Timothy Christopher Mara and Kathleen McNulty Mara.
When she was just 9 years old she started acting in a school musical.
She graduated from Fox Lane High School and then attended Tisch School of the Arts.
Grew up in a big family of forty cousins.
Her father has eleven siblings.
She made her big-screen debut in 1999 film, Joe the King.
She takes boxing and ballet classes.
She has joined hands with Humane Society and worked to save numerous children and animals.
For all the latest and greatest celebrity news, make sure to follow Married Wiki!!!
#american actress
#celebrity married
Kate Mara Affairs
First Affair with Joseph McGinty
They met each other on the set of 'We Are Marshall.' They were romantically linked for nearly two years.
Second Affair with Charlie Cox
After working together in movie named 'Stone of Destiny' they too their onscreen romance to off-screen romance.
Third Affair with Max Minghella
He is popular English actor. They dated each other for nearly four reason and split up for an unknown reason.
Fourth Affair with Jamie Bell
Their relationship was confirmed after they were seen getting cozy during a photoshoot in an occasion. They got married in July 2017.
Kate Mara Children
SON : Unknown
Father: Jamie Bell
Kate became the step-mother of Jamie's son from his previous marriage with Evan Rachel Woods.
DAUGHTER : Unknown
Jamie and Kate welcomed their first biological child, baby girl earlier this year in May 2019.
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You are here: Home / Archives for Departments / Politics
Former Old Lyme First Selectwoman Testifies at State Transportation Committee’s Public Hearing on CPA
December 4, 2019 by Christine Stuart Leave a Comment
CHRISTINE STUART/ CTNEWSJUNKIE PHOTO. Published with permission of CTNewsJunkie.com. Bonnie Reemsnyder and Scott Bates, two former Port Authority board members, testify at Wednesday’s hearing.
HARTFORD, CT / OLD LYME — The massive stroke suffered by the Connecticut Port Authority’s former executive director, Evan Matthews, on May 26, 2017, took a toll on operations and contributed to the contracting issues at the quasi-public agency.
Matthews, who voluntarily testified Wednesday at the Transportation Committee’s public hearing on a second state audit of the organization, said some of the contracting issues “were related to the CPA reacting to this emergency.” He also said he was not given a chance to sit down with the auditors and explain to them the unique circumstances “to give them context for why some decisions were being made.”
However, …
Read the full article by Christine Stuart and titled, Former Executive Director Says His Health Contributed To Problems At Port Authority, published Dec. 4 on CTNewsJunkie.com.
Filed Under: Old Lyme, Politics, Top Story
Republicans Sweep All Seats in Old Lyme, Including Board of Education
The Old Lyme Republicans have much to celebrate tonight. They won every single contested seat in a bitterly fought election. The full results, with the winners in bold and marked with an asterisk, were as follows:
FIRST SELECTMAN:
Bonnie Reemsnyder (D): 1,403
*Tim Griswold (R): 1,774
SELECTMAN:
*Mary Jo Nosal (D): 1,495
*Chris Kerr (R): 1,676
Reiter (D): 1430
Griswold (R): 1691
TAX COLLECTOR:
Michaelson (D): 1262
*Tooker (R): 1905
BOARD OF FINANCE:
Rubino (D): 1361
Sturges (R): 1768
*Kelsey (R): 1695
BOARD OF FINANCE ALTERNATES:
*Burrows (D): 1532
*Read (R): 1921
Taliento (D): 1430
*Olson (D): 1777
*Evers, Jr. (R): (R): 2235
5-Year Term beginning 2019
Klose (D): 1347
*Ross: (R): 1712
Lampos: 1409
*Thompson: 1662
ZONING COMMISSION:
Gemme: 1267
*Tinnerello: 1721
Cable: 1366
*Miller: 1609
Lowry (D): 1357
*Hutchinson (U): 1616
Tracey (D): 1389
*Dix (R): 1558
*Carney (R): 2174
*Johnston (R): 2007
REGION 18 BOARD OF EDUCATION
Bowman (D): 1471
*Thompson (R): 1600
Panzara-Griswold (D): 1400
*Miller (R): 1512
Kemp (R): 1341
*Wilson (R): 1518
Filed Under: News, Old Lyme, Politics, Schools, Top Story, Town Hall
Democrats Win All Contested Races in Lyme, Uncontested Board of Selectmen Re-elected for Another Term
Democrat Steven Mattson was re-elected as First Selectman of Lyme today.
LYME — Lyme voters today elected the incumbent board of selectmen of Democrats Steve Mattson and John Kiker along with Republican Parker Lord for another two-year term. Mattson will continue as Lyme First Selectman with Kiker and Lord both serving as selectmen. Across other positions, the Democrats were successful in all contested races.
Upon learning the results of today’s municipal election, Lyme Democratic Town Committee (DTC) Chairman John Kiker issued the following statement:
“On the behalf of everyone at the Lyme DTC, I would like to thank the people of the Town of Lyme for electing a slate of highly qualified Democratic candidates whose experience and expertise will benefit our town boards and commissions. These newly elected officials love our town and want Lyme to stay the beautiful, historic town that it is; and they are grateful to have the opportunity to serve Lyme residents for the next two years.
I would also like to thank all the volunteers who helped run our campaign this year – in particular, the members of our Nominating Committee who did such an excellent job of identifying some of Lyme’s best and brightest to run for public office.”
The Lyme DTC’s mission is to support and strengthen the Democratic Party in the Town of Lyme and the State of Connecticut. The committee meets on the fourth Thursday of every month at 7:30 in the Lyme Town Hall (barring holidays or other necessary schedule changes). These meetings are open to the public and all registered Democrats are encouraged to attend.
The full results with those elected in bold and marked with an asterisk are as follows:
BOARD OF SELECTMEN:
*Mattson (D): 580
*Kiker (D): 400
*Lord (R): 349
*Hawthorne (R): 533
*Leonardo (D): 501
*Hagan (R): 443
BOARD OF FINANCE ALTERNATE
*Tyler (D): 455
Caine (R): 294
Two-year vacancy
*House (D): 431
Anderson (R): 315
*Broom, Jr. (R): 518
Potts (R): 347
*Gigliotti (R): 466
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS ALTERNATE
*James (D): 416
Fiske (R): 328
LIBRARY BOARD OF DIRECTORS
*Ulrich (D): 511
*Fiske R): 369
*Mary Powell-St. Louis (R): 555
Filed Under: Lyme, News, Politics, Top Story, Town Hall
High Turnout in Old Lyme Election
There was still a great deal of activity in the Cross Lane parking lot just before the polls closed. Photo by Michele Dickey.
Polls are about to close in Lyme and Old Lyme. Despite the rain, turnout in Old Lyme was heavy throughout the day. The last count we received from the registrars was 3,190 a few minutes ago.
Former Connecticut Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman (center) joined Democratic candidates in their election tent earlier today.
Old Lyme Board of Selectmen Candidates Respond to our Questions
OLD LYME — In keeping with our now 16-year tradition and in the interests of increasing voter knowledge prior to next week’s important election, we posed three questions in writing to the candidates for the Old Lyme Board of Selectmen as follows:
What is your personal vision in broad terms for the Halls Road/Lyme Street area of Old Lyme in 2025?
What is your personal vision in broad terms for the Sound View area of Old Lyme in 2025?
In light of Old Lyme’s current non-compliance with the state mandate that 10 percent of housing stock be deemed, “Affordable” and the recent withdrawal of the Affordable Housing proposal on Neck Rd., how do you see the future of Affordable Housing in Old Lyme?
We gave a 300-word limit for the response to each question to which each candidate strictly adhered: we are most appreciative of that.
We also added these words in our e-mail to the candidates when we sent them the questions: Regarding questions 1 and 2, please don’t answer, “It doesn’t matter what I want, it’s what the residents of Old Lyme want” — we know that’s the politically correct answer in light of your position as a candidate, but we would like to understand what you as an individual think would be best for the future of our town in the locations identified.
We are delighted that all four candidates responded to our questions in a timely manner. We thank them sincerely and are pleased to publish their responses today accompanied by their respective biographies and photos.
Click on the links below to read each candidate’s responses:
Bonnie Reemsnyder (D): Candidate (Incumbent) for Old Lyme First Selectwoman
Tim Griswold (R): Candidate for Old Lyme First Selectman
Mary Jo Nosal (D): Candidate (Incumbent) for Old Lyme Selectwoman
Chris Kerr (R): Candidate (Incumbent) for Old Lyme Selectman
We should also state that, again in keeping with our long-held tradition, we will not be making any candidate endorsements.
Filed Under: Old Lyme, Politics
Lyme-Old Lyme Board of Education Candidates Respond to our Questions
LYME/OLD LYME — In keeping with our now 16-year tradition and in the interests of increasing voter knowledge prior to next week’s important election, we posed three questions in writing to the candidates for the Region 18 Board of Education as follows:
What are the three major issues in Lyme-Old Lyme Schools that you are currently aware of, which require resolution during your potential term of office? Please list and explain each one briefly in order of importance.
Regarding Question 1, explain more about your choice of the issue of most importance and how you think it should be resolved.
What do you see as the main relevant skills and character attributes that you will bring to the position if elected?
Three of the board of education incumbents representing Old Lyme — the current chair Michelle ‘Mimi’ Roche, Erick Cushman and Stacey Winchell — are not seeking re-election. There are six candidates running for these three open Old Lyme seats.
Mary Powell-St. Louis, who is a board of education incumbent representing Lyme, is running uncontested in that town. We are especially pleased that she chose to respond to our questions since she has no opponent.
We are delighted that all the candidates except one responded to our questions in a timely manner. We understand why Lorianne Panzara-Griswold did not respond to our questions, but as a gesture of our care and concern for her situation, we are publishing a Letter to the Editor written to LymeLine.com by her recently.
We sincerely thank the candidates who responded and are pleased to publish their responses today accompanied by their respective biographies and photos.
Candidates running for Old Lyme seats, none of whom is an incumbent
Sarah Bowman (D)
Lorianne Panzara Griswold (D):
Jason Kemp (D)
Jennifer Miller (R)
Suzanne Thompson (R)
Steve Wilson (R)
Candidate running for Lyme seat (incumbent)
Mary Powell St. Louis (R)
Filed Under: Lyme, Old Lyme, Politics, Schools
State Rep. Carney Requests Public Hearing to Address Port Authority Audit Findings
State Rep. Devin Carney (R- 23rd)
HARTFORD – (Press release from State Rep. Carney’s office) Yesterday, State Representative Devin Carney (R-23), Ranking Member of the legislature’s Transportation Bonding Sub-Committee, submitted a letter to the chairs of the legislatures Transportation Committee, Governor Ned Lamont, Secretary of the State Denise Merrill requesting the committee hold a public hearing to address recent findings in an audit of the Connecticut Port Authority.
Thursday’s audit uncovered improper records management, issues with the authority’s accounting system, inconsistencies with business related entertainment, travel, and meal expenses, failure to maintain supporting documentation for some transactions, among several others.
“The gross negligence and blatant dishonesty outlined in the most recent audit of the Connecticut Port Authority is disturbing and even more of a reason why a public hearing needs to take place,” Rep. Carney said.
He continued, “The legislature needs to speak to those who were employed by, or in power, when this audit took place in order to get to the bottom of the authority’s abuse of taxpayer money and a public hearing would allow us to do so. I call on my colleagues in the legislature and our constitutional officers, including, most importantly, our Secretary of State, to join me in requesting a public hearing to get answers and to help restore public trust. I appreciate the auditors for their hard work and look forward to working to improve oversight of the Port Authority and all of our quasi-public agencies.”
Op-Ed: Old Lyme is in Good Hands; Keep It That Way by Ignoring Mis-truths, Giving Reemsnyder, Nosal Another Term
November 2, 2019 by Eileen and John Mueller 8 Comments
Editor’s Note: This op-ed was submitted by Eileen and John Mueller of Old Lyme.
There is a broad consensus in Old Lyme that our town is doing very well. Our mill rate is low, our quality of life is high, and our schools are among the best in the state. Under the leadership of Bonnie Reemsnyder and Mary Jo Nosal, infrastructure has been maintained, economic development has been encouraged, and the high-speed rail threat was stopped in its tracks. Why, then, should there be a change at Town Hall? Tim Griswold and the Republican Town Committee have offered no strategy for the future; indeed, it seems they would like to roll back progress, and in the absence of a substantive plan they are trying to seek your vote by questioning Bonnie’s character.
Anyone who knows Bonnie, or who has worked with her over the 16 years she has led the town (8 of those as First Selectman), can vouch for her absolute integrity. It is truly unfortunate that the Washington practice of manipulating the truth has seeped into Old Lyme with the innuendos and mis-truths spread by the RTC. If you want to review the relevant facts, they can be found here on the Democratic Town Committee’s website. Suffice it to say, Bonnie engaged in no illegal or unethical conduct and has always represented herself and the Town of Old Lyme with the highest of ethical standards.
Contrast this with the behavior of Tim Griswold and the RTC. Although their campaign slogan is “absolute integrity,” they apparently have no interest in following Connecticut law regarding campaign financing. They have utilized contribution and election forms, and advertisements that omit the legally-required disclosures. More concerning, Tim is both the treasurer of the RTC and a candidate for two offices it is funding. This is a blatant violation of Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 9-606(d), which provides in part that “A candidate shall not serve as the candidate’s own treasurer.” If these violations were not intentional, they nevertheless raise serious questions about Tim’s understanding and compliance with the law and the likelihood that he would exercise the care, diligence and attention to detail required to discharge properly the duties of first selectman or treasurer.
With many rumors and misinformation flying around town, we sought out clarification and here are the facts that should correct the following false claims:
What is the status of the plan for Halls Road? Currently, there is no master plan for Halls Road. Although the ideas shared with the public by the Halls Road Improvements Committee have enjoyed widespread support, the committee is still in the process of gathering public input and has not begun to put a plan together. Whatever plan is developed will not position the town as a developer nor impose any obligations on private landowners. Instead, the purpose of the plan will be to provide additional opportunities for the business owners to improve their properties, if they choose.
What about sewers? Bonnie has not discussed and is not advocating sewers to any portion of Old Lyme other than the beach area. David Kelsey’s CT Examiner asserted that Dan Steward, First Selectman of Waterford, had made a contrary claim in his interview. The reporter made an error and Dan Steward sent the reporter a correction. Subtext of the correction read, “My discussion with the reporter was very generic when it came to sewers, and I did not intend to imply that Bonnie has talked to me about any plans to sewer areas of Old Lyme other than the current beach community project.” Rest easy homeowners, there are no discussions to expand sewers in Old Lyme.
What about affordable housing? Bonnie supports affordable housing generally but expressed no view regarding HOPE Partnership’s proposed project and she took no action with respect to town approvals. Bonnie has never concealed the fact that she, like other local first selectmen and Devin Carney, our state representative, sat on HOPE’s honorary advisory board.
We’re grateful for the hard work and dedication demonstrated by Bonnie and Mary Jo, and felt it is important that our community members have the true facts, not the false or misleading information that is perpetuated by some in the community. If this behavior is what the RTC means by “Absolute Integrity,” we suggest you take another look. Change for change’s sake makes no sense.
The continued health of Old Lyme can be assured only with a vote for Bonnie and Mary Jo on November 5.
Filed Under: Old Lyme, Op-Eds, Politics
Letter to the Editor: Candidate (D) for Old Lyme Tax Collector Promises New Technology, Increased Hours, Improved Customer Service if Elected
October 31, 2019 by Sarah Michaelson Leave a Comment
My name is Sarah Michaelson. I am the Democratic candidate for Old Lyme Tax Collector in the upcoming election.
For the past 5 years I have been the bookkeeper for several local small business owners, while also caring for my two children. Through this work I have not only refined my accounting skills, I have also learned about the needs and challenges of the local business community.
This past summer I was fortunate to work temporarily as the town Tax Collector’s assistant. My time in this position gave me insight into many improvements that could be made to increase the efficiency of this office for the benefit of the town’s taxpayers. Examples include extending hours to include at least one weekend day per month, incorporating advanced technology and improving the customer experience. I decided to run for this position in order to make these changes and otherwise to ensure that the office serves your (the customer’s) needs.
I look forward to providing my experience and education to the residents of Old Lyme. I would appreciate your vote for Old Lyme Tax Collector on November 5 at the Cross Lane Firehouse.
Sarah E. Michaelson,
Old Lyme.
Filed Under: Letters, Old Lyme, Politics, Top Story
Letter to the Editor: Reemsnyder Runs on Her Record, Says Look at Facts of Her Administration’s Accomplishments
October 30, 2019 by Bonnie Reemsnyder 2 Comments
As Election Day draws near and we prepare to cast our votes, there are still some who are undecided. Each side makes its best case, but that sometimes includes misleading claims and information. Though part of the political process, this is often the reason many turn away from voting.
With that in mind, please consider these facts regarding some of my administration’s accomplishments. Over the last eight years, mill rate increases have been minimal while our surplus increased substantially, resulting in our being ranked 5th in CT for fiscal stability. We have focused on taking care of our basic infrastructure–our roads, buildings and equipment– and OSHA rated us in the top two municipalities after a recent inspection. We have ensured that Town Hall maintains a friendly, helpful environment for citizens and visitors. Our Senior Center has increased attendance several-fold, with vibrant programs and fabulous presentations. The fields at Town Woods Park are now in excellent shape, Rogers Lake has been treated for weeds safely and effectively, and Sound View has seen one major upgrade completed, with a second phase under way. We have begun a broad-based community conversation about improving the Halls Road neighborhood. Both Mary Jo and I attend many board and commission meetings to stay on top of the current issues, and we respond quickly to citizen concerns.
Of course, my opponent criticizes my role on the Connecticut Port Authority. I worked very hard there to have a positive economic impact on the region, which it will. I always behaved with integrity and in full compliance with all ethical guidelines, as has now been reported. However, I was insensitive to how the transaction might appear to the public, and for that I am deeply sorry.
I urge everyone to look at my 16-year record of service to Old Lyme, which demonstrates that I have always focused solely on the best interests of the Town. As you cast your vote next Tuesday, please do what is best for the Town and vote Row A.
Bonnie Reemsnyder,
Letter to the Editor: Griswold Explains Why He’s Running Again for Old Lyme First Selectman, Says Reemsnyder is “Ethically-Challenged”
October 29, 2019 by Timothy C. Griswold 5 Comments
After serving 14 years as Old Lyme’s First Selectman through 2011, I am running again to lead the town. At our Republican caucus in July, we had excellent candidates for all open positions, save that of First Selectman.
Within days, news broke that our current First Selectwoman, who was the long-standing chair of the finance committee and then chairwoman of the board of the Connecticut Port Authority, was involved with serious problems there. I felt compelled to run for First Selectman to challenge my opponent’s ethically-challenged leadership. I undertook a petition drive and gathered twice the amount of signatures required.
Since 2011, I was elected to be Town Treasurer and a member of the Board of Assessment Appeals. I also serve on the MacCurdy Salisbury Educational Foundation, LOL Chamber of Commerce and the Old Lyme Historical Society. I know how local, regional and state government works and how to tap resources for the benefit of the town. I am ready to lead our town and will listen to our residents to learn their priorities, not pursue Hartford initiatives that are not right for our town.
Please vote for me and the well-qualified Row B candidates on November 5th!
Timothy C. Griswold,
Letter to the Editor: Selectwoman Nosal Seeks Another Term to Continue Her Hard Work to “Move Our Town Forward”
October 28, 2019 by Mary Jo Nosal 1 Comment
It has been a privilege to serve as Selectwoman for the town of Old Lyme. I request your vote on November 5th so that I may continue to work hard for our community and our residents.
I am proud to be running with First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder, whose experience and thoughtful and deliberative nature have been so beneficial to our town. Among our administration’s numerous accomplishments are: master plans enabling grants to improve town infrastructure at substantially reduced cost to our taxpayers; stimulation of thoughtful economic development efforts on Halls Road and across town; positive audits showing Old Lyme is financially strong and enjoys an excellent credit rating; exemplary OSHA audit; effectively addressing the high-speed rail threat; facilitating a practical response to the DEEP-imposed shoreline wastewater consent decree; and preparing for major weather emergencies, like Hurricane Sandy.
There is more to do for the Old Lyme community. I want to continue to serve Old Lyme and to cultivate the next generation of leaders. I am very proud of our highly-qualified slate of candidates, who have volunteered to join us in moving our town forward. I ask that you vote for all the Row A candidates on November 5th.
Mary Jo Nosal,
Editor’s Note: The writer currently serves as an Old Lyme Selectwoman and is a 2019 candidate for the Old Lyme Board of Selectmen.
Letter to the Editor: Selectman Kerr Wants to “Hit the Pause Button, Re-group and Listen” Before Continuing Town Projects
October 28, 2019 by Christopher W. Kerr Leave a Comment
We have spent a lot of time in Old Lyme discussing many big, important and impacting initiatives: Large plans for Halls Road privately-owned businesses, apartments at I-95 and Route 156 intersection, sewers at Soundview, and merging police with East Lyme, among other issues. I am asking for your vote November 5th to bring back honest discussion at the start of town initiatives, something as the current selectman is sorely needed.
I strongly support:
1) Halls Road improvements that can get done soon: sidewalks, crosswalks, planted traffic islands, improved sign guidelines and accommodating zoning. I do NOT believe the government should act as a master developer of land they do not own or control.
2) Keeping our police force under Old Lyme control;
3) Real economic development along the shoreline Rte. 156;
4) Re-establishing our position as a sewer-avoidance community;
5) Bringing long-waiting projects quickly to completion, including Sound View sewers which are going on six years and the renovation of Hains Park bathrooms which is pushing four years;
6) Needed improvements at the senior center.
As a town, we need to hit the pause button, re-group and listen to the community to establish priorities and then pursue THOSE items with vigor.
Please support myself, Tim Griswold and all of Row B on November 5.
Christopher W. Kerr,
Editor’s Note: The writer currently serves as an Old Lyme Selectman and is a 2019 candidate for the Old Lyme Board of Selectmen.
Letter to the Editor: If Elected to Planning Commission, Lampos Will Balance Old Lyme’s ‘Special Beauty’ With Town’s Housing, Commercial Needs
October 28, 2019 by jim lampos Leave a Comment
I am honored to be on the Democratic ticket in Old Lyme as a candidate for the Planning Commission. I have a deep love and respect for our town’s history, quality of life, and natural environment, and want to contribute to its healthy future.
My graduate degree is in urban affairs and policy analysis, and I have worked on various municipal and non-profit development projects in New York City. As the owner-operator of Groton Pizza Palace, my family’s restaurant of 54 years, I also have a practical business perspective. My enthusiasm for innovative planning solutions combined with respect for the economic drivers necessary for a healthy community will guide me in helping our town navigate the cross-currents of development and preservation. I want to encourage smart solutions to planning issues, to help us avoid the unfortunate choices other towns have made whereby landscape and quality of life have degraded with little net economic benefit.
Old Lyme’s special beauty and culture are irreplaceable. They must be balanced with our need to maintain a full range of housing and commercial enterprises that will preserve and promote our town’s vibrancy. I am running for Planning Commission to join a team making positive, informed decisions. I would greatly appreciate your vote on November 5.
Jim Lampos,
Editor’s Note: The writer is a 2019 candidate for the Old Lyme Planning Commission.
See Video of Old Lyme Board of Selectmen’s Debate, Read Full Report
October 26, 2019 by Admin 8 Comments
Old Lyme First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder (D), who is running again for the position in November.
Former Old Lyme First Selectman and 2019 First Selectman Republican challenger, Tim Griswold.
OLD LYME — The Lyme-Old Lyme Chamber of Commerce hosted a debate between the candidates for the Old Lyme Board of Selectmen last Wednesday, Oct. 23, in the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School auditorium.
First Selectman candidates Bonnie A. Reemsnyder (D, incumbent) and Timothy C. Griswold (R), and Selectman candidate Mary Jo Nosal (D, incumbent) were present. Chris Kerr (R, incumbent) did not attend the event but submitted an opening statement, which was read by Chamber President Rich Shriver.
The other three candidates all gave opening and closing statements, and answered questions posed by Elizabeth Hamilton, Executive Editor for CT Mirror, the event moderator. The questions were selected by a committee comprising Shriver, Hamilton and Olwen Logan, publisher of LymeLine.com, the event sponsor.
Visit this link for a full report of the event by Mary Biekert of The Day and published Oct. 24 on theday.com.
Visit this link to view a video recording of the debate made by The Day.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polls at Cross Lane Firehouse in Old Lyme will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Absentee ballots are available through the Town Clerk.
Filed Under: News, Old Lyme, Politics, Top Story
Senators Formica, Somers Endorse Tim Griswold for Old Lyme First Selectman
State Senator Paul Formica (R-20th)
OLD LYME — (Press Release from Old Lyme RTC) Senator Paul Formica, 20th District and Senator Heather Somers, 18th District have announced their endorsement of Tim Griswold, candidate for first selectman in Old Lyme. Both Senators Formica and Somers served in their respective town governments while Tim was Old Lyme first selectman prior to 2011.
“I had the pleasure to serve as First Selectman of East Lyme when Tim served as First Selectman in Old Lyme”, said Senator Formica. “I got to know Tim’s abilities closely, and he has a tremendous knowledge of local, regional and state government and the effective management of a town. I feel Tim will do a fantastic job for Old Lyme reviewing current initiatives, evaluating what may be the true town priorities and quickly pursuing those priorities to complete projects with a transparent style.”
Senator Somers remarked, “I have been very close to the issues with public/private organizations here in Connecticut, and this summer’s revelations about financial misdeeds at the Connecticut Port Authority were alarming. Tim’s opponent, Bonnie Reemsnyder, was the head of the CTPA finance committee for several years before rising to chairwoman of the CTPA. She has not yet answered many questions about her leadership, an accounting of the arrangement by which the CTPA purchased $3,000 of photograph’s from Ms. Reemsnyder’s daughter, nor the abrupt firing of the office manager by the executive director, Evan Matthews, a week before he was put on administrative leave.
“Tim is an excellent leader for his town, with the right balance of administrative detail, financial understanding and care for the town voters’ priorities. I urge everyone to get behind Tim and his team and vote Row B on November 5th.”
Reemsnyder Firmly Denies Wrongdoing at CT Port Authority, Explains Absence at Transportation Hearing
August 22, 2019 by Olwen Logan 10 Comments
Old Lyme First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder
OLD LYME — As has been widely reported, Old Lyme First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder did not appear in person at the state Transportation Committee’s hearing regarding the Connecticut Port Authority (CPA) on Tuesday.
She did, however, submit written testimony (published in full at the link below) in which she stated categorically in reference to the purchase by the CPA of photographs from her daughter, “Consistent with the State’s Ethics Code governing conflicts of interest, I had no involvement in any aspect of the sale, including no role in the initial decision, negotiations, payment, bookkeeping, or accounting for the transaction, and I did not benefit in any way financially from the transaction.”
Reemsnyder gave LymeLine.com the following explanation for her absence from the hearing in an e-mail Wednesday evening, in which she said, “I received the “invitation to attend” on Sunday night, as I was away the weekend, and the Town was committing to a bond for the Library. On Tuesday, I had to coordinate the signatures of the Term Sheet to secure the rate that was offered in a bid. So between reviewing the term sheet documents, accepting changes from the bank, and coordinating with the Treasurer for signatures, it tied up my morning.”
She continued, “In addition, I had an afternoon meeting that was already scheduled, and a Board of Finance meeting that night, which I take a considerable time to prepare for,” adding, “I did take the time on Monday, a day that I had a 4 PM Board of Selectmen meeting that I carefully prepare for, to articulate my written testimony.”
Visit this link to read Reemsnyder’s written testimony to the Transportation Committee.
Filed Under: Old Lyme, Politics, Top Story, Town Hall
Responding to Last Weekend’s Mass Shootings, Sen. Murphy Authors Op-Ed in ‘The Hill’ Titled ‘The Violence Paradox’
US Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
WASHINGTON –- Following last weekend’s mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), authored an op-ed in The Hill focusing on America’s unique legacy of violence and how Congressional inaction is a signal of endorsement to would-be shooters. Since his time in the Senate, Murphy has been a vocal critic of our nation’s gun laws and have proposed commonsense gun violence prevention legislation.
Excerpts from the op-ed are below and can be viewed here.
“It is a deeply uncomfortable fact that inside some humans lies the ability to rationalize the decision to walk into a Walmart or a crowded bar and start firing a wildly lethal weapon indiscriminately, with the goal of ending as many lives as possible.”
“But as these slaughters – from Newtown to Orlando to Las Vegas to El Paso and Dayton – continue unabated, we need to start asking questions about what within our own makeup explains this mass shooting epidemic, and what control society has over these outlier actions that seem, with each new mind-bending massacre, less like outliers. The answer is that violence is inside us, but so is the ability to end this epic-scale carnage.”
“First, we must face a foundational fact – humans are uniquely hardwired for violence.”
“Our rates of violence over the millennia have gone up and down, but long ago, humans figured out that violence was an effective means of social and economic advancement.”
“Here in America, our legacy of violence is even more pronounced than the rest of the world. Once Europeans landed on the continent, violence as a means of social order became standard order.”
“First, it was the settlers wiping out the local tribes, then it was slaveowners using massive scale violence to enslave African-Americans, and then ethnic groups turned on each other, using violence to contest economic and social space in America’s crowded cities.”
“Along the way, it was the guns that made it easy for the dominant groups to control the subordinate groups. One historian suggests that without the flood of weapons that came with America becoming the early home of the global arms industry, America would be 50 percent less murderous over our long history.”
“Here in America, we are nowhere near as violent as we were in our early years, in large part because of government intervention. It is not a coincidence that the two steepest periods of decline in the rate of murder in the United States occurred right after passage of the two most significant gun laws in our nation’s history – the first national firearms control acts in 1934 and 1938, and the background checks and assault weapons ban bills in 1993 and 1994.”
“The success of those two legislative efforts to significantly depress violence levels in the United States should give us hope as we grieve over these most recent American mass shootings.”
“Laws that keep weapons away from dangerous people, and keep uniquely dangerous weapons – like the AR-15 – away from everyone, work.”
“Data shows that states with tougher gun laws have lower gun murder rates. At the federal level, during the 10 years of the assault weapons ban, America’s mass murder rate was almost half that of the following 10 years.”
“At the federal level, during the 10 years of the assault weapons ban, America’s mass murder rate was almost half that of the following 10 years.”
“As the minds of these mass shooters descend into a dark place, unimaginable to you and me, where they rationalize the decision to exorcise their personal trauma through mass violence, I believe they take note of the silence at the highest levels of their nation regarding the choice they are contemplating.”
“Yes, presidents and governors and senators send out statements condemning each mass shooting, and offer “thoughts and prayers” to the victims and their families. But these are empty words, and everybody knows it, especially after no actual policy changes are enacted as the mass shooting era continues to grip America.”
“The absence of any interest in passing laws to condemn mass shootings sends a signal of unintentional endorsement to would-be mass murderers.”
“When it comes to the instincts that lie inside humans, this weekend’s shootings represent one side of the coin. But on the other side is our ability to stop violence. It’s our choice which side lands face up.”
Filed Under: Lyme, Old Lyme, Op-Eds, Politics
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Vehicles, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Vehicles
Lazy Comet
Viro †
Leo Fitz
Boyle †
Izel †
Izel's Crew
Sivian Foreman
Toad †
Jemma Simmons
"This ship is solid. It survived two Karbona solar storms."
―Leo Fitz[src]
The Lazy Comet was a spaceship formerly used by Viro to transport cargo across the galaxy for profit, until he was murdered by Leo Fitz and Enoch. The ship was then stolen by Boyle and Toad, until it was retaken by Izel who used it to transport her crew to Earth. It was destroyed by Jaco, who used an Atom Bomb in an attempt to kill Izel and her crew.
Viro's Command
"I patched all your fuel lines and rebuilt your entire tank irrigation system."
"He also increased the efficiency of the CO2 scrubbers by 30 percent, which has the added benefit of making the Xandarian Snails more fertile."
―Leo Fitz and Enoch[src]
The Lazy Comet initially belonged to Viro, a Sivian smuggler who transported various cargos across the galaxy. During a stay on Sivos, Leo Fitz and Enoch were recruited as part of Viro's crew inside the Lazy Comet to ferry a shipment of Xandarian Snails. During the journey, the ship experienced some malfunctions, which were repaired by Fitz, including repairing the fuel lines, rebuilding the irrigation systems and improving the efficiency of the snails' breeding systems. In the meantime, Enoch remained hidden inside the walls of the spacecraft.[1]
Rescue of Sivian Engineers
"It will be challenging to conceal that we have murdered the Controller. The crew will be labeled mutineers, a death sentence in this section of space."
"So we'd need to sneak off the ship."
―Enoch and Leo Fitz[src]
Despite everything Leo Fitz had done for the Lazy Comet, his lies were eventually exposed as he failed to behave as a true Sivian would, thus revealing that he was actually a Terran. Enoch was soon found as well by the crew, and they were reported to Viro, who threatened to have both of them ejected from the spacecraft. However, Fitz mentioned that the ship's heat shielding were damaged and offered to repair it for free. Viro agreed, ordering him to also repair the airlock.
Fitz and Enoch proceeded to the repair and then reported to Viro. However, Viro revealed that he planned on keeping them working as his slaves on the spacecraft while he would simply dispose of the rest of the crew by throwing them out of the Lazy Comet. As a result, the engineering crew was put inside the airlock for ejection, but Fitz interfered and went into the airlock as well. He then tricked Viro into opening the wrong airlock, thus ejecting Viro and his guards into outer space. Enoch then shut down the airlock, saving the rest of the crew.
Due to the death of Viro, in order to avoid the crew of the Lazy Comet being labeled as traitors, the spaceship was rerouted to the planet of Kitson instead of its initial destination Naro-Atzia. The Lazy Comet thus left the surroundings of Naro-Atzia right before the S.H.I.E.L.D. Zephyr One arrived.[1]
Ownership of Boyle and Toad
The Lazy Comet on Kitson
"We're just gonna take the snails and the ship, too."
―Boyle[src]
The Lazy Comet thus landed on the planet of Kitson, where it was emptied of his cargo of Xandarian Snails which were sold by Leo Fitz and Enoch to two mercenaries, Boyle and Toad. However, once Boyle and Toad got on the ship and took the snails, they turned their weapons on Fitz and Enoch and simply drove them out of the spaceship, taking it for them. They could not take advantage of it for long, however, since the spaceship was later assaulted by a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents looking for Fitz, with Quake blasting one of the door to enter the ship.[2]
Transporting Izel's Crew
"I'm telling you, this bucket of bolts will never survive a hyper-jump."
"You'll turn us all all into space dust."
―Boyle and Toad to Izel[src]
The Lazy Comet was still docked on Kitson when it was approached by Izel, Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, who commandeered it from Boyle and Toad in an attempt to go to Earth, despite Boyle advising them otherwise.[3] Although aware that they were undertaking a risky endeavor, Fitz equipped the Lazy Comet with a Phase Harmonic Teleportation Device provided by Izel, and upon activating it, the spacecraft was transported near the Moon without sustaining any severe damage.
The Lazy Comet enters Earth's atmosphere
While approaching Earth, Fitz and Simmons attempted to repair the communication systems of the ship, hoping to contact Earth and inform S.H.I.E.L.D. of their return, although they were initially largely unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Boyle found Toad's favourite candies on the ship's floor and figured out that something was wrong. Indeed, Izel had turned all the crew members, except for Fitz and Simmons, into Shrike hosts forced to do her bidding. The Lazy Comet then continued its approach to Earth, guided by the Shrike Tower Izel's creatures had built on the planet.[4]
However, the Shrike Tower was eventually destroyed, which puzzled Izel. She ordered Fitz and Simmons to finish their work on the communication systems, else they could end up just like the rest of the crew. Ultimately, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were able to contact fellow agent Davis in the Zephyr One, but understood that he was in an emergency situation as well. Indeed, Sarge was present in the Zephyr One and indicated that he knew who was in the Lazy Comet: his archenemy Izel. After a tense conversation, Izel ended the communication with the Zephyr One.
Since Fitz and Simmons had recognized Phil Coulson's voice when Sarge was speaking, Izel accused them of having conspired against her. Threatened by the Shrike hosts, Fitz and Simmons thus fled, and decided to hide while several hosts chased them down in the corridors of the Lazy Comet.[5]
On Izel's orders, Boyle took the Lazy Comet back in Earth's upper atmosphere. There, it was approached by a Quinjet crewed by Alphonso Mackenzie, Yo-Yo Rodriguez, Davis and Jaco. Together, they infiltrated the Lazy Comet, quickly encountering Shrike hosts they took down. Mackenzie and Rodriguez then found Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons as they were being attacked by Boyle and Toad, and handcuffed the Shrike hosts to a nearby pipe, saving their friends in a happy reunion.
Meanwhile, Jaco and Davis made their way through the ship's corridor and spotted Izel. They decided to split up to take her on two fronts, but by the time Jaco arrived, Izel had already taken possession of Davis, thus making believe that she had simply vanished. Jaco and Izel, still acting as Davis, then found the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and decided to leave the Lazy Comet. They went into the ship's airlock, where they used the Spray Paint Transporter portal on Jaco's jacket to evade, returning to Earth on Sarge's Truck.
The Lazy Comet is destroyed
Eventually, only Jaco returned inside the Lazy Comet through another portal he had drawn, and he brought with him an Atom Bomb reclaimed from the truck and initially meant for Izel and the Shrike Tower. As the Shrike hosts moved towards him, Jaco breathed fire and detonated the bomb, obliterating the Lazy Comet and its crew and hoping to have killed Izel as well, unaware that she had escaped with him earlier.[5]
Window of Opportunity
Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson
Toldja
Collision Course Part One
Collision Course Part Two
Leap (mentioned)
The Marvel Cinematic Universe wiki has a collection of images and media related to Lazy Comet.
↑ 1.0 1.1 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 6.02: Window of Opportunity
↑ Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 6.03: Fear and Loathing on the Planet of Kitson
↑ Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 6.07: Toldja
↑ Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 6.08: Collision Course Part One
↑ 5.0 5.1 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: 6.09: Collision Course Part Two
Retrieved from "https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Lazy_Comet?oldid=1066901"
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Vehicles
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Infinite Ocean
Mawr Gorshin's mind-expanding writing.
Category: eroticism
Analysis of ‘Belle de Jour’
Belle de Jour is a 1967 French film by Luis Buñuel, based on the 1928 novel of the same name by Joseph Kessel. It stars Catherine Deneuve as Séverine Serizy, a young and beautiful housewife who, unable to be intimate with her husband, Pierre (Jean Sorel), spends her midweek afternoons as a high-class prostitute while he, unsuspecting, is at work as a doctor in a hospital.
“Belle de Jour” (“beauty of the day”), the name Séverine adopts as a prostitute, is a pun on the French expression belle de nuit (“beauty of the night”). She isn’t available at night to satisfy her erotic desires, which involve BDSM, something her mild-mannered, bourgeois husband would never approve of.
Here are some quotes in English translation:
Pierre Serizy: I’d like everything to be perfect too. If only you weren’t so cold.
Séverine Serizy: Please don’t mention that again.
Pierre Serizy: I didn’t mean to upset you. I feel a great tenderness for you.
Séverine Serizy: What good is your tenderness to me?
Pierre Serizy: You can be very cruel when you wish.
“Forgive me.” –Séverine (repeated line)
“Pierre, please, don’t let the cats out.” –Séverine
Henri Husson: You should see a specialist about your obsessions.
Renee: He’s rich and idle. Those are his two main illnesses.
Henri Husson: Don’t forget the hunt. I also have a special weakness for the poor. I think of them when it snows, with no fur coats, no hope, no nothing.
“You go in. The women are there. You pick one. You spend half an hour alone with her and after you leave, you’re depressed all day. But what can you do? Semen retentum venenum est.” –Pierre, to Séverine
Séverine Serizy: I can’t understand women like that.
Henri Husson: It’s the oldest profession in the world. It’s mostly arranged by phone now, but the women in those houses are a special breed.
Séverine Serizy: I’m sure you know them well.
Henri Husson: Yes, I used to go a lot. I enjoyed it. There’s a very special atmosphere. The women are complete slaves. I remember a few around the Opéra. Especially one run by Anaïs. 11 cité Jean de Saumur. I have marvelous memories.
Madame Anais: You’re nice and fresh. Just what they like here. I know it’s hard at first, but who doesn’t need money now and then? We’ll split it fifty-fifty. I have my expenses.
Séverine Serizy: Thank you very much, but I must be going.
Madame Anais: Come on. You’re just a bit nervous. I bet it’s the first time you’ve worked. It’s not really so awful.
Madame Anais: You’re doing fine. You’re a big hit already. Mr. Adolphe is a simple man, so don’t get upset. Do what he wants. That’s all he asks.
Séverine Serizy: No, I want to go.
Madame Anais: What? You about done putting on airs? Where do you think you are? Go on!
Monsieur Adolphe: No, you’re not running off now! Who do you think you are, you little slut?
[slaps Belle de jour]
Monsieur Adolphe: You get me excited and then pull me up short?
[pushes Belle de jour on the bed]
Monsieur Adolphe: You can put on airs for a while, but I’ve had enough!
[Belle de jour lies calmly on the bed]
Monsieur Adolphe: There. See? That’s more like it. So, you need the rough stuff, do you?
Henri Husson: [In Séverine’s dream fantasy, she is wearing a long white, sleeveless dress] How’s your wife?
Pierre Serizy: Very well, thanks.
Henri Husson: Where is she?
Pierre Serizy: Right over there. Want to say hello?
Henri Husson: I’d love to. How are you little slut?
Pierre Serizy: Everything okay, you tramp?
Henri Husson: [throwing mud on Séverine] Old whore!
Pierre Serizy: Maggot!
Henri Husson: Sodomite!
Pierre Serizy: Scum!
Henri Husson: Fellatomane! Tramp! Harlot!
Prof. Henri: I love you. I love you, I tell you. Now walk on me. Spit on me. Stomp on my face.
Charlotte: Dirty old man! Pig! I’ll teach you!
Prof. Henri: But I love you! Marquise, hit me harder!
Duke’s Butler: [Fantasy sequence] Monsieur Duke, shall I let the cats in?
Duke: To hell with you and your cats!
“I’d slit my father’s throat for less, but friendship comes first. We’re not gonna fight over some slut, eh?” –Hippolyte
Marcel: Leave your stockings on. A girl tried to strangle me once. Poor thing.
Séverine Serizy: If you like, I won’t charge you.
Marcel: Naturally. Plenty of girls would love to be in your place.
Séverine Serizy: Don’t tell Pierre.
Henri Husson: Pierre? I admire him more and more.
Séverine Serizy: Please don’t tell him. At least try to understand. I’m lost. I can’t help it. I can’t fight it. I know I’ll have to atone for everything one day. But I couldn’t live without it. Fine! Do as you like with me!
Henri Husson: No. Not now, anyway. I guess what attracted me about you was your virtue. You were the wife of a boy scout. That’s all changed now. I have principles, unlike you.
The film begins with a scene of Séverine and Pierre riding in a coach on a country road covered in autumn leaves. The jingling of sleigh bells is heard. Husband and wife declare their growing love for each other, but she remains cool to his sexual advances. Though normally gentle and sensitive to her wish not to rush into love-making (actually, they’ve already been married for a year, with him never having her…even once!), Pierre suddenly gets angry, orders the two coachmen to stop, and he tries to pull her out of the coach.
When she demands that he let her go, he has the two men grab her and take her out to the trees, where she, resisting all she can, is tied to one. Pierre tears away her top and bra to bare her back, and he orders the men to flog her. She begs him to stop.
During the flogging, she oddly asks Pierre not to let the cats out. When the flogging is finished, he tells one of the men to enjoy her while he smokes a cigarette and watches. The coachman’s kisses, on the back of the neck as he’s about to have her, cause her to close her eyes and sigh with pleasure.
The scene suddenly switches to her in her bed, with Pierre in his pyjamas, approaching. The whole coach scene has been a sex fantasy of hers…not a sexual assault.
In this fantasy, we can glean a number of things about her character. The jingling of the bells, a motif heard many times, and in many forms, throughout the movie during her sex fantasies, symbolizes the vibrating pleasure she feels in her vagina (the ‘bell’); the clappers of the bells (or their ball-bearings inside) can be seen to represent either her hymen–as we assume that her frigidity has made her wish to return to virginity, if it hasn’t kept her a virgin the whole time–or they represent a phallus jerking away inside her.
Either way, in this symbolism we see Séverine’s central conflict: to bang, or not to bang. She is cold to her husband’s passion, yet she fantasizes of wild, transgressive sex with strangers. Her name, a feminine version of Severin, the name of the main character of Venus in Furs, suggests her masochistic tendencies. Yet her beauty, as well as her urges to cheat on her man, suggests cruel, sadistic Wanda from the same novella.
So what we have in Belle de Jour is the sublation of the contradictions of sexual purity vs. licentiousness, of sadism vs. masochism, and of woman’s sexual subservience vs. her sexual liberation. In Venus in Furs, we had Severin’s arousal fuelled by opposites that are never properly reconciled (Sacher-Masoch, page 29); in this film, we see a constant unity of opposites…or at least an attempted unity of them.
‘Not letting out the cats’ seems to be a reference to the exposure of her genitals. While she says chats (cats) instead of chatte (pussy), this seems to be a distortion in her wish-fulfillment, a censoring of her erotic desires that is comparable to Severin’s use of Katzen in Venus in Furs (see my analysis–link above). Séverine says she wouldn’t have “the cats” let out, yet her eyes wish they’d be let out.
The next day, she and Pierre meet with Renée (Macha Méril) and Henri Husson (Michel Piccoli), this latter man being discomfiting to Séverine in how frankly he tells her of how “séduisante” she is. She rejects his sexual advances with a harshness she never uses on her gentle, nice-guys-finish-last husband; but over the course of the movie, we realize that Husson is involved in her dreams and repressed fantasies, too.
Recall her dream, much later on in the movie, of being with him at a table in a restaurant, the two grinning as they look in each other’s eyes: he breaks a wine bottle–symbolic of her broken hymen–and the two of them go under the table, where he gives her an envelope, symbolic of sex (i.e., a phallic letter in a yonic envelope). Pierre and Renée are at the table, too, fairly indifferent to it all, beyond his mild curiosity. Séverine wants Husson, but she’ll never admit to this.
I mentioned earlier the many sublated contradictions in this film; but there is one contradiction that cannot be reconciled, no matter how hard Séverine tries. This is the contradiction between her hypocritical bourgeois morality, her wish to retain her respectable public image, and the satisfaction of her private, transgressive desires.
Exposing bourgeois hypocrisy is a favourite theme of Luis Buñuel, and he pushes this theme to the hilt in this movie. Husson would seem to be Buñuel’s mouthpiece here, in his sardonic wish to expose Henriette’s, and later Séverine’s, wish to be prostitutes; but I suspect insincerity in him when he says he worries about the poor when left out in the cold…especially when we learn that he likes frequenting whorehouses, places where poor women are mercilessly exploited by pimps and madams.
Séverine’s wish to work for Anaïs (Geneviève Page), the madam of a high class brothel, is a strange one, apart from her already-established masochistic tendencies. These tendencies seem rooted in a childhood experience of having been touched inappropriately by a man: did the touching get carried any further…towards penetrative rape? We don’t know. In any case, it explains her frigidity (recall the repulsion towards sex that young Deneuve has acted out elsewhere in cinema).
Given that the film was made in 1967, during the rise of second-wave feminism and its drive to encourage housewives to leave the home and pursue careers, we find it curious that Séverine, a well-provided-for bourgeois housewife, should choose prostitution of all things as fulfilling work. Though she is escaping the patriarchal prison of the house and her husband as her only sexual partner, she is also willingly subjecting herself to the sexual degradation of being objectified and used by lecherous men.
In this contradiction, we see the controversy between anti- and pro-prostitution feminism. In her masochism, Séverine is subjecting herself to exploitation, as an example of the excesses of the pleasure-pain of what Jacques Lacan called jouissance; but unlike proletarian women and girls forced into such exploitation because of the poverty that capitalism creates, Séverine, as a bourgeois woman, freely chooses it.
Naturally, she is conflicted about selling herself at first. She meets Madame Anaïs, but tries to run away, making her procuress force her into yielding to such louts as the porcine Monsieur Adolphe (Francis Blanche). As a bourgeois woman, Séverine could easily leave; her masochistic jouissance, however, forces her to stay and service him. It is her need to preserve her hypocritical bourgeois public image that makes her unwilling to give her body over to male lust, not any feeling of disgust.
When she first learns, through her friend Renée, that a woman they know, Henriette, has been selling herself, Séverine says with a frown that it must be horrifying to have sex with strangers…yet the thought of becoming a prostitute herself is turning round and round in her mind. She later asks her husband about his experiences in brothels, which he says were few and ultimately unsatisfying; but when he says in Latin that semen retained is poison, she is disgusted with him.
This here is an example of the hypocritical bourgeois liberal mentality: her id has all these wild, untamed desires, in her case leading to the excesses of jouissance; but her harsh, overly-judgemental super-ego demands that she live up to the ego-ideal of a proper bourgeois lady. Small wonder her dreams and fantasies include her being either punished or degraded in some way. Her inner battleground is between her conscious and unconscious mind.
Buñuel’s critique of bourgeois moral hypocrisy is personified in Séverine, and expressed elsewhere by Marx: “But you Communists would introduce community of women, screams the whole bourgeoisie in chorus.
“The bourgeois sees in his wife a mere instrument of production. He hears that the instruments of production are to be exploited in common, and, naturally, can come to no other conclusion, than that the lot of being common to all will likewise fall to the women.
“He has not even a suspicion that the real point aimed at is to do away with the status of women as mere instruments of production.
“For the rest, nothing is more ridiculous than the virtuous indignation of our bourgeois at the community of women which, they pretend, is to be openly and officially established by the Communists. The Communists have no need to introduce community of women; it has existed almost from time immemorial.
“Our bourgeois, not content with having the wives and daughters of their proletarians at their disposal, not to speak of common prostitutes, take the greatest pleasure in seducing each others’ wives.
“Bourgeois marriage is in reality a system of wives in common and thus, at the most, what the Communists might possibly be reproached with, is that they desire to introduce, in substitution for a hypocritically concealed, an openly legalized community of women. For the rest, it is self-evident, that the abolition of the present system of production must bring with it the abolition of the community of women springing from that system, i.e., of prostitution both public and private.” —The Communist Manifesto, II: Proletarians and Communists
When Séverine finds the address of Anaïs’ whorehouse and approaches the door, a woman coming down the stairs makes her pretend she’s waiting at the elevator instead of wanting to knock on Anaïs’ door. Immediately before this hiding of her true intentions, another childhood memory of hers runs through her mind: this time, we see little Séverine (about the same age as when that man inappropriately touched her) in church during Mass, refusing to take the Host in her mouth. We hear a man’s voice (that of Pierre?) ask, “Séverine, Séverine, what’s the matter with you?”
Reminded of the memory of the man touching her, we might wonder if there’s a connection between it and the scene during Mass. Is her refusal of the Host symbolic of childhood sexual abuse from the priesthood? Or does her guilt, including a fear of eating the body of Christ unworthily (1 Corinthians 11:27), fuel her masochism?
After a few sexual encounters with men like Adolphe, she seems to have processed the childhood trauma she suffered (or, at least, gotten over her bourgeois inhibitions), and now she feels more comfortable as a prostitute. She enjoys servicing an Asian client, who rings a tiny bell as she grins lasciviously at him, standing next to him without her panties on.
A masochistic professor (François Maistre) wants her to help him act out a fantasy of himself as her grovelling servant; but her failure to act out her part as he wishes causes him to bark orders at her, then demand that Anaïs get Charlotte (Françoise Fabian) to take Séverine’s place, for she apparently is only of use in the kitchen. As we can see, masochistic submission becomes dominance: more sublation of opposites. In fact, we can hear the professor ordering Charlotte to hit him harder.
Recall how Freud once said that every sadist is always at the same time also a masochist. Séverine is disgusted to see the professor lower himself so, yet in her fantasies, she’d lower herself much further. Séverine would never have liked Severin, in spite of herself.
Her dreams, as revelatory wish-fulfillments of her desires, continue. We hear cowbells clinking in the background as Pierre and Husson discuss the names of cows: Remorse and Expiation. Here we see an explicit link between Séverine’s masochism and her guilt feelings over cheating on the husband she’s not even once had sex with. He and Husson sling mud at her, symbolic of shit, while she’s tied up, wearing an angelically white gown; they call her “little slut” and “pig.” Her saintly raiment, sullied with the mud, is the sublation of sinner and innocent.
Remember how any ringing of bells, be they cowbells or jingle bells, symbolizes her sexual arousal; so she unconsciously enjoys Husson’s presence as well as his and Pierre’s symbolic defecating on her, though in her conscious mind, bad boy Husson repels her.
Later, she hears those coach sleigh bells in her dream about the Duke (Georges Marchal), who would have her play the role of his dead love in a coffin. In his passion for her as she lies practically naked in the coffin, wearing only a black see-through garment, we see the sublation of libido (part of Eros, the will to live) and Thanatos, the death drive…or the pleasure-pain of jouissance. (We’d need only hear the Liebestod as heard in the soundtracks of Un Chien Andalou and L’Age d’Or, and the scene would be perfect.) The coldness of her ‘corpse’ before the Duke suggests a displacement onto him of her frigidity towards Pierre.
Cats are heard meowing. The Duke’s servant knocks at the door, asking if his master wants him to let the cats in; again, in my interpretation, the cats are a symbolic reference to Séverine’s genitalia. The Duke curses at his servant about the cats, suggesting more of the hypocritical bourgeois reaction formation to any frank expression of sexuality.
Shortly after this cursing, the Duke slips down under the coffin with a guilty frown on his face. She feels a jiggling of the coffin, suggesting that the Duke is stimulating her genitals or buttocks in a perverse, disturbing way. After the encounter, and when she’s dressed, the servant brusquely kicks her out of the Duke’s mansion, to leave her in the rain: again, in her fantasizing, she must be punished for her jouissance; also, in the servant’s rudeness to her, we see the bourgeois hypocrisy in enjoying the services of a prostitute, but in also treating her as bestial and beneath the upper classes.
More dualities to be sublated are implied in Belle de Jour vs. belle de nuit, the opposition of day and night. Linked with this idea is the Duke’s reference, in his chat with Séverine at an outdoor café before their encounter in his mansion, to the soleil noir (“dark sun”), the sublation of jour and nuit. He also considers his sexually perverse encounter with her “a religious ceremony of some sort.” Sublation of the sacred and the profane.
Jouissance, especially the zesty, almost mystical, feminine kind that Lacan commented on, is a poetically resonant word when applied to Séverine’s sexual excesses. Apart from it meaning such things as “enjoyment” and “orgasm,” jouissance also refers to the enjoyment of property rights, which is instructive given her status as a bourgeois woman. In fact, Lacan’s notion of plus-de-jouir (“surplus enjoyment”) is inspired by Marx’s notion of surplus value, which–when applied to this film–is perfectly personified in the willing bourgeois prostitute.
The surplus value of Séverine’s masochistic pleasure-pain is something she, as a bourgeois woman, can enjoy and give up whenever she wishes to; but a proletarian prostitute is unable to escape her world of exploitation and degradation…herein lies the crucial difference. Having a madam force the girls into sex work is no less oppressive in principle than when a pimp forces them. For Séverine, though, as soon as she sees the danger in Husson finding out her secret (tempting him to tell Pierre), as well as the growing jealousy of her favourite client, Marcel (Pierre Clémenti), she can quit, and Madame Anaïs must accept it.
Séverine’s preference of the crude, violent bad boy Marcel as a lover, over sensitive but boring Pierre–in spite of how she must keep up appearances as his faithful wife–can be seen to symbolize how the hypocritical bourgeois liberal wants to be seen publicly as gentle and respectful of human rights; but when tensions rise in the world, even liberals will embrace violence to protect their class interests.
While Pierre, as a doctor, represents the gentle, liberal bourgeoisie, mafiosi Marcel and Hippolyte (Francisco Rabal) represent the nasty, violent, and even fascist-leaning side of capitalism (note how the mafia can be seen to represent capitalists in other movies). The two men beat up and steal from a man in an elevator, Epstein-like Hippolyte shows a sexual interest in the underage daughter of Pallas (Muni), and jealous Marcel attempts murdering his rival, Pierre, but ends up paralyzing him and putting him in a coma instead.
Séverine, in her overwhelming guilt, allows Husson to tell Pierre about her dalliances. She then sees her teary-eyed husband, emotionally destroyed and unmoving in his wheelchair (reminding us of Wanda’s wheelchair-bound husband before he died–Sacher-Masoch, page 20; recall another line from the novella: “Is there any greater cruelty for the lover than the beloved woman’s infidelity?”–page 4…Severin + Wanda = Séverine). Instead of having another sexy dream, though, she reverses course and has a wholesome one of her husband smiling, getting up from his wheelchair, and embracing her.
The film ends with the sleigh bells heard outside. She looks out the window and sees the coach riding down the road strewn with autumn leaves, as in the film’s beginning; a return to the beginning of the cycle, but without the couple as passengers. The empty seat is symbolic of Lacan’s notion that there is no such thing as a sexual relationship. There is sexual activity between men and women, of course (as we see constantly in this movie), but there is no rapport between the sexes, no harmony, as between her and Pierre. Their love is an illusion: at best, theirs is a Platonic friendship, and this–in combination with her superficially sexual relations with other men–indicates the general alienation felt in capitalist society.
This motif of autumn is important. It symbolizes her growing coolness towards her husband, and the fallen leaves suggest her fall from grace. Before, during the height of her jouissance at the brothel, she fantasized about Pierre and Husson shooting her in the head with phallic pistols out there in the woods, among the autumn leaves, the blood flowing from her head being symbolic, perhaps, of the pleasure-pain of getting a facial. She’s tied to a tree, her wound making her look rather like St. Sebastian: sublation of sinner and saint.
Now, however, having emotionally killed her husband, she can dream only of an unattainable return to innocence. Her shame doubtless will deter her from ever satisfying her desires chez Madame Anaïs. Will Husson finally have her? It’s doubtful, now that he knows she hasn’t the voluptuous virtue he thought she had.
There will be no more sublation of her sex fantasies with the reality of a prostitute’s life. In a futile attempt to assuage her guilt, she is compelled to escape reality and have innocent fantasies, of her restored husband, from now on. Now, she can only have pain sans pleasure. Fate has been most severe with Séverine.
Mawr Gorshin communism, eroticism, feminism, film analysis, leftism, Marxism, psychoanalysis 1 Comment November 20, 2019 November 21, 2019 16 Minutes
Analysis of ‘Venus In Furs’
Venus In Furs is a novella written by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch and published in 1870. Because the semi-autobiographical story is about a young man, Severin von Kusiemski, who persuades a beautiful woman, Wanda von Dunajew (her real-life counterpart having been Sacher-Masoch’s mistress, Baroness Fanny Pistor), to dominate, whip, humiliate, and enslave him, we derive the word masochism from its author…thanks to Richard von Krafft-Ebing in his seminal text, Psychopathia Sexualis.
Though the novella was originally meant to be part of an unfinished cycle of stories called The Testament of Cain, Venus In Furs is by far Sacher-Masoch’s most famous work, and it is one of the few of his writings to be translated into English.
Here are some quotes:
“Is there any greater cruelty for the lover than the beloved woman’s infidelity?” –narrator of framing story (page 4)
‘”And as a rule it is the man who feels the woman’s foot,” cried Madam Venus with exuberant scorn…’ (page 5)
“Yes, I am cruel–since you take so much pleasure in that word–and am I not entitled to be cruel? Man desires, woman is desired. That is woman’s entire but decisive advantage.” –‘Madame Venus,’ the talking statue in the narrator’s dream (pages 5-6)
“Woman’s power lies in Man’s passion, and she knows how to make use of it if man isn’t careful. His only choice is to be woman’s tyrant or slave.” –Severin, to the narrator (page 10)
‘…my beloved was made of stone…a stone statue of Venus…This Venus was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.’ –Severin (page 12)
‘Enough: this Venus was beautiful, and I loved her as passionately, as morbidly and profoundly, as insanely as a man can love only a woman who responds to his love with an eternally consistent, eternally calm stone smile. Yes, I literally worshiped her.’ –Severin, of his Venus statue (page 12)
“Nature knows of no permanence in the male-female relationship.” –Wanda (page 19)
‘My love was like a profound, a bottomless abyss, into which I kept sinking deeper and deeper, from which nothing could save me.’ –Severin (page 27)
‘Cold shivers ran down my spine. I looked at her: she stood before me, so solid and self-assured, and her eyes had a cold glint.’ –Severin, of Wanda (page 28)
“…the greatest passions…arise from opposites. We are such opposites, almost hostile to each other. That explains this love of mine, which is part hatred, part fear. In such a relationship, only one person can be the hammer, the other the anvil. I want to be the anvil. I can’t be happy if I look down on my beloved. I want to be able to worship a woman, and I can do so only if she is cruel to me.” –Severin, to Wanda (page 29)
“…sensuality now became a sort of culture in my imagination, and I swore not to squander its holy sensations on an ordinary creature but to save them for an ideal woman–if possible, the Goddess of Love herself.” –Severin (page 32)
“In my mind I always pictured a beautiful female ideal…” –Severin (page 33)
“So a woman wearing fur,” cried Wanda, “is nothing but a big cat…?” (page 35)
“I saw sensuality as sacred, indeed the only sacredness. I saw woman and her beauty as divine since her calling is the most important task of existence: the propagation of the species.” –Severin (page 36)
“Yes–you’ve aroused my most cherished fantasy.” –Severin, to Wanda (page 37)
‘”I’m afraid I’ve already found my ideal!” I cried and pressed my hot face into her lap.’ –Severin, to Wanda (page 37)
“You’ve corrupted my imagination…” –Wanda, to Severin
“Women are neither as good as their admirers and defenders would have it nor as bad as their enemies make them out to be.” –Wanda (page 47)
‘Wanda…was so kind, so intimate, so full of grace.’ –Severin (page 48)
“A woman’s infidelity is certainly a painful stimulus, the supreme voluptuousness.” –Severin, to Wanda (page 49)
“You may always address me as ‘Mistress,’ do you understand?” –Wanda, to Severin (page 60)
‘…from time to time I heard our Mistress enjoying herself, surrounded by admirers…’ –Severin (page 77)
‘Venus in Furs was jealous of her slave. She tore the whip from its nail and struck me across the face. Next she summoned the black maidservants, and had them tie me up and drag me down to the cellar, where they threw me into a dark, dank subterranean vault–a bona fide dungeon cell.’ –Severin (page 84)
‘I felt myself starting to hate that woman.’ –Severin, of Wanda (page 85)
‘…I saw that she was wearing only the fur, and I was terrified–I don’t know why–as terrified as a condemned man who knows he is heading toward the scaffold, yet starts to tremble the moment he sees it.’ –Severin, of half-naked Wanda (page 89)
‘…Wanda threw off her fur coat in a single moment and stood before me like the Goddess in the Tribuna.
‘At that instant, she looked so chaste, so holy in her uncloaked beauty that I knelt before her as I had knelt before the Goddess, and I pressed my lips devoutly to her foot.’ –Severin (page 90)
‘He was a handsome man, by God. No, more: he was a man such as I had never seen in the flesh. He stands in the Belvedere, hewn in marble, with the same slender and yet iron muscles, the same face, the same rippling curls.’ –Severin, of Alexis Papadopolis, his rival for Wanda’s love (page 96)
‘What I felt was fear–a fear of losing the woman whom I loved almost fanatically; and this fear was so violent, so crushing that I suddenly burst out sobbing like a child.’ –Severin (page 101)
“You know what I am,” she retorted nastily. “I’m a woman of stone, Venus in Furs, your ideal–just kneel and worship me.” –Wanda, to Severin (page 103)
“The moral is that I was an ass.” –Severin, speaking to the narrator (page 119)
“The moral is that woman, as Nature has created her and as she is currently reared by man, is his enemy and can be only his slave or his despot, but never his companion. She will be able to become his companion only when she has the same rights as he, when she is his equal in education and work.” –Severin (page 119)
The story begins with a framing device involving the original narrator telling Severin about a dream he’s had of conversing with a living statue of Venus, who has a huge fur wrapped around her marble body (page 3).
This notion of being infatuated with the statues of Venus is a motif recurring throughout the novella, for a man’s willful enslavement to a woman is based on his pagan worship of her (as he sees it) divine beauty.
This beauty is carved into immovable stone: cold, inflexible, hard, and therefore cruel. The immovability of the stone also suggests permanence; combine this unmoving, unchanging permanence with beauty, we have ourselves an ideal.
The notion of ideal feminine beauty is also a recurring theme in the novella. Recall Goethe‘s words: “The Eternal Feminine draws us on high.” Beauty on the outside is seen as a symbol of beauty on the inside…regardless of how unrealistic such ideals are.
Another classic work of art–a painting–has inspired Severin: Titian‘s Venus with Mirror, the goddess’s lower body wrapped in fur, apart from which she is naked. Both Severin and the narrator fetishize her in the fur.
In his paper, “Fetishism,” Freud pointed out that the fur fetish is based on desire for a woman’s pubic hair, a desire traced back to boys’ Oedipal desire for their mother, and their horror, upon seeing her genitals, at realizing she has no phallus. Camille Paglia, in Sexual Personae, believes that Venus In Furs supports Freud’s claim (Paglia, pages 258, 436).
As Freud himself observed: “…it is as though the last impression before the uncanny and traumatic one is retained as a fetish. Thus the foot or shoe owes its preference as a fetish–or a part of it–to the circumstances that the inquisitive boy peered at the woman’s genitals from below, from her legs up; fur and velvet–as has long been suspected–are a fixation of the sight of the pubic hair, which should have been followed by the longed-for sight of the female member; pieces of underclothing, which are so often chosen as a fetish, crystallize the moment of undressing, the last moment in which the woman could still be regarded as phallic.” (Freud, pages 354-355)
If Freud’s explanation seems far-fetched, consider Jacques Lacan‘s more metaphorical version. The mother’s lack of a phallus is, for Lacan, connected with the dissolution of the Oedipus complex and the father’s prohibition against a boy’s having of his mother; the boy cannot be the phallus that his mother desires, because his father won’t allow it. Hence, his father has symbolically castrated him. From this lack–manque–comes one’s desire.
Since a boy can’t have his mother, he must look elsewhere to gratify his unfulfillable desire, the objet petit a, a substitute for the forbidden mother that, in this story, Severin and the narrator can attempt to replace with the fur fetish and the Venus ideal. [For a more thorough explanation of such psychoanalytic concepts as those of Lacan, look here.]
Freud’s thoughts on fetishism seem to anticipate Lacan’s ideas about manque and the objet petit a in this passage: “In the conflict between the weight of the unwelcome perception and the force of his counter-wish, a compromise has been reached, as is only possible under the dominance of the unconscious laws of thought–the primary processes. Yes, in his mind the woman has got a penis, in spite of everything; but this penis is no longer the same as it was before. Something else has taken its place, has been appointed its substitute, as it were, and now inherits the interest which was formerly directed to its predecessor…We can now see what the fetish achieves and what it is that maintains it. It remains a token of triumph over the threat of castration and a protection against it.” (Freud, page 354)
That Titian’s painting has the fur covering Venus’ lower half further supports the symbolic association of the fur with her pubic hair. Cupid, Venus’ son, holds her mirror: the Goddess of Love and Beauty is the Mother.
Now we can see the origin of Severin’s desire to be dominated by a beautiful woman: he has an unresolved Oedipus complex, transferred onto Wanda. She symbolizes his mother, who in his unconscious has been split into Melanie Klein‘s “good mother”–his idealized parental imago whose beauty he desires to enjoy (hence, the furs)–and the “bad mother” who punishes him and is cruel to him.
Freud noted how a spanking can give erotic pleasure to a child: “Ever since Jean Jacques Rousseau‘s Confessions, it has been well known to all educationists that the painful stimulation of the skin of the buttocks is one of the erotogenic roots of the passive instinct of cruelty (masochism).” (Freud, page 111)
Severin, as a boy, must have enjoyed getting swats on his little buttocks from the hand of his pretty mama. Little is said in the novella about his relationship with his mother; the lack of any mention of his (as I suspect) shameful desires for her can easily be attributed to repression. Instead, Severin freely admits to desiring his beautiful but violent aunt–a clear displacing of his Oedipal desires from his mother to his aunt! (pages 32-34)
To return to the beginning of the novella, the narrator is woken from his dream by a hand “as brown as bronze” (page 6), suggesting another hard, cold statue, this time one of a man, the narrator’s “Cossack,” who stands “at his full height of almost six feet.” (page 6)
The Cossack tells the narrator that he must hurry and meet up with Severin, and that “it’s a cryin’ shame” (page 6) that the narrator is asleep when he must be going. This scene is symbolic of the father making a boy give up on his Oedipal dream of having Mother (symbolized by the statue of Venus in the dream). The “bronze” statue of the Cossack represents the father bringing the narrator (symbolic of a boy experiencing the Oedipus complex) into the world of reality.
Severin’s story, of himself also leaving his dreams (page 117) and coming into reality, will help the narrator understand the need to wake up, too; for the narrator is an obvious double of Severin. In fact, both men can be seen to represent the universal Oedipal desirer, the common male masochist. Severin’s story is written in a manuscript called Confessions of a Suprasensual Man. (page 10)
Speaking of writing, it seems prophetic that the narrator has a book by Hegel lying next to him as he sleeps (page 7); in the explanatory notes at the end of my Penguin Classics English translation of Venus In Furs (page 125), it is justifiably assumed that the passage of Hegel that the narrator has been reading before dozing off is the master/slave dialectic section of The Phenomenology of Spirit. In this dialectic, the slave gradually comes to free himself of his master, as Severin will of Wanda, and–one hopes–the narrator will of his slavish devotion to Venus in furs, too.
Before Severin meets Wanda, he–just like the narrator–has been idolizing a stone statue of Venus; only instead of it being in his dreams, Severin’s is in a meadow, in a garden in the small wilderness where his house is. Because of this ideal, he has had very little interest in Wanda…but she will soon embody that ideal for him, in the flesh.
There are numerous passages in the novella that suggest that Severin’s love for Wanda is at least comparable to a boy’s Oedipal love for his mother. To give one example: after kissing her foot, which causes her to run away, leaving her slipper in his hand–because she feels he is “getting more and more indecent,” he returns it to her the next day and stands “in the corner like a child awaiting its punishment.” (page 24)
Another example, suggestive of his relationship with Wanda as being like that of a mother and her little boy, is on page 82: “She started caressing me, cuddling me, kissing me like a child.” Yet another example, symbolically suggestive of a boy’s Oedipal jealousy, is on page 101: “What I felt was fear–a fear of losing the woman whom I loved almost fanatically; and this fear was so violent, so crushing that I suddenly burst out sobbing like a child.”
He remembers having his idolatrous fetishes from as early as the cradle; he “can’t remember ever not having them.” His mother told him he was “suprasensual” from those earliest years, “suprasensual” being his word for describing his desires. (page 30)
I’ve already mentioned his aunt, to whom–I believe–he made his first transference of his repressed Oedipal desires for his mother. Countess Sobol “was a beautiful, majestic woman with a charming smile; but [Severin] hated her, for the family regarded her as a Messalina.” (page 32) This love/hate is the splitting of the mother into her good and bad aspects, but displaced onto Severin’s aunt.
Severin describes his aunt beating him with a switch while wearing “her fur-lined kazabaika.” After the beating, he “was forced to kneel down, thank her for the punishment, and kiss her hand.
“Now just look at the suprasensual fool! The switch held by the beautiful, voluptuous woman, who looked like an angry monarch in her fur jacket, first aroused my desire for women, and from then on my aunt seemed like the most attractive woman on God’s earth.” (page 32)
Since Severin is telling the story, and since he’s clearly addled by his strange passions, it’s easy to believe that he’s an unreliable narrator. (His having been “healed” of the sickness of his masochism at the end of the novella is also unconvincing, especially given how Sacher-Masoch himself, on whom Severin and the narrator are based, carried on with his acting-out of his female domination fantasies years after the publication of Venus In Furs, to the irritation of his wife at the time!) When he admits he incestuously desires his aunt, this could easily be a cover-up for a much more forbidden desire…to have, and be punished by, his mother!
Severin explains his fur fetish to Wanda by speaking of “the bewitching beneficial influence that cats exert on highly sensitive and intelligent people.” (page 35) Yes, Wanda, “a woman wearing fur…is nothing but a big cat.”
Sacher-Masoch uses the word Katzen, in italics in the original German. Now, Katze innocently just means cat, the -n being the plural ending. But consider the context behind the usage of the word in this “erotic” conversation. (page 35)
In English, “pussy” has been used to mean a woman’s genitals as early as the 1870s, and probably earlier. In French, chatte, the feminine for chat, has had the same meaning, so the European association between the feline and the vagina has existed for some time.
Furthermore, Katzen sounds dangerously close to Kätzchen, the German word for kitten, or…pussy! Given the strict censorship of any lewd ideas back in the prudish late 19th century (Recall the scandal surrounding Oscar Wilde’s Salome, in which the title character would baiser John the Baptist’s mouth!), one should find it easy to believe that Sacher-Masoch was using Katzen as a euphemism for the yoni.
So, in all of this, we see further support for Freud’s idea that furs and velvet are associated with a woman’s pubic hair. If by Katze, Sacher-Masoch had innocently meant cat, what would make Severin’s conversation with Wanda such an “erotic treatise”?
Almost immediately after this discussion of furs and Katzen, Severin mentions his reason for worshipping woman’s divine beauty: “her calling is…the propagation of the species.” (page 36) Human life emerges from female genitals, our uncanny sight of origin (a seeming wound where a phallus might have been, if only in unconscious phantasy). Woman is a goddess because she is a mother, the Giver of Life. Severin’s sexual passions, and his pagan devotions, are at their unconscious root, Oedipal.
He wants to be “the slave of a woman, a beautiful woman,” one who ties him up and whips him, and who kicks him “when she belongs to another man.” (page 37) How similar such a woman is to the Oedipally desired mother who punishes her naughty son with spankings, and who belongs to another man…the boy’s father. Having found his ideal in Wanda, Severin presses his “hot face into her lap” (page 37), an area of her body where he often brings his face (pages 44, 50, 112), where–were her clothes to be removed–her pubic hair would be found.
She tells him he is “mistaken” to “believe that everything lurking in [his] imagination is in [her] nature too” (page 38), but he won’t listen. For such opposites as those of love and hate are what give us our greatest passions (page 29).
His experience of Wanda, as mentioned above, is a transferred splitting of the Oedipally desired mother into absolute good and bad. He likes these extremes because of the arrest in his childhood sexual development, as we saw with his aunt. He won’t learn or grow out of these fixations, what Wilfred Bion would have called -K, a refusal to know; and for this reason, Severin will suffer terribly as the story goes on.
Wanda herself comments on his refusal to know her, to grow in knowledge (-K): “Don’t you know me yet, don’t you even want to know me?” she asks him (page 28). For Bion, another important element in the Oedipus myth is the urge to gain knowledge (K) at all costs, as the Theban king wishes to do in learning the identity of Laius‘ killer; yet Tiresias understands the danger of revealing this identity, and so in his reluctance to tell Oedipus, represents -K.
Severin’s refusal to grow in knowledge (-K) is linked to his repressed, unresolved Oedipus complex, transferred first onto his aunt, then onto Wanda. His growth in knowledge would involve a reintegration of the split good and bad aspects of his mother, a movement from the paranoid-schizoid position (PS) to the depressive position (D).
In the fetishizing of his feminine ideal, Severin stays split: he idolizes the good mother, displaced onto Wanda’s beauty when in the furs; and he suffers the cruelty of the bad mother, displaced onto Wanda when she whips, kicks, enslaves, and–worst of all–cheats on him.
She warns him of the danger of arousing her narcissism by worshipping her and allowing himself to be unconditionally enslaved by her; but he won’t listen (-K, reversible perspective). She would have him integrate the absolute good and bad of femininity: “Women are neither as good as their admirers and defenders would have it nor as bad as their enemies make them out to be…The best woman sinks momentarily into filth, the worst woman rises unexpectedly to great good deeds, putting her despisers to shame. No woman is so good or so evil as not to be capable at any moment of both the most diabolical and most divine, both the foulest and the purest thoughts, feelings, actions.” (page 47)
Still, Severin won’t listen, for he prefers those extreme opposites that arouse passion (page 29), his split state of PS, over the sane moderation of D. He wants to stay in thrall to his ideal imagining of her, which he “both reviled and worshiped.” (page 105)
Now, she agrees to his absurd fantasy of enslaving him while wearing furs, though secretly she plans to cure him of his desires by pushing his fantasy too far. In living out his fantasy of being dominated by a beautiful woman, Severin is experiencing what Lacan called jouissance, a transgressive overindulgence in pleasure, a surfeiting that leads to pain.
In jouissance, one willingly endures this pain as a kind of extension of the transgressive pleasure. This is a shifting past the biting head of the ouroboros (extreme pleasure) to experience the bitten tail (extreme pain). In other posts, I’ve written of the dialectical relationship between opposites as symbolized by the ouroboros’ head and tail, with the coiled length of its body representing every intermediate point on a circular continuum between those extreme opposites.
While Severin thinks Wanda is indulging his jouissance in going past the biting head over to the bitten tail, she’s actually taking him in the opposite direction. She’s taking him along the coiled length of the serpent, further and further away from the biting head of pleasure, and closer and closer to the bitten tail of pain…unbearable pain, unbearable even for him.
By being enslaved by his “Venus in furs,” with Wanda as the replacement for his mother, Severin is using Wanda as his objet petit a, the unattainable object-cause of his desire. He can’t have Mother, in her desirable aspect (i.e., the good mother, who like the Virgin Mary, is “full of grace”–page 48), or in her domineering aspect (the bad mother); so he has Wanda. But Wanda as a symbolic mother introduces a torture that even masochistic Severin can’t accept: the male rival as symbolic father.
In the BDSM community, consensual limits–as to how much pain, erotic humiliation, etc., is given and received–are strictly respected (through safewords, etc.). No such restraint is seen in Sacher-Masoch’s novella or in the Marquis de Sade‘s pornographic novels, in which victims (including children!) are not only tied up and whipped, but also raped, tortured, and murdered–the wealthy, powerful criminals responsible getting away scot-free.
Severin wants to experience the jealous fear of Wanda cuckolding him, but only within a reasonable limit–just the fear of it (page 49). She carries things way beyond his masochistic fantasies, though, in particular with a Greek named Alexis Papadopolis. (page 97)
Normally, the mother/infant relationship involves the mother soothing the baby’s fears, anxieties, and frustrations by absorbing and containing them in what Bion called maternal reverie, then sending those feelings back to the child in a form tolerable to it. This exchange of energy back and forth, through projective identification, is how a baby grows in K.
What Wanda, as Severin’s symbolic mother, is doing, however, is a negative version of this container/contained relationship (the mother, as container, being a symbolic yoni, and the baby’s contained anxieties being a symbolic phallus), so that instead of soothing Severin’s anguish, she is turning it into a nameless dread, driving him mad with jealousy.
In a nightmare, he dreams she has turned into “a huge polar bear drilling her claws into [his] body.” (page 68) He awakens to “hear her diabolical laughter.” This is an example of the negative container/contained relationship: in his dream, it is he who must contain her hostility, symbolized by her phallic claws digging yonic wounds into his skin. When he wakes in terror, she won’t contain his fear; instead, she laughs at it, making him feel worse.
The persecutory anxiety of his PS continues when he dreams of being condemned to death for having “murdered Wanda in a raging fit of jealousy.” (page 80) He is about to be beheaded, but instead of feeling the blade of an ax go beyond touching the back of his neck, he feels a slap. Wanda has woken him up with the slap, and she demands her fur.
She is free to make him feel jealous all she wants, but he is forbidden to treat her the same way. When he looks too long at Haydée, one of Wanda’s African female servants, he is put in “a bona fide dungeon cell.” (page 84)
Freud’s theory about the fur fetish as a covering of the female genitals, the shocking sight of a missing phallus [Freud, page 352: “the fetish is a substitute for the woman’s (the mother’s) penis that the little boy once believed in and–for reasons familiar to us–does not want to give up.”], seems apparent when Wanda is nude before Severin, except for the fur she’s wearing (page 89). He narrates, “I saw that she was wearing only the fur, and I was terrified–I don’t know why…”
He doesn’t know why he’s afraid (one would think he’d simply be aroused) because the root of his desire is a repressed wish to have his mother; but her lack of a phallus, as Lacan observed, is associated with Severin’s having been forbidden to have her, a forbidding from the Name of the Father…and the name of Severin’s symbolic father is Papadopolis.
Severin is afraid to know Wanda’s beauty (-K), so when she throws off her fur coat and stands before him in her glorious nakedness, he doesn’t think about his “Goddess” lustfully, but instead kneels before her, for “she looked so chaste, so holy in her uncloaked beauty” (page 90). Like the Virgin Mary, Wanda is “so full of grace.” (page 48) He would rather have a reaction formation to her, seeing the pure, good mother, than lust after the naked, whorish, bad (symbolic) mother.
Still, she arouses his jealousy with a number of male admirers, including a poor young painter (pages 91-95), and finally, the Greek! (pages 96-97) Severin finds Papadopolis especially threatening, for he knows he cannot compete with him to win Wanda’s love.
Severin feels “seized with that dreadful mortal terror, an inkling that this man could capture her, fascinate her, subjugate her.” Severin feels “inadequate next to his savage virility…envious, jealous.” (page 99) This is the same Oedipal jealousy a little boy feels when he knows only Daddy can have Mommy.
Severin wants to run away from Wanda…but he can’t.
Ultimately, she has him tied up, but Papadopolis is to whip him! (pages 114-117) Since Wanda and the Greek are Severin’s symbolic mother and father, the whipping symbolizes a re-experiencing of the childhood, Oedipal trauma of a boy being punished by his father for wanting his mother. The pain is too much for Severin; in his indignant rage, he demands to be untied. (page 115)
This descent into greater and greater suffering is like moving along the coiled length of the ouroboros’ body to reach the bitten tail of the most excruciating pain, then to reach a state of clarity, to understand the need to give up his Oedipal jouissance, to realize his objet petit a will never be fulfilled. It’s like “awakening from a dream.” (page 117)
After escaping from this ordeal, Severin goes home to help his old and ill father. Along with an unrealized wish to join the army, we can see in this father/son reunion a symbolized identification with the father, which is precisely what happens to a boy after the dissolution of the Oedipus complex.
Wanda, one day long after, writes a letter to Severin, explaining how the excesses of her cruelty were meant to cure him of his strange passion, to send him past the bitten tail of pain and over to the biting head of self-mastery, a return to peace of mind.
Severin, however, is not truly cured; he’s just switched from masochist to sadist. Now, he dominates women instead of submitting to them (page 9). As Freud, reversing Severin’s process, once said, “A sadist is always at the same time a masochist…” (Freud, page 73)
Severin’s submission to, and idolatry of, Wanda has really just been a reaction formation against his wish to rule over women. The Oedipus complex, properly understood, is a narcissistic trauma: a child’s love of his mother is a selfish wish to have her all to himself, never to share her. She, as his ideal, is a mirror reflecting his narcissism back to him as he experiences the Imaginary Order. In worshipping Wanda, Severin has merely been projecting his excessive self-love (disguised as self-abasement in his reaction formation with her) onto her.
Women are wise to resist men who want to worship them. Sacher-Masoch’s wife learned this the hard way. True equality of the sexes will come when men stop deifying women, which dialectically resolves into misogyny, a shift from the ouroboros’ biting head of worshipping women to the bitten tail of despising them. The apotheosis of Woman as Mother, as Giver of Life, easily shifts over to the notion that “a woman’s place is in the home.” Women should be seen as neither goddesses nor slaves, but as human beings.
Severin himself acknowledges that woman “will be able to become [man’s] companion only when she has the same rights as he, when she is his equal in education and work.” (page 119) Still, he bosses around “a pretty, buxom blonde…bringing [him and the narrator] cold meat and eggs for [their] tea.” (page 9) This is Bion’s -K and reversible perspective: Severin can understand the basic principle of supporting equality, but the specific premises–that one must do what one can to promote equality in one’s day-to-day life–are rejected.
Severin is thus still trapped in the duality of the paranoid-schizoid position (PS). He can bear dialectical opposites, Hegel’s thesis and negation, but not the sublation of those opposites, the ambivalent feeling of the depressive position (D). He is by no means cured.
Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Venus In Furs, Penguin Classics, London, 1870
Sigmund Freud, 7. On Sexuality, The Pelican Freud Library, Penguin Books, London, 1987
Wilfred Bion, Elements of Psychoanalysis, Karnac, London, 1963
Mawr Gorshin eroticism, Freud, literature, literature analysis, psychoanalysis 1 Comment November 16, 2019 November 16, 2019 21 Minutes
Analysis of ‘Black Swan’
Black Swan is a 2010 psychological thriller directed by Darren Aronofsky and written by Mark Heyman, John McLaughlin, and Andres Heinz, based on an original story by Heinz. It stars Natalie Portman in an Oscar-winning performance as ballerina Nina Sayers, with Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, and Winona Ryder.
The story, with its overarching themes of duality, dualism, and the dialectical relationship between opposites, is strongly influenced by Dostoyevsky‘s novella, The Double. Nina’s double is her dialectical opposite, Lily (Kunis); and just as the protagonist in Dostoyevsky’s story is paranoid about his double’s attempts to take over his life, so does Nina have persecutory anxiety about Lily supposedly scheming to take the role of Swan Queen away from her.
Here are some quotes from the film:
Nina (Portman): I came to ask for the part.
Thomas (Cassel): The truth is when I look at you all I see is the white swan. Yes, you’re beautiful, fearful, and fragile. Ideal casting. But the black swan? It’s a hard fucking job to dance both.
Nina: I can dance the black swan, too.
Thomas: Really? In four years, every time you dance I see you obsessed getting each and every move perfectly right, but I never see you lose yourself. Ever! All that discipline for what?
Nina: [whispers] I just want to be perfect.
Thomas: What?
Nina: I want to be perfect.
Thomas: [scoffs] Perfection is not just about control. It’s also about letting go. Surprise yourself so you can surprise the audience. Transcendence! Very few have it in them.
Nina: I think I do have it in me.
Nina: Beth! I’m so sorry to hear you’re leaving the company.
Beth (Ryder): What did you do to get this role? [about Thomas] He always said you were such a frigid little girl. What did you do to change his mind? Did you suck his cock?
Nina: Not all of us have to.
Beth: [chuckles] You fucking whore! You’re a fucking little whore!
Thomas: You could be brilliant, but you’re a coward.
Nina: I’m sorry.
Thomas: [yelling] Now stop saying that! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Stop being so fucking weak!
“That was me seducing you. It needs to be the other way around.” –Thomas, to Nina
Lily (Kunis): [about Beth] I can’t believe he calls her that. It’s so gross.
Nina: I think it’s sweet.
Lily: Little princess? He probably calls every girl that.
Nina: No way! That’s just for Beth.
Lily: I bet he’ll be calling you little princess any day now.
Nina: I don’t know about that.
Lily: Sure he will. You just got to let him lick your pussy.
Erica (Hershey): What happened to my sweet girl?
Nina: She’s gone!
Nina: You put something in my drink.
Lily: Yeah.
Nina: And then you just took off in the morning?
Lily: In the morning?
Nina: Yeah, you slept over.
Lily: Um, no. Unless your name is Tom and you got a dick.
Nina: But we…
Lily: But we what, Nina? [pauses] Wait, did you have some sort of lezzy wet dream about me?
Nina: [whispers] Stop it.
Lily: Oh my God. Oh my God! You did! You fantasized about me!
Nina: Shut up!
Lily: [gasps] Was I good?
Erica: This role’s destroying you. [Nina violently pushes Erica aside]
Erica: No! Please! You’re not well!
Nina: [yelling] Let go of me!
Erica: You can’t handle this!
Nina: I can’t? I’m the Swan Queen, you’re the one who never left the corps!
“I felt it. Perfect. It was perfect.” –Nina
One visual cue to take note of throughout the film is the preponderance of blacks, whites, and greys, in clothing especially, but also in interior designs. Black and white have the traditional symbolism of, respectively, evil and good, sin and innocence, etc. Grey, as a mixture of black and white, can thus be seen as an integration, or a sublation, of the black and white thesis/antithesis.
Nina, the “sweet girl,” wears mostly white clothes, as well as her lightest of light pink coat and light-grey track pants. As she gradually loses her innocence over the course of the film, she’ll be wearing darker, greyer clothing until she’s fully transformed into the Black Swan, the evil twin, as it were, of the White Swan. Appropriately, at the beginning of the film, she dreams of dancing as the White Swan; that she’s being eyed predatorily by Rothbart, the evil owl-like sorcerer, already shows her repressed sexuality, for deep down in her unconscious, she wants to be seduced.
Nina’s mother, Erica, is always in black, except for an outfit that’s a combination of black and dark grey, worn once in the middle of the film–black enough. We’ll see the significance of these black clothes on Erica later.
Erica seems to be a generally good mother, though she is in many ways frustrating for Nina, too. Erica’s overprotectiveness and lack of respect for her daughter’s privacy force Nina to take on an exclusively “sweet girl” persona…a white swan. With Erica’s domineering overprotectiveness comes a repression and disavowal of Nina’s sexuality.
This disavowal of her sexuality comes in the form of projection. Nina tends to see people in black clothes, sometimes young women with Nina’s hallucinated face superimposed on them, as in one example in the subway station. The sexual brazenness she sees in some of these black-clothed people (Lily, and in particular, a lecherous old man on the subway making obscene gestures at her) is really a sexuality inside herself that she doesn’t want to accept. She’s the white swan “sweet girl,” so she projects that sexuality onto others through her hallucinations. An important question here is: where do we draw the line between what she actually sees and what she hallucinates? (I suspect that she hallucinates a lot more often than the times she obviously does.)
Thomas, the artistic director of her ballet company, wants to do a production of Swan Lake in which the same dancer will play both the white and black swans. This would be a challenge for any dancer, but it is especially so for Nina, who will have to integrate her white side with her disavowed, forbidden black side. She will have to discover some very dark shadows inside herself.
Naturally, as she does this uncovering, this integrating of white and black, she’ll experience conflict and resistance. Part of her must do this integrating to be worthy of dancing the part, and part of her will be terrified of discovering the dark sexuality hidden inside herself, a sexuality her mother forbids her to express, as we’ll soon see. Projecting that sexuality onto others, certain black-clothed others in particular, will achieve this purpose…for a while…
Thomas, as an agent of this integration of black and white, accordingly wears combinations of black, grey, and white. He makes demands on Nina to open up sexually, to loosen up on her meticulous, perfectionistic ballet technique in order to dance more freely as the uninhibited Black Swan. She mustn’t be all Apollonian discipline; she must also be Dionysian passion and fire. Nina can’t adjust at first, though her doppelgänger Lily, with her pornographic mouth and frank sexuality, can do it naturally, effortlessly. Lily usually wears black clothes; she even has a tattoo of black wings on her back.
Look at the two girls’ four-letter names, Nina and Lily. They have paralleled repeats of consonants, ls and ns, letters close to each other in the alphabetic sequence; both names’ second letter is an i, and both names end with an a or a y, two vowels at almost opposite ends of each other in the alphabet. Lily only seems to be Nina’s polar opposite, but she’s actually her dialectical opposite, for in the sublation of contraries, there is a unity. Nina does have Lily’s wild sexuality: it’s just repressed and disavowed, for reasons I’ll speculate about later.
Nina’s unwillingness to learn how to dance the Black Swan with the free sexuality that Thomas wants represents what Wilfred Bion called -K, a negation of the desire to gain knowledge (K) by linking between oneself and others (Bion, p. 47ff.). All those external stimuli that arouse sexual feelings are rejected by Nina, like Bion‘s beta elements: raw, external sensory data that aren’t processed in the mind or turned into thoughts.
Many consider this film an allegory of the agony one feels in the search to attain artistic perfection. Nina certainly is striving, to the point of self-destructiveness (as her predecessor, Beth, has), to be the perfect ballerina; but her quest isn’t so much about dancing perfectly as it is about becoming someone else–actually, being her True Self (in DW Winnicott‘s sense of the term).
Black Swan is Nina’s journey towards self-knowledge, and this journey is terrifying for her because it means revealing feelings she is ashamed of–her repressed sexuality, which is, to at least a great degree, lesbian.
Recall “how pink! So pretty” that grapefruit half is that Nina’s mom serves her for breakfast at the beginning of the film. At this early point in the story, only the unconscious mind of that “sweet girl” would be able to see the vulva symbolism of the pink inside of the grapefruit.
When Thomas awakens her sexuality with that hard kiss he gives her in his office (which she rejects by biting him), then later he invites her to his home at night for a drink–and he talks about sex with her–we assume he is being the stereotypical male lecher trying to take advantage of a pretty young woman, offering her career advancement in exchange for a sexual favour. Actually, though, he doesn’t take her to bed. He’d have her masturbate in her home instead.
This awakening to self-knowledge (Bion’s K) is, so to speak, the ‘Biblical kind of knowing,’ and Nina is conflicted about it. She tries masturbating the next morning, but she sees her mother sleeping in a chair by her bed. This would seem to be yet another example of her mother not respecting her boundaries and invading her privacy. I suspect, however, that this is actually another of Nina’s many hallucinations, a convenient excuse to stop exploring her sexuality, for Erica would never approve of it.
It’s interesting that we never learn of Nina’s father–he’s not mentioned even once, at any time in the film. There’s a good possibility that Erica has raised Nina all the way, or almost all the way, from infancy; perhaps a man got Erica pregnant and abandoned her, forcing her to give up on her dreams of being a ballerina herself, and causing her to be overprotective of Nina for fear of her being seduced, knocked up, and thrown over in the same way. Recall Erica’s warning to Nina about Thomas and his “reputation” with women: “I just don’t want you to make the same mistake I did.” Whatever the cause of her repressions of Nina, Erica has been, essentially, Nina’s one conduit to knowledge of the world, having stifled the growth of Nina’s sexuality.
Bion’s theory of thinking and learning is based on developments of Melanie Klein‘s notion of projective identification, which involves projecting feelings and ideas into another to the point of making the other feel and think those feelings and thoughts. A baby isn’t able to think and process external sensory stimuli (Bion’s ‘beta elements’) for himself, so he must expel and project the distressing ones, pushing them into his mother, who as a “good enough mother” can contain them, process them in maternal reverie, and return them to her baby in a form acceptable to him, pacifying him. Erica, I suspect, didn’t sufficiently contain baby Nina’s anxieties and frustrations, which, instead of being pacified, became a “nameless dread“; hence, her current pathologies.
Object relations theorists like Klein wrote of how we all make internalized objects of our early caregivers, i.e., our parents. These internal objects reside in our minds like ghosts in, so to speak, the haunted houses of our heads; they are homunculi in us. In fatherless Nina’s case, there is only one foundational object introjected into her mind: Erica.
Sometimes, Erica is the good mother, caring for Nina and protecting her (or at least trying to) from external dangers (sexually predatory men) and internal ones (Nina’s scratching and self-injuries). Of course, Erica carries that protection way too far, and far too often, making her into the bad mother.
Since Black Swan is a movie about duality, it’s important to note this good/bad mother duality in Erica, which Nina has internalized. Erica’s repression of Nina’s sexuality, infantilizing her (Nina, on two occasions, calls Erica “Mommy”), is another big part of the bad mother that frustrates Nina.
This frustration results in the defence mechanism of splitting into absolute good (white swan) and absolute bad (black swan). Thomas’s insistence that Nina dance both black and white swans necessitates an integration that threatens her ego defences, causing her psychotic break with reality.
Nina would resist this knowing (-K) of the integration of white and black; she’d rather be all-white, so all impulses and excitations (beta elements) luring her towards the black (which she nonetheless must accept if she’s to succeed in Thomas’s production) are frightening things she must eject from herself and project onto others (i.e., Lily).
The problem is that if Nina keeps rejecting these beta elements over time, never processing these taboo thoughts or allowing them to settle in her mind as alpha elements, the rejected beta elements will accumulate and become what Bion called bizarre objects, hallucinatory projections of herself (e.g., those talking pictures in Erica’s room). If Nina doesn’t accept her dark side, she’ll go mad.
I’ve mentioned Nina’s lesbian tendencies; recall the gossiping dancers who note her staring at Veronica. Then there’s Nina’s obsession with black-clothed Lily, and that notorious sex scene in which Lily performs cunnilingus on Nina. She’s not only hallucinated the entire lovemaking, but also superimposed her own face on lip-smacking Lily’s. Nina is constantly projecting her inner dark side.
According to classical psychoanalytic theory, children go through an Oedipal phase, usually loving and desiring the opposite-sex parent and hating the same-sex parent, wishing to remove this latter one out of jealousy. These children normally outgrow this phase and develop heterosexual feelings for people outside the family. Some people have a negative Oedipus complex, a homosexual version; again, in the best of circumstances, they’ll outgrow it and have gay relationships outside the family.
In Nina’s case, however, a father with whom she can pass through an Oedipal phase is out of the question. She is in no Oedipal love triangle, only a dyad. All she has is her mother–the good mother who serves her a “pink” and “pretty,” vulva-like grapefruit, and the black-clothed bad mother who disapproves of her ever being involved with boys.
Some bloggers have speculated that Erica has sexually abused Nina, thus causing her pathologies. It’s an interesting, even compelling, theory; but just as Freud downplayed and modified his seduction theory to accommodate what he considered to be the much more universal Oedipus complex, so must I respectfully disagree with those bloggers.
Though Erica’s relationship with Nina is inappropriately close, the daughter clearly being an extension of her mother’s will, I don’t see sufficient evidence of even implied sexual abuse. Furthermore, such a theory doesn’t harmonize with the symbolism of Nina as the “sweet girl,” the innocent, virginal white swan. The trauma of child sexual abuse is centred around a forceful robbing of the child’s innocence. On the contrary with Nina, it’s her innocence that Erica is so preoccupied with preserving.
I argue, instead, that Nina’s psychopathology is based on a combination of sexual repression (from Erica the bad mother) and an unresolved, repressed negative Oedipus complex (Erica the all-too-good mother). The dialectical relationship between these polar opposites is like the biting head and bitten tail of the ouroboros that I’ve used so many times before to represent the unity of opposites, how one phases into the other.
Bion elaborated on the Oedipus myth by focusing on how reluctant Tiresias was to tell the incestuous, patricidal Theban king that it was he who killed his father Laius (Bion, p. 45ff.). This reluctance to impart or acquire knowledge (-K) is seen in Nina’s not wanting to come to terms with her unconscious Oedipal feelings for her mother.
One way of avoiding those feelings, as we’ve seen, is through projection, that is, to project the internalized object of Nina’s mother onto Lily. In the lesbian sex scene fantasy, Nina has an acceptable sexual substitute for Erica in Lily; Nina has displaced her desire onto an object outside her family. Another way for Nina to disavow her negative Oedipus complex is through reaction formation, i.e., through being hostile to her mother (even physically hurting her), to mask her unconscious desire for her.
Indeed, the juxtaposition of Nina’s barring Erica’s entry into her bedroom with her imagined lovemaking with Lily represents the basic schizoid position (p. 8ff.) that WRD Fairbairn wrote about. In Nina’s relationship with Erica on the one hand, and with Lily on the other, we see Fairbairn‘s Anti-libidinal Ego (Nina) and Rejecting Object (Erica), and the Libidinal Ego (Nina) and the Exciting Object (Lily). What we don’t see is the Central Ego (Nina) with the Ideal Object (anyone), this last object being ‘ideal’ because a real person in the external world is ideally who one should have a relationship with.
Lily, the Exciting Object of Nina’s libidinal desires, isn’t in the room; she’s only an internalized object in Nina’s mind. Even her mother, as the despised, unwanted object rejected by Nina’s ‘anti-libidinal’ feelings, isn’t wholly the bad mother that Nina imagines her to be: Erica’s only partly a bad mother, but also partly a good mother. Nina must come to grips with this duality.
Nonetheless, in order to prevent herself from knowing (-K) about her Oedipal desires, Nina must imagine Erica to be all bad, and must reject her even when she’s trying to do good (i.e., help Nina when she’s obviously going mad, and stop her self-injuries). Hence, Nina’s schizoid position–or as Klein called it, the paranoid-schizoid position. In Nina’s splitting of the internal object into absolute bad (this is Lily now, for Nina imagines her to be trying to steal her role as Swan Queen) and absolute good (Erica, the good side of whom is ignored, physically attacked, and treated derisively: “I’m the Swan Queen! You’re the one who never left the corps!”), she is about to get very paranoid.
Though Nina has struggled to avoid the integration of white and black, and thus to know herself (-K), she has also, in her quest to perfect the role of Swan Queen, been forced to approach that self-knowledge (K). Nonetheless, just as Oedipus’ quest for knowledge of the truth destroyed him (as Tiresias warned him it would), so is Nina’s quest destroying her. After all, who would want to have conscious knowledge that he or she had incestuous desires for his or her mother?
In her drive to attain perfection, her ballerina ideal, Nina sees herself in the mirror and hallucinates that her reflection is moving in ways that she herself is not. This is Lacan‘s mirror, in which one’s clumsy self, unable to match the perceived perfection in the reflection, is alienated from that graceful image.
On the one hand, Nina is alienated from herself when she sees her reflection, but when she faces other people–as if they were her mirror reflection–she often sees herself (as a result of projective and introjective identification). These hallucinations make this normally graceful ballerina as clumsy as those psychologically fragmented infants seeing themselves in Lacan’s mirror for the first time.
Nina thus in a larger sense has many doppelgängers: her main one is Lily, of course, but there are also the pairs of Nina/Erica, Nina/Beth, Nina/Veronica, and ultimately, Nina White/Nina Black. The film expresses the universal idea that the self, or subject, is seen in the other, or object, and vice versa. Lacan’s mirror reflects the self/other dialectic.
Though Nina’s white and black sides are integrating, she’s still conflicted about it, and she’s still resisting the integration. She projects her black onto Lily and Erica, and she projects in the forms of vomiting into toilets, self-injury, and pulling a hallucinated black feather out of her back.
Though Erica is as annoyingly overprotective as always, she–as the good mother–is justified in trying to intervene when she can see that Nina is clearly going insane. In her bedroom, after slamming the door on Erica’s fingers, Nina hallucinates that her legs have transformed into those of a swan’s, bending backwards. Though symbolically this could be seen as a positive, in that she’s transforming into the Black Swan and thus mastering the role, it also represents, apart from her obvious psychotic break with reality, a fear of never being able to dance again (i.e., broken legs).
Her suffering from the paranoid-schizoid position is at its peak when she rushes over to the ballet company to ensure that she, and not (she imagines) usurping Lily, will perform as the Swan Queen.
During her performance as the White Swan, she hallucinates seeing her own face on one of the heads of the corps de ballet, giving her a jolt and causing her male dancing partner to drop her onstage. Weeping as she returns to her dressing room, she hallucinates seeing Lily get ready to play the Black Swan, when of course she’s really seeing a projection of her black half. Thinking she’s stabbed Lily with a piece of broken glass from a mirror, she’s actually stabbed herself in the gut with it.
She goes back onstage as the Black Swan, fully transformed. No longer is she in conflict about it; she fully accepts and embraces her dark side. She even hallucinates seeing her arms turn into black wings, and she grins at the transformation. Never does she notice her stab wound; nor does the audience, who loves her performance.
She goes offstage and kisses Thomas hard on the mouth, as if she were Lily. Finally, she is seducing him, instead of the other way around. He, just old enough to be her father, provides her with a symbolic positive Oedipal object, awakening her hitherto repressed heterosexual side, which was also awakened earlier in the dance club scene, with those young men, “Tom and Jerry.”
Back in her change room, Nina must become the White Swan again; not just for the sake of the ballet, but because she can be neither only black, nor only white. Lily…dressed in an all white ballet outfit!…appears at her door to congratulate her on her superb dancing. Nina realizes she never stabbed Lily.
Pulling out a shard of mirror glass from her bleeding gut, Nina weeps. Her persecutor has never been Lily, nor has she even been Erica in her bad mother mode. Nina’s persecutor has been herself the whole time, as the bad internal object of her mother.
Fully integrated now, Nina no longer sees people in terms of all good or all bad, for she understands how illusory her projections are. Lily is in white, but still brazenly sexual and using four-letter words, for she never was “all black.” Nina has merely imagined her to be that way…as she has imagined her mother to be.
Nina weeps copious tears as she prepares to go back onstage as the White Swan (presumably having bandaged her stomach as best she can), for she has switched from the paranoid-schizoid position to the depressive position. By stabbing herself, Nina was trying to stab the bad mother object inside herself, something projected onto Lily. Now she fears having killed her internal mother object, which means also killing herself. Thus sobbing Nina feels depressive, rather than persecutory, anxiety.
Back onstage, she has a sorrowful face as she dances in the finale, as brilliantly as always. Red is visible on her belly, the blood gushing out of a vulva-like wound suggesting the symbolic breaking of her hymen, her loss of virginity and innocence.
Is her mother–the good mother–watching her in the audience, tearfully moved by her performance, or is Nina just imagining her there, as part of her depressive wish for reparation with Erica? Either way, though she needs to be rushed to hospital, she is perfect…not just from a great performance, but perfect in that she’s complete–not half a woman, but both white and black.
Mawr Gorshin emotional abuse, erotic horror, eroticism, film analysis, Freud, horror movie, music, object relations theory, psychoanalysis 1 Comment August 9, 2019 August 18, 2019 16 Minutes
‘Claws,’ an Erotic Horror Novel, Chapter Eighteen
Thurston fixed his tie and looked at himself in the mirror. Aren’t we handsome in that suit? he thought.
He left his apartment and got in his car.
As he drove to the 22 Division police station, he reflected on all that had recently happened.
It’s so good to be connected with Agnes, he thought. Close to her, in body and soul. I really love her; and better yet, there’s no more conflict with the beast. That bullet I put in its head sure did the trick. No more resistance.
He parked in the police station parking lot and got out of his car. He sucked in a deep inhalation of fresh air and smiled.
It’s so good to be fully in control again, he thought.
He walked into the police station, passed a number of desks in the direction of his own. He saw Hicks standing near his desk.
Hicks turned around and saw him approaching.
“Good morning, handsome,” Hicks said with a smile.
“Good morning,” Thurston said.
“Still no sign of Surian?”
“Oh, she’s around.”
“Really? Where? I still need to talk to her about her shooting the beast. If you could tell her to come out of hiding, I’d really appreciate it.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Thurston said. “You’ll be in contact with her soon enough.”
“Very well, whatever,” Hicks said with a sneer, which then turned into a lewd smirk. “And as for us, when are you going to come over to my place?”
“How about tonight?” Thurston asked with a grin.
Mawr Gorshin demon possession, erotic horror, eroticism, Horror fiction, horror novel, literature Leave a comment July 5, 2019 1 Minute
‘Claws,’ an Erotic Horror Novel, Chapter Seventeen
[Sexual content]
Ten minutes later, Thurston finally found himself free to move. He swung his arms further than he thought they’d go, and whacked them against the steering wheel and door.
“Oww! Fuck!” he shouted, then: “Hey, I can move. It’s about time.”
Claustrophobic in his car, he swung the car door open and got out.
Fuck driving, he thought. I’ll just run over to Callie’s apartment building. He slammed the car door shut, locked it, and left the area.
Running down the sidewalk, he was approaching her apartment building when he saw a car being driven away from where it had been parked, in front of the building’s entrance. It looked like Surian’s car.
That couldn’t have been her car, he thought. If those visions were anywhere near true, I can’t imagine Agnes walking away from demoness-Callie in one piece.
He ran into the building and raced for the elevator. He pounded his fist on the elevator button over and over again, impatiently with that irrational feeling that doing so would bring the elevator down to the ground floor faster.
“C’mon!” he growled as it floated down floor by floor.
Finally, the elevator arrived. The doors opened far too slowly for his patience, so he pried them open as best he could and squeezed inside. He pressed the seventh floor button.
As the elevator rose with–to him–the same laziness as it had gone down, he shook with rage.
“Come on, for fuck’s sake!” he shouted, then thought, Oh, God, please, let Agnes be OK…at least let her be alive!
The elevator reached the seventh floor. Again, as the doors took their time opening, his impatient hands pried them open faster and he squeezed through.
As he began running down the hall to her apartment, he realized he forgot to hold his breath.
Wait, he thought, stopping halfway there. I don’t smell any pheromone.
Indeed…there was no pheromone smell at all.
He did a light jog the rest of the way to Callie’s apartment, found the door wide open, and took out his pistol. He poked his head in the doorway and looked around. He saw nobody there.
He crept in with wide open, alert eyes. He cocked his pistol as he made his way through her living room area, his eyes darting around everywhere to see if the hairy, clawed beast was hiding somewhere behind the furniture, waiting to pounce on him. He was approaching the bedroom.
Hit the beast dead centre in the heart or in the brain, he reminded himself as he reached the bedroom doorway, the door being halfway open.
Still no pheromone smell at all.
Absolute silence.
He looked past the opened half of the doorway. He saw nobody. He heard nothing.
He turned his head back to get another look around the living room area. No beast sneaking up behind him.
No Surian, either.
Is the beast hiding behind that bedroom door? he wondered, then looked through the crack between the door and the corner wall of the bedroom.
No beast.
He tapped the door open with his foot while pointing the gun straight in front of him, anticipating any possible danger.
The door now all the way open, he saw, on the floor, between the bed and the closet, the hairy body of the clawed beast lying sprawled in a pool of its own blood. That phallic spike was pointing up in a crescent arc from its groin to the ceiling.
Not even a drop of blood was on its sharp tip.
He heaved a huge sigh. I guess those visions deceived me, he thought.
He looked around the rest of the bedroom. Surian was nowhere to be seen, though a fired pistol was lying on the floor next to the beast.
“Where the hell is she?” he said, putting his gun in its holster and taking out his phone. She’s the one who killed the beast, isn’t she? he wondered as he looked for her number in his list of contacts. That’s her gun, isn’t it? It looks like hers. Surely there was at least some truth to those visions, wasn’t there?
He clicked her cellphone number and waited as the ringing repeated eight times before setting him up to leave a message. Beep.
“Agnes, this is Andy,” he said. “Where are you? I’m in Callie’s bedroom with the beast lying here dead. Did you do this? If so, great, but why did you leave the scene? Are you OK? Did the beast hurt you in any way before you killed it? Please call me back ASAP. Bye.” Was that her driving away in her car a few minutes ago? he wondered. If so, why would she just disappear like that, without calling me or Hicks about the beast? I guess I’ll have to get the police over here, instead of her.
Twenty minutes later, the room was filled with police. The beast’s body was taken away on a stretcher, to be driven to a group of doctors and biologists who, having followed the story in the news, were eager to do a necropsy on it to learn whatever they could about it.
Hicks was with Thurston, both of them baffled as to where Surian could possibly be.
“I can’t believe it,” Thurston said. “She found the beast, presumably, shot it, and just left? No calls, no messages as to where she is or what she’s doing? What the fuck?”
“I guess this ‘Callie’ was somehow involved with the beast after all, though she’s as missing as your girlfriend,” Hicks said.
“Where the fuck is she?” Thurston said.
“I guess she ran off with somebody else,” Hicks said. “Try someone else. Try a new experience.” He smiled suggestively at Thurston.
“No offence, but even if I was gay, I doubt you’d ever be my type,” Thurston said. “When we’re done here, I’ll drive over to her place and see if she’s there.”
“And I’ll be at my place tonight if you change your mind, Andy.” Hicks winked at him.
Thurston rolled his eyes.
That night, the doctors and biologists were sighing and puffing in frustration as they looked down on the hairy body on the table.
“We’ve been examining every inch of this thing for hours,” a woman among them said. “It cannot be classified as any known species that has ever existed.”
“It doesn’t even qualify as Bigfoot,” a man standing next to her said.
“Is it a hermaphrodite?” a man standing on the woman’s other side asked. “It seems female, but is this spike in its crotch supposed to be a penis?”
“It’s totally baffling, anyway,” the woman said. “I give up. What do you guys think?”
“I agree,” some of them said together.
“It’s late. Let’s go to bed,” the first man said.
“I doubt we’ll gain any more insights from it through further examination,” the second man said. “I say we bury it and forget about it.”
“Yeah, OK,” she said. “If any new insights come in the future, we can always dig it up then and look at the skeleton.”
One night later that week, Thurston sat slumped on a chair in his apartment with a frown.
Still no response to my message on her phone, he thought. Every time I go to her apartment, she’s never there. She didn’t die, did she? Ballistics confirmed that the bullet shot to kill the beast was from her pistol. But God, where is she?
Suddenly, his cellphone rang; he checked it–it was her.
“Agnes!” he said into the phone. “Where are you? Are you OK?”
“Yes, I’m fine,” she sighed, as if irritated by the question. “I’m in my apartment.”
“So, you shot the beast?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Are you proud of me?”
“Of course, but…why’d you leave Callie’s apartment?”
“Because…the sheer terror of seeing that thing, with its…spike-dick…almost stabbing into my pussy, made me want to get as far away from the scene as I could. I needed to lie low for several days, with nobody to bother me…just to calm down.”
“I see,” he said. “Just needed to recover from the trauma, eh?”
“Exactly…but I’m OK now. You, Hicks, and the others took care of the rest of the problem all right?”
“Yeah, of course. Everything’s sorted out, though I’m sure Hicks would like to talk to you. So, you’re at home?”
“Yeah. Wanna come over?”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He hung up.
Ten minutes later, he was standing in front of the front door of her apartment. He rang the doorbell.
She opened the door out wide. His jaw dropped.
Her face was brightly made up, she was in a pink see-through babydoll nightie revealing black lace underwear. She wore white high heels.
He reminded himself to be a gentleman and look back up in her eyes. “Sorry,” he said. “I j-just never realized how…curvy you are under your…normal clothes.”
“Why, thank you,” she said with a grin. “You can look if you want. I don’t mind.” She turned around for him. “You’ve always liked me, and now that the hairy beast is gone, I can confess that I’ve always liked you.”
“Why couldn’t you confess it before?”
“Because I was afraid of falling for you when the beast might kill you. That clawed, hairy animal reminded me of a bear that attacked and killed my old teenage boyfriend in the BC woods–speaking of trauma. If the beast had killed you, I wouldn’t have been able to handle it. It’s gone now, so I don’t have to worry about it. And you and I can celebrate our success.”
“OK.” He was grinning like a high school kid.
“Well? You gonna stand out in the hallway forever? Come on in.”
“Oh, yeah, all right,” he said, then entered her apartment.
“That’s a nice perfume you’re wearing,” he said.
“Thank you.” She took him by the hand and led him into her bedroom.
“Are you sure you want to do this now, Agnes? I mean, I’d love to, but we seem to be going really fast here.”
“You may be old-fashioned, but I’m a modern woman.” She removed the nightie and tossed it on a chair near her bed. He removed his gun and holster and put in on her bedside table, between the chair and the bed. “I’ve been through hell recently; I need some heaven to heal me.”
She kicked off the high heels. She then looked down at his crotch and giggled at the bulge in his pants. He blushed.
She removed her bra and wiggled her perfectly formed breasts with pride.
“Holy shit, Agnes. You’re better endowed than I thought.”
She giggled as she pulled down her black panties to reveal a hairless crotch. She now stood proudly nude before him.
“You’re shaved?” he asked with wide open eyes.
“I did it for you earlier today.”
“OK, big boy. Now it’s your turn. Don’t be shy.”
“OK.” He stripped down to reveal a hairy body and a full erection. She giggled at it, then licked her lips.
“You’re hairier than the beast…and spikier, if you know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“OK, Andy. Let’s fuck.”
They got on the bed in the missionary position. Up close, her perfume was a powerful scent.
When he pushed inside her, she let out a shrill wail.
“Oh!” she squealed each time with his first thrusts. “That’s…more…like it! Ah!“
“What…do you mean, ‘more…like it’?” he panted.
“The beast…with its…spike-dick…almost did…what you’re doing…now. Oh!“
“Yeah,…you said…before. It tried to…rape you?”
“Yeah, but…I shot it.”
“That’s good. Oh!“
“But it tore…a hole in a…good pair of pants.”
“At least…it didn’t hurt you.”
“No. Ah!” She came, splashing all over his cock. He pulled out. “OK,” she panted, then turned around to be on the bed on all fours. She looked back at him, and with a lewd twinkle in her eyes, she said, “Fuck me in the ass.”
“You’re into that?” he asked with a slight sneer.
“You aren’t?“
“Oh, I’m game, it’s just…I never imagined you to be that kind of girl, Agnes.”
“Are you disappointed in me?”
“N-no, it’s just…well, you’re one surprise after another.”
“Andy, how much of my sex life have you ever known about? Like, none of it?“
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Look, the trauma over killing–and almost being killed by–the beast kind of fucked with my head, OK? Wild and wicked sex helps me process trauma, as weird as that must sound to you. I dunno, I’m just funny that way. Can you try to understand that?”
“Yeah, I guess that explains it.” He looked down at her ass. “You’re lubed?“
“Yeah,” she sighed. “That’s how horny I am. Terror and trauma tend to get me hot. Now, c’mon, do me before I change my mind.”
“OK,” he said, then slid in. “Ooh! That…feels…good.”
As he moved in and out, he looked over at her face to see if she was showing any signs of feeling pain. She had only a lascivious smirk on her mouth.
I can’t believe it, he thought. I always thought she was the nice, girl-next-door type, like my teenage crush, the one Agnes physically reminds me of. Well, I guess what I imagined of the crush was just an idealized fantasy who has nothing to do with the real Agnes. I’ll have to accept that, and let Agnes just be herself.
Her moans grew louder as he moved in and out, faster and more forcefully with each thrust. Those loud moans began to sound a little bit like grunts.
“Am I…hurting you?” he panted, looking over at her face.
“No, I’m fine,” she said in an unusually husky voice.
“OK.” He kept on screwing.
His legs were as spread out as hers, and his ass was pushed out like hers, too, as if he were willing to get what he was giving her. This would seem appropriate…
…for suddenly, he felt a sharp, bone-like sensation stabbing into his asshole, ripping the anal walls and burrowing deep inside. “Aaaah!” he screamed hoarsely. Blood was dripping all over the bed between their legs. Shaking all over, he looked over at her face.
Agnes turned her head around, revealing the wild, hairy face of the beast, a face combining the features of Callie, Visner, and Agnes. Hair had grown all over the now hermaphroditic body. With painful effort, Thurston straightened up and looked down to see that the curled spike in his ass was coming from her groin…that phallic claw he’d seen on the beast.
He reached for his gun on the bedside table. To his surprise, the demoness helped him get closer to it…by using the phallic spike to pull his body onto her back, merging their torsos together.
“Umph!” he groaned when their bodies collided.
He managed to get the gun out of its holster, but Kluh used her power to draw his two arms back to merge with hers, causing him to drop the gun on the bed to the right of the pillow. Their arms slapped hard together.
“Ungh!” he groaned at the pain.
He felt his hands and fingers sticking to hers; when he tried to pull his apart from hers, it only hurt, so he gave up on that quickly. His palms felt as if glued to the backs of her hands. His chest was sticking to her back in the same way.
Soon, he could no longer voice his pain from merging with her body, for his face was buried in her hair. His nose disappeared into the back of her head; his lips kissed her neck so hard as to disappear inside it, too.
A bullet, dead centre in her brain, will kill Kluh, as the Yamas told Agnes and me, he thought as he reached with the greatest effort for the gun, fighting against Kluh’s pulling back of their now fully merged right hand. If I kill her, maybe my body will be freed and not killed with her…maybe Agnes will be freed, too. I have to try. If I die, too, at least I won’t live with Kluh possessing me.
His chest and belly had dissolved into her back; their hearts were merging. He felt his still-erect penis elongated and burrowed deep inside her body, plugged into her, as it were. His balls and her vulva were merged; that spike up his ass no longer felt like a stab wound, for it was as ‘plugged into him’ as his cock was plugged into her. Contained and containing flesh was intermingling. Their eight limbs were now four, fully merged.
We’re sharing one heart now–I can feel only one beating, he thought, grasping the gun. If I shoot myself through the chest dead centre, I’ll die with Kluh, presumably. Our brains aren’t yet one, though. If I can point the gun above her ear–which hasn’t merged with mine yet, and if I can put a bullet in the middle of her brain, I have a hope the demon will release me before leaving the physical world.
Despite Kluh’s resistance, he managed to wrap his fingers around the gun, his index finger touching but not squeezing the trigger. His whole face had disappeared into the back of her head. Their torsos were fully merged into one. Only their ears and brains were still doubled, the ears coming closer together, and their brains about to touch.
I don’t have much time, he thought.
It took all his strength to raise the arm with the pistol up to their merging head. No longer on all fours, the body was straightened up by Kluh to be on its knees on the bed. Its fingernails were lengthening into strong, sharp claws.
When the claws were fully formed, the left hand moved over to try to stop the right hand from firing the gun into the brain Kluh was controlling. The back of her brain was now starting to touch the front of Thurston’s. The left claws tried to stab into or slice off the right hand. Because he still had some control of both arms, she was so far only able to slice deep cuts into the right forearm.
She screamed their shared pain.
At about the same time that night, the beast’s buried body–the one examined by the doctors and biologists, and thanks to Kluh’s power, not decomposed in the slightest–lay there underground, with its hair slithering back into its follicles. The phallic claw had already shrunk and disappeared into its groin. Its shape was bloating out in the middle.
Thurston summoned all his strength to wrest control of both arms from Kluh. Not only was she no longer able to use the left arm to reach over to the right one to slice at it, but he managed–by tapping the tip of his gun on her ear as a reference point to feel his way around–to aim it at the head, the barrel of the pistol pointing more or less at the middle of her brain…which was beginning to merge with his.
Still, it was hard for him to stop the hand holding the pistol from shaking.
I don’t have much time, he thought. Gotta keep my hand steady.
Kluh no longer tried to cut off the right hand with the left. She chose instead to give him a false sense of confidence in his aim. Let him shoot, she thought. But keep his hand shaking…and have it shoot at the right time, putting the bullet either in his brain, or if it hits mine, let it be off-centre. Either way, he’ll be assimilated into me with Sandra/Callie, Visner, and Agnes. All options are working in my favour.
Still, he pushed himself to keep his hand steady. The pistol was barely wavering.
He cocked it.
Keep a rhythm, he thought. When my hand sways forward, it’s pointed at the centre of her brain; when it sways back, it’s off-centre or aiming at my brain. Back, forth, back, forth, back, f…
He pulled the trigger.
The buried body was now completely transformed into the fresh corpse of Sandra Brahms.
Mawr Gorshin demon possession, erotic horror, eroticism, Horror fiction, horror novel, literature Leave a comment June 23, 2019 June 23, 2019 14 Minutes
‘Claws,’ an Erotic Horror Novel, Chapter Sixteen
[Some sexual content]
Dr. Visner, as nude as Callie now, got on the bed on top of her in the missionary position. Her eyes squinted shut and her mouth wide open, she sighed huffs of excitement, in rising pitches, as he slid inside her.
This sucks so badly, still-immobilized Surian thought as she strained to see the action through the two-to-three-millimetre-wide slit separating the closet’s folding doors. I can’t even watch the show.
The bed creaked to the rhythm of their sighs, moans, and grunts as the lovers rocked back and forth on it.
I can’t believe I’m doing this, the psychiatrist thought as he looked down in his patient’s eyes. I shouldn’t be doing this.
Callie played more mind games with him. The demoness would make him see–every ten seconds or so at a time, and each time about a second or two in duration–that black-haired, brown-skinned, curvaceous Thai beauty he’d had when he was young, instead of seeing blonde Callie.
So every time he saw a flash of black hair and brown skin, instead of the usual blonde hair and peach skin, he twitched in guilty agitation. With each successive switch from light to dark, he never twitched any less. He could never get used to it.
She gave him an evil grin with his every twitch, not just because of the sadistic pleasure she got from tormenting him, but because the union of opposites–his psychological agony and his physical pleasure–were giving her more power.
The same was the case with what was going on in that closet: the juxtaposition of life and death–living Surian huddled together with the headless corpses of the Yamas. Furthermore, Surian planned to shoot Callie, but Callie could easily kill Surian.
Immobilized Thurston was fidgeting in his car no less than Surian was in that closet. What was worse, Callie flashed images before his eyes of Surian there.
He saw, from Surian’s point of view, her first sight of the headless corpses when the light was turned on, the jagged claw-cuts on the stumps of the Yamas’ necks.
He screamed, realizing this is what she’d seen.
“Agnes!” he gasped.
From that sensing of her point of view, he also felt how immobile she was in that cluttered closet, not his own immobility, but from the same cause–the power of the demoness Kluh inhabiting Callie’s body. He fidgeted violently, frustrated that he still couldn’t move.
Now Callie showed him flashes of Surian’s face up close.
He saw her agape eyes and mouth.
He felt her fear.
“Fuck!” he grunted, still able to do no more than fidget.
Callie screamed with pleasure when she came, splashing her ejaculation all over Visner’s cock.
He shook, imagining for a split second that that scream was her about to have a psychotic episode. Still, he kept thrusting, for she made him do it. He couldn’t refuse to screw.
He pulled out of her, then saw the Thai prostitute’s body for a second. Callie laughed when she saw the jolt she’d given him.
She may have traumas from being raped, he thought, but if anything, she’s raping me.
She rolled over and got on all fours. She stuck her ass out, pointing it at him. He looked at it: it changed from her peach buttocks and brown anus to the brown buttocks and black anus of the Thai prostitute.
He got another jolt. He looked at what was now the face of the Thai girl, who had a lewd grin and a sparkle in her black eyes. “You want fuck my ass?” Callie asked in the girl’s Thai accent and ungrammatical syntax, just as he remembered it from years back.
He looked at her ass again, with Callie’s peach and brown again, then back up at her face, with her blue eyes and golden hair. “W-well, I’d like to, but your step-father–“
“Oh, I’ve forgotten about Mort. Stick it in. I’m lubed.”
He looked back down there. She was.
Voodoo girl, he thought. Demon girl. I can’t say no.
He pushed in slowly, carefully, checking her face to make sure she wasn’t in any pain.
Callie wants anal? Surian thought. Doesn’t ass-fucking make her violent? She remembered the time she and Thurston watched her and that other lover of hers through his apartment window, when his attempt to force anal made her change into the clawed beast. She wants Visner to provoke her into killing him, doesn’t she?
She fidgeted, and still could do no more than budge slightly.
Visner moved back and forth, loving the tight, hugging sensation, but looking in her eyes with concern, for she was looking back at him. Her eyes sometimes told him of her desire, and sometimes of her fear.
His face would mirror that fear back at her.
Sometimes, her fearful face was that of the Thai prostitute, her dark lips in a frown, and her black eyes full of shame.
Again, Visner felt a jolt of fear and guilt shoot throughout his body, with her every change to the Thai girl.
Then, she’d change back to blonde, lewdly-smiling Callie. Though his arousal was rising, he found her changes back not very reassuring.
Surian squinted her eyes trying to see what was going on outside those folding closet doors. Is Callie’s skin switching back and forth from white to black, and back to white again, or am I seeing things? she wondered.
Thurston was too exhausted to fidget anymore, so he let his body sit loose in his car. He’d budge every ten seconds from now on, to see if Callie had set him free.
Sometimes, he’d budge on other occasions, such as when Callie made him see such split-second visions as this:
Surian being stabbed between the legs with a phallic claw.
“Agnes!” he yelled with a jerk.
Visner heard, after giving her a strong thrust, a grunt of what sounded like pain. He checked her face when she looked back at him. He saw a frown, like the kind the Thai girl would give him.
He thrust hard again, feeling forced to do so by Callie, in spite of her apparent discomfort. He saw another frown…and he heard a growl.
He kept moving back and forth. All he wanted to do was pull out, get off the bed, grab his clothes, and run, but he couldn’t. Her power was forcing him to continue with the sex.
She looked back at him, moaned, and gave him a ‘reassuring’ grin. His fear and arousal were merged and strengthening each other. And that merging of opposite feelings made her all the more powerful.
He felt himself nearing orgasm. Then he heard another growl. A shot of terror went through his body as he shot his first ejaculation. He saw hair growing on her arms as his come kept firing out. Claws were growing from her fingernails, making his eyes and mouth open wide. She looked back at him with a wild, hairy face.
She let out a loud roar.
He screamed. Then he felt his face being forcefully shoved into the hair on the back of the beast’s head.
Surian was shaking in that closet with all her might to overcome, still in all futility, her immobility. “C’mon, goddamnit!”
She peaked through that slit between the closet doors. All she could make out was his relatively hairless body seemingly stuck to her hairy body.
The odd thing was that there didn’t seem to be any slashing or stabbing with those claws, no blood splashing anywhere, just the two bodies clinging together.
Thurston saw split-second visions of Callie and Visner, seeing the two lovers face-first as if he were sitting at the head of the bed, only she was getting hairier with each flash of them before his eyes. Her claws got longer and sharper with each flash, too. Strangest of all was how Visner grew closer and closer to her, as if glued to her.
“Fuck!” Thurston shouted, shaking in his car still with the same futility as Surian’s. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Where’s Agnes! What’s happened to her?”
“Let me out of here!” Surian screamed.
The reply she received was a growl and the calm words, “Soon, Agnes. Real soon,” only they weren’t with Callie’s voice, but with Visner’s.
The shaking on the bed had stopped. No more creaking, no more fucking. Just the sounds of the clawed beast’s grunts.
Surian strained again to see through that crack. Visner’s body seemed to lie limp on the beast’s hairy back, from what Surian could make out. What she could no longer make out was where Visner’s body ended and the hairy beast’s began, for the one seemed to phase into the other.
She wasn’t sure, but it also seemed that Visner was now beginning to grow long hairs on his torso, ones similar to the beast’s.
The width of the two torsos, one on top of the other in profile, seemed to be narrowing.
Thurston’s visions of Visner and Callie on that bed now showed split-second flashes of what seemed to be one huge hairy body, with his head merged with hers from behind, as if Visner’s face were lost in the sea of Callie’s hair on the back of her head.
“What the hell am I seeing?” Thurston asked, sneering.
Through that slit between the closet doors, Surian saw what seemed a singular, hairy figure get off the bed and stand in front of her, the closet doors the only things separating her and the beast. She heard a grunt.
Finally, she felt free to move. The demoness had let her go. She shoved the doors open.
Before her stood one naked, hairy beast with breasts and a curvaceous figure, but with Visner’s gut. It had a face that was a cross of the female beast’s and Visner’s, and between its thighs was a long, sharp, thick claw for a phallus, pointing up in an arc at her, ready to stab.
Eyes agape, she screamed an ear-piercing wail, then pointed her pistol at the beast’s chest, frantically trying to find the dead centre of its heart in so short time.
Her eyes and mouth still wide open, Surian couldn’t stop screaming, but the beast would end the noise. Its red, slithering tongue shot out of its mouth and went deep into Surian’s, a tongue of seemingly endless length, flying at her face like a snake racing inside a hole in the ground. That spike of a phallus reached for her crotch.
Gagging, she shook all over, but kept her aim: she fired a bullet in the hermaphrodite beast’s heart, as close to dead-centre as she could hit it, just when the point of the phallus had punctured a hole in her pants and underwear, between her legs, meeting her vulva.
Mawr Gorshin demon possession, erotic horror, eroticism, Horror fiction, horror novel, literature Leave a comment June 3, 2019 June 3, 2019 7 Minutes
‘Claws,’ an Erotic Horror Novel, Chapter Fifteen
“I’m gonna end this once and for all,” Detective Surian whispered to herself, then jumped in her car and raced over to Callie’s apartment building.
Detective Thurston didn’t even notice her car drive away when he arrived at the Yamas’ dry-cleaning shop. He got out of his car and, eyes and jaw agape, looked at Vanessa’s and Raymond’s heads on those poles stabbed into the front door of the shop. He retched.
When the other police cars arrived, he’d be too busy explaining what happened to the two owners to think about Surian.
She parked her car in front of Callie’s apartment building, got out, and took out her pistol. She ran up the stairs and through the front door, got into the elevator, and went up to the seventh floor. She pushed open the slowly-opening elevator doors to get out faster and squeezed through in her frantic impatience.
As she ran down the hall to Callie’s room, she noted that the pheromone smell was as powerful as ever, but it wasn’t weakening her will at all; indeed, after forgetting to hold her breath, she was surprised at not feeling in any way controlled by the demoness.
In fact, Callie’s front door was open.
She wants me to go in, Surian thought, remembering the opened door to Dr. Visner’s office when she’d gone in to plant the hidden camera. This is a trap. Still, I’ve got to try to stop her. There seems to be no other way, and I’m sick of this shit. A memory of that bear killing her teen boyfriend flashed before her eyes again, as did that dream of the hairy, clawed beast attacking Thurston. A bullet fired directly dead-centre into her heart should kill her, as the Yamas said it would.
She went into the room, her eyes darting around everywhere to see if Callie was there. Her pistol was cocked.
The apartment seemed empty of people.
The bedroom door was wide open.
She went in.
Nobody was there.
She checked behind the bed.
She went over to the closet, which had two folding doors. She opened the right-side one.
No Callie hiding in there.
The pheromone smell was so powerful, it cancelled out any other possible competing smells.
There was enough room for Surian to slip in and hide on that right side; the other side seemed crowded with clothes on hangers, and with boxes on the floor, so she figured she’d have no unwelcome company while hiding there.
She went in and closed the closet door.
She’d wait for Callie to return, then surprise her with bullets in the chest.
After a few minutes of waiting, she came to her senses and realized she should have properly checked the other side of the closet; the pheromone smell had interfered with her thinking after all.
She moved a few of Callie’s dresses aside, then groped around in the darkness with her left hand. She felt what seemed to be an arm. She raised her pistol in her right hand, ready to shoot, but realized the body wasn’t responding to her touch. It didn’t move at all.
She moved her hand up the body, above the shoulder, and felt around for the neck.
She felt only a stump, and the jagged, bloodless cutting-through of claws.
She gasped.
Just then, the bedroom light was turned on, and enough light shone through the crack to let her know that she was standing next to not only Vanessa’s headless body, but Raymond’s behind it.
Surian stopped herself just in time before screaming. She wanted to kick open the closet door and point her pistol at Callie, but found herself suddenly incapable of any movement beyond fidgeting of a few millimetres all around.
“Not yet, Agnes,” Callie told her from the other side. “Don’t worry, though: we’ll all be together soon enough.”
It took all of Surian’s effort to remain calm while paralyzed in that closet indefinitely, tolerating the proximity of those two corpses. She just shook and shook.
Callie, nude as usual, sat on her bed, closed her eyes, and–from what Surian could make out through the narrow slit in the closet door–began meditating.
Come, Dr. Visner, Callie thought, using the mana from the semen she’d swallowed during her sexual encounter with the psychiatrist. Come to me. Let’s make love.
Visner left his office like an automaton and went down to the underground parking lot to find his car. He didn’t need to know her home address: her power would guide him there.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, behind her remote control of him, a small voice was whispering in his mind’s ear: I shouldn’t be doing this. He also saw images of that Thai prostitute flashing before his eyes, flashing between the changing of the traffic lights.
Surian kept trembling in that closet, cringing at the thought of those two bodies she couldn’t distance herself from. She felt a presence inside her stomach, some kind of energy that felt connected in some vague way with Callie’s ejaculation in her mouth when Callie had manipulated Surian to perform cunnilingus on her; it was forcing her to stay in that immobile position, able only to jiggle a bit. Is this that ‘mana’ that the Yamas were talking about? she wondered.
She saw Callie still sitting cross-legged on her bed, her eyes closed and concentrating on something.
Come to me, Doctor, she thought. Come make love to me.
That mana in her belly, from Visner’s ejaculation in her mouth, was like a doll she could move around any way she liked, and Visner was the doll outside, his car nearing her apartment building.
After enough discussion with the police about the Yamas’ heads, Thurston finally remembered Surian.
“Agnes!” he said with a jolt.
“Yeah, what about your girlfriend?” Detective Hicks said. “She found this horrible display, then just took off? Where’d she go?”
“I don’t know,” Thurston said. “I imagine she got so upset, she just went over to Callie’s apartment to arrest her.”
“We have no proof, apart from your hocus-pocus bullshit, that this ‘Callie’ is in any way connected with all these deaths,” Hicks said. “Hairs of the animal weren’t found anywhere near that apartment this time.”
“Still,” Thurston said. “I should go over there and help her. She’s putting herself in danger.”
“She ain’t interested in you, Andy,” Hicks said, then put his hand on Thurston’s shoulder. “Try a new experience. Open your mind.” He smirked lewdly.
“Sorry, Hicks. I’m not into men.” Thurston ran to his car, got in, and drove over to Callie’s apartment building.
As he was driving away, Hicks watched his car disappear. Andy’s an idiot, just like his girlfriend, he thought. He is good-looking, though.
Dr. Visner arrived and parked his car by the park across from the apartment building. As he crossed the road, he thought, This is dangerous. She really has killed people during sex, hasn’t she? I’m not in control of my body; she’s controlling it.
He went through the front door of the apartment building and approached the elevator.
This is some kind of voodoo magic, and I don’t even believe in such things, he thought.
He remembered fucking the Thai prostitute in the ass, then reading the news of her death in the paper.
What if my fucking of Callie triggers a rape trauma of her step-father, and she uses these powers to kill me, or do some other terrible thing to me?
He got in the elevator, and Callie willed him to push 7. See? he thought. How do I know she’s on the seventh floor? I have no control over my movements. I can’t stop myself from having sex with her. I’m putting myself in danger; she’s making my mind want to have sex with her. What is her plan?
He reached the seventh floor, got out of the elevator, and went straight to Room 717, knowing that’s where she was.
The door was still open. He went in.
“Hello, Dr. Visner,” Callie purred as he entered the bedroom.
Oh, shit, Surian thought. I should have known Callie would be luring him here. And I can’t stop her.
Callie spread her legs and lay on her back. Dr. Visner felt compelled to begin undressing.
Thurston was a few blocks from Callie’s apartment building. All of a sudden, though, he felt himself being controlled by an alien intelligence, making him park his car in a parking lot in the area, instead of in front of her place.
“What the fuck?” he said. He budged to get out of the car, but now couldn’t move beyond slight budging.
Not yet, Callie’s voice whispered in his mind’s ear. Don’t worry, though: we’ll all be together soon enough.
Mawr Gorshin demon possession, erotic horror, eroticism, Horror fiction, horror novel, literature Leave a comment May 31, 2019 May 31, 2019 6 Minutes
‘Claws,’ an Erotic Horror Novel, Chapter Fourteen
After leaving two…mementos…of her encounter with the Yamas at their dry-cleaning shop, the hairy beast ran and jumped down the streets in the direction of The Gold Star. Though she was seen by onlookers, including cops in patrol cars, throughout Toronto, the growing power of her pheromone smell kept everyone too dazed to follow her.
Eventually, by about midnight, she stopped her running and jumping, calmed down, and began shedding hair. Her claws shortened into normal fingernails. Her pheromone aphrodisiac, though adding to the erotic pleasure of seeing her transformation back into shapely, nude Callie, nonetheless kept its dazed sniffers at bay as she walked, in the most carefree, insouciant way, towards the front door of the strip joint.
One of those sniffers of her sexy smell was none other than Dr. Visner, who felt compelled to see her again at The Gold Star. In fact, he was walking on the same sidewalk that the balls of her pretty bare feet had just tapped on, so he noticed the growing amount of wisps of her bestial hair.
He picked up a few and sniffed that arousing pheromone smell. “Callie,” he sighed with a smile.
He looked further ahead down the sidewalk, and saw a beautiful nude female figure from behind. The street lights and shadows worked together to caress her buttock cleavage.
He walked faster towards her.
She sensed his approach and grinned.
When he was about five feet behind her, she turned around to face him. She grinned when he stopped and let his eyes roam down her body to feast on those wiggling breasts and that hairless crotch. Embarrassed by his lust, he yanked his gaze up to her eyes.
“You can stare at my body if you want to,” she purred. “Enjoy yourself. I won’t be mad.”
“Yes, but…you’re my…patient,” he panted, resisting the temptation to let his gaze drop back down below her neck. “I shouldn’t–“
“Come here,” she cooed. He did.
She put her arms around his neck. He put his hands on her ass and gave the cheeks gentle squeezes as they French-kissed.
She pulled her tongue out of his mouth and said, “Let’s go into a VIP Room. My services to you are free of charge tonight.”
They held hands as they walked into The Gold Star.
They went into a VIP Room, he sat on the couch, and she sat on his lap. Rubbing her buns against his erection, she leaned back with her flowery-fragrant hair (another example of Kluh’s growing powers, to smell so lovely after having just been the sweaty beast) brushing against his face. She turned her head back and looked in his eyes.
“I love revealing…all my secrets to you,” she sighed in his ear. “I revealed all my…private pain to you…during our therapy. Now I can…reveal my…private parts to you.”
“Yes, but is it…the real you…that you revealed to me?” he asked. “Is this some game?”
She frowned and stopped lap-dancing. “Of course it was the real me. All my private feelings.” She turned her frown back into a smile, then resumed rubbing. “Now I can…reveal my…private parts to you.”
“I’d love that, but…,” he grunted from the sensation of her massaging bottom. “I still feel…as though…I’m taking advantage of…a vulnerable, fragile patient.” The memory of that Thai prostitute he’d had when young flashed before his eyes.
“Dr. Visner, it is I who am taking advantage of you.”
“You are?“
“Yes,” she said, grinning as she got up and turned around to face him. She rubbed her breasts against his face and slid down between his spread-out legs. “I’m practically raping you.”
“Oh,” he said with a slight smile.
She unzipped his pants. Another image of that Thai prostitute appeared in a flash before his eyes, a memory of her about to perform oral sex on him.
“Wait,” he said, stopping Callie’s hand. “Not here. People in the bar might hear us.”
“Oh, they’d hear my screams for sure, if you put it in my pussy.” She moved his hand out of the way and put her fingers inside his open fly. “That’s why it’s best if it’s only your moans, drowned out by that metal music the DJ’s playing.” She took his cock out and wrapped her wet lips and tongue around it.
Her hypnotic eyes stayed fixed on his as her head went back and forth.
As she continued blowing him, he saw her face shift back and forth between Callie’s and the Thai prostitute’s. His heightened guilt augmented his arousal as those moist lips and tongue slid and slithered back and forth along his length.
Is this me seeing both girls? he thought. Or is Callie somehow making me see this?
Finally, he came in her mouth, his body shaking as he shot every squirt down her throat. She swallowed every last drop greedily, as if dying of thirst. Grinning, she put his spent dick back in his pants and zipped him up. “OK, Doctor. I guess that’ll be all for now.”
“OK,” he panted, unsure whether to smile after getting the most amazing head, or to frown from his guilt. He took out his wallet.
“No, no,” she said, waving her hands. “I told you: my services are free tonight, as they will be from now on.”
“Very well, then. I’ll see you in my office next time.” He left the bar, still holding that wisp of beast hair between his fingers.
She grinned from the feeling of his ejaculation inside her body. Its energy, its mana, would be useful to her very soon.
The next morning, Detective Surian was woken up by her ringing cellphone.
“Hello?” she said into it.
“Remember me, Detective?” the caller said in a rush. “I’m Sam. I helped you find the Yamas.”
“Oh, hello, Sam,” she said after a yawn. “What’s going on?”
“Hurry over to the dry-cleaners!” Sam said with agitation in his voice. “Something terrible has happened. You’ve got to see it. It’s too awful for me to describe. Hurry!”
She rushed over there in her car so fast, she forgot to call Thurston.
When she got there, though, she took out her phone to tell him. “Get over here, Andy,” she said. “I’m at the dry-cleaners. I know how the exorcism attempt worked out.”
She stood before the entrance to the dry-cleaners. Vanessa’s and Raymond’s bloody heads were on steel poles stabbed into the top of the wooden front door.
Mawr Gorshin demon possession, erotic horror, eroticism, Horror fiction, horror novel, literature Leave a comment May 22, 2019 4 Minutes
‘Claws,’ an Erotic Horror Novel, Chapter Thirteen
“I never asked you before: how much did it cost you to fix the dent?” Thurston asked Surian as they got in her car with the Yamas, who brought with them a small gong, a jingle bell (to be shaken on a handle), and incense sticks.
“It cost far too much,” Surian said with a frown, then she put her key in the ignition.
“What caused the damage to your car?” Raymond asked.
“Not what, who,” Surian answered, starting the car.
“Was it Kluh?” Vanessa asked.
“Yes,” Thurston said. “She jumped high in the air and came down on the roof.”
“Don’t remind me,” Surian said, remembering also the bear attack from her teen years as she got the car on the road.
“What else can you tell us about Kluh?” Thurston asked.
“What else do you want to know, specifically?” Vanessa asked.
“Like, what motivates her to kill sometimes, and other times, just to lure you in for sex?” Surian asked.
“Well, there are many motives for her to kill,” Raymond said. “Revenge on, or protection from, a rapist. Also, any threat to her growing power–“
“Which means, my husband and I are putting ourselves in danger,” Vanessa said.
“Since you know the danger, are you sure you want to go through with this?” Surian asked.
“Yes, we must do this. Only we can stop Kluh,” Raymond said.
“And if she kills you?” Thurston asked.
“You’re all screwed, not just you two, but everyone,” Raymond said. “Vanessa and I are your best hope to send Kluh back to the spirit world. Of all the people in the Polynesian community in the Toronto area, we are the most knowledgeable in how to perform the kind of exorcism that can defeat this demon.”
“If you two fail, and she kills you,” Surian said, “Andy and I will be standing by to shoot her if necessary.”
“No!” Vanessa shouted. “You drop us off at Callie’s apartment, tell us her room number and the floor she lives on, and Raymond and I will do the rest. You must drive far away when we begin the ritual.”
“Why can’t we be with you?” Thurston asked.
“Because you’ll distract us,” Vanessa said.
“We’ll be quiet and stay out of your way,” Surian said.
“No!” Vanessa said. “Your very presence, your psychic energy, your mana, will contaminate the ritual. With any luck, no one else in the halls outside her room will interfere, psychically or physically. I’m hoping anyone she may have made love with in the apartment will not be anywhere near there.”
I’ll have to make sure ‘Super-stud’ isn’t at home, Surian thought, assuming what the Yamas is saying isn’t total bullshit.
“You see, she is acquainted with both of you,” Raymond said. “Certainly with Andy, in an intimate way. The more intimate you’ve been with her, the more you’ll contaminate the sacred space.”
I guess I’ll have to stay far away, too, Surian thought, remembering her encounter with Callie.
“Kluh can exploit the mana she’s absorbed from you, to thwart us in our attempt to exorcise her from Callie’s body,” Vanessa said.
“From Sandra Brahms’s body, as I told you before,” Surian said, then handed Vanessa a photo of Sandra. “This, I believe, is how ‘Callie’ originally looked.”
Vanessa looked at the chubby teenage girl in the photo, then showed it to Raymond before giving it back to Surian. “If our exorcism is successful, we can expect to see Callie’s body change into this Sandra girl’s,” Vanessa said. “But as I said before, you two mustn’t be present. We also fear Kluh will try to kill you if she kills us.”
“OK, we’ll stay away from your exorcism, if you insist,” Surian said. “We’ll wait for a phone call from either of you, and if we don’t hear anything by tomorrow, we’ll go to your dry-cleaning place, and if you’re not there, we’ll assume Kluh has killed you.”
“OK,” Raymond said.
“But what else can you tell us about Kluh?” Surian asked. “Why d0es she have sex with some people, and lets them live?”
“Well, sometimes she does it for pleasure, of course,” Vanessa said. “But always to take some of her lovers’ mana, and now that Kluh seems to have a permanent female body–that is, she isn’t moving from one girl’s body to another’s with every sexual encounter–we can assume this Sandra, or Callie, is her ideal female, her female mate, so now she’ll be looking for an ideal male as a mate, to make herself complete.”
“So, she’s looking for Mr. Right?” Surian asked.
“That’s a good way to put it,” Raymond said. “Remember that she builds power by merging opposites.”
“And the fusion of male and female is one of the most powerful kinds of a merging of opposites,” Vanessa said. “I’ll bet that psychiatrist she got naked for in the video is her chosen male mate. He doesn’t seem to be a lover she wants to have only one time.”
“Oh, yeah,” Thurston said, remembering the night of his encounter with Callie. “I saw her say goodbye to Dr. Visner in The Gold Star.”
“She’s getting regular psychotherapy sessions with Visner, too,” Surian said. “What will happen if the two of them…mate?”
“Kluh will be almost unstoppable,” Raymond said.
“Oh, come on!” Thurston said. “Can’t we kill her by filling her chest with bullets?”
“Only a hit dead-centre in her heart, or right in the middle of her brain, will send Kluh back into the spirit world,” Raymond said.
They arrived at the front of Callie’s apartment building, Surian parking at the curb of the sidewalk there. The Yamas got out of her car with their things for the exorcism ritual.
“Are you sure you don’t want us in there with you, in case Callie turns into that thing, claws you to death, then goes rampaging through the night?” Thurston asked, looking up at the setting sun.
“We’re absolutely sure,” Vanessa said with urgency in her face. “Drive far away, and don’t phone us until tomorrow morning, if you hear nothing from us tonight. Or, you can try to contact us at our shop tomorrow.”
“OK,” Surian said, looking around the area. “I have to make sure ‘Super-stud’ isn’t in his apartment…oh, wait. There he is; he’s leaving.” She spotted the first-floor neighbour who’d had Callie; he was walking away from the apartment in a uniform, about to do the night shift, apparently. “That’s convenient.”
“OK, we’ll contact you tomorrow if you haven’t said anything by then.” Thurston said. “She’s on the seventh floor, Room 717. Goodbye.”
“Bye,” the Yamas said together, then watched the detectives drive away. Once Surian’s car was far enough away to have disappeared from sight, Vanessa and Raymond felt comfortable to begin the ritual. They heaved a huge sigh together. They then each lit an incense stick for themselves, to carry with the gong and jingle bell stick.
They went through the front doors of the apartment building, and as soon as they were inside, Raymond began hitting the gong with a mallet, getting a gentle, ringing bass tone from it, and Vanessa began shaking the bells. They were playing a triple-time rhythm of one gong beat for every three shakes of the bells.
Vanessa pressed the button to bring the elevator down to the first floor. They got in the elevator. As soon as it began going up to the seventh floor, they, always playing their 3/4 rhythm, began whispering a mystic chant in their native Tahaiwi language.
“Kluh, sa-bang! Kluh, sa-bang!” (Kluh, go back! [to the spirit world]) The whispering grew louder as the elevator rose up the floors.
By the time they reached the seventh floor, the door opened, and they stepped out of the elevator, the whispering had grown to a loud, vocalized chant.
“Kluh, sa-bang! Kluh, sa-bang!”
They smelled the powerful pheromones, but their incense protected them from its hypnotic properties.
Vanessa began a twirling, hopping dance as she and Raymond went down the hall towards Callie’s apartment. They hadn’t needed to know the number: both the growing smell of the pheromones and their ability to sense the presence of Kluh led them to the right apartment–Room 717.
Vanessa continued twirling and hopping in front of Callie’s door. The Yamas were shouting the chant now: “Kluh, sa-bang! Kluh, sa-bang!”
No one else in the apartment opened his doors to find out where the shouting was coming from. Everyone sensed the effectiveness of the ritual intuitively, even without a conscious understanding of the nature of Callie’s power. There was a collective feeling of hope that their apartment was soon to be freed of a vaguely evil presence.
Callie, nude from head to toe as usual, opened her door to receive the Yamas, as if she were being compelled to. She reacted to them almost like an automaton.
“Kluh, sa-bang! Kluh, sa-bang!” They entered the room.
Raymond had to use all of his strength to resist the temptation to enjoy looking at her shapely, buxom body, to focus on the ritual, to remember that he loved his wife. Callie, having closed the door and turned around to face the exorcists, flitted back over to him, and danced around in front of him to entice him with her body.
Still, he and Vanessa carried on with the ritual, not allowing themselves to be distracted by Callie.
“Kluh, sa-bang! Kluh, sa-bang!” they shouted to the 3/4 rhythm, over and over again, him hitting the gong, and Vanessa shaking the bells and doing her twirling, hopping dance.
“Don’t you want me, Raymond?” Callie purred at him, gyrating her hips and jiggling her tits before his eyes. “That wife of yours looks like a little elephant-lady, she’s so chubby. Don’t you think I’d be more fun in bed?”
“Kluh, sa-bang! Kluh, sa-bang!” the Yamas repeated, as if Callie hadn’t said anything.
Callie frowned. “She’s mine!” she shouted. “Sandra Brahms is mine. You’re not taking her from me. Make love with me, Raymond, and I’ll let you live.”
Callie began faltering in her counter-exorcist, erotic dance. Now scowling, she said in the Yamas’ native Tahaiwi tongue, “Sandra is my mate. I searched a long time, all over the Earth, for centuries, to find the ideal female body to control, and Sandra Brahms is she! She’s perfect. A pretty face with a chubby body: beauty merged with plainness. She would have been modest, avoiding sex, but her stepfather made her into his whore: chastity and unchastity combined. She’s suffered, but I’ve made her happy: joy and sorrow united. She’s the perfect merging of opposites, to give me enough mana to make me more powerful than anyone could ever know. She’s my mate, she’s mine! I have her male mate in my sights, too, and he’ll be mine soon!”
Callie fell to the floor in front of the living room sofa, on which a white blanket lay. She began shaking all over, as if having an epileptic seizure.
“Please,” she said in the whining, pleading voice of a frightened teen, “Get this demon out of me. I just want to be Sandra again. Please, help me!”
“Kluh, sa-bang! Kluh, sa-bang!” The Yamas drew closer to her as they continued chanting.
Callie’s body started changing. She became shorter. Her pubic hair grew back. She lost her shapely curves, her body growing rotund, like Vanessa’s.
Nude Sandra looked up at the two chanting exorcists, who were staring at her with ritual intensity. Blushing, she pulled the blanket over herself.
“Thank you,” she said in a tremulous voice, her eyes avoiding theirs as they continued their chanting, shaking the bells, banging the gong, and dancing up close to her.
The chanting of “Kluh, sa-bang, Kluh, sa-bang” grew softer and softer until becoming the whisper it had been in the elevator. The Yamas, even closer to Sandra now, bent down to get a good look at her to make sure she really had Kluh exorcised from her.
Raymond was still hitting the gong, though softer, and Vanessa was still shaking the bells…softer and softer. They looked into Sandra’s eyes.
They never noticed the hairs snaking out of her arm follicles.
“Unh!” they grunted together when they felt her stabbing claws dig into their guts.
The tall, curvaceous, hairy beast grinned, looking down at the two bloody bodies lying on the floor.
Late that night, Surian and Thurston were sitting together in a café with their cellphones lying next to their half-drunk coffees.
“Come on, Vanessa,” Surian said. “Call me!”
Analysis of ‘Salomé’
I: Introduction
Salomé is an opera by Richard Strauss that premiered in 1905, the libretto being Hedwig Lachmann‘s German translation (with some editing by Strauss) of Oscar Wilde‘s 1891 French play. Wilde’s play, of course, was in turn inspired by the Biblical narratives in the Gospels According to Mark and Matthew.
Wilde transformed the brief Biblical story, making what’s implied explicit, namely how Salomé’s dance sexually aroused the Tetrarch Herod Antipas, elaborating on it as The Dance of the Seven Veils, considered by some to be the origin, however unwitting, of the modern striptease. Wilde also altered certain details, such as when, in the Biblical version, Herodias tells her daughter, Salomé, to demand the head of John the Baptist; instead, Wilde has Salome ask for “the head of Iokanaan” of her own accord.
Both Wilde’s play and Strauss’s opera caused scandals on their earliest performances, resulting in performances of them being cancelled or banned, for example in London, for many years. Now, Strauss’s opera is considered a masterwork, a regular part of any orchestral or operatic repertoire.
II: Quotes
Here are some quotes from Wilde’s play (some of which are not in Strauss’s opera), in English translation:
“How beautiful is the Princess Salomé to-night!” –Narraboth, the young Syrian, Captain of the Guard
“You are always looking at her. You look at her too much. It is dangerous to look at people in such fashion. Something terrible may happen.” –Herodias’ page
“How pale the Princess is! Never have I seen her so pale. She is like the shadow of a white rose in a mirror of silver.” –Narraboth
“The Jews worship a God that one cannot see.” –First Soldier
“After me shall come another mightier than I. I am not worthy so much as to unloose the latchet of his shoes. When he cometh, the solitary places shall be glad. They shall blossom like the rose. The eyes of the blind shall see the day, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened. The suckling child shall put his hand upon the dragon’s lair, he shall lead the lions by their manes.” –the voice of Iokanaan, heard from below, in a cistern
“What a strange voice! I would speak with him.” –Salomé, of Iokanaan
[Approaching the cistern and looking down into it.] “How black it is, down there ! It must be terrible to be in so black a hole ! It is like a tomb. . . . .” [To the soldiers.] “Did you not hear me? Bring out the prophet. I would look on him.” –Salomé
“Thou wilt do this thing for me, Narraboth, and to-morrow when I pass in my litter beneath the gateway of the idol-sellers I will let fall for thee a little flower, a little green flower.” –Salomé
“Oh! How strange the moon looks. Like the hand of a dead woman who is seeking to cover herself with a shroud.” –Herodias’ page
“Where is he whose cup of abominations is now full? Where is he, who in a robe of silver shall one day die in the face of all the people? Bid him come forth, that he may hear the voice of him who hath cried in the waste places and in the houses of kings.” –Iokanaan, having emerged from the underground cistern
“It is his eyes above all that are terrible. They are like black holes burned by torches in a tapestry of Tyre. They are like the black caverns of Egypt in which the dragons make their lairs. They are like black lakes troubled by fantastic moons. . . . Do you think he will speak again?” –Salomé, of Iokanaan
“Who is this woman who is looking at me? I will not have her look at me. Wherefore doth she look at me with her golden eyes, under her gilded eyelids? I know not who she is. I do not desire to know who she is. Bid her begone. It is not to her that I would speak.” –Iokanaan, of Salomé
“Speak again, Iokanaan. Thy voice is as music to mine ear.” –Salomé
“Back! daughter of Babylon! By woman came evil into the world. Speak not to me. I will not listen to thee. I listen but to the voice of the Lord God.” –Iokanaan, to Salomé
“Thy hair is horrible. It is covered with mire and dust. It is like a knot of serpents coiled round thy neck. I love not thy hair. . . . It is thy mouth that I desire, Iokanaan.” […] “There is nothing in the world so red as thy mouth. . . . Suffer me to kiss thy mouth.” –Salomé
IOKANAAN: Never! daughter of Babylon! Daughter of Sodom! Never.
SALOMÉ: I will kiss thy mouth, Iokanaan. I will kiss thy mouth.
“Cursed be thou! daughter of an incestuous mother, be thou accursed!” –Iokanaan, to Salomé
HEROD: Where is Salomé? Where is the Princess? Why did she not return to the banquet as I commanded her? Ah! there she is!
HERODIAS: You must not look at her! You are always looking at her! […]
HEROD: I am not ill, It is your daughter who is sick to death. Never have I seen her so pale.
HERODIAS: I have told you not to look at her.
HEROD: Pour me forth wine [wine is brought.] Salomé, come drink a little wine with me. I have here a wine that is exquisite. Cæsar himself sent it me. Dip into it thy little red lips, that I may drain the cup.
SALOMÉ: I am not thirsty, Tetrarch.
HEROD: You hear how she answers me, this daughter of yours?
HERODIAS: She does right. Why are you always gazing at her?
HEROD: Bring me ripe fruits [fruits are brought.] Salomé, come and eat fruits with me. I love to see in a fruit the mark of thy little teeth. Bite but a little of this fruit that I may eat what is left.
SALOMÉ: I am not hungry, Tetrarch. […]
THE VOICE OF IOKANAAN: Behold the time is come! That which I foretold has come to pass. The day that I spoke of is at hand.
HERODIAS: Bid him be silent. I will not listen to his voice. This man is for ever hurling insults against me.
HEROD: He has said nothing against you. Besides, he is a very great prophet. […]
A THIRD JEW: God is at no time hidden. He showeth Himself at all times and in all places. God is in what is evil even as He is in what is good.
A FOURTH JEW: Thou shouldst not say that. It is a very dangerous doctrine, it is a doctrine that cometh from Alexandria, where men teach the philosophy of the Greeks. And the Greeks are Gentiles: They are not even circumcised. […]
FIRST NAZARENE, of Jesus: This man worketh true miracles. Thus, at a marriage which took place in a little town of Galilee, a town of some importance, He changed water into wine. Certain persons who were present related it to me. Also He healed two lepers that were seated before the Gate of Capernaum simply by touching them. […]
THE VOICE OF IOKANAAN, of Herodias: Ah! the wanton one! The harlot! Ah! the daughter of Babylon with her golden eyes and her gilded eyelids! Thus saith the Lord God, Let there come up against her a multitude of men. Let the people take stones and stone her. . . .
HERODIAS: Command him to be silent.
THE VOICE OF IOKANAAN: Let the captains of the hosts pierce her with their swords, let them crush her beneath their shields. […]
HEROD: Dance for me, Salomé.
HERODIAS: I will not have her dance.
SALOMÉ: I have no desire to dance, Tetrarch. […]
HEROD: Salomé, Salomé, dance for me. I pray thee dance for me. I am sad to-night. Yes; I am passing sad to-night. When I came hither I slipped in blood, which is an evil omen; also I heard in the air a beating of wings, a beating of giant wings. I cannot tell what they mean . . . I am sad to-night. Therefore dance for me. Dance for me, Salomé, I beseech thee. If thou dancest for me thou mayest ask of me what thou wilt, and I will give it thee, even unto the half of my kingdom.
SALOMÉ: [Rising.] Will you indeed give me whatsoever I shall ask of thee, Tetrarch? […]
HEROD: Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, even unto the half of my kingdom.
SALOMÉ: You swear it, Tetrarch?
HEROD: I swear it, Salomé. […]
SALOMÉ: I am ready, Tetrarch. [Salomé dances the dance of the seven veils.]
HEROD: Ah! wonderful! wonderful! You see that she has danced for me, your daughter. Come near, Salomé, come near, that I may give thee thy fee. Ah! I pay a royal price to those who dance for my pleasure. I will pay thee royally. I will give thee whatsoever thy soul desireth. What wouldst thou have? Speak.
SALOMÉ [Kneeling]: I would that they presently bring me in a silver charger . . .
HEROD [Laughing]: In a silver charger? Surely yes, in a silver charger. She is charming, is she not? What is it thou wouldst have in a silver charger, O sweet and fair Salomé, thou art fairer than all the daughters of Judæa? What wouldst thou have them bring thee in a silver charger? Tell me. Whatsoever it may be, thou shalt receive it. My treasures belong to thee. What is it that thou wouldst have, Salomé?
SALOMÉ [Rising]: The head of Iokanaan.
HERODIAS: Ah! that is well said, my daughter.
HEROD: No, no!
HERODIAS: That is well said, my daughter. […]
“You have sworn an oath, Herod.” –Salomé
“Well, thou hast seen thy God, Iokanaan, but me, me, thou didst never see. If thou hadst seen me thou hadst loved me. I saw thee, and I loved thee. Oh, how I loved thee! I love thee yet, Iokanaan, I love only thee. . . . I am athirst for thy beauty; I am hungry for thy body; and neither wine nor apples can appease my desire. What shall I do now, Iokanaan? Neither the floods nor the great waters can quench my passion. I was a princess, and thou didst scorn me. I was a virgin, and thou didst take my virginity from me. I was chaste, and thou didst fill my veins with fire. . . Ah! ah! wherefore didst thou not look at me? If thou hadst looked at me thou hadst loved me. Well I know that thou wouldst have loved me, and the mystery of love is greater that the mystery of death.” –Salomé, holding and gazing upon the severed head of Iokanaan
“She is monstrous, thy daughter I tell thee she is monstrous.” –Herod, to Herodias
“Ah! I have kissed thy mouth, Iokanaan, I have kissed thy mouth. There was a bitter taste on my lips. Was it the taste of blood ? . . . Nay; but perchance it was the taste of love. . . . They say that love hath a bitter taste. . . . But what matter? what matter? I have kissed thy mouth.” –Salomé, still with Iokanaan’s head
HEROD: [Turning round and seeing Salomé.] Kill that woman! [The soldiers rush forward and crush beneath their shields Salomé, daughter of Herodias, Princess of Judæa.]
III: Themes and Beginning
Recurring themes in the play/opera include these: lust, with gazing/leering/staring at the object of desire, hence objectification; the conflict between, and complementarity of, opposites (love/loathing, spirituality/carnality, desire/disgust, white/black, male/female roles, beauty/ugliness, life/death, victim/victimizer, etc.); and the decadence of the ruling classes, as against the assurances for the oppressed that revolution, redemption, and liberation are soon to come.
The story begins at night, just outside a banquet held by Herod, his wife, Herodias (widow of his half-brother, Herod II), and her daughter, Salomé, along with all their guests in Herod’s palace. The moon is shining, silvery-white and bright. Silvery-white because, as Narraboth says, “She [the moon] is like a little princess…whose feet are of silver,” and “who has little white doves for feet.”
Narraboth, a young Syrian and Captain of the Guard, amorously declares how beautiful Salomé looks. The Page of Herodias wishes he wouldn’t always stare at her, for the Page fears that disaster will come of his passion.
The moon is a pale, virgin, silvery white, as is Salomé’s flesh. The moon looks so pale and white, “She is like a woman rising from a tomb. She is like a dead woman,” as the page of Herodias observes.
The princess-moon, with her innocent white feet, can drive men lunatic, as can Salomé’s virginal beauty; as, in turn, the holy purity of similarly-pale Iokanaan drives her mad with love for him. In this play, virginal innocence is dialectically related to the deadly sin of lust: the one opposite dissolves into the other.
IV: Enter Salomé
Salomé leaves the banquet area, finding it disturbing how Herod keeps staring at her with lust in his eyes. Of course, Narraboth is eyeing her similarly, but she will soon be an ogler herself, for she hears the voice of Iokanaan from the cistern below.
He has spoken harsh words against her mother, Herodias, as well as against Herod (i.e., his incestuous marriage with his half-brother’s widow); Salomé knows of this, but instead of being offended by Iokanaan’s words, she’s intrigued. It seems evident that Salomé has hardly any less contempt for her mother than she does for her adoptive father: alienation, including that between family members, is a typical symptom in a world of class conflict, in this case, that of the ancient slave vs. master variety.
Thus, any speaker of ill against Salomé’s family is a singer of sweet music to her ears. Small wonder she’d like to take a look at that mysterious man down in that dark, yonic pit. She looks down into it, awed by its darkness. This blackness, of course, is associated with Iokanaan’s mysticism. An ominous, eerie tritone is heard in the musical background when she looks into the cistern and notes its blackness, near the beginning of scene two.
Let’s compare some images used so far. Pale Salomé is consistently associated with the silvery-white, virginal moon, an ominous orb portending imminent evil. The cistern is black, as Salomé observes, but since it houses a holy man, a celibate man, it could be seen as virginal, too, the yoni of a virgin such as Salomé herself. The cistern’s blackness thus has a dialectical relationship with the silvery-white moon, which phases from white full moon to black new moon, and back again. Iokanaan, like the moon, also portends an evil coming too soon for comfort.
She insists on having Iokanaan brought out so she can see him, to have his mysteries revealed…just as Herod will want Salomé to dance a striptease for him, to reveal her anatomic mysteries. The lecherous, decadent tetrarch, of course, also hopes to make the young beauty replace her mother as his new queen, so her virginal yoni‘s dark secrets can be revealed to him…just as she wishes to have Iokanaan, the secret of the dark yoni of the cistern, revealed to her eyes.
The parallels between Iokanaan’s display and that of her nakedness continue, first with Narraboth’s and the soldiers’ insistence that the prophet not be allowed out (by Herod’s orders), on the one hand, and Herodias’ disapproval of her daughter dancing erotically for Herod. Also, Salomé entices Narraboth with suggestions of her favouring him (offering a green flower and a smile) if he’ll allow Iokanaan to come out, and Herod entices her with an oath to give her anything she wants if she’ll dance for him. Both Narraboth and Salomé are persuaded to do what they’d otherwise never do.
V: Enter John the Baptist
Iokanaan emerges from the cistern, pale, hairy, and filthy, but always shouting his imprecations against the decadent kings and queens of the world, especially Herodias. His holiness inspires Salomé’s passion for him, symbolizing the dialectical relationship between the erotic and the ascetic (something also explored in Hindu myth, as Wendy Doniger O’Flaherty observed in Siva: the Erotic Ascetic, pages 33-36).
At first, Salomé loves Iokanaan’s white flesh, a parallel of the love Narraboth and Herod have for her pale flesh. The prophet, of course, rejects her wish to touch his body; indeed, he can’t even bear to have this “daughter of Sodom” look at him. She’s angered by his rejection, feeling narcissistic injury, no doubt; but his chastity fascinates her all the same.
Salomé is used to having a train of admiring men following her everywhere, leering at her, lusting after her. Such men bore her, annoy her, inspire her contempt; but Iokanaan is no lecherous pig. With him, the sexes are reversed, and the man is disgusted with the woman’s lechery. She’s hurt by his rejection, but she can only admire him all the more for it. This man’s spiritual willpower is as rare as her physical beauty is, and her desire for him is made all the hotter for this.
As soon as he rejects her, she speaks ill of his whitest of white body, which she’s just finished praising. Now she speaks of loving his blackest of black hair; note the immediate juxtaposition of opposites–loved/loathed, beautiful/ugly, and white/black. When he rejects her wish to touch his hair, she’s now repelled by it and begins loving his red lips.
VI: Baiser
She wants to kiss his mouth, saying in Wilde’s French: “Laisse-moi baiser ta bouche.” Baiser, as a verb, originally meant ‘to kiss,’ but it grew to mean ‘to fuck,’ this new meaning starting as early as the 16th or 17th century, having been used this way in, for example, a few poems by François Maynard. This usage began to grow more common by the beginning of the 20th century, prompting the French to start using embrasser to mean ‘to kiss’ instead.
My point is, given the already shockingly erotic overtones of Wilde’s play, as well as in his choice to write it in French instead of his usual English, did he use baiser as a double entendre? Was he suggesting a secondary meaning, a cunnilingus fantasy of Salomé’s, to get head from Iokanaan?
Now Strauss, in using a German translation for his opera, used the word küssen, which only means ‘to kiss.’ Perhaps he was aware of the growing use of the sexual meaning of baiser, and wanted to mitigate the scandal by eliminating that problematic French word. I’m guessing that my speculations hadn’t been discussed by critics back around the turn of the 20th century, given the-then taboo nature of this subject; but this taboo use of baiser has been discussed more recently.
VII: Lustful Staring
Back to the story. The prophet is so shocked by this “daughter of Babylon” that he curses her and goes back down into the cistern. Salomé’s unfulfillable desire has turned into an obsession; speaking of which, Narraboth’s has caused him to implode with sexual jealousy, since he can see she clearly prefers Iokanaan to him. Thus, he stabs himself and dies, fulfilling Herodias’ page’s dire prediction that his obsessive, mesmerized staring at Salomé would bring evil.
Of course, the young Syrian hasn’t been the only one staring at Salomé to the point of such ogling being dangerous. Herod enters with Herodias; he slips on Narraboth’s spilled blood, an obvious omen.
The tetrarch speaks of the silvery-white moon and Salomé’s pale skin, an evident identifying of the one with the other, just as Salomé has identified the chaste moon with celibate Iokanaan. We see more unions of opposites: virginity and whorish objects of desire, in both her and the prophet.
Herodias is annoyed with Herod’s staring at her daughter, with Iokanaan’s insulting diatribes against her, and Herod’s–to her, absurd–belief in omens and prophecies. She is a purely materialist, decadent queen: the moon is just the moon to her.
She wishes he would just give Iokanaan over to the ever-disputatious Jews, who come out and begin a clamorous storm of debating over whether Iokanaan has seen God, whether he is Elijah having returned, and whether this or that dogma is correct. This is another example of wanting to know mysteries, to see secrets.
In all of this arguing among the Jews, we see dramatized the dialectic of contradictory viewpoints. Added to this is the contradiction between the Jewish point of view and that of the Nazarenes, who now come onstage.
VIII: Revolution
Since the Crucifixion hasn’t happened yet, discussion of how the Messiah will save the Jews from their sins is never in the Pauline notion of a Divine Rescuer dying and resurrecting, so that believing in Him will confer God’s grace for the forgiveness of sins. Instead, salvation for the Jews is understood to come in the form of a revolution against Palestine’s Roman imperialist oppressors. Recall Matthew 10:34.
Revolution! Insurrection! Such words terrify decadent rulers like Herod and Herodias, who naturally don’t want to lose their privileges as members of the ruling class. Thus do we see the dialectic move, from the Hegelian sort we heard among the debating Jews, to the materialist sort that Marx discussed: the contradiction between the rich and poor.
Iokanaan prophesies the downfall of sinful rulers like incestuous Herod and Herodias, as well as the redemption of the downtrodden. As the prophet says at the beginning of Wilde’s play, “the solitary places shall be glad. They shall blossom like the rose. The eyes of the blind shall see the day, and the ears of the deaf shall be opened. The suckling child shall put his hand upon the dragon’s lair, he shall lead the lions by their manes.”
Such welcome changes can be seen to symbolize revolutionary relief given to the suffering. The blind seeing, and the deaf hearing, suggests the enlightenment of the poor, hitherto ignorant of the true causes of their sorrows. The idea of gladdened solitary places suggests the replacement of alienation with communal love. The suckling child, with his hand on the dragon’s lair, and leading the lions, suggests the end of the oppression of the weak by the strong, replacing it with equality.
Marx similarly prophesied the end of the rule of the bourgeois, to be replaced by communist society. The bourgeois today, like threatened Herod and Herodias, are scared of their imminent downfall, for many believe their days are numbered.
My associating Iokanaan with Marx is no idle fancy, for in 1891, the very same year Wilde wrote Salomé, he also wrote The Soul of Man under Socialism, inspired by his reading of Peter Kropotkin, and in which Wilde considered Jesus to be a symbol of the extreme individualist he idealized. Wilde would also have been aware of the short-lived Paris Commune twenty years prior, which Marx joyfully described as being a manifestation of his notion of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
IX: The Music
It seems apposite, at this belated point, finally to discuss Strauss’s music. Influenced by Wagner’s musical dramas, Strauss used Leitmotivs (“leading motives”) for each character in Salomé, as well as for many key moments or concepts in the story.
There’s the light, dreamy Leitmotiv heard when Narraboth expresses his admiration for Salomé’s beauty at the beginning of the opera. There’s the Leitmotiv when she sings of wanting “den Kopf des Jochanaan,” which gets increasingly dissonant with her every iteration of the demand for it, to ever-reluctant Herod.
And there are Leitmotivs for Iokanaan and his prophetic abilities, the former being a stately, dignified chordal theme heard on the horns; and the latter melody being a trio of fourths, C down to G, then F down to C, then–instead of another, third perfect fourth–there’s a tritone of A down to D-sharp, then up to E, now a perfect fourth (relative to the previous A). These three sets of perfect fourths symbolize Triune, holy, divine perfection; the tritone, though the diabolus in musica, nonetheless resolves to E, symbolizing a prophecy of sinning imperfection soon to be made perfect, redeemed.
Strauss, as a late Romantic/early modern composer, anticipated many of the revolutionary musical ideas soon to be realized in full by such modernists as Stravinsky, Bartók, Schoenberg, and Webern. Strauss was thus a kind of musical Iokanaan. Strauss, through his extreme chromaticism, pushed tonality to its limits, while not quite emancipating the dissonance, as Schoenberg would soon do. Since some have seen the emancipation of the dissonance as linked with the emancipation of society and of humanity, the music of Strauss–as musical Iokanaan–can be seen symbolically as heralding the coming of that social liberation I mentioned above.
The harsh discords in his score symbolize the contradictions not only in the class conflict between the decadent rulers (puppet rulers for imperial Rome) and the oppressed poor, but also in the conflicts between what Narraboth, Salomé, Iokanaan, Herod, and Herodias each wants. Also, the contrast between these dissonant moments and the prettier, more tuneful sections suggests the dialectical relationships between beauty and ugliness, and love and loathing.
Finally, the choice of ‘harsh‘ (at least from the point of view of English speakers), guttural German–instead of Wilde’s erotically lyrical (if a tad idiosyncratic) French–reinforces the dramatic tension, especially when Salomé demands the prophet’s head on a silver charger.
X: Dance for Me, Salomé
Back to the story. Herod is so obviously troubled, on the one hand by the threats Iokanaan is making against his rule, and on the other by his fear of the prophet as a man of God–which means he can’t kill him–that the soldiers note the tetrarch’s sombre look.
Herod hopes that Salomé will dance for him, to take his mind off his troubles. This escape into sensuous pleasure is an example of the manic defence, to avoid facing up to what makes one so unhappy.
Always annoyed that her husband stares lustfully at her daughter, Herodias forbids Salomé to dance for him. But his oath to give her anything she wants, even to half of his kingdom, puts a sly grin on her face and a twinkle in her eye; so Salome agrees to dance.
Wilde‘s brief stage direction, of Salomé dancing in seven veils, has been made so much of. It says nothing explicitly of a striptease, but why else would she dance in those veils, if not to remove them one by one?
Strauss’s exotic, sensuous music certainly makes much of the dance, starting with a slow, erotic, mysterious aura and building up to a fast, frenzied, and dissonant climax, once almost all (or absolutely all, depending on the boldness of the woman playing Salomé) of the veils have been removed.
XI: Getting Naked
As each veil is removed, more of the mysteries of her body are revealed to horny Herod, just as the mystery of Iokanaan was revealed to lascivious Salomé when he emerged from the vaginal cistern. This story is all about the desire to have secrets revealed, including, as the Jews obsess over, the mysteries of God, through such things as prophecies, as the Nazarenes are concerned with. Mysteries thus may be sensual or spiritual: note the dialectical relationship between these two.
While we usually think of men objectifying women, as Herod is doing with Salomé here, in Salomé the objectifying is a two-way street, since she lusts after chaste Iokanaan. And while it is usual and correct to be concerned with the injuries done to female strippers, sex workers, and pornographic models and actresses, consider how pathetic the men are, those addicted to porn, prostitutes, and strippers, using these as a manic defence to avoid facing their own sadness. Consider their shame at knowing what pigs they’re being (or at least seen as being), each a modern Herod, walking guiltily in and out of strip joints, whorehouses, and the porn sections of DVD rentals.
There are two sides to objectification: the view to destroy, as Salomé does to Iokanaan, and as Herod does to Salomé at the end of the opera; and there’s the view to admire, to worship the beautiful object, as any connoisseur of art understands…and as Salomé and Herod also do to their adored objects. Looking to admire and to destroy are, again, dialectically related. This obsessive urge to look, a pagan adoration of divinity that is–in this opera–thematically related to whether or not the Jew or Nazarene has ‘seen’ God, is also a weakness that can be exploited.
Salomé is certainly using her sexuality to take advantage of this weakness of Herod’s. And since, on the one hand, the tetrarch is objectifying and using her for his pleasure, getting her to strip down to a state of nude vulnerability; and on the other hand, she’s turning his lust against him, we have here a male/female variant of Hegel‘s master/slave dialectic, or a dialectic of feminism meeting antifeminism.
XII: Switching Roles
The master (Herod) uses the, so to speak, slave (Salomé) for his own pleasure, but she uses her creativity (her dance) to build up her own mastery over him. Thus, master and slave switch roles, making her especially triumphant, since she’ll cause the doom of two men–decapitated Iokanaan, and the revolutionary toppling of Herod, as it is assumed will happen to him when the Nazarenes (and God!) are so enraged to learn of the execution of their beloved prophet.
Women are perceived to be inspiring of lust and sin (the misogynistic, antifeminist side of the dialectic), yet Salomé and Herodias triumph in thwarting the tetrarch and killing the male religious authority (the feminist side). What’s more, Salomé is all the more feminist in wishing for Iokanaan’s head for her own pleasure, not out of obedience to her mother.
Herod pleads with Salomé to ask for something else. The tetrarch has made himself a slave to his oath, of which she’s the master. He offers her rare jewels, ones even her mother doesn’t know he has; he offers her rare white peacocks. All she does is repeat her demand for “den Kopf des Jochanaan,” each time given more and more aggressively, with increasingly tense music in the background. Finally, he is forced, in all exasperation, to relent.
XIII: The Head
When the executioner is down in the dark cistern, Salomé waits by the hole and listens. Suspense is built when she hears nothing. She grows impatient, thinking she’ll need the soldiers to do the job she imagines the slave who went down with his axe is too incompetent or cowardly to do. Nonetheless, he emerges with Iokanaan’s bloody head. The ruling class’s indulgence of their petty desires always brings about violence of this sort.
Still, there are contradictions even among the desires of the different members of the ruling class. Herod is horrified to see Salomé’s maniacal gazing at the head, but Herodias is pleased to no end. Salomé kisses the mouth, triumphant in having achieved what the living prophet refused to let her do. In her mania, she imagines for the moment that Iokanaan’s eyes should be looking at her, as if the severed head could possibly be alive. She is thus disappointed that the eyes don’t look at her.
She wishes that he could have accepted her love, that if he’d looked at her, that if he’d just let her kiss his mouth, he would have loved her back, for love is a greater mystery than death.
XIV: Decapitation as Symbolic Castration
Since Wilde’s use of baiser has the implied secondary meaning of “to fuck,” and since she says, “Ah! thou wouldst not suffer me to kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan. Well! I will kiss it now. I will bite it with my teeth as one bites a ripe fruit. Yes, I will kiss thy mouth, Jokanaan,” she is implying that she has a symbolic vagina dentata, which will castrate him when they make love. She compares his body to a column of ivory, a column being a phallic symbol. Thus, ‘fucking’ his mouth with the implied vagina dentata means his decapitation is a symbolic castration.
Herod’s unwillingness to have Iokanaan beheaded is thus an example of castration anxiety, especially since loss of the phallus is a symbolic loss of power. Herod’s fear of Iokanaan’s execution provoking a Nazarene revolution, spearheaded by none other than God, reinforces this symbolic fear of castration. Iokanaan’s “Kopf” is a cock.
XV: Conclusion–Who Wins the Sex War (and the Class War)?
Salomé (and by extension Herodias, since she has wanted Iokanaan’s death from the beginning), having the prophet’s head in her arms, is now symbolically the powerful phallic woman. She, especially in her madness and perversity, is a threat to Herod. Regarding her as “monstrous,” he orders all the torches to be put out. He says, “Hide the moon! Hide the stars!” For the whiteness of the moon and stars resemble her pale skin far too much for his comfort.
Finally, the male/female dialectic sways back in the antifeminist direction, and Herod orders his soldiers to “Kill that woman!” The men surround Salomé with their shields, and crush her to death with them, ending the opera with a barrage of discords.
Still, we know that the days of all decadent kings and queens–as well as those of the tetrarch, it seems–are numbered. Herod is still quaking in fear over the consequences of killing a holy man. The Nazarenes believe the tetrarch cannot stop the march of God through history, just as we Marxists believe the bourgeoisie cannot stop the dialectical movement of historical materialism.
Herod can hide the moon and the stars for only so long. Recall Iokanaan’s words: “In that day the sun shall become black like sackcloth of hair, and the moon shall become like blood, and the stars of the heaven shall fall upon the earth like unripe figs that fall from the fig-tree, and the kings of the earth shall be afraid.”
Furthermore, Salomé may be dead, but her double, that pale moon overhead, is still shining. In his poem, ‘Problems of Gender,’ Robert Graves wondered which gender to assign the moon, asking, “who controls the regal powers of night?” In Salomé, I think we know which sex controls them.
Mawr Gorshin erotic horror, eroticism, feminism, imperialism, literature, literature analysis, Marxism, music, narcissism, politics 1 Comment May 12, 2019 May 12, 2019 23 Minutes
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Microsoft Readies OneDrive 'Personal Vault' Feature and Other Improvements
More storage options and a new secure "Personal Vault" feature are coming to the Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage service.
On the storage side, Microsoft plans to double the capacity of the current storage-only "standalone" plan -- which costs $1.99 per month -- from 50GB to 100GB at no additional cost. Users of the current 50GB plan will get upgraded automatically, although the announcement didn't clarify when it would happen.
Office 365 users, who already have access to 1TB of OneDrive storage as part of their subscription plans, are getting the option to buy additional storage. In the coming months (Microsoft wasn't specific), they'll be able to add 200GB of additional storage for $1.99 per month.
Other options include getting 400GB for $3.99, 600GB for $5.99 and 800 GB for $7.99 per month. The extra storage options are capped at 1TB for $9.99 per month maximum. It's possible to decrease the added storage "anytime" after subscribing, Microsoft indicated.
Personal Vault
Another new OneDrive enhancement is a new feature called "OneDrive Personal Vault." The Personal Vault is defined as a "protected area in OneDrive," Microsoft's cloud-based storage service, that provides added security assurance for a user's stored files.
Personal Vault works on Windows 10 PCs and mobile devices (Android 6.0 or higher or iOS 11.3 or higher). On Windows 10 systems, "OneDrive syncs your Personal Vault files to a BitLocker-encrypted area of your local hard drive," Microsoft's announcement explained. BitLocker is Microsoft's disk encryption technology for devices.
Users gain access to the OneDrive Personal Vault via a secondary identity verification method. They can use a "fingerprint, face, PIN, or a code sent to you via email or SMS," Microsoft explained.
OneDrive Personal Vault will lock access to its stored files after a period of inactivity, but Microsoft claims it's easy to use. It's also possible to access OneDrive Personal Vault via the Microsoft Authenticator App.
Office 365 subscribers can store files in Personal Vault up to their storage limit. For users of Microsoft's free or standalone OneDrive 100GB storage plans, it'll be possible to "try Personal Vault with a limited number of files," Microsoft's announcement indicated.
Microsoft plans to make the OneDrive Personal Vault feature available "soon in Australia, New Zealand and Canada." It'll be available more broadly "by the end of the year," Microsoft promised.
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BMW extends global sales lead over Audi, Mercedes in June
Automakers, Production, Sales
Global sales of BMW Group’s core brand rose faster in June than at Audi and Mercedes-Benz as demand from China and the United States helped the premium carmaker to extend a lead over the two rivals in the first six months of the year.
Sales at the brand were up 9 percent last month to 153,075, the group said today, compared with growth of 5 percent to 140,300 and 8 percent to 131,609 at Audi and Mercedes respectively.
Six-month sales at BMW brand rose 8 percent to 804,000 cars, expanding the lead over runner-up Audi to 24,000 from 11,000 after five months. Half-year sales at Audi and Mercedes rose 6 percent each to 780,500 and 694,000 respectively.
“BMW has stronger momentum than Audi and Mercedes, that won’t change in the second half,” said Hanover-based NordLB analyst Frank Schwope. “Design of their cars has improved and they’re ahead on fuel-saving technologies.”
Audi, BMW, Global Sales
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M. Basketball Recruiting Video
M. Basketball Goes 1-1 at Cuyamaca Classic
LA Valley
LA Valley (3-0, 0-0) 41 49 90
Mt. San Jacinto (3-2, 0-0) 35 38 73
MSJC's Chidi Okwarabizie had 16 rebounds in two games over the weekend for the Eagles as they split a pair of games in the Cuyamaca Classic in El Cajon. (DeeAnn Bradley/MSJC)
Pts: Kody Knox - 21
Reb: Jon Martens - 10
Ast: Johnnie Coleman - 9
Pts: 2 Players (#3, #15) - 14
Reb: Jamaal Barnes - 8
Ast: Michael Clark - 4
The MSJC men's basketball team won big on Friday night against Imperial Valley, but ran into a hot shooting LA Valley team on Saturday as they split a pair of games at the Cuyamaca Classic in El Cajon.
Friday's game was a bit rugged at the start as both MSJC and Imperial struggled with turnovers early. Once the Eagles found their stride however they overwhelmed the Arabs on their way to an 87-42 win. The Eagles built the lead to 12 by halftime and then outscored IVC 52-19 in the second half. Brandon Fredrick came off the bench to lead all scorers in the game with 16 while Jamaal Barnes added 13. In all MSJC received 61 points from non-starters in the contest and got at least 2 points from 13 different players. The Eagles separated themselves in the rebounding column as well grabbing 47 boards on the night compared to just 22 by the Arabs. Chidi Okwarabizie had a game high 12 rebounds in the win.
On Saturday afternoon the Eagles got off to a fast start against LA Valley as they jumped out to a 17-7 lead, but the Monarchs rallied back to take the lead before halftime at 41-35. In the second half LA Valley would shoot an impressive 17 for 25 from the field to hold off MSJC and win the game 90-73. Fredrick and Barnes both again led the Eagles in scoring as they each had 14 points, Barnes also grabbed a team best 8 rebounds for MSJC. Despite shooting a respectable 14 of 36 from three point range the Eagles could not slow the Monarchs offense who started the second half connecting of 12 of it's first 16 field goal attempts.
The Eagles are now 3-2 on the season and continue with their very challenging early season schedule on Wednesday night when they host #13 ranked San Diego City at 7 pm. MSJC will hit the road on Saturday as they travel to the state's #3 ranked team Fullerton College for a 5 pm contest.
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M.News — objective news
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Home › World › Asia › Hearings Open at UN Court Over Myanmar’s Rohingya Crackdown
Hearings Open at UN Court Over Myanmar’s Rohingya Crackdown
The International Court of Justice opened a historic three-day hearing Tuesday into accusations of genocide brought against Myanmar over the military’s brutal 2017 crackdown against the Rohingya Muslims, VOA news reports.
The hearings are based on a lawsuit filed last month at the United Nations-sponsored court in The Hague by the small West African nation Gambia, on behalf of the 57-member Organization for Islamic Cooperation. Gambia is accusing Myanmar of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention.
FILE – Some Rohingya men have just arrived from Myanmar, at an unidentified place in Cox’s Bazar district, Bangladesh.
More than 700,000 Rohingyas fled across the border into Bangladesh in August 2017 to escape a scorched earth campaign launched by the Myanmar military in response to attacks on security posts by Rohingya militants in western Rakhine state. A U.N. investigation concluded the campaign was carried out “with genocidal intent,” based on interviews with survivors who gave numerous accounts of massacres, extrajudicial killings, gang rapes and the torching of entire villages.
“All that The Gambia asks is that you tell Myanmar to stop these senseless killings, to stop these acts of barbarity” Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou urged the court in an opening statement.
Myanmar will be defended at the IJC by de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi in her official role as foreign minister. She is expected to reiterate her government’s claim that the military was targeting Rohingya militants when she addresses the court on Wednesday.
Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her pro-democracy stand against Myanmar’s then-ruling military junta, which placed her under house arrest for 15 years until finally freeing her in 2010. But her defense of the military’s actions against the Rohingyas has wrecked her reputation among the international community as an icon of democracy and human rights.
The Rohingya were excluded from a 1982 citizenship law that bases full legal status through membership in a government-recognized indigenous group. The Myanmar government considers the Rohingya illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, effectively rendering the ethnic group stateless.
MyanmarRohingyaUN
19:56, 19 January 2020 Asia
Senior US Diplomat Due in Pakistan Amid Warmth in Mutual Ties
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Climate vs. Economy: Four Lessons From a Year of Reporting
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Aboriginals in North America
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The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Fables, Literature
Aesop's Fables, Bidpai, carpe diem, Horace, Jean de La Fontaine, Odo of Cheriton, sources, The Baldwin Project, The Project Gutenberg, Walter of England
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, by Milo Winter, from
The Æsop for Children
(Photo credit: The Gutenberg Project [EBook #19994])
Aesop’s Fable (Perry Index 352)
Aarne-Thompson (Aarne-Thompson-Uther) type 112
Aarne-Thompson (Aarne-Thompson-Uther) type 112 & 113B (Romania)
Aesop’s Fables: The Project Gutenberg [EBook #11339])
Horace: The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of Horace, translated into English verse by John Conington; 4th edition (London: George Bell and Sons, 1874), Satires, book 2, no. 6, pp. 84-86 (scroll down to “One day…).
La Fontaine: The City Rat and the Country Rat (1.I.9) (EN)
La Fontaine: Rat de ville et le rat des champs, Le (1.I.9) (FR)
The Town and Country Mouse, by John Rae
Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks
(Photo credit: The Project Gutenberg [EBook #24108])
Style, rather than Subject Matter
There are folk tellings of this fable (the oral tradition), but when Jean de La Fontaine (8 July 1621 – 13 April 1695) wrote Le Rat de ville et le rat des champs (The City Rat and the Country Rat), The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse entered the learned tradition. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, La Fontaine’s Fables “rank among the greatest masterpieces of French literature.”[i]
However, the mostly Aesopic Town Mouse and Country Mouse entered literature long before La Fontaine was introduced to Aesop’s Fables. Horace (8 December 65 BCE – 27 November 8 BCE) could be credited with giving this folktale its literary status. It is one of his Satires (book 2, number 6, lines 77-115) and it resembles La Fontaine’s City Rat and Country Rat. Interestingly, La Fontaine’s fable features two rats rather than mice. It would be my opinion that he chose to feature rats to embellish his fable. The word “rat” is shorter (one syllable or pied) than the word “sou-ris” (two syllables). Be that as it may, in both retellings of the narrative, the rustic mouse or rat decides to return to his humble but peaceful country life, when “a sudden banging of the doors” (Horace) forces our fellows to hide. Horace’s country mouse does not want to live in fear.
Then says the rustic: “It may do for you,
This life, but I don’t like it; so adieu:
Give me my hole, secure from all alarms,
I’ll prove that tares and vetches still have charms.”
Horace (scroll down to “One day…)
Sources and Dissemination
There have been many retellings of Aesop’s Fables, beginning with Roman fabulist Phaedrus (c. 15 BCE – c. 50 CE).[ii] Aesop was also retold in Greek, by Babrius. As for The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse in particular, it appears we owe its dissemination throughout Europe to 12th-century Anglo-Norman writer Walter of England‘s translation of the fable into Latin.[iii] Fabulist Odo of Cheriton [iv] (c. 1185 – 1246/47, Kent) also contributed to the spread of the fable to various European countries.Spanish author Juan Ruiz inserted a Town Mouse and Country Mouse in his Libro de Buen Amor or Book of Good Love. Walter of England may also have inspired several manuscript collections of Aesop’s fables in Italian, including the Esopi fabulas by Accio Zucca. (See The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, Wikipedia)
La Fontaine’s Sources
La Fontaine, however, seems to have drawn his material from Swiss writer Névelet whose Mythologia Aesopica Isaaci Nicolai Neveleti was published in Frankfurt in 1610. Névelet was La Fontaine’s usual source. Moreover, given his knowledge of Latin and resemblances between the two texts, we can assume La Fontaine was familiar with Horace’s The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse. In both fables, our two country fellows, a rat and a mouse, flee when they hear “fearful knocking” at the door (La Fontaine).
La Fontaine: Twelve Books of Fables in three Collections (recueils)
Le rat de ville et le rat des champs is the ninth fable of La Fontaine’s first book of fables (1.I.9) La Fontaine wrote twelve short books of fables which he published in three collections (recueils): 1668 (six books), 1678 (five books), 1694 (twelfth book). His first recueil, or collection, contains mainly Aesopic fables transmitted from generation to generation in an oral tradition until, as mentioned above, Latin author Phaedrus translated Aesop’s fables into Latin and author Babrius, into Greek. Phaedrus’ book of fables is a Project Gutenberg publication [EBook #25512].
D. L. Alishman gives us a list of retellings of the Aesopic Town Mouse and Country Mouse:
Aesop’s: The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse (oral tradition)
Horace: The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
La Fontaine: The City Rat and the Country Rat
The Romanian: The Story of the Town Mouse and the Field Mouse (types 112 and 113B.)
The Norwegian: The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, by Arthur Rackham, 1902
La Fontaine’s The City Rat and The Country Rat
A city rat, one night,
Did, with a civil stoop,
A country rat invite
To end a turtle soup.
On a Turkey carpet
They found the table spread,
And sure I need not harp it
How well the fellows fed.
The entertainment was
A truly noble one;
But some unlucky cause
Disturbed it when begun.
It was a slight rat-tat,
That put their joys to rout;
Out ran the city rat;
His guest, too, scampered out.
Our rats but fairly quit,
The fearful knocking ceased.
“Return we,” cried the city,
To finish there our feast.
“No,” said the rustic rat;
“Tomorrow dine with me.
I’m not offended at
Your feast so grand and free,
“For I have no fare resembling;
But then I eat at leisure,
And would not swap, for pleasure
So mixed with fear and trembling.”
La Fontaine (I.ix) or (I.9)
Horace’s version can be read by clicking on The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse. La Fontaine’s version and translation can also be read by clicking on the appropriate title: Le Rat de ville et le rat des champs, or The City Rat and the Country Rat (1.I.9).
Variants listed above by D. L. Alishman differ from one another. For instance, in some retellings of the Town Mouse and Country Mouse, a cat, rather than dogs or a noise at the door, scares the mice away. But the moral of the fable is almost the same in all its retellings, that moral being that it is best to eat more frugally if the cost of eating finer and more abundant meals is a source of endangerment. Neither the country mouse nor the country rat want to eat watching their back. I like the wording Odo of Cheriton has given the moral of his Town Mouse and Country Mouse:
“I’d rather gnaw a bean than be gnawed by emotional fear.”
Philosophical Fables
La Fontaine’s City Rat and Country Rat could be considered as “philosophical,” or meditative, which the word “philosophical” meant in 17th-century France. For example, this fable could describe the fate of aristocrats under absolutism. After the Fronde (1648-1653), Court was no longer a “natural” environment for aristocrats who nevertheless spent a great deal of money to keep a house and carriage near Versailles. They hoped to be noticed and, consequently, be invited to attend the king’s lever (getting out of bed) and coucher (getting into bed). But Louis XIV feared aristocrats and would not give them power. Therefore, their best option was to return to their home away from Versailles and its intrigues, which they seldom did.
However, as told by La Fontaine, the fable does not reflect in any direct way the circumstances of French aristocrats after the Fronde (1648 and 1653).
But his chief and most comprehensive theme remains that of the traditional fable: the fundamental, everyday moral experience of mankind throughout the ages, exhibited in a profusion of typical characters, emotions, attitudes, and situations.[v]
Horace: a Carpe Diem
Horace’s telling of The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse is more overtly “philosophical” than La Fontaine’s City Rat and Country Rat. For instance, Horace, who coined the term carpe diem, has included a “gather ye roses while ye may” in his Town Mouse and Country Mouse:
Come down, go home with me: remember, all
Who live on earth are mortal, great or small:
Then take, good sir, your pleasure while you may;
With life so short, ’twere wrong to lose a day.
Horace, Satires, book 2, no. 6, pp. 84-86
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse can be read at several levels.It is a palimpsest. Surprisingly, fables often possess an unsuspected depth, especially if they have an Eastern origin, which is the case with many of Aesop’s fables and fables published in La Fontaine’s second collection of fables (1678). According to Wikipedia’s entry on The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, it resembles a fable by Bidpai entitled The Lean Cat and the Fat Cat (The Baldwin Project). La Fontaine’s second collection of fables (1678) was written after he had read the Fables of Bidpai, published in France as the Livre des lumières ou la Conduite des roys, 1644). La Fontaine’s second collection, five short books, therefore reflects an Eastern source.
However, La Fontaine’s one wish was to create little comedies.
But the predominant note is that of la gaieté, which, as he says in the preface to the first collection, he deliberately sought to introduce into his Fables. “Gaiety,” he explains, is not that which provokes laughter but is “a certain charm . . . that can be given to any kind of subject, even the most serious.”[vi]
La Fontaine was a loyal friend, but he was not a crusader. He knew from experience that “might is right.” He had been a protégé of disgraced Nicolas Fouquet, the Superintendent of Finances in France from 1653 until 1661. Consequently, although La Fontaine’s fables have depth, the language he uses is light-hearted.
To the grace, ease, and delicate perfection of the best of the Fables, even close textual commentary cannot hope to do full justice. They represent the quintessence of a century of experiments in prosody and poetic diction in France.[vii]
Tiny Gallery
Gustave Doré (6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883)
Milo Winter (7 August 1888 – 15 August 1956)
(The Project Gutenberg [EBook #19994])
(Photo credit: The Baldwin Project)
The Baldwin Project (excellent)
Gutenberg (EBook #11339], Æsop’s Fables, translated by V. S. Vernon Jones, introduction by G. K. Chesterton, illustrations by Arthur Rackham
Gutenberg [EBook #19994], The Æsop for Children, adapted by W. T. (William Trowbridge) Larned, illustrated by Milo Winter
Gutenberg [EBook #24108] Fables in Rhyme for Little Folks, adapted by W.T. (William Trowbridge) Larned, illustrated by John Rae
Joseph Jacob‘s translation
Névelet: Isaaci Nicolai Neveleti’s (Frankfurt, 1610)
Townsend, George Fyler: (Gutenberg [EBook #21]), 2013 [2007]
Victoria and Albert Museum, “The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse”
[i] “Jean de La Fontaine“. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 16 Aug. 2013
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/326307/Jean-de-La-Fontaine>.
[ii] The Fables of Phaedrus are a Project Gutenberg publication [EBook #25512] (2008)
[iii] Gualterus Anglicus is Walter of England’s Latin name.
[iv] Odo of Cheriton‘s fables are an online publication. The “House Mouse and the Field Mouse” is number 26, p. 87.
[v] “Jean de La Fontaine“. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
[vi] Britannica, loc. cit.
[vii] Britannica, loc. cit.
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, by John Rae
Jacques Offenbach (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880)
Jacqueline’s Tears
Jacqueline Dupré OBE (26 January 1945 – 19 October 1987), cello
© Micheline Walker
michelinewalker.com
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Molière’s ‟Les Fâcheux,” ‟The Bores” (2)
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Category Archives: Bill Cunningham
January 2, 2009 · 4:54 pm
Analysis: Republicans struggle with race issue
By Reid Wilson- the Hill
As minority voters abandoned the GOP in droves this past cycle, those who will vote on the next chairman of the Republican Party are struggling with the difficult issue of race.
The Democrats are seen as having advantages: Traditionally they have won more minority voters, and now the party will be led by the first African-American president. And, for Republicans, race proves to be a particularly thorny issue that can cause problems for even the most adept political operators.
The most recent example came when former Tennessee GOP chairman Chip Saltsman, a candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee, sent a CD with a parody song called “Barack the Magic Negro” to RNC members. First reported by The Hill, the CD set off a wave of criticism and elicited sharp rebukes from several prominent voting members.
That incident came on top of a number of gaffes throughout the 2008 election. In September, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) told The Hill he thought then-presidential candidate Barack Obama was “uppity,” a racially tinged word. Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ken.) apologized in April for referring to Obama as a “boy.”
At rallies held for the Republican presidential ticket, media focused on attendees who called Obama a “terrorist” and emcees, most famously Cincinnati radio host Bill Cunningham, who frequently invoked Obama’s middle name to rile up a crowd.
Finishing Reid Wilson’s article >>> Here
Filed under African-American, Barack the Magic Negro, Bill Cunningham, Chip Saltsman, race and politics, Race Relations, Reid Wilson, Rep. Geoff Davis, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, Republicans, The Hill, uppity
>Analysis: Republicans struggle with race issue
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405-623-1914 info@mikehunterok.com
Hunter Campaign Announces Democrats for Hunter Coalition
Announcements, Endorsements, In The News
OKLAHOMA CITY - Comprised of former Governors, former Attorneys General, a former congressman, business leaders, and former elected officials, the Mike Hunter for Attorney General campaign released a list of more than 20 prominent Oklahoma Democrats in support of...
Hunter Campaign Announces District Attorney Endorsements
Announcements, Press Releases
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Mike Hunter for Attorney General campaign today announced endorsements from 15 district attorneys from Oklahoma. The full list of district attorneys can be found below. “I am honored and privileged to receive the support of this group of dedicated...
MWC Police Walk The Beat To Prevent Crime
Midwest City Police are hoping to build better bonds with neighbors, by meeting them at their own front door. Recently, 911 calls have been on the rise, so police are returning to an old school crime-fighting tool, walking the beat. From door-to-door, officers are...
Fallen Officers Honored At 50th Anniversary Of OK Law Enforcement Memorial
The 50th Oklahoma Law Enforcement Officers' Memorial Service was held Friday. The service was to honor the more than 800 Oklahoma officers who have died in the line of duty since before statehood. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter spoke on the importance of...
Okla. AG asks for customer protection guarantees if Wind Catcher energy plan approved
Consumer Protection, In The News
OKLAHOMA CITY — Attorney General Mike Hunter on Tuesday filed a list of recommended guaranteed ratepayer protections for customers if Public Service Co. of Oklahoma’s Wind Catcher Energy Connection project is granted preapproval by Oklahoma Corporation Commission....
Oklahoma Attorney General Joins Appeal Of Ohio Planned Parenthood Ruling
OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma - Oklahoma’s Attorney General Mike Hunter has joined 12 other state attorneys general to ask a federal appeals court to rehear a case about Planned Parenthood. The coalition of attorneys general are disputing the decision by the U.S. Court of...
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http://journalrecord.com/2018/01/08/editorial-ag-corp-comm-acted-expediently/
http://newsok.com/oklahoma-commission-urges-opioid-tax-good-samaritan-law/article/5579245
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http://m.newsok.com/oklahoma-opioid-commission-offers-sensible-ideas/article/5576846
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https://www.cato.org/multimedia/cato-daily-podcast/cfpb-equifax-breach
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Woodward News: Attorney General speaks at chamber luncheon
https://www.ok.gov/triton/modules/newsroom/newsroom_article.php?id=258&article_id=34674
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Enid News: Oklahoma AG trying to curtail opioid crisis
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Journal Record: A cultural change: Viewing opioid addiction as a brain disease
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Lawton Constitution Sit-Down with Attorney General Mike Hunter
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The Journal Record: Editorial: A good plan
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Opioid abuse is still an emergency … and the state is getting ready to do something about it
Tulsa World Editorial: Attorney general leads panel taking broad approach to problem
http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/editorials/tulsa-world-editorial-opioid-abuse-is-still-an-emergency-and/article_603ca264-0a26-5017-a81d-5f58f502393f.html
The Journal Record: Task force wants the dope on opioids
http://journalrecord.com/2017/06/07/task-force-wants-the-dope-on-opioids/
The Oklahoman: Editorial: Fight against Opioids is Worth Having in Oklahoma
Regulators target pharmacists over employees to stem opioid thefts
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Oklahoma attorney general sues pharmaceutical companies
Oklahoma Attorney General talks about opioid abuse commission meeting
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Mother of former OU linebacker offers explanation for opioid crisis
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Midwest City doctor charged in overdose deaths of five patients
Midwest City doctor charged with five counts of second degree murder
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News 9 – Commission to Combat Opioid Abuse In Oklahoma Meets
http://www.news9.com/story/36245603/commission-to-combat-opioid-abuse-in-oklahoma-meets
Journal Record – State is first in painkiller abuse
http://journalrecord.com/2017/08/29/state-is-first-in-painkiller-abuse/
Journal Record – White says $9 million needed for drug, mental health courts
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Legal wrangling continues over chapel cross at East Central University
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Tulsa World – AG calls Americans United an ‘interest group bully,’ tells it to back off ECU cross removal issue
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Attorney General Joins Coalition Against Sex Trafficking
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McAlester News Capital – DA’s office allocated $111,723 for role in 2015 raid
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Moore American – AG allocates forfeited assets to district attorneys, law enforcement
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Millions in forfeited assets awarded to Oklahoma agencies who assisted in 2015 raid
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Police and prosecutor offices take home millions from 2015 raids
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Millions of dollars distributed to local law enforcement agencies after drug raid
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Oklahoma mother and daughter charged with Medicaid fraud
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NewsOK – Murder suspect charged again, 33 years after fatal shooting in Idabel, Oklahoma
KFOR – Murder charges filed in 1984 cold case in S.E. Oklahoma
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Tulsa doctor accused of loading up on painkillers for himself through fraud surrenders to police
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AG’s Work on Religious Liberty Praised
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Oklahoma attorney general stands up to campus chapel challenge
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Midwest City man sentenced to prison in child porn case
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AG Stresses States’ Rights At GOP Luncheon
http://www.swoknews.com/area/ag-stresses-states-rights-gop-luncheon
DC court decision on prison phones provides welcome restraint on federal regulators
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The Oklahoman – Contractor sentenced in Cleveland County embezzlement case
One issue that the nation’s attorneys general agree upon
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Legislature creates Oklahoma Commission on Opioid Abuse
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Founder, CEO of Tate Publishing arrested on embezzlement, extortion charges
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Oklahoma publishers charged with extortion, embezzlement
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President, founder of Tate Publishing arrested and charged with embezzlement and extortion
http://kfor.com/2017/05/04/president-founder-of-tate-publishing-arrested-and-charged-with-embezzlement-and-extortion/
Throwing the book at Tate: Publishing execs charged with embezzlement, extortion
http://journalrecord.com/2017/05/04/ryan-tate-richard-tate-arrested-on-fraud-charges/
The Oklahoman – AG announces support for new commission on opioid abuse
http://www.oklahoman.com/oklahoma-ag-announces-support-for-new-commission-on-opioid-abuse/article/5546959
KFOR – Oklahoma attorney general announces new panel to study opioid abuse
http://kfor.com/2017/04/26/oklahoma-attorney-general-announces-new-panel-to-study-opioid-abuse/
KOCO News 5 – State of Addiction: Lawmakers announce panel to study opioid abuse
http://www.koco.com/article/state-of-addiction-lawmakers-announce-panel-to-study-opioid-abuse/9568060
Associated Press – Attorney general announces new panel to study opioid abuse
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/26/attorney-general-announces-new-panel-to-study-opio/
Tulsa World – Tulsa police arrest dozens, seize weapons, drugs in citywide violent crime sweep
http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/tulsa-police-arrest-dozens-seize-weapons-drugs-in-citywide-violent/article_0b8c252d-bb1e-56c1-a1e7-18eeb438a3f0.html
Channel 2 – Tulsa Police partners with local, federal agencies to crack down on violent criminals
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Fox 25 – TPD: Dozens arrested, weapons and drugs seized in operation targeting violent crime
http://okcfox.com/news/local/tpd-dozens-arrested-weapons-and-drugs-seized-in-operation-targeting-violent-crime
Federal worker honored with Brad Edwards Consumer Champion Award
http://kfor.com/2017/04/21/federal-worker-honored-with-brad-edwards-consumer-champion-award/
MIKE HUNTER: OK Consumer Protection Week
http://www.stwnewspress.com/opinion/mike-hunter-ok-consumer-protection-week/article_f0abb7f4-263e-11e7-8be6-931513da049c.html
AG: State, feds can get along
HTTP://WWW.EXAMINER-ENTERPRISE.COM/NEWS/20170418/AG-STATE-FEDS-CAN-GET-ALONG
AG Hunter Reminds Rotarians of Opioid Problems
http://www.bartlesvilleradio.com/pages/news/141972017/ag-hunter-reminds-rotarians-of-opioid-problems
AG Hunter speaks at chamber luncheon
http://www.stwnewspress.com/news/local_news/ag-hunter-speaks-at-chamber-luncheon/article_61549170-b32a-5e94-8353-47005953680b.html
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You are here: Home / Home / Carousel / Beat cop initiative provides ‘sense of security’ for Clarke Square residents, business owners
Beat cop initiative provides ‘sense of security’ for Clarke Square residents, business owners
January 10, 2019 by Madison Marx Leave a Comment
MPD Officer Matthew Diener stops at a corner store in Clarke Square. (Photo by Madison Marx)
A middle-aged man wearing a blue plaid flannel shirt runs out of Mr. Churros, a restaurant and bakery in Clarke Square, to catch up with two police officers out walking their beat.
“Hablas Español?” he said.
“Sí,” said the officers.
The man inquired how to submit an open records request, according to Jose Acevedo, community liaison officer in District 2. The resident walked away from the conversation with Acevedo with an address and phone number.
This type of interaction between community members and police officers is increasingly common in Clarke Square since a new beat patrol initiative began about three months ago.
The officers have been walking and biking in South Side neighborhoods from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. since the initiative was launched on Oct. 7 by aldermen Bob Donovan and José Pérez and Milwaukee Police Department District 2 Capt. Alex Ramirez. Beat patrols are intended to build personal relationships between the police and community members.
“What I love about the initiative is that it allows officers and residents to engage in an intimate setting where trust is built,” said Ramirez.
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Acevedo and Officer Matthew Diener went about their daily routine checking up on vacant houses and engaging with residents and business owners.
When Diener stepped out of the squad car at their first vacant house check, he immediately called District 2 to send someone to clean up the garbage that filled the alley.
Officer Matthew Diener and Community Liaison Officer Jose Acevedo walk through an alley in Clarke Square to check on vacant houses before they head to talk to business owners. (Photo by Madison Marx)
Throughout the afternoon, Diener and Acevedo visited three vacant houses. Discarded needles and beer bottles lay in the backyards. Diener explained that prostitutes and homeless individuals often seek out the empty buildings.
Clarke Square residents would like to see the problems of prostitution, drugs and related crime addressed, according to a recent article published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. Ongoing major construction on Greenfield Avenue during the summer pushed these crimes to other parts of the neighborhood, according to Diener. However, after construction wound down on Greenfield Avenue, District 2 officers are working to ensure that criminal activities do not start back up on the street.
Jorge Lopez, co-owner of Lopez Bakery & Restaurant, 1100 W. Historic Mitchell St., said that officers often stop by the restaurant for an authentic Mexican meal. While dining, they check in with Lopez and make sure that everything is going smoothly.
“It does help having a cop stop in and say hi. It gives a sense of security,” said Lopez, co-owner of the business with his wife, Cindy Lopez.
The couple believe that community policing allows officers the opportunity to build relationships with business owners and residents. However, Jorge Lopez added that it would be nice to see more beat cops in the neighborhood.
Ishwor Ghimire, who works at the Kwik Stop on National Avenue, said that before the beat cop initiative he didn’t see any cops. Now, officers stop by Ghimire’s store two to three times a day.
Moe Mustafa, a Clarke Square resident, said that having officers walking around on foot helps make residents and customers feel safer.
“I’d say we have some of the most engaged residents as far as what’s going on in their community,” said Diener.
Historically, police officers have always patrolled Greenfield, National and Lincoln avenues, according to Diener. During the last 10 years, the department has shrunk, resulting in officers having to cover more area, he said. With the beat initiative, a set of officers has been assigned to neighborhoods such as Clarke Square and Walker Square.
“To be a beat cop you have to be able to switch faces throughout the day,” said Diener. “You have to enforce crime and ordinance violations. You also have to have your social working hat on too. You have to be able to change your attitude within a drop of a hat.”
Dr. Robert Smith, a history professor and director of the Center for Urban Research, Teaching & Outreach at Marquette University, said that community policing is a complicated topic. People want safer neighborhoods, but an increased police presence hasn’t always lead to safer neighborhoods, he said.
“Community policing has the possibility to work if police see community members as citizens and not criminals,” Smith said. He added that for community policing to be successful there has to be input from residents on what policing should look like.
“It is important for police to live in the neighborhood,” said Smith. Police officers and other city workers are no longer bound by a residency requirement, which ended in 2016.
Last winter, Diener was driving around the Clarke Square neighborhood when he got a flat tire. As Diener and his colleague were changing the tire, a resident emerged from his house with several family members to help, and three containers of tacos.
“This experience goes to show how District 2 works,” said Diener.
Filed Under: Carousel, Clarke Square, Home, Neighborhoods, News, Public Safety, South
About Madison Marx
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You searched for: Collection MSS. Bodl. (Bodley) Remove constraint Collection: MSS. Bodl. (Bodley) Century 13th Century Remove constraint Century: 13th Century Century 14th Century Remove constraint Century: 14th Century Century 15th Century Remove constraint Century: 15th Century Materials Parchment Remove constraint Materials: Parchment Type manuscript Remove constraint Type: manuscript
Chartulary of Langley Abbey, Norfolk with 14th-, 15th- and early 16th century additions — 13th century, end; additions to 16th century, early; English
Nicholas de Byard — 14th century, first half; England or France
Index of subjects to a theological treatise — 1455; England, Oxford (?)
Thomas the Cistercian, etc. — 13th century, first half; England or France
Now MS. Lat. misc. d. 48, fols. 1, 2, 11, 12.
Gilbert Stone, canon of Wells — 15th century, first quarter; English
John Bromyard, etc. — 15th century, first quarter; English
Paschasius Radbertus, Augustine, etc. — 15th century, first quarter; English
Sermons on the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary — 15th century, first quarter; English
Sermons and notes — 15th century, first quarter; English
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The beautiful countryside of hebron in the West bank
Entrepreneurship in Palestine
Lessons learned from entrepreneurs building startups in the West Bank and Gaza.
Angie Chang
Invited to speak to entrepreneurs in Gaza and the West Bank through a State Department program, I accepted the challenge to go to Israel and be an “expert speaker” on tech entrepreneurship. Little did I know how much historical, economic and social background I had to gain from being on the ground in Palestine to adequately address the unique situation hindering entrepreneurship in the region.
A Taiwanese-American educated at UC Berkeley, I am prone to sympathizing with the unexotic underclass. So when I reached Palestine and heard grievances about the trade policies, lack of 3G service in the West Bank, no availability of PayPal for transactions (why??) and the fight for water, I was dumbstruck at the Palestinian’s lack of ability to do things we take for granted, like move freely.
“My permit expired today so I cannot leave and meet you” said one female entrepreneur in the West Bank in response to my request to grab coffee in the nearby city of Jerusalem where I was staying.
“Democracy, by definition, tore down every barrier to expectations” wrote philosopher Alain de Botton in Status Anxiety. Under occupation, the Palestinian entrepreneurs lack the entitled attitude of the Silicon Valley startup entrepreneur.
But even before we reach peace in the Middle East, we must encourage entrepreneurship in Palestine — because they are well-educated, motivated and with more mentorship and investment, have incredible potential to change the world.
It was my first trip to Israel (October 2-5, 2013)— I was struck by the looming presence of the “security wall” surrounding the West Bank, and soldiers everywhere.
The first stop of the four-day program was in the West Bank at the Ramallah-based Leaders Organization and spoke to the entrepreneurs and program administrators at FastForward Accelerator. I shared my personal story of entrepreneurship, and also discussed topics including the process of building a startup, technology innovation & disruption (current trends & the future) and startup fundraising. I encouraged early-stage startups and entrepreneurs in Palestine to create accounts on AngelList if they want to ever seek outside funding/capital.
Inspirational wall art of Mark Zuckerberg’s motto “Stay Focused & Keep Shipping” can be found at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park,California.
After spying a huge poster on the wall detailing the known obstacles to Palestinian economic freedom, I hinted that perhaps the space should be decorated with the logos of the startups being incubated and the faces of their entrepreneurs, or perhaps doodles on the market opportunities for Palestinians.
Facebook is a great example of an office where there is no shortage of motivational posters and quotes. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s motto “Stay Focused & Keep Shipping” and COO Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” words are immortalized on posters plastered everywhere at the Facebook headquarters in the Silicon Valley.
The entrepreneur accepted into an accelerator program should be celebrated as much as the entrepreneur who raised venture capital and the entrepreneur who just exited the startup for millions of dollars. These are all legitimate entrepreneurial successes that should be celebrated in both local and international media.
Talented entrepreneurs are starting companies in the West Bank, for example Yamsafer (“Hotels.com for the Middle East”), Ezents (“Eventbrite for Palestine”), Karaz (first high-end online sex shop in the Middle East), and FeeKash (an emerging payment solution for the unbanked and cash-preferred customer). Co-founder Rasha Ali explains that FeeKash “provides an alternative payment solution to the COD model that amounts to 80% of online transactions in the MENA” — and will facilitate commerce in the West Bank in the absence of PayPal.
Wamda covers entrepreneurship and innovation in the Middle East / North Africa (MENA) region.
The next day, I recovered from jet lag and was excited to speak to university students in the West Bank. But first, I met and spoke to entrepreneurs in Gaza via video conference. They told me about their various business ventures enabled by technology. I saw many hijabs in the room so I excitedly shared stories of women entrepreneurs and their innovative, successful businesses.
After video conferencing with Gaza entrepreneurs, the assembled group stood up and gathered for a group picture at the entrepreneurship talk. The young entrepreneurs in Gaza have great energy and run a wide variety of businesses!
I spoke to students in the West Bank — at An-Najah National University in Nablus and at the Palestine Polytechnic University in Hebron — sharing enthusiastically my story of accidental entrepreneurship and gave examples of many young women entrepreneurs, using them as role models. The students were enthusiastic as well — I met many after the talks, and now Arabic flows in my Facebook feed!
Souktel is a VC-funded startup based in Gaza linking people with jobs, and connecting aid agencies with communities needing economic help.
According to Forbes, the West Bank is home to ten different colleges churning out 2,000 engineering and computer graduates a year.
Yet the technology sector can only employ 4,500 individuals total,forcing many Palestinian engineers abroad for opportunities but also creates entrepreneurs out of necessity.
However, entrepreneurs in the West Bank and Gaza lack access to investors and a market outside of Palestine’s “security walls”.
After the talk at Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU) in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city, the university students and I took this fun group picture together.
At Paltel Foundation, there was a group assembled to hear my talk on role models, self-discovery and the freedom of women to choose their own career path. I was impressed by the questions asked by the audience of TechWomen in Palestine and the Ministry of IT, all thoughtful supporters of the early-stage entrepreneurs in the audience.
I met a team of three young female students who built a clever Android app on weight management. I also met an entrepreneur working to improve the smartphone user experience. The developer building the app should not be the same person leading the go-to-market strategy, and we discussed his need to recruit a marketing person to work alongside the team of two developers.
This is something the early-stage Palestinian entrepreneurs are not terrific at yet: team-building. There is also a fear of “startup idea-stealing” — a myth quickly dispelled in the Silicon Valley due to the many educational startup-related events. Competition is a GOOD thing! It makes you work harder and smarter, and you as an entrepreneur must engender that dogged determination and confidence that you are working on the best solution to the problem.
In my presentation, I give the example of Google. Before Google started, we had Yahoo! and at least a dozen search engine companies. Yet Google started up and worked hard to become the successful technology company it is today — and there is plenty of market share and opportunity for everyone yet.
The next day, I talked about “Building a Healthy Startup Ecosystem” to Global Entrepreneurship Week partners — an audience of senior members of organizations that support entrepreneurs in Palestine. There is a vision to turn the West Bank into a Palestinian Silicon Valley.
Global Entrepreneurship Week partners in Palestine include universities (An-Najah National University, Palestine Polytechnic University, Al-Quds University), supporters (FastForward, Arabreneur, An-Najah) and funding providers (Bank of Palestine, Palestine Investment Fund, Sadara Ventures, Arabreneur Fund).
Starting with an overview of the startup ecosystem that exists in Silicon Valley, I detailed organizations that go above and beyond simply funding entrepreneurs — Y Combinator and First Round Capital provide thought leadership, a network and more.
You can view my full presentation on the startup ecosystems here.
“Palestine is the Silicon Valley of NGOs”
“Palestine is the Silicon Valley of NGOs” stated one entrepreneur over lunch in the West Bank city of Ramallah. A former technology executive, Feras Nasr is now working on AidBits (helpful software for NGOs) and seeking startup funding. Two more entrepreneurs (experienced software developers) are working on SocialDice (software to improve the hiring process) and are also seeking investment. Starting up in Palestine, not the Silicon Valley, is important to them as they hope for a better economic future for their hometowns and the next generation of Palestinians.
Moving Forward in Palestine
(1) What the West Bank and Gaza lack is a hype machine for entrepreneurship. In the Silicon Valley, we have TechCrunch, VentureBeat, GigaOm, PandoDaily, Women 2.0 and many more media companies that talk up startups and their entrepreneurs, from the 3-person startup to the venture-funded startups. Wambda covers startups in the entire Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) region, but there can be more much local press in the West Bank and Gaza celebrating entrepreneurship, business and technology.
(2) There is a need for thought leadership, starting with the investors in Palestine who see market opportunities. The Silicon Valley has Y Combinator founder Paul Graham who famously blogged “Startup Ideas We’d Like To Fund” and Khosla Ventures founder Vinod Khosla blogging about “The ‘Unhyped’ New Areas in Internet and Mobile”. What is your vision for the future?
(3) Mentors for startup accelerator programs in the Silicon Valley often list “Mentor” as a job on their LinkedIn profiles — this is a badge of pride, and also a way to encourage other experienced entrepreneurs (and service providers in the finance, legal, PR industries) to become mentors as well. Palestinian organizations that support entrepreneurs should keep their websites updated with the faces and names of mentors, program administrators and all accessible supporters of entrepreneurs.
To build a healthy startup ecosystem, there must be many players to help the entrepreneurs and startups succeed. The entrepreneur, no matter how disenfranchised s/he feels, must step up and become visible and vocal — assert that their startup idea will change the world — and simply go for it.
Success stories are made because someone decided not to give up.
لم تقم بالاستحواذ على شركة فلسطينية ناشئة للآن مقابل ملايين الدولارات, لهو أشبه بالعدول عن الذهاب الى النادي الرياضي لمجرد أنك لم تفز بالماراثون.حتى النجاح له درجات يجب الاحتفال عند الوصول لكل منها. هنالك الكثير من الشركات التكنولوجية الفلسطينية التي تجني أرباحاً جيدة, العديد من رجال الأعمال الناجحين الذين بدأوا كرياديين بمصادر محدودة, أفكار لأعمال حازت على استثمارات عالية القيمة. مشاريع ريادية تنمو و تكبر في مسرعات و حاضنات للمشاريع, فائزون في منافسات لخطط عمل لمشاريع, و الكثير من الرياديين الجديرين بالاحترام و الذين كرسوا أنفسهم لفكرة. كل من هؤلاء يمثل نجاحاً بحد ذاته و يقدم دليلاً ملهماً على التطور الذي يعيشه حالياً المجتمع الريادي.
Above, the wise words of Taylor Valore, a venture capitalist in Palestine
Founder of Girl Geek X, Women 2.0
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Pokémon, Zika and Marijuana Are Creating New Concerns and New Risks for Condo Associations
Home » Pokémon, Zika and Marijuana Are Creating New Concerns and New Risks for Condo Associations
Published on: September 1, 2016
By Stephen Marcus
The risks confronting condo associations are generally well-known. Although there are always variations on old themes, the risk fundamentals don’t tend to change much from year to year. But every now and then new risks emerge, like Loch-ness monsters from the deep, to threaten condo communities and challenge the boards and managers who oversee them. We have three new risks to add to association worry lists: Pokémon, Zika and Marijuana.
Most references to this cell-phone based virtual reality game were initially lighthearted. But the tone quickly turned serious with reports of one player shot in California, a Pokémon-distracted driver killing a pedestrian in Japan, and mounting complaints about Pokémon players trespassing on private property – including Arlington Cemetery and the Holocaust Museum in Washington and Governor Charlie Baker’s residence in Swampscott.
According to some estimates, 21 million people are now using the I-phone application daily. That represents a lot of people racing through neighborhoods and gathering uninvited on lawns. A California attorney has filed two law suits thus far on behalf of homeowners in Michigan and New Jersey, alleging that the game has created a serious nuisance for them. The Washington Post reported recently that a small town in Virginia has been overrun by hordes of Pokémon-obsessed players, transforming what was once a sleepy, picturesque community into “a virtual-reality super highway.” And condominium attorneys are fielding more questions from association clients wondering what they can do about Pokémon players running around association property, disturbing residents and annoying staff members.
Dealing with non-residents is fairly straightforward: Board members, managers or annoyed residents can simply call the police and have them deal with people who are trespassing on private property. If your community has been designated a Pokémon site (which you would learn only when you see hordes of people you don’t recognize running around with cell phones in hand), you can file an on-line request to have your property de-listed at: https://support.Pokémon go.nianticlabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/222249687-What-can-we-help-you-with. It’s not clear how effective these requests will be – critics say, not very effective at all – but it’s easy enough to do and probably worth the effort. That said, calling the police will probably produce more immediate results. As one attorney pointed out: “Saying, ‘I’m playing Pokémon,’ is not a defense against a trespassing charge.”
Players in Residence
But not all Pokémon players are trespassers. Many are community residents. A recent blog posting described the problems resulting when they “congregate at all hours” in common areas, “causing significant nuisances and safety concerns for community residents and staff.”
You can’t tell residents to leave ─ they have a right to be there ─ but you can enforce the nuisance provision in your documents prohibiting them from disturbing other residents. As a start, you might post or print a message reminding residents of their obligation to be considerate of their neighbors and to obey association rules (barring nuisances). If many residents are Pokémon players, you might also designate times when they can play in common areas without disturbing others ─ for example, not before a specified hour in the morning or later than a specified time in the evening, or only during times when resident use of common area facilities (pool, clubhouse, meeting rooms) is relatively slack.
There is one other concern that merits more attention than it has received: Pokémon play by employees, during work hours. This could be an issue not just for management companies, but also for associations that directly employ on-site managers, maintenance personnel, or other staff members. Apart from the obvious concern about lost productivity (if employees are chasing Pokémon creatures, they probably are not doing the work for which they are being paid), there are also liability risks, for example: If your Pokémon-distracted employee injures another driver or a pedestrian while driving an association vehicle or any vehicle at all on association business. There are also data security concerns when employees download or access I-phone apps related to the game. A few suggestions associations should consider in the employment area:
Develop a policy if you don’t have one (or amend an existing policy, if necessary) to control the use of mobile devices during work hours.
Adopt an electronic use policy prohibiting unapproved downloads to employer-owned devices.
Adopt a separate policy restricting the use of employee-owned devices that have access to employer networks.
Adopt a policy specifically prohibiting employees from playing Pokémon (or any other game for that matter) during work hours and/or on association property.
Another risk that is (literally) bugging condo associations, Zika is a virus triggered by mosquito bites, with potentially devastating health effects. The primary concern is birth defects if a pregnant woman is infected, but there is also some evidence that the virus can cause serious illnesses in adults, as well.
As the virus has spread from South America to the US, condominium industry professionals have been debating what responsibility, if any, condo associations have to protect owners. Some say associations have no obligation to prevent outbreaks and they caution against incurring liability where there is none. “Why don’t we just cure cancer and AIDS and the flu?” one skeptical condo attorney asked in an article posted by HOA Leader.
Reasonable Measures
Others say boards should take reasonable steps to reduce Zika risks in their communities, and I agree. Owners who become infected are as likely to sue the association for failing to act as for taking actions that aren’t effective. So avoiding action won’t do much to reduce your liability risks, but it will prevent you from reducing infection risks for owners. There are moral and humanitarian considerations (these are your neighbors) as well as legal ones to weigh in assessing how much, or how little, boards should do. And there are a number of modest steps boards can take without significantly heightening liability concerns. Our suggestions:
Provide information about the virus, with references and/or links to additional information resources for owners.
Inspect the community to identify conditions (standing water tops the list) in which mosquitoes can breed. Drain standing water, if that is feasible. It can collect in cans, bottles, and ditches, among other places. Outdoor fountains and birdbaths can also become mosquito breeding grounds.
Outdoor spraying to eliminate mosquitoes is another option, but you will have to consider the concerns of chemically-sensitive residents. You may want to poll owners and possibly even have them vote on this step before implementing it.
Use air conditioning to control the spread of mosquitoes. While this suggestion, which comes from the Centers for Disease Control, obviously undermines efforts to control energy costs, you may want to keep the air on in vacant units and in common area facilities (exercise and meeting rooms) when they aren’t being used.
Take appropriate measures to protect employees. Recent guidance published by OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) offers some helpful suggestions, among them:
Inform employees of Zika risks.
Provide insect repellant and protective clothing for people who work outdoors
Offer special accommodations to pregnant women.
Recognize that your management company may have to make accommodations for its employees that could affect the association’s management services. Be prepared to work with management companies to ensure that their employees are protected while minimizing disruptions for your community.
This isn’t a new issue, but it continues to evolve as the laws regulating the drug are changing. Massachusetts and Maine, which already permit the medically-prescribed use of marijuana, are among the five states that will ask voters in November whether they want to authorize recreational use of the drug as well. California, Arizona and Nevada are the other states offering this ballot question in the fall; Colorado, Washington state, Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia have already approved comparable recreational use measures.
As we have noted in previous alerts ( click here and here) measures authorizing marijuana use raise complicated questions in condo communities, among them: How to reconcile state laws authorizing the medical or recreational use of marijuana with association bylaws prohibiting smoking in the community; how to balance the Fair Housing accommodation requests from owners with a medical need to use marijuana against the complaints of other owners who say they are sickened by the second-hand smoke from marijuana cigarettes; and how to deal with owners who are cultivating marijuana plants in their homes, as existing laws in Massachusetts and other states permit.
Options for Associations
Approval of measures permitting the recreational use of marijuana will arguably further complicate an already complex issue, but I think the general advice we’ve offered condominium clients in the past will still apply.
If the community has a by-law prohibiting smoking, you can forbid owners from smoking marijuana recreationally, even if voters approve a measure allowing it. Concerns about second-hand smoke created by tobacco apply equally to marijuana.
For communities that don’t have smoking bylaws in place, Federal law provides an additional weapon. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) still classifies marijuana as a prohibited substance, making the possession or consumption of it, for medical or recreational purposes, illegal under federal law. (The FDA recently rejected a request to rethink its position.) Because most condo documents prohibit illegal activities, you could ban the possession or use of marijuana on that basis.
While the Fair Housing Act may require you to provide accommodations for owners asserting a medical need for marijuana, that doesn’t necessarily mean you must waive a bylaw prohibiting smoking. You can legitimately ask if these owners can consume the drug by ingesting it – as a pill or an ingredient in foods – rather than by smoking it. If a doctor insists that only smoking the drug will work, the board may want to propose measures limiting the adverse impact on other owners: For example, asking owners to smoke only in areas where the smoke is less likely to bother other residents, or requiring the installation of filters to keep smoke from drifting to other units.
Cultivation of marijuana (permitted by many medical marijuana laws) creates many additional concerns for condo associations, primary among them:
Security. The market price ─ $3,000 – $4,000 per plant ─ makes them a tempting target for thieves; and
Property damage. The heat, humidity and water the plants require create mold risks; high intensity lights are a potential fire hazard; and the increased utility usage, if shared rather than metered individually, could create an unfair burden on other owners.
Any of these concerns, and certainly all of them combined, would justify barring marijuana cultivation in the community. A more moderate position, less likely to invite a legal challenge, would be to impose reasonable restrictions, for example: Establishing standards for the equipment used, requiring periodic inspections to monitor for safety and compliance, and specifying that owners cultivating marijuana will be responsible for increased utility charges or other costs related to that activity.
It is difficult to predict how voters will respond to the marijuana ballot questions in November. Recent polls show a tight race in Massachusetts with passage more likely (though not certain) in Maine. But whatever the outcome of these votes, there is no question that marijuana (along with Zika and probably Pokémon, as well) will continue to pose legal, governance and other challenges for condominium associations. It is best to start thinking about these issues and formulating policies to deal with them before they arise – as complaints, litigation, conflicts among owners, or all of the above – in your community.
Marcus Errico Emmer & Brooks specializes in condo law, representing clients in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
Stephen Marcus
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Category: sarod
Thursday, 12/13/12
Ravi Shankar, sitarist and composer, April 7, 1920-December 11, 2012
With Ali Akbar Khan (sarod), et al., “Bangla Dhun,” New York (The Concert for Bengladesh), 1971
art beat: Art Institute of Chicago
Here’s my one-word review of the newly opened gallery of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, where, Tuesday morning (after a hearing at the nearby federal court building), sunlight was streaming through the windows: stunning.
Wednesday, 3/31/10
Indian Music Festival, part 2
Nikhil Banerjee, sitar
With Zakir Hussain (tabla), live
Raga Bhimpalasi (Alap [opening section])
Raga Bhairavi
Raga Manj Khammaj, with Ali Akbar Khan (sarod)
In my own listening, I have sometimes felt that a raga symbolizes the states of a person’s life in reverse order. The open-ended introduction, or the alap, with its meditative quality, seems to reflect the wisdom of the elder sage, or sannyasin. As the raga progresses, and the rhythmic pulse and melodic development begins, one meets the adult in full control of his or her faculties in the prime of life. There is a healthy balance between bursts of improvisation and the observance of structure. Toward the end, as the raga accelerates and approaches a climax, one enters the childlike realm, where the desire to display virtuosity is strongest, and the performers throw caution to the wind and go for broke. But for many musicians and connoisseurs, this is where the raga has lost its purity, with the delicate opening alap seen as the “true essence” of raga.—Peter Lavezzoli, The Dawn of Indian Music in the West (2006)
A musician must lift up the souls of the listeners, and take them towards Space.—Nikhil Banerjee
Ali Akbar Khan, sarod
Raga Brindabani Sarang
Raga Marwa
Raga Shree
Zakir Hussain on Ali Akbar Khan (following his death last year)
Yehudi Menuhin on Ali Akbar Khan
An absolute genius . . . the greatest musician in the world.
Philip Glass on Indian Music
The thing I learned from Ravi [Shankar] is that the rhythmic structure could become an overall musical structure. In our Western tradition that’s simply not the case. . . . There [India], rhythm is used in the way that timbre and pitch and other aspects are used. In the West we have an alliance between harmony and melody. That’s the basic alliance: rhythm comes along to liven things up. . . . There [India], the tension is between the melody and the rhythm, not between the melody and the harmony. . . . The moment that the tala, or the rhythmic structure, comes up and meets against the melodic structure at the sum—when the beats come together—that’s the resolution in Indian music. The complications that the cyclic rhythmic structure can create, and the effects to the melodic development, open up a whole different way of thinking about music. And that’s basically what I heard. I knew nothing like that in my own personal experience, or in any Western music that I knew.—Philip Glass (in William Duckworth, Talking Music [1995])
Ali Akbar Khan on Music
For us, as a family, music is like food. When you need it you don’t have to explain why, because it is basic to life.
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Home Education The Delhi School of Communication (DSC) celebrates Silver Jubilee
The Delhi School of Communication (DSC) celebrates Silver Jubilee
New Delhi, September 07th, 2019: It was visioning into the future that led to the formation of The Delhi School of Communication (DSC) which just steps into its milestone 25th year. A yearlong series of celebrations – ‘DSC Silvotsav’ is planned in 2019-2020. The anniversary year kickstarted with a tree-planting drive called – TreeBoot on September 7, where a plantation of 250 neem and papri saplings happened at DDA Park, Lado Sarai 2 Division 6 New Delhi. The area with the newly-planted saplings will be popularly known as ‘DSC Forest’. Besides, the institute has also decided to educate underprivileged girls and boys – to take the service of education further.
Mr Ashok Kumar, Director Horticulture DDA was the Guest of Honour. The event was attended by many dignitaries, industry leaders, professors, students and local residents. Prof Ramola Kumar, Dean DSC and Ms. Rupanjali Lahiri Gupta, Associate Director DSC welcomed all the guests.
On the occasion, Prof Ramola Kumar expressed her happiness and said, “DSC has struck a master stroke- a quarter century. It’s been a very satisfying journey and we have tried to be the change agent. Now we invite you to imbibe the right attitude and bring in significant changes in the industry. ”
Prof Kumar further added, “We have indeed, evolved and become successful in Building Young India. Now, we are looking forward to the next 25 years. So come, join us not in the evolution, but in the revolution – be the change agent. I would like to congratulate Team DSC, students and their parents, alumni’s and our associate network.”
Mr Ashok Kumar, Director Horticulture DDA said, “Planting trees is very necessary today, but planting is not enough, you need to take care of the trees too. We appreciate DSC’s initiative and will be gifting 50 jamun saplings to the students.” He was accompanied by Mr Shyam Bajaj-Deputy Director Horticulture and Mr. Krishna Kumar from DDA.
“DSC was built to last. As we celebrate our present, we reminisce this journey, and raise a toast to the future. We see this year as laying the foundation stone for the next ten years. We have our Vision 2030 in place and we are in the process of taking careful steps to achieve it,” shared Ms Rupanjali Lahiri Gupta.
Looking back, DSC’s journey has been very productive, and the laurels are well-deserved. DSC pioneered the concept of Apprenticeship (half-day work) and learning-by-doing acquired a certain ingrained value. It became holistic in building the right attitude, that led to the students grow into efficient professionals. Managing time and stress are also critical learnings imbibed during the course through intense training. DSC was also the first to introduce an intense course on Cultural Studies since 1995. Today, the importance of this subject becomes significantly vital, in the context of Marshal McLuhan’s global village.
DSC pedagogy is filled with workshops, presentations, business stimulating mind games. Schooling you through professionalism is a reality for each student. The small class size assures close monitoring, intense counseling and mentoring. The faculty are practicing managers, presidents, vice-presidents, directors from the industry and senior educationists.
About DSC
The Delhi School of Communication is a 20-year old institute that envisioned the concept of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) and has been offering an IMC programme to post graduates since 1995. It has contributed significantly to the communications industry, through its futuristic thinking. The courses offered are: 2-year dual qualification programme – Post Graduate Diploma Programme in Communication (PGDPC). Besides, DSC also delivers short-term certificate programmes in – Advertising & Media, Public Relations, Event Management, Marketing and Sales, Grooming & Personality Development.
Alert to industry needs, DSC also organizes workshops in key growth areas for corporate houses, to meet dynamic competitive challenges successfully.
Click Here for: Free Online Courses for Science, Arts, Commerce
Click Here for: Free SSC & Bank Online Test Series
delhi school of communication
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How to survive the new landscape for sales jobs in investment banks
by Sarah Butcher 31 August 2016
Don't get left behind
Sales jobs in investment banks aren't what they used to be. As banks automate trading systems and render the entire sales and trading process more data-driven, established salespeople are losing their jobs (just ask the fixed income salespeople at Goldman Sachs). The sales-skills of the past aren't the skills of the future. Want to survive in sales? You'll need to adapt.
We spoke to Arran Yentob, a partner at consulting firm Oliver Wyman who's been working with leading investment banks as they reconfigure their sales and trading businesses. Here's how he suggests things are evolving - and how today's salespeople can make sure they still exist tomorrow.
Sales jobs in investment banks are being shaped by three distinct forces
Three things are driving banks to rethink how they structure their sales functions, suggests Yentob: resource constraint, data, and market structure.
Resource constraint is about balance sheet, and man hours. As banks cut risk weighted assets (RWAs) in preparation for so-called 'Basel IV', they're having to be a lot more careful about allocating capital and placing trades that will generate additional RWAs. "Banks are having to become smarter about their allocation of financial resources – and where and how sales direct their time," says Yentob. Once upon a time, a salesperson might have called a client because he liked them and sold a product because it generated revenues or short term profits. Now, they also need to weigh-up which trades are viable in terms of balance sheet (something that's behind Deutsche's upgrade of its trading systems under Sam Wisnia) and whether that client is worthwhile.
Data is all about using data to serve clients better. All banks now have complex customer relationship management (CRM) systems that enable them to track clients' behaviour and to work with them more efficiently. Servicing clients is no longer about a salesperson's 'nose' for a client's needs: it's about using the CRM tools to establish when to call clients and what to pitch to them.
Market structure is about the demise of market making. Instead of making markets by holding securities on their balance sheet - however briefly - until they find a seller, banks are increasingly acting simply as intermediaries and matching buyers with sellers in an agency trading model. "Market structure is changing – with electronic and agency trading increasing " says Yentob. Who needs a human being when computers can simply bring buyers and sellers together (unless, of course, the market is hugely illiquid)?
Banks are segmenting clients and allocating salespeople accordingly
At the same time, banks are putting a lot of effort into dividing clients into segments. Banks like J.P. Morgan have been tracking their most profitable clients for years; Deutsche Bank said last October that 30% of its clients generate 80% of its revenues. "Banks are segmenting clients in order to allocate resources more efficiently and to serve them in the most effective way," says Yentob.
The standard segmentation is between high touch clients which require a lot of human interaction, and low touch clients which don't. Yentob, however, says this is an over-simplification. "Clients are segmented by the nature of their behaviour. Do they trade liquid products electronically, or do they trade illiquid products and require human beings to structure a solution? How often do they trade and how much? How many different products are they trading with you?"
The high-touch, low-touch model is the basic structure, says Yentob - it's just that there are gradations in between.
Low-touch sales jobs are still highly complex, but are more about coordination than deep product knowledge
If you have a more low-touch sales job, you'll be working with clients who mostly trade electronically and who don't require a lot of human interaction. This may sound easy, it's not: the number of clients you work with could be huge.
"Many low-touch models will still require sales headcount to interact with clients," says Yentob. "They will be covering a much longer list range of clients and to be successful will need efficient CRM/technology tools to manage their time and understand their clients." How many clients? Anything from 50-100.
This is an entirely new kind of job, Yentob says. Clients who are in this so-called 'low touch' category were often under-serviced before - they were called-up rarely, if at all. Using the new CRM and electronic trading infrastructure, they can now be serviced very efficiently by salespeople who can help them use electronic trading systems more efficiently.
Low touch sales people still need to be good communicators, says Yentob: "They need to be structured thinkers who can manage activity across a long list of clients and work well in a team that, long term, will become more cross asset in nature. "(UBS MD George Athanasopoulos predicted in May that the salespeople of the future will need to work cross-product.)
Low-touch jobs are comparatively few. With each low-touch salesperson servicing up to 100 people, most banks employ no more than 30 of them.
High-touch sales jobs are for established salespeople, but you'll need deep product knowledge and structuring ability
If you're an established salesperson in an investment bank, you're more likely to aspire to a high-end high-touch sales job working with core clients on complex and illiquid products, than a low-touch role working with non-core clients who mostly trade electronically. These high-touch jobs pay more and are more plentiful. But do you have the right skills?
High-touch sales people with, "deep sector, product or solutions expertise will continue to stand out," says Yentob. They need the expertise to assemble solutions which meet clients' risk requirements. They also need to be able to talk to clients about their overall requirements and the nature of their relationship with the firm.
Salespeople who've been used to dealing with core clients on a superficial trade-by-trade business, therefore will not necessarily survive.
There's a need for high-end relationship managers
At the very top of the tree, Yentob says there's a need for high-end relationship managers who can work with core clients to ensure a bank is fulfilling their needs across the entire range of products. "For the largest and priority accounts the ability to deliver the firm, understand the client and manage across the account is critical as clients look for a few true partners where they allocate the majority of their business," says Yentob.
Goldman Sachs' new Client-Relationship Management and Strategy Group, would seem to be an extreme example of this. Formed in April, it's all about keeping the bank's top clients happy and is staffed by Goldman's most senior and effective salespeople. Morgan Stanley has something similar, known as the 'senior relationship management team.'
"These are much more senior roles than you've seen in the past," Yentob informs us. How do you get one? Some banks are allowing their best low-touch salespeople to train for senior relationship management roles.
Contact: SButcher@eFinancialCareers.com
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Fungicides as an underestimated hazard for freshwater organisms
Fungicides are worldwide used in agriculture. Large amounts of applied fungicides leak into nearby surface waters. The effects of these substances on aquatic organisms are poorly understood and not specifically addressed in the EU regulatory frameworks with respect to the protection of surface waters. Scientists at the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB) have found that pollution by fungicides can have unforeseen but far-reaching consequences for the functioning of aquatic systems – like indirect effects on the development of algal blooms.
The researchers investigated whether fungicides regularly used in agriculture such as tebuconazole or azoxystrobin influence the growth of aquatic fungi. In water bodies, fungi act as decomposers, but also as pathogens or parasites of other aquatic organisms. The research team was able to show that fungicides at concentrations similar to those found in natural water bodies drastically decreased infection of cyanobacteria by parasitic fungi. Cyanobacteria – formerly called blue-green algae – often grow disproportionally, causing blooms that can be toxic to humans and animals. „By infecting cyanobacteria, parasitic fungi limit their growth and thus reduce the occurrence and intensity of toxic algal blooms,“ says IGB researcher Dr. Ramsy Agha, head of the study. „Whereas we usually perceive disease as a negative phenomenon, parasites are very important for the normal functioning of aquatic ecosystems and can – as in this case – also have positive effects. Pollution by fungicides can interfere with this natural process”, the researcher adds.
The research team, together with colleagues from the University of Minho in Portugal, has already been able to show in other studies that fungicides have a negative effect on the growth of aquatic fungi. Like in the recent study, they investigated the interaction between parasitic fungi and their hosts in the presence of fungicides. For example, they showed that the infection of water fleas with yeast fungi decreased under commonly occurring fungicide concentrations in the lake water.
Aquatic fungi are everywhere in the water:
There are only rough estimates of the proportion of fungi in aquatic microbial communities in the various types of water. In some freshwaters they can probably account for up to 50 percent of microorganisms with cell nuclei. Fungi hold many important ecological roles in aquatic ecosystems; as decomposers of organic matter and as a part of the food chain. Regarding the latter, fungi are a food source for higher trophic levels.
Effect of fungicides on aquatic fungi not part of the risk assessment:
Despite their importance, aquatic fungi are not specifically addressed in the EU regulatory frameworks. To protect the ecology of waters from adverse effects of plant protection products (PPP), a prospective risk assessment is conducted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) prior to authorization of active ingredients and their formulated products. The EFSA guidance document (EFSA, 2013) requires toxicity data for three taxonomic groups: plants, invertebrates and a fish species, representing a simplified vision of aquatic food chains.
One reason for the disregard of aquatic fungi in risk assessments is the lack of standardized bioassays using aquatic fungi as test species. “As the cultivation and identification of aquatic fungi in scientific labs is continuously improving, risk evaluations should consider the impact of fungicides on aquatic fungi”, says IGB researcher Prof. Dr. Justyna Wolinska, head of the working group Disease Evolutionary Ecology.
Prof. Dr. Justyna Wolinska
Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB)
Email: wolinska@igb-berlin.de
Phone: +49(30) 64 181 686
Ortiz-Cañavate, B. K., J. Wolinska, and R. Agha. 2019. Fungicides at environmentally relevant concentrations can promote the proliferation of toxic bloom-forming cyanobacteria by inhibiting natural fungal parasite epidemics. Chemosphere 229:18-21.
Leibniz-Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB)
Nadja Neumann
Tel: 030/64181975
Mail: nadja.neumann@igb-berlin.de
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About SAP SE / SAP News Center / Cloud
SAP Learning Hub Exceeds Half Million Subscribers with Over 5 Million Assignments Accessed
WALLDORF — SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) today announced that SAP Learning Hub has grown to over 500,000 users and is helping companies cut costs and time to train employees.
Learning Journey documents now include more than 100 SAP Learning Rooms and the SAP Live Access environment with 400 live training systems
SAP Learning Hub provides tangible business value, equipping individuals and organizations with SAP software skills
With more than 5 million learning assignments accessed by the end of the first quarter of 2017, SAP Learning Hub is a comprehensive enablement program that offers a wide range of collaborative tools and educational content designed to provide SAP software users with the tools for success. Launched as a full-scale cloud-based offering, SAP Learning Hub is the largest learning platform used worldwide to learn about SAP software.
The platform provides learners with opportunities for peer-to-peer interaction, discussion forums and collaboration and direct access to experts. These features are available in every SAP Learning Room, in which Learning Journey documents can also be accessed. Over 100 Learning Journey documents are included in SAP Learning Hub.
Each “stop” on the way to mastery in a Learning Journey can take one of a variety of customizable formats, based on learning goals. Learners have the opportunity to participate through:
SAP Learning Rooms are interactive, virtual spaces that give members access to expert-led events, collaborative community video features and gamified concepts. Included is the reputation program, which allows learners to collect points, win badges and complete missions and challenges. Seventy four percent of the participants of SAP Learning Hub use SAP Learning Rooms once a week, with 70 percent saying they found them easy to use.
Diverse learning formats include e-learning courses, course e-books and the latest delta training with content that is always up-to-date. In addition, newly implemented stand-alone assessments provide learners with feedback that alerts them to where their knowledge gaps are and how to close them.
Enterprise MOOCs are massive open online courses provided through the openSAP platform included in SAP Learning Hub. MOOCs allow users to learn at their own pace based on tried and trusted classroom concepts.
The SAP Live Access environment is a live, fully supported private SAP software environment with over 400 training systems that simulate hands-on experience with SAP software. The environment includes access to real, but anonymized customer data.
SAP Learning Hub has helped corporate adopters such as IBM, Mercedes-Benz and Zurich Insurance Group meet their corporate learning initiatives. Accomplishments include:
IBM Global Business Services achieved a 93 percent lower average cost per employee training session as compared to the previous year. It earned the 2016 Brandon Hall Learning and Development Bronze award for “Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy.”
Mercedes-Benz Türk A.Ş. reduced its overall required number of training days by 95 percent by streamlining content delivery.
Zurich Insurance Group increased its customer satisfaction by 65 percent by improving employee competencies.
“The implementation of SAP Learning Hub, which provides access for all IBM practitioners, has allowed us to grow our capacity and skills while driving business value,” said Shelia Carter, global learning executive, IBM. “This ensures that through SAP Learning Hub, IBM can accelerate and deliver innovative solutions to the market better using the latest SAP technologies and solutions.”
Bernd Welz, executive vice president and chief knowledge officer, Products and Innovation, SAP, said: “SAP Learning Hub is SAP’s response to a new wave of continuous corporate learner shifts happening in the business and technology world. Through future innovation of SAP Learning Hub, we will continue our commitment to ensuring our customers and their employees have the skills they need to be successful in the digital age.”
SAP will continue to make enhancements to SAP Learning Hub in 2017, delivering the most up-to-date, flexible and advanced social learning experience possible for users, professionals and students.
For more information, visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @sapnews.
As market leader in enterprise application software, SAP (NYSE: SAP) helps companies of all sizes and industries run better. From back office to boardroom, warehouse to storefront, desktop to mobile device – SAP empowers people and organizations to work together more efficiently and use business insight more effectively to stay ahead of the competition. SAP applications and services enable more than 350,000 business and public sector customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and grow sustainably. For more information, visit www.sap.com.
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Tags: MOOCs, openSAP, SAP Learning Hub, SAP Learning Rooms, SAP Live Access
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About SAP SE / SAP News Center / Ecosystem
Another Food Recall? Here’s How We Prevent It
April 1, 2019 by Scott Campbell, Ashley Tully
When the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took the unusual step of warning people not to eat romaine lettuce last November, it was a rare and dramatic measure for the agency to take. And one that impacted many food service industries across the country.
It happened because the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration knew they could not immediately pinpoint exactly where the lettuce had come from. An outbreak of the bacteria E. coli had been linked to romaine consumption, but neither the agencies nor the food industry companies had a clear view of the supply chain that would allow them to quickly pinpoint where the problem originated. The outbreak was finally resolved in early January.
It’s one of the problems that Deloitte hopes to eliminate with its Cold Chain solution leveraging SAP S/4HANA, SAP Fiori, and SAP Cloud Platform. The Deloitte solution uses Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and geo-location data at a truck or pallet level to help ensure that temperature remains within desired parameters. Data is translated to SAP Cloud Platform in real time and integrates with the core ERP systems of customers, particularly in the food or pharmaceutical industries where temperature control is imperative for many goods.
“Historically, by the time a company gets a shipment where there has been a temperature issue, they may have to throw away hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory in the truck,” said Darwin Deano, SAP chief technology officer, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “Our solution allows companies to make informed decisions on recall or replacement of shipments based on current location to avoid customer relationship impacts due to spoilage.”
Reducing Waste, Improving Compliance
The global cold chain market is growing, almost 14 percent annually through next year when it’s expected to surpass $270 billion. Cold Chain, like many solutions developed by Deloitte, comes from seeing a need in the market, according to Vadhi Narasimhamurti, SAP Supply Chain leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP. “This was developed based off client data. Roughly 20 percent of food inventory is lost after production and before consumption due to temperature issues. Also, companies need to meet growing compliance standards for food and drug safety, such as the Food Safety Modernization Act,” he said.
Maintaining a stable temperature is imperative to maximize food quality and shelf life, statistics that Deloitte believes Cold Chain can improve. Leveraging intelligent enterprise machine learning qualities from SAP technologies, Deloitte’s Cold Chain can learn behavioral patterns over time to better predict temperature fluctuations that may need to be resolved.
“Maybe it’s a certain route trucks should avoid or the way something is packaged. The main benefit is that it allows customers to be proactive, not reactive, to an issue,” Amit Mittal, SAP Innovation Delivery leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP, said. For example, if inventory needs to stay below 60 degrees, Cold Chain can send an alert once the vehicle or storage facility hits 55 degrees, giving the customer time to take appropriate action.
Pinpointing the Problem, Identifying the Solution
It also allows customers to have complete visibility of every package in the supply chain. That means customers would have immediately been able to identify where the E. coli-tainted lettuce had originated.
“Instead of having to recall all the romaine in the United States, you could have limited it to a specific farm or crop. That traceability is important to identify where the product has been but also what may have happened from the distribution center to the table,” Gautam Mylavarapu, SAP Supply Chain Innovation leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP, said.
Likewise, pharmaceuticals requiring temperature control can benefit from Cold Chain. “Awareness of a problem allows a customer to act that much quicker. They can monitor in real time and take appropriate action right away,” Deano said. “That leads to safer sourcing of product, less waste, and lower overall costs.”
Beyond temperature, Deloitte uses the sensors and SAP Cloud Platform to track data on humidity, pressure, and other variables that could also impact the sensitivity and value of food and pharmaceuticals. “This kind of solution is critical to help reduce the risk of food poisoning or other health-related incidents to consumers. It also can have a dramatic positive impact on the companies that might hold liability for the inventory as well,” said Thorsten Leiduck, global vice president, SAP Cloud Platform Ecosystem. “Deloitte’s solution can help identify what the root of the problem is and help create a safer, more secure environment for everyone.”’
SAP and our partners. Improving lives. That is our purpose.
Tags: Cold Chain, cold chain logistics, Deloitte, Internet of Things, SAP Cloud Platform, SAP Fiori, SAP Innovations4Good, SAP partners, SAP S/4 HANA, supply chain
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Yemen blast kills 14 children, leaves others fighting for their lives in Sana’a
Giles Clarke/UN OCHA
A building in Sana'a damaged by fighting in the war-torn country (file photo)
Further details have emerged of an attack on a school in the Yemeni capital Sana’a at the weekend which killed 14 youngsters and critically injured 16 others.
Echoing condemnation of the attack, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday reiterated its warning that a child dies every 10 minutes from “preventable causes” in the war-shattered country.
On Sunday, a blast in Sana’a killed a total of 14 children who were in school - one aged just four - and injured 16, "most under the age of nine,” UNICEF spokesperson Christophe Boulierac told journalists in Geneva.
The SE is deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of civilians, the majority of whom were young female students attending school, in Saewan area in #Sanaa #Yemen
Read Full statement here: https://t.co/cB2beLHHo0 pic.twitter.com/0BqFhr2YaC
— OSE_Yemen (@OSE_Yemen) April 9, 2019
“More than 400 children (have been) killed and seriously injured since the beginning of 2019,” he added, noting that many of those injured in the latest attack on the Houthi opposition stronghold “are fighting for their lives” in hospital, while one girl died yesterday after succumbing to her injuries.
Also on Tuesday, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths, said that he was “deeply saddened to hear of the tragic deaths of civilians, the majority of whom were young female students attending school in Saewan area in Sana’a, on 7 April”.
Repeating his appeal to the belligerents to “make every possible effort” to end civilian suffering and “allow young Yemenis to grown up in peace and safety” by securing a politically negotiated end to the conflict, the UN negotiator highlighted that it was civilians “across the country who continue to suffer the devastating impacts of the conflict”.
'Students were in class' at lunchtime
Asked about the deadly incident in Sana’a, the UNICEF spokesperson said that it happened near two schools at “almost lunchtime” and “students were in class”.
The blast shattered windows, unleashing a burst of shrapnel and broken glass into classrooms, he added.
On whether the schools were located close to potentially legitimate military targets, Mr. Boulierac replied that he was “not informed if there is a military or any kind of potential target or potential military or official building near the two schools”.
Although the UNICEF spokesperson was unable to provide further details about the exact nature of the attack, he said that it came in the context of other strikes on civilians, including one in Hajjah, north of Hudaydah on 9 March, in which 12 children died.
Since fighting escalated in Yemen in March 2015 between supporters of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and Houthi opposition groups, thousands of civilians are believed to have died.
2,642 children killed in just under four years
According to UNICEF, from 26 March 2015, to 15 December 2018, 2,672 children have been killed in Yemen and 4,371 youngsters have been injured.
Highlighting the ongoing violence in Yemen and the grave violation of children’s rights, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Geert Cappelaere, said in a statement that one in five schools can no longer be used as a direct result of the conflict.
Some have come “under direct attack while others are being used for military purposes”, he said, meaning that for more than two million children in Yemen, “going to school is a faraway dream.”
Over and above the threat from deadly violence, Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The biggest killers are food insecurity and preventable diseases.
Nearly 80 per cent of the total population, 24.1 million people, requires some form of humanitarian assistance and protection, according to UN humanitarians.
Ten million people are a step away from famine and starvation and 7 million people are malnourished.
“Children are also dying from disease, not only from hunger in Yemen,” Mr. Boulierac said. “A child dies every 10 minutes of preventable causes", including cholera, he added.
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Monday's Daily Brief: Hopes rise for peace in Syria and Yemen, UNGA speeches end, Guterres saddened by India flood deaths
Moving from a promise made in Sweden towards hope for peace in Yemen
Looming famine in Yemen could put two million mothers at risk of death – UN agency
News Tracker: Past Stories on This Issue
Yemen: 11 more ‘terrible, senseless’ civilian deaths reported, following attack in Sana’a - top UN official
The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen, Lise Grande, has expressed her outrage at the ‘terrible, senseless deaths’ of 11 civilians in the capital, Sana’a on Sunday, in which scores were also injured.
Help prevent children ‘from becoming victims in the first place’, implores Guterres at campaign launch
From killing and maiming, to recruitment, sexual abuse and abduction, “violence against children in armed conflict can take many forms”, said Secretary-General António Guterres, in a special message delivered at the launch of a new UN advocacy campaign on Tuesday - Act to Protect Children Affected by Conflict.
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TLC's New Series Is All About Seriously Funky Foot Problems: Watch a Sneak Peek
Nov 21, 2019 04:02 pm Entertainment 47
This new series about funky feet isn’t for the faint of heart.
On TLC’s brand new show, My Feet Are Killing Me, cameras follow Dr. Ebonie Vincent and Dr. Brad Schaeffer as they tackle everything from wart clusters and fungus, to toe amputations and foot reconstructions. (WARNING: The exclusive sneak peek, above, contains graphic images that may be unsettling.)
Premiering Jan. 2 at 10 p.m., the nine-part medical transformation series features a variety of patients, including a romance novelist looking to get her unsightly sixth toe amputated; an athlete with two dramatically different sized feet; a former professional dancer with a bunion so big she can hardly walk; a man suffering from Proteus syndrome, (the Elephant Man’s Disease); a nudist with severe fungus; and an adorable toddler born with 12 toes.
From grave ailments and cosmetic procedures to full reconstruction, Dr. Ebonie and Dr. Brad don’t flinch at even the most grotesque cases that come into their offices as they work to fix embarrassing foot problems and change people’s lives.
“It was clear, following the debut of Dr. Pimple Popper, that our audience was craving even more powerful and heartwarming stories of medical transformation,” said Howard Lee, president and general manager of TLC, in a statement.
“With My Feet Are Killing Me, we’re beyond excited for viewers to fall in love with Dr. Ebonie and Dr. Brad, who are tops in their field as well as exceedingly compassionate caregivers to their desperate patients. As with all series in TLC’s popular medical genre, we bring viewers along on emotional rollercoaster journeys through to their uplifting conclusions.”
My Feet Are Killing Me premieres Jan. 2 at 10 p.m. ET on TLC, after the return of Dr. Pimple Popper.
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Home » World News » Labour MP reveals how colleague had been sexually harassed
Labour MP reveals how colleague had been sexually harassed
10/18/2018 Labours, MP, Pearce, tells, Teresa
‘Woman who was sexually harassed by her House of Commons colleague was treated like the problem’, Labour’s Teresa Pearce tells MPs
MPs gasped as Teresa Pearce raised the case of a constituent who is employed by the Commons and had been targeted at work.
Her remarks prompted PM to vow to make a ‘very serious response’ to the case and findings of a report into sexual harassment and bullying in Parliament.
Report continued to cause issues for Labour after leader Jeremy Corbyn was forced to slap down his MPs over controversial comments yesterday
A Labour MP shocked Parliament yesterday as she described how a House of Commons employee had been sexually harassed by a colleague.
MPs gasped as Teresa Pearce raised the case of a constituent who is employed by the Commons and had been targeted at work. Her remarks prompted Theresa May to vow to make a ‘very serious response’ to the case and the findings of a damning report into sexual harassment and bullying in Parliament.
Miss Pearce told the House: ‘Despite many months of meetings with her HR and line management, she’s been treated like the problem rather than the victim.
MPs gasped as Teresa Pearce raised the case of a constituent who is employed by the Commons and had been targeted at work
‘Could the Prime Minister advise me what I can do to help my constituent return to work and feel safe – when her employer is this House?’ Mrs May replied by acknowledging her ‘concern’ over the findings of the Cox Report which identified a culture of bullying and abuse.
‘I hope there will be a very serious, full response and a proper response to Dame Laura Cox’s report,’ she said.
‘This should worry all of us and what I want to see is a situation where [Miss Pearce’s] constituent is able to ensure she can come to work in this House, be treated with dignity and respect, and not be subject to bullying, harassment or abuse.’
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It is understood that the Erith and Thamesmead constituent is employed directly by the House of Commons, rather than an MP. Miss Pearce said: ‘After many months of trying to support my constituent through the proper channels, out of sheer frustration, I felt that I had to raise it on the floor of the House today, especially after the report that was published yesterday.
‘I am not willing to divulge any details about my constituent, other than to say that she has my full support.’
The report continued to cause issues for Labour after leader Jeremy Corbyn was forced to slap down his MPs over controversial comments yesterday.
The Cox Report called for a change in the leadership of Parliament to enable the negative culture to be defeated. It prompted calls from Tory MPs for Speaker John Bercow to go, but Emily Thornberry, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, and Dame Margaret Beckett, the party’s former acting leader, said it was important that Mr Bercow stayed to oversee Brexit. Mr Corbyn’s spokesman distanced himself from their comments, saying Miss Thornberry was only expressing a ‘personal view’.
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Iran seeks to examine downed plane's black boxes itself: report
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HomeNewsRussian Security Service- Sinai Plane Crash Caused By A Terrorist Attack
Russian Security Service- Sinai Plane Crash Caused By A Terrorist Attack
Putin Confirms That Russian Plane Crash Was Due To A Bomb, Offers $50 Million Reward For Info On Terrorists
November 17, 2015 Niamh Harris News, World 0
The Kremlin confirmed on Tuesday that a bomb did bring down the Russian passenger plane that crashed over the Sinai Peninsula killing all 224 people on board.
The Russian passenger plan crash was caused by a terrorist attack the Federal Security Service director Aleksandr Bortnikov told President Putin.
Russia’s federal security service (FSB) said it would pay $50 million for information about the “terrorists” who brought down the plane
Putin has asked the Foreign Ministry to “call on all our [foreign] partners” to assist in the search for the terrorists behind the attack. “We look forward in the course of this work to [help from] all our friends, including in finding and punishing the criminals,” he added.
RT reports: “We can say that that [Sinai plane crash] was a terror act,” Bortnikov told Putin. According to the FSB chief, experts analyzed passengers’ belongings as well as the parts of the plane. “After the examination on all these objects, we have found traces of a foreign-made explosive substance,” Bortnikov said.
“During the flight, a homemade device with the power of 1.5 kilograms of TNT was detonated. As a result, the plane fell apart in the air, which can be explained by the huge scattering of the fuselage parts of the plane,” he added.
This not the first time that Russia has faced “barbarous terrorist crimes, more often without apparent causes, outside or domestic, as it was with the explosion at the railway station in Volgograd at the end of 2013,” He added: “We haven’t forgotten anything or anyone. The murder of our nationals in Sinai is among the bloodiest crimes in [terms of] the number of casualties.”
But Russia won’t be “wiping tears from our soul and heart,” he said. “This [tragedy] will stay with us forever. But this won’t stop us from finding and punishing the culprit.”
Vladimir Putin has vowed to find and punish the culprits behind the Sinai plane attack. “Our military work in Syria must not only continue. It must be strengthened in such a way so that the terrorists will understand that retribution is inevitable,” he said.
The Federal Security Service director also announced a reward of $50 million for information on those behind the terror attack on the A321.
The Russian president asked the Foreign Ministry to “call on all our [foreign] partners” to assist in the search for the terrorists behind the attack. “We look forward in the course of this work to [help from] all our friends, including in finding and punishing the criminals,” he added.
Russia will act in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter, which provides for countries’ right to self-defense, Putin said. “Those who attempt to assist criminals should be aware that the consequences of such attempts will be entirely their responsibility,” he added.
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HomeNewsThey’re Still “Looking” For MH370
They’re Still “Looking” For MH370
August 5, 2014 Royce Christyn News 0
MH370 Missing Plane - yournewswire.com
According to multiple news sources, officials are next week going to announce the next phase of the hunt for missing plane MH370. The plane, which went missing over five months ago, leaving hundreds of family members in grieving limbo, has yet to be found… so they say. First we will give you some information on this latest distraction update:
According to CNN:
“The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is leading the search for the missing plane at the Malaysian government’s request, is expected to engage a single, private contractor to search for the Boeing 777-200ER, and if successfully located, to positively identify and map the wreckage.
The operation, which the ATSB says is likely to begin in early September and will last up to a year, will include a number of underwater vehicles that will slowly scan some 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 square miles) of the southern Indian Ocean, looking for any sign of aircraft debris.
It’s not yet clear exactly how the deep-sea search, which Australia has estimated will cost $56 million, will play out. While the ATSB has developed the overall search strategy, the independent contractor will be responsible for day-to-day operations in the search zone.”
The Christian Post:
“Despite some reports online claiming that the missing plane may have been found, it has been confirmed that the mystery surrounding Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 remains, and that the search for the missing plane and the passengers and crew is ongoing.
Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss told the Australian Associated Press this week that the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has not been altered or hindered in any way by the recent crash incident of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine.”
And finally, Upstream Online:
“Malaysia’s Petronas is chipping in more than $20 million and deploying assets in the hunt for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared along with 239 people in March.
The state-owned oil giant is to deploy underwater search equipment and an offshore support vessel in what is says is a “new search area” for the plane that vanished while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Petronas said on Monday it is funding the 67 million Malaysian ringgits ($20.92 million) deployment of a Prosas towed side scan sonar unit and the anchor-handling tug supply vessel Go Phoenix. The Marshall Islands-flagged vessel is managed by Go Offshore Asia of Singapore.
The Fugro-owned survey vessel Fugro Equator and a Chinese survey vessel are said to be currently carrying out mapping of search areas, with a Malaysian unit to join the search this month.”
BUT, HERE’S THE THING –
What if it’s not in the water? There is a great read over here at this LINK, which we think our readers should take a look at. Here is a clip about an alleged passenger, Phillip Wood, who sent a picture from Diego Garcia Military Base – THE WHOLE ARTICLE, though long, is worth the read:
“I have been held hostage by unknown military personal after my flight was hijacked (blindfolded). I work for IBM and I have managed to hide my cellphone in my ass during the hijack. I have been separated from the rest of the passengers and I am in a cell. My name is Philip Wood. I think I have been drugged as well and cannot think clearly.”
Let’s dissect that. “I have been held hostage by unknown military personal after my flight was hijacked (blindfolded).” If this was a hoax given what was known by all the zit picking kids out there, the message would have instead said “I have been held hostage by American forces after my plane was hijacked. I am in Diego Garcia. But he does not know who his captors are, and that is a total green light for the story being true, because they sure as heck would never tell him. And he obviously did not know where he was.
He was blindfolded. The Army will blindfold people with a locked bag over the head that the people they put it on can’t get off, to leave their hands free when they have been judged to not be a threat. Once in the cell, they took the handcuffs off because he was not a threat, he was the victim and they left the bag to avoid being identified. Philip, who may have been beta testing the latest IBM voice recognition software or using the voice recognition abilities of the Iphone, swiped the screen correctly to turn it on and then talked to it to get it logged in somewhere to get his message out because he could not see the screen. THE KICKER IS THAT IT IS OBVIOUSLY A VOICE RECOGNITION MESSAGE. IT’S CHOPPY AND THE WORD PERSONNEL WAS INTERPRETED AS THE WORD PERSONAL. THE TWO ARE TOO DIFFERENT FOR THAT TO BE A TYPO, VOICE ASSISTED SOFTWARE OBVIOUSLY DID THAT ERROR.
So, the first line of what he said FITS PERFECT.
“I work for IBM and managed to hide my cellphone in my ass during the hijack”. Shills ripped this, saying he would not have bothered with where he worked. That is a load of BUNK. If he was flying to Bejing, he was most likely on a business flight for work, and wanted to make clear who he was so there would be no mistake. And where else would he put the cell phone other than his ass? in his ear? his pee hole? Come on now, that shillage was thin.
So the second line could not have been any different in a real scenario
“I have been separated from the rest of the passengers and am in a cell” The fact that he waited to be separated from the rest of the passengers to get the message out is absolutely the way it would have been, before separation they would have been closely watching all the passengers and he did not risk losing his phone while under close scrutiny. Once in the cell, the cell prevents escape and would not have immediate supervision. THAT would be the time to dial out.”
READ THE WHOLE THING HERE
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Saban Brands Announces Newly Formed Lifestyle And Entertainment Groups
Original Saban Brands Press Release via Saban Brands' corporate website, sabanbrands.com:
SABAN BRANDS ANNOUNCES NEWLY FORMED SABAN BRANDS LIFESTYLE GROUP (SBLG) & SABAN BRANDS ENTERTAINMENT GROUP (SBEG)
News Comes as a Result of Rapid Growth Within the Company’s Lifestyle and Entertainment Portfolios with Additional Acquisitions as a Top Priority and New Intellectual Properties in the Pipeline
LOS ANGELES, CA (December 11, 2014) – Saban Brands (SB) today announced the formation of two new units within the company, Saban Brands Lifestyle Group and Saban Brands Entertainment Group. Saban Brands Lifestyle Group (SBLG) was established to drive major expansion within the company’s diverse portfolio of fashion and lifestyle properties. To further solidify the foundation of Saban Brands, the company has simultaneously established Saban Brands Entertainment Group (SBEG) to oversee its entertainment portfolio.
Saban Brands has seen rapid growth over the past year across its portfolio of both entertainment and lifestyle brands. SBLG currently includes Paul Frank, a globally recognized, iconic fashion brand which features artistic designs for the young and young at heart, and recently acquired Macbeth, an apparel, footwear and accessories brand inspired by musicians. SBLG is dedicated to growing its portfolio of owned properties by acquiring a diverse group of consumer, fashion and lifestyle brands. SBLG will be led by Dan Castle, Managing Director of Strategic Business Development, from Saban Brands’ New York office and showroom. Castle will continue to report to Elie Dekel, President of Saban Brands.
“Saban Brands Lifestyle Group's focus is to actively acquire and grow brands that have a passionate consumer following,” said Castle. “SBLG is unique in that our brands will benefit from Saban’s vast resources and global reach.”
Alongside SBLG is SBEG, which includes existing powerhouse brands Power Rangers, Julius Jr. and Digimon Fusion as well as Popples, Luna Petunia and Emojiville in development. SBEG will continue to dedicate itself to developing innovative content that resonates with consumers across all media platforms.
“We have proven our approach to brand management and expansion, so these new units were a natural progression for us,” said Elie Dekel, President of Saban Brands, who will oversee the Entertainment Group and lead on the company’s expansion from the Los Angeles headquarters. “With the development of Saban Brands Lifestyle Group and Saban Brands Entertainment Group, we now have the opportunity to further elevate our current and future portfolio of properties in each of these sectors.”
About Saban Brands
Formed in 2010 as an affiliate of Saban Capital Group, Saban Brands (SB) was established to acquire and develop a worldclass portfolio of properties in the entertainment and lifestyle sectors. SB applies a global 360-degree management approach to growing and monetizing its brands through content, media, marketing, distribution, licensing and retail to markets worldwide and consumers of all ages. SB operates out of its global offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore. For more information, visit www.sabanbrands.com.
Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon, Power Rangers and Julius Jr. News and Highlights!
Labels: Julius Jr., Miscellaneous, Non-Nickelodeon Press Releases, Power Rangers, Saban
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Home / Filer's Files / Filer’s Files #25 – 2016 New ET Planets Found
Filer’s Files #25 – 2016 New ET Planets Found
in Filer's Files June 17, 2016 0 3,509 Views
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In special reports, this week’s files cover: Hermann Oberth Father of Rocketry says UFOs Are Extraterrestrial, UFO History, Mystery of the Black Triangle, UFO History, Space Station Cam Spots UFO, New Planets Found, Beyond Science Fiction, Navy Drone, and Mars Lakes.
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena sightings were reported over Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena sightings were reported over Arab Emirates, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malta, and Scotland in the United Kingdom.
The Filer Research Institute feels the scientific study of UFOs is for the benefit of humankind and is an important endeavor. The weekly intelligence report provides you with information on the latest sightings and UFO news that you need to understand the world situation. The purpose of these files is to report the UFO eyewitness and photo/video evidence that occurs on a daily basis around the world and in space. These Files assume that extraterrestrial intelligent life not only exists, but my hypothesis is that the over a thousand UFOs reported each month represent technologically advanced spacecraft conducting surveillance of Earth. I personally became interested in UFOs when London Control ordered me to intercept one over England while flying for the US Air Force and Prince Phillip told me of his personal interest in UFOs. The US Air Force investigated UFOs for more than twenty years under Project Blue Book; and I continue this advanced research. I believe the God of the universe has spread life throughout the cosmos and UFO’s are visiting us in ever-increasing numbers.
There is a new world coming
George A. Filer III
Photo captured on June 4, 2016 in Jersey City, New Jersey
New Jersey State Director
MUFON Eastern Region Director
Www.nationalUFOcenter.com. Now receiving 3 million hits a month
Forward these files to your friends and neighbors.
Hermann Oberth Father of Rocketry says UFOs Are Extraterrestrial
West Germany, in conjunction with other European countries, conducted a secret study from 1951 to 1954, also concluding that UFOs were extraterrestrial. This study was revealed by German rocketry pioneer Hermann Oberth, who headed the study and who also made many public statements supporting the ETH in succeeding years. At the study’s conclusion in 1954, Oberth declared, “These objects (UFOs) are conceived and directed by intelligent beings of a very high order. They do not originate in our solar system, perhaps not in our galaxy.” Soon afterwards, in an article in The American Weekly, October 24, 1954, Oberth wrote “It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and that they are space ships from another solar system. I think that they possibly are manned by intelligent observers who are members of a race that may have been investigating our earth for centuries…” In the autumn of 1929, Oberth conducted a static firing of his first liquid-fueled rocket motor, which he named the Kegeldüse. The engine was built by Klaus Riedel in a workshop space provided by the Reich Institution of Chemical Technology, and although it lacked a cooling system, it did run briefly.[10] He was helped in this experiment by an 18-year-old student Wernher von Braun, who would later become a giant in both German and American rocket engineering from the 1940s onward, culminating with the gigantic Saturn V rockets that made it possible for men to land on the Moon.
Mystery of the Black Triangle
These are large, triangular-shaped UFOs, often black in color, with rounded corners and making a low, humming noise. They disappear in horizon at unbelievable speed. These are big crafts and show up from nowhere. The first sighting of these mystery triangles was recorded and reported in 1965. Some say it was first sighted in 1950s. For some time people have said these are secret military projects – the next generation stealth aircrafts. But why are they flying the same way since sixties. How come the technology never changed in last forty-five years? According to many these Flying Triangle UFO Mystery objects are the outcome of direct transfer of technologies from extraterrestrials to human civilization in different parts of the world. The triangle shaped UFOs use anti-gravity propulsion. They also use superconductors to create the electromagnetic flux as well as anti-gravity propulsion. That is why the humming noise comes out. Many of these are available all over the world because most likely the technology has been transferred from the extraterrestrial aliens to human civilization in different parts of the world. Some laugh at this theory and say people are seeing illusions. But when have you heard people seeing exactly same illusions in places tens of thousands of miles apart. The propagation, navigation and feedback controls in these UFOs match the theoretical requirements in a typical advanced extraterrestrial UFO. At the same token it is made by different countries with whom the alien civilizations are collaborating. Such possibilities are very strong says some UFO researchers. The departments and ministries of defense in all the countries involved are tight lipped. They just do not recognize anything anyone saw. However, the facts points finger towards a secret joint development in a collaborative manner with the aliens to develop these UFOs. NOTE: The above image is CGI. Ken Pfeifer MUFON NJ Website
UFO History
Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge , England
Stories of fantastical celestial apparitions have been told since antiquity, but the term “UFO” (or “UFOB”) was officially created in 1953 by the United States Air Force (USAF) to serve as a catch-all for all such reports. The term flying saucers did not describe the various types of craft. Sightings throughout history often were treated as supernatural portents, angels, or other religious omens. Some current-day UFO researchers have noticed similarities between some religious symbols in medieval paintings and UFO reports though the canonical and symbolic character of such images is documented by art historians placing more conventional religious interpretations on such images.
On January 25, 1878, the Denison Daily News printed an article in which John Martin, a local farmer, had reported seeing a large, dark, circular object resembling a balloon flying “at wonderful speed.” Martin, according to the newspaper account, said it appeared to be about the size of a saucer, the first known use of the word “saucer” in association with a UFO.
In April 1897 thousands of people reported seeing “airships” in various parts of the United States. Many signed affidavits. Scores of people even reported talking to the pilots.
On February 28, 1904, there was a sighting by three crew members on the USS Supply 300 miles (483 km) west of San Francisco, reported by Lieutenant Frank Schofield, later to become Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Battle Fleet. Schofield wrote of three bright red egg-shaped and circular objects flying in echelon formation that approached beneath the cloud layer, then changed course and “soared” above the clouds, departing directly away from the earth after two to three minutes. The largest had an apparent size of about six Suns, he said
The three earliest known pilot UFO sightings, of 1,305 similar sightings cataloged by NARCAP, took place in 1916 and 1926. On January 31, 1916, a UK pilot near Rochford reported a row of lights, resembling lighted windows on a railway carriage that rose and disappeared. In January 1926 a pilot reported six “flying manhole covers” between Wichita, Kansas, and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
In late September 1926 an airmail pilot over Nevada said he had been forced to land by a huge, wingless, cylindrical object.
On August 5, 1926, while traveling in the Extra-Terrestrial Humboldt Mountains of Tibet‘s Kokonor region, Russian explorer Nicholas Roerich reported, members of his expedition saw “something big and shiny reflecting the sun, like a huge oval moving at great speed. Crossing our camp the thing changed in its direction from south to southwest. And we saw how it disappeared in the intense blue sky. We even had time to take our field glasses and saw quite distinctly an oval form with shiny surface, one side of which was brilliant from the sun.”[27] Another description by Roerich was of a “shiny body flying from north to south. Field glasses are at hand. It is a huge body. One side glows in the sun. It is oval in shape. Then it somehow turns in another direction and disappears in the southwest.
In the Pacific and European theatres during World War II, “foo fighters” (metallic spheres, balls of light and other shapes that followed aircraft) were reported and on occasion photographed by Allied and Axis pilots. Some proposed Allied explanations at the time included St. Elmo’s fire, the planet Venus, hallucinations from oxygen deprivation, or German secret weapons.
Photo is of a Nazi craft flying in 1944 courtesy of Jeff Rense.
The phrase “flying saucer” had gained widespread attention after the summer of 1947. On June 24, a civilian pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine objects flying in formation near Mount Rainier. Arnold timed the sighting and estimated the speed of discs to be over 1,200 mph (1,931 km/h). At the time, he described the objects’ shape as being somewhat disc-like or saucer-like, leading to newspaper accounts of “flying saucers” and “flying discs.
V-2 Rocket
In 1946 more than 2,000 reports were collected, primarily by the Swedish military, of unidentified aerial objects over the Scandinavian nations, along with isolated reports from France, Portugal, Italy and Greece. The objects were referred to as “Russian hail” and later as “ghost rockets” because it was thought that the mysterious objects were possibly Russian tests of captured German V1 or V2 rockets. Although most were thought to be such natural phenomena as meteors, more than 200 were tracked on radar by the Swedish military and deemed to be “real physical objects.” In a 1948, Swedish authorities advised the USAF Europe that some of their investigators believed these craft to be extraterrestrial in secret document origin. Website
ISS Cam spots UFO
While watching the space station cam I noticed that the HD cam was zoomed in on an area of the Earth directly below it on June 13, 2016. Then I noticed a disk shaped object that had matched speed with the space station. The ISS travels at about 17,150 miles per hour or 5 miles per second, so yeah…that UFO is moving.
Also whenever this UFO passed through the white clouds, the UFO became more visible, until the end of the video when it disappeared below the clouds. Scott C. Waring
New Planets Found
A fascinating photo shows what could be a newly discovered planet circling a star 1,200 light-years from Earth. In 2012, scientists discovered that the star, called CVSO 30 hosts at least one possible exoplanet, named CVSO 30b. But this image, released on Monday, shows evidence of another world — dubbed CVSO 30c for now — that may also be circling the star, according to the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
CVSO 30 is the bright dot in the center of the image, and CVSO 30c — which has not yet been confirmed as a true planet — looks like a little brown smudge up and to the left of the star.
Researchers think that CVSO 30c takes about 27,000 years to orbit the star, while it only takes about 11 hours for CVSO 30b to make a complete circuit.
CVSO 30b was discovered using the “transit method.” It measures minute dips in a star’s light, which can signal a planet passing in from of the stellar object from Earth’s perspective. CVSO 30c, on the other hand, was discovered using direct imaging — which, as the name suggests, involves capturing a direct image of the planet. SEE ALSO: 1,284 alien planets confirmed in new study of NASA Kepler data. Thanks to ESO
Beyond Science Fiction
Jim has had a lifelong interest in UFOs since he was a child in the late 50’s. This led to his current position as a Religious Research specialist for the Mutual UFO Network since 1996. He is also a member of the alumni at Central Bible College and was ordained by the Independent Assemblies of God in 1980. An avid reader, Jim is experienced and comfortable with studying the Bible in its original languages and spending hours in research as a hobby. Originally from Detroit Michigan, Jim founded and served in one of the nation’s first evangelical Christian Motorcycle clubs in the early 70’s. Jim served as Pastor in the inner city of Detroit working within the counter cultures associated with drugs and gangs. He has had almost 30 years experience working in deliverance ministries engaged in spiritual warfare that have enabled many to be set free from these bondages. Taking this experience with him into the investigation of UFOs and Alien abductions,
Jim has become actively involved within the UFO community, with two other colleagues and the Alien Abduction Crises Centers of America was founded. This is a nation-wide network to provide Biblical based support and help for abductees after receiving terminations of their abduction experiences from the Biblical based counseling they provide as a free service. He set up a book store/ museum in Roswell NM. This book is the result of over ten years intensive first hand investigation and study of the subject and the people involved. It promises to be one of the most comprehensive scripturally backed books written so far, that weaves many different topics into one story of Paradise lost and found. Not since the great flood of Noah has there been such an elaborate deception put upon mankind. This book exposes it all for your consideration. Unlike many sensational books that leave you left in fear and hopelessness, this book will leave you with hope and answers for the fearful things described and soon to fall upon an unsuspecting planet.
New Navy Drone
Rear Admiral Ted Branch, commander of Naval Air Forces Atlantic, said, “As our access to overseas ports, forward operating locations and airspace is diminished around the world, the value of the aircraft carrier and the air wing becomes more and more important.” James Lewis, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, claims that the new Joint Strike Fighter jet “might be the last manned fighter the U.S. ever builds,” because they are “so expensive,” and “so complex,” while the military puts “a human at risk every time it takes off from a carrier.”
Speaking on the effectiveness of the X-47B that launches off carriers, and future stealth drones like it, he claimed, “This is the next generation of military technology — the unmanned vehicles, the unmanned submersibles, the unmanned aircraft. This will be the future of warfare, and it will be a warfare that is a little less risky for humans but maybe a little more effective when it comes to delivering weapons and effect.” The U.S. military claims that the X-47B is experimental; they will just use it to develop drones for use in the future. Remember, however, it wasn’t long ago that the denied the X-47B even existed.
Mars Lakes
The screenshot is untouched and directly from the NASA MSSS link. It’s a bit mind-blowing, but there are lakes on Mars and we now have government evidence to back that up. This is 100% proof that lakes and rivers exist on Mars, which means that fish and water creatures do as well. Water is a main source for animals to exist, so this may also be a big visiting spot from some smaller life forms (remember the Mars rabbit?).
It is believed that NASA was not created to help the public to learn what’s beyond our world, but instead was created to stifle that with mediocre info leaks, holding the Earth back in its knowledge until the government deems the world is ready. Whatsupinthesky37 is not taking this hands down. He is a warrior of the field of alien research on Mars, and he is already raising the level of awareness of all humanity.
We now have over 5 or 6 very good shots from the air that seem to show frozen or warm water lakes sitting on the Martian surface. This has never been addressed by NASA since we are still looking for these “miniscule” traces of life and water. I ask you to use your judgment on this one. What does this look like to you? Scott C. Waring www.ufosightingsdaily.com NASA link to the lakes: Website
UFO Sighting s over the United States
Arizona Triangle
Sedona — My life partner and I set out tonight to consciously look for UFOs and to stargaze as we often do. Sedona is the Extra-Terrestrial (e.t.) capitol of the world, so we often engage in long, late night drives like we did on June 9, 2016. We drove on 89A near the Chapel of the Holy Cross and saw several small UFOs, which may have been shooting stars or aircraft. We were the only ones on 89A for several miles. My partner spotted a very bright light off in the distance and seemed to be hovering over the cliff walls to the right of Bell Rock. It was brighter than Sirius and Venus combined together and it just sat there motionless. It was too low for an ordinary plane. My partner stopped the car in the middle of 89A trying to discern whether it was a man-made craft or not. It was silent. I consider extraterrestrials to be my “star family.” The instant I said that, the white light became SO bright that I had to look away for a moment because it hurt my eyes. The white light appeared to be emanating from a dome shaped structure on the top of the craft. Then the craft was rapidly descending and heading straight for our car at astonishing speed. It reached us in seconds. The craft sped SO quickly to us that it was almost scary. It was completely silent and flew at a very low altitude. It was pretty large and definitely not a drone. It was shaped almost like an upside down “Y” and had a definite triangular presence to it and we saw blinking lights in the corners of the “wings” as it literally came to a point right above our car. The craft slowed down above our car.
It didn’t stop but it came at us with the seeming intention of letting us know that its passengers saw us. It started to curve over us a little bit almost like it was going to head towards Airport Mesa behind us. I turned to my partner to see their face (full of pure awe) and when I turned around to see where the craft went, it was completely gone. My partner stated that if we had hit a baseball hard enough, we probably could have hit it. If it had flown towards Cathedral Rock it would have crashed into it because of how low it was. The fact that it shined its light as brightly as it could the minute I addressed it and the fact that it literally zoomed to our car like a little white fireball was extremely intriguing. My partner remembers a blue light, white light, and green light. I saw the massive white light and the green light, but instead of blue I saw a couple of red lights blinking. Sitting there and when I looked at the car clock it said 11:11 p.m. Thanks to MUFON CMS
California Lights
Joshua Tree — On June 4, 2016 by Kristie Cowan’s at Contact in the Desert UFO Conference: Around 10:00 in the evening. There was a small airport south of us and a Marine Base northeast of us- but all the activity came from the west going due east. At Orion Lookout we set up for our CE-5 protocols. One of us was filming, and I was spotting with Celestron stargazing binoculars and a green laser. As we began I was able to spot many stars, planets, planes and satellites. There was a parade of 7 orbs/UFOs flying faster than satellites and as high as planes from west over the mountains and disappearing to the east. The orbs were a defused soft green, soft red and soft lilac blue. They gave us quite a show! We pointed our laser pointers and flashed them three times and they flashed us back! The 2nd, 3ed, & 4th ones formed a triangle configuration as they passed us! The crowd of around 100 people went wild with cheers, clapping, and jumping up and down. At this time I did feel a “heart” connection, thanking them and sending love to them. Sadly, my friend that was recording came up with just audio, however a documentary over on Melinda Leslies side got footage of all the activity. Not only are they here, it appears they are friendly! The orbs/UFOs were large enough to be seen with the unaided eye, quite large actually and looked like an orb of soft diffused light. The orbs/UFOs glowed with one single light (unlike recreational and military drones that glow with 2 or more). The type of glow was unlike anything I have ever seen in my research on military drones. I saw no structures connected to the glowing lights. Thanks to Kristie Cowan’s
Colorado Triangle
Loveland — I was out filming in my yard with an old camera on June 12, 2016. I was watching a bunny then I started to look around in the sky (1st look) and saw nothing. I resumed looking around my yard then I looked at the mountains, and then scrolled towards 2 cottonwood trees. In the center, I glanced around. It was until I reviewed the tape that I saw it: Hovering near a cloud, it was a near-transparent pyramid with only the outline visible. In less than a second, it quickly went up and ‘cloaked’ itself. I was pretty spooked… and I showed it to my parents and they said it could be reflection or a cloaked ship. Thanks to MUFON
Delaware Object
Harrington — I was going for my morning walk on Wednesday June 2, 2016. I walked into town, and was planning to buy some water and head home. I looked up high and it was the colors that made me notice it. And then it was tumbling and flying upward in a cartwheel-like manner.
It first looked black but then I saw colors. It would flash bright blue, yellow, and red. It started off below the clouds, but as it tumbled, it was rising so that it was very high, above the clouds. I saw it tumbling. On my video, it appeared at the top to jump suddenly from one place to the other. When I finally stopped filming, it was because the drone had reversed its course. Thanks to MUFON CMS
Florida Cylinder
Ormond Beach – I observed something very strange on evening of June 10, 2016 at 9:10 pm. I was outside looking west when I observed what appeared to be a fireball t traveling north. It was three times brighter than Jupiter and very bright white yellow orange and had a slight tail pointing south. I instantly thought fireball, but the object was slowing down, so I thought this object was space junk. This object was “dropping” what appeared to be hot material that was same color as the object. The object continued to slow down and dripped the strange material two times before the object slowed to a complete stop. As the object remained stationary it dripped the bright material momentarily. It took ten seconds to stop- which is far too long of a time for any fireball or space junk. I observed this object stationary for two minutes and shot one still photo with my iPhone. I’ve been a dedicated amateur astronomer for over 40 years and I know the sky well. This was neither a fireball or space junk, ISS, satellites or planets. Thanks to MUFON CMS
Boca Raton — My girlfriend and I Observed a cigar-disc type object hovering low (400-500 feet up) on June 12, 2016. It was silent and had very bright colors rotating around it. It would tilt. And I ran through golf course to get a better video angle on my phone. It started moving south, and then hooked around an apartment building. I saw it come from behind building in distance; and change into an orange energy ball before I lost sight of it at 9:17 pm.
An hour later I observed a black triangle with three flashing bright lights (1 red, 2 white although one of the white lights appeared green at some points). It flew from the southwest approx. 800-1000 feet up, and circled over my head. My iPhone camera got static twice, after circling twice it took off fast to the north. Thanks to MUFON CMS
Illinois Object
Rochester – I was taking pictures on June 11, 2016, of sunset when checking pictures to send to local meteorologist I noticed something with four lights in picture. Thanks to MUFON CMS
Massachusetts Object
Vineyard Haven — Doing yard work when I noticed the first object passing over at 3:15 PM, on June 14, 2016. I was in the shadow of my roof line and thought that is a strange shiny object. It passed at a good clip in a NW to SE direction. One minute after another traveled the identical route. Then others passed over pretty evenly spaced by about 1-2 minutes between. As the sixth one passed over my son drove up the driveway and I insisted he watch. He saw one pass over and dismissed it as a Mylar balloon. They didn’t look like balloons to me and I felt they were small craft of some kind. I ran into the house and grabbed my Cannon power shot camera and shot two short clips of video. Took four pictures and the battery died. I got my binoculars and made notes. The sun was reflecting off of them brightly to begin with and they appeared to have a small dome on top and a faint red orange ring at the base of the dome. The shape overall was a fat disc or squashed basketball with the dome on top. The final one I saw was at 4:03 PM and it passed over a small single engine plane. I have to guess that the plane was about 600 to 800 feet and the object was 200 feet higher. The final orb traveled N to S then took a slight hook to the E. This was so fascinating and I saw 25orbs total. Thanks to MUFON CMS
New Jersey Disc
Jersey City — My mother and special needs sister went up to a family member’s barn to see the horses on June 4, 2016, to take pictures of my sister and animals. My mother later that day came home and sent me pictures of my sister and the horse.
The first and second picture with the object in upper left hand corner peeked my interest. My family truly believes that there is so much more then we even know or can explain. Thanks to MUFON CMS
Mantua — Triangular UFO hovered over route 45 in NJ and turned on its side over the road and then flew sideways towards Philadelphia at approximately 10 mph. I have never encountered any aircraft like this in my life. It made no noise and it seemed to have multicolored lights rotating inside one light. If anyone else witness this at 9:40 pm on June 10th 2016. Thanks to MUFON CMS
Oregon Lights
Salem — I’m posting this. A friend of mine was taking a photo of the morning sunrise from work.
He posted this photo on Facebook. I noticed this in the photo. Thanks to MUFON CMS
South Carolina Triangle
Indian Land — A large, black triangle UFO was spotted on May 26, 2016, by a witness that moved away so quickly, it made the witness upset. He was lying in bed when he noticed a light out a bedroom window on May 26, 2016. The witness saw a white light along with red and blue lights blinking on the UFO. It was moving too fast to be a plane, so he got up and ran to the window. Its light so big and considering the distance. The witness just saw the blue and red strobes on the wings. The witness observed the triangle as it moved behind trees, still traveling at very fast speed. He noticed a smaller white light following the first object. Just before the witness lost sight of it, he realized that the two lights were connected and that he was actually looking at a huge, black triangle craft with lights at the points. He was upset when he got outside because it was gone. NOTE: The above image is CGI. Ken Pfeifer MUFON NJ Website
Pennsylvania Orb
Belle Vernon — Out with my Mom on June12, 2016 she had to go to a few stores that evening; I stopped to get a couple of pictures randomly.
When looking them over later, I found some with an “object” that I hadn’t noticed when taking them originally. I was facing west into the sunset, so these could be artifacts or reflections, but the object shows the same pixilation as the rest of the sky, etc.
So I thought I’d let you guys make that call. Thanks to MUFON CMS
Texas Lights
Killeen — As I was walking out of IHOP with my boyfriend on June 12, 2016, we noticed there was lightening in the sky. We also noticed there were Amber colored lights just falling out the sky at a distance.
We were thinking it was maybe transformers but then I started doing my research and I noticed it could have been a UFO. Yes, my heart dropped. I watch too many movies so of course I was paranoid. I am submitting this so there can be further investigation.
Thanks to MUFON CMS
Washington Object
Tacoma – I’m a public school teacher and former lawyer, On June 12, 2016, my birthday, I was at my aunt’s house near the Narrows Bridge and saw what I thought was a helicopter. I watched it through the window for a few minutes, but as it neared I went outside. It had blinking lights that repeated its pattern, much like a plane, but I saw no wings. Once outside, I heard no sound. Once it neared overhead I took this 30 seconds of video. I then went out in the backyard to continue watching it. I showed my uncle and cousin. Neither knew what it was. By the time we got binoculars it was so far in the distance I could no longer spot it. We just saw it within the past 20 minutes.
P.s. After re-examining the footage, it appears the spherical object was rotating on its axis. The light source at its base appears to show this. The object was traveling with the wind (5 MPH from the NNE), too.
Note: The object is not a balloon or helicopter. As stated by witness it has no wings. It is also not a drone. Perhaps it is a real UFO. Thanks to William Puckett, Director Website
Worldwide UFO Sightings
Dubai — I was in Bin Ladin Signal near the police station around 3 am in Sarah. I didn’t have the remaining balance to pay my taxi so my house is not far from where I stopped. I saw a light moving very fast. From a different direction came three lights forming a triangle. Ten minutes later the craft changed direction and flew different ways. I tried to record but my mobile battery is not charged to record video so I took some pictures with my phone. I can see some high way light and I was scared to even go home alone. When I got home I charge my mobile and zoom the picture in and I can understand the shape., I got home and I feel confused, this is the second time I saw UFO at my company where I live. I asked my boss to get CCTV camera but they did not. Thanks to MUFON CMS
Argentina Disk
El Cholar – The witness said he found an object on Google Earth in Argentina that he wanted me to take a look at, because it had a disk shape.
When I checked out the coordinates he gave me, I found that the UFO was visible four times. The first three times it’s seen far away, but still a disk shape. The fourth and final time its extremely close and tilted again.
Its also tilted, which is what Bob Lazar (Area S4 scientist) says that disks need to do to move from place to place. It also has an antenna sticking out of it. Purpose may be for magnetic energy waves it harnesses to hover.
This is a very old and secluded farms area from the 1800s. This is the perfect location for UFOs to do research on humans or other creatures and not be noticed.
Google coordinates: 37°26’35.60″S 70°39’13.09″W Scott C. Waring
Canada Sphere
Hope — I’m contacting you to see if you can help me explain a picture I took on my phone on June 4, 2016, at: 10:46 AM. The blurry object is what puzzles me. I just noticed it when I looked thru my pictures later it freaked me. I will be grateful for any help. Thank you.
Response of Witness to Investigator Questions: This picture was taken in a small town called Hope, in British Columbia. There has been a lot of activity in the Vancouver area for the past 2 to 3 months Note: The object is probably a bird or insect. The camera was zoomed out and the focal length was short. The apparent blurring is probably due to motion and the object is probably close to the lens. Thanks to William Puckett, Director Website
Kenora, Ontario – I was driving down a side road on June 11, 2016, at a remote location.
I stopped and filmed a white object flying at high speed moving right to left. It made no noise.
Perplexing, and my heart was racing. Thanks to MUFON CMS
Germany Triangle
Kühren –I was at my friend’s birthday party in a little village that hasn’t many street lights it was already very dark on November 1, 2014. We went outside and played hide and seek. Two friends were hiding in a very dark place and saw three big lights in a triangle shape with a little red light in the middle. It was moving very fast and the lights were steady and not flashing like airplane lights. It made no sounds although it was very big and near to me. It was flying in a straight line and disappeared behind some houses after a couple seconds.
There wasn’t an airport anywhere nearby so why should a plane this size fly so close to the ground and make no sounds. When I saw the object I felt really weird and couldn’t really talk. After it was gone I asked my two friends if they’ve seen it too, they had but they thought it was just an airplane. I am still really confused what this was. Thanks to MUFON CMS
Italy Crop Circle
Alba – Crop Circle of seven pointed star found in field in Alba, Italy on June 13, 2016.
Japan Oval
Tokyo — My sister just came back from Tokyo and as we were looking at her photos we saw that strange orange oval shape.
Any idea what this could be? It was taken at 7:00 PM two weeks ago on June 1, 2016, in Tokyo, Japan.
Sorry for bugging you again. I am just curious. Thanks to William Puckett, Director Website
Malta Disc
Cospicua — At 9:42 PM, while observing night sky on my roof I saw a very bright silvery shining object round disc-shaped heading east. Its size was as much as five times the size and brightness of Jupiter as visible from Earth. It was at 70 degrees elevation in the Ursa Major constellation and disappeared at once as it reached an elevation of 40 degrees. Its speed if at 40K feet from ground was as much as three times that of an aircraft traveling at 850<900 kms/hr at the same height. This fact excited me as I realized it was not an aircraft. At 10:05 and 10:12 pm an orange point source was noticed first going from North to South at a constant elevation of 70<75 degrees and then back on the same track. Estimated altitude was round 60<65K feet from ground traveling at 2000 Kms/hr. The witness checked real-time flight tracking/radar programmes on the web, but none indicated any aircraft in the areas mentioned. Thanks to MUFON CMS
UK Scotland Orb
Edinburg — We were in a park when we observed the object in the sky on June 5, 2016. It was not like and airplane or something similar. We thought that maybe would be a satellite but we were very suspicious about the object.
It looked very distant and reflective, not very easy to see. We had the feeling that was something weird and tried to take some pictures with a camera (60mm lens).
For our surprise, the camera was able to catch it (We had to use the trees as a reference to take the picture and also to be able to find the little dot later). Thanks to MUFON CMS
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NDC 61919-073 Tramadol Hydrochloride
Direct Rx
NDC: 61919-073 Tramadol Hydrochloride
Proprietary Name: Tramadol Hydrochloride What is the Proprietary Name?
Non-Proprietary Name: What is the Non-Proprietary Name?
61919 - Direct Rx
61919-073 - Tramadol Hydrochloride
Package Description: 20 TABLET, COATED in 1 BOTTLE
Package Description: 100 TABLET, COATED in 1 BOTTLE
This product is EXCLUDED from the official NDC directory because the listing certification is expired.
Tramadol Hydrochloride with NDC 61919-073 is a product labeled by Direct Rx. The generic name of Tramadol Hydrochloride is . The product's dosage form is and is administered via form.
Labeler Name: Direct Rx
Dosage Form: -
Product Type: What kind of product is this?
Tramadol Hydrochloride Active Ingredient(s)
TRAMADOL HYDROCHLORIDE 50 mg/1
LACTOSE MONOHYDRATE (UNII: EWQ57Q8I5X)
SODIUM STARCH GLYCOLATE TYPE A POTATO (UNII: 5856J3G2A2)
MAGNESIUM STEARATE (UNII: 70097M6I30)
CELLULOSE, MICROCRYSTALLINE (UNII: OP1R32D61U)
POLYETHYLENE GLYCOLS (UNII: 3WJQ0SDW1A)
POLYSORBATE 80 (UNII: 6OZP39ZG8H)
HYPROMELLOSES (UNII: 3NXW29V3WO)
Pharmacological Class(es)
What is a Pharmacological Class?
These are the reported pharmacological class categories corresponding to the SubstanceNames listed above.
Full Opioid Agonists - [MoA] (Mechanism of Action)
Opioid Agonist - [EPC] (Established Pharmacologic Class)
Exclude Flag: E What is the NDC Exclude Flag?
Tramadol is pronounced as (tra' ma dole)
Why is tramadol medication prescribed?
Tramadol is used to relieve moderate to moderately severe pain. Tramadol extended-release tablets and capsules are only used by people who are expected to need medication...
Tramadol Hydrochloride Product Label Images
image description - Label2
image description - module
image description - tramadol50,20,073
Tramadol Hydrochloride Product Labeling Information
Description Section
Clinical Pharmacology Section
Clinical Studies Section
Indications & Usage Section
Contraindications Section
Warnings Section
Precautions Section
Adverse Reactions Section
Drug Abuse And Dependence Section
Overdosage Section
Dosage & Administration Section
How Supplied Section
Tramadol hydrochloride tablets, USP are a centrally acting analgesic. The chemical name for tramadol hydrochloride is (±)cis-2-[(dimethylamino)methyl]-1-(3methoxyphenyl) cyclohexanol hydrochloride. Its structural formula is:The molecular formula of tramadol hydrochloride is C16H25NO2•HCl and its molecular weight is 299.8.Tramadol hydrochloride is a white, bitter, crystalline and odorless powder. It is readily soluble in water and ethanol and has a pKa of 9.41. The n-octanol/water log partition coefficient (logP) is 1.35 at pH 7.Each tramadol hydrochloride tablet, USP intended for oral administration contains 50 mg of tramadol hydrochloride. In addition, it also contains the following inactive ingredients: hypromellose, lactose monohydrate, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellulose, polyethylene glycol, polysorbate 80, pregelatinized starch, sodium starch glycolate, and titanium dioxide.
PHARMACODYNAMICSTramadol Hydrochloride contains tramadol, a centrally acting synthetic opioid analgesic. Although its mode of action is not completely understood, from animal tests, at least two complementary mechanisms appear applicable: binding of parent and M1 metabolite to μ-opioid receptors and weak inhibition of re-uptake of norepinephrine and serotonin.Opioid activity is due to both low affinity binding of the parent compound and higher affinity binding of the O-demethylated metabolite M1 to μ-opioid receptors. In animal models, M1 is up to 6 times more potent than tramadol in producing analgesia and 200 times more potent in μ-opioid binding. Tramadol-induced analgesia is only partially antagonized by the opiate antagonist naloxone in several animal tests. The relative contribution of both tramadol and M1 to human analgesia is dependent upon the plasma concentrations of each compound (see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Pharmacokinetics).Tramadol has been shown to inhibit reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin in vitro, as have some other opioid analgesics. These mechanisms may contribute independently to the overall analgesic profile of tramadol hydrochloride. Analgesia in humans begins approximately within one hour after administration and reaches a peak in approximately two to three hours.Apart from analgesia, tramadol hydrochloride administration may produce a constellation of symptoms (including dizziness, somnolence, nausea, constipation, sweating and pruritus) similar to that of other opioids. In contrast to morphine, tramadol has not been shown to cause histamine release. At therapeutic doses, tramadol hydrochloride has no effect on heart rate, left-ventricular function or cardiac index. Orthostatic hypotension has been observed.PHARMACOKINETICSThe analgesic activity of tramadol hydrochloride is due to both parent drug and the M1 metabolite (see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Pharmacodynamics). Tramadol is administered as a racemate and both the [-] and [+] forms of both tramadol and M1 are detected in the circulation. Linear pharmacokinetics have been observed following multiple doses of 50 and 100 mg to steady-state.AbsorptionThe mean absolute bioavailability of a 100 mg oral dose is approximately 75%. The mean peak plasma concentration of racemic tramadol and M1 occurs at two and three hours, respectively, after administration in healthy adults. In general, both enantiomers of tramadol and M1 follow a parallel time course in the body following single and multiple doses although small differences (∼ 10%) exist in the absolute amount of each enantiomer present.Steady-state plasma concentrations of both tramadol and M1 are achieved within two days with four times per day dosing. There is no evidence of self-induction (see Figure 1 and Table 1 below).Figure 1: Mean Tramadol and M1 Plasma Concentration Profiles after a Single 100 mg Oral Dose and after Twenty-Nine 100 mg Oral Doses of Tramadol HCl given four times per dayTable 1 Mean (%CV) Pharmacokinetic Parameters for Racemic Tramadol and M1 Metabolite Population/Dosage Regimena Parent Drug/Metabolite PeakConc.(ng/mL) Time to Peak (hrs) Clearence/Fb (mL/min/Kg) t1/2 (hrs) Healthy Adults,100 mg qid, MD p.o. TramadolM1 592 (30)110 (29) 2.3 (61)2.4 (46) 5.90 (25)c 6.7 (15)7.0 (14) Healthy Adults,100 mg SD p.o. TramadolM1 308 (25)55.0 (36) 1.6 (63)3.0 (51) 8.50 (31)c 5.6 (20)6.7 (16) Geriatric, (>75 yrs)50 mg SD p.o. TramadolM1 208 (31)d 2.1 (19)d 6.89 (25)c 7.0 (23)d Hepatic Impaired,50 mg SD p.o. TramadolM1 217 (11)19.4 (12) 1.9 (16)9.8 (20) 4.23 (56)c 13.3 (11)18.5 (15) Renal Impaired,CLcr10-30 mL/min100 mg SD i.v TramadolM1 cc cc 4.23 (54)c 10.6 (31)11.5 (40) Renal Impaired,CLcr<5mL/min100 mg SD i.v TramadolM1 cc cc 3.73 (17)c 11.0 (29)16.9 (18)a SD = Single dose, MD = Multiple dose, p.o.= Oral administration, i.v.= Intravenous administration, q.i.d. = Four times dailyb F represents the oral bioavailability of tramadolc Not applicabled Not measuredFood EffectsOral administration of tramadol hydrochloride with food does not significantly affect its rate or extent of absorption, therefore, tramadol hydrochloride can be administered without regard to food.DistributionThe volume of distribution of tramadol was 2.6 and 2.9 liters/kg in male and female subjects, respectively, following a 100 mg intravenous dose. The binding of tramadol to human plasma proteins is approximately 20% and binding also appears to be independent of concentration up to 10 μg/mL. Saturation of plasma protein binding occurs only at concentrations outside the clinically relevant range.MetabolismTramadol is extensively metabolized after oral administration by a number of pathways, including CYP2D6 and CYP3A4, as well as by conjugation of parent and metabolites. Approximately 30% of the dose is excreted in the urine as unchanged drug, whereas 60% of the dose is excreted as metabolites. The remainder is excreted either as unidentified or as unextractable metabolites. The major metabolic pathways appear to be N- and O-demethylation and glucuronidation or sulfation in the liver. One metabolite (O-desmethyltramadol, denoted M1) is pharmacologically active in animal models. Formation of M1 is dependent on CYP2D6 and as such is subject to inhibition, which may affect the therapeutic response (see PRECAUTIONS, Drug Interaction).Approximately 7% of the population has reduced activity of the CYP2D6 isoenzyme of cytochrome P-450. These individuals are "poor metabolizers" of debrisoquine, dextromethorphan, tricyclic antidepressants, among other drugs. Based on a population PK analysis of Phase I studies in healthy subjects, concentrations of tramadol were approximately 20% higher in "poor metabolizers" versus "extensive metabolizers", while M1 concentrations were 40% lower. Concomitant therapy with inhibitors of CYP2D6 such as fluoxetine, paroxetine and quinidine could result in significant drug interactions. In vitro drug interaction studies in human liver microsomes indicate that inhibitors of CYP2D6 such as fluoxetine and its metabolite norfluoxetine, amitriptyline and quinidine inhibit the metabolism of tramadol to various degrees, suggesting that concomitant administration of these compounds could result in increases in tramadol concentrations and decreased concentrations of M1. The full pharmacological impact of these alterations in terms of either efficacy or safety is unknown. Concomitant use of SEROTONIN re-uptake INHIBITORS and MAO INHIBITORS may enhance the risk of adverse events, including seizure (see WARNINGS) and serotonin syndrome.EliminationTramadol is eliminated primarily through metabolism by the liver and the metabolites are eliminated primarily by the kidneys. The mean terminal plasma elimination half-lives of racemic tramadol and racemic M1 are 6.3 ± 1.4 and 7.4 ± 1.4 hours, respectively. The plasma elimination half-life of racemic tramadol increased from approximately six hours to seven hours upon multiple dosing.Special PopulationsRenalImpaired renal function results in a decreased rate and extent of excretion of tramadol and its active metabolite, M1. In patients with creatinine clearances of less than 30 mL/min, adjustment of the dosing regimen is recommended (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION). The total amount of tramadol and M1 removed during a 4-hour dialysis period is less than 7% of the administered dose.HepaticMetabolism of tramadol and M1 is reduced in patients with advanced cirrhosis of the liver, resulting in both a larger area under the concentration time curve for tramadol and longer tramadol and M1 elimination half-lives (13 hrs. for tramadol and 19 hrs. for M1). In cirrhotic patients, adjustment of the dosing regimen is recommended (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION).GeriatricHealthy elderly subjects aged 65 to 75 years have plasma tramadol concentrations and elimination half-lives comparable to those observed in healthy subjects less than 65 years of age. In subjects over 75 years, maximum serum concentrations are elevated (208 vs. 162 ng/mL) and the elimination half-life is prolonged (7 vs. 6 hours) compared to subjects 65 to 75 years of age. Adjustment of the daily dose is recommended for patients older than 75 years (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION).GenderThe absolute bioavailability of tramadol was 73% in males and 79% in females. The plasma clearance was 6.4 mL/min/kg in males and 5.7 mL/min/kg in females following a 100 mg IV dose of tramadol. Following a single oral dose, and after adjusting for body weight, females had a 12% higher peak tramadol concentration and a 35% higher area under the concentration-time curve compared to males. The clinical significance of this difference is unknown.
Tramadol hydrochloride has been given in single oral doses of 50, 75 and 100 mg to patients with pain following surgical procedures and pain following oral surgery (extraction of impacted molars).In single-dose models of pain following oral surgery, pain relief was demonstrated in some patients at doses of 50 mg and 75 mg. A dose of 100 mg tramadol hydrochloride tended to provide analgesia superior to codeine sulfate 60 mg, but it was not as effective as the combination of aspirin 650 mg with codeine phosphate 60 mg.Tramadol hydrochloride has been studied in three long-term controlled trials involving a total of 820 patients, with 530 patients receiving tramadol hydrochloride. Patients with a variety of chronic painful conditions were studied in double-blind trials of one to three months duration. Average daily doses of approximately 250 mg of tramadol hydrochloride in divided doses were generally comparable to five doses of acetaminophen 300 mg with codeine phosphate 30 mg (TYLENOL® with Codeine #3) daily, five doses of aspirin 325 mg with codeine phosphate 30 mg daily, or two to three doses of acetaminophen 500 mg with oxycodone hydrochloride 5 mg (TYLOX® ) daily.Titration TrialsIn a randomized, blinded clinical study with 129 to 132 patients per group, a 10-day titration to a daily tramadol hydrochloride dose of 200 mg (50 mg four times per day), attained in 50 mg increments every 3 days, was found to result in fewer discontinuations due to dizziness or vertigo than titration over only 4 days or no titration.Close
Tramadol hydrochloride tablets, USP are indicated for the management of moderate to moderately severe pain in adults.
Tramadol hydrochloride tablets, USP should not be administered to patients who have previously demonstrated hypersensitivity to tramadol, any other component of this product or opioids. Tramadol hydrochloride tablets, USP are contraindicated in any situation where opioids are contraindicated, including acute intoxication with any of the following: alcohol, hypnotics, narcotics, centrally acting analgesics, opioids or psychotropic drugs. Tramadol hydrochloride tablets, USP may worsen central nervous system and respiratory depression in these patients.
Seizure RiskSeizures have been reported in patients receiving Tramadol hydrochloride within the recommended dosage range. Spontaneous post-marketing reports indicate that seizure risk is increased with doses of tramadol hydrochloride above the recommended range.Concomitant use of tramadol hydrochloride increases the seizure risk in patients taking:Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRI antidepressants or anorectics),Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), and other tricyclic compounds (e.g., cyclobenzaprine , promethazine, etc.), orOther opioids.Administration of tramadol hydrochloride may enhance the seizure risk in patients taking:MAO inhibitors (see alsoWARNINGS, Use with MAO Inhibitors and Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors),Neuroleptics, orOther drugs that reduce the seizure threshold.Risk of convulsions may also increase in patients with epilepsy, those with a history of seizures, or in patients with a recognized risk for seizure (such as head trauma, metabolic disorders, alcohol and drug withdrawal, CNS infections). In tramadol hydrochloride overdose, naloxone administration may increase the risk of seizure.Suicide RiskDo not prescribe tramadol hydrochloride for patients who are suicidal or addiction-prone.Prescribe tramadol hydrochloride tablets with caution for patients who are taking tranquilizers or antidepressant drug and patients who use alcohol in excess and who suffer from emotional disturbance or depression.The judicious prescribing of tramadol is essential to the safe use of this drug. With patients who are depressed or suicidal, consideration should be given to the use of nonnarcotic analgesics.Tramadol-related deaths have occurred in patients with previous histories of emotional disturbances or suicidal ideation or attempts as well as histories of misuse of tranquilizers, alcohol, and other CNS-active drugs (see WARNINGS, Risk of Overdosage).Serotonin Syndrome RiskThe development of a potentially life-threatening serotonin syndrome may occur with the use of tramadol products, including tramadol hydrochloride, particularly with concomitant use of serotonergic drugs such as SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs, MAOIs, and triptans, with drugs which impair metabolism of serotonin (including MAOIs), and with drugs which impair metabolism of tramadol (CYP2D6 and CYP3A4 inhibitors). This may occur within the recommended dose (seeCLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Pharmacokinetics).Serotonin syndrome may include mental-status changes (e.g., agitation, hallucinations, coma), autonomic instability (e.g., tachycardia, labile blood pressure, hyperthermia), neuromuscular aberrations (e.g., hyperreflexia, incoordination) and/or gastrointestinal symptoms (e.g., nausea, vomiting, diarrhea).Anaphylactoid ReactionsSerious and rarely fatal anaphylactoid reactions have been reported in patients receiving therapy with tramadol hydrochloride. When these events do occur it is often following the first dose. Other reported allergic reactions include pruritus, hives, bronchospasm, angioedema, toxic epidermal necrolysis and Stevens-Johnson syndrome. Patients with a history of anaphylactoid reactions to codeine and other opioids may be at increased risk and therefore should not receive tramadol hydrochloride (see CONTRAINDICATIONS).Respiratory DepressionAdminister tramadol hydrochoride cautiously in patients at risk for respiratory depression. In these patients alternative non-opioid analgesics should be considered. When large doses of tramadol hydrochloride are administered with anesthetic medications or alcohol, respiratory depression may result. Respiratory depression should be treated as an overdose. If naloxone is to be administered, use cautiously because it may precipitate seizures (see WARNINGS, Seizure Risk and OVERDOSAGE).Interaction With Central Nervous System (CNS) DepressantsTramadol hydrochloride should be used with caution and in reduced dosages when administered to patients receiving CNS depressants such as alcohol, opioids, anesthetic agents, narcotics, phenothiazines, tranquilizers or sedative hypnotics. Tramadol hydrochloride increases the risk of CNS and respiratory depression in these patients.Interactions with Alcohol and Drugs of AbuseTramadol may be expected to have additive effects when used in conjunction with alcohol, other opioids, or illicit drugs that cause central nervous system depression.Increased Intracranial Pressure or Head TraumaTramadol hydrochloride should be used with caution in patients with increased intracranial pressure or head injury. The respiratory depressant effects of opioids include carbon dioxide retention and secondary elevation of cerebrospinal fluid pressure, and may be markedly exaggerated in these patients. Additionally, pupillary changes (miosis) from tramadol may obscure the existence, extent, or course of intracranial pathology. Clinicians should also maintain a high index of suspicion for adverse drug reaction when evaluating altered mental status in these patients if they are receiving tramadol hydrochloride (see WARNINGS, Respiratory Depression).Use in Ambulatory PatientsTramadol hydrochloride may impair the mental and or physical abilities required for the performance of potentially hazardous tasks such as driving a car or operating machinery. The patient using this drug should be cautioned accordingly.Use With MAO Inhibitors and Serotonin Re-uptake InhibitorsUse tramadol hydrochloride with great caution in patients taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Animal studies have shown increased deaths with combined administration. Concomitant use of tramadol hydrochloride with MAO inhibitors or SSRI’s increases the risk of adverse events, including seizure and serotonin syndrome.Misuse, Abuse and DiversionTramadol has mu-opioid agonist activity. Tramadol hydrochloride® can be sought by drug abusers and people with addiction disorders and may be subject to criminal diversion. The possibility of illegal or illicit use should be considered when prescribing or dispensing tramadol hydrochloride® in situations where the physician or pharmacist is concerned about an increased risk of misuse, abuse, or diversion. Misuse or abuse poses a significant risk to the abuser that could result in overdose and death (see DRUG ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE and OVERDOSAGE).Concerns about abuse, addiction, and diversion should not prevent the proper management of pain. The development of addiction to opioid analgesics in properly managed patients with pain has been reported to be rare. However, data are not available to establish the true incidence of addiction in chronic pain patients.Risk of OverdosagePatients taking tramadol should be warned not to exceed the dose recommended by their physician. Tramadol products in excessive doses, either alone or in combination with other CNS depressants, including alcohol, are a cause of drug-related deaths. Patients should be cautioned about the concomitant use of tramadol products and alcohol because of potentially serious CNS additive effects of these agents. Because of its added depressant effects, tramadol should be prescribed with caution for those patients whose medical condition requires the concomitant administration of sedatives, tranquilizers, muscle relaxants, antidepressants, or other CNS depressant drugs. Patients should be advised of the additive depressant effects of these combinations.Serious potential consequences of overdosage with tramadol hydrochloride (tramadol hydrochloride) tablets are central nervous system depression, respiratory depression and death. Some deaths have occurred as a consequence of the accidental ingestion of excessive quantities of tramadol alone or in combination with other drugs. In treating an overdose, primary attention should be given to maintaining adequate ventilation along with general supportive treatment (see OVERDOSAGE).WithdrawalWithdrawal symptoms may occur if tramadol hydrochloride is discontinued abruptly (see also DRUG ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE). Reported symptoms have included anxiety, sweating, insomnia, rigors, pain, nausea, tremors, diarrhea, upper respiratory symptoms, piloerection, and rarely hallucinations. Other symptoms that have been reported less frequently with tramadol hydrchloride discontinuation include panic attacks, severe anxiety, and paresthesias. Clinical experience suggests that withdrawal symptoms may be avoided by tapering tramadol hydrochloride at the time of discontinuation.
Acute Abdominal ConditionsThe administration of tramadol hydrochloride may complicate the clinical assessment of patients with acute abdominal conditions.Use in Renal and Hepatic DiseaseImpaired renal function results in a decreased rate and extent of excretion of tramadol and its active metabolite, M1. In patients with creatinine clearances of less than 30 mL/min, dosing reduction is recommended (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION). Metabolism of tramadol and M1 is reduced in patients with advanced cirrhosis of the liver. In cirrhotic patients, dosing reduction is recommended (see DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION).With the prolonged half-life in these conditions, achievement of steady-state is delayed, so that it may take several days for elevated plasma concentrations to develop.Information for PatientsPatients should be informed that tramadol hydrochloride may cause seizures and/or serotonin syndrome with concomitant use of serotonergic agents (including SSRIs, SNRIs, and triptans) or drugs that significantly reduce the metabolic clearance of tramadol.Tramadol hydrochloride may impair mental or physical abilities required for the performance of potentially hazardous tasks such as driving a car or operating machinery.Tramadol hydrochloride should not be taken with alcohol containing beverages.Tramadol hydrochloride should be used with caution when taking medications such as tranquilizers, hypnotics or other opiate containing analgesics.The patient should be instructed to inform the physician if they are pregnant, think they might become pregnant, or are trying to become pregnant (see PRECAUTIONS, Labor and Delivery).The patient should understand the single-dose and 24-hour dose limit and the time interval between doses, since exceeding these recommendations can result in respiratory depression, seizures and death.Drug InteractionsCYP2D6 and CYP3A4 InhibitorsConcomitant administration of CYP2D6 and/or CYP3A4 inhibitors (see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, Pharmacokinetics), such as quinidine, fluoxetine, paroxetine and amitriptyline (CYP2D6 inhibitors), and ketoconazole and erythromycin (CYP3A4 inhibitors), may reduce metabolic clearance of tramadol increasing the risk for serious adverse events including seizures and serotonin syndrome.Serotonergic DrugsThere have been postmarketing reports of serotonin syndrome with use of tramadol and SSRIs/SNRIs or MAOIs and α2-adrenergic blockers. Caution is advised when tramadol hydrochloride is coadministered with other drugs that may affect the serotonergic neurotransmitter systems, such as SSRIs, MAOIs, triptans, linezolid (an antibiotic which is a reversible non-selective MAOI), lithium, or St. John’s Wort. If concomitant treatment of tramadol hydrochloride with a drug affecting the serotonergic neurotransmitter system is clinically warranted, careful observation of the patient is advised, particularly during treatment initiation and dose increases (see WARNINGS, Serotonin Syndrome).TriptansBased on the mechanism of action of tramadol and the potential for serotonin syndrome, caution is advised when tramadol hydrochloride is coadministered with a triptan. If concomitant treatment of tramadol hydrochloride with a triptan is clinically warranted, careful observation of the patient is advised, particularly during treatment initiation and dose increases (see WARNINGS, Serotonin Syndrome).Use With CarbamazepinePatients taking carbamazepine may have a significantly reduced analgesic effect of tramadol hydrochloride. Because carbamazepine increases tramadol metabolism and because of the seizure risk associated with tramadol, concomitant administration of tramadol hydrochloride and carbamazepine is not recommended.Use With QuinidineTramadol is metabolized to M1 by CYP2D6. Quinidine is a selective inhibitor of that isoenzyme, so that concomitant administration of quinidine and tramadol hydrochloride results in increased concentrations of tramadol and reduced concentrations of M1. The clinical consequences of these findings are unknown. In vitro drug interaction studies in human liver microsomes indicate that tramadol has no effect on quinidine metabolism.Potential for Other Drugs to Affect TramadolIn vitro drug interaction studies in human liver microsomes indicate that concomitant administration with inhibitors of CYP2D6 such as fluoxetine, paroxetine, and amitriptyline could result in some inhibition of the metabolism of tramadol. Administration of CYP3A4 inhibitors, such as ketoconazole and erythromycin, or inducers, such as rifampin and St. John’s Wort, with tramadol hydrochloride may affect the metabolism of tramadol leading to altered tramadol exposure.Potential for Tramadol to Affect Other DrugsIn vitro studies indicate that tramadol is unlikely to inhibit the CYP3A4-mediated metabolism of other drugs when tramadol is administered concomitantly at therapeutic doses. Tramadol does not appear to induce its own metabolism in humans, since observed maximal plasma concentrations after multiple oral doses are higher than expected based on single-dose data. Tramadol is a mild inducer of selected drug metabolism pathways measured in animals.Use With CimetidineConcomitant administration of tramadol hydrochloride with cimetidine does not result in clinically significant changes in tramadol pharmacokinetics. Therefore, no alteration of the tramadol hydrochloride dosage regimen is recommended.Use With Digoxin and WarfarinPost-marketing surveillance has revealed rare reports of digoxin toxicity and alteration of warfarin effect, including elevation of prothrombin times.Carcinogenesis, Mutagenesis, Impairment of FertilityA slight, but statistically significant, increase in two common murine tumors, pulmonary and hepatic, was observed in a mouse carcinogenicity study, particularly in aged mice. Mice were dosed orally up to 30 mg/kg (90 mg/m2 or 0.36 times the maximum daily human dosage of 246 mg/m2) for approximately two years, although the study was not done with the Maximum Tolerated Dose. This finding is not believed to suggest risk in humans. No such finding occurred in a rat carcinogenicity study (dosing orally up to 30 mg/kg, 180 mg/m2, or 0.73 times the maximum daily human dosage).Tramadol was not mutagenic in the following assays: Ames Salmonella microsomal activation test, CHO/HPRT mammalian cell assay, mouse lymphoma assay (in the absence of metabolic activation), dominant lethal mutation tests in mice, chromosome aberration test in Chinese hamsters, and bone marrow micronucleus tests in mice and Chinese hamsters. Weakly mutagenic results occurred in the presence of metabolic activation in the mouse lymphoma assay and micronucleus test in rats. Overall, the weight of evidence from these tests indicates that tramadol does not pose a genotoxic risk to humans.No effects on fertility were observed for tramadol at oral dose levels up to 50 mg/kg (300 mg/m2) in male rats and 75 mg/kg (450 mg/m2) in female rats. These dosages are 1.2 and 1.8 times the maximum daily human dosage of 246 mg/m2, respectively.Pregnancy, Teratogenic Effects: Pregnancy Category CTramadol has been shown to be embryotoxic and fetotoxic in mice, (120 mg/kg or 360 mg/m2), rats (≥25 mg/kg or 150 mg/m2) and rabbits (≥75 mg/kg or 900 mg/m2) at maternally toxic dosages, but was not teratogenic at these dose levels. These dosages on a mg/m2 basis are 1.4, ≥0.6, and ≥3.6 times the maximum daily human dosage (246 mg/m2) for mouse, rat and rabbit, respectively.No drug-related teratogenic effects were observed in progeny of mice (up to 140 mg/kg or 420 mg/m2), rats (up to 80 mg/kg or 480 mg/m2) or rabbits (up to 300 mg/kg or 3600 mg/m2) treated with tramadol by various routes. Embryo and fetal toxicity consisted primarily of decreased fetal weights, skeletal ossification and increased supernumerary ribs at maternally toxic dose levels. Transient delays in developmental or behavioral parameters were also seen in pups from rat dams allowed to deliver. Embryo and fetal lethality were reported only in one rabbit study at 300 mg/kg (3600 mg/m2), a dose that would cause extreme maternal toxicity in the rabbit. The dosages listed for mouse, rat and rabbit are 1.7, 1.9 and 14.6 times the maximum daily human dosage (246 mg/m2), respectively.Non-teratogenic EffectsTramadol was evaluated in peri- and post-natal studies in rats. Progeny of dams receiving oral (gavage) dose levels of 50 mg/kg (300 mg/m2 or 1.2 times the maximum daily human tramadol dosage) or greater had decreased weights, and pup survival was decreased early in lactation at 80 mg/kg (480 mg/m2 or 1.9 and higher the maximum daily human dose).There are no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women. Tramadol hydrochloride should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus. Neonatal seizures, neonatal withdrawal syndrome, fetal death and still birth have been reported during post-marketing.Labor and DeliveryTramadol hydrochloride should not be used in pregnant women prior to or during labor unless the potential benefits outweigh the risks. Safe use in pregnancy has not been established. Chronic use during pregnancy may lead to physical dependence and post-partum withdrawal symptoms in the newborn (see DRUG ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE). Tramadol has been shown to cross the placenta. The mean ratio of serum tramadol in the umbilical veins compared to maternal veins was 0.83 for 40 women given tramadol during labor.The effect of tramadol hydrochloride, if any, on the later growth, development, and functional maturation of the child is unknown.Nursing MothersTramadol hydrochloride is not recommended for obstetrical preoperative medication or for post-delivery analgesia in nursing mothers because its safety in infants and newborns has not been studied. Following a single IV 100 mg dose of tramadol, the cumulative excretion in breast milk within 16 hours postdose was 100 μg of tramadol (0.1% of the maternal dose) and 27 μg of M1.Pediatric UseThe safety and efficacy of tramadol hydrochloride in patients under 16 years of age have not been established. The use of tramadol hydrochloride in the pediatric population is not recommended.Geriatric UseIn general, dose selection for an elderly patient should be cautious, usually starting at the low end of the dosing range, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal or cardiac function and of concomitant disease or other drug therapy. In patients over 75 years of age, daily doses in excess of 300 mg are not recommended (see CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY and DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION).A total of 455 elderly (65 years of age or older) subjects were exposed to tramadol hydrochloride in controlled clinical trials. Of those, 145 subjects were 75 years of age and older.In studies including geriatric patients, treatment-limiting adverse events were higher in subjects over 75 years of age compared to those under 65 years of age. Specifically, 30% of those over 75 years of age had gastrointestinal treatment-limiting adverse events compared to 17% of those under 65 years of age. Constipation resulted in discontinuation of treatment in 10% of those over 75.
Tramadol hydrochloride was administered to 550 patients during the double-blind or open-label extension periods in U.S. studies of chronic nonmalignant pain. Of these patients, 375 were 65 years old or older. Table 2 reports the cumulative incidence rate of adverse reactions by 7, 30 and 90 days for the most frequent reactions (5% or more by 7 days). The most frequently reported events were in the central nervous system and gastrointestinal system. Although the reactions listed in the table are felt to be probably related to tramadol hydrochloride administration, the reported rates also include some events that may have been due to underlying disease or concomitant medication. The overall incidence rates of adverse experiences in these trials were similar for tramadol hydrochloride and the active control groups, TYLENOL® with Codeine #3 (acetaminophen 300 mg with codeine phosphate 30 mg), and aspirin 325 mg with codeine phosphate 30 mg, however, the rates of withdrawals due to adverse events appeared to be higher in the tramadol hydrochloride groups.Table 2: Cumulative Incidence of Adverse Reactions for Tramadol Hydrochloride in Chronic Trials of Nonmalignant Pain (N=427) Up to 7 Days Up to 30 Days Up to 90 Days Dizziness/Vertigo 26% 31% 33% Nausea 24% 34% 40% Constipation 24% 38% 46% Headache 18% 26% 32% Somnolence 16% 23% 25% Vomiting 9% 13% 17% Pruritus 8% 10% 11% ‘CNS Stimulation’1 7% 11% 14% Asthenia 6% 11% 12% Sweating 6% 7% 9% Dyspepsia 5% 9% 13% Dry Mouth 5% 9% 10% Diarrhea 5% 9% 10% 1 “CNS Stimulation” is a composite of nervousness, anxiety, agitation, tremor, spasticity, euphoria, emotional lability and hallucinationsIncidence 1% to less than 5% possibly causally related: the following lists adverse reactions that occurred with an incidence of 1% to less than 5% in clinical trials, and for which the possibility of a causal relationship with tramadol hydrochloride exists.Body as a Whole: Malaise.Cardiovascular: Vasodilation.Central Nervous System: Anxiety, Confusion, Coordination disturbance, Euphoria,Miosis, Nervousness, Sleep disorder.Gastrointestinal: Abdominal pain, Anorexia, Flatulence.Musculoskeletal: Hypertonia.Skin: Rash.Special Senses: Visual disturbance.Urogenital: Menopausal symptoms, Urinary frequency, Urinary retention.Incidence less than 1%, possibly causally related: the following lists adverse reactions that occurred with an incidence of less than 1% in clinical trials and/or reported in post-marketing experience.Body as a Whole: Accidental injury, Allergic reaction, Anaphylaxis, Death, Suicidal tendency, Weight loss, Serotonin syndrome (mental status change, hyperreflexia, fever, shivering, tremor, agitation, diaphoresis, seizures and coma).Cardiovascular: Orthostatic hypotension, Syncope, Tachycardia.Central Nervous System: Abnormal gait, Amnesia, Cognitive dysfunction, Depression, Difficulty in concentration, Hallucinations, Paresthesia, Seizure (see WARNINGS). Tremor.Respiratory: Dyspnea.Skin: Stevens-Johnson syndrome/Toxic epidermal necrolysis, Urticaria, Vesicles.Special Senses: Dysgeusia.Urogenital: Dysuria, Menstrual disorder.Other adverse experiences, causal relationship unknown: A variety of other adverse events were reported infrequently in patients taking tramadol hydrochloride during clinical trials and/or reported in post-marketing experience. A causal relationship between tramadol hydrochloride and these events has not been determined. However, the most significant events are listed below as alerting information to the physician.Cardiovascular: Abnormal ECG, Hypertension, Hypotension, Myocardial ischemia, Palpitations, Pulmonary edema, Pulmonary embolism.Central Nervous System: Migraine, Speech disorders.Gastrointestinal: Gastrointestinal bleeding, Hepatitis, Stomatitis, Liver failure.Laboratory Abnormalities: Creatinine increase, Elevated liver enzymes, Hemoglobin decrease, Proteinuria.Sensory: Cataracts, Deafness, Tinnitus.
AbuseTramadol has mu-opioid agonist activity. Tramadol hydrochloride tablets can be abused and may be subject to criminal diversion.Addiction is a primary, chronic, neurobiologic disease, with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. Drug addiction is characterized by behaviors that include one or more of the following: impaired control over drug use, compulsive use, use for non-medical purposes, and continued use despite harm or risk of harm, and craving. Drug addiction is a treatable disease, utilizing a multidisciplinary approach, but relapse is common.“Drug-seeking” behavior is very common in addicts and drug abusers. Drug-seeking tactics include emergency calls or visits near the end of office hours, refusal to undergo appropriate examination, testing or referral, repeated “loss” of prescriptions, tampering with prescriptions and reluctance to provide prior medical records or contact information for other treating physician(s). “Doctor shopping” to obtain additional prescriptions is common among drug abusers and people suffering from untreated addiction.Abuse and addiction are separate and distinct from physical dependence and tolerance. Physicians should be aware that addiction may not be accompanied by concurrent tolerance and symptoms of physical dependence in all addicts. In addition, abuse of tramadol hydrochloride can occur in the absence of true addiction and is characterized by misuse for non-medical purposes, often in combination with other psychoactive substances.Concerns about abuse and addiction should not prevent the proper management of pain. However all patients treated with opioids require careful monitoring for signs of abuse and addiction, because use of opioid analgesic products carries the risk of addiction even under appropriate medical use.Proper assessment of the patient and periodic re-evaluation of therapy are appropriate measures that help to limit the potential abuse of this product.Tramadol hydrochloride tablets is intended for oral use only.DependenceTolerance is the need for increasing doses of drugs to maintain a defined effect such as analgesia (in the absence of disease progression or other external factors). Physical dependence is manifested by withdrawal symptoms after abrupt discontinuation of a drug or upon administration of an antagonist (see also WARNINGS, Withdrawal).The opioid abstinence or withdrawal syndrome is characterized by some or all of the following: restlessness, lacrimation, rhinorrhea, yawning, perspiration, chills, myalgia, and mydriasis. Other symptoms also may develop, including irritability, anxiety, backache, joint pain, weakness, abdominal cramps, insomnia, nausea, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhea, or increased blood pressure, respiratory rate, or heart rate.Generally, tolerance and/or withdrawal are more likely to occur the longer a patient is on continuous therapy with tramadol hydrochloride tablets.
Acute overdosage with tramadol can be manifested by respiratory depression, somnolence progressing to stupor or coma, skeletal muscle flaccidity, cold and clammy skin, constricted pupils, seizures, bradycardia, hypotension, cardiac arrest, and death. Deaths due to overdose have been reported with abuse and misuse of tramadol (see WARNINGS, Misuse, Abuse, and Diversion). Review of case reports has indicated that the risk of fatal overdose is further increased when tramadol is abused concurrently with alcohol or other CNS depressants, including other opioids.In the treatment of tramadol overdosage, primary attention should be given to the reestablishment of a patent airway and institution of assisted or controlled ventilation. Supportive measures (including oxygen and vasopressors) should be employed in the management of circulatory shock and pulmonary edema accompanying overdose as indicated. Cardiac arrest or arrhythmias may require cardiac massage or defibrillation.While naloxone will reverse some, but not all, symptoms caused by overdosage with tramadol, the risk of seizures is also increased with naloxone administration. In animals convulsions following the administration of toxic doses of tramadol hydrochloride tablets could be suppressed with barbiturates or benzodiazepines but were increased with naloxone. Naloxone administration did not change the lethality of an overdose in mice. Hemodialysis is not expected to be helpful in an overdose because it removes less than 7% of the administered dose in a 4-hour dialysis period.
Adults (17 years of age and over)For patients with moderate to moderately severe chronic pain not requiring rapid onset of analgesic effect, the tolerability of tramadol hydrochloride tablets, USP can be improved by initiating therapy with a titration regimen: The total daily dose may be increased by 50 mg as tolerated every 3 days to reach 200 mg/day (50 mg q.i.d.). After titration, tramadol hydrochloride tablets, USP 50 to 100 mg can be administered as needed for pain relief every 4 to 6 hours not to exceed 400 mg/day.For the subset of patients for whom rapid onset of analgesic effect is required and for whom the benefits outweigh the risk of discontinuation due to adverse events associated with higher initial doses, tramadol hydrochloride tablets, USP 50 mg to 100 mg can be administered as needed for pain relief every four to six hours, not to exceed 400 mg per day.Individualization of DoseGood pain management practice dictates that the dose be individualized according to patient need using the lowest beneficial dose. Studies with tramadol in adults have shown that starting at the lowest possible dose and titrating upward will result in fewer discontinuations and increased tolerability.In all patients with creatinine clearance less than 30 mL/min, it is recommended that the dosing interval of tramadol hydrochloride tablets be increased to 12 hours, with a maximum daily dose of 200 mg. Since only 7% of an administered dose is removed by hemodialysis, dialysis patients can receive their regular dose on the day of dialysis.The recommended dose for adult patients with cirrhosis is 50 mg every 12 hours.In general, dose selection for an elderly patient over 65 years old should be cautious, usually starting at the low end of the dosing range, reflecting the greater frequency of decreased hepatic, renal or cardiac function and of concomitant disease or other drug therapy. For elderly patients over 75 years old, total dose should not exceed 300 mg/day.
Tramadol hydrochloride tablets, USP 50 mg are supplied as unscored, white, round film coated tablets debossed “AN” over “627”.They are supplied as follows:Bottles of 10 tablets: NDC 65162-627-01Bottles of 100 tablets: NDC 65162-627-10Bottles of 500 tablets: NDC 65162-627-50Bottles of 1000 tablets: NDC 65162-627-11Dispense in a tight container as defined in the USP.Store at 25°C (77°F); excursions permitted to 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F).
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Increased susceptibility of natural killer T-cell-deficient mice to acetaminophen-induced liver injury
Brittany V. Martin-Murphy, Douglas J. Kominsky, David J. Orlicky, Terrence Donohue, Cynthia Ju
Gastroenterology and Hepatology (GI)
VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System
Pathology & Microbiology
Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose causes severe, fulminant liver injury. The underlying mechanism of APAP-induced liver injury (AILI), studied by a murine model, displays similar characteristics of injury as those observed in patients. Previous studies suggest that aside from APAP-induced direct damage to hepatocytes, the hepatic innate immune system is activated and may contribute to the overall pathogenesis of AILI. The current study employed the use of two murine natural killer (NK) cells with T-cell receptor (NKT) cell knockout models (CD1d-/- and Jα18-/-) to elucidate the specific role of NKT cells in AILI. Compared to wild-type (WT) mice, NKT cell-deficient mice were more susceptible to AILI, as indicated by higher serum alanine transaminase levels and mortality. Increased levels of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) protein expression and activities, which resulted in increased APAP protein adduct formation, were observed in livers of APAP-treated NKT cell-deficient mice, compared to WT mice. Compared to WT mice, starvation of NKT cell-deficient mice induced a higher increase of ketone bodies, which up-regulate CYP2E1 through protein stabilization. Conclusion: Our data revealed a novel role of NKT cells in regulating responses to starvation-induced metabolic stress. Elevated ketone body production in NKT cell-deficient mice resulted in increased CYP2E1-mediated APAP biotransformation and susceptibility to AILI.
Published - Apr 1 2013
Natural Killer T-Cells
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2E1
Physiological Stress
T-Cell Antigen Receptor
Alanine Transaminase
Hepatocytes
Martin-Murphy, B. V., Kominsky, D. J., Orlicky, D. J., Donohue, T., & Ju, C. (2013). Increased susceptibility of natural killer T-cell-deficient mice to acetaminophen-induced liver injury. Hepatology, 57(4), 1575-1584. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.26134
Increased susceptibility of natural killer T-cell-deficient mice to acetaminophen-induced liver injury. / Martin-Murphy, Brittany V.; Kominsky, Douglas J.; Orlicky, David J.; Donohue, Terrence; Ju, Cynthia.
In: Hepatology, Vol. 57, No. 4, 01.04.2013, p. 1575-1584.
Martin-Murphy, BV, Kominsky, DJ, Orlicky, DJ, Donohue, T & Ju, C 2013, 'Increased susceptibility of natural killer T-cell-deficient mice to acetaminophen-induced liver injury', Hepatology, vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 1575-1584. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.26134
Martin-Murphy BV, Kominsky DJ, Orlicky DJ, Donohue T, Ju C. Increased susceptibility of natural killer T-cell-deficient mice to acetaminophen-induced liver injury. Hepatology. 2013 Apr 1;57(4):1575-1584. https://doi.org/10.1002/hep.26134
Martin-Murphy, Brittany V. ; Kominsky, Douglas J. ; Orlicky, David J. ; Donohue, Terrence ; Ju, Cynthia. / Increased susceptibility of natural killer T-cell-deficient mice to acetaminophen-induced liver injury. In: Hepatology. 2013 ; Vol. 57, No. 4. pp. 1575-1584.
@article{10dfa96c38694e18964cfb5a6eb0a202,
title = "Increased susceptibility of natural killer T-cell-deficient mice to acetaminophen-induced liver injury",
abstract = "Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose causes severe, fulminant liver injury. The underlying mechanism of APAP-induced liver injury (AILI), studied by a murine model, displays similar characteristics of injury as those observed in patients. Previous studies suggest that aside from APAP-induced direct damage to hepatocytes, the hepatic innate immune system is activated and may contribute to the overall pathogenesis of AILI. The current study employed the use of two murine natural killer (NK) cells with T-cell receptor (NKT) cell knockout models (CD1d-/- and Jα18-/-) to elucidate the specific role of NKT cells in AILI. Compared to wild-type (WT) mice, NKT cell-deficient mice were more susceptible to AILI, as indicated by higher serum alanine transaminase levels and mortality. Increased levels of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) protein expression and activities, which resulted in increased APAP protein adduct formation, were observed in livers of APAP-treated NKT cell-deficient mice, compared to WT mice. Compared to WT mice, starvation of NKT cell-deficient mice induced a higher increase of ketone bodies, which up-regulate CYP2E1 through protein stabilization. Conclusion: Our data revealed a novel role of NKT cells in regulating responses to starvation-induced metabolic stress. Elevated ketone body production in NKT cell-deficient mice resulted in increased CYP2E1-mediated APAP biotransformation and susceptibility to AILI.",
author = "Martin-Murphy, {Brittany V.} and Kominsky, {Douglas J.} and Orlicky, {David J.} and Terrence Donohue and Cynthia Ju",
doi = "10.1002/hep.26134",
journal = "Hepatology",
T1 - Increased susceptibility of natural killer T-cell-deficient mice to acetaminophen-induced liver injury
AU - Martin-Murphy, Brittany V.
AU - Kominsky, Douglas J.
AU - Orlicky, David J.
AU - Donohue, Terrence
AU - Ju, Cynthia
N2 - Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose causes severe, fulminant liver injury. The underlying mechanism of APAP-induced liver injury (AILI), studied by a murine model, displays similar characteristics of injury as those observed in patients. Previous studies suggest that aside from APAP-induced direct damage to hepatocytes, the hepatic innate immune system is activated and may contribute to the overall pathogenesis of AILI. The current study employed the use of two murine natural killer (NK) cells with T-cell receptor (NKT) cell knockout models (CD1d-/- and Jα18-/-) to elucidate the specific role of NKT cells in AILI. Compared to wild-type (WT) mice, NKT cell-deficient mice were more susceptible to AILI, as indicated by higher serum alanine transaminase levels and mortality. Increased levels of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) protein expression and activities, which resulted in increased APAP protein adduct formation, were observed in livers of APAP-treated NKT cell-deficient mice, compared to WT mice. Compared to WT mice, starvation of NKT cell-deficient mice induced a higher increase of ketone bodies, which up-regulate CYP2E1 through protein stabilization. Conclusion: Our data revealed a novel role of NKT cells in regulating responses to starvation-induced metabolic stress. Elevated ketone body production in NKT cell-deficient mice resulted in increased CYP2E1-mediated APAP biotransformation and susceptibility to AILI.
AB - Acetaminophen (APAP) overdose causes severe, fulminant liver injury. The underlying mechanism of APAP-induced liver injury (AILI), studied by a murine model, displays similar characteristics of injury as those observed in patients. Previous studies suggest that aside from APAP-induced direct damage to hepatocytes, the hepatic innate immune system is activated and may contribute to the overall pathogenesis of AILI. The current study employed the use of two murine natural killer (NK) cells with T-cell receptor (NKT) cell knockout models (CD1d-/- and Jα18-/-) to elucidate the specific role of NKT cells in AILI. Compared to wild-type (WT) mice, NKT cell-deficient mice were more susceptible to AILI, as indicated by higher serum alanine transaminase levels and mortality. Increased levels of cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP2E1) protein expression and activities, which resulted in increased APAP protein adduct formation, were observed in livers of APAP-treated NKT cell-deficient mice, compared to WT mice. Compared to WT mice, starvation of NKT cell-deficient mice induced a higher increase of ketone bodies, which up-regulate CYP2E1 through protein stabilization. Conclusion: Our data revealed a novel role of NKT cells in regulating responses to starvation-induced metabolic stress. Elevated ketone body production in NKT cell-deficient mice resulted in increased CYP2E1-mediated APAP biotransformation and susceptibility to AILI.
U2 - 10.1002/hep.26134
DO - 10.1002/hep.26134
JO - Hepatology
JF - Hepatology
10.1002/hep.26134
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Former Duke star Cook-ing in Las Vegas NBA Summer League
Quinn Cook has scored 20 or more points in each of his last three games, including 26 on Wednesday to help the New Orleans Pelicans advance in the tournament
July 13, 2017 Brett Friedlander Sports
Former Wake Forest star John Collins averaged nearly a double-double in five NBA Summer League games in Las Vegas
The New Orleans Pelicans went winless during the three-game pool play portion of the NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League this week. Thanks to Quinn Cook, though, the Pelicans are advancing into the second round of the tournament’s knockout round. The former Duke star went 11 of 16 from the floor, made both his 3-pointers and led both teams with 26 points Wednesday to lead New Orleans to a 105-95 win against the Atlanta Hawks. He also added seven assists and five rebounds in helping his team advance to a second-round matchup against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday. Cook, the captain of the Blue Devils’ 2015 national championship team, has scored 20 or more points in each of his last three games in Vegas. Wake Forest’s John Collins also had an impressive performance in the game, scoring 25 points and pulling down nine rebounds in a losing effort for the Hawks. The recent first round draft choice completed a successful week, in which he averaged a double-double while showing NBA-ready skills on both ends of the court. Veteran Ryan Kelly of Duke, auditioning to earn a spot on a team for the regular season, had 11 points and four rebounds for Atlanta. Also Wednesday the Minnesota Timberwolves and their four North Carolina college players were eliminated by the Golden State Warriors 77-69. The result was a reversal of their pool play meeting one night earlier, when NC State’s C.J. Williams hit the winning basket in double overtime. Williams had another big game in the rematch, scoring 19 points and pulling down four rebounds, but it wasn’t enough for the win this time. UNC’s Marcus Paige had eight points and six assists for the Timberwolves, while Davidson’s Jack Gibbs scored 12 points and Duke’s Amile Jefferson chipped in with three points and four rebounds. Campbell’s Eric Griffin left a positive final impression in his effort to earn a spot on an NBA roster by recording 18 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and four blocked shots for the Utah Jazz in its 97-81 loss to the Phoenix Suns. First round pick Tony Bradley of UNC, however, struggled in his final two games after posting two strong performances to start the Vegas event. He was held to just four points Wednesday, although he did grab eight rebounds and block a shot. In the only other first round knockout game involving a player with state college ties Wednesday, the Sacramento Kings advanced to a second-round matchup against Dallas with a 69-65 win against the Milwaukee Bucks despite a 2-14 (0-5) shooting performance from UNC’s Justin Jackson. Last year’s ACC Player of the Year scored eight points in the game to go along with five rebounds and five assists. Here are the cumulative stats for all state players participating in Las Vegas:Brandon Ingram, Duke (Lakers): 1 game, 26.0 ppg, 9-17 FG, 1-4 3PT, 7-8 FT, 3.0 apg, 3.0 spgQuinn Cook, Duke (Pelicans): 4 G, 21.8 ppg, 37-61 FG, 6-12 3PT, 7-8 FT, 4.0 rpg, 4.3 apgDennis Smith, NC State (Mavs) 3 G, 18.3 ppg, 17-36 FG, 5-14 3PT, 16-22 FT, 6.0 rpg, 5.0 apgJayson Tatum, Duke (Celtics): 3 G, 17.7 ppg, 19-45 FG, 2-3 3PT, 13-15 FT, 8.0 rpgJohn Collins, Wake Forest (Hawks): 4 G, 17.5 ppg, 29-45 FG, 1-1 3PT, 12-16 FT, 10.3 rpgMarcus Paige, UNC (T-wolves): 3 G, 14.3 ppg, 15-39 FG, 8-20 3PT, 5-5 FT, 2.3 rpg, 4.7 apgBrice Johnson, UNC (Clippers): 3 G, 14.0 ppg, 16-28 FG, 10-13 FT, 5.0 rpg, 1.7 bpgKennedy Meeks, UNC (Raptors): 2 G, 13.5 ppg, 12-20 FG, 1-3 3PT, 2-4 FT, 6.5 rpgJustin Jackson, UNC (Kings): 4 G, 11.5 ppg, 18-54 FG, 4-22 3PT, 6-7 FT, 4.0 rpg, 1.8 apgC.J. Williams, NC State (T-wolves): 4 G, 11.3 ppg, 15-38 FG, 4-18 3PT, 11-14 FT, 3.3 rpgRyan Kelly Duke (Hawks): 3 G, 10.7 ppg, 9-28 FG, 3-12 3PT, 11-13 FT, 4.0 rpgEric Griffin, Campbell (Jazz): 3 G, 10.7 ppg, 11-25 FG, 1-3 3PT, 5-9 FT, 7.0 rpg, 4.0 bpgJack Gibbs, Davidson (T-wolves): 4 G, 9.8 ppg, 15-40 FG, 7-20 3PT, 2-4 FT, 2.3 apgTony Bradley, UNC (Jazz): 4 G, 8.5 ppg, 17-38 FG, 6.3 rpg, 1.0 bpgMatt Jones, Duke (Rockets): 1 G, 7.0 ppg, 1-4 FG, 1-3 3PT, 4-5 FT, 2.0 rpgIsaiah Hicks, UNC (Clippers): 3 G, 6.3 ppg, 7-11 FG, 5-8 FT, 2.0 rpg, 1.7 bpgKendall Marshall, UNC (Clippers): 2 G, 5.5 ppg, 2-5 FG, 1-1 3PT, 6-7 FT, 1.5 rpg, 8.0 apgAmile Jefferson, Duke (T-wolves): 3 G, 2.8 ppg, 4-10 FG, 3-6 FT, 3.8 rpg, 1.0 spgJ.P. Tokoto, UNC (Jazz): 2 G, 2.5 ppg, 2-9 FG, 1-6 3PT, 2.0 rpgNate Britt, UNC (Hawks): 2 G, 1.5 ppg, 1-4 FG, 0-2 3PT, 1-2 FT, 1.5 apgScott Wood, NC State (Celtics): 2 G, 0.0 ppg, 0-1 FG, 0-1 3PT
FILM REVIEW: Despicable Me 3
Tough night for (most) state players at Las Vegas NBA Summer League
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