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Baby-saving organization's ad counters 'Catholics for Choice'
By Matt C. Abbott
Last month, a despicable ad campaign financed by Catholics for Choice featured "women who profess to be Catholic stating that public funding of abortion is a Catholic social justice value." The ads appeared in a number of major newspapers nationwide.
In response to the pro-abortion Catholics for Choice, a pro-life organization known as The Women's Centers of Greater Chicagoland has created an ad of its own, which hopefully can be run in certain publications. You can view the ad below.
God bless The Women's Centers of Greater Chicagoland, whose counselors have, in the past 32 years, helped more than 39,000 women choose life for their babies!
© Matt C. Abbott
Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic commentator with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication, media and theatre from Northeastern Illinois University. He also has an Associate in Applied Science degree in business management from Triton College. He's been interviewed on MSNBC, Bill Martinez Live, WOSU Radio in Ohio, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's 'Unsolved' podcast, WLS-TV (ABC) in Chicago, WMTV (NBC) and WISC-TV (CBS) in Madison, Wis., and has been quoted in The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune. He can be reached at mattcabbott@
<NOSPAM>
gmail.com.
(Note: I welcome thoughtful feedback and story ideas. If you want our correspondence to remain confidential, please specify as such in your initial email to me. However, I reserve the right to forward and/or publish emails that are accusatory, insulting or threatening in nature, even if those emails are marked confidential. Also, if you give me permission to publish a quote of yours, please do not contact me at a later time to request that I delete your name. Only in limited circumstances will I quote anonymous sources. Thank you and God bless!)
Receive future articles by Matt C. Abbott: Click here
Two Catholic priests sue for defamation
Death-peddling devils deal David Daleiden a defeat -- for now
'Our Lord...could not grow in the womb of a sinner'
'The Devil in the City of Angels'
Abortion foes Daleiden, Newman convicted in RICO case
The unholy 69
'Infiltration and the election of Pope Francis'
Catholic priest (thankfully) denies Communion to Joe Biden
On Christ, sin, contrition, and mercy
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Local Body Rubs
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Temporary Autonomous Zones
Revolt Library >> Anarchism >> Temporary Autonomous Zones
Author : Colin Ward
(1924 - 2010) ~ British Anarchist Writer and Social Historian : ...lived with the title of Britain's most famous anarchist for nearly half a century, bemused by this ambivalent sobriquet. In Anarchy in Action (1973), he set out his belief that an anarchist society was not an end goal. (From : Guardian Obituary.)
• "It is, after all, the principle of authority which ensures that people will work for someone else for the greater part of their lives, not because they enjoy it or have any control over their work, but because they see it as their only means of livelihood." (From : "Anarchism as a Theory of Organization," by Colin ....)
• "...the bombs you are worried about are not the bombs which cartoonists attribute to the anarchists, but the bombs which governments have perfected, at your expense." (From : "Anarchism as a Theory of Organization," by Colin ....)
• "The anarchists, who have always distinguished between the state and society, adhere to the social principle, which can be seen where-ever men link themselves in an association based on a common need or a common interest." (From : "Anarchism as a Theory of Organization," by Colin ....)
anti-authoritarian (7)
historian (13)
Photo by Allan Grey,
CC BY-SA License
I’ve a big agenda of books I would like to read or write and for ordinary reasons, like a low income, I stay at home but get lured abroad when somebody else pays the fares. This explains why anarchists from several countries, like France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, have asked me for my opinion on the views of Hakim Bey. [1]
It is always an embarrassment since for a long time I had no idea about who this person and his opinions were or are. Plenty of us, including myself, are hesitant about revealing the vast scope of our own ignorance. Two sources have explained to me what these questioners were talking about. One, of course, is Freedom’s invaluable feature ‘Food for Thought ... and Action!’ and the other is Murray Bookchin’s recent book Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm [2].
Bookchin and I have opposite ways of coping with people whose ideas have some kind of connection with our own but with whom we disagree. His is to pulverize them with criticism so that they won’t emerge again. Mine is to follow the policy of Paul Goodman, who had been a subject of the Bookchin scorn. Goodman enjoyed telling a fable:
’Tom says to Jerry: ‘Do you want to fight ? Cross that line!’ and Jerry does. ‘Now’, cries Tom, ‘you’re on my side!’ We draw the line in their conditions ; we proceed on our own conditions.”
As a propagandist I usually find it more useful to claim as comrades the people whose ideas are something like mine, and to stress the common ground, rather than to wither them up in a deluge of scorn.
What I learn from Bookchin’s book is that Hakim Bey’s book is called TAZ: The Temporary Autonomous Zone, Ontological Anarchism, Poetic Terrorism, that the author’s real name is Peter Lamborn Wilson, and that his book has a whole lot of notions that wouldn’t appeal to people of the Bookchin/Ward generation. And after his demolition job, Murray asks: “What, finally, is a ‘temporary autonomous zone’ ?” He explains it with a quotation from Hakim Bey describing how:
“The TAZ is like an uprising which does not engage directly with the state, a guerrilla operation which liberates an area (of land, of time, of imagination) and then dissolves itself, to re-form elsewhere / elsewhen, before the state can crush it.”
And he goes on to quote from Hakim Bey’s essay how in a TAZ we can “realize many of our true desires, even if only for a season, a brief Pirate Utopia, a warped free-zone in the old Space/Time continuum” and how ‘potential TAZs” include “the sixties-style tribal gathering, the forest conclave of eco-saboteurs, the idyllic Beltane of the neopagans, anarchist conferences, and gay faerie circles” not to speak of, as Murray quotes, “night-clubs, banquets” and “old-time libertarian picnics” — no less.
Murray Bookchin, naturally, comments that “having been a member of the Libertarian League in the 1960s, I would love to see the Bey and his disciples surface at an ‘old-time libertarian picnic’!” And he makes some down-to-earth comments on Hakim Bey’s praise for “voluntary illiteracy” and for homelessness as “in a sense a virtue, an adventure”.
Rightly, in my view, Murray remarks that:
“Alas, homelessness can be an ‘adventure’ when one has a comfortable home to return to, while nomadism is the distinct luxury of those who can afford to live without earning their livelihood. Most of the ‘nomadic’ hoboes I recall so vividly from the Great Depression era suffered desperate lives of hunger, disease and indignity and usually died prematurely — as they still do today in the streets of urban America.”
He wins us over to stern realism, but that one concept of Temporary Autonomous Zones is so familiar to me, and probably to him too, that it’s worth considering outside the Hakim Bey context. Plenty of us must have been in situations when we reflect that we all have certain experiences that seem to us to be the way things would happen if we were living in an anarchist society.
I think it was as long ago as 1970 that a reader of Anarchy, Graham Whiteman, was writing there about the equivalent of temporary autonomous zones that he perceived in the vast rock or pop festivals that started happening in 1967, notably the event at Woodstock in New York State in August 1969. There were plenty more closer to home in the subsequent 25 years.
But once the phrase Temporary Autonomous Zones lodges in your mind you begin to see it/them everywhere: fleeting pockets of anarchy that occur in daily life. In this sense it describes a perhaps more useful concept than that of an anarchist society, since the most libertarian societies that we know of have their authoritarian elements, and vise versa. I was reading recently the biography by Michael Holroyd of the painter Augustus John, a self-declared anarchist who was also rather a monster in creating around himself the particular version of anarchy that appealed to him. Holroyd is describing John’s return, in his 73rd year in 1950 to St-Rémy in France, to a place he had left in a hurry in 1939:
“French feeding wasn’t what it had been and the wine seemed to have gone off. But in the evening, at the Café des Variétés, he could still obtain that peculiar equilibrium of spirit and body he described as ‘detachment-in-intimacy’. The conversation whirled around him, the accordion played, and sometimes he was rewarded ‘by the apparition of a face or part of a face, a gesture or conjunction of forms which I recognize as belonging to a more real and harmonious world than that to which we are accustomed’.”
The old painter’s last phrase describes rather beautifully the sensation of what another Freedom contributor, Brian Richardson, calls “golden moments”. His unaccustomed glimpse of a more real and harmonious world is the meaning that I am inclined to ascribe to the words about Temporary Autonomous Zones.
[1] Originally appeared in Freedom, Spring 1997
[2] Edinburgh, AK Press f5.95, post-free from Freedom Press
A Talk About Anarchist Communism Between Two Workers
Tenth Anniversary of the Russian Revolution
Summons, by Nestor Makhno
Sydney Libertarianism, by Allan James "Jim" Baker
Syndicalism and Anarchism, by Errico Malatesta
Syndicalism and Anarchism (Kropotkin), by Peter Kropotkin
Syndicalism: Its Theory and Practice, by Emma Goldman
Syndicalism: Modern Menace to Capitalism, The, by Emma Goldman
Syndicalists in the Russian Revolution, by Grigori Petrovitch Maximoff
Synthesis (Anarchist), by Voline
System of Economical Contradictions: or, the Philosophy of Misery, by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
Talk About Anarchist Communism Between Two Workers, A, by Errico Malatesta
Tenth Anniversary of the Russian Revolution, by Alexander Berkman
Terror in Russia, The, by Peter Kropotkin
Theory of Anarchism, The, by Karl Diehl
Theory of Infinitesimal Humanities, The, by Joseph Déjacque
There Is No Communism in Russia, by Emma Goldman
Thermometer of Revolution, The, by Charlotte Wilson
They Who Marry Do Ill, by Voltairine De Cleyre
Things as they are, or the Adventures of Caleb Williams, by William Godwin
Things of Today [Dec, 1886], by Charlotte Wilson
Things of Today [Feb, 1887], by Charlotte Wilson
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Home Documenti Immigration, Population Policy, and the Sierra Club
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Immigration, Population Policy, and the Sierra Club
Policy View: Immigration, Population Policy,
and the Sierra Club
Frederick A.B. Meyerson
We need to find a civil way to talk about immigration to the United
States, its effects on the environment, and its relationship to other serious
demographic issues facing the country and the world. This invited commentary
is intended to further that conversation, in the wake of the recent
infighting at the Sierra Club over immigration policy, which has been
extensively covered by the United States media.
There is broad agreement among scientists that human population
dynamics have significant effects on the environment at multiple scales, and
that the location, density, and movement of population is related to a
variety of conservation and environmental impacts. On the political side,
very few people favor either completely closed or completely open borders
for the United States. However, discussion of the vast middle ground between
those two policy options has become so contentious and polarized
that serious public debate has been largely paralyzed.
This is an issue much larger than the Sierra Club and its ongoing
internal and public political battle over whether the environmental organization
should advocate a specific policy. Immigration is the only significant
long-term driver of American population growth. The U.S. fertility rate
fell below 2.1 in the early 1970s, has remained at or below replacement
level since that time, and is projected to remain near replacement for the
foreseeable future.
Net immigration, however, has steadily increased for several decades. American population has grown by nearly 100 million (50%) since 1970 and is projected to rise by an additional 120 million by 2050, in large part as a result of immigration.[1] Because of high U.S. per capita levels of consumption and production of pollutants, the environmental impact of this population growth is one of the most significant forces on the planet.[2]
Two other demographic phenomena other than immigration make
smaller contributions to American population growth—rising life expectancy
and baby boom echoes—but it is hard to devise any useful policy
discussions around those two topics, at least as they relate to population and
the environment. Baby boom echoes are unavoidable architectural features
of the demographic landscape; only time can gradually subdue them. And
only a demographer or environmentalist with a death wish is going to
discuss policy related to human life spans, except in the context of
lengthening them.
It is also not easy to construct a politically viable discussion about
further suppressing American fertility. There are almost no other countries
that have behaved the way the U.S. has, obediently falling to and remaining
within a stone's throw of the replacement fertility level that demographers
once lazily assumed would be the universal human destiny.
Given the ongoing fear in Europe and elsewhere of below-replacement fertility, aging,
and population decline, it is unlikely that policy-makers or politicians
would take up the banner of significantly lowering American fertility below
replacement level, however sensible that might be from an environmental
American women on average want to have about two children, and
they do, even if they get there by a circuitous and uncomfortable route
which involves inadequate public health care, high unintended pregnancy
rates, substantial numbers of abortions, and large expenditures on fertility
treatments. There is plenty of room for improvement in the means, but it is
hard to argue with the ultimate results, at least if replacement fertility and
population stability are policy goals (see Figure 1).
As a practical matter, this leaves immigration as the only major policy lever for hanging the rate of United States population growth.
That is why the Sierra Cub fight, and the way some of its key combatants chose (as I
describe below) to frame the issue as an ethnic or racial one, is particularly
Playing the race card virtually ensures the end to intelligent debate on immigration (or any other)policy. Without the capacity to discuss American immigration trends and policy safely, it is essentially impossible to discuss American population growth.
This is a tragic impasse. Whether you take a national or global perspective, U.S. population policy is a debate we cannot afford to avoid indefinitely, as demographers, environmental scientists, conservationists, or policy-makers.
Average Number of Children per Woman
TFR (Historical 1931-2002)
TFR (Projected 2003-2050)
FIGURE 1. United States Total Fertility Rate (1931-2050).
Data sources: National Vital Statistics Report, Various issues (historical data 1931-
2002) U.S. Census Bureau, International Database (projections 2003-2050).
U.S. IMMIGRATION TRENDS
While immigration has been a perpetual theme in American history,
the level of immigration has by no means been constant; instead it more
closely resembled a roller coaster during the 20th century.
By decade, net immigration levels varied from less than zero in the 1930s to 13 million in the 1990s. The last five decades have seen a continuous rise, from about
200,000 net immigrants per year in the 1950s to an estimated 1.3 million
per year in the 1990s and first years of the 21st century (see Figure 2).
This more than fivefold increase in the last half century is the product
of the intended and unintended effects of a series of immigration laws
passed since 1965 and a large increase in illegal (or undocumented)
immigration.
Legal immigration has quadrupled since the 1960s, mostly as
a result of family reunification procedures, which now account for more
than half of the legal flow. Illegal immigration is believed to have been
minimal before the 1960s, perhaps a few thousands or tens of thousands
per year, but has risen to approximately 500,000 per year, or more than
Millions of (net) immigrants per decade
Net immigration (Immigrants - Emigrants)
FIGURE 2. Net Immigration to the United States per decade 1900-2000
(estimated). Data sources: 2002 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics. U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service (adjusted with estimates for emigration
and net illegal immigration).
one-third of current net immigration to the United States.[3] To put this in
historical perspective, the current annual net inflow of illegal immigrants
by itself is approximately equal to yearly net legal immigration between
1900 and 1930.
In the absence of any immigration restrictions (often referred to as an
‘‘open borders'' policy), it is estimated that several million people would
migrate to the United States each year. This number can obviously not be
known with any certainty, but it would be substantially higher than current
immigration levels, based on the substantial expenditures on border patrols,
the level of apprehensions, and the number of people who die trying to
reach the United States. The particular level of successful undocumented
migration appears to be more accidental than anything else. It is the convergence
and by-product of several dysfunctional policies.
Most people in the United States favor some immigration restrictions, and most would agree that the current system is in disarray, whether they advocate more or less immigration than currently occurs. Almost no one is in favor of an open borders policy, particularly in an era of terrorist threats against the United States, where unregulated movement of people poses serious security risks. Yet it is virtually impossible to hold a rational public debate about the issue. In that regard, the Sierra Club battle has been a useful if troubling lesson.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SIERRA CLUB FIGHT
The most recent (2004) installment of the Sierra Club battle has been
characterized by both the Club leadership and the media as an effort by a
few insurgents to take over the organization and use it for non-environ-
mental purposes, particularly racially motivated ones. The reality is a great
deal more complex and spans several decades; it is very briefly summarized
One essential piece of background information is that the Sierra Club is
run more democratically than many other U.S. national environmental
organizations. Anyone can become a member by paying a minimum annual
membership fee. The entire board is elected directly by its 750,000 members,
any of whom can run for the board. Members can also place resolutions
on the annual ballot, which if passed by a majority of the voting
membership, become Club policy.
Beginning in the 1950s, the membership and leadership began to
discuss whether the frame of the Club's focus should be solely national or
also global. Because conservation policy often involves limiting access to or
use of habitat and natural resources, the debate was in part about spatial
scales and where the organization should focus its energy.
This is familiar ground-nearly every discussion of population, consumption, and the
environment revolves in part around questions of scale and boundaries.
In 1978, the Club adopted a policy stating that ‘‘all regions of the world
must reach a balance between their populations and resources...(and)...the
Sierra Club urges Congress to conduct a thorough examination of U.S.
immigration laws, policies and practices.''[4] By the 1980s, the debate in the
Sierra Club had sharpened to consideration of whether the Club should
advocate a particular policy on U.S. immigration.
After a decade of belowreplacement fertility, immigration was recognized to be the primary driver of American population growth, which in turn threatened many protected areas, ecosystems, and various conservation goals of the Sierra Club.
In the 1990s, the debate became heated. In 1991, the chair of the Sierra
Club's national population committee proposed the following resolution to
both his local board and the national board: ‘‘The U.S. should sustain
replacement level fertility (2.1 children per family); the U.S. government should enact legislation establishing an all-inclusive legal immigration ceiling set at replacement level (i.e., immigration equals emigration).''[5] The resolution did not pass, but touched off an uncomfortable and acrimonious debate. As a result, in 1996, the Sierra Club board voted to take a ‘‘neutral'' stand on immigration, hoping to short-circuit further disagreement.
In 1998, some Sierra members placed a resolution on the annual ballot
to reverse that decision and have Club advocate immigration limitations.
The issue split many prominent ecologists who otherwise agree on most
conservation issues—for instance, Edward O. Wilson of Harvard endorsed
the immigration limits proposal, while Paul and Anne Ehrlich (the latter was
a Sierra Club board member at the time) of Stanford opposed it.
After political maneuvers by the leadership which left a sour taste in the mouths
of many members, the resolution was defeated, 60-40%. The board of
directors later adopted a resolution to ‘‘take no position on U.S. immigration
levels and policies.''[6]
A few years later, Sierra Club members who supported taking a position
on immigration policy tried a different strategy. In the board elections of
2002 and 2003, they campaigned for and elected several board members
who supported their position. The election in 2004 was characterized by
both sides as a showdown—with the election of an additional three
directors (five are elected each year), the group allegedly favoring immigration
limitations could potentially control the board.[7]
The Sierra Club leadership pulled out all the stops (and the race card) to
defeat that effort. The executive director and president gave many interviews,
contending that the candidates (and some of the current board
members) were supported by or related to racist organizations.[8] For
example, in articles in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, Sierra
Club President Carl Pope was quoted using the words ‘‘xenophobia,''
‘‘racists,'' ‘‘racism,'' and ‘‘Nazi'' in referring to the support for three of Sierra
Club board candidates.[9]
A group of Sierra Club supporters funded a several hundred thousand
dollar mail and web campaign to dissuade members from voting for
suspect candidates.[10] The board voted to alter the ballot and add a
strong warning against the dangers of outside interference by a list of
organizations. Two groups of candidates filed lawsuits against the board
claiming that the Sierra Club was violating its own election procedures,
but at least one was withdrawn after the Sierra Club threatened an
expensive counter-suit.
These scorched-earth tactics proved effective. In the April 2004 election,
almost 23% of the election ballots were returned, twice the turn-out
of previous elections.[11] The five board-endorsed candidates won overwhelmingly, all receiving between twice and three and half times the votes
of their closest competitors. Swept away were 12 other candidates, most of
whom ran on platforms completed unrelated to population or immigra-
tion.[12] As usual, politics surely makes for strange bedfellows.
The issue may not be resolved for long. At a meeting in late 2003, the
Sierra Club board agreed to place the immigration issue on the membership
ballot in the spring of 2005, in exchange for a delay until after the 2004 U.S.
Presidential elections. Whether this will occur after the vitriol and one-sided
results of the most recent Sierra Club board election remains to be seen.
RETURNING TO CIVILITY
What is relevant for the population-environment community is whether
the continued Sierra Club in-fighting and its extensive national media
coverage will help or hinder the prospects for a discussion of American
population policy, which must necessarily include immigration. As Mark
Dowie wrote nearly a decade ago ‘‘no matter what position one takes on
either population or immigration the specter of racism is close at hand in a
public discussion.''13 This sensitivity should not, however, be allowed to
foreclose science, analysis, or debate about this critical set of demographic
and environmental issues.
Here are a few observations and ideas that could facilitate civil debate:
Maintain a focus on demography and science. There is a great
deal of solid information on U.S. population trends, including immigration.
It is impossible to have an intelligent policy debate without data. Yet
in the most recent Sierra Club fight, neither side talked about facts once
race entered the debate, and the 40 or so articles in the press were
astoundingly data-free. This does both the scientific community and public
a great disservice.14
Make it safe to discuss U.S. population policy, including immigration
policy, within the demographic and environmental science communities.
Population data, trends, and policy are necessarily partly about race and
ethnicity, as are immigration levels and policies, including past and present
quota systems. Discussing immigration policy does not make one a racist,
even if racists also discuss that issue.15 That kind of guilt-by-association
tactic should not be countenanced, either by the Sierra Club (of which I
currently am a member) or by the demographic or environmental communities.
To overcome this unfortunate tendency of human nature, there will
have to be some self-policing.
Discuss fertility and immigration trends and policy at the same time.
As long as the policy objective is to affect population size or growth, it
makes little sense to discuss immigration and fertility policy in isolation
from each other. To do so invites the conclusion that there are nondemographic
motives involved. There will rarely, if ever, be a country
where fertility rates are exactly replacement level for any significant length
of time. Likewise, there are very few if any instances of countries maintaining
zero net immigration. The two sets of data and policies are necessarily
The movement of people across boundaries, whether they are park
boundaries or community, state, or national ones, is a critical part of the
population and environment field. In policy terms, national boundaries and
park boundaries may be the only two scales at which there is sufficient
political leverage (or the practical means) to control migration. From a
scientific perspective, it makes no sense to focus on population size and
movement at the scale of protected areas, communities (sprawl, etc.), and
globally, but omit the national scale and boundaries.
It is up to the Sierra Club to decide for itself in which areas it wants to
focus its energy and resources. However, that decision should be informed
by intelligent debate, rather than devolving to circumstances that chill or
foreclose an important aspect of population and environment research and
In the long run, the population trends and policy of the United States
are of critical importance to not only the field of population and environment
research, but also to many economic, social, and environmental
challenges facing the world. America is not only the planet's largest consumer
and polluter, it is also sets an example by which much of the rest of
the world models its demographic and economic policies, political priorities,
and even individual behavior, for better or worse. It is unwise to either
avoid or stifle scientific and public debate about U.S. population policy. To
accomplish that, we have to learn how to discuss immigration without
descending into name-calling.
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj/.
Meyerson, F.A.B., Population biodiversity and changing climate, pp. 83-90 in Hannah L. & Lovejoy, T.E. (Eds.), Climate Change and Biodiversity: Synergistic Impacts, Advances in Applied Biodiversity Science, No. 4, August 2003. U.S. per capita carbon dioxide emissions have fluctuated somewhat, but are the same in 2003 as they were in 1970. See also Meyerson, F.A.B. (1998). ‘‘Population, Carbon Emissions and Global Warming: The Forgotten Relationship at Kyoto'', Population and Development Review, 24(1), 115-130,
March.
The official net immigration estimate projections for 2000-2050 are somewhat lower,
between 1 and 1.1 million per year (see http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj/idbsummeth.html). However, unofficially, many demographers consider the actual number to be around 1.5 million annually, with 0.2 million emigrants (net annual immigration of about 1.3 million).
Policy adopted by the Sierra Club Board of Directors, May 6-7, 1978. A chronological list of Sierra Club resolutions related to population policy from 1965 through 2003 can be found at http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/population.asp.
Dowie, M. 1995. Losing ground: American environmentalism at the close of the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Adopted by the Board of Directors, September 25-26, 1999; amended by the Board of Directors, September 19, 2003, http://www.sierraclub.org/policy/conservation/popula-
tion.asp. The complete language of the board's resolution is somewhat circular. ‘‘The
Sierra Club supports the decision of the Board of Directors to take no position on U.S. immigration levels and policies.''
In reality, each of the candidates espoused different positions on a broad array of issues controversial to the Sierra Club, including immigration and animal rights. One of the candidates, Dr. David Pimentel of Cornell University, was accused of being ‘‘antiimmigrant'' or allied with those who hold those beliefs but in fact specifically stated that he had no position on immigration. ‘‘Currently, I hold a neutral position on immigration.''
http://www.sierraclub.org/bod/2004election/candidateforum/candidatesall.asp.
Barringer, F. (2004). Bitter Division for the Sierra Club on Immigration. The New York
Times, March 16. pp. A1, A16.
www.groundswellsierra.org. In addition, Moveon.org also became involved and urged
voting against the suspect candidates, without naming them. A web-site favoring candidates not supported by the Sierra Club leadership, including some who favor immigration limits, was also established (www.sierrademocracy.org).
For the 2004 election results, see http://www.sierraclub.org/bod/2004election/.
Ironically, the only two African-Americans who ran for the board were among those
soundly defeated. One of them had previously been on the board; the other African-
American, Frank Morris, had been described by the Sierra Club leadership as one of the three ‘‘insurgents'' who were ‘‘in bed with racists.'' Barringer, Felicity, ‘‘Bitter Division for Sierra Club on Immigration,'' The New York Times, March 16, 2004.
Dowie further observed that environmental groups often find it easier to duck the
immigration issue. ‘‘Under these circumstances, the best, and most polite thing to do is to table all motions-a decision difficult to explain to foundations hoping for some action from their grants.'' Dowie, M. (1995). Losing Ground: American Environmentalism at the Close of the Twentieth Century. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
The mis-representation or distortion of demographic data and analysis by the media is a chronic concern. See, e.g., Teitelbaum, M.S. (2004). ‘‘The media marketplace for garbled demography,'' Population and Development Review 30(2), 317-327.
One of the most distressing aspects of the Sierra Club fight for me has been to observe decent people, including fellow scientists, tarred unfairly with racially related epithets.
Frederick A.B. Meyerson is a Visiting Scholar at the Population Reference Bureau and is currently writing a book about American population policy, which will be published by Smithsonian Books in 2005. The views expressed herein are solely his own.
He can be reached by E-mail at fmeyerson@prb.org Population and Environment, Vol. 26, No. 1, September 2004 Ó 2004 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 61
Copyright 2000 - 2004 Miro International Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.
Mambo is Free Software released under the GNU/GPL License.
sovrappopolazione, demografia, fame nel mondo, carestie, epidemie, inquinamento, riscaldamento globale, erosione del suolo, immigrazione, globalizzazione, esaurimento delle risorse, popolazione, crisi idrica, guerra, guerre, consumo, consumismo
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© Powered by SiteSpirit
HOME ABOUT US SEPARATED CHILDREN STATEMENT OF GOOD PRACTICE PUBLICATIONS PROJECTS CONTACT
Support separated children in Europe
Translations Statement of Good Practice
Leaflet for children
SCEP Statements
Durable Solutions
UNICEF releases report “children’s rights in return policy and practice in Europe’’
On February 16, UNICEF The Netherlands has launched a report entitled ''children's rights in return policy and practice in Europe''. UNICEF has concerns about the situation and the protection of unaccompanied and separated children who may be returned to their country of origin. One of the main recommendations of the report is that return policies should be made child proof and in line with children's rights.
In the report, UNICEF suggests that governments should consider the following points in order to ensure respect for the rights of unaccompanied and separated children who may be returned to their country of origin:
* Assess the security situation carefully, on a country and local basis and specifically for children.
* Carry out a Best Interests Determination (BID) as well as an assessment of international protection claims to identify a durable solution for every separated child.
* Develop and use child rights-based procedures for tracing and contacting families.
* Respect the best interests of children in returning to families.
* Work on options for long-term development and durable solutions.
* Conduct public consultations now on policy provisions needed to accompany emerging practices.
* Do not return children to institutional reception unless the recommended safeguards are in place.
Click here for the full report.
coordinated by:
Strong coalition of child’s rights organizations call for better protection of separated children EASO publishes practical guide on the best interests of the child in asylum procedures European Committee of Social Rights: separated children have the right to adequate shelter and legal protection in country of arrival
Separated Children in Europe Programme (SCEP) - coordinated by Defence for Children The Netherlands - PO BOX 11103 - 2301 EC - Leiden - 0031 (0)71 516 09 80 - info@scepnetwork.org
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Book Review — Food on the Page: Cookbooks and American Culture
Food on the Page: Cookbooks and American Culture
Megan J. Elias
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017
The history of the cookbook is long and varied, but can often be used to trace the overall history and social norms of a specific culture. In Food on the Page Megan J. Elias, a historian and gastronomist from Boston University’s Metropolitan College traces American culture through the first domestically-published cookbooks to present day.
Cookbooks became prevalent in the 1800s, when community-based compendiums were a way for the contributor to show social status by offering recipes for unique dishes. Elias points out that for a long time, the most-contributed pie recipe was lemon, questioning the idea of apple pie as the epitome of American desserts.
Cultural changes eventually reflect in how we cook, and Elias demonstrates the great “whitewashing” of southern cookery books that never mention the slaves who would have actually been cooking the dishes included, or which refer to a romanticized Mammy-figure with love and cake for all.
She addresses the trend for slimming in the early 20th century and the misogyny of food writing after the wars when publications such as Gourmet forced a divide between masculine and feminine cooking and dishes that still exists to some extent today.
French food and its many fans also feature in chapters about how chefs and writers such as Julia Child and MFK Fisher turned Americans against their own local and regional cuisine in favour of complicated French dishes under the guise of sophistication.
I’ll admit that I found the chapter on the counter-culture cookbooks of the 60s and 70s a bit of a bore, not due to Elias’ writing but what with all the references to earnest hearty breads and cakes laced with pot, hippies were and continue to remain tiresome.
Moving on to present day, Elias takes on Michael Pollan and the sustainable food movement, which has inspired a whole new trend in chefs and cookbooks, meant to inspire the home cook to think about where their food comes from.
Finally Elias addresses the popularity of blogs and sites such as Instagram as a more current way of sharing recipes and food stories. Of course, the ultimate goal for a food blogger is still a book deal. Even if more people might visit your blog than buy your book, there is still a seriousness to the physical cookbook that cannot be replicated online.
Food on the Page is extensively researched and is informative and intriguing as both a history of food trends, but also as a series of snapshots of the United States and wider western culture.
cookbooks culture Food on the Page: Cookbooks and American Culture history Julia Child M.F.K. Fisher Megan J. Elias Michael Pollan regional
Book Review — The Angry Chef: Bad Science and the Truth About Healthy Eating
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Sushee Group
Sushee IVRCL Arunachal Highways Ltd
Sushee Realty LLP
Verticles/Expertise
Sushee Realty
Sushee Future
Sushee Infra > About Us
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Sushee Infra & Mining Limited has been incorporated in 1986 and since then has been involved in multi-disciplinary civil and infrastructure projects from concept to commissioning. Sushee Infra is re-engineering itself to integrate with the company’s focus on Mining, Railway Projects, Infrastructure Projects, Irrigation Projects, Mineral exploration, Roads and Highways Projects etc. The Company intends to leverage its expertise and experience to exploit opportunities in these sectors.
Sushee’s commitment to quality, efficiency, discipline, safety, and corporate social responsibility has helped it emerge as a Company with strong fundamentals. The company strongly believes that continued pursuit of these attributes will contribute immensely for the growth of the organization.
Sushee Infra is a leader in Mining and Irrigation sectors with collective expertise to conceive, design and execute Projects across the value chain. Sushee Infra & Mining Limited is the major flagship of the sushee group associated with prestigious clients viz. Irrigation Department of Andhra Pradesh, Singareni Collieries Company Ltd, Coal India Ltd. Indian Railways and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
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Iran makes arrests in plane shootdown, police crack down on protests
This content was published on January 15, 2020 3:47 AM Jan 15, 2020 - 03:47
Protesters demonstrate in Tehran, Iran January 11, 2020 in this picture obtained from social media by Reuters via REUTERS
(reuters_tickers)
By Parisa Hafezi and Babak Dehghanpisheh
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Tuesday it had arrested people accused of a role in shooting down a Ukrainian airliner and had also detained 30 people involved in protests that have swept the nation for four days since the military belatedly admitted its error.
Wednesday's downing of Ukraine International Airlines flight 752, which killed all 176 people aboard, has created a new crisis for the Islamic Republic's clerical rulers.
President Hassan Rouhani promised a thorough investigation into the "unforgivable error" in an address on Tuesday. It was the latest in a series of apologies by the leadership that has done little to quell public anger.
Britain, France and Germany also increased diplomatic pressure on Iran, launching a dispute mechanism to challenge Tehran for breaching limits on its nuclear programme under an agreement which Washington abandoned in 2018.
Tehran has faced an escalating confrontation with the West and a wave of unrest since the United States killed Iran's most powerful military commander in a drone strike on Jan. 3.
Iran shot down the plane on Wednesday when its military was on high alert, hours after firing missiles at U.S. targets in Iraq. It admitted the mistake on Saturday after days of denials.
New security camera footage shows two missiles, fired 30 seconds apart, hitting the plane after takeoff, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
U.S. intelligence officials said on Jan. 9 that the heat signatures of two surface-to-air missiles were detected near the aircraft.
In Iraq, a military camp at Taji, north of Baghdad, was hit by Katyusha rockets Tuesday night but no casualties were reported, an Iraqi military statement said.
A person who posted a video online last week of a missile striking the plane has been taken into custody by the elite Revolutionary Guards, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said some of those accused of having a role in the plane disaster had been arrested, although he did not say how many or identify them.
Since the official admission, protesters, many of them students, have held daily demonstrations, chanting "Clerics get lost!" and calling for the removal of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in power for more than 30 years.
Police have responded to some protests with a violent crackdown, video posts on social media showed, with police beating protesters with batons, wounded people being carried, pools of blood on the streets and the sound of gunfire.
A video that emerged on Tuesday showed an officer using an electric baton to shock a man as he writhed on the ground.
Iran's police have denied firing at protesters and said officers were ordered to act with restraint. The judiciary said 30 people had been detained in the unrest but authorities would show tolerance towards "legal protests".
'WHERE IS JUSTICE?'
Protests on Tuesday appeared peaceful, with scores gathering at two Tehran universities. "Where is justice?" some shouted.
The extent of the unrest is difficult to assess because of limits on independent reporting. Demonstrations tend to gather momentum into the night.
The domestic unrest triggered by the plane crash comes just two months after the most violent crackdown on protests since the revolution. The authorities killed hundreds of people to put down an uprising in November when demonstrators torched banks and petrol stations.
Adding to international tension, the judiciary spokesman branded Britain's ambassador an "undesirable element", after he was briefly detained on Saturday, accused of inciting protests. The ambassador said he had been attending a vigil for victims.
London said it had not been notified of any move to expel its envoy, Rob Macaire, and said such a step would be regrettable. Iran's Foreign Ministry, rather than the judiciary, would be responsible for any decision to expel him.
London hosts a meeting on Thursday of Canada, Ukraine, Britain and other nations who had citizens on the plane. Ukraine said they would consider legal action against Tehran.
Rouhani said the government would be accountable to Iranians and those nations who lost citizens. Most of those on board the flight were Iranians or dual nationals and 57 were Canadian.
Canada's Foreign Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne dismissed as "nonsense" Tehran's insistence that only a few Canadians died on the plane and demanded full accountability for what it called a horrible crime.
Iran, which does not recognise the concept of dual nationality said last week that only a handful of victims were Canadian, according to officials in Ottawa.
"We will not accept that position," Champagne told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp on Tuesday, saying he had raised the matter with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier in the day.
A team of Canadian experts joining the investigation visited the crash site on Tuesday, an Iranian news agency reported. It followed a meeting in Tehran between experts from Canada, Ukraine and Iran.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked for Kiev's help in talking to Iran about identifying the bodies of the Canadian citizens who were killed, the Ukrainian president's office said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which operates Interpol's national bureau in Canada, said it was working with Canadian police to collect some DNA samples from Canadian victims' families within Canada to assist with identification.
"Currently no on-site disaster victim identification assistance from Canada is required in Iran," RCMP said in a statement.
ESCALATION IN TENSIONS
The shootdown and subsequent unrest comes amid one of the biggest escalations in tensions between Tehran and Washington since 1979.
Missiles launched at a U.S. base in Iraq killed an American contractor in December, an attack Washington blamed on an Iran-backed group. Confrontation eventually led to the U.S. drone strike on Jan. 3 that killed General Qassem Soleimani, architect of Iran's regional network of proxy militias.
Iran's government was already reeling from the reimposition of sanctions by the United States, which quit an agreement with world powers under which Tehran would secure sanctions relief in return for scaling back its nuclear programme.
Since Washington withdrew, Tehran has stepped back from its nuclear commitments and has said it would no longer recognise limits on enriching uranium.
After months of threatening to act, European signatories to the deal, France, Britain and Germany, activated the agreement's dispute mechanism on Tuesday. Iran criticised the move and said it wanted constructive steps to save the nuclear deal.
(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi and Babak Dehghanpisheh and John Irish in Paris; Additional reporting by David Ljunggren and Steve Scherer in Ottawa; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Peter Graff, Angus MacSwan, Tom Brown and Lincoln Feast.)
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Godfall is the first game announced for the PlayStation 5
Thread: Godfall is the first game announced for the PlayStation 5
Head Honcho Administrator
Gearbox and Counterplay Games have just announced Godfall at The Game Awards, a “third-person fantasy looter-slasher focused on melee combat” that marks the first game announced for Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5.
Godfall is set in an entirely new universe, and will support solo, duo, or three-player co-op (although no gameplay was shown at the show.) In the Gearbox spirit — which also publishes the Borderlands games — Godfall will have an emphasis on collecting ever-escalating sets of loot and weapons over the game.
It’ll be out holiday 2020, and will also be released on the Epic Games Store.
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Home / Album News /
The Feelies set to release new album ‘In Between’ — stream track ‘Gone, Gone, Gone’
Album News, Digital Music, Tracklist
Jangle-pop legends The Feelies return later this month with their first new album in six years and sixth LP overall, an 11-song set titled In Between that’s preceded by the track “Gone, Gone, Gone” — which you can stream below.
The New Jersey-based act will release the new album, it’s second post-reunion set of new songs, on Feb. 24 on Bar/None Records. The album is produced by the band’s two founding guitarists, Glenn Mercer and Bill Million, who are joined by drummer Stan Demeski, bassist Brenda Sauter and percussionist Dave Weckerman, all of whom have played with the group since the early ’80s.
Between forming in 1976 and dissolving in 1992, and through some lineup adjustments, the Feelies produced four albums, including its classic 1980 debut Crazy Rhythms, featuring layered guitar work that would influence bands such as R.E.M. Since reuniting in 2008, the band’s classic lineup has performed sporadically, and reissued both Crazy Rhythms and sophomore album The Good Earth.
In 2011, the reunited band released its fifth album, Here Before.
Below, check out the full In Between tracklist, and have a listen to “Gone, Gone, Gone.”
Tracklist: The Feelies, In Between
1. “In Between”
2. “Turn Back Time”
3. “Stay The Course”
4. “Flag Days”
5. “Pass The Time”
6. “When To Go”
7. “Been Replaced”
8. “Gone, Gone, Gone”
9. “Time Will Tell”
10. “Make It Clear”
11. “In Between (Reprise)”
Stream: The Feelies, ‘Way Down,’ off ‘Here Before’
Free MP3: The Feelies’ ‘Should Be Gone,’ off ‘Here Before’
Feelies to release first new album in 20 years
The Feelies to reissue ‘Crazy Rhythms,’ ‘The Good Earth’
Tags: Bar/None Records, Bill Million, Brenda Sauter, Crazy Rhythyms, Dave Weckerman, Glenn Mercer, Here Before, In Between, Stan Demeski, The Feelies, The Good Earth
More posts by Slicing Up Eyeballs | Visit the site of Slicing Up Eyeballs
I just watched Something Wild this past weekend!
Eric Kennedy
I’ve seen this great band a few times and they always deliver. I thank my older brother for bringing home the ‘Only Life’ lp many moons ago.
Awesome, like to see these guys live again. Great show.
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New Music Magazine
SMASHED VINYL 2k17.
Manager: Jenny Eva
Jamie T is Back (Again): Trick Reviewed
Joe Cadman
Joe Cadman picks apart Jamie T's latest album, analyses each piece and puts it back together again, all for your reading pleasure and it looks like Jamie T is back with a bang!
Jamie T - Trick
After making us wait five years for his third album, Jamie T isn’t hanging about anymore. Trick is his second album in as many years and while many of the indie class of 2007 are either floundering in a void of nothingness or cease to exist - I’m looking at you Kaiser Chiefs and Hard-Fi - Jamie T is comfortably hitting his stride.
Lead single Tinfoil Boy is an intense opener that’s heavier and punkier than anything he’s done before; its riff sounds like the love child of Beastie Boys Sabotage and Rage against the Machine. The phlegm flecked delivery of the simple chorus shows the fire of his first two albums hasn’t been lost whilst Police Tapes sees him at his most confrontational. Complete with a grimy, throbbing bassline, it makes Carry on the Grudge’s Peter look like a cowering toddler that’s petrified to leave the house.
Trick isn’t all punk tinged aggression though as Treays has managed to cherry pick the best elements from his past three efforts. Joan of Arc and Power Over Men provide the arms in the air singalong chorus and the dancefloor filler respectively, as both should please the fans of the early days, whilst Drone Strike harks back to the machine gun rapping that made people fall in love with Jamie T in the first place. Even fans of Joe Strummer can find something here as Robin Hood feels like the ghost of the late Clash frontman has possessed Treays for 3 minutes and 24 seconds just to bang out the track.
Where the album really shines there is in its latter stages. Yes Crossfire Love is just catchy enough to warrant its place on the album but when Treays shows off his more sensitive side on Sign of the Times and Self Esteem, they become the best moments on the album. The former sees him lamenting on both the plight of Britain’s DIY venues (“Where did all the venues go? / We lost them all to businessmen”) and his own career (“And I wish I’d been a little more exceptional / And I wish I’d been a little more unconventional”) in his typical emotive manner whilst creating the closest thing on the album to last year’s Magnolia Melancholia. Self Esteem rounds things off in introspective gloominess and is the only time that Jamie T fully opens himself up on the album yet it feels like the perfect end to proceedings.
If anything what’s most evident on Trick is just how much Jamie T is enjoying making music again. It skips around genres with the elegance and confidence of an artist who’s completely at home in their own skin which, fingers crossed, means another vanishing act isn’t in the pipeline. Then again, maybe that’s the trick that Jamie Treays is playing on us all.
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Staff Directory 10644351
Multiplatform editor | Newsroom
Email: jim.anderson@startribune.com
Jim is from Sunrise, Minn., but has lived most of his life in St. Paul. He's been a reporter, columnist and copy editor at several dailies, including the St. Paul Dispatch and Pioneer Press, Red Wing Republican Eagle, Mankato Free Press, Eau Claire (Wis.) Leader-Telegram and the St. Petersburg Times. He worked two years as a reporter in the Star Tribune's East Metro Bureau. Follow @StribJAnderson
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Article by JIM ANDERSON
Updated May 30, 2017 — 7:28am
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Over the past several weeks, a 52-member crew from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been feverishly battling the clock and Mother Nature to clear the river of silt deposited by this year's relentless floodwaters.
Two candidates vying for judgeship in Washington County
Susan Miles, who is seeking a fourth term, faces a challenge from attorney Julie LaFleur.
Bosnian native living in Forest Lake may be tied to 3 slayings
Zdenko Jakisa, facing deportation, is accused of immigration fraud and of hiding war crimes in 1990s.
Key Washington County cities could see turnover at mayor
With incumbents stepping down, at least a half-dozen communities will have new mayors. Elsewhere, several officeholders face challengers.
Elections focus on local issues, economy
Candidates across the county are focused on finding ways to attract development and jobs and expand tax bases in the postrecession marketplace.
Updated October 17, 2014 — 6:39pm
Solar farm in the works in Denmark Township
The 40-acre site in Denmark Township is part of a proposed network of sites.
Updated October 3, 2014 — 6:23pm
Railroad steams ahead with St. Paul rail yard expansion
City concerns on noise, wetlands and more get bypassed as Canadian Pacific Railway takes its case to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.
Updated September 19, 2014 — 5:12am
June 7: St. Paul rail yard expansion plan met with opposition
Congestion, noise, impact on the wetlands being filled in among concerns of St. Paul residents.
Updated September 18, 2014 — 9:28pm
June 15: St. Paul: How will Dunn Yard expansion affect environment?
Dunn Yard expansion project is on hold as St. Paul asks Canadian Pacific to provide more details on the environmental impact.
Upon review, Washington County stacks up well
Outsiders rank Washington County among the best places to live, on several scores.
Updated September 8, 2014 — 8:16am
Suit over White Bear Lake depletion heads to trial
Judge has stern words for DNR over its lake management plan.
St. Paul Saints have tradition of fun and history
With laughs, a few tears, some fireworks and one last slightly daft promotion (the Monster Food Truck Rally), the curtain fell last week on baseball…
Updated September 4, 2014 — 11:24pm
St. Paul Saints, fans say farewell to Midway Stadium
Though Thursday was the closing of one chapter, it was also the last step toward a new era with the opening next spring of the team's new stadium in Lowertown.
Updated August 29, 2014 — 6:05am
New Brighton, Army trying to resolve clash over water treatment
New Brighton says the military is reneging on paying for groundwater treatment from a former ammunition plant.
Updated August 10, 2014 — 8:46pm
Woodbury teen pleads guilty in designer-drug death of 17-year-old girl
The Woodbury 19-year-old helped sell a designer drug that killed a 17-year-old girl.
Updated August 9, 2014 — 6:40am
State Patrol seeks help with clues in Oak Park Heights hit-and-run death
The Minnesota State Patrol is asking the public for help in finding the driver of a vehicle involved in a hit-and-run crash late Saturday in…
Updated August 7, 2014 — 4:25pm
Plans for State Farm campus shift to fast track
Woodbury has waited for eight years to see a rebirth at the abandoned site at a busy intersection. With City Council approval, work could start in September.
Updated July 26, 2014 — 12:05am
Route set for Gateway Corridor transit line
The bus rapid-transit line would start at Woodbury's eastern edge and run west along Interstate 94 and end at St. Paul's Union Depot.
Updated July 25, 2014 — 10:49pm
Mayfly's adult life is fleeting but very eventful
On the five-point Johnson Scale, Sunday night's spectacularly freakish mayfly emergence and hatch along much of the Upper Mississippi was a doozy, rating a 4.5.
Updated July 25, 2014 — 4:14am
$600 million solutions on table for thirsty White Bear Lake
Two of three solutions proposed for dwindling lake top $600 million and would shift how many cities get their water.
June 24, 2013: As White Bear Lake shrinks, property values sink
While home values are recovering elsewhere, the loss of once-prime lakeshore on White Bear Lake is having devastating financial effects.
Massive mayfly swarm blamed in 3-car accident near Red Wing
The phenomenon could be detected on radar across the Mississippi River Valley Sunday night. The onslaught left behind a huge, slimy mess and got the blame for a three-vehicle accident on the Hwy. 63 bridge linking Red Wing and Hager City, Wis., that left one person hospitalized.
Updated July 22, 2014 — 1:29pm
May 24: Years of records show neighbors' discord
Before New Brighton feud erupted in fatal shooting, cops were called to neighboring homes dozens of times on a variety of complaints.
Article by JIM ANDERSON and NICOLE NORFLEET
New era is teeing off at Maplewood's Keller Golf Course
After 2 years of improvements, the historic Maplewood course will officially reopen Saturday.
St. Paul mounds find their ground on National Register of Historic Places
The ancients who began building them at least 2,000 years ago knew the spot at the crest of Dayton’s Bluff overlooking the majestic bend in…
Denmark Township school placed on historic register
The listing means the work of fundraising and restoration will be made a little easier for members of the local historical society.
Oct. 27, 2013: Mandy Matula's family says body found near Sartell is hers
The remains were found in a shallow grave by a hiker north of Sartell, Minn. With them was a sweatshirt with the University of Minnesota Duluth logo and No. 14 — Matula's softball number.
Article by KELLY SMITH and JIM ANDERSON
DNR land-use rules draw concerns along the Mississippi riverfront
Cities, developers, environmentalists at odds over land use in metro area.
Convicted murderer sentenced in rampage at Stillwater prison
Convicted murderer gets eight years on top of the life term he is serving.
Updated July 2, 2014 — 9:20pm
Cottage Grove's historic 1840s limestone kiln collapses after flooding
The 1840s landmark came tumbling down along a channel of the Mississippi.
June 1: 6 feared dead on Mount Rainier
Mark Mahaney, 26, was passionate about climbing.
Updated June 29, 2014 — 6:29pm
In Washington County, all eyes are on the rivers
The swollen Mississippi and Lower St. Croix rivers continue to rise. County is stockpiling sandbags.
Woodbury, restaurateur sue each other over sports center plans
The city of Woodbury and a Stillwater restaurateur, who agreed to work together to build a full-service restaurant in the newly revamped Bielenberg Sports Center,…
St. Croix State Park: Recovering 3 years after devastating windstorm
On the third anniversary of a massive blowdown that affected 13,000 acres of St. Croix State Park, signs of recovery are emerging.
St. Paul flooding sends Taste of Minnesota to Waconia
With St. Paul's Harriet Island nearly covered by the swollen Mississippi River, organizers decided the July 3-6 festival will be held at the Carver County Fairgrounds.
Updated June 26, 2014 — 4:35am
Suspect in Woodbury robbery who shot himself identified
Thomas E. Jones of Minneapolis was one of two men who attempted to rob a Woodbury jewelry store last weekend, police say.
St. Paul approves $124,000 settlement in woman's fall
No liability was admitted in 2011 trip-and-fall case.
Sid Hartman • Staff Directory
Jessie Van Berkel • Staff Directory
Dennis Anderson • Staff Directory
Carolyn Hax • Staff Directory
Briana Bierschbach • Staff Directory
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« When Eustace Mullins, Daniel Estulin, and WizardKing78 take over from Kesha Rogers, Rachel Brown, and Summer Shields
links »
Modern Republicanism
Upon Dwight Eisenhower’s landslide victory in 1956, against the backdrop of party losses, from Stephen E Ambrose Nixon — The Education:
“You know why this is happening, Dick?” he finally said. “It’s all those damned mossbacks and hard-shell conservatives we’ve got in the party. I think that what we need is a new party.” His thoughts turned to the crowd waiting in the ballroom. “You know,” Eisenhower said, “I think I will talk to them about Modern Republicanism.” Nixon was aghast. He had tied his fortunes to the Republican Party, as it was and without any preceding adjectives. He strongly urged the President to avoid any such language, but Eisenhower did it anyway. When he announced his victory for the Modern Republicanism, party regulars took it as a boast that he had won by himself, and as a threat to the Old Guard. As Nixon laconically noted in his memoirs, this caused a “slightly sour note in some Republican circles.”
It would have been even sourer if Republicans had known that their President soon began scribbling on legal pads during especially dull meetings a list of those who he felt might join him in a new party, which he wanted to call the Americans for Modern Republicanism Party. Nixon’s name headed all his lists. Fortunately for Nixon, the thought of a third party always remained a fantasy. […] As Eisenhower must have known, Nixon outside the Republican Party was as unimaginable as Truman outside the Democratic Party.
Decades later, Nixon contemplated dropping the Republican Party and forming a party around his values. It seems everyone wants to create a third party under his own image.
What ate at Eisenhower as the 1960 presidential contest came into focus? The threat of two parties seeking increases in Domestic Spending, sure, but also tax cuts and especially increases in Military Spending. Sounds like a good party.
This entry was posted on Monday, September 27th, 2010 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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who sells who to who?
Monday, July 31st, 2017
Gwenyth Paltrow — who, I guess you might consider a “limousine liberal” — is selling the same crap as Alex Jones.
At the end of the article, writer Molly Young notes that she was surprised to discover that many of the same supplements peddled by Moon Juice and Goop are also sold by Alex Jones on his Infowars website. Instead of “Sex Dust,” he labels his “Super Female Vitality.”
This is some real “Skull and Bones” working two sides against the middle shit going on. The snake oil sellers have us all coming and going!
Bacon has a recipe for strawberry milk with drops of colloidal silver in it; Alex Jones pushes tiny bottles of colloidal silver online for $19.95.
In the political realm (or at least the realm of politics I’ve paid some attention to, if no one else), colloidal silver is best known for turning Montana’s four time Libertarian candidate for things into a One Man Blue Man Group.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the two purveyors is context. Alex Jones sells his merchandise alongside tactical body armor and Trump shirts; Bacon sells hers next to chia pudding.
Perhaps the Trump shirts, in true “Skull and Bones” fashion (hey! A Skull and Bones figure founded the National Review, and the Nation was originally funded by Skull and Bones figures! And need I remind you of the 2004 presidential campaign?) and the tactical body armor and the chia pudding are all from the same Omnicorp organization?
the insult, and all
I don’t think you can dismiss the Trump insult, obscure as it is, of Elizabeth Warren to Pocahontas too easily. Or as easily as done here. It is a little pointless, and the name game attached to the “issue” is Trumpian bluster. Surreally, the last time Trump tossed it out, he did so in a very meta-manner as in “Here’s I thing I do!”, which if he were to follow up on his twitter page — might show a kind of evolution to keep the stale fresh.
And I half suspect a troll here. Like, he was invited by Republican big-wigs to keep the issue out there circulating. Or, maybe is like that gay Republican Presidential candidate who was running to tweak the Mormon church, ala Mitt Romney?
But there’s this thing where I’m thinking about this controversy — a man — Michael Derrick Hudson — adopted the nom de plume Yi-Fen Chou to have a better chance of getting into Sherman Alexei’s edited poetry collection. My thought is simply that I hope the cost — that the public that detests this the most and thinks of it the worst — was worth it to Hudson; being he was already published it probably wasn’t. But I can’t help but ponder this in relation to Elizabeth Warren’s quick insertion once upon a time as an Indian. If she is planning on running for President, it will float out there…
nothing new to report about the man in the White House
Saturday, July 22nd, 2017
Oh. Yeah. The big gossip coming out of Washington. And. Wait. Wait. Brash talk from Donald Trump, assailing his key aides? Like, we can’t see this in his history anywhere.
(He does have that bit of Lyndon Johnson doing important business with anyone he wants to powertrip over while doing important business by doing so while sitting on the toilet about him.)
It turned out to be a preview of even more cutting remarks Mr. Trump would make two days later in an interview with The New York Times: an extraordinary public expression of dissatisfaction with one of his top aides based on Mr. Sessions’s decision in March to recuse himself from the expanding federal investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
Despite Mr. Trump’s avowal in the interview that he would not have picked Mr. Sessions if he had known he would recuse himself, Mr. Sessions said on Thursday that he intended to serve “as long as that is appropriate.” And a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, tried to moderate her boss’s remarks, telling reporters later, “Clearly, he has confidence in him, or he would not be the attorney general.”
But even if Mr. Sessions remains in his job, the relationship between him and Mr. Trump — the Alabama lawyer and the Queens real estate developer, an odd couple bound by a shared conviction that illegal immigration is destroying America — is unlikely to ever be the same, according to a half-dozen people close to Mr. Trump. And this is not the typical Trump administration feud.
I can’t wait to see the National Enquirer dossier on Jeff Sessions any day now, and how Donald Trump is just “leading the charge” somehow, and a new demonization of Jeff Sessions to match that of everyone else.
Mr. Stone listed a chain of events Mr. Trump often ticks off against Mr. Sessions: Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein took over the Russia investigation after Mr. Sessions’s recusal, which led to the appointment of Robert S. Mueller III, a former F.B.I. director, as special counsel, which, in turn, led to irrepressible presidential rage.
“The president initially bonded with Sessions because he saw him as a tough guy,” said Mr. Stone, who has urged Mr. Sessions to investigate Obama-era officials instead of Trump campaign operatives. “Now he’s saying: ‘Where’s my tough guy? Why doesn’t he have my back?’”
“There’s a lack of aggressiveness with Sessions, unless it involves chasing people for smoking pot,” he added, referring to the attorney general’s recent focus on marijuana offenses largely ignored under President Barack Obama.
Sure. Like you can’t see from his record what Session’s priorities as Attorney General would be. But Wait. Where does this lead Trump on the pot issue? If Trump could get new appointee Tommy Chong (granted, not “tough” in any traditional definition of the term) to promise to do everything in his power to sweep away the “Russian mess”, would this end the Drug War?
Like, I want to get something out of the Trump mess, don’t you?
next up, last up
So, roughly. Rand Paul and Mike Lee represent the “conservative dissenters” in the Grand Republican Party — of the trio that might toss in Ted Cruz were him to have decided to throw some “Why — this is just Obamacare Lite!’ commentary into the health care thingy.
Jerry Moran and Susan Collins represent the “Moderate” or whatever it is effect, with Dean Heller coming it as “Moderate by deign of facing a looming tough election”.
Pulling from two different directions against Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump.
John McCain’s health is the deus ex machina that ends this one. And the President is, as he said he would be to, Trinity Broadcasting, deeply disappointed.
, and who now proposes a “Grand Blank Slate”.
I like this blank slate idea. Maybe we can do it with everything that’s a complicated bureaucratic state — burn the flawed apparatus down and craft a new presumably less flawed being from scratch. Call on the other party to “join in” because, hell — the something that will come out of it is better than a nothing, right?
from the director of…
An ad in the Nation for a movie called “13 Minutes”.
Which reads “From the Director of “Downfall”.
[tap, tap, tap].
Quick. Without looking it up. What do you think the movie 13 Minutes concerns?
And is there any movie most people who have seen some of it have seen only exactly 2 minutes 10 seconds (or thereabouts) of?
I’ve been re-enacting the Storming of the Bastille today, in honor of the anniversary date.
Surprisingly, haven’t been arrested yet, even if I have been thrown out of every location I’ve stormed in Bastille-like fashion.
Remember when Billy Carter embarrassed the Jimmy Carter administration with his financial dealings with Libya?
It was Libya, wasn’t it? I don’t know — I wasn’t alive back then.
I’m wondering if now that Donald Trump, Jr is in the news — for connections to both the Donald Trump Presidency and dealings with the Russian government —
— Can I start calling them the “Red Russians” again? —
— Or Ruskies? —
Is Billy Carter anywhere in the news?
I guess… barely. In your cutesy bullet point jokey columnist from out of Omaha.
Who, What, Why, and what does this have to do with Trump or the city’s “Police State”?
I don’t get it. Here’s the latest that the flyer political activist leaf-letter has slotted in the free news boxes of your Tribunes, Mercury, WW, Epoch Times…:
THERE ARE RUSSIANS IN
BETTER DRESSED THAN
OUR OWN MOST
DISREPUTABLE
ATTORNEYS AND
PORTLAND HAS CLIMATE
SO MUCH LIKE CRIMEA
Who are they trashing and why are they trashing them with such an odd aspersion against Russians?
Posted in On the Ground | No Comments »
The problem of social justice warriors.
Betsy Devos and sexual assault on campus.
Who is Anthony Scaramucci and what does he have to do with Freddie Mercury?
Why Republicans can’t repeal Obamacare.
So… about Jeff Sessions…
Brexit 67.
A professional psychiatrist upset about the Goldwater Rule.
Stubbs, Talkeetna’s honorary cat mayor, dies.
What’s happening in Venezuela? right or left, eh?
Black Lives Matter, Hannity is an idiot, the NRA is hypocrtical, and other observations.
Left wing perspectives on the crushing of “Chavezism“.
Scott Ritter?
Mark Penn and someone else pen dreary “Follow the Path I think Politically” editorial advising Democrats with some truth and some non truth in it, but more to the point — Why should anyone care?
The Impeachment of Dwight Eisenhower.
Who’s suing Betty Devos?
Automated Acoustic Detection of Mouse Scratching.
The Reality of that whole “Dress code” brohauhau.
You are currently browsing the Skull / Bones weblog archives for July, 2017.
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TOP TIER IS NOW ONLINE!
Thank you for visiting Top Tier's brand spankin' new website. In the very near future visitors will be able to see the latest Top Tier news, an up-to-date event calendar, and full retail site. Be sure to check back soon to discover our upcoming tournament schedule and to purchase all of your favorite Top Tier gear from the comfort of your own home. In the mean time, orders can be placed by clicking the CONTACT link at the top of this page and filling out the required fields. In the SUBJECT field please type "New Order," and in the MESSAGE field please include item description, size, and preferred payment method.
Top tier introduces new tents and table covers
Working hand-in-hand with Tentcraft, North America's leader in custom tent building, Top Tier has achieved an entirely new look, and it's one that makes a serious statement. These UV, water, mold, and mildew resistant canopies feature our new logo, badge, and website setting us apart from other vendors. Make sure to keep an eye out for our new blacked out stores and Top Tier logo!
colin jones, owner
A former soccer player turned football kicker spent a year kicking for the University of Kentucky Wildcats football team. He holds a business degree from Wright State University and spends as much time as possible on the golf course.
casey levens, CHEIF BRAND OFFICER
A fine artist, graphic designer, and former DIII NCAA National Champion in baseball, Casey holds degrees in communications and fine arts from Marietta College. He enjoys time on the golf course and has a passion for snow skiing and cycling.
TOP TIER SOCCER © 2013 Privacy Policy
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UK train/railway stations
Ardrossan Town
Location:Scotland; Code:ADN; Latest train times
Motorway Junctions
UK Train Stations Ardrossan Town
Train Station Accommodation Hotels Map
Map location for Ardrossan Town train station:
- Three Towns trains cancelled due severe weather at Saltcoats - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- Level crossing runner caught by train spotter in Ardrossan - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- Trains cancelled in Three Towns due to severe weather - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- North Ayrshire Swimming stars recognised for major achievements - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- 6.4 quake strikes Puerto Rico amid heavy seismic activity - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- Owner of Koko nightclub 'deeply saddened' by rooftop fire - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- Three Towns trains disrupted after tree falls on overhead lines - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- Brendan batters Britain! Thousands are left without power as second named storm of winter hits - Daily Mail: View
- Impact of rising sea levels on Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stenvenston revealed - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- Stevenston councillor pushes for railway bridge to be reintroduced - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- Rail disruptions to Ayrshire services due to broken down train - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- New train station tapas bar for West Kilbride given green light - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- Person hit by train between Kilwinning and Paisley Gilmour Street - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- Three Towns mum blasts Stagecoach's decision to axe bus services - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- Ardrossan railway level crossing driver banned - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
- New Kilwinning Train Station's new railway bridge is officially opened to the public - Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald: View
Where is Ardrossan Town and what is near to it:
Ardrossan South Beach train station (0.4 miles)
Ardrossan Harbour train station (0.5 miles)
Ardrossan Academicals RFC (0.6 miles)
Stevenston train station (2.4 miles)
Kilwinning train station (4.1 miles)
West Kilbride train station (4.1 miles)
North Ayrshire town centre (5.5 miles)
Irvine RFC (5.6 miles)
Irvine train station (5.7 miles)
Dalry train station (6.0 miles)
Fairlie train station (7.9 miles)
Troon, Scotland ferry port (8.0 miles)
Glengarnock train station (8.7 miles)
Train Station Hotels 2008-2020
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Cyber Systems Student Teams
Cyber Systems student teams collaborate to creatively solve problems.
Healthy IT Community
Cyber Systems is committed to developing and nurturing a healthy IT community of professionals in Central Nebraska.
Home » Academics » Cyber Systems » Community Engagement » Cyber Systems for Everyone
Cyber Systems for Everyone
A good understanding of computer science or information technology will provide a foundation of knowledge that will help you be successful at any career in today’s global economy.
As Marc Andreessen (creator of the first web browser, who is now a venture capitalist) once said: "The spread of computers and the Internet will put jobs in two categories, people who tell computers what to do, and people who are told by computers what to do."
There are so many ways that you can be someone who tells the computer what to do.
The available Cyber Systems resources are constantly in motion. The list below shows several of these resources.
Sites for learning computational thinking/computer science principals
Code.org - Code.org is a non-profit dedicated to expanding participation in computer science by making it available in more schools. Try the "Hour of Code" or any of its online tutorials/curriculum units.
CoderDojo - Coder Sessions for kids led by volunteer mentors.
Scratch - A creative learning tool developed by MIT.
Processing - A language for digital art developed at MIT.
Minecraft Edu - Learn programming by modifying the minecraft game.
Code Academy - Learn HTML & CSS; JavaScript; Python; Web Developer Skills, etc.
Code Combat- Play a game to learn JavaScript.
CodeAvengers.com allows users to create games in JavaScript, and offers tutorials such as Intro to Making Games, Intro to Graphics and Intro to Programming.
GameInstitute.com provides opportunities for game programming, game art and animation and to learn more about the Unity platform used in game creation.
Lightbot - Programming games and puzzles.
Grok - Programming Courses, Python.
Khan Academy - Free tutorials including Computer Science and Mathematics.
Alice.org offers a 3D programming environment to help kids across all ages learn about object-oriented programming. Downloads, licensing and tutorials are available.
ComputerScienceForKids.com offers four different language-programming tracks for home-schooled students as well as curriculum for teachers that can be used in the public classroom.
DaisyTheDinosaur is an iPad app that introduces kids ages five to eight basic logic and allows them to drag one-word commands into the programming space.
Kodable is an iPad game to teach children as young as age five how to develop coding skills. Learning tools are also available for students as advanced as the 12th grade.
PluralSight knows that kids are already experts in technology and offers free courses such as Teaching Kids to Program and Learning to Build Apps with App Inventor.
Sites for learning how to make apps
App Inventor - Open Source WebApp for Android Development.
Phone Gap - PhoneGap is a free and open source framework that allows you to create mobile apps using standardized web APIs for the platforms you care about.
Make Games with us - Learn iOS Game Development, Xcode not required. (not free)
Codea - programming on the iPads ($9.99)
Cargo-Bot - a game written in codea, that teaches programming on iPads.
Mozilla Webmaker - learn to make web sites and mobile apps.
w3schools - learn all things web related.
Education/Teaching types of sites
CS Unplugged - Free learning activities that teach Computer Science.
Tynker - Self-paced CS Courses and built-in tutoring.
edX - Online courses with CS.
Exploring CS.org - a K-12/University partnership committed to democratizing computer science.
Globaloria - making computing and STEM learning fun through game design and coding.
Google Education Hangouts - Learn with educators around the world
TEALS - TEALS (Technology Education And Literacy in Schools) is a grassroots employee driven program that recruits, mentors, and places high tech professionals who are passionate about digital literacy and computer science education into high school classes as part-time teachers in a team teaching model where the school district is unable to meet their students’ computer science (CS) needs on its own.
Computer Science Online: Before College - Find expert-driven information, advice and resources to help students develop important computer science skills from kindergarten through high school.
The 21st Century Teacher - An outlet for people to share their thoughts on education today.
Big 6 - Big6 is a six-stage model to help anyone solve problems or make decisions by using information. Some call it information literacy, information communication, or ICT skills, or a process, but we call it the Big6.
TeamTreeHouse.com provides the chance to learn about web coding and design through more than 1,000 videos created by expert instructors. Knowledge is tested through interactive coding challenges and quizzes.
TeachKidstoProgram.com provides suggestions for websites, software, hardware and books, such as “Python for Kids” by Jason Briggs, to use to develop children’s interest in programming.
Udemy.com provides a number of courses for children including a fairly inexpensive Kids Coding-Beginner HTML that is tailored toward young learning styles and includes a final project.
Hardware-types of sites
https://www.particle.io/ - A tiny Wi-Fi development board that makes it easy to create Internet-connected hardware.
First Lego League - Robotics Program for ages 9-14.
http://makezine.com/ - Maker Media is a global platform for connecting makers with each other, with products and services, and with our partners.
Arduino - a very low cost open course electronics prototyping platform
Raspberry Pi - The Raspberry Pi is a low cost, credit-card sized computer that plugs into a computer monitor or TV, and uses a standard keyboard and mouse.
Intel Galileo - Similar to the Raspberry Pi, but from Intel.
Edhesive is the first AP Computer Science MOOC offering blended online instruction with support, all free of charge. Students learn about Java and should be prepared to take the AP exam in computer science.
Coursera.org offers Beginning Game Programming with C# which includes the use of Unity, a popular game engine among indie developers.
DigitalMediaAcademy provides instruction in app development, game design and iPhone applications at camps available all over the U.S. Summer camps specifically available at the University of Chicago include Game Programming, Java Programming and Programming 101.
Openclassroom.stanford.edu is operated by Stanford University and offers free classes such as Design and Analysis of Algorithms, and Introduction to Databases and Practical Unix.
The Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science offers AP classes and university-level coursework in computer science as well as help preparing for the AP Computer Science and AP Calculus exams.
The University of California Online offers Computer Science for Science, Mathematics, and Engineering I that may be of interest to advanced high school or college transitioning students.
Harvard University Extension School offers online courses hat may be of interest to advanced high school or college transitioning students.
Udacity - offers in-demand tech skills (some material is free.)
Teaching Tree - offers computer science topics
Computer Science Online - Information on programs, careers, and scholarship opportunities.
Cyber Systems
Graduate School Agreements
Invest in Cyber
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Planning Something?
Drama Group
Local History Group
Spring Flower show
St Margaret's Church
Cabaret Evening
TOGG
Main Hall – 150 Theatre style, 128 Banqueting style.
Meeting Room – 36 Theatre style, 20 Boardroom style
The coffee shop has seating for 24 people and is served from the hatch through to the kitchen. Open 10:00am to 4:00pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday. Pop in and choose from a variety of delicious of homemade cakes, freshly made sandwiches and paninis or why not try a warm bowl of soup. Well behaved dogs are welcome in the cafe on leads.
Why not like and follow our Facebook page - Tintinhull Village Hall and Coffee Shop
Volunteers are needed. Please contact Janice Holland janiceholland62@gmail.com
The Foyer (and coffee shop/café): The large foyer is accessed through the main entrance off Vicarage Street. It is a place to arrive and where information and exhibitions can be shown. It hosts, within its general area, an integral coffee shop. It provides access to the Main Hall, the Service Point, the Kitchen and Meeting Room.
The Main Hall: Can support all major events, with the stage to one end. It is 17m long and 9m wide and can seat 150 people as an auditorium or accommodate 128 people in a function/dining arrangement. 150 new, stacking chairs have been purchased for use in the hall. We will utilise the tables from the old hall and plan in the future to buy a number of 10 place round tables for use for weddings and other dining functions. General LED lighting panels are let into the ceiling and mood lighting is provided on the side walls. The hall can be heated and cooled as required through ceiling mounted air conditioning units. It is big enough to host short mat bowls if required. The screen and audio/visual systems from the old hall have been re-installed. A dedicated chair and table store is accessed from the side of the Main Hall.
The Stage: This is elevated 1m above the main hall. It is 9m wide by nearly 4m deep with a curtained proscenium arch. There is stepped access from both the hall and from the rear which also has a disabled access lift. An over-stage gantry for lighting and stage dressing effects is provided. Sound and lighting control arrangements are being implemented taking advice from the Drama Group. A large storage area is provided under the stage.
Dressing /Changing Rooms: Two Dressing/Changing Rooms are provided in the backstage area. They provide access to the stage for performers. A single unisex toilet and washbasin is fitted between the Dressing Rooms for use by actors/presenters. A rear stage cross passage connects the Dressing Rooms with the Stage allowing cross stage movement by actors and equipment during a performance.
The Service Point: This area butts onto the Foyer. It is a small (3.3m x 2.8m) multi-use space that has hatches with roller shutters to service both the Meeting Room and the Foyer area, a small sink and storage cupboards. It can function as a bar or a sales point and will also provide the village hall “office function” as needed.
The Meeting Room: This is situated to the immediate left of the main foyer. New small tables have been purchased so that the room can be configured in many ways. As a general meeting space it will seat 36 people or for a boardroom layout, 20 persons. The meeting room can be served through a hatch from the Service Point thereby providing a bar type facility. This will prove a hugely useful room for small conferences and private hire.
The Kitchen: A modern kitchen (5.5m x 5.3m) is provided for the storage, preparation and serving of meals for 128 covers. It has a suite of modern stainless-steel kitchen equipment and appliances including a very fast (4 minute cycle) dishwasher. This enables the hall to be used for all village events, weddings and commercial functions. The kitchen can serve directly the Main Hall and Coffee Shop areas through roller-shuttered hatches. The Kitchen has direct access to the bin storage area.
Parking: There are 2 disabled parking spaces & 7 others within the new village hall car park. The Parish Council owned car park alongside the Lamb Inn is fully line marked providing a further 15 spaces; it also provides a bicycle rack & 3 motorcycle spaces. St Margaret's Road car park, also owned by the Parish Council, is lined for a further 5. In all, 29 spaces will be provided.
Village Hall Charges 2019
Village Hall Charges (V16 29 Oct 2019)
10 - 12 hours maximum
Main Hall See Notes 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7
Meeting Room See Notes 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7
FULL USE of Main Kitchen See Notes 2, 3 and 4
NB. See item below for free kitchen use
This fixed charge is for Standard & Village use
Drinks made using own provisions in Kitchen or Servery
Meeting Room Servery EXCLUSIVE USE See Notes 2 and 3
Audio Visual Use See Note 6
Off-site charge per table per day for village use only NOT OUTDOORS
£2.50 NB chairs are not for hire
Cleaning Fee See Notes 2 and 3
£60 per hire
Wedding Receptions (Whole Building Exclusive 1800 hrs Friday to 1100 hrs Sunday) See Notes 1, 3, 5, 6 and 7
Returnable Deposit for Major Events, Parties and Weddings
(Subject to Terms & Conditions of Hire)
Returnable Deposit for Kitchen use See Note 8
Returnable Deposit for Audio Visual Use
Returnable Deposit for Electronic Key (Needed for most evening and weekend events) See Note 8
1. Includes access to and use of the kitchen by the Hirer or Hirer’s caterers. Includes cleaning but NOT clearing up. All rubbish, recycling, bottles etc must be removed from the premises by the hirer. A returnable deposit is required see Deposits above.
2. Cleaning is the responsibility of the Hirer unless a cleaning fee has been agreed with the Bookings Secretary. All areas must be left clean & tidy, and arranged as they were found, prior to hiring.
3. Clearing up is the responsibility of the Hirer and all rubbish, recycling, bottles etc must be removed from the premises by the Hirer
4. Any hiring of the kitchen will require a returnable deposit of £50
5. Maximum Hall and Meeting Room capacities are shown in paragraph 6 of Hiring Terms and Conditions. These must not be exceeded.
6. Use of installed Audio-Visual equipment must be specified at time of booking. HDMI, Bluetooth, Chromecast & 3.5 mm input available
7. Includes the use of tables and chairs. Movement and arrangement are the Hirer’s responsibility and at their risk.
8. Refund of all returnable deposits is subject to Terms and Conditions of hire
DOWNLOAD THE DOCUMENT here
enquiries@tintinhullvillagehall.co.uk
© Copyright 2020 Tintinhull Village HallWeb Design By Toolkit Websites
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Macaron Range
Patisserie Range
Canapés Range
Sweet dreams, not nightmares – add your own decorations to turn Tipiak’s exquisite gluten-free macarons into the ideal treat this Halloween
Tipiak Foodservice2019-10-24T14:37:57+00:00
Adding your own decorations to French pâtissier Tipiak’s delicious range of macarons will ensure your Halloween-themed parties, events and corporate functions will be a real scream.
Tipiak’s gluten-free macarons – the only authentically French gluten-free macarons widely available to the UK food service sector – can easily be turned into ghostly treats for your guests.
Available in packs of 36, two ranges are available:
Tipiak’s French Macarons Gluten Free – available in lemon, caramel, vanilla, raspberry, chocolate and pistachio.
Tipiak’s French Pop Macarons Fruits Gluten Free – featuring the superb fruity flavours of blackcurrant, lemon-yuzu, morello cherry, coconut, passionfruit and apricot.
Perfect for hotels, conference centres and large-scale caterers, Tipiak’s pâtisserie, macarons and canapés are supplied frozen to the UK food service sector via distributor Central Foods.
Macarons from Tipiak have a significantly higher almond content than most other macarons in the marketplace, giving them a superb flavour, and making them less brittle and fragile.
Each box of Tipiak’s ‘thaw and serve’ products has defrost times clearly displayed, which chefs tell us helps them to plan and prepare so that the products are served at their very best.
Take a look at our ranges to see how Tipiak could become your perfect partner for catering.
Foodservice, Gluten-Free, Halloween, Macarons Read more...
Tipiak launches new Pop Macarons Fruits for UK foodservice
French pâtissier Tipiak has unveiled a new selection of exquisite pop macarons for the UK foodservice sector.
Featuring stunning fruit flavours, the eye-catching Pop Macarons Fruits are gluten free – currently the only gluten-free authentic French macarons available widescale to the UK hospitality sector.
Each mixed pack of pop macarons contains six bold fruit flavours in pastel shades, attractively decorated with contrasting fruit-flavoured lacing. The selection features the superb fruity flavours of blackcurrant, lemon-yuzu, morello cherry, coconut, passionfruit and apricot.
“Macarons have been a huge hit on social media in recent years – introducing a whole new generation to these authentic delights,” explains Charlotte Ganier, international development project manager at Tipiak, which supplies frozen, authentic French pâtisserie to the UK foodservice sector. “More than 5 million photos have been posted on Instagram alone.
“Macarons are now a must-serve ingredient on any afternoon tea menu, as well as being popular accompaniments to coffee or as a sweet buffet option. So versatile, macarons are also used as decorations or as key ingredients in desserts and freakshakes and can even be served as wedding favours.”
The new Pop Macarons Fruits join an existing range of Tipiak pâtisserie and macarons supplied frozen to the UK foodservice sector via distributor Central Foods.
Tipiak macarons have a significantly higher almond content than most other macarons in the marketplace, giving them a superb flavour, and making them less brittle and fragile, and less sweet. This is bang on trend for those consumers who are willing to pay a little bit more for a smaller, better quality, tastier and more enjoyable treat.
Gluten-free, with certification from the French Coeliac Association, the macarons are also suitable for vegetarians.
Tipiak’s new Pop Macarons Fruits are produced in France and are available frozen in packs of 36. Before serving, simply remove from the freezer, leave for one hour in the refrigerator, plus 15 minutes at room temperature.
Catering, Central Foods, Foodservice, Gluten-Free, Macarons, Tipiak Read more...
Prepare for Coeliac Awareness Week 14th – 20th May 2018 …with help from Tipiak
Next month sees the return of Coeliac Awareness Week – run by Coeliac UK.
As well as celebrating their 50th Anniversary, this year the charity is launching their Research Fund with a target of raising £5m by 2020 to invest in research into a cure for coeliac disease, a life-long condition that can be extremely debilitating.
It would be disappointing if having coeliac disease prevented anyone enjoying delicious French patisserie so we’re delighted that Tipiak’s extensive range of gluten-free macarons is accredited by The Association Française Des Intolérants Au Gluten (AFDIAG), the French equivalent to Coeliac UK….making it easy for food professionals to serve exquisitely French gluten-free macarons on their menus.
Marie-Emmanuelle Chessé, International Development Project Manager at Tipiak, said: “When it comes to macarons, food operators are spoilt for choice, with 16 gluten-free Tipiak varieties to choose from, including milk chocolate and passion fruit, blackcurrant and violet, and chocolate and coconut.
“Our range includes premium quality classic French macarons, contemporary pop macarons, and our chocolate macarons collection – and all are accredited as gluten-free. They have an amazing 19.7% almond content – higher than any others in the marketplace and ensuring the best flavour and stability – and are all hand-finished by experienced pâtissiers for authentic French flair.
“Sales of Tipiak macarons across the UK have increased by more than 24% year on year recently … and we’re so pleased that they appeal to diners who avoid gluten, as well as everyone else. We’d be very pleased to hear from foodservice professionals who’d like to find out more about our gluten-free macarons, which are perfect served with coffee, as a dessert sharing platter with dips, crafted into an elegant macaron tower centre piece, as part of your afternoon tea service, as a mini-dessert or for gifting or on-the-go.”
Coeliac UK believes the catering industry is missing out on an estimated £100 million a year by not catering for people with coeliac disease and their friends and family….so it’s well worth food outlets ensuring gluten-free items, like Tipiak’s macarons, are on the menu.
Coeliac UK is urging food services and businesses to show their support during Coeliac Awareness Week from 14th to 20th May by making a positive change to either their menu or product range. Further details of Coeliac UK’s Research Fund initiative can be found here:
https://www.coeliac.org.uk/get-involved/coeliac-uks-research-fund
For more details on Tipiak gluten-free macarons – or any of our other delicious, authentic French canapés and petits fours – please contact our sales team at info@centralfoods.co.uk
Coeliac, Coeliac Awareness Week, Foodservice, Gluten-Free, Macarons, Tipiak Read more...
Demand soars in the UK for Tipiak authentic French macarons
The taste for Tipiak French macarons has soared in the UK, with sales increasing by more than 24% year on year.
Ahead of Macaron Day 2018 on 20th March, the pâtissier has reported that if all the Tipiak macarons sold in the UK in 2017 were laid end to end, they would measure 95 times the height of the Arc de Triomphe.
The increasing popularity of the macarons has been attributed to a range of reasons, including the unique taste and recipe used by the skilled Tipiak pâtissiers in France, the different varieties available, which feature classic macarons, contemporary pop macarons, and the chocolate macarons collection, and the current fashion for afternoon tea in the UK.
In addition, the Tipiak macarons are also gluten-free (with certification from the French Coeliac Association) and are suitable for vegetarians, which appeals to those with a range of dietary requirements.
The rise in social media use and the fashion for snapping eye-catching images has also led to an increasing awareness of the delicate French delight, helping to ensure that consumers just can’t get enough of the genuine macarons.
And with Macaron Day on 20th March fast approaching, demand is likely to continue to grow.
“The Tipiak macarons look and taste exquisite,” said Marie-Emmanuelle Chessé, international development project manager at French food producer Tipiak, which supplies frozen, authentic French patisserie to the UK foodservice sector.
“Demand has shot up over the past two years for authentic macarons and we are thrilled to see how popular the Tipiak macarons are in the UK foodservice sector. Because Tipiak macarons have a significantly higher almond content than most other macarons in the marketplace, they have a better flavour, are less brittle/fragile and are also less sweet. This is bang on trend for those consumers who are willing to pay a little bit more for a smaller, better quality, tastier and more enjoyable treat.
“All foodservice operators have to do is simply ‘thaw and serve’.”
Tipiak has a dedicated and passionate team of experienced pâtissiers using their expertise to create and hand-finish the superb range of ‘thaw and serve’ gluten-free macarons in different flavours and finishes.
They are available to restaurants, cafés, bars, pubs, event caterers, hotels, universities, leisure centres, care home operators, garden centres and other foodservice operators through frozen food wholesalers throughout the UK.
For more information visit www.tipiakfoodservice.co.uk
The Macaron Day tradition was established in 2005 in Paris as a partnership among local macaron patisseries to celebrate the French macaron and give back to local charities. In 2010, French macaron shops in New York City also began organising similar events, with other cities in the United States following suit, along with additional places around the world – holding events around the same time in March.
French, Gluten-Free, Macaron, Macarons, patisserie, Tipiak Read more...
Tweets by TipiakFSUK
TIPIAK GROUP
Tipiak is a leading French food manufacturer recognised for its culinary skills, the quality, originality and authenticity of its dry and frozen products from appetizer through dessert.
Tipiak Traiteur Pâtissier
Export Department
1 rue du Chêne Lassé,
CP 1011,
44806 SAINT-HERBLAIN Cedex,
Fax : +33 228 039 960
Email : export.frozen@tipiak.fr
TIPIAK TRAITEUR PATISSIER SAS, a SAS (Société par Actions Simplifiée)
Registered Office : Z.I. de la Croix Blanche, 44 260 MALVILLE, France
registered at Trade and Companies Registry in Saint Nazaire under the number B 388 238 842
© 2017 Tipiak Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Urban Exploration Forums - Urbex Forums > Urban Exploration - Reports > Other Sites > Archived: Bessingham Manor, Norfolk - May 2010 PIC HEAVY
View Full Version : Archived: Bessingham Manor, Norfolk - May 2010 PIC HEAVY
manof2worlds
A little explore carried by myself, my son and my erstwhile urbex buddy, Black Shuck who's potted history of Bessingham Manor follows. This place was amazing, untouched by vandals, chavs and pikeys, completely natural dereliction at it's best. It was quite something to see cupboards still attached to walls two floors up!!! Apologies for the pic heavy thread, but this place whilst not the largest, had so much to offer us.
Bessingham Manor is a large rural manor house in the depths of the North Norfolk countryside. Norfolk has suffered the loss of many of it’s larger country houses, but the smaller houses often not only survived, but were much cherished as manageable but beautiful examples of local architecture. Yet, even today it’s possible for one of these lovely red-brick homes to slip into dereliction, at risk from the weather and criminals - Bessingham Manor has become another of these sad examples. Built in 1870 for the Spurrell family, who had farming connections in Suffolk going back over 500 years, the house originally had 52-acres but this has now been reduced to a more manageable five. The house remained in the Spurrell family until the last member died in 1952. It was then bought by Robert Gamble who eventually found maintenance a significant challenge which was compounded by a poor quality roof repair which failed leading to massive water damage to part of the house, including the collapse of sections of the second floor. The near derelict state of the interior is mirrored in the exterior which is partially supported by scaffolding or probably held together by the extensive ivy.
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Being a semi-pro musician, I couldn't resist!!!
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It's now apparent that Gary Numan was NOT the first to use the Vox Humana preset ;-)
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So-So Feeling: Flo Rida, Copy, and the Weaknesses of the Pop-Techno Breakdown
By Techno School, Vertigo Shtick contributor and dance/electronic correspondent
I have been dying...DYING...to write about Flo Rida. For months now. Really.
Yo ho
Every time I sit in front of this computer, though, my mind goes blank. It's like the literary gods are saying “No way, Techno School. You are not ready to write this piece. Not yet.” Even now, I have to exert incredible effort just to remain focused on my own text. But I will not give up! This is too important! The zeal with which radio stations are overplaying Flo Rida's “Good Feeling” is starting to die out (or am I finally just sick of hearing it and keep switching the station?) signals the beginning of an exit from the radio mainstream of this song. Therefore! I will make haste and write about this song before it becomes last year's news. You can thank me later.
But first, let me please introduce you to one of my favorite techno acts: Copy (I promise this will all make sense in a moment). Copy is a one man show born out of the Pacific Northwest that I came across in my very early days of techno discovery. His music is layered and complex (and mostly performed on the keytar, which is pretty sweet all on its own), and in my opinion his true talent comes in the resulting airy sound that makes his songs much more than the sum of their parts. This is the first song of his I ever came across on Pandora, called “Zipper Problems.”
In “Zipper Problems,” the techno is intricate, but clean. The notes all stand apart despite being piled on top of each other. Now just keep that song in mind, and maybe you'll start to get a sense of why some frustrating force has made me unable to write about Flo Rida until now.
Flo Rida is one of my many guilty pleasures. Something about his rap has always been so catchy and dancey. I just can't quit it. And I was so guiltily pleased to hear “Good Feeling” the first time it played on the radio. A guitar riff of all things opens the song, innocently enough, only to be faded into the background, technology ironically making way for the insertion of the late Etta James' poodle skirt-era voice, tapped from her 1962 hit “Something's Got a Hold On Me.” The electronic presence of this song heightens when James takes the backseat to Flo Rida himself, who raps about the good life and, like any good pop artist, talks down his naysayers. Is it any coincidence that this artist is rapping about a new beginning to his career while, simultaneously, the original guitar we heard earlier in the song is replaced by something that sounds more like it came out of a DJ booth?
Probably, but I'd like to think it was one of those gift-from-the-literary-gods kind of coincidences.
What follows in the music video is a hodgepodge of footage including shots of Flo Rida's global travels and concerts, some awkward Rocky Balboa references, and the obligatory hug-with-a-more-respected-rapper, in this case Snoop Dogg. Catchy, dancey, but still pretty run-of-the-mill. UNTIL:
Was that an electro bridge? For reals? Damn. Too bad this particular sample of techno was all muddled up and crudely folded on top of itself. What results is not the light-sounding, energetic music we hear in songs like “Zipper Problems.” Instead, we get a rushed collection of notes that unnecessarily cut each other off. We listeners are hurried up to the next musical statement before we can enjoy the sound of the previous one.
Don't get me wrong: there is something truly uplifting about hearing sounds you expect to hide from the mainstream floating their way up to Big Daddy Radio. But, the more I heard “Good Feeling,” the less impressed I was. It's a shame that the particular quality of techno that is getting featured is so mediocre, especially considering the plethora of capable DJs out there who would jump at the opportunity to collaborate (think of Calvin Harris in “We Found Love” and Skrillex in “Narcissistic Cannibal”). Rather than call upon the masters, it seems, pop producers like Dr. Luke slap together uninspired collections of somewhat random techno sounds all on their own and throw them into the middle of songs. It just sounds...bad.
And the shame of it is that nobody knows! The pop crowd doesn't know about Copy, and they're being robbed of perfectly legitimate music! I can't help but think of how much more incredible this song would be had a more capable DJ lended a helping, er, turntable.
You can imagine the similar thoughts that ran through my head when Britney Spears' single, “Hold it Against Me,” premiered. The mere inclusion of a dubstep bridge in a hugely popular pop song left me awestruck at first. But, the more I heard the song, the more its faults creeped to the surface. The bridge lacked the loud, defined grittiness that I think of when I listen to dubstep. There wasn’t enough power to the music, and power is exactly what defines the kind of dubstep that the pop producers were imitating. It’s like the speakers go to 11, but they only cranked em up to 5.
Could you turn me up?
What “Hold it Against Me” really needs is the in-your-face techno scream of a beat, more reminiscent of Nadia Oh’s “Taking Over the Dancefloor.” I can say for a fact that, had a dubstep-savvy producer like Wolfgang Gartner - who by the way has collaborated with other big names before - been on board for that one, “Hold it Against Me” would have rocketed to an entirely new level of epic. The same goes for “Good Feeling.”
And, speaking of epic, is that a TRON motorcycle that Flo Rida rides away in at the end of his video? I want one!
Techno School is currently based in Detroit.
Tags: breakdowns, britney spears, copy, dr. luke, essays, flo rida, techno, techno school
2011 Grammy Guide: Best Pop Solo Performance
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First Listen: Mason Black - "Jack the Ripper"
Listen Up: Meg Myers - "Adelaide"
So-So Feeling: Flo Rida, Copy, and the Weaknesses ...
Censor Sensibility: The Scourge of the Radio Edit
First Listen: Neon Hitch - "Fuck U Betta" (Uncenso...
Top 10 Pop EPs of 2011
Femmes Fatales: Britney, Gaga and Pop in 2011
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Coco Morier - EP (Album Review)
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Title: Corruption in Armenia
Subject: Corruption in Russia, Corruption in Albania, Corruption in Afghanistan, Corruption in Austria, Corruption in Belgium
Collection: Corruption by Country, Corruption in Armenia, Corruption in Europe, Politics of Armenia
Kleptocracy
Economics of corruption
Legal plunder
Slush fund
Political scandal
Corruption by country
Oceania and the Pacific
Transcontinental countries
Political corruption in Armenia is a widespread and growing problem in Armenian society.
Extent 1
Anti-corruption institutions 2
Areas 4
Tax and customs agencies 4.1
Misappropriation of international loans 4.2
Illegitimate use of eminent domain 4.3
The United Nations Development Programme in Armenia views corruption in Armenia as "a serious challenge to its development."[1] The selective and non-transparent application of tax, customs and regulatory rules, as well as weak enforcement of court decisions fuels opportunities for corruption. The Armenian procurement system is characterised by instances of unfair tender processes and preferential treatment. Relationship between high-ranking government officials and the emerging private business sector encourage influence peddling. The government has reportedly failed to fund implementation of the anti-corruption strategy and devoted no money and little commitment for anti-corruption efforts.[2]
In 2012, Transparency International raised its Corruption Perceptions Index for Armenia from 2.6 in 2011[3] to 3.4 out of 10 (a higher score means less perceived corruption); Armenia went up from 129th place in 2011, to 105th out of 176 countries surveyed (on a par with Algeria, Bolivia, Gambia, Kosovo, Mali, Mexico, and Philippines). Despite legislative revisions in relation to elections and party financing, corruption either persists or has re-emerged in new forms.[4]
Anti-corruption institutions
The main anti-corruption institutions of the Armenian government are an Anti-Corruption Council – headed by the prime minister – and the Anti-Corruption Strategy Monitoring Commission, established in June 2004 to strengthen the implementation of anticorruption policy. However, these institutions scarcely functioned in 2006-2007, even though they were supposed to meet twice-quarterly and monthly, respectively.[5]
The late Prime Minister Andranik Margarian launched Armenia’s first post-Soviet campaign against corruption in 2003. The initiative, however, has been widely disparaged for being short on results.[6] Former Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan has acknowledged that corruption is Armenia’s "number one problem that obstructs all our reforms."[6]
The government has recently launched an anti-graft campaign which has been accompanied by changes in customs regulations, reported tax police inspections of companies owned by pro-government businesspeople and numerous high-profile firings of people in the tax department, customs service and police. The recent crackdown on corruption has received mixed reactions.[6]
Tax and customs agencies
The notoriously corrupt Armenian State Revenue Committee (housing both the Armenian Customs Service and the Armenian Tax Service) helps maintain import monopolies as well as aid tax evasion.
In 2007, World Bank economists pointed to serious problems with rule of law and widespread corruption in the Armenian tax and customs agencies.[7]
Misappropriation of international loans
In March 2004, an ad hoc commission of the Armenian parliament investigating the use of a $30 million World Bank loan concluded that mismanagement and corruption among government officials and private firms was the reason of the failure of the program to upgrade Yerevan's battered water infrastructure.[8] The World Bank issued the loan in 1999 in order to improve Yerevan residents' access to drinking water. The government promised to ensure around-the-clock water supplies to the vast majority of households by 2004, but as of 2008, most city residents continue to have running water for only several hours a day.[8]
Veolia Environnement, the French utility giant that took over Yerevan's loss-making water and sewerage network in 2006, has said that it will need a decade to end water rationing.[8] In August 2007, Bruce Tasker, a Yerevan-based British engineer who had participated in the parliamentary inquiry as an expert, publicly implicated not only Armenian officials and businessmen but also World Bank representatives in Yerevan in the alleged misuse of the loan. In an October 4, 2007 news conference, the World Bank Yerevan office head Aristomene Varoudakis denied the allegations, claiming that the World Bank disclosed fully all information available on the project to the parliamentary commission and that based on this information there was no evidence of fraud or mismanagement in the project.[8]
Northern Avenue residents protest the proposed demolition of their building through signs and posters, 2011.
Illegitimate use of eminent domain
Eminent domain laws[9] have been used to forcefully remove residents, business owners, and land owners from their property. The projects that finally are built on the site are not of state interest, but rather are privately owned by the same authorities who have executed the eminent domain clause. A prominent example is the development of Yerevan's central Northern Avenue area. Another involves an ongoing project (as of November 2008) to construct a trade center near Yerevan's botanical garden. The new land owners are non other than Yerevan's mayor Yervand Zakharyan and Deputy Mayor Karen Davtyan, who was at one time Director of the Armenian Development Agency and successfully executed the eviction of residents on Northern Avenue.[10]
Crime in Armenia
^ "Strengthening Cooperation between the National Assembly, Civil Society and the Media in the Fight Against Corruption", Speech by Ms. Consuelo Vidal, (UN RC / UNDP RR), April 6, 2006.
^ Snapshot of the Armenia Country Profile from Business Anti-Corruption Portal
^ [1], Transparency International.
^ Global Corruption Report 2008, Transparency International, Chapter 7, p. 122.
^ Global Corruption Report 2008, Transparency International, Chapter 7.4, p. 225.
^ a b c "ARMENIA: GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT CORRUPTION?", EurasiaNet, July 11, 2008.
^ World Bank Urges ‘Second Generation Reforms’ In Armenia, Armenia Liberty (RFE/RL), March 20, 2007.
^ a b c d Corruption Chronicles: International Loans, Eurasianet.org, 2008.
^ The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia (27 November 2005), Chapter 2: Fundamental Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms, Article 31
^ The Yerevan Municipality Allocates a Parcel of Land to one of its Employees under the Guise of “Eminent Domain”, Hetq Online, November 10, 2008.
Armenia topics
(timeline)
Kura-Araxes culture
Hayk
Hayasa-Azzi
Kingdom of Urartu
Orontid dynasty
Kingdom of Armenia
Roman Armenia
Byzantine Armenia
Bagratuni Armenia
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia
Persian Armenia
Ottoman Armenia
Russian Armenia
First Republic of Armenia
Soviet Armenia
Independent Armenia
Armenian national movement
Ararat plain
Armenian Highland
Mount Aragats
Shikahogh State Preserve
Historical regions
Provinces (Marzer)
National Security Service
Air Defense
Border Guard
Armex (stock exchange)
Dram (currency)
Armenian Evangelical Church
Armenian Brotherhood Church
Armenian cross
Armenian Eternity sign
Mount Ararat
Corruption in Asia
Politics of Armenia
Corruption in Europe
Corruption in India
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Assam, West Bengal
Council of Europe, Bribery, Africa, Nepotism, Nigeria
Corruption in Afghanistan
Afghanistan, Corruption in India, Political corruption, Corruption in Armenia, Corruption in Bahrain
Corruption in Russia
Russia, Corruption in Armenia, Corruption in India, Corruption in Turkey, Economy of Russia
Corruption in Albania
Albania, Corruption in Armenia, Corruption in France, Corruption in the Czech Republic, Corruption in Italy
Corruption in Austria
Corruption in Albania, Corruption in Armenia, Corruption in France, Corruption in the Czech Republic, Corruption in Italy
Corruption in Belgium
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Dodgerland: Decadent Los Angeles and the 1977–78 Dodgers
Buy now: From the publisher,
or at Vromans or Powells
At Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis
Michael talks baseball with Keith Law and Peter Schilling
Archive of older articles by Michael Fallon
"Being Gay in Major League Baseball," Utne Reader online, November 8, 2010
"Take Me Out to the Art Gallery," Utne Reader online, November 1, 2010
"Cuban Artists Grapple with Local Racism on a World Stage," Utne Reader online, October 19, 2010
"Artist Faces Darkness at Heart of Amazon Rainforest," Utne Reader online, September 14, 2010
How to Analyze the Works of Andy Warhol (Essential Critiques). Young Adult book. Essential Library/Abdo Publishing. (September 2010).
How to Analyze the Works of Georgia O’Keeffe (Essential Critiques). Young Adult book. Essential Library/Abdo Publishing. (September 2010).
"Seeing Target Field," mnartists.org. June 4, 2010
"Falling Man," The Thousandth Word. February 11, 2009
"Your Dreams Are Your Ticket Out," The Thousandth Word. January 20, 2009
"Blame It on Holland Cotter," The Thousandth Word. January 15, 2009
"Tales of Grizzled Warriors," The Thousandth Word. December 14, 2008
"November Song," The Thousandth Word. November 20, 2008
"Art from the Ashes, Part II," The Thousandth Word. November 2, 2008
"Art from the Ashes, Part I," The Thousandth Word. October 17, 2008
"Bang a Drum for the Losers," The Thousandth Word. September 27, 2008
"The Day the Music Died," mnartists.org. September 8, 2008
"'We Choose to Go to the Moon,'" The Thousandth Word. August 20, 2008
"What's with the Kids These Days?" mnartists.org. August 4, 2008
"ArtofPolitics.com," The Thousandth Word. August 1, 2008
"The New Dada," The Thousandth Word. July 10, 2008
"Dried Blood and Dandelion Wine," The Thousandth Word. July 2, 2008
"What Is the State of the Art in Minneapolis?" mnartists.org. June 23, 2008
"Oh Man, Look at Those Cavemen Go (Review of Carnegie International)," The Thousandth Word. June 5, 2008
"The Man Who Fell to Pittsburgh," The Thousandth Word. June 5, 2008
"Come Join the Vicious Circle," The Thousandth Word. May 25, 2008
"Ernest Bryant III at Franklin Art Works," Art in America. April, 2008
"The (Endlessly Annoying, Horribly Consuming, Creepily Off-Putting) Drive in Artists to Make Art," mnartists.org. February 11, 2008
"Everyone's a Critic," mnartists.org. January 23, 2008
"On Artistic Competition," mnartists.org. October 8, 2007
"How Creativity Is Killing the Culture," mnartists.org. October 1, 2007
"Mary Griep and Jantje Visscher at the MIA," mnartists.org. July 30, 2007
"Thomas Proehl’s New State: Minnesota State Arts Board," mnartists.org. July 9, 2007
"Where Do Artists Come from? (pt. 2): Arts Education and What Happens Next," mnartists.org. May 14, 2007
"Art and Sound, Bugs and Data," mnartists.org. April 30, 2007
"When Good Arts Advocacy Becomes Dishonest, and What You Can Do About It," mnartists.org. March 5, 2007
"The Artist Walks Alone," mnartists.org. February 27, 2007
"Adjust Your Sails, Minnesota Artists," mnartists.org. November 21, 2006
"Where Do Artists Come From?" mnartists.org. October 27, 2006
"One and One and One Is Three: An Artists Come-Together Manifesto," mnartists.org. September 7, 2006
"Don't Blame Yourself," mnartists.org. July 10, 2006
"Essential Services for Aging Artists," New York Foundation for the Arts. July, 2006
"Essential Services for Aging Artists," (chief writer/editor, project leader) Heinz School of Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, May, 2006
"American Dream? The Whitney Biennial," mnartists.org. April 26, 2006
"Is Everybody an Outsider?" mnartists.org. April 15, 2006
"Taking Leave," mnartists.org. December 13, 2005
"Too Much of Everything Means Not Enough of Anything, Part 2," mnartists.org. October 4, 2005
"Too Much of Everything Means Not Enough of Anything, Part 1," mnartists.org. September 13, 2005
"Talking It Up and Taking It Down," mnartists.org. August 3, 2005
"What Is a Minnesota Artist?" mnartists.org. June 12, 2005
"A Spot on the Globe," mnartists.org. March 17, 2005 "Carolyn Swiszcz at Gallery Co," Art in America. March, 2005
"Where Angels Fear to Tread: Doug Padilla at Gallery Co," mnartists.org. February 19, 2005
"Old Eagle Eyes Is Back," mnartists.org. February 5, 2005
"Seeing the Light," mnartists.org. December 31, 2004
"The Doomed Artist, Part 3," mnartists.org. November 12, 2004
"(Studio Visit: Paul Shambroom) How Does Democracy Look?" Art Papers. November/December, 2004
"Where Have You Gone, Pablo Picasso?" mnartists.org. September 29, 2004
"Notes from the Lunatic Fringe," mnartists.org. August 21, 2004
"Not Meeting Expectations: MCAD/McKnight Fellowship Show," mnartists.org. August 2, 2004
"The Doomed Artist, Part 2," mnartists.org. July 22, 2004
"Transfigured Dreck: Liz Miller," mnartists.org. June 19, 2004
"The Doomed Artist, Part 1," mnartists.org. June 25, 2004
"Alec Soth... Is Now Wide Awake in Minneapolis," mnartists.org. May 8, 2004
"A Picture Is Worth 5,000 Years," Rake Magazine. May, 2004
"The Slow Train to the Big Show," mnartists.org. April 25, 2004
"The Whitney Looks to the Interior," mnartists.org. April 21, 2004
"Lynn Geesaman at Thomas Barry," Art in America. April, 2004
"Why I Love Art and Continue to Write about It (Despite It All)," mnartists.org. March 23, 2004
"Art Review: Phipps Center," mnartists.org. March 16, 2004
"Fall of the Legend," Orange County Weekly. February 26, 2004
"Ice Palace as Civic Experiment and Architecture: Some Takes," mnartists.org. February 16, 2004
"Review: In Search of the Perfectly Realized Image," mnartists.org. February 2, 2004
"The Hollywood Art Critic: Part 2," mnartists.org. January 31, 2004
"Le Rossmor est morte; Vive le Rossmor!: Part 2," mnartists.org. January 15, 2004
"Should I Wear the Red Shirt, or the Blue One Again?," mnartists.org.
"Lourdes Cue at Franklin Art Works," Art in America. December, 2003
"Connaughty's Choice," City Pages. November 26, 2003
"A Space on This Wall Could Cost You $800," City Pages. November 12, 2003
"Featured Artist: Piotr Szyhalski," mnartists.org. November 10, 2003
"What Vincent Van Gogh Means to Us Today," mnartists.org. October 23, 2003
"Fear, Honor, Obey," City Pages. October 22, 2003
"Art Review: 'Small in a Big World' — Stacey Davidson," mnartists.org.
"Art Review: 'Token Male,'" mnartists.org. September 30, 2003
"One of the Great Ones," City Pages. September 10, 2003
"The Hollywood Art Critic, Part 1," mnartists.org. August 29, 2003
"How I Became, of All Things, an Art Critic," mnartists.org. August 2, 2003
"Me, Myself, and I," City Pages. July 23, 2003
"Crossing the Channel with Three Artists and a Critic," mnartists.org. July 21, 2003
"Art Review: Focus Group; Open Forum: Encampment at Soap Factory," mnartists.org. July 19, 2003
"Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness," City Pages. July 2, 2003
"Not for Sale: The Temporary Mural," Rake Magazine. June 27, 2003
"The Outsiders," City Pages. May 14, 2003
"Too Much Skin?," mnartists.org. May 10, 2003
"...But I Know What I Like: 'Grotto' at MIA," mnartists.org. March 10, 2003
"Sexual Reproduction," City Pages. February 12, 2003
"Book of Life," City Pages. February 5, 2003
"Review: '8 x 2: Curators Pick Artists,'" mnartists.org. January 13, 2003
"Once Upon a Time in America," City Pages. December 25, 2002
"Joe Geshick at Horst Galleries," mnartists.org. December 16, 2002
"Nature Boy," City Pages. November 13, 2002
"On Arts Writing," mnartists.org. October 25, 2002
"Baby Please Don't Go," City Pages. September 11, 2002
"Wade in the Water," City Pages. August 14, 2002
"The Real Thing," City Pages. June 19, 2002
"Jean Humke," mnartists.org. June 14, 2002
"The Bombing Starts in Five Minutes," City Pages. June 12, 2002
"Now Voyager," mnartists.org. May 15, 2002
"Live Nude Girls," City Pages. April 17, 2002
"Only Masochists Need Apply," City Pages. March 13, 2002
"Erik Farseth: A History of the Zine Movement," mnartists.org. March 5, 2002
"The Best Things in Life Aren't Free," City Pages. February 13, 2002
"High-Fiber Diet," City Pages. November 28, 2001
"En Gaard," City Pages. October 31, 2001
"Earth, Wind, & Fire," City Pages. October 17, 2001
"Mama Don't Preach," City Pages. August 22, 2001
"Wormley's Black Period," City Pages. August 15, 2001
"The Canvasser," City Pages. July 18, 2001
"Animal Husbandry," City Pages. June 20, 2001
"Room with a View," City Pages. May 30, 2001
"The Road Warrior," City Pages. May 23, 2001
"The Sauna School," City Pages. April 25, 2001
"Cold Comfort," City Pages. March 28, 2001
"Book of Days," City Pages. March 14, 2001
"Prefablandscapelite," City Pages. February 21, 2001
"The Beautiful Show," City Pages. November 29, 2000
"The Political Portrait," City Pages. November 8, 2000
"Artful Dodgers," City Pages. October 18, 2000
"The Outsiders," City Pages. September 20, 2000
"Off the Wall," City Pages. August 9, 2000
"Follicular Follies," City Pages. July 26, 2000
"Art of the State," City Pages. June 28, 2000
"Open Shutters," City Pages. June 7, 2000
"Control Group," City Pages. May 10, 2000
"Get Real," City Pages. April 5, 2000
"There Goes the Neighborhood," City Pages. March 22, 2000
"Success, on a Small Scale," City Pages. February 23, 2000
"Mississippi Masala," City Pages. September 29, 1999
"The More the Merrier," City Pages. August 25, 1999
"Birth of the New," City Pages. August 11, 1999
"Public Image Limited," City Pages. July 7, 1999
"A Fine Day for Pressing Pulp," City Pages. June 16, 1999
"Seeing Red," City Pages. April 28, 1999
"Pictures from an Exhibition," City Pages. March 17, 1999
"The Big Picture," City Pages. February 24, 1999
"Paint It Black," City Pages. January 20, 1999
"And Take Your Canvas With You!," City Pages. November 11, 1998
"Home Is Where the Art Is," City Pages. November 11, 1998
"I Am the Cosmos," City Pages. September 2, 1998
Return to main articles page
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© 2012–16 Michael S. Fallon | Design
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DETROITMichigan State University set a record it wants no part of the most rapes reported by a university on its annual Clery Act report.
There wasa total of 1,013 rapes reported across all campuses, most attributed to Larry Nassar.
Clery Act report: MSU cited for ‘serious noncompliance’ with federal campus safety law related to Larry Nassar case
Record fine: Michigan State to pay record $4.5 million fine in Larry Nassar sexual assault scandal
That’s a record for any one higher education institution in one year, said S. Daniel Carter, president of Safety Advisors for Educational Campuses, who hasmonitoredClery Act reports since schools were required to start reporting crime stats in 1992. A decade ago, all campuses nationally reportedno more than 3,000 sexual assaults total, Carter said.
Nassar was a doctor at Michigan State University, as well as the team doctor for USA Gymnastics. He was sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography charges. He faces a 40- to 175-year sentence issued in Ingham County, Michigan, and a 40- to 125-year sentence from Eaton County, Michigan, for sexual assaults. Those sentences will not begin until he finishes the federal sentence.
The university settled lawsuits by more than 300 survivors with a payment of $500 million. Other lawsuits are pending from more than 100 people.
Late last month, the university said in legal filings it shouldn’t be held legally responsible for Nassar.
“Although Nassars actions were repugnant and merit the heavy criminal penalties imposed upon him, the law does not support Plaintiffs attempts to hold the MSU Defendants liable for his wrongs,” the university said in a court filing of more than 100 pages, backed by nearly 900 pages of exhibits.
Nassar survivor: She surrendered her secrets to put away a sexual predator. But her sacrifice isn’t over
Lou Anna Simon: Larry Nassar is guilty of sexual assault. Did Michigan State’s ex-president lie to police about him?
Other major universities reportedlarge numbers after scandals involving doctors abusing and assaulting students.
“Ohio State University is facing a somewhat similar situation in the Dr. (Richard) Strauss case,” Carter said. Strauss was a former wrestling team doctor at Ohio State.
“Although much smaller in number, the University of Southern California is likewise bulk reporting incidents from their Dr. (George) Tyndall case,” Carter said. Tyndall was a former campus gynecologist.
Larry Nassar is in a federal prison serving a 60-year sentence on child porn charges.
Last month, Michigan State was fined $4.5 million a record fine for its failures in the Nassar case, including violations of the Clery Act, by the federal Department of Education.
“What happened at MSU was abhorrent. …So was the university’s response to their crimes,” U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said, referring to Nassar and his boss, William Strampel, former osteopathic college dean.
The report said the school must hire an outside law firm to review all sex assault case decisions made by the school’s Title IX office and issue a report to the federal government. MSU’s board and president must receive a regular report of all cases and decisions.
MSU must conduct a sweeping investigation into who knew what and didn’t act onNassar orStrampel, who was convicted of criminal charges.
That includes former MSU President Lou Anna Simon, who facescriminal charges of lying to police in the Nassar investigation; former Provost June Youatt, who knew for years of sexual harassment claims against Strampel and cleared him; along with the associate vice president for academic human resources;employees of the Office of the General Counsel;and the former head coach of the women’s gymnastics team.
Follow David Jesse on Twitter:@reporterdavidj
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Larry Nassar: Michigan State reported most rapes, safety report says
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Recent Goings-On
A few things that caught my eye recently.
1. All the Congressmen and Senators from Texas and Oklahoma who voted against Hurricane Sandy relief, because we just can't go around willy-nilly spending money to help people just because of some disaster that maybe God wanted them to suffer, hmm? ever think of that? are now suddenly perfectly A-OK with federal disaster relief monies being spent in their states to the surprise of pretty much no one.
2. The folks who are constantly wetting their pants over the supposed "attacks" on their religious freedom and scary scary terrorism decided to attack some other peoples' freedom of religion by terrorizing them.
Armed American Protestors Surround Islamic Community Center of Phoenix
Nancy Wiechec/Reuters
The rally initially was organized by a Phoenix man who says he is a former Marine who fought in the Iraq War and believes Islam is a violent religion. He led about 250 people who carried pistols, assault rifles, American flags and drawings of Muhammad to the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix.
Because there's no better way to show how your religion is superior to their violent one than by showing up with goddamm assault rifles?
And it may surprise you to learn that the organizer of the wave your machine gun at people trying to pray rally is both a coward and a grafter!
Arizona Anti-Muslim Activist Tries To Raise $10M As He Goes Into Hiding
Jon Ritzheimer, the man who organized an anti-Muslim protest rally and “draw Muhammad” cartoon contest on Friday in Phoenix, reportedly launched a GoFundMe page to raise $10 million to “protect his family.”
KPNX television reporter Brahm Resnik tweeted on Sunday that Ritzheimer had set up a GoFundMe page to raise $10 million to “protect his family or run against” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).
Yes, I have to either go into hiding, or do one of the most public things one can do, run for elected office. Whichever will make you give me more money!
Ritzheimer told television station KSAZ on Friday that he was going into hiding after the rally, which drew hundreds of people, including many who opposed him.
“I’m having to sell my house,” Ritzheimer told the station. “My family’s been threatened, so they’re in hiding right now. I’m having to go into hiding after this because they’re calling for lone wolves to come and behead me.”
Gee, I wonder what it must feel like to be threatened by heavily-armed religious fanatics? I mean, what if they were to surround your church while armed with machine guns?
However, on Facebook, Ritzheimer said in a Saturday post that he would not run and hide but would “hunker down” in his “fighting hole” and “stick it out!”
Yeah, I mean who ever said you were "hiding" anyway? Oh, right. You did.
Also I'm pretty sure that I don't want to know what his "fighting hole" refers to, or how he plans on hunkering down in it.
Driving in the middle of the quiet desert with a clear mind. Writing key notes for my next big announcement. I've decided that if I die, it will be as a free man, and not as a coward. You will not find me in a hole like we found Saddam Hussein. I'm going to keep living free but keep my protection close and near. I'm a Marine and we don't run and hide. We hunker down in our fighting hole and we stick it out! I have a heightened sense of things out here when I'm alone. And I have more PEACEFUL ideas that I want to see take place across America.
And all those ideas involve rubes giving him their hard-earned moneys. Because that's the new right-wing business model. Step1: be a colossal dick. Step 2: ? Step 3: Profit!
3. Denny Hastert apparently did something untoward at the least with a high-school student when he was a wrestling coach. (How was "wrestling coach" not a huge red flag?)
So now all three House Speakers who led impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton for getting a blow job have their very own sex scandals. And had them at the time they were impeaching him.
4. Politico threw out the ceremonial first bitch of the "shitting on Bernie Sanders for not being 'mainstream' enough" season.
It's not your everyday Americans at Bernie Sanders' kickoff rally
The long-shot presidential contender launches campaign from the People’s Republic of Burlington.
Fuck you, Politico.
Yes, Bernie Sanders is a long shot, but if you look at the polling, his policy positions are firmly in the mainstream, supported by majorities of Americans. Raising the minimum wage? Americans overwhelmingly support that. Equal pay for men and women? Americans like that idea. Taxing the wealthy to pay for tuition-free colleges? Americans love that idea. But, sure you go right ahead and act like only unbathed patchouli-droolers support Bernie Sanders.
In the afternoon, a “people’s assembly” of hundreds of Sanders supporters gathered in City Hall Park, where dreadlocked guitarists played in the morning and patrons browsed at the nearby Hempest, which advertises itself as the largest organic hemp product store in the world.
Oh, there were musicians? In the park? With bad hairstyles? Oh, clearly Sanders must be a kook!
The People for Bernie rally was organized by several former Occupy Wall Street activists, including Ready for Warren co-founder Charles Lenchner. Activists wearing shirts denouncing fast-track trade authority, fracking and George W. Bush held hands in a circle and used the “people’s mic,”
Right, nothing could possibly be further outside the mainstream than being against fracking, Fast-Track and the worst President since Warren G. Harding.
Thousands attended Sanders’ rally Tuesday, with attendees spilling out along the park as the venue filled to capacity on a sunny and hot early evening.
But none of those thousands of people were "Every-day Americans," so that doesn't count.
This was, of course, an entirely predictable response by the "respectable" press to Sanders' campaign. Remember what they did to Howard Dean? Dean wasn't among the select group that the punditry had predicted to be candidates - John Kerry, Dick Gephardt, Joe Lieberman, etc. and they just refused to take him seriously. Every discussion about Howard Dean would be about how "wow, he's really raising a lot of money on this new internet thing," and 'boy, people sure are getting excited about this Dean fella" and would invariably end with one talking head saying "of course, he's totally un-electable," and the other agreeing "sure, of course. Totally un-electable." Then they played "The Scream" on a loop and pretty much destroyed his credibility by making him seem crazy.
And Dean wasn't anywhere near as frightening to the establishment as Sanders. So of course Bernie sanders will be treated like a fringe candidate with nutty ideas while the media ties itself into knots pretending that Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina are legitimate, viable candidates whose ideas aren't insane.
Oh, pretty good. Thanks for asking.
Friday evening and Saturday we went to the Candler Park Music Fest. One of the great things about living in Atlanta is lots of free music. Technically, we paid $10 for a wristband that guaranteed admission both days, otherwise we would have had to be one of the first to show up, but admission was technically free. Anyway, for $10 we saw The Infamous Stringdusteres, Leftover Salmon, Southern Culture on the Skids and 7 Handle Circus. If we had stuck around long enough, we could have caught Shoverls & Rope and Drive-By Truckers, too, but instead we went to one of Decatur's free concerts in the square and saw Jugtime Ragband.
It was too dark Saturday evening to get video of Leftover Salmon or Infamous Stringdusters, and by the time we got to Decatur, my phone was out of memory, so here are the two videos that came out okay:
And here is some video that someone else took of Jugtime Ragband, my new favorite band in Atlanta for the moment:
They've added a couple members since these videos were taken. At the show we saw, there was a trombonist, a backup vocalist and a guitarist added to the mix. If you get a chance, you should check 'em out. http://jugtimeragband.com/
Labels: atlanta bands, atlanta music
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Small Law Firms Business Development
Legal Wit
Labour & Employment
News and Views — Houlden & Morawetz On-Line Newsletter
See the InsolvencySource Advantage for yourself
The Ontario Court of Appeal interpreted the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in AbitibiBowater in the context of two appeals from the decision of the CCAA judge in Nortel Networks Corp. and Northstar Aerospace Inc. One appeal was allowed and the other was dismissed. See Case Updates [Re Nortel Networks Corp. and Re Northstar Aerospace Inc.]
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
On October 3, 2013 the Court of Appeal for Ontario released two decisions, Re Nortel Networks Corp. and Re Northstar Aerospace Inc. The appeals had been heard by the same panel on June 19, 2013.
The Court of Appeal in Nortel noted that in the lower court's decision, the CCAA judge aptly described the issues as arising "from the untidy intersection" of the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA") and the powers of the provincial Minister of the Environment ("MOE") "to make orders with respect to the remediation of real property in Ontario."
See Houlden & Morawetz, Bankruptcy and Insolvency Law of Canada:
G§36 — Claims Provable
N§78 — Regulatory Bodies can Continue to Investigate
N§121 — Environmental Conditions or Damage
N§143 — Scope of Claims
N§145 — Determination of Amount of Claims
To read the full newsletter on Westlaw Canada, click here.
© Copyright WestlawNext Canada, Thomson Reuters Canada Limited. All rights reserved.
Practical Law Canada
Technical and research support
Free Trial: WestlawNext Canada
Free Trial: Practical Law Canada
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Home Search Catalog and View Accounts AVL Learning Express Library Elmore County Museum City of Wetumpka
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Genealogy and Reference
Photo Copying, Scanning and Faxing
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Wetumpka Public Library
(ph) (334) 567-1308
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Email: library@cityofwetumpka.com
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Saturdays - 9am to 5pm.
text here 1/19/2020
Wetumpka Public Library > Services >
The Wetumpka Public Library has twelve computers for public use with Internet access. In order to use a computer you must have either a Library Card or an Internet card. Computer use is free. Printing is $.25 a page black and white and $.50 a page color. We do not have earphones but you are welcome to bring your own!
The library also has Wi-fi access. An access code is required and may be obtained at either the circulation or reference desk.
Using a computer indicates that you are familiar with and agree to our Public Access Internet Rules. A copy of these rules follows:
PUBLIC INTERNET USE RULES AND PROCEDURES<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
THE INTERNET IS AN UNREGULATED SOURCE OF INFORMATION IN WRITTEN AND GRAPHIC FORM
1. Users sign-in each time to use the Internet workstations by entering their Wetumpka Public Library patron number. Non-patrons may be assigned temporary access numbers. Access to the Internet is limited to one hour per day, including time to copy and/or print. Time is on a first come basis. Please plan accordingly.
2. You may use your personal jump drives for saving your work on the iMacs only (not PCs). Documents do not permanently save on the library computers and are deleted upon logging off. The library is not responsible for any damage to the jump drive while in use. CAUTION: Although we use a virus checker on the library�s computers, this will not completely protect you from the chance of getting a virus. Software downloaded from the Internet may contain a virus and you will need to have virus-checking software on your computer.
3. Documents may be printed at the cost of $.25 each page for black and white and $.50 each for color.
4. You may check and send email from your personal account, but please NO ADULT/MATURE SITES. The Internet and its available resources may contain material of a controversial nature. Parents/guardians/caregivers are reminded that they are responsible for their child�s use of the Internet through library connections.
5. Users may not use the library�s computers to make unauthorized entry into any other computer or network.
6. Users may not disrupt or interfere with other computer or network users, services or equipment. Intentional misuse of the computer or Internet access will result in the suspension of Internet privileges.
7. Children under the age of 18 who wish to use the Internet must have consent on file from a parent or guardian. Parents/guardians/caregivers who wish to restrict the access of their own children should oversee their use of the Internet.
8. In offering Internet access, the library system cannot guarantee that the information found through the Internet is accurate, authoritative, or factual; nor can the library systems control access points, which change rapidly and unpredictably.
9. If you feel that the information you have obtained via the Internet is inaccurate or offensive, we suggest that you contact the original producer/distributor of that information.
10. Library staff may be able to help you with basic computer use and startup procedures, but we cannot provide information on software. In addition, library staff cannot fill out any forms or applications for a patron. If you have never used computers or have specific questions about the Internet, reference books and user guides are available.
11. In compliance with the Children�s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) the Library subscribes to a filtering service, which is found on all workstations in the library. This filtering service aids the Library�s efforts to limit minors� access and exposure to inappropriate, harmful, and illegal matter on the Internet by preventing access to pornographic or obscene materials. However, no filtering service is completely effective and can on occasion overblock certain websites. Librarians are trained to provide searches for legitimate information that may be blocked, and can provide access to unavailable sites that meet the standards of the Library�s Internet Use Policy.
12. Anyone failing to observe the Internet rules will not be allowed access to the Library�s Internet system for 6 months. A second infraction will result in permanent loss of access.
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Robb Flynn Records Covers Album, Has Seven Songs for Next Machine Head Album
Mark Metcalfe / Stringer, Getty Images
As the calendar turns to a new year, it's time to reflect on the past 12 months and Machine Head's Robb Flynn was quite busy over the past year. In his latest "General Journal" to fans, he reveals some of the projects he's been working on, including a covers album and the next Machine Head record.
The posting recounts that some of his feelings on the past year, then breaks down both personal and professional accomplishments of 2019. Among the accomplishments on his list were writing, finishing and creating seven new Machine Head songs as well as recording a Robb Flynn & Friends solo album of covers. Additional details on both projects were not provided.
That said, it was a very transitional year for Flynn and Machine Head as the long-standing lineup had undergone some changes. Flynn acknowledged those changes, counting "reconnected with old bandmates that was long overdue," "let go of some resent," "rebuilt a new band in 10 months," "did a wildly successful tour of Europe celebrating our debut album" "re-recorded Burn My Eyes live in the studio" and "dropped a new song 'Do or Die'" amongst his 2019 accomplishments.
Flynn also speaks of becoming the owner of a recording studio, starting a podcast and re-launching Killers & Kings among his 2019 accomplishments. Read more of Flynn's year-end recap below.
There's minimal rest for Flynn, as Machine Head will be back on tour later this month. See all their scheduled tour dates here.
Top 100 Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the 21st Century
Source: Robb Flynn Records Covers Album, Has Seven Songs for Next Machine Head Album
Filed Under: Machine Head, Robb Flynn
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Listen Weekdays 3PM - 7PM
Dave Styles
Starbucks Barista Helped Saved A Customer's Life With A Kidney Donation
posted by Dave Styles - Dec 27, 2018
Starbucks barista Nicole McNeil has spoken many times before with longtime customer Vince Villano. One day last year, she sat down the 41-year-old after noticing his gloomy mood. What McNeil didn't know was that this conversation would lead to a year long journey that ended with a kidney donation.
McNeil's husband Justin saved Villano's life by donating his kidney to him.
In January of 2017, the longtime customer shared with his barista that he was suffering from polycystic kidney disease. When he had this conversation, his kidney's were only functioning at 4% of what they were supposed to be.
After their conversation, Justin immediately said "‘I've got a kidney, you know, we could do this. I think I'm willing to do that."
By some miracle, Justin and Villano were a match for the donation! The two have also become close friends and Villano said that "In general, having them as friends, family, I wouldn't want it to not be this way. I can't imagine not having them in my life.”
The two have already completed the donation and surgery and reportedly look great!
Stories like this give us all hope.
Dave Styles is an on air host at 104.3 MYFM from 3pm-7pm! KBIG FM Los Angeles' More Music, More Variety radio station Read more
Email davestyles@iheartmedia.com
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O CINEMA MIAMI BEACH
500 71st Street, Miami Beach, FL 33141
BINGO: THE KING OF THE MORNINGS
Bingo the clown is the wacky, loveable host of a hugely popular Brazilian television show, bringing laughter and joy to millions of children. Under the make-up and colorful costume, however, Bingo is Augusto Mendes, a man possessed by inner demons and an insatiable appetite for narcotics and sex.
A wild-ride of fiction based on the life of Arlindo Barreto, the Brazilian actor who was “Bozo The Clown”, Oscar-nominated editor Daniel Rezende’s feature directorial debut explores the outlandish discrepancies between Mendes’ public and private personas. Grounded in an electrifying lead performance from Vladimir Brichta, Bingo: The King of the Mornings is a shocking, endlessly fascinating whirl through the entertainment industry’s hedonistic excesses, and a richly detailed portrait of ambition, desperation and decadence.
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Henningsen: UK Election is About Brexit, But Economic Woes Won’t Go Away
Finally, after much parliamentary jiggery-pokery, a date for a UK General Election has been set – December 12th to be precise, and right in time for Christmas. Will PM Boris Johnson and the Brexit Party claim the majority they say they have in hand? Can Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn overcome his own inner-party gremlins of 2019? Certainly, if the election were held today, the Tories would walk to victory, but a lot could happen in 6 weeks.
During Wednesday’s episode of BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY for Sputnik Radio, co-hosts Eugene Puryear and Sean Blackmon are joined by 21WIRE editor Patrick Henningsen to discuss the UK General Election, and specifically what role media coverage will play, and what strategies the Labour and Conservative parties might try to take command of the polls over the next 6 weeks before the election, and also what role ‘Remain’ Liberal Democrat MPs and the SNP might play in the event of a hung Parliament, and also is the Irish border issue will be a factor. Look for both parties to push economic and austerity issues to try and woo, or scare the public and influence votes. All this and more. Listen:
READ MORE BREXIT NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Brexit Files
SUPPORT OUR MEDIA PLATFORM – BECOME A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV
Filed Under: Europe, Featured, Patrick Henningsen Tagged With: Boris, Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn, UK General Election
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Lack of food and rough weather responsible for the "biggest penguin die-off in many years" along with other birds and fish in New Zealand
A little blue penguin washed up on Mount Maunganui Main Beach. Photo / George Novak
Marine advocates are calling a large number of little blue penguins washing up along the Bay of Plenty coastline the "biggest penguin die-off in many years".
The Department of Conservation (DoC) Tauranga office had answered an average of five calls each week since February, and Western Bay Wildlife Trust's Julia Graham said the trust had 58 calls about dead penguins in two weeks.
"All of the penguins were dead, or died within a short time of arriving on land," Graham said. Hundreds of shearwaters, petrels, prions, shags and penguins, including dead poisonous pufferfish, were reported to have washed up along the coastline in January this year.
Graham said a combination of factors including lack of food, rough weather and moulting had triggered the mass little blue penguin fatalities.
"The combination of all of these events have led to the biggest penguin die off in many years.
"There is very little we can do to help these birds apart from offering them peace and quiet," she said. Katikati community ranger for DoC Tracy Mezger said the Tauranga office had received a higher number of calls about dead penguins than this time last year.
Mezger said it had received an average of five calls each week for dead, injured, or unwell penguins since February.
"About half the calls have been for penguins already dead," she said.
"They are a combination of single penguins or multiple penguins dead and washed ashore, both juvenile and adults."
Most of the calls were about penguins washed up on Mount Maunganui Main Beach, which Mezger said was likely because more people visited that beach than others.
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Arrow Recap: "Beacon of Hope" (4x17)
Wednesday, April 06, 2016 / Jaime / No comments
Spoilers included for Arrow.
In the last episode, Felicity quit Team Arrow, and Damien Darhk was incarcerated. Now Team Arrow has to save Star City without Overwatch. To do this, they might need to become someone else, or something else...
This is Arrow.
Every since Darhk was put behind bars, the streets of Star City have been quiet. Too quiet for Team Arrow. Oliver trains with the team (minus Felicity) in the Arrow bunker. Thea tells them that Alex (you know, Oliver's ex-campaign manager) is thinking of interviewing to work with Ruve Adams (aka Mrs. Darhk). Laurel suggests he interview for a position at Palmer Tech instead. This leads to an awkward conversation skirting around Felicity and Oliver's bewilderment that there were Harry Potter movies. (This was actually a perfect scene of dialogue. It proves this show can actually be funny. Also, what's with the Harry Potter references this week?)
(This was too perfect.--source)
However, the city can't stay silent forever. Brie Larvan, aka the Bee Chick from an episode of The Flash with Felicity and Ray, breaks out of prison (of course) and decides to target Palmer Tech. So as Felicity and Curtis (who is sick) work through business related to the implantable bio chip, Felicity's mother shows up. She wants to "socialize" Felicity to help her with the B-R-E-A-C-K-U-P. (Yes, she spelled it wrong.) Thea also joins the party to ask about Alex. Then, Bee Chick shows up. With lots and lots of bees. She infiltrates the Palmer Tech board meeting, causing one man to die after bees pour out of his mouth. (Ew.) She demands Felicity hand over the implantable bio-chip. However, there is only one, and it's inside Felicity! Then, Bee Chick surrounds the entire Palmer Tech building with a swarm of her bees. (Seriously, where did she get all of them?)
Donna: OK. From now on, I'm buying flats. I mean, these assaults are weekly. It's ridiculous. It's just so not conducive to high fashion.
Meanwhile, Oliver and Laurel train in the bunker, and Laurel tries to talk to him about Felicity. (Hey, look! They've already had more scenes together in this on episode than they have the entire season. Just kidding. But are they putting these two together to hint at something more between them?) Despite Oliver's awkwardness about discussing his past relationship with one of his past relationships, Laurel tells him she's here for him. (Gosh, I love Laurel.)
Curtis, who went home in order to rest, hears about the bee attack on Palmer Tech. Paul insists he stay home, but Curtis runs out the door to find help--from Team Arrow. Lance arrives at the bunker to inform Laurel and Oliver about the bees. (He's so worried about Donna. I'm dying.) Oliver tells his team to suit up even though the police claim the building is impenetrable. (Good ole Ollie, not giving up!) Curtis shows up at the bunker--somewhat by accident and somewhat following a phone with a tracker. The next few minutes are a constant stream of him fanboying over everything in the bunker; oh, and he passes out when he finds out Oliver is the Green Arrow.
(I'm crying.--source)
They wake him up, and Curtis uses the bunker's computer to explain to the team how to hack the robotic bees. (He also makes quite a few bee puns, which were hilarious.) So, they decide to let him help them from the Arrow bunker while they go to Palmer Tech. (So if Felicity is gone, can Curtis take over? He makes pop culture references when he's nervous!)
(CURTIS! Adorable cupcake.--source)
Felicity, Thea, and Donna escape from the office through an air vent, but the bees chase after them. They hide in a closet when one of the bees starts talking... in Curtis' voice! He managed to override its computer system to take control. He deactivates the bees, and Team Arrow swoops into the building. But it doesn't last; the bees evolve to block him out. This time, they form into a solid figure: Bee Man. (Seriously, though, it looks like a cheap cosplay of Yellow Jacket from Ant-Man. Oops, wrong fandom!) They fight the bee, but Oliver gets stung. When they bring him back to the bunker, they learn he didn't just get stung but the bee is inside of him. And it's replicating.
Curtis realizes the bees are designed after real bees, and real bees work on a specific frequency. If they can block the frequency with, oh, I don't know, a high pitched call, they could stop the bee in order to get it out of Oliver. Laurel uses her canary call to blast the bee. It works and they stop the bee from injuring Oliver further. (Curtis also fanboys. Again.)
(Look how awesome she is!--source)
Felicity comes up with a plan to rescue the board member. She uses the elevator to go down to the board meeting room; however, that floor isn't supposed to be accessed from the elevator, so Thea blasts the wall open. The board members and Donna escape down the elevator to a secret panic room. This leaves Thea and Felicity to face Bee Chick. They talk to her, and she explains that she has a tumor on her spinal cord. To cut it out and save her life, she'll be paralyzed. She wants the chip so she can still walk. Felicity, at gunpoint, tells her where the blueprints for the chip are.
At the bunker, Curtis goes over the components of the robotic bees with the team. However, the bees have probably already adapted to their canary call technique, so it won't work again. (Typical.) Oliver gets angry at Curtis' excitement, so Laurel has to pull him aside to give him a talk about his frustration. Laurel tells it to him straight: his choices caused Felicity to break up with him. She encourages him by telling him that as the Green Arrow he gives people hope. (Okay, they're totally setting these two up.) Oliver apologizes to Curtis, who is now terrified of Oliver. He continues to work to get rid of the bees. He puts a virus into an arrow so Oliver can shoot it into the swarm and stop them once and for all.
Felicity and Thea find a computer to hack into and try to get out of the building. Thea gives Felicity pretty much the same speech Laurel just gave Ollie--they do what they do to bring hope to the city. But Felicity is adamant that she is not coming back to the team. The Bee Chick returns because in her exploration of Palmer Tech she learned Felicity is the hacker who sent her to prison in the first place. So now she's out for revenge.
Felicity: I mean, look around you. Thea, we're in a Die Hard movie with bees. Maybe I'm meant for great things, maybe I'm not, but whatever it is, it's not this. I'm sorry. I'm not coming back.
(Ah, symbolism.--source)
Team Arrow arrives just in time to save the day. The Bee Man also returns. He knocks Thea out. Oliver fights him while Felicity runs around the room. Curtis hacks the virus as the bees adapt to it. The bee from Oliver escapes and chases him around the bunker until Lance manages to catch it. Felicity breaks a lamp and thrusts the electrical end into the Bee Man, which causes him to dissolve. Bee Chick shoots at Oliver, thinking that will exact revenge on Felicity. But then, Curtis takes over the bees and makes them swarm the Bee Chick, injecting her with their toxins.
Felicity: Lay down, Bee-yotch.
(I don't know if this is actually possible, but it looks pretty dang cool!--source)
Team Arrow returns to the bunker. Oliver tells Curtis he did a good job. The Bee Chick is in a coma from the toxins. Oliver tells Curtis he is welcome at the bunker any time. (He's the new Felicity.) Laurel tells Oliver he did a good job too. (Curtis did good, Oliver did good, everybody did good!) Curtis returns home to a worried Paul. He tells him he was helping the police and he realized that it was exciting but scary so he won't be doing that again. (Okay, not the new Felicity.)
Felicity and Thea relax at Palmer Tech after the incident. Thea asks if she missed this kind of rush of adventure. But Felicity says she didn't help the Green Arrow for the rush--she did it to help people. And now she can use Palmer Tech to help people and be a beacon of hope for the city.
(I'm enjoying this way too much.--source)
During all of this, Darhk is experiencing life in prison. He meets with Malcolm Merlyn, who claims Darhk's people are moving forward without him and that they want him right where he is: in prison. (Darhk is not happy about this, and I honestly hope these two fight. Pleeaase.) Later, Darhk deals with a few thugs who corner him and beat him up. In return, when the men come back to give him a second round, he blackmails one of the thugs to kill the other two. (I'm still not sure what that was all about except maybe Darhk is trying to pull a Wilson Fisk by taking over the jail hierarchy.) Last, we see Merlyn discussing Darhk business with someone in a fancy, dark car. (Seriously though, why do bad guys always ride around in fancy, black cars? Why?!) This "someone" is Andy Diggle. (Duh-duh-DUN!)
Merlyn: He said you were his Ace-in-a-Hole. Is that what you'd like me to call you, or do you prefer Mr. Diggle?
On the Island--Oliver and Taiana confront Reiter. Taiana shoots him, but it has no effect on him. (How?!) Instead, he uses his "force powers" to toss Taiana to the side. Oliver fights him; it doesn't go well. Reiter grabs him by the neck and lifts him into the air. His eyes turn an odd glowing color as if he's trying to suck Oliver's life force out of him, but it doesn't work. He drops Oliver in surprise, and Oliver gets up and knocks him out. He runs to Taiana's side. She's okay but a big groggy. However, Reiter has disappeared back into the tunnels to search for the idol. Oliver says that this their best chance to return to the prison and set everybody free, even if it means killing Reiter's men. (Duh-duh-DUN!)
This episode was a little bit better than last week's. It was definitely more fun and on the sillier side of things. Oh, look, Arrow can be fun and full of jokes! I liked the scenes with Laurel and Oliver because Laurel is actually an intelligent, competent person who knows that is going on. Plus, they're finally giving her character development! Thea is also pretty good. Bee Chick is annoying and her "Bee Man" was disappointing. (But I guess with a name like that, how could you be cool?)
(This was my favorite joke of the episode.--source)
Felicity continues to annoy me. I didn't care for anything with Darhk in prison. (Except the possibility of him and Merlyn in a fight.) I don't understand what Andy is doing, and I'm kind of disappointed in him too. I hope he's a double-agent or something because I don't want the first half of the season to focus on how terrible of a person he is only to see him redeemed and fall back into "terrible person" category. (By the way, where did Diggle go during this episode?)
The Island story still stinks. So we already knew Reiter had magical voodoo powers (or whatever). I imagine he can do what Darhk can, which will connect the flash backs to present day events. Curtis, however, was a pleasant surprise. He's been around here and there before, but this is the first episode that was... his. I love his personality, his jokes, and his pop culture references. I'm sad he won't be joining Team Arrow (for now), but I hope he's still around for more fun! He is pretty...terrific!
(Seriously, he's terrific.--source)
What did you think of "Beacon of Hope"?
Arrow, DC comics, Jaime Heller, recaps, superheroes, the CW, TV shows
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Transfer News – Michael Smith
Transfers No Responses »
PompeyRama
Loan : Portsmouth – Northampton Town
Striker moves to League One side.
Michael Smith has joined Northampton loan for the rest of the season.
The 25-year-old striker has scored 10 goals in 37 appearances since arriving at Fratton Park in February 2016.
He netted a hat-trick in August’s EFL Trophy defeat at Yeovil and also struck this season in league games against Cheltenham, Luton and Stevenage.
Northampton won the League Two title last term and currently sit 16th in the third tier standings table ahead of a trip to Walsall on Saturday.
Posted by Dave W at 9:15 pm Tagged with: Michael Smith, Northampton Town FC, Portsmouth FC
Transfer News – Eoin Doyle
Loan : Preston NE – Portsmouth
Blues bring in striker on deadline day
Pompey have signed Eoin Doyle on loan from Championship side Preston North End for the remainder of the 2016/17 campaign.
The 28-year-old Irish striker will wear the number 17 shirt during his time at Fratton Park.
He played under Paul Cook at both Sligo and Chesterfield, and the Blues boss said: “Having worked with Eoin previously at two clubs, I am delighted with this signing.
“He knows what I want as a manager and I know that I can rely on him to give 100 per cent on the pitch.
“Eoin brings commitment and quality to our side and I’m sure he’ll be popular with all our supporters.
“We’re extremely pleased with his signing and are very grateful to Preston for loaning him to us.”
Doyle moved south of the border from Hibs to join Chesterfield in 2013 and also featured for Cardiff prior to signing for Preston last summer following a successful loan spell.
Posted by Dave W at 6:47 pm Tagged with: Eoin Doyle, Portsmouth FC, Preston North End FC
Transfer News – Ben Close
Ben Close
Loan : Portsmouth – Eastleigh
Midfielder joins National League side
Ben Close has joined Eastleigh on loan for the rest of the season.
The 20-year-old midfielder has made four appearances for Pompey this term, most recently skippering the side to an EFL Trophy victory over Bristol Rovers.
He also featured against Yeovil and Reading in the same competition, as well as in the FA Cup defeat to Wycombe.
Eastleigh – managed by ex-Blues midfielder Martin Allen – are currently sitting 13th in the National League table ahead of their next game at Guiseley
Posted by Dave W at 5:39 pm Tagged with: Ben Close, Eastleigh FC, Portsmouth FC
Transfer News – Adam Buxton
Adam Buxton
Mutual Consent
Defender departs Fratton Park
Pompey and Adam Buxton have mutually agreed to cancel the defender’s contract with Pompey.
The 24-year-old full-back made eight appearances for the Blues after signing from Accrington last summer.
He made his debut in an EFL Cup defeat at Coventry in August, also featuring in cup contests against Reading, Wycombe and Bristol Rovers.
Posted by Dave W at 5:28 pm Tagged with: Adam Buxton, Portsmouth FC
H (0-1) Exeter City
Portsmouth 0 1 Exeter City
Wheeler goal downs Blues
Pompey were unable to halt Exeter’s resurgence as they fell to defeat against their in-form visitors.
The goal that proved the difference between the sides from David Wheeler owed a lot of good fortune, with a ricochet aiding the Devon outfit.
But the Blues struggled to create many chances of note in their ultimately futile search for a leveller.
Paul Cook unsurprisingly stuck with the same side that beat Leyton Orient on the south coast a fortnight earlier.
That meant Conor Chaplin continued to lead the line alongside Michael Smith in a 4-4-2 formation.
Before kick-off there was a minute’s applause in memory of title-winning forward Lindy Delapenha, who sadly passed away earlier in the week.
There was little to excite another large Fratton crowd once the action got underway, with clear-cut chances at a premium throughout the first half.
The hosts dominated possession, although a well-marshalled defence meant they were not able to test Christy Pym in the Grecians goal.
Chaplin showed some neat invention to try to convert Carl Baker’s cross with a back-flick, but the ball flew wide.
David Forde flung himself to the left to deny Reuben Reid at the other end, then grabbed the loose ball at the second attempt.
Ollie Watkins was looking the most threatening player for the visitors and the sought-after striker drilled a low effort narrowly past the post on 16 minutes.
And Christian Burgess was enjoying a personal tussle with Reid, with the defender making a couple of key challenges inside the box to frustrate his opponent.
There was one more opportunity for Baker to break the deadlock before the break, but his effort was fumbled behind by Pym as a drab opening 45 minutes came to a close.
Pompey were first to threaten at the start of the second half, but a poor attempt from Kal Naismith flew over the bar.
The visitors went closer moments later and Enda Stevens had to turn Ryan Harley’s cross behind before Watkins could pounce.
And the Grecians did forge ahead on 57 minutes – although they were aided by a huge slice of fortune.
Reid burst down the centre and when he was dispossessed, the ball ricocheted off Danny Rose and straight into the path of Wheeler, who lashed it into the net.
Cook immediately responded with a double substitution, bringing on Jamal Lowe and Gary Roberts in place of Smith and Baker.
And Lowe tried to add a spark to the hosts’ performance with some tricky footwork, while his cross was headed wide by Matt Clarke.
It was Gareth Evans who forced Pym into action on 72 minutes, however, with a fierce left-footed effort that the keeper did well to smother.
But Exeter then came close to doubling their advantage when Troy Brown met a corner and glanced a header inches wide.
Pompey pushed forward in search of an equaliser and some fans thought a penalty had been awarded when Stevens went down under Jack Stacey’s challenge, although referee Dean Whitestone was instead pointing for a goal-kick.
There were also a host of late corners, which saw Forde come up to provide a different threat, but despite five minutes of added time and the Grecians starting to sit back, the hosts were unable to provide some late drama.
Pompey (4-4-2): Forde; Evans, Burgess, Clarke, Stevens; Baker (Roberts 59), Rose, Doyle (c), Naismith; Chaplin, Smith (Lowe 59)
Booked: Clarke, Forde
Subs not used: O’Brien, T.Davies, Linganzi, Bennett, Hunt
Exeter (4-4-2): Pym; Stacey, Brown, Moore-Taylor (c), Woodman; Wheeler, Taylor, James, Harley; Reid (McAlinden 81), Watkins
Goals: Wheeler 57
Booked: Reid
Subs not used: Olejnik, Sweeney, Tillson, Croll, Oakley, Simpson
Referee: Dean Whitestone
Posted by Dave W at 10:00 pm Tagged with: Exeter City FC, Portsmouth FC
RIP – John Hurt
Obituaries No Responses »
22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017
John Hurt, widely admired stage and screen actor, dies aged 77.
British actor became an overnight sensation after playing Quentin Crisp in the 1975 television film The Naked Civil Servant
Few British actors of recent years have been held in as much affection as Sir John Hurt, who has died aged 77. That affection is not just because of his unruly lifestyle – he was a hell-raising chum of Oliver Reed, Peter O’Toole and Richard Harris, and was married four times – or even his string of performances as damaged, frail or vulnerable characters, though that was certainly a factor. There was something about his innocence, open-heartedness and his beautiful speaking voice that made him instantly attractive.
As he aged, his face developed more creases and folds than the old map of the Indies, inviting comparisons with the famous “lived-in” faces of WH Auden and Samuel Beckett, in whose reminiscent Krapp’s Last Tape he gave a definitive solo performance towards the end of his career. One critic said he could pack a whole emotional universe into the twitch of an eyebrow, a sardonic slackening of the mouth. Hurt himself said: “What I am now, the man, the actor, is a blend of all that has happened.”
For theatregoers of my generation, his pulverising, hysterically funny performance as Malcolm Scrawdyke, leader of the Party of Dynamic Erection at a Yorkshire art college, in David Halliwell’s Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs, was a totemic performance of the mid-1960s; another was David Warner’s Hamlet, and both actors appeared in the 1974 film version of Little Malcolm. The play lasted only two weeks at the Garrick Theatre (I saw the final Saturday matinée), but Hurt’s performance was already a minor cult, and one collected by the Beatles and Laurence Olivier.
He became an overnight sensation with the public at large as Quentin Crisp – the self-confessed “stately homo of England” – in the 1975 television film The Naked Civil Servant, directed by Jack Gold, playing the outrageous, original and defiant aesthete whom Hurt had first encountered as a nude model in his painting classes at St Martin’s School of Art, before he trained as an actor.
Crisp called Hurt “my representative here on Earth”, ironically claiming a divinity at odds with his low-life louche-ness and poverty. But Hurt, a radiant vision of ginger quiffs and curls, with a voice kippered in gin and as studiously inflected as a deadpan mix of Noël Coward, Coral Browne and Julian Clary, in a way propelled Crisp to the stars, and certainly to his transatlantic fame, a journey summarised when Hurt recapped Crisp’s life in An Englishman in New York (2009), 10 years after his death.
Hurt said some people had advised him that playing Crisp would end his career. Instead, it made everything possible. Within five years he had appeared in four of the most extraordinary films of the late 1970s: Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979), the brilliantly acted sci-fi horror movie in which Hurt – from whose stomach the creature exploded – was the first victim; Alan Parker’s Midnight Express, for which he won his first Bafta award as a drug-addicted convict in a Turkish torture prison; Michael Cimino’s controversial western Heaven’s Gate (1980), now a cult classic in its fully restored format; and David Lynch’s The Elephant Man (1980), with Anthony Hopkins and Anne Bancroft.
In the latter, as John Merrick, the deformed circus attraction who becomes a celebrity in Victorian society and medicine, Hurt won a second Bafta award and Lynch’s opinion that he was “the greatest actor in the world”. He infused a hideous outer appearance – there were 27 moving pieces in his face mask; he spent nine hours a day in make-up – with a deeply moving, humane quality. He followed up with a small role – Jesus – in Mel Brooks’s History of the World: Part 1 (1981), the movie where the waiter at the Last Supper says, “Are you all together, or is it separate cheques?”
Hurt was an actor freed of all convention in his choice of roles, and he lived his life accordingly. Born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, he was the youngest of three children of a Church of England vicar and mathematician, the Reverend Arnould Herbert Hurt, and his wife, Phyllis (née Massey), an engineer with an enthusiasm for amateur dramatics.
After a miserable schooling at St Michael’s in Sevenoaks, Kent (where he said he was sexually abused), and the Lincoln grammar school (where he played Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest), he rebelled as an art student, first at the Grimsby art school where, in 1959, he won a scholarship to St Martin’s, before training at Rada for two years in 1960.
He made a stage debut that same year with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Arts, playing a semi-psychotic teenage thug in Fred Watson’s Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger and then joined the cast of Arnold Wesker’s national service play, Chips With Everything, at the Vaudeville. Still at the Arts, he was Len in Harold Pinter’s The Dwarfs (1963) before playing the title role in John Wilson’s Hamp (1964) at the Edinburgh Festival, where critic Caryl Brahms noted his unusual ability and “blessed quality of simplicity”.
This was a more relaxed, free-spirited time in the theatre. Hurt recalled rehearsing with Pinter when silver salvers stacked with gins and tonics, ice and lemon, would arrive at 11.30 each morning as part of the stage management routine. On receiving a rude notice from the distinguished Daily Mail critic Peter Lewis, he wrote, “Dear Mr Lewis, Whooooops! Yours sincerely, John Hurt” and received the reply, “Dear Mr Hurt, thank you for short but tedious letter. Yours sincerely, Peter Lewis.”
After Little Malcolm, he played leading roles with the RSC at the Aldwych – notably in David Mercer’s Belcher’s Luck (1966) and as the madcap dadaist Tristan Tzara in Tom Stoppard’s Travesties (1974) – as well as Octavius in Shaw’s Man and Superman in Dublin in 1969 and an important 1972 revival of Pinter’s The Caretaker at the Mermaid. But his stage work over the next 10 years was virtually non-existent as he followed The Naked Civil Servant with another pyrotechnical television performance as Caligula in I, Claudius; Raskolnikov in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and the Fool to Olivier’s King Lear in Michael Elliott’s 1983 television film.
His first big movie had been Fred Zinnemann’s A Man for All Seasons (1966) with Paul Scofield (Hurt played Richard Rich) but his first big screen performance was an unforgettable Timothy Evans, the innocent framed victim in Richard Fleischer’s 10 Rillington Place (1970), with Richard Attenborough as the sinister landlord and killer John Christie. He claimed to have made 150 movies and persisted in playing those he called “the unloved … people like us, the inside-out people, who live their lives as an experiment, not as a formula”. Even his Ben Gunn-like professor in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) fitted into this category, though not as resoundingly, perhaps, as his quivering Winston Smith in Michael Radford’s terrific Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984); or as a prissy weakling, Stephen Ward, in Michael Caton-Jones’s Scandal (1989) about the Profumo affair; or again as the lonely writer Giles De’Ath in Richard Kwietniowski’s Love and Death on Long Island.
His later, sporadic theatre performances included a wonderful Trigorin in Chekhov’s The Seagull at the Lyric, Hammersmith, in 1985 (with Natasha Richardson as Nina); Turgenev’s incandescent idler Rakitin in a 1994 West End production by Bill Bryden of A Month in the Country, playing a superb duet with Helen Mirren’s Natalya Petrovna; and another memorable match with Penelope Wilton in Brian Friel’s exquisite 70-minute doodle Afterplay (2002), in which two lonely Chekhov characters – Andrei from Three Sisters, Sonya from Uncle Vanya – find mutual consolation in a Moscow café in the 1920s. The play originated, like his Krapp, at the Gate Theatre in Dublin.
His last screen work included, in the Harry Potter franchise, the first, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001), and last two, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts One and Two (2010, 2011), as the kindly wand-maker Mr Ollivander; Roland Joffé’s 1960s remake of Brighton Rock (2010); and the 50th anniversary television edition of Dr Who (2013), playing a forgotten incarnation of the title character.
Because of his distinctive, virtuosic vocal attributes – was that what a brandy-injected fruitcake sounds like, or peanut butter spread thickly with a serrated knife? – he was always in demand for voiceover gigs in animated movies: the heroic rabbit leader, Hazel, in Watership Down (1978), Aragorn/Strider in Lord of the Rings (1978) and the Narrator in Lars von Trier’s Dogville (2004). In 2015 he took the Peter O’Toole stage role in Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell for BBC Radio 4. He had foresworn alcohol for a few years – not for health reasons, he said, but because he was bored with it.
Hurt’s sister was a teacher in Australia, his brother a convert to Roman Catholicism and a monk and writer. After his first short marriage to the actor Annette Robinson (1960, divorced 1962) he lived for 15 years in London with the French model Marie-Lise Volpeliere Pierrot. She was killed in a riding accident in 1983. In 1984 he married, secondly, a Texan, Donna Peacock (divorced in 1990), living with her for a time in Nairobi until the relationship came under strain from his drinking and her dalliance with a gardener. With his third wife, Jo Dalton (married in 1990, divorced 1995), he had two sons, Nicolas and Alexander (“Sasha”), who survive him, as does his fourth wife, the actor and producer Anwen Rees-Myers, whom he married in 2005 and with whom he lived in Cromer, Norfolk. Hurt was made CBE in 2004, given a Bafta lifetime achievement award in 2012 and knighted in the New Year’s honours list of 2015.
Obituries
Posted by Dave W at 10:00 pm Tagged with: Doctor Who, John Hurt, The Doctor
Technolust
Zones 1 and 2 now wired up and including the new patchbays and effects units
Not Crawley Away
Blog Entry No Responses »
Well the plan for a lads day in Crawley didn’t come off due to a frozen pitch. Quite why it was called off at 9am when it’s only an hours travel time is confusing but that’s life.
So we had breakfast and then went to watch the early game, everything is a bit hazy after that. I remember lots of drinks, pool, darts and a few rounds of spoof. I also remember arriving in Emsworth and then Barnham which makes no sense. Also i got kebab somewhere.
I guess that makes it a good day out, Sunday is not such fun though
Posted by Dave W at 12:12 pm Tagged with: Drunk
Transfer News – Nicke Kabamba
Nicke Kabamba
Transfer : Hampton & Richmond Borough – Portsmouth
Pompey have signed striker Nicke Kabamba from Hampton & Richmond for an undisclosed fee
The 23-year-old – who has netted 16 National League South goals this season – has penned an 18-month deal with the Blues, with the club holding an option for a further year.
Kabamba has previously turned out for Burnham and Hemel Hempstead, and scored at Bath in his last appearance for Hampton & Richmond.
Posted by Dave W at 6:18 pm Tagged with: Hampton & Richmond Borough FC, Nicke Kabamba, Portsmouth FC
Music Video No Responses »
2016 – This Is Acting
Posted by Dave W at 3:29 pm Tagged with: Maddie Ziegler, Sia, The Greatest, This Is Acting
H (2-1) Leyton Orient
Portsmouth 2 1 Leyton Orient
Chaplin double secures win.
Conor Chaplin bagged a brace as Pompey got their promotion challenge back on track by beating Leyton Orient.
It was a display of almost total dominance by the Blues and the margin of victory probably should have been greater.
Chaplin saw a penalty saved, but quickly put that out of his mind to open the scoring, only for Gavin Massey to grab an impressive leveller.
There was to be no shock outcome, however, as Chaplin grabbed his second of the afternoon – and seventh of the season – early in the second half.
Paul Cook made one change from the side that were beaten at table-topping Doncaster nine days earlier.
That saw Chaplin replace Kyle Bennett, as the hosts switched to a more traditional 4-4-2 system.
There were plenty of familiar faces in the opposition line-up, with former Blues Alex Cisak, Nigel Atangana and Paul McCallum all selected.
Both sets of fans held a minute’s applause before kick-off in memory of former Pompey and Orient defender Paul Went, as well as ex-England boss Graham Taylor.
On the pitch it was a totally dominant first half display from the hosts, who set about attacking their struggling opponents straight from kick-off.
Chaplin could not quite get a touch to Kal Naismith’s clever free-kick after nipping in between a couple of defenders.
Tom Parkes then made a mess of trying to clear Carl Baker’s cross and Cisak had to intervene to stop the ball dipping under the crossbar.
Naismith soon played a neat one-two with Michael Smith and burst into the box, only to then fire over the top.
The hosts had an even better chance to break the deadlock on 22 minutes when Sammy Moore tripped Enda Stevens just inside the box.
Referee Brett Hutxtable pointed to the spot, but Cisak guessed the right way to palm Chaplin’s shot wide – the fifth penalty that Pompey have missed this season.
It was only a brief respite for the beleaguered visitors, however, as CHAPLIN made amends just seconds later by arriving at the far post to turn home Baker’s low cross.
The Blues immediately set about trying to add to their lead and Baker sent an effort curling narrowly past the post.
And Smith was unlucky not to add his name to the scoresheet when he met Naismith’s corner, only to see his header cleared from the line by Parkes.
David Forde might as well have been sat in the Fratton End such was Pompey’s dominance in the early stages.
But his first involvement was to pick the ball out of the net, as Orient levelled with their maiden chance on 38 minutes.
Not that the keeper could have done much to stop a stunning strike from Massey that flew into the top corner.
And the action was soon back down the other end of the pitch, with Stevens’ cut-back going behind three of his waiting team-mates in the box.
There was still time for one more chance in stoppage-time, with Teddy Mezague making a brilliant block to deny Baker before Naismith drove the loose ball wide.
There was a surprise switch at the start of the second half, with Jamal Lowe introduced in place of Gareth Evans – who had picked up an injury before the break – to make his Blues debut.
That saw Baker drop to right-back, but it did not stop his attacking intent as he soon provided the assist for a second Pompey goal.
It was a fine cross in from the right and CHAPLIN showed his usual poaching instincts to arrive and head the hosts back into the lead.
There might have been another soon after when Cisak fumbled Stevens’ low cross, but the keeper grabbed the loose ball before Smith could pounce.
Orient were unsurprisingly showing more ambition than prior to the interval, but it was still the Blues controlling possession as the half progressed.
Naismith, in particular, was looking full of confidence, showcasing some silky skills to jink his way past challenges.
But there was almost a disaster for Pompey on 66 minutes when Christian Burgess did not spot Forde coming to collect the ball and headed narrowly past his own post.
It was soon back to normal, though, and only a slight deflection prevented Smith from turning in Naismith’s free-kick.
Amine Linganzi replaced the Scottish winger on 76 minutes, as Cook looked to inject more steel into the midfield.
But that did not mean the Blues were looking to sit on their lead and a sliding Smith was agonisingly close to reaching Chaplin’s centre.
Stevens then surged into the box from wide on the left and sent a powerful effort fizzing past the post.
Chaplin received a standing ovation as he left the pitch to be replaced by Bennett for the closing stages.
And it was a deserved reception for the diminutive striker, as Pompey saw out the final few minutes to secure a valuable victory.
Pompey (4-4-2): Forde; Evans (Lowe 46), Burgess, Clarke, Stevens; Baker, Rose, Doyle (c), Naismith (Linganzi 76); Smith, Chaplin (Bennett 87)
Goals: Chaplin 23
Booked: Doyle
Subs not used: O’Brien, T.Davies, Roberts, Hunt
Leyton Orient (5-1-2-1-1): Cisak; Judd, Hunt (c), Mezague, Parkes, Semedo (Palmer 89); Moore (Bowery 69); Atangana, Collins; Massey; McCallum
Goals: Massey 38
Booked: Atangana
Subs not used: Sargeant, Pollock, Kennedy, Nnomo, Koroma
Referee: Brett Huxtable
Posted by Dave W at 11:00 pm Tagged with: Conor Chaplin, Leyton Orient FC, Portsmouth FC
Match Report No Responses »
Doncaster Rovers 3 1 Portsmouth
Blues lose at league leaders.
Pompey missed out on the chance to close in on the automatic promotion places with a 3-1 defeat at Doncaster.
Former Fratton loanee John Marquis gave the hosts an early lead, only for Kal Naismith to level late in the first half.
But the Blues failed to build on that after the break, with Tommy Rowe rocketing Rovers back ahead before Marquis wrapped things up.
Paul Cook stuck with the same side that beat Luton at Fratton Park on Bank Holiday Monday.
That meant an attacking midfield trio of Carl Baker, Naismith and Kyle Bennett were deployed behind lone frontman Michael Smith.
Pompey started poorly against the league leaders and looked particularly susceptible on the counter-attack.
And it came as no surprise when Doncaster broke the deadlock after just five minutes, with James Coppinger’s delivery flicked on by Matty Blair for Marquis to head home.
Rovers immediately set about trying to build on their lead and David Forde denied Conor Grant before another dangerous Coppinger cross had to be hooked clear by Michael Doyle.
But the Blues almost levelled with their first decent chance soon after, as keeper Marko Marosi only just managed to keep out Matt Clarke’s header from a Baker corner.
The visitors grew stronger as the half progressed, but Doncaster still looked threatening on the break and one ended with Niall Mason firing into the side netting.
Marquis was then inches away from extending their advantage, meeting Craig Alcock’s cross, but seeing his header hit the woodwork.
A couple of Naismith corners caused problems at the other end of the pitch, while Marosi did well to gobble up Enda Stevens’ low cross before Smith could pounce.
Pompey were starting to pile on some pressure, however, and they deservedly found themselves back on level terms just before the break.
Former Rovers winger Bennett – who was roundly booed by the home support throughout – intercepted the ball and threaded a neat pass to NAISMITH, who coolly slid the ball past Marosi.
Doncaster Rovers 1
Both sides had looked capable of adding more goals before the interval, but the second half took longer to provide any inspiration.
An Evans shot from long-range that forced Marosi down to his left was as close as either side came in the opening stages.
But Doncaster suddenly brought the game back to life by restoring their advantage on 58 minutes.
It was a fine effort from Rowe, who collected a pass from Coppinger and beat Evans before rifling a fierce shot into the roof of the net.
Cook soon responded by making his first substitution, with Milan Lalkovic given an opportunity to impress in place of Baker.
And Bennett then made way for Gary Roberts, as Pompey tried to add fresh attacking impetus into their side.
But it was Rovers who looked the more dangerous going forward and they extended their lead on 71 minutes.
It was Marquis who found the target once again after a cross from Rowe was deflected kindly into his path.
Cook made one final throw of the dice soon after, with Naismith making way so Conor Chaplin could partner Smith up front.
It was Lalkovic who almost reduced the deficit, however, meeting Evans’ excellent cross with a close-range header that Marosi dived across goal to keep out.
But the keeper almost cost his side moments later when he failed to hold a cross under pressure from Smith.
The loose ball fell to Chaplin, who did not have long to react, and his effort was hacked clear by a well-placed Alcock.
An injury to Marosi – which saw the keeper stretchered off – meant there were seven minutes of injury-time.
But that failed to provide the inspiration for an unlikely comeback as Doncaster saw out the final moments to increase their title hopes.
Doncaster (4-3-2-1): Marosi (Etheridge 86); Alcock, Baudry, Butler, Mason; Blair (Williams 55), Houghton, Grant; Coppinger (c) (Middleton 67), Rowe; Marquis
Goals: Marquis 5, 71, Rowe 58
Booked: Alcock
Subs not used: Wright, Keegan, Beestin, May
Pompey (4-2-3-1): Forde; Evans, Burgess, Clarke, Stevens; Rose, Doyle (c); Baker (Lalkovic 62), Naismith (Chaplin 75), Bennett (Roberts 67); Smith
Goals: Naismith 41
Booked: Burgess, Evans, Doyle
Subs not used: O’Brien, Whatmough, Linganzi, Hunt
Referee: Jeremy Simpson
Posted by Dave W at 11:00 pm Tagged with: Doncaster Rovers FC, Kal Naismith, Portsmouth FC
Portsmouth 1 0 Luton Town
Burgess header secures victory.
Pompey got 2017 off to a great start by beating Luton to close the gap on the automatic promotion places.
Christian Burgess grabbed the only goal of the game by heading home from a first half free-kick.
The hosts dominated before the break, but there were a few nervy moments after it and Gary Roberts missed a penalty before the victory could finally be celebrated.
Paul Cook made one change from the side that drew at a foggy Yeovil in the final game of last year.
Noel Hunt dropped to the bench to make way for Kyle Bennett, as the Blues switched back to a more familiar 4-2-3-1 system.
The visitors’ line-up suggested they would play with more ambition than most sides who visit Fratton Park.
But it was the Blues who made the brighter start, without really testing Christian Walton in the Hatters goal.
There was then a lengthy break in play when Cameron McGeehan went down injured following a challenge with Michael Doyle and had to be stretchered from the pitch.
The game took a while to gather pace once it restarted, but Pompey soon started to impose themselves.
Gareth Evans sent a snap-shot narrowly over the bar from 30 yards, while an unmarked Carl Baker then completely mis-hit his effort from inside the box.
Bennett was next to go close when he collected a pass from Enda Stevens and sent a low drive inches past the post.
But the Blues did break the deadlock on 31 minutes after Bennett had been fouled by Stephen O’Donnell wide on the left.
Baker stepped up to send a sumptuous delivery into the box, where BURGESS rose highest to send a thumping header into the net.
He then made an important intervention at the other end of the pitch to dispossess Danny Hylton inside the area.
But most of the action was still taking place in and around the Luton box, with Scott Cuthbert forced to make a vital challenge when Evans collected Baker’s incisive pass.
And Burgess almost doubled the advantage just before the break, only to divert Kal Naismith’s corner wide.
Luton Town 0
Pompey started the second half as they had finished the first – and an unmarked Evans should really have done better than guiding Baker’s free-kick straight at Walton.
Naismith then delivered a dangerous cross that was just behind the onrushing Michael Smith, as the Blues looked to make their pressure count.
But Luton almost levelled when Burgess was caught in possession seconds later. Hylton stole the ball and neatly chipped David Forde, but it bounced back off the crossbar.
The visitors were certainly looking more of a threat since the interval and Forde made a comfortable stop to deny Jonathan Smith before a free-kick was nervously dealt with by Stevens.
And it was Smith who should have at least tested Forde when Hylton ran along the byline and teed-up him up, only for the midfielder to fire wide from a few yards out.
Cook made his first substitution on 68 minutes, with a refreshed Roberts coming on for Bennett.
It was a nervy period for Pompey and Forde had to palm the ball clear when James Justin took advantage of Evans’ slip to fire in a shot.
The visitors were being hampered by an injury to Hylton, however. Boss Nathan Jones had already made all his changes, so the striker was forced to carry on, cutting a forlorn figure as he hobbled around the pitch.
Pompey tried to make the most of that and one attack looked particularly promising on 75 minutes.
They broke quickly up the pitch, but Smith picked the ball up when he probably should have left it for Naismith and when his path was blocked, Baker fired high over the bar.
There was certainly a feeling of tension around Fratton Park as the clock ticked down towards a much-needed home triumph.
Roberts then missed a chance to let everyone breathe out when he fired over from the spot after Noel Hunt had been tripped in the box by Olly Lee in stoppage-time.
But the Blues saw out the final few moments to ensure there was plenty of New Year cheer on the south coast.
Pompey (4-2-3-1): Forde; Evans, Burgess, Clarke, Stevens; Rose (Linganzi 84), Doyle (c); Baker (Hunt 80), Naismith, Bennett (Roberts 68); Smith
Goals: Burgess 31
Booked: Forde, Hunt
Subs not used: O’Brien, Whatmough, Lalkovic, Chaplin
Luton (4-1-2-1-2): Walton; O’Donnell, Cuthbert (c), Mullins, Justin; Rea; Gilliead (Lee 54), Smith; McGeehan (Mpanzu 20); Cook (Vassell 54), Hylton
Booked: McGeehan, Smith, Vassell, Mpanzu
Subs not used: King, Senior, Marriott, McQuoid
Referee: Tim Robinson
Posted by Dave W at 10:00 pm Tagged with: Christian Burgess, Luton Town FC, Portsmouth FC
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Check it again in about 1088 days and it should be fixed.
Sir Edward Lewkenor1
Sir Edward Lewkenor is the son of Sir Edward Lewknor and Mary Neville. He married Elizabeth Russell, daughter of Sir William Russell, 1st Bt. and Elizabeth Gerard.
He lived at Denham, Suffolk, England.1
Child of Sir Edward Lewkenor and Elizabeth Russell
Mary Lewkenor1
Hon. Roger Townshend1
M, #715872, d. 22 May 1709
Last Edited=7 Feb 2019
Hon. Roger Townshend was the son of Horatio Townshend, 1st Viscount Townshend of Raynham and Mary Ashe.1 He died on 22 May 1709, unmarried.1
He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Norfolk.1 He held the office of Member of Parliament (M.P.) for Yarmouth.1
Shenan Louise Allison Cochrane1
F, #715873, b. 25 October 1965
Shenan Louise Allison Cochrane was born on 25 October 1965.1 She is the daughter of Basil Thomas Dundonald Cochrane and Daphne Maureen Joyce Baxter.1 She married Christopher John Little in 1998.1 She and Christopher John Little were divorced in 2004.1
Child of Shenan Louise Allison Cochrane
Charmaine Daphne Jocelyn Cochrane1 b. 17 Jun 1992
Child of Shenan Louise Allison Cochrane and Christopher John Little
James Christopher Dundonald Little1 b. 1 Feb 1998
[S8711] Shenan Cochrane, "re: Cochrane Family," e-mail message to Darryl Roger LUNDY (101053), 7 Feb 2019. Hereinafter cited as "re: Cochrane Family."
Alice Starkie1
Alice Starkie is the daughter of John Starkie.2 She married Hon. Horatio Townshend, son of Horatio Townshend, 1st Viscount Townshend of Raynham and Mary Ashe, before 1720.1
From before 1720, her married name became Townshend.1
Child of Alice Starkie and Hon. Horatio Townshend
Letitia Townshend1
[S6289] The History of Parliament Online, online http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org. Hereinafter cited as History of Parliament.
Hon. Georgiana Townshend1
F, #715875, b. 1 June 1761, d. 12 September 1835
Hon. Georgiana Townshend was born on 1 June 1761.1 She was the daughter of Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney of St. Leonards and Elizabeth Powys.1 She died on 12 September 1835 at age 74, unmarried.1
She was State Housekeeper of Windsor Castle.1
Caroline Townshend1
Caroline Townshend was the daughter of Charles Townshend, 1st Baron Bayning of Foxley and Annabella Powlett Smyth.1 She died, unmarried.1
Henrietta Townshend1
Henrietta Townshend was the daughter of Charles Townshend, 1st Baron Bayning of Foxley and Annabella Powlett Smyth.1 She died, unmarried.1
Amelia Townshend1
Amelia Townshend was the daughter of Charles Townshend, 1st Baron Bayning of Foxley and Annabella Powlett Smyth.1 She died, unmarried.1
Annabella Townshend1
Annabella Townshend was the daughter of Charles Townshend, 1st Baron Bayning of Foxley and Annabella Powlett Smyth.1 She died, unmarried.1
Louisa Townshend1
Louisa Townshend was the daughter of Charles Townshend, 1st Baron Bayning of Foxley and Annabella Powlett Smyth.1 She died, unmarried.1
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The genus Anthoxanthum is in the family Poaceae in the major group Angiosperms (Flowering plants).
Statistics are at the end of the page.
Species in Anthoxanthum
See "Status", "Confidence level", "Source" for definitions.
Confidence level
Date supplied
Infra. rec.
Anthoxanthum aethiopicum I.Hedberg Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum amarum Brot. Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum aristatum Boiss. Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23 1
Anthoxanthum borii S.K.Jain & Pal Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum dregeanum (Trin.) Stapf Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum ecklonii (Nees ex Trin.) Stapf Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum gracile Biv. Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum hookeri (Griseb.) Rendle Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum horsfieldii (Benn.) Reeder Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23 5
Anthoxanthum japonicum (Maxim.) Hack. ex Matsumura Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum madagascariense Stapf Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum nivale K.Schum. Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum odoratum L. Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23 2
Anthoxanthum ovatum Lag. Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum pallidum (Hand.-Mazz.) Tzvelev Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum sikkimense (Maxim.) Ohwi Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
Anthoxanthum tongo (Trin.) Stapf Accepted WCSP 2012-03-23
The Plant List includes 78 scientific plant names of species rank for the genus Anthoxanthum. Of these 17 are accepted species names.
The Plant List includes a further 71 scientific plant names of infraspecific rank for the genus Anthoxanthum. We do not intend The Plant List to be complete for names of infraspecific rank. These are primarily included because names of species rank are synonyms of accepted infraspecific names.
The status of the 78 species names for the genus Anthoxanthum recorded in The Plant List , are as follows:
◕ Accepted 17 21.8%
◕ Synonym 61 78.2%
◕ Unplaced 0 0%
◕ Unassessed 0 0%
The status of the 149 names (including infraspecific names) for the genus Anthoxanthum recorded in The Plant List , are as follows:
◕ Synonym 122 81.9%
◕ Unassessed 2 1.3%
Of the species names,
6 are recorded as invalid
4 are recorded as illegitimate
The confidence with which the status of the 78 species names recorded in The Plant List for the genus Anthoxanthum, are assigned as follows:
Confidence level
Unplaced
Unassessed
High confidence 17 59 0 0 76 97.4%
Medium confidence 0 2 0 0 2 2.6%
Low confidence 0 0 0 0 0 0%
The source of the species name records found in The Plant List for the genus Anthoxanthum is as follows:
Source of record
Misapplied
Tropicos 0 2 0 0 0 2 2.6%
WCSP 17 59 0 0 0 76 97.4%
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From Oreos To Nutella — The Latest 3D Printed Foods, All 100% Edible
While it may sound futuristic, 3D printed foods are here.
A lot of the work is still in its early stages, with researchers at Cornell and MIT developing 3D printers made specifically for edible products. But there are also some commercial projects underway. Barilla, Hershey, and Mondelez International are just a few of the consumer food brands exploring the potential of 3D printing.
Check out these 3D printed Oreos, customized via Twitter suggestions.
At this year's SXSW, Mondelez International 3D printed custom Oreos based on what was trending on Twitter with the hashtag #eatthetweet. SXSW attendees could choose from 12 flavors includingbanana, mint, birthday cake, and lime, and then select either a chocolate or vanilla base for the cookie. The Oreo would then be printed in two minutes.
Apparently the cookies tasted like regular Oreos, but they fell apart a bit too easily.
The 3D printing machine was created by MAYA Design using aDelta Bot 3D printer, but at this point it will probably still just be a fun marketing stunt as opposed to something you'd see in a grocery store.
Structur3D Printing printed up some cool Nutella creations.
3D printing startup Structur3D created a 3D printer add-on called Discov3ry, which can create a paste from all sorts of materials, includingplastic, silicone, wood filler, and yes, Nutella.
At this past year's Maker Faire show, Structur3D demonstrated how they could print the Maker Faire logo with Nutella. Besides the Nutella creations, the add-on can also be used to print intricate cake decorations or complex designs using icing sugar.
The Discov3ry is available for preorder for $349, but you'll also need to have a 3D printer that is compatible with the add-on. The device is set to ship in December.
3D Systems is working on releasing a kitchen-ready printer that would let you print out elaborate confections.
In January, 3D Systems announced that it was getting ready to sell ChefJet, kitchen-ready 3D printers to create edible products.
The printer was showcased at CES and is targeting the average consumer, who probably doesn't have much experience with 3D printing. A complimentary' Digital Cookbook' will let users easily select a design to print out in a variety of materials, includingchocolate, vanilla, mint, sour apple, cherry, and watermelon.
They're aiming to launch two printers by the end of 2014 with the monochrome version in thesub-$5,000 price range and thefull-color, larger printer in thesub-$10,000 price range.
Barilla is developing a 3D pasta printer.
Barilla, the world's top pasta seller, is working on a 3D pasta printer for restaurants.
The machine would be able to print 15-20 pieces every two minutes, getting a pasta dish to a diner in just a few minutes. It would also allow for custom-designed pasta shapes.
Instead of flour and egg, the restaurants would need to feedBarilla pasta cartridges into the printer.
The machine is being developed with a Dutch tech company calledTNO Eindhoven. They've been tested in a few restaurantsin Eindhoven, but have yet to be mass-produced.
NASA built a machine that can print pizza.
Last year, NASA contracted material engineer Arjan Contractor to build a 3D food printer. The printer now exists andcan print edible pizza.
The machine prints out the pizza in layers, topping the dough with ketchup and cream cheese. It then is cooked by a heated surface. Definitely still needs work, but at least it's edible.
NASA revealed the pizza at SXSW, admitting that they haven't quite yet perfected the 3D printed pizza.
Choc Edge 3D prints chocolate.
Choc Edge's 3D printer prints out chocolate in layers toform a solid 3D chocolate product based on a computer design.
TheChoc Creator V1 is available for£ 2,888 (about $4700), and the newest version is available for pound; 3,888 (about $6300). You can also buy all the materials from their site. Or you can just order custom-made chocolates that they'll 3D print for you.
Hershey is also getting in on 3D printed chocolate, having partnered with3D Systems in January, but it has yet to unveil any actual products.
Natural Machine's Foodini lets you print your own ravioli.
Natural Machine developed the Foodini printer to help people cook with fresh and healthier ingredients. You just put in the prepared materials in capsules, select what you want to come out (say, ravioli) and the printer does all the work. You’ll still have to actually put it in an oven, though.
The Foodini is not yet available to the public. Original plans called for it to come out this year andcost around $1,300, according to the New York Daily News.
Cornell has developed a 3D food printer that can serve up some bizarre creations.
Cornell Creative Machines Labis developing a 3D printer that can createtiny space shuttle-shaped scallop nuggets, hamburgers with embedded layers of mustard and ketchup, and cake that when cut reveals a secret message.The printer uses edible inks and digital blueprints and works with cartridges to print out the product.
They're working to both expand the artistic capabilities in food creation as well as increase the scale of culinary production. This is still in development and has yet to shift over to commercial applications, but it could signal some really interesting forms of food coming our way.
PancakeBot is making Mickey Mouse pancakes look like child's play.
Norweigian Miguel Valenzuela and his wife Runi started PancakeBot in 2010 at their two daughters' request. They debuted the actual pancake printers at Maker Faire and are now focusing on inspiring kids to be creative and have fun with their food.
They are not selling the printers, but they have provided instructions to build your own out of legos.
3D printing isn't just affecting the food industry;
3D Printed Dresses Are Radically Changing The Meaning Of Haute Couture».
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Investigation underway after 2 planes nearly collide on runway at JFK Airport
JAMAICA, Queens -- An investigation is underway at JFK Airport in New York after two planes nearly collided on the runway.
The FAA said the incident happened when Delta flight 300 had just landed and was taxiing to the gate on Saturday.
In the meantime, Delta flight 253 was starting to take off when Delta flight 300 started to cross onto the same runway -- blocking the path.
The departing flight had to bail out of its takeoff to avoid a potential collision.
The pilot apparently confused the air traffic controller's instructions about when to cross.
The FAA says situations like these are rare -- in all of 2019, there were more than 1,700 "runway incursions," but only two of them were serious incidents involving commercial planes.
"Everybody's been working very, very hard to prevent them. But we're dealing with human beings and humans make errors despite the best of our technology," aviation expert John Nance said.
The FAA says it is investigating what went wrong at JFK.
traveljamaicaqueensnew york cityu.s. & worldjfk international airportdelta
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Determine USB (port, connector) version on Mac and Windows
, by david
Nowadays, USB Type-C ports and connectors are becoming common across a wide range of electronic devices, peripherals, and accessories; although USB Type-A still claims a major share in this category.
Particularly, many desktops and laptop manufacturers primarily provide USB Type-A connections in many parts of the world.
1 USB versions and data transfer speeds
2 Identify the USB version by color code
3 Identify the USB version from System Report or Device Manager
3.1 Determine USB version on Mac
3.2 Determine USB version on Windows
USB versions and data transfer speeds
Now, USB has been evolved over several generations — starting with version 1.0 to (as of this writing) version 3.2. The major differentiating factor between the different USB versions, apart from socket design and power I/O, is the rate of data transfer. Going by the trend, a higher version number generally implies a higher rate of data transfer.
USB 1.0: Data Rate — Up to 187.5 kB/s (Low Speed); 1.5 MB/s (Full Speed)
USB 2.0: Data Rate — Up to 60 MB/s
USB 3.0: Data Rate — Up to 625 MB/s (SuperSpeed)
USB 3.1, 3.2: Data Rate — Up to 1.25 GB/s; 2.5 GB/s (SuperSpeed+)
If you have a USB Type-C device, it fully supports the USB 3.1 & 3.2 specifications, which provides one of the fastest modes of data transfer, enabling a host of functionalities, including Gigabit Ethernet, 4K screen mirroring and more.
But external storage devices, like flash drives or external hard disks, often come with a regular Type-A connection. And to ensure that you get high-speed data transfers from your USB storage, not only do you need a USB 3.x compatible device, the USB host controller installed on your computer must be 3.x as well.
USB Type-A is usually cross-compatible; if a USB 2.0 device is plugged into a USB 3.x port (or vice versa), the connection will automatically be downgraded to USB 2.0. So, the hardware limitations of one component (host or device) also limit the data transfer speed of the other.
In this article, we’ll help you to identify the version of USB supported by your host controller (on your computer) as well as that of the USB accessory (flash drive, data transfer cable, etc.) you’re trying to connect.
Identify the USB version by color code
USB Type-A host controllers and devices usually follow a certain color coding on their connectors to indicate the USB version they support. The most common color indicators for USB devices are as follows.
Blue USB Connector — USB 3.x
Most USB devices that we see these days would have a blue colored plastic body on the connector face. The color indicates that the device is USB 3.x compatible. These are one of the fastest USB devices available today, offering data transfer speeds between 5 – 20 Gbps.
Red or Yellow USB Connector — Sleep & Charge
Some USB devices may come with a red or yellow plastic body on the connector face. These connectors do not indicate any particular USB specification, but rather point towards a specific feature.
Red or yellow USB connectors always supply power, regardless of whether the host is inactive, standby or sleep mode. These connectors are usually found in laptops and desktop computers and are useful for charging external USB devices, such as smartphones.
White or Black USB Connector — Older Generation USB
During earlier generations of USB devices, a white USB connector would signify a USB 1.x compatible device, while a black connector would signify a USB 2.0 device. In modern times, though, this color coding seems to be no longer distinctively followed.
For instance, nowadays, you could easily come across USB devices that are black or white in color, but in fact be fully compatible with USB 3.x. The only color codings that seem to hold true consistently are those for the Blue and Red/Yellow indicators.
Thus, we need a different way to distinctively identify the different generations of USB devices, and one sure-shot way of doing so is to plug the device into a computer and let the operating system reveal it for you.
Identify the USB version from System Report or Device Manager
You may also identify the USB version supported by the USB host controller on your computer or the device, by looking at the System Information provided by your computer’s operating system.
Here’s how to find out the USB version supported by your USB controller and/or the device.
Determine USB version on Mac
Click on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the screen.
Go to About This Mac and click on System Report in the Overview tab.
In the System Report screen, scroll and click on USB under Hardware section on the left pane.
The USB Device Tree on the top will show all the different USB Controllers available on the Mac.
Click on a device under one of the USB controllers to know more about its specifications in the bottom part of the window.
Among the specifications, you should find the Speed attribute, which would indicate the USB version your device is currently operating on (Up to 480 Mbps for USB 2.0, up to 5 Gbps for USB 3.0 and so on).
Determine USB version on Windows
Windows detects most USB devices as Generic by default in Device Manager. As such, it’s difficult to determine the specific USB version and its transfer speed from Device Manager, or any other tool that comes packaged with Windows out of the box.
Microsoft does, however, ship a tool called USBView along with the Windows SDK that’s quite helpful in determining the detailed features of a USB Device.
USBView’s UI shows a tree structure similar to Device Manager, showing all the connected USB hubs and devices. When you select a particular device, its details are available on the right side.
Among other details, the bcdUSB field displays a hexadecimal number that indicates the highest USB version supported by the device, in a packed-decimal format:
0x0100 = USB 1.0
In addition, you can also view the actual speed supported by the device in the Device Bus Speed field:
Low Speed : <= 1.5 Mbps (USB 1.0+)
Full Speed : <= 12 Mbps (USB 1.0+)
High Speed : <= 480 Mbps (USB 2.0+)
SuperSpeed : <= 5.0 Gbps (USB 3.0+)
But, USBView is really a tiny application, and in order to download it from the official website, you’ve to at least install the entire Debugging Tools package of the Windows SDK, which is quite large in size.
If you’re not willing to download the entire Debugging Tools package just for installing USBView, the source code for the standalone app can be found on Microsoft’s GitHub repository. Quite thoughtfully, a third-party developer has created an executable program based on the same, with minor changes.
You can download USB Device Tree Viewer from the third-party developer’s website and run it directly. The program looks and feels quite similar to the original USBView program and also shows the bcdUSB field, from which you can figure out your USB device’s version based on the same hexadecimal values mentioned earlier.
Alternatively, there is another third-party app, called USBDeview, which allows you to similarly see the details of connected USB devices:
Download and install USBDeview from Nirsoft’s official website.
Launch the app. It will show all the details of the connected USB devices.
To simplify the view, click on View menu and go to Choose Columns.
Now, click on Deselect All button and select the Device Name, Description, Device Type, Connected and USB Version columns.
The USB Version column is the one that you are looking for.
So now you know different ways to identify the USB version of a controller or device, from both hardware and software perspective. Was the information provided useful? Let us know in the comments below.
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Ministry of industry and set the tone "hybrid first" new energy gradual development
ZhongQi association's website this week, according to the forwarding of a message to the ministry department of development planning in Yao Jun, said that the high-profile new energy vehicles plan after the revision is expected to be released in the first half of this year. "At present, the development of new energy vehicles route we have generally agree to go first hybrid and pure electric, the final transition to the fuel cell."
Miit pitch incremental route, will lead to route of new energy vehicles for the dust settles, new energy vehicles plan of barrier.
Start from the hybrid into the consensus
In the above information, Chinese academy of social sciences industrial economy research institute of industrial development of ministy Zhao Ying said, new energy vehicles plan before the Spring Festival is returned to the office of the state council meeting, the main controversy lies in the opinion of fuel-efficient cars. The conclusion is that the parallel development of energy-saving cars and new energy cars, moderate development of alternative energy vehicles, don't give up the traditional automobile energy saving technical progress.
The current subsidy policy of energy saving and new energy cars, ordinary hybrid cars as fuel-efficient vehicles, and plug-in hybrid vehicles, pure electric cars and other new energy vehicles.
All sorts of signs, after a full discussion, the contention of new energy vehicles route has been unified opinion. Promulgated by the ministry of science and technology has the electric car "twelfth five-year" development of science and technology special planning (abstract) "is first pointed out that from the technical level, hybrid electric vehicle technology mature gradually, has entered the product market competition, to realize industrialization, is becoming a new growth point of auto sales, should make it popular, before the year 2020 and pure electric in 2020 after a dominant position can be achieved.
As soon as possible to promote energy saving and hybrid cars, and then gradually transition to the pure electric and other new energy vehicles, "T10" new energy vehicles union has long advocated route. The coalition of 10 domestic state-owned automakers, at the end of march and held a technology exchange meeting, study and put forward the T10 enterprise electric car battery, motor and cooperation mode and proposals for cooperation.
The ministry recently issued the "industrial energy saving" twelfth five-year "plan" are put forward: promoting fuel-efficient cars, we will accelerate the cultivation of new energy cars, adjust measures to local conditions to develop alternative fuel vehicles, promote the development of car use energy diversification. Gradually reduce automobile fuel consumption rate in our country, by 2015, energy-saving new passenger vehicles average fuel consumption of 5.9 liters/hundred kilometers.
To achieve the strict standard of fuel consumption, universal hybrid cars is imperative.
"In the near future, China will become the world's largest hybrid vehicle market." Honda China's security, the Honda to the southern daily reporters Tuesday to China in 2015, the most severe fuel consumption standard, hybrid is an important energy saving technology. Honda are advancing battery, motor and other core parts localization of production in China, in order to reduce the cost of new energy vehicles. Promote good at hybrid cars in China, to be Toyota, Honda's strategic priorities.
But industry experts point out that, in the policy, encourage plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles are still is the mainstream. On the one hand, if heavily subsidising hybrid cars, then foreign companies such as Toyota, Honda will occupy a greater advantage. General hybrid technology, on the other hand, the threshold is not high, the domestic car companies will also to seek subsidies, hinder the further development of electric vehicle technology.
New energy car sales breakthrough
In the market, new energy vehicles has achieved sales this year. According to association of ZhongQi incomplete statistics, in the first quarter of this year energy saving and new energy vehicle production 8626 cars, among them: pure electric vehicles 1655 1655 vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles and alternative fuel 5671 cars; Sales of new energy vehicles 10202 vehicles, including: pure electric vehicles 1830 vehicles, hybrid 1499, 6873 cars on alternative fuels.
This data have great progress in the last year. In 2011, sales of new energy vehicles 8159 vehicles, including pure electric vehicles, 5579, 2580 hybrid vehicles. Because of increased alternative-fuel cars, statistical data on the new energy car sales in the first quarter this year, more than last year. At present, the promotion of natural gas vehicle, is becoming another new energy vehicles development direction.
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About the author and blog
Gender Studies reading list
Angry Malay Woman – a feminist blog
What is Orientalism?
13 November, 2010 13 November, 2010 Angry Malay Woman1 Comment
Because an elegant definition of Orientalism cannot go ignored in the academy:
Orientalism, to David Said, is known as Eastern culture and is typically thought of as a combination of Asian, Japanese, Siamese, Chinese and other non-European cultures. The concept of Orientalism relates to music because it creates a stereotype for the different types of music in different Eastern cultures. For example, in the movie Lady and the Tramp, there is a scene with two siamese cats. These cats not only have accents and very think eyes, but they are introduced into the scene with “Oriental” music made of up chimes, bells, and even gongs, because they are siamese cats, trying to hypnotize the dogs in the scene.
Source: Shit My Students Write
An excerpt from my dissertation on ‘traditional’ same-sex eroticisms in Indonesian fiction – Part 2
12 November, 2010 12 November, 2010 Angry Malay WomanLeave a comment
First in the series of excerpts from my MA dissertation I looked at the tolerant attitudes toward homoerotic relations in Indonesian religious boarding schools as depicted in the novel Mairil. Below I explore the way the Indonesian tradition of the gemblak and warok relationship is framed in a novel by Enang Rokajat Asura. Unlike Mairil, however, homoerotic relationships in Gemblak are portrayed as problematic and in tension with the demands of “modern” codes of sexual norms:
One of the most enduring figures in Indonesian non-normative sexual traditions is the warok-gemblak relationship. The warok is part master of ceremonies and leader of the reyog, a theatrical performance unique to the rural East Javanese province of Ponorogo, and part power broker (Wilson 1999 – web article). Intimate same-sex relationships between men were condoned and accepted as normal for unmarried men in Ponorogo up until recently, while extra-marital heterosexual relationships were seen as morally and spiritually corrupting. According to one warok, “association with women will cause brittle bones, a soft stomach and a loss of spiritual strength,” adding “that’s why I’ve grown to be a man who harbours a hatred of women (ibid). The basis of the warok’s homoerotic relations with his gemblak lies in the polluting nature of heterosexual intercourse with women. The warok forfeits sexual relations with the opposite sex to preserve his spiritual power. As believed in the Tantrayana Buddhist tradition from which warok/gemblak practices originate, sperm is considered a central source of power which can be converted into a higher level of consciousness. Thus, it serves as an ascetic ritual that promotes sexual abstinence and transforms erotic desire into spiritual attainment. In place of a wife or female partner the warok has a gemblak, or a young boy who acts as companion and intimate partner, as well as jatilan dancer in his reyog troupe (ibid).
The gemblak is normally chosen for his poise and physical appearance, characterised typically as androgynous and light in facial complexion which is sometimes enhanced with face powder (Wilson 1999: web article). A beautiful gemblak is a matter of immense pride for the warok whom he would dress in the finest of clothes. Youth is a determining factor to becoming a gemblak as well, as the gemblak is usually between the ages of eight and sixteen years. During performances, the gemblak is sometimes known to dress in feminine attire, such as the kebaya blouse, a wrap-around skirt (jarik batik), and a scarf (sampur or selendang; Kartomi 1976: 87). In selecting a gemblak, the warok would send a delegation to the home of the boy’s parents to “propose” (lamar), similar in ritualised speech used in traditional heterosexual weddings. For the boy’s “hand”, his parents would be paid in the form of livestock, one for each year of the boy’s time as the warok‘s gemblak (Wilson 1999: web article).
During one’s time as gemblak, he is supplied with food, clothing, and even formal education, thus such an arrangement poses economic benefits for many poor villagers in addition to attaining considerable social prestige and protection of the warok. Mirroring the heteronormative set-up at home, the gemblakperforms the domestic chores for the waroksuch as washing and cooking, besides being his constant companion. Being a gemblakis accepted as a certain stage in one’s path to manhood for many young boys, and go on to stay with their warok until their late teens. The warok played an active role in choosing the gemblak‘s wife and in many cases performed the religious rites at the wedding. On marriage, the gemblak‘s attractiveness to men is said to diminish (ibid). It is worthwhile to note that it may be imprecise to classify the warok-gemblak relationship as homosexual, as being a warok is part of a profession that involves sexual asceticism, and does not necessarily denote a selfhood organised around sexual desire (Boellstorff 2005:45).
Published in 2008, Gemblak: Tragedi Cinta Budak Homoseks (Gemblak: The Tragic Love of a Homosexual Slave) tells the story of Sapto Linggo, a young man who escapes the reyog to marry his sweetheart. As a gemblak, Sapto was barred from forming intimate relationships with women and other men. The warok, Hardo Wiseso, is respected by villagers as a wealthy benefactor of young boys who become his gemblak but is greatly feared for his spiritual powers and the use of his whip (usus-usus), which no one dares challenge. By eloping, Sapto turns his back on a tradition he feels immoral and un-Islamic. His wife, Lastri, however, is the warok’s daughter and their union is wrought with guilt and doubt about its legitimacy. Without the blessing of Lastri’s father, their marriage is feared by Sapto to be susceptible to doom. Upon learning the news of his younger brother, Prapto’s proposal to become his former warok’s gemblak. Sapto returns to his village and his desire to end the warok-gemblak practice is ignited. Like Sapto, Prapto is very handsome and is poised, like his older brother, to become the warok’s favourite gemblak.
The efforts of Sapto to end an “abominable” tradition (perbuatan terkutuk) of the warok-gemblak relationship is framed as a heroic feat. Prapto is eventually rescued but this elicits the anger of the warok who assaults the physically fragile Sapto with his whip. But Sapto’s beating is interrupted by the presence of his friend, the shaman Legong Kamplok, who challenges Hardo Wiseso in a keris1 fight. Hardo Wiseso is killed during the struggle and Sapto’s mission is ostensibly accomplished. However, all does not end happily for Sapto and his wife when their first child is born with congenital defects. The baby, Toeggoel, has an oversized head with bulging eyes, suspected to have polio, has “black” skin, and is covered in hair (tubuh anaknya dipenuhi bulu yang lebat). Sapto is convinced that the birth of such an unusual child is somehow connected to his past as a gemblak, eloping with his employer’s daughter, and getting married without a wali2, which goes on to implicitly suggest that the child may be illegitimate. The novel ends on a sombre note: several years later, Sapto gains employment as a teacher, and is a farmer on the side to make ends meet. He has also written a novel based on the life of his child, Toenggoel. However, his earnings are not enough to fund Toenggoel’s medical treatment and he is barred from inheriting Hardo Wiseso’s wealth. His struggles to end the warok-gemblak tradition had come with a heavy price. The “dark” days of his past as a gemblak are “imprinted” on his son’s physical disabilities; they form a reminder of a tradition that will not cease to cause the suffering of many young men. In the end, Sapto descends into deep depression and is haunted by the menacing voices of his warokfrom beyond the grave.
Sapto’s tale is told against the transformation of a sleepy rural life into a village marked with different tell-tale signs of modernity. Homes previously made from bamboo are replaced with concrete walls. Villagers begin to have access to television, many have satellite dishes planted on their rooftops. Before, there were no means of personal transportation, now the villagers own cars and pick-up lorries. These transformations are a welcoming sight for Sapto. The changes sweeping Sapto’s village appear to reflect his opinions with regard to traditional practices of the reyog and other homoerotic traditions. Religious concerns about homosexuality surface following Sapto’s exposure to Islamic reading material and discussions with those he deems more knowledgeable:
Sebahagian pengetahuan tentang agama yang diperolehinya dari hasil membaca dan diskusi dengan orang yang lebih pinter tentang itu, menjadikan Sapto semakin gelisah. Persekutuan antara lelaki dengan lelaki menurut pemahaman agamanya adalah perbuatan sia-sia dan dibenci Tuhan. (p. 39)
(My translation):
Being informed about religion obtained from reading and discussions with those more learned in religious matters caused Sapto to worry. Intimacy between men according to his faith is frivolous and an abomination.
Without the access to higher education, books, and like-minded people, Sapto would not have known about the modern society at large that disapproves of same-sex relations. For him, young men and their parents should not have to submit to the demands of the warok given the financial opportunity. Villagers have long been tied to the reyog tradition because of the economic returns and protection the warok provides. But the arrival of modernity to the village should bring new ambitions and opportunities that were previously denied to them and the impetus for breaking with oppressive traditions. In time, new values will replace old ones, and homoerotic traditions may eventually become extinct. But the future is an ambivalent place, muses Sapto, as traditions can survive by adapting different ways to cling to the present and even hybridise into new forms:
[…] tiba-tiba saja Sapto ingin jadi tua, memutar cepat jarun hidupnya agar bisa mengetahui apakah kebiasaan itu akan terus berlanjut atau akan dengan sendirinya mati seiring perkembangan rasionalisasi dari pelakunya. Sapto seperti ingin hidup dalam sepuluh tahun ke depan, agar bisa memastikan tanggapan orang pada tradisi penggemblakan itu. Sapto pernah membaca artikel, bahwa sebenarnya pikiran-pikiran ortodok, primitif tidak semuanya mati dan terkubur masa tapi kini hadir dalam modifikasi zaman. Ia pun jadi khawatir perlakuan gemblak itu akan menemukan tempat yang baru dalam sebuah modifikasi, maka semakin panjanglah penderitaan itu. (pp. 35-36)
Suddenly Sapto wishes to become older, and to turn the clock forward to learn if the (reyog) tradition will last or will perish on its own as its practitioners become more rational. Sapto wishes to live ten years in the future to discover society’s attitudes towards the gemblak tradition. Sapto had once read an article which said that not all orthodox and primitive ideas die and become forgotten but continue to survive through modifications to suit the times. He fears the gemblak tradition will serve a new purpose by adapting contemporary norms, thereby prolonging the gemblak’s suffering.
Sapto’s anxieties exhibit a markedly melancholic portrait of manhood. The challenges of modernity have cast a grim shadow on traditional dimensions of masculinity and male (hetero)sexuality. Melancholy manhood is born when a loss or crisis of old conceptions of manhood has taken place but has not been accompanied with the adequate psychosocial and hermeneutic readjustment necessary for its resolution (Butler 1995:27-28). In the case of Sapto, an awareness of “modern” homosexuality raises a crisis of masculinity and his sense of self that are deeply intertwined with “traditional” male homoeroticism. As he leaves tradition he is thrust into unfamiliar psychosocial territory where a new form of masculinity must somehow be constructed, a form of masculinity that is perceived to be under threat by male homosexuality. His uniquely masculine anxiety with regard to homosexuality in Indonesia as an element of modernisation embodies the political homophobia pervading the country in recent years (Boellstorff 2004:480). Coded as masculine, political homophobia is enacted on non-normative male sexualities as a reaction to the socio-political uncertainties that are imagined to threaten the “manhood” of the nation (ibid:481-482).
In contemporary Indonesia, as in much of Southeast Asia, many variants of transgendering and same-sex relations have been redefined as contaminating rather than sacred mediators and as a result subjected to processes of secularisation and stigmatisation. The condemnation of non-normative gender and sexual behaviour reflects the changing moral standards brought about by the perceived demands of modernisation (modernisasi) and development (pembangunan) (Peletz 2009:216). The official opinion held by the local government with regard to the warok-gemblak relationship is that it is immoral and in conflict with the ‘national personality’ (kepribadian bangsa), mainly because it is viewed as nothing more than “socialised homosexuality” and thus a risk to the social order (Wibowo 1996:3). These views are echoed by modern reformist groups such as Muhammadiyah and prominent kyai from the well-known pesantren Pondok Modern Darussalam who have pressured the Ponorogo local government to suppress the reyog tradition to accommodate their brand of religious ideals (Wilson 1999: web article). Today, the reyog is a dying art due to the influence of state run education systems that dissuade young boys from participating, and the emphasis on the construction of the heterosexual nuclear family as the foundation of the nation (ibid).
Despite these developments, queer Indonesians (mainly men) find tradition a space to establish a sense of belonging and footing in culture and history (Boellstorff 2004:470). References to tradition are often accompanied with invocations of the past, both real and imagined. In her work on the traditional cross-dressing practices of the bissu in Southern Sulawesi, Sharyn Graham Davies highlights the ways present day bissu evoke a more tolerant past in which their cultural forebears played key roles in royal courts and guarding the sacred regalia (Davies 2010:76-84). Recounting the past acts as an empowering strategy through which the bissu confirm not merely their existence in society but also allows them to stake a claim in national history, a discourse of belonging. It is important, however, to note that not all gay Indonesians find any meaningful connection with traditional homosexual practices, past or present. Instead of legitimating their sexualities through history, some homosexual Indonesians claim belonging and authenticity by the performance of good deeds (prestasi) in the present (Boellstorff 2005:35). Others may be more interested in distancing themselves from what are considered old-fashioned ideas of homosexuality, particularly those that refer to cross-gendering as a characteristic. For instance, men who identify themselves as gay will sometimes vehemently distinguish themselves from banci or waria (terms that, besides signifying transgender identities, also describe effeminate men, and, occasionally, masculine women) (Oetomo 1996:260-261). Those who do turn to tradition can vicariously enjoy the legitimacy certain same-sex practices can sometimes bring, particularly when such traditions, as in the case of homosexuality in the pesantren, are tied with Islam and respectability.
But such claims for authenticity are not without problems. While compelling, they are anthropologically problematic as it often refashions Western, twentieth century identity categories such as “homosexual” into local discourse in anachronistic ways, rendering such claims analytically and factually dubious (Stychin 2004:958). The pitfalls of seeking an authentic gay utopian past looms large, as “’traditional culture’ is increasingly recognised to be more an invention constructed for contemporary purposes than a stable heritage handed on from the past” (Hanson 1989:899). Recuperating “traditional” homoeroticisms risks the Western romanticism of a tolerant and accepting non-Western society, masking the reality of persecution, discrimination, and violence that may have occurred in the past and continue to do so on a daily basis for many sexual minorities today. Not only does conventional understanding of tradition posits a false dichotomy between tradition and modernity as fixed and mutually exclusive states, but it also reproduces the conception that the West is the source of liberated gay and lesbian identities while traditional (often read as non-Western) remains in the clutches of backwardness (Grewal and Kaplan 2001:665).
Tradition, however, is not a static body of practices and beliefs passed down from one generation to another. Rather, it is an on-going interpretation of the past that reflects contemporary concerns. As Jocelyn Linnekin asserts, “the selection of what constitutes tradition is always made in the present; the content of the past is modified and redefined according to a modern significance” (1983:241). Only certain elements of the past are selected in the creation of tradition. These chosen elements can be situated in different contexts where they gain new meanings for those involved in the process (Handler and Linnekin 1984:280). In response, one can argue that historical accuracy is not particularly the point, because as a political rhetoric it commands the rewriting and re-imagination of a nation’s history in more inclusive terms. And from a Foucauldian standpoint, such discourses can be mobilised into a political reality.
1A traditional dagger
2A male witness at an Islamic wedding ceremony, usually the bride’s father.
On male public intellectuals of the Twitter age and gender
7 November, 2010 7 November, 2010 Angry Malay Woman35 Comments
Woman: A man's "body" of knowledge?
We can trust the public intellectual – the voice of the zeitgeist, so to speak – to be clever, witty, sometimes rather sexy (because they’re clever and witty), and male.
Though it seems that lately being male is a crippling impediment to being the voice of the zeitgeist. Recently, Stephen Fry caused the chattering classes to gasp in shock when he mused rather publicly that women don’t enjoy sex very much. Trust an openly gay man to be the expert in female sexuality. But why the shock? Why did planet intelligentsia brake to a screeching halt on its axis?
Well, to begin with, Stephen Fry is royally endorsed as a kind of British national treasure. He is the repository of wit, middle-class bourgeois ideals, and unthreatening intellect. Therefore, everything that passes through his venerated lips is certified to be right and wonderful of the pristine order. But why did he think he could get away with talking about something he clearly has no personal engagement with?
Maybe it’s because he’s rather unofficially a public intellectual, and as a public intellectual he shares his sagely views on worldly issues based on his celebrated intellectual capacity, even when they’re stretched beyond his experiential limit. Public intellectualism is mansplaining par excellence. Liberal and enlightened male thoughts have the passport of privilege not to be examined first for sexism and misogyny. It’s only when they’ve made an ignorant gaffe that they’re called out and reprimanded with a velveted slap on the wrist.
This brings me to discuss Farish Noor’s recent talk on the changing concepts of modesty in Southeast Asia last October at the Annexe Gallery in Kuala Lumpur and his status as Malaysia’s “sexiest” public intellectual. Although I was sad to have missed out on what is a typically thought-provoking Farish Noor lecture, my heart sank to new uncharted depths when I found out that the lecture included a fashion show with “babes in Peranakan corsets”. This is particularly sexist and disgraceful for a cerebral warrior like Farish Noor. To his credit, however, Farish Noor has successfully made public lectures accessible and trendy. His well-received critiques on religion and politics traverse effortlessly across the Facebook universe making him an intellectual star of the social network age.
But by sexing-up critical thought for the Malaysian public, women become objectified as bodies to gaped at as they parade around in tight-fitting costumes. Women’s bodies become the vehicle through which Farish furthers what I believe are his political claims against hegemonic notions of modesty. The lecture on modesty thus becomes an exercise in irony and intellectual farce, as it appeases the unchallenged male gaze that underpins the very notion of modesty.
Should the sexist failings of public intellectuals come to anyone’s surprise at all? Certainly not. Public intellectualism is a male preserve disguised as a form of cerebral enjoyment for all. The views of public thought-artists like Stephen Fry and Farish Noor should not be seen as entirely objective or supremely above the biases of their androcentric perspective. But problems contravening their “rationality” arise when they inadvertently claim expertise in women’s experiences and gender.
Survey on feminism and women’s rights in Malaysia
7 November, 2010 7 November, 2010 Angry Malay Woman9 Comments
Back in September, I conducted a survey on how Malaysians felt about women’s rights as well as their views on feminism. My interest in Malaysians’ perceptions about women’s rights and feminism grew out of seeing the complacent attitudes of the general populace with regards to the status of women in our society today.
Simply put, many Malaysians accept that in many respects, women today have made it to the ranks of men. Thus, the struggle for women’s liberation and gender equality is understood to be over : this is confirmed by the fact that women have already gained the right to work and education. In fact, women and girls both outnumber and outperform men in school and university. Women are now appointed to decision-making positions in political office and the boardroom. While women still represent a significant minority in these roles, this is not seen as a travesty for many. The fact that women are marginalised in the public sphere is so normalised and entrenched that it is no longer an outrage. This is understood as the status quo. To make further demands in the name of gender equality and feminism today is seen as asking too much and a threat to “overpower” men.
The results of the survey based on the 195 people (59.3% women, 38.7% men) who have participated brought to my attention quite remarkable responses as well as predictable ones. To begin with, when asked if women’s rights should be championed, nearly all (95%) answered ‘yes’ (click on pie chart for larger image):
Question: Do you support women's rights?
It seems to me that in principle, it would be common sense to support women’s rights. To do otherwise is to be nothing more than misogynist and backward. In this respect, “women’s rights” can be regarded as a “safe” but nonetheless important issue that can easily be co-opted even by the most conservative of politics. This is confirmed by the drop in the number of women’s rights supporters (66.4%) who felt that feminism is relevant in Malaysia (click pie chart to enlarge):
Question: Is feminism relevant in Malaysia?
What the pie chart above implicitly indicates is the difference in (mis)conceptions attached to “women’s rights” and “feminism”. While it is obvious that one can be a women’s rights supporter without calling oneself a feminist, what is less obvious is how the drop in feminist supporters is characterised. The open-ended question on why feminism may be irrelevant in Malaysia reveals prejudice and a lack of awareness about the principles and work of local activists. For example, one person said:
“[Feminism] has a bad connotation and is deemed counterproductive for efforts in addressing the gender issue”
While another person opined that feminism is quite simply degrading to women:
“It is outright insult to women [sic] dignity and intellegience [sic]”
Perplexingly, feminism is seen as female-biased. What does that make of “women’s issues”?:
“better to focus on gender equality / equitability. feminism seems biased to just
females. the human race has other genders too.”
Another respondent felt that feminism is unnecessary because women’s issues are already taken care of by the state:
“There is a specific ministry to look after woman’s affair [sic].”
And finally, one respondent felt that feminism is a “vague subject.”
I was also interested in charting the means through which women’s rights supporters find information on gender issues. As the survey was conducted online, all respondents would have access to online material which, as the results reveal, not only exceeds all other media in terms of accessibility, but in terms of new and up-to-date content. All of this may seem utterly obvious for readers of this report, but what it also suggest is that gender-related material can only be found only if we search for it. Also, it seems that ‘gender’ will only arise as an issue if it is confined to the NGO community or a news report on the latest violation against a woman’s rights and dignity. (Click bar chart to enlarge)
Question: Where would you find information on women's rights?
Finally, I asked what gender-related concerns my respondents sensed to be most pressing in Malaysia and most agreed upon sexual and domestic violence against women (click to enlarge):
Question: What women's rights issues concern you the most?
Granted, violence against women typically triggers the most reaction across the board, and while it is a sine qua non of women’s rights activism, the means to effectively protect women and girls from abominable acts have repeatedly been futile and unsustainable.
Why? Well, this could be attributable to the very notion of “women’s rights” and “women’s issues”. “Women’s rights and issues” have always been secondary socio-political concerns limited to women’s traditional roles as wives and mothers, and completely defused of its radical potential when it is co-opted by the male-dominated, sexist Malaysian government for its own ends. When gender-related concerns are raised for public and academic attention, the focus falls invariably on women; their sole responsibility to redress gender inequality, and their responsibility to protect themselves. Meanwhile, men as beneficiaries and perpetrators of gender inequality have no part to play in “women’s issues”.
Nonetheless, the survey reveals the multifaceted perspectives of Malaysians who have very real concerns about gender issues. Interestingly, one respondent claims for the “right to NOT be exploited by media and the secular worldview”.
While another argues that women’s rights is inherently an Islamic issue:
“Semua wanita ada hak kepada perkara diatas. Malang nya ramai lelaki dan wanita di Malaysia jauh menyeleweng daripada apa yang di tunjukajar didalam Alquran (All of the above are women’s rights. Unfortunately, many men and women in Malaysia have strayed far from what is taught in the Quran).”
One person laments the “media exploitation of women as purely sexual object to satisfy animal lust disguised as women feminism/emansipation [sic]/liberalisation which strips them naked for sexual pleasure to be used and abused which is evident in our present decadant [sic] society around us……… which we tend to accept as modernisation.”
The last point posits one of the challenges of feminism in Malaysia today, challenges imposed by globalisation and the framework inherited from the vocabulary of liberal-leftist human rights. Despite the wide-ranging concerns raised in this survey, it appears that gender-related activism (otherwise known as feminism) is viewed with negativity and ambivalence. That said, it would be fair to say that feminist activism in Malaysia is still largely fragmented by the lack of urgency, apathy, and divided community interests.
Book review: The Rey Chow Reader
5 November, 2010 14 November, 2010 Angry Malay Woman2 Comments
(Crossposted from Elevate Difference)
Edited by Bowman, Columbia University Press
Not many theorists would re-imagine Jane Eyre as a Maoist. However, postcolonial thinker Rey Chow does and with great aplomb. Furthermore, it’s not in the context of English literature in which Chow invokes the fictional heroine, but rather the issue of Orientalism in today’s academia. According to Chow, the Maoist Jane Eyre is a romantic and a self-styled victim that is embodied in the non-native scholar of East Asian studies who bemoans the loss of cultural “authenticity” in an increasingly globalised world. Chow’s deft and even fanciful portrayal of the latter-day Orientalist that demonstrates her creative ingenuity and unconventional analytical mind is evident throughout the collection of her essays, The Rey Chow Reader, edited by Paul Bowman.
These qualities are important in the primary themes tackled in her writings—sexuality, racism, and postcolonialism. In the post-Edward Said world, the Orientalism of yore is not only outmoded but a disgrace to the Western academic code of practice, but Chow is perceptive to detect the more subtle Orientalisms she finds still pervasive in the academy, particularly in East Asian studies in Western institutions. Not only are academics (and often highly respected icons; Julia Kristeva for one) safe from Chow’s relentless critique of latter day Orientalism, the works and words of art house film-makers Zhang Yimou and Bernado Bertolucci also go under her microscopic scrutinising gaze.
She is also self-aware of her own position in the ivory tower that she turns this gaze towards herself in an essay about her early career in academia; scholars from the former colonial frontier during the dissolution of the British empire such as herself (Chow hails from Hong Kong) were seduced by the imagined prestige of English literature that rendered Chinese writing less superior and intellectually legitimate. Chow’s essay on the postcolonial-ised scholar is a subdued call to arms for the reclamation of one’s own scholarship and by effect, cultural identity, even if one cannot readily give up the tools fashioned by the master.
It becomes clear that Chow is also deeply political. ‘Seeing is Destroying’ charts the changes in the US discourse of war since the devastating bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to today’s brutality of war made sophisticated. These historical observations are perhaps nothing new, however, her concept of the target has chilling resonance of the primordial hunt. As the target in the hunt for America’s national Other, first Japan, then the USSR, and now the shadowy figure of the Muslim terrorist, it is reduced to an object on which the trigger is on perpetual threat mode. What links ‘Seeing is Destroying’ with most of Chow’s essays is visuality and the continued technological advancements that make the act of seeing increasingly powerful and more instrumental in xenophobic and sexist control.
Chow’s tentacle-like approach to a diversity of disciplines that probes into every crevice of detail promises a thrilling experience and an inspiration to younger scholars of postcolonialism like myself. Perhaps the level of microscopic detail that Chow magnifies throughout her merciless analyses on Orientalism in film and her idiosyncrantic salad-bowl approach to theory may not appeal to everyone, but Chow has certainly created a fan in me.
By yet another fluke I am nominated for the Brass Crescent award again!
4 November, 2010 7 June, 2017 Angry Malay Woman4 Comments
I was nominated for best Southeast Asian blog by the lovely Brass Crescent selection committee two years ago, and here I am again nominated for the same category this year! Yay, me. As much as I am thrilled and humbled, I am surprised. I was going through some life-changing events in the last two years and my blogging had suffered greatly for it. I love to write, critique, and share with readers stuff people do not talk or think about. That is what I do and what I intend to do in whatever shape or form for as long as I can. Thank you, whomever you are who has nominated me! And oh yes, vote for me please!
Book review: The Material of Knowledge: Feminist Disclosures
4 November, 2010 14 November, 2010 Angry Malay WomanLeave a comment
By Susan Hekman, Indiana University Press
This is a book for the post post-modernist thinker. Written by professor of political science, Susan Hekman, The Material of Knowledge: Feminist Disclosures seeks to alleviate the theorist’s conundrum with the material consequences in the event of natural disasters and destruction. Many theorists today are curiously silent on tsunamis, terrorist attacks, and earthquakes and Hekman sees this as a problem of post-modern thinking.
Philosophy from the second half of the twentieth century onwards has been largely preoccupied with what is called ‘the linguistic turn’—an understanding that all reality is only perceivable through language. Also known as linguistic constructionism, the trend fails at taking into account the tangible elements of concepts and theory. A new way to theory-making or ‘settlement’ is in order and feminist theory is, argues Hekman, at the forefront of this breakthrough. And this is because no other system of thought is invested heavily on the experiences of oppression often imprinted on the body the way feminist theory is. However, the body alone is not enough to represent ‘matter’.
Hekman argues that non-human matter have agency too in that they are not always predictable and in that regard, somehow have a ‘life of its own’. This makes the relationship between human and non-human all the more interesting if a little unsettling. To illuminate the mechanics of this relationship, Hekman adopts Andrew Pickering’s unglamorously-named concept of the mangle; things get mangled up when humans and non-human agents meet, producing inevitably messy outcomes. Hekman sees the mangle at work in the disaster of Hurricane Katrina and the prenatal sonogram. Both display the way different discourses (poverty and abortion) work with and against non-human elements (dangerous weather conditions and medical apparatus). The mangle represents an important link between the abstract realm of ideas and the world ‘out there’.
The underlying argument throughout Hekman’s thesis is, if crudely put, that philosophers are out of touch with reality. However, Hekman does not challenge the circumstances that grant philosophers the privilege to talk about society and yet seem to not be able to incorporate “real life” into their work. The critique of lofty intellectualism remains frustratingly absent here. While the mangle is undoubtedly a useful concept to understanding material destruction, Hekman makes a bold (if rather morbid) leap in suggesting that feminist theoretical approach to the body holds the key to new ways of understanding death and destruction of epic proportions.
The Material of Knowledge is a slow-burning demonstration of Hekman’s linear thinking towards the new ‘settlement’. As a proposal for a new theoretical tool to approaching pain and material devastation, Hekman’s book leaves the reader with more questions than answers. To begin with, the concept of the mangle seems to absolve itself of refinement both by virtue of semantics and theoretical characteristic, and I am left wondering whether Hekman had backed herself into a theoretical corner where to understand material destruction is cook up an analytical mess.
This evokes a level of pessimism and an assumption that multiple elements of living and non-living persuasions affect each other on a more or less equal playing field; an event is simply a web of things and lives thrown in together, which leaves one to ask: where are we in Hekman’s new settlement? Where is human agency in the midst of mangled discourses and wordlessness of fear and pain? It would be difficult to recommend Hekman’s latest book for the uninitiated in post-structuralism and post-modernism as this slim tome can be a slog for even the well-versed. The Material of Knowledge: Feminist Disclosures does however inspire optimistic thoughts about the role of feminism in contemporary philosophy and the slow march of theory towards grasping reality.
Misogyny prevails and the world is on fire. Why aren't we all angry? This is the personal blog of Alicia Izharuddin, Research Associate in the Women's Studies in Religion Program, Harvard Divinity School. I was previously Senior Lecturer in Gender Studies at the University of Malaya. Articles and essays written here are my original work unless acknowledged, and you are free to cite from my blog. Thank you for reading!
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Snow Makes You Smarter
Thu Oct 21st 2010 by abagond
“Snow Makes You Smarter” is my name for the idea that white people are born with more intelligence than blacks because they come from a long line of people who lived through thousands of unforgiving winters in the cold, cruel north. Unlike blacks, who lived in Africa where you can sit under a tree all day and eat bananas. Or something. The idea goes back to at least Madison Grant in 1916.
Defenders point out all the wonderful inventions of white people and how screwed up Africa is. They point to IQ tests.
IQ and winter temperatures:
I found out that:
IQ = 100 – C
Where IQ is a country’s average IQ and C is the mean January temperate in Celsius at its capital.
I tried it on 35 capital cities where the race of most people has not changed in over 10,000 years. For two-thirds of them I got to within 5 points.
Here, from coldest to hottest (the numbers for each city are: C, 100 – C and IQ):
Beijing -4.6 105 100
Seoul -3.6 104 106
Stockholm -3.5 104 101
Budapest -1.1 101 99
Berlin -0.9 101 102
Oslo -0.4 100 98
Copenhagen -0.4 100 98
Amsterdam 3.1 97 102
London 3.4 97 100
Paris 3.7 96 98
Dublin 4.8 95 93
Istanbul 5.4 95 90
Madrid 5.4 95 99
Jerusalem 8.4 92 94
Baghdad 9.4 91 87
Athens 10.2 90 92
Lisbon 10.5 90 95
Beirut 13.5 87 86
Cairo 13.8 86 83
New Delhi 14.1 86 81
Kampala 22.4 78 73
Khartoum 22.7 77 72
Brazzaville 25.6 74 73
Accra 27.0 73 71
So what is wrong with all this?
Correlation is not cause: The proper way to do this is to see if there is a strong statistical correlation with a large sample. But even that would not prove cause. There might be some third factor at play – like that IQ tests are written by northerners.
IQ tests cannot be trusted:
Black Africa has an average IQ of 70. Contrary to what you see on television, Africa is not some coast-to-coast refugee camp. It cannot be: it supports a billion people.
Civilization started mainly in places with IQs of 90 or less: Peru (90), Mexico (87), Iraq (87), Egypt (83) and India (81). China, at 100, becomes the outlier.
Civilization arose mostly in Places of Very Little Snow, like Egypt, the Middle East, Central America and India.
Eskimos do not rule the world: people live in far crueler places than Oxford, England, like Patagonia, Lapland, Siberia, Darfur and the deserts of Australia. Yet no one who makes this argument expects these people to be particularly bright. Why is that?
Mankind arose in Africa. Time and time again since the 1920s those who believed Snow Makes You Smarter have been proved wrong about different species of early man arising in Europe and Asia. As we now know, none of them arose there – every single successful new species of man arose in Africa instead. For whatever reason, man evolves in Africa and then spreads north, not the other way round.
Like most white racist ideas, “Snow Makes You Smarter” takes the current power imbalance and sees it as the natural order of things – when it is anything but. White people, people from Europe, have been the most advanced part of mankind only twice – now and back in Greek and Roman times. Otherwise they have been middling to backwards.
Egypt, where the average IQ is 83
Wikipedia: IQ and the Wealth of Nations – where I got the IQ numbers from, which in turn come from Richard Lynn. The article notes that the correlation between a country’s average IQ and its average high winter temperature is -0.76 – pretty good! – but skin colour is an even better match at -0.92.
The white inventor argument
posts where this idea appears:
Anti-black racism as a guide to science
Would blacks survive in Finland?
Maria Shriver’s jaw
Pioneer Fund
black IQ
Stephen Jay Gould on “The Bell Curve”
drapetomania
Are the British human?
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 19:23:46 Herneith
I must be a genius because I live in Canada. Oh, I forgot, I would have had to have lived there for tens of thousands of years. But wait, some of my ancestors did. They were indigenous. But according to the HBders, they are, were, still dumb! I guess I’m not to smart after all! Oh shucks!
That reindeer looks like it’s laughing! Does he know something we don’t? I notice he has a big head! With the combination of the cold and a big head he must be a genius! As to the contention that cold makes one smarter, now I have heard everything! What will they come up with next, to prove their ‘superiority’?
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 19:36:08 Aiyo
You are killing me with this post LMAO
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 20:01:14 Chuck
This is my response on the Steve Sailer thread to King and Vagrant X:
You guys say crap like:
*things evolve faster in warmer climates
*cold climates cause organisms to go dormant or kills them outright
*Africa could have very well been a colder climate in ancestoral times
To Vagrant’s ridiculous claim that cold climates “cause organisms to go dormant or kills them outright”. He prefaces this by saying that he is no biologist which puts him on the same level as me in terms of academic credentials. Yet he still comments on the topic.
Vagrant is unable to grasp that he has bolstered my argument. Yes, cold climates are harsh and they can kill you easier than temperate climates *which is the whole point*. “What doesn’t kill you makes you (or your group) stronger.” Ever heard that saying?
To survive, people who are now more closely related to caucasians and mongoloids had to develop strategies to overcome those harsher conditions. If they didn’t, they would perish. They didn’t perish and passed on their tools to their descendents. One of those tools was a bigger brain, higher cognitive ability, and better visio-spatial skill.
Survival of the fittest shaped humans. That’s pretty widely accepted as the general process of human evolution. What is considered “fit” differed depending on environment. In Africa, the species faced nothing new. By staying at “home base”, the humans who were there weren’t forced to compete for intelligence. Since equitorial Africa was plush with plants and berries (which most ancestoral Africans ate), they didn’t struggle for food or have to come up with novel ways to get food.
The people who migrated out of Africa developed in tandem with other forces. Those groups used language and developed tools and processes to survive. Those tools added an extra shot of juice in to the process. Those peoples’ environment came to include those very same tools and languages which thrusted them *even further* forward in evolutionary terms.
Vagrant X may be correct in saying that warm climates foster newer and more species than other climates. But this doesn’t refute the story of evolution or the story of IQ disparities. Africa got the species there; other places forced it to evolve faster than it otherwise would have.
King, your whole argument is unfounded. There is no reason to believe that Africa has ever been colder than the more polar or temporally polar regions. That defies the laws of nature anyway, the Earth has always been round with an equator that is more exposed to the sun than other parts of the globe. Do you deny that? Regardless, it is the being forced to move portion of the equation that propeled the brains and IQs upward. Groupifying, developing language, encountering novel minerals and landscapes (different from Africa) that allowed those groups to build upon whatever they had already built upon were part of this process.
Individuals today are a microcosm of this very same process. Generally speaking, the less intelligent people are the country bumpkins who’ve remained in their little village for their whole lives (this was much more true before TV and the internet, but the point remains.) It was the people who were lucky enough to build upon their rudimentary knowledge that they learned in that village and added to it all of the worldly experiencecs and knowledge they’d pick up at cultural meccas and through other travels. Through that lifetime the person added novel knowledge that they wouldn’t have learned if they remained that bumpkin in the village in which they were born.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 20:13:14 King
LOL! Love that dopey Reindeer!!!
It’s a looser argument. Most people forget that evolution requires millions of years to make significant changes to any species,
When the human migration out of Africa began, the climate in Europe likely looked like this:
Chuck, you double posted. That comment is also in the Steve Sailer thread.
Africa is the only place on earth that has a clear, proven record of greatly increasing human intelligence.
So it is perfectly fine to accept that Africa greatly increased human intelligence – hell it *made* humans human – but it far-reaching and flat out racist to suggest that development in other locales wouldn’t have propelled us even further?
To me, you seem to truncate the process. You pretend as if evolution mysteriously stopped right after the development of the people in Africa. But it didn’t.
Africa provided a baseline linear pathway for human development and evolution. When some of the groups and individuals “went their own way”, they faced novel environments and were forced to develop new methods of survival. Language was one biggie. Farming was another. Hunting big animals was one too. All of these processes built upon each other and led to higher IQ.
Africa fostered humans’ ancestors and the human race, but it didn’t tinker with them as well as Europe and Asia did. It’s not just the cold climates that caused this – although you must remember that Europe during that time was much colder than it is today. We’ve only come out of the last ice age in the past 20,000 years. It was the cohesion of several inexplicable forces that caused what we, today, call higher innate IQ.
Granted, IQ is a Western concept. We are only talking about IQ because “the victors are telling history” and measuring traits that victors monopolize. *But* that very admission implies that whites do have higher innate IQ.
I know. It is also pertinent to Abagond’s post today.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 20:24:57 leigh204
I must be a genius because I live in Canada.
lol! Girl, I think there’s something to that. I mean, I live in the middle of Canada; one of the coldest provinces…it’s not called Winterpeg, Manitoba for nothing. 😛 Where I’m from, the people should be considered supergeniuses due to the extreme temperatures. 😉
Oh, and I really love that pic of that reindeer! It’s so cute and funny at the same time, it makes me smile. :Di
Abagond, I’m not sure what your policy is, but I’ll post my response from ‘Steve Sailer’. If it’s not allowed, you can simply delete.
@ Chuck
“King, your whole argument is unfounded. There is no reason to believe that Africa has ever been colder than the more polar or temporally polar regions.
STRAW MAN: Don’t be ridiculous… NOBODY said that Africa was colder than the more polar regions, the climates just weren’t necessarily different enough to make your “cold brain” argument.
The entire African continent is not now and never has been on the equator… check your map. There is more non-equatorial land mass in Africa then there is in Europe.
Climates have changed dramatically over the eons. That is why you can now find tropical turtle fossils on Greenland and tropical fish fossils in Antarctica. You have no idea what the relative temperatures were during much of the migratory periods.
You don’t even know the exact positioning of the continents when migration began!!
man, you guys are so hilarious. taking the most naive interpreation of these arguments to imply that if you live in canada or greenland you’re a genius.
while there is a hgher correlation between distance from the equator and IQ, the most salient point is that the novelty of the environment forced these new inhabitants to place more value and mating pressure on intelligence. the smartest of the group became valued which was a change from the status quo in Africa. there was less pressure to select for intelligence in africa because the inhabitants were pretty familiar with their terrain and their niche.
besides building shelter for the winter, there was also the chore of hunting novel animals (the hunting of animals was relatively novel anyway as african ancestors weren’t exactly hunters).
this post is just a simplistic interpretation of the HBD argument.
you insist on ignoring the major thrust of my argument. did not new environments put more pressure on groups of people to develop new “skills” i.e. intelligence to deal with them?
africans existed within africa. by its sheer location as an equitorial or a temperate zone, it likely had a relatively consistent climate. our ancestors developed in tandem with that climate and terrain that they were already familiar with. it was the new territory and climate that sped up the process of evolution as it pertains to intelligence and problem-solving.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 20:43:21 Y
“Yes, cold climates are harsh and they can kill you easier than temperate climates *which is the whole point*. “What doesn’t kill you makes you (or your group) stronger.” Ever heard that saying?
Couldn’t the same be said about the tropics? Afterall there is higher instances of viruses and microorganisms that can kill off the weak, plantlife that is poisonous, large game ect.
This cherry-picking of info is getting to be rediculois. One may die quicker in the tundra because of hypothermia but let’s not forget the tropics have a host of dangers. Exposure to poisonous herbs, dangerous animals, viruses and the so on. Yet no one is making the case that the being indigenous to the tropics makes people smarter. Instead we have people creating pet theories built on cherry-picked data to validate their racism.
*ridiculous*
Y.,
actually you bring up a good point.
the problem is that parasites are problems that aren’t dealt with on a strategic level (at least in the era we are talking about before the advent of medicine). intelligence, which is what we’re discussing, can’t really assuage those problems.
the human body and evolution have other ways of dealing with parasites. humans typically select for more symmetrical faces in partners because that indicates that they are healthier and less prone to getting parasites. supple skin is another thing that is universally selected for much for the same reasons.
I’d like to bring up another point. What we are ultimately arguing about is whether the Western way of life is inherently better than the African way of life. While I wholeheartedly believe that whites have higher IQ, that only goes to show that they operate better in the Western world of their own construction. But the argument that always takes place is that blacks are equally implementable into that Western way of life. So the argument is always on the terms of IQ etc.
Blacks excel at many other things compared to whites. There are tradeoffs to higher IQ in the group aggregate.
Chuck what was the difference in the mean continental temperatures during the human migration from Africa to Europe?
Chuck where exactly were each of the continents, relative to their distance from the equator during each stage of the migration?
Chuck, how are you able to make predictions of the effects of temperature based on relative position to the equator when you don’t know either of these things?
*NOT to mention that excessive cold is not any bigger a factor than is excessive heat, drought, or flood. So even if you could somehow prove that you knew the primeval temperature, it wouldn’t mean anything.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:10:06 Jack
That’s not true. The genus Homo has not existed for more than a couple of million years, but about ten different species of Homo have developed. Homo sapiens has not existed for more than a couple hundred thousand years.
As to evolutionary influences on intelligence, I would propose that the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture had a large effect. See this paper for details: http://www.pnas.org/content/104/52/20753.long. The idea that very long periods of time are needed for substantial changes in allele frequencies is a popular myth that has no basis in science.
To the extent that cold climates have enhanced intelligence, the effect must have been stronger in agriculturalists. According to Lynn, modern hunter-gatherers get the lowest IQ scores of all populations studied. The exception to this pattern are the Eskimos with an average score of 91, which is higher than that of agriculturalists from the warmest climates.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:22:34 Solution5050
It cracks me up to see white people not only declaring themselves the highest IQ holders, but also them declaring that an actual person’s intelligence can be measured by a TEST. LOL
Actual true human intelligence CANNOT be accurately measured. Far too many factors come into play (and get in the way) to come up with a true assessment.
If looking at technological accomplishments declare IQ levels, then on this present day, the east asians clearly BLOW whites away! And what about the usual white argument about grade scores? Not only east asians and south asians (people of India and its surrounding lands) are out-doing whites GPA-wise, but african immigrants are as well.
As for whites currently being on top… we can all agree. But it’s not from their “amazingly high IQs”. Whites have thrashed their way to the top through the barrel of a gun. Don’t believe me?…… just check out earth human history.
And inventions? There are wayyyyyyy too many notable inventions (past and recent) that whites have plagiarised (stolen) from non-white individuals. So I guess robbers and thieves are just simply “naturally more intelligent”. So on THAT pointed example, the typical white mind SHOULD declare blacks and hispanics as the highest “IQ” holders.
(Hypocrisy is a b*tch)
And so… this IQ test. Think about it….. a MAN or a series of people had to come up with this “test”. Now….. whose intelligence are we using to measure “intelligence”?
That question in itself points out the flawed concept of “IQ”.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:27:08 jas0nburns
“The exception to this pattern are the Eskimos with an average score of 91, which is higher than that of agriculturalists from the warmest climates.”
What is this IQ test everyone is taking? Anybody know? How could one devise a test without cultural bias?
Naturally, IQ is not a perfect measure of cognitive ability, but it is the most reliable and powerful variable in social science. If there’s a better metric, I haven’t seen it.
According to most studies, East Asians outscore whites by about 5 IQ points, so I don’t understand what you mean that whites would have the highest IQs.
Whites have thrashed their way to the top through the barrel of a gun. Don’t believe me?…… just check out earth human history.
All peoples that have been dominant at some point in history did it by dominating others militarily.
Name ten inventions that whites have “stolen” from blacks or Hispanics.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:40:47 Hathor
According to Chuck, people from
Africa shouldn’t speak or as I see have any capacity for language. I guess we blacks are communicating with ESP.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:41:18 BlackNarcissus
This reminds me of explanations pale people give as to why they have pale skin, blond hair and blue eyes. Because of the cold. It caused a “mutation”.
I just look at them and ask, why Inuits don’t have blond hair and blue eyes when they have been in a much colder climate for a longer period of time. I also ask what environmental factors attribute to the turning of ones eyes from a dominant color to blue and ones hair blond? The same traits you see in albinos.
This whole “cold FRONT” (cause Yah knows they’re fronting) is some bullshit in the same pseudo-scientific category as phrenology and drapetomania.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:45:23 Olufemi
The country where I spend most of my time right now has quite a few different micro-climates that go from almost arctic to moderate to mediterranean/ sub-tropical. The people that live in the areas that get extremely cold are considered to be not quite the brightest lights. (Unfortunately true.) And those people live there for countless generations. Some can go as far back as the 13th century. Those areas are mostly rural without much intellectual stimulus.
In this country, the most intelligent by Western biased IQ testing actually live in the urban areas which have a generally moderate climate, also in winter, and can get really hot in summer.
On a related note, I recently made a trip to Cameroon, primarily for professional reasons. I’m lucky enough to have family over there where I could stay. Two cousins of mine are successful professionals in Douala. The weather was muggy to say the least. Not too hot, around 25C, but very damp. It rained every day for a few hours. But in daytime, once the sun came through for just an hour or so I felt like I was suffocating. Being used to the low humidity in Europe, I felt like I couldn’t function properly. Everything felt like in slow motion. I just couldn’t concentrate like I normally would. Anyway I’m sure I would have failed any so-called IQ test (Western style, timed under pressure…) quite miserably. My cousin was not much less knocked down by the weather although one might assume that he is used to it, being 100% African.
This is once again just one example which might not directly prove anything, like the tests themselves. Going by common sense though, it’s safe to assume that your momentary mental and physical shape influenced by your environment can have some drastic influence on the result of any “IQ tests” which are systematically questionable anyway.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:46:23 Dr. Vagrant X
@Hathor:
Really! That’s awesome! Hold on, I’m going to try to contact you right now!
(This is so cool!)
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 21:54:15 peanut
interesting…snow makes you smarter…cute.
Cultural bias is indeed a problem when comparing IQ results from very different cultures. For this reason, I regard Lynn’s global IQ data only as suggestive, not conclusive. Tests administered to different racial groups in the same country are a lot more reliable, and the consensus is that in the US, IQ tests are not biased against any group that speaks English natively (the existence or lack of test bias is an empirical question that can be investigated with statistical methods).
According to most studies, Studies by whom? East Asians outscore whites by about 5 IQ points, so I don’t understand what you mean that whites would have the highest IQs.”
If it’s not perfect, then why do whites use it as the gospel? Easy answer: Because it’s one created test in which whites would tend to score the most in. And once that was realized, white society declared it as the tool for “measuring intelligence”. The IQ test is one good example of the “White man’s FUBU” – “For Us By Us”.
Typical derailment – “If they did it, then us doing it too isnt so bad.” (or) “They were the people of the times!”
Gotcha. Scroll back. I never mentioned “blacks and hispanics”…… YOU did. And you’re asking me to name ten. LOL I noticed that you didn’t ask me to name ONE… or even FIVE… because you’d know that would be too easy. You asked me to name ten because YOU don’t know of ten. And no, I’m not here to take your little “exam”. You (unsurprisingly) not knowing at least ten is YOUR ignorant burden, not mine.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you (or your group) stronger.” Ever heard that saying?
Yes, in the Conan movie.
taking the most naive interpreation of these arguments to imply that if you live in canada or greenland you’re a genius.
We are geniuses! Just ask Yogi Bear!
,em>this post is just a simplistic interpretation of the HBD argument.
That’s because it is simple, simple minded that is!
What trade off? Better athleticism? I must be a mutant as I am athletically challenged! Does shopping count?
While I wholeheartedly believe that whites have higher IQ
Say what? Judging from your posts I wouldn’t have known this!
@Jack: Is this the Richard Lynn you are referring to?
Lynn’s review work on global racial differences in cognitive ability has been cited for misrepresenting the research of other scientists, and has been criticized for unsystematic methodology and distortion.
Many of the data points in Lynn’s book IQ and the Wealth of Nations were not based on residents of the named countries. The datum for Suriname was based on tests given to Surinamese who had emigrated to the Netherlands, and the datum for Ethiopia was based on the IQ scores of a highly selected group that had emigrated to Israel, and, for cultural and historical reasons, was hardly representative of the Ethiopian population. The datum for Mexico was based on a weighted averaging of the results of a study of “Native American and Mestizo children in Southern Mexico” with results of a study of residents of Argentina.[34]
The datum that Lynn and Vanhanen used for the lowest IQ estimate, Equatorial Guinea, was the mean IQ of a group of Spanish children in a home for the developmentally disabled in Spain.[35] Corrections were applied to adjust for differences in IQ cohorts (the “Flynn” effect) on the assumption that the same correction could be applied internationally, without regard to the cultural or economic development level of the country involved. While there appears to be rather little evidence on cohort effect upon IQ across the developing countries, one study in Kenya (Daley, Whaley, Sigman, Espinosa, & Neumann, 2003) shows a substantially larger cohort effect than is reported for developed countries (p.?)[34]
In a critical review of The Bell Curve, psychologist Leon Kamin faulted Lynn for disregarding scientific objectivity, misrepresenting data, and for racism.[36] Kamin argues that the studies of cognitive ability of Africans in Lynn’s meta-analysis cited by Herrnstein and Murray show strong cultural bias. Kamin also reproached Lynn for concocting IQ values from test scores that have no correlation to IQ.[37] Kamin also notes that Lynn excluded a study that found no difference in White and Black performance, and ignored the results of a study which showed Black scores were higher than White scores.[38]
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 22:57:32 DunMoch
When anonymity is provided, note that the “scientific consensus” on race and IQ takes a near U-turn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_IQ_Controversy,_the_Media_and_Public_Policy_%28book%29
I agree with geneticist Bruce Lahn: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7265/full/461726a.html
“Science is finding evidence of genetic diversity among groups of people as well as among individuals. This discovery should be embraced, not feared, say Bruce T. Lahn and Lanny Ebenstein.
Promoting biological sameness in humans is illogical, even dangerous
To ignore the possibility of group diversity is to do poor science and poor medicine
A robust moral position is one that embraces this diversity as among humanity’s great assets”
Can a mere “social contruct” give aboriginals a brain that is only 80% the size of a European brain?
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6926391?ordinalpos=1&itool=PPMCLayout.PPMCAppController.PPMCArticlePage.PPMCPubmedRA&linkpos=2
The blank slaters are debunked and deluded. The egalitarian emperor has no clothes.
Be prepared for evidence of H. Erectus admixture in Oceanic populations to surface, just like the recent Neanderthal admixture paper showed that non-Africans were part Neanderthal.
As a white dude who has played a lot of Basketball in his youth, I can assure you – Humans are definitely NOT all the same. In a wide variety of attributes. Liberal creationism is not the answer to racism, people.
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 23:09:00 Oyan
Another take on this can be found in Michael Bradleys’, text, ‘The Iceman Inheritance’. Some ‘reviews’ suggest that this is reverse arayanism, but it is definitely intriguing.
“Michael Bradley delves back into our glacial past during the last Ice Age in order to find the prehistoric sources of the white race’s aggression, racism and sexism. Relying on the researches of Alexander Marshack, Carleton Coon, Konrad Lorenz, S.L. Washburn, Ralph Solecki and others, Bradley offers a persuasive argument that the white race, the Neanderthal-Caucasoids, are more aggressive than others because of ancient sexual maladaptation. And, in tracing the effects of Caucasian aggression, Bradley offers an uncomfortable and all-too-plausible explanation for the pattern of human history. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.”
Liberal Biorealism makes a compelling argument for HBD here:
http://liberalbiorealism.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/the-likelihood-of-genetic-group-differences-in-iq-the-black-white-gap-in-iq/
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 23:10:36 medium
i don’t believe in no IQ test. it all depends in what kind of environment you live in , your educational studies etc. for example there are people that have go to school and learn different fields out a book and don’t have no common sense.
Studies by tons of people, mostly whites and Asians.
Like I said, whites are not the group with the highest average IQ, so your argument fails in this respect. IQ tests were originally invented by Binet and colleagues in France to investigate variation in intelligence among white French schoolchildren. Psychometrics was created mostly by white people, just like modern science in general. IQ tests are used because they are a reliable and valid tool backed up by tons of research. Of course, you can criticize IQ, or GDP, or the Gini Index, or even, say, relativity and the uncertainty principle, but if you want to be taken seriously, you will have to come up with better arguments than “they were invented by white people”.
It was not “derailment”, but a statement of fact. And I wasn’t claiming that military domination by whites or anybody else is not bad, but rather I was implying that your assertion that Europeans rose to dominance “through the barrel of a gun” is an uninsightful, almost tautological (because political domination over other peoples is almost always achieved through military domination) argument.
For example, the Arabs’ rapid rise to dominance over much of the world in the 7th and 8th centuries was one of the more remarkable occurrences in history. Now, you would probably say that they managed to conquer other peoples simply because they were militarily more powerful. As a proximate explanation, that’s of course true, but what really is interesting are the ideological, organizational, technological, psychological, and other factors that enabled the Arabs to overwhelm their opponents. Similarly, what is interesting about the European conquest of much of the world are the factors that made Europeans so superior over their opponents.
Okay, I read your argument as stating that blacks and Hispanics specifically had been these great unsung inventors, but your argument is in fact that there were no such blacks or Hispanics, right? Who were they then? You said that “There are wayyyyyyy too many notable inventions (past and recent) that whites have plagiarised (stolen) from non-white individuals”, so I thought that it would be extremely easy for you to name just ten, but I was clearly mistaken. I interpret your refusal to mention even one as an admission that you cannot think of any.
How do you even decide if some invention was “stolen”? People all around the world use televisions, cars, computers, airplanes, and other “white inventions”, but are they “stolen” inventions? In any case, your characterization of the history of science and technology in Europe and its offshoots as that of “robbers and thieves” is moronic.
“Africa is not some coast-to-coast refugee camp. It cannot be: it supports a billion people. ”
Just what level of “support” are we talking about? Malthusian?
“There is no reason to suppose it has suddenly stopped. ”
Probably not stopped, but lagged. IQ tests provided by africans show the same discrepencies that IQ tests provided by whites show, as cited in Rushton’s paper here: http://psychology.uwo.ca/faculty/rushtonpdfs/Race_Evolution_Behavior.pdf
Also interesting: The more “culture-neutral” that researchers try to make an IQ test, the larger the racial gaps are in performance!
“i don’t believe in no IQ test. ”
Hard to tell if this is a troll or some ebonics-slangin’ low IQ individual with sour grapes.
Herneith, yes, that’s the same Lynn. He has replied to those and many other criticisms in his subsequent books.
bananas are not native to africa, they eat plantain
Murray and Herrnstein describe Lynn as “a leading scholar of racial and ethnic differences.” Here’s a sample of Lynn’s thinking on such differences: “What is called for here is not genocide, the killing off of the population of incompetent cultures. But we do need to think realistically in terms of the ‘phasing out’ of such peoples…. Evolutionary progress means the extinction of the less competent. To think otherwise is mere sentimentality.” (cited in Newsday, 11/9/94)
Elsewhere Lynn makes clear which “incompetent cultures” need “phasing out”: “Who can doubt that the Caucasoids and the Mongoloids are the only two races that have made any significant contributions to civilization?” (cited in New Republic, 10/31/94)
Phillipe Rushton:
Rushton (who’s gotten more than $770,000 from Pioneer) has transformed the Victorian science of cranial measurement into a sexual fetish–measuring not only head and brain size, but also the size of breasts, buttocks and genitals. “It’s a trade-off: More brain or more penis. You can’t have everything,” he told Rolling Stone’s Adam Miller (10/20/94), explaining his philosophy of evolution.
Rushton was reprimanded by his school, the University of Western Ontario, for accosting people in a local shopping mall and asking them how big their penises were and how far they could ejaculate. “A zoologist doesn’t need permission to study squirrels in his backyard,” he groused (Rolling Stone, 10/20/94).
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1271
I agree with geneticist Bruce Lahn
Agree with what? You have to pay to read the full article. Hey are you a shill for that website?
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 23:44:32 Dun Moch
“Hey are you a shill for that website?”
“That website” is only one of the premier science journals in the world. They don’t have “shills”. lol
OneSTDV has a great post up on the parallels between conservative and liberal creationism:
http://onestdv.blogspot.com/2009/07/liberals-who-deny-evolution.html
on Sat Nov 13th 2010 at 23:56:41 sam
@dumonk, chuckie:
Get a life, you dumbbells! I come from the real North boys. You guys live in the deep south from my perspective and so did your forefathers, who came from such southern places like England, Scotland and Ireland. Bah! 😀
I laugh at you southern boys since my family roots can be traced way back as long as there are church records from the middle ages and we have always lived in Finland. And since, as you guys have witnessed here, further north and colder the climate equals bigger brains and huge intellect, I declare my self supreme compared to you! 😀
Now, if for any reason you try to make a case against my supreme intellect and supreme humanity in any way, you must admit that your claims are full of reindeershit. You know, we do have reindeers up here. The ones father Christmas uses. And guess what? He lives in Finland too and his real name is Joulupukki. And how I know this? Because I am more intelligent than you southern slouches because I live up here north, just like my father, his father and so on to the beginning of time. 😀
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 00:01:59 Kid W/Golden Arms
That argument cracks me up alot in that it shoots itself in the foot…
Since millions of white people in America live in relative prosperity as opposed to the poorer people in America, the “third world” nations on Africa, Central and South America and the Caribbean, then it follows that their children will be much brighter and smarter than the average white Americans children would be given their harsher living conditions should those conditions persist….now that IQ will be relative to the conditions in which it was developed, ie it would respond to the challenges of its environment and evolve as the populations and generations change…as such this evolution would be discounted if the conditions were fostered and held up by a system that wants only certain (controllable,predictable, based on preconcieved notions coated in science) types of intelligences to exist, discounting all others…
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 00:09:06 sam
@chuckie and dumbmonk: heres more evidence that living up north makes you much more intelligent and smarter than living in any where below the Artic Circle. And kids, this is for real! This is not something invented in the university toilet 😀
The main guy was found dead later, actually last summer, in Cambodia.
@dun moch: you do know that Albert Einstein struggled in standard school tests? So was he dumb? His weakness at school was mathematics, the bases of IQ tests. He must have been a real dumbass 😀
Granted, if the IQ became higher as a result of tougher living conditions, then it stands to reason that it was not a conscious choice but rather a forced one,circumstantial. These dudes take pride in something proactively that they were not responsible for instead of using all of their supposed greatness to actually do something right here, right now…on top of that they only do it since it runs contrary to the people with “low IQ”, thus defined here in terms of their climatological experience instead of overt racism…
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 00:17:39 Dun Moch
Einstein had an IQ of 160. He did not struggle in school, that’s a myth: http://www.andyborne.com/math/downloads/myth-buster-einstein.pdf
Question for those who believe in the theories behind abagonds post:
If IQ can be made higher due to relatively harsh living conditions and a group of people who live in said conditions are smarter than those who do not, doesnt that mean that the IQ of the initial group of people can slip over generations due to easier living conditions? If these same people then tried to create the means by which intelligence was measured, dont their views require the upmost scrutiny due to their easier living conditions, and assumingly slipping generational IQ?
“doesnt that mean that the IQ of the initial group of people can slip over generations due to easier living conditions?”
Yes, and that’s dysgenics for you.
Some have theorized that a sort of eugenic/dysgenic cycle is behind the rise and fall of civilizations.
@ Dun Moch
The “eugenic/dysgenic” cycle reads like garbage, since the cornerstone of foundation “civilization” is being “civil.” They speak in terms of technological advancements, such advancements do not positively or negatively correlate to social advancement.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 01:10:32 zemo
I feel the need to chip in on a few things:
1. “Africa is the only place on earth that has a clear, proven record of greatly increasing human intelligence.” Sorry abagond, this is just not true. Landmass does not influence human intellect. Because…
2. Apart from the extremes, ie tropic regions vs. arctic ones, you find comparable conditions on all of the continents, conditions that change over time. The climate is far too unstable to have a acknowledgeable effect on humans.
3. If intellect was in direct correlation to cold weather, then people living on the mountains should be smarter than those living in the valleys. There are people, for example in Peru, or Tibet, that have lived in high altitudes for generations, enough time to evolve differently in comparison to people from the same climate zone but living in the valleys, IF climate had an influence on something as principal as intellect (hair and skin colour can adapt very quick because only few genes are responsible).
4. If it isn’t “cold=intellect” but “hardship=intellect” then esquimos and people living in deserts (for example the tuareg) would be equally smart and together smarter than anybody else on the planet.
5. Epigenetics. Even IF snow=intellect, the way how we live our lives has a direct influence on our genes. By utilizing the machinery, techniques, etc. of other cultures (and no one would proclaim that black people can’t drive cars or use computers) people from the no-snow-regions would by now have caught up, intellect-wise. Epigenetics have an incredibly high turnover. There are people in villages in the Netherlands that were under occupation during WW2 and whose inhabitants starved a lot, and their descendants even today have an increased probability to develop obesity and diabetes, their bodies still remember the starvation of their forefathers.
So, all in all: I think it would be a good idea if only people that actually understand genetics would comment on the possibly inferior genetics of another race. Because, quite honestly, the chance for bullshit being spread is very, very high.
(Yes, I DO have an idea about genetics. It’s not my primary area of interest, but I DO have a fundated education in evolutionary ecology, thanks go to Nico Michiels).
Just my 2 cents. 🙂
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 01:18:32 Solution5050
LOL This is a very interesting thread……. complete with a few stormfront trolls. LOL
Looks like Abagond has struck a nerve.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 01:28:37 Herneith
Who, L Ron Hubbard? This sounds like something up his alley!
“”” since the cornerstone of foundation “civilization” is being “civil.” “””
That’s really just wordplay.
Tell that to the Aztecs/Spartans/Mesopotamians etc
What’s a cornerstone includes is literacy, rule of law, agriculture, and applied math, not necessarily “being civil”. But yes, civilization is thought to have a domesticating effect over a long enough time. The criminal element keeps getting locked up, which takes them out of the breeding pool.
“such advancements do not positively or negatively correlate to social advancement.”
Enjoy your air conditioner much lately?
How about your wheels?
And leave it to Solution5050 to bring the thread to Godwin’s law!
Nice try…. but no.
DOUBLE “NO”. LOL If you only knew.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 02:28:42 Y.
The problems presented by parasites, poison ect have been solved by indigenous populations in the tropics before common era. Im sure you have heard of tribal and herbal medicine usage. There are more that 100 compounds used in mainstream medicines that have similar uses in tribal medicine. Some of the best known pain killers (aspirin, morphine ) are derived from plants that have been used by indigenous populations to cure various aliments for thousands of years.
Many believe tribal medicines are a crock however the study of tribal/herbal medicine has led to many modern day medicinal advances. These tribal populations would have to be mentally novel to use and retain plant knowledge to come up with remedies for such problems.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 02:42:12 Holy
What would you say allowed white people to go from “middling to backwards” to something else?
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 02:54:43 jas0nburns
So ironically according to HBD the best way to create a master race would be to breed strong Jews with smart blacks.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 02:58:51 Hathor
Dr. Vagrant X,
I’m going to connect to the Goddess Hathor-Sekhmet and all things ancient and answer the questions posed to Solution5050.
10 things the Northern people borrowed, perhaps not stolen, from the Southern people.
* Bathing
* Using perfume
* Mathematics
* Not getting their drinking water from the latrine – didn’t figure that out until 1800 years after the Romans
* The Arch
* Gunpowder(maybe southern China)
* Stone cutting
* Metal smelting
* Fire – No exactly borrowed but something they had to know before they left Africa or otherwise they would have not survived in the Cold.
Hathor is so old that she forgot number 10.
*Common Sense
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 04:35:28 Eurasian Sensation
Ok, so let’s assume, for argument’s sake, that cold does make you smarter.
Why do Native Americans test so low in terms of IQ then? They have been in the Americas no longer than 15,000 years. They descend from the same roots as the Koreans and Chinese – people who lived through the Ice Age of East Asia. The ancestors of Native Americans had to endure even tougher, colder conditions migrating from East Asia to North America. Why then, do Eskimos have average IQ of 90? Why do countries like Peru (90) and Mexico (87) test so low, when they are a mix of Spaniards (99) with Native Americans whose ancestors survived the challenging and chilly trek through Beringia?
Civilisations developed independently in Mexico and the Andes that were far more complex than anything northern Europe developed independently, until the last 1000 years when northern Europeans were able to build on the innovations of Mediterranean people. So why are Native Americans not the smartest of us all?
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 10:01:42 zek j evets
This discussion about whether “snow makes you smarter” has been fascinating almost as much as it has been scary.
I’m going to bypass the assumed connection between brain-size and intelligence since that’s been proven to be wrong by scientists for decades now. (FYI intelligence is far more influenced by education level, social class, where you grew up, how you grew up, the socio-political context you grew up in, and of course the very definition of “intelligence” has been questioned for its denotations as being ethnocentric to Western Civilization’s standards and not defining intelligence as it pertains to all cultures.
But like I said, gonna bypass that because I have a much more fun argument to make.)
If cold-climates increase intelligence (as well as various other skills mentioned by Chuck and mothers) then why, as Abagond mentions in his post, do Inuits and native Siberians not have the most advanced and intelligent civilizations by our standards? Why is it that only White “northerners” are intelligent, advanced, and civilized?
And again, as Abagond mentioned (which nobody seems to be talking about, strangely) is that the classical civilizations that most of us learned about in school began in tropical, Mediterranean, and equatorial climates. I’m thinking specifically of the Aztecs, Mayans, Sumerians, Babylonians, Indus Valley, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Shang Dynasty (which is the farthest, or one of the farthest, north). Notably, only two of these are European, and only one is really that far north relatively speaking.
Even going further in history, the most advanced civilizations (from our Western perspective) haven’t really been Western civilizations in far northern climates. The only Western civilizations that were very advanced comparatively/overall were the Greeks and Romans.
If you want to go up to the Renaissance-era Europe, which was when Europe regained much of the knowledge it lost in the aftermath of the Roman Empire’s collapse, the most advanced civilizations were STILL not from anywhere in the northern climates. In fact, the Ottoman empire (and also the Byzantines till the Ottoman’s destroyed them) was the most advanced in mathematics, science, and medicine, as well as the largest preserver of written knowledge at the time. (Again, I’m speaking from the Western historical perspective, since that’s where we are in this debate dealing with White people supposedly being smarter because they’re from cold-climates.) So, again, history proves wrong this supposedly scientific theory.
Let’s go back in time now, way way back. Back to the beginning of hominid evolution. Remember Neanderthals? They were among the first of our evolutionary ancestors to leave Africa and migrate into northern climates. Then, they were followed by Cro-Magnon.
Now, according to Chuck and the other HBDers in this debate, cold-climates enabled “people who are now more closely related to caucasians and mongoloids” to develop tools, “One of those tools was a bigger brain, higher cognitive ability, and better visio-spatial skill. “
Yet, as we see in the archaeological record (feel free to chime in here anytime Mira, since my archaeological skill is not as good as yours since you got your degree!) that Cro-Magnon, who had JUST — evolutionary time-scale speaking — left Africa for northern climates basically out-adapted Neanderthals, winning against them in competition for territory, for game, and in basic warfare.
Again, this has been shown in the archaeological record from various grave sites, and burial grounds where Neanderthal bodies have had wounds in them, as well as remains of Cro-Magnon sites in territories that were previously inhabited by Neanderthals. (I’m thinking specifically of the studies done by Dr. William E Banks, but there are others — from Marcellin Boule to now.)
So despite being adapted to cold climates for a longer period of time, Neanderthals were unable to compete or out-survive Cro-Magnons, who had less time to adapt to the colder climates.
It should also be noted that Neanderthals had similar to larger cranial capacity which strongly indicates that they had brains as big, if not bigger, than ours. And in the case of this discussion, that means they had comparable intelligence too!
So, AGAIN, history proves this theory wrong. And it has been proven wrong so many times by so many scientists working in such disparate fields that one has to wonder if this so much about science as it is about racism.
Because the only time in history have northern civilizations been the most advanced, intelligent, dominant, etc etc, has been in the last 300 or so years when Europe began its age of conquest. Yet now, there is evidence that the dominance of Western Civilizations is eroding as countries like China, India, Iran, Israel, and others considered “Third World” begin to catch up in the aftermath of colonialist/post-colonialist era. (This is especially true when you consider the out-sourcing of labor, as well as our US debt that countries like China own.)
Now, while I’m sure those who disagree will attempt to ad-hominem, create fallacies, and cherry-pick my comments to death with their own cherry-picked data and sources, the reality is that science by and large, over a long period of time has shown this idea connecting cold-climate with intelligence — and particularly Chuck’s assertions about brain-size, cognitive abilities, and visio-spatial skills — to be wrong. And this is backed-up by our own history.
So let me reiterate: THIS THEORY IS DEBUNKED, THIS THEORY IS DEBUNKED. RACISTS AT WORK. USE EXTREME CAUTION! =P
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 10:26:30 Chuck
zek:
i’ll turn to the whole of your argument sometime tomorrow, but let me first point out that you reiterate one important facet of this entire argument: many groups *but* black people have developed independent civilizations to any great degree. many groups *but* blacks have created inventions and processes that have pushed humans towards their current situation.
what is it about the inhabitants of the “mother land” that they weren’t able to develop any meaningful civilization on their own continent?
also, as i’ve said several times, abagond simplifies the hypothesis of HBDers. nobody claims absolutely that the further toward the poles these groups move the higher their IQ. rather, there is a correlation between latitude and IQ. the correlation probably breaks down at some point. just as height is strongly correlated to basketball prowess, at some point height becomes a disadvantage i.e. over 7′ 5″.
at some point much further up north, people who had to dedicate *all* of their resources towards survival weren’t able to focus on other facets of social and political development. when climate became too much of a focus it would be very difficult to develop those brians to apply any of their power to anything but overcoming cold weather. plus, very few people sought to conquer those territories, thus, those ways of life developed in a sort of vacuum.
it was the admixture of migration plus increasingly urban and political lifestyles plus the need for language, ledgering, and writing plus big game hunting and then farming mixed with a relatively temperate environment that existed north of africa that allowed for these things to occur all at once. in short, more temperate zones that reside outside of africa were prime locales for humans to hone their intelligence. migration was the impetus for all of this. africans didn’t migrate.
Now you’re conflating Blacks and Africans. First you say every race except “blacks” have done the things I mentioned, but then you switch them into Africans.
You do realize Africa is a continent that supports over a billion people right? And that even during hominid evolution had an astounding bio-diversity?
Basically… Nubian civilization, Zulu civilization, Egyptian, etc, they are all African, but not all of them would be considered “Black”, since race didn’t exist as a category until about the 13th century, and not a widespread category until the 17th century.
And since your correlation between latitude and IQ isn’t supported historically, it can only mean that it’s a modern phenomenon if it’s true at all. However, basket-ball isn’t a good metaphor since outliers exist in that category, and because you’re talking about proving a scientific theory.
But it is interesting that you backtrack on the climate issue by saying,
So now cold-climates actually inhibit civilization? I’m all for moderation, but you’re only proving my point and disproving your own that IQ correlates positively with IQ in the historical record.
Why is it that out of all the temperate zones, only Africa didn’t develop higher intelligence? Africa has temperate zones — and in fact, pretty much has every climate possible on Earth. Yet, you say they are lacking in IQ but the rest of the world (especially White, Western Civilization) isn’t? This isn’t scientific Chuck, nor is it even logical. You’re making an entire continent into it’s own outlier when there are myriad examples to Africa’s various civilizations, thus proving the intelligence of the various inhabitants, and thus disproving your theory, especially since those climates where those civilizations developed AREN’T cold climates.
I mean, I don’t even need anything EXCEPT the historical record for this discussion.
However, you did bring up a good point at the end. The “the admixture of migration plus increasingly urban and political lifestyles plus the need for language, ledgering, and writing plus big game hunting and then farming mixed with a relatively temperate environment” is the kind of thinking that’ll help you understand the myriad, complex, and often non-biological causes behind the development of human society, including race.
Feel free to comment further on my thoughts, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to answer them any better than I already have. The evidence has been presented to you a bunch of times by various commenters and Abagond. Nobody is trying to convince you, but nobody is going to be convinced by you either.
***Corrections on my comment. It should say, “but then you switch them into Africans when they migrate.”
And, “disproving your own that IQ correlates positively with cold-climates in the historical record.”
Plus, I think my html-tags messed up. Sorry!
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 12:24:13 Mira
Actually, I’ve never heard of “snow makes you smarter” argument… Probably because I live among white people in a place with continental climate. 😀
Also, I don’t buy “average IQ in Africa is 70”. There must be something wrong about it. I believe 70 is almost mental retardation. (I mean, nothing against people with low IQ, they also have a lot to give to the world… But there’s NO WAY average IQ of any group can be within marks of mental retardation). I mean, isn’t this, like the obvious proof something’s wrong with the IQ tests?
Also, Abagond:
Mankind arose in Africa. The north did have Neanderthals and Homo erectus.
I said and I’ll repeat again: Homo erectus appeared in Africa! It was a very important “step” (so to speak) in human evolution, and Homo erectus originated in Africa!
As for Neanderthals, we are not sure. There are people who see them as separate species (Homo Neanderthalenis) that fist appeared in Europe. However, there are experts who see them as a branch of Homo Sapiens (Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis, as the opposite of our species, Homo Sapiens Sapiens)… And first (Archaic) Homo sapiens originate in- guess where?- Africa.
You should also look up the definition of civilization. It doesn’t mean empire.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 13:31:21 Ella
My old psychology lecturer demonstrated that the IQ test can be ‘beat’ if you practise enough. She practised so many times she scored an IQ over 200. IQ tests are supposed to be reliable, but if one can practise them to get a higher and higher IQ, are they really reliable?
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 13:32:45 dav
One of the fallacies that are repeated here and on other blogs is that race didn’t existed until the 17th century.That’s like saying people could fly because Newton hadn’t discovered gravity. It was only beginning with the 17th century that the development of European exploration and reliable world-wide communication network combined with the development of a systematic scientific approach allowed for the level of contact to be elevate enough for a systemic analysis to be conducted. Race had always existed , it was only then that the necessary concepts and conditions were met for it’s definition as a category. Before that contacts were either in the form of invasions or limited trading relations combined with a lack of scientific approach.
Hey people! Take heed. DON’T FEED THE TROLLS!!!
They’re not here to learn…. they’re here to “win”.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 14:50:28 D
First off, in the argument that evolution has favoured whites it seems that the conclusion that whites are more ‘intelligent’ was drawn first and then attempts were made to explain it scientifically. So the key points here are:
1. Whites are more intelligent because the average IQ score of whites is higher.
2. Whites are more intelligent because they had to live in adverse climate, so they had to develop tools to make their lives easier, so they evolved to be more intelligent. Their climate was just ideal for that.
1. Abagond has already said it, IQ tests are not perfect measure of intelligence. There are a lot of factors that influence the outcome of the test, such as the subject’s health, wealth, mood, interest, stress etc. and factors not related to the subject, like the test pattern, test conductor’s neutrality etc.
2. Several people have already pointed the flaw with the argument. Here’s a wiki link that lists many important inventions. In Palolithic era, apart from spear and flute in Germany and boats in Australia the major inventions/advancements were almost all from Africa including cooking (wasn’t there a beauty expert that said Africans didn’t know how to cook?) and mining. From 10000 to 1000 BC, the list is dominated by India(Indus Valley), China, Egypt and the Middle-East(Mesopotamia). Barely any European name is there. Since 1000 BC Greece and Rome starts to appear on the list alongside China and India. From 800 AD to 1200 AD Middle East dominates the list with occasional mention of China and few mentions of Egypt, India and Europe. From 15th century European countries start to appear again and from 17th century they clearly dominate the list. China, Middle East, Egypt and India disappear from the list.
So if the winter temperature of Europe didn’t make a sudden plunge in the 15th century, the ‘snow makes you smarter’ theory fails. Instead, the data seem to correlate better with the main colonising powers of the world at different times. From the seventh century the colonisation of Africa started. From the 12th century Sultani era(also known as Muslim conquest) started in India and in 15th century Mongols invaded China. By the time non-European countries disappear from the list Europe has established its supremacy over the rest of the world.
It is also important to note the nature of the inventions. Indian inventions included toilet, bathroom, drainage, plastic surgery, cataract surgery, early form of chess etc; the kind directly related to the comfort of living because life was easier and secured by the Himalayan belt. Chinese inventions included trebuchet, gunpowder, compass, suspension bridge, rotary fan, paper, printing press, gun; nearly all-encompassing. Egyptian inventions included metal block printing, fountain pen, astrolabic quadrant, hand cannon, explosive gunpowder etc; with an emphasis of the kind of tools used in architecture. Middle Eastern inventions included various lamps, pharmacy(they’re rich in petroleum) etc and various astronomical, optical and medical instruments/chemicals including planetary analog computer, pinhole camera, magnifying lens and inhalation anaesthetic. European inventions included celestial sphere, catapult, anchor, crossbow, rifle etc.(until 17th century), mostly the kind that is used in navigation, voyages and fighting. So it’s not intelligence that won Europeans the wars, it’s the kind of inventions that happened in Europe. Besides with the colonies they also got the advancement that those colonies made which again helped them to conquer another civilization.
If one is to look at the list of scholars of the past few decades he will find plenty of non-white names in it, many of whom are 85-IQ Middle-Easterners and South Asians and 70-IQ blacks, even after all the poverty, lack of opportunity and discrimination. What does that tell you?
oh, here’s the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_historic_inventions
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 15:43:49 Dr. Vagrant X
Hm, I must have missed your connection, ’cause I didn’t get your message through our ESP network (though, somehow, I was able to read your comment despite not even knowing the concept of language because I’m subhuman. Curiouser and curiouser…). Man, I really wish I knew how to speak and write, this ESP stuff is such a pain…
-Sorry for being a little off-topic, lol.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 16:11:07 KM
All the above by D, and the following:
1. Let me ask how people arrived at the ‘IQs’ of races or countries. They might have conducted IQ tests across ‘white’ and ‘non-white’ nations/peoples. Now, many people in the developing nations are totally uneducated and many are also illiterate. How can their intelligence be measured by IQ tests?? In fact, I hope those in support of the ‘snow makes you smart’ theory remember that IQ itself is very stiffly contested as to whether it is an acceptable ‘measure’ of intelligence. For doing well in the IQ tests, a certain level of literacy/education is a must, besides other things, however much the test may claim to be of a nature that does not require any special study of any subject. And if that is a prerequisite for having ‘IQ’ (and supposedly intelligence), then how is intelligence related to race?
There is much debate as to whether there is at all any single way of defining or measuring intelligence.
2. If you look at the present scenario (i.e. from the 19th or 20th century onwards) i.e from the time when the western colonies started disintegrating, the names in the list of inventors once again included ones from middle east, Asia etc. That also supports “D’s” hypothesis correlating colonialism and the apparent* lack of inventors from Non-white or non-European communities. Especially since the latter part of the 20th century, if you look at some of the most groundbreaking technologies like semiconductors and electronics and communications, you will find that there are several non-whites feature in the list of inventors.
Some of the top corporate companies thrived on technology independently or jointly developed by ‘non-whites’ alongwith whites.
3. You will see that I used the word ‘apparent’ lack of non-whites’ names in the list of inventors in the last century or so..that is because there is enough reason to believe that racial discrimination led to many inventors from non-white communities to be completely disregarded and their works denied due recognition. One such example would be the case of Jagadish Chandra Bose from India who hardly got the kind of attention his peers got for works on radio transmission. Others include scientists like S N Bose (quote from a website: “But, international recognition eluded him. It was late in life, 34 years after his significant discovery, that he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. In fact, on several occasions, he had to take testimonials from famous physicists like Albert Einstein to convince the authorities of the worth of his work.”), Benjamin Banneker, George Washington Carver, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams etc.
http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5115
Surely, had there not been the racial discrimination, it is logical to say that more names of non-whites would have appeared in the list of inventors.
So the very basic assumption that whites are more intelligent than non-whites is wrong and hence there isn’t any point in trying to find out the reasons for something that isn’t even true in the first place….
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 17:03:31 Olufemi
The results of the so-called IQ tests the social scientists keep using for making their conclusions are obscure in the first place. Some are even suspected to be obsolete. Then the methodologies to collect the data have been repeatedly debunked by other scientists as inaccurate, incomplete, manipulated or dodged and plain unscientific. Last but not least, all that has ever been disclosed to the public are “results” in the form of coarse, eye-catching numbers. No detailed descriptions as to how the data was collected, how it was analysed, what the calculation methods were etc.
The fallacy a lot of the followers, who are obviously not scientists, run into is to assume that correlation means causation and that something being different gives any grounds to conclusions whether one is superior to the other. Fallacies which are innate to junk science. Ergo, any declarations within the purely scientific realm are pointless. The question would be, even if all of it is true – so what? Where is the scientific value in that for all mankind?
However, a big issue is that these claims are made by people who are not geneticists. The majority of them are not even experts in any field of natural science. Someone mentioned Stephen Hsu who attempts to merely find evidence for an even stronger correlation between intelligence and genetics than currently known. Although the currently known scientific findings suggest that there is a 15-50% chance that genetics alone influence intelligence, it cannot prove any correlation between intelligence and “race”. Especially in light of the fact that the existence of the genetic/biological concept of “race” is at best controversial within the scientific community, at worst invalid. Any claims of undisputed validity of the concept made by political extremists are irrelevant. As long as there is no proof beyond all scientific doubt, the claims are just what they are – disputed theories.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 17:15:54 Boddler
If cold correlates with mental strength, then why do fire mages have higher DPS than ice mages?
I tried, but since I have never taken an IQ test, I didn’t know any better and learned language.
Because the air mages blew them out of the water!
Hathor,
lol. Gotcha.
on Sun Nov 14th 2010 at 21:25:21 Luara Kinney
LMFAO @ The reindeer picture!
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 00:59:07 Ames
It’s a ridiculous argument. One could use the same logic to say that the cold makes humans burrow up and not want to move–that’s why white people aren’t the best dancers!
People in more temperate climates could live and move more comfortably, therefore were used to moving for recreation, art and dance. It’s genetic! SMH
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 01:45:53 King
“It’s a ridiculous argument”
Of course it is. Not to mention that there were many times, along the way, when Europe was seasonably much warmer than is assumed by HBDers.
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/lia/vikings_during_mwp.html
However, even if it were bitter cold, the overall premise doesn’t make sense, because intelligence is not the natural and inevitable result of fighting cold weather (or any other change in climate or terrain).
Think about it. What does one really have to do to fight the cold?
<b<1) Live in a big cave, all together and huddle around a fire, instead of building your own villages or small cities.
2) Rely on hunting of large animals (red meat) more than on developing large-scale agriculture, because of the long winters.
3) Rely heavily on skinning animal to provide warm clothing, rather than focusing on the intricate weaving and the dying of finer textiles.
SO What’s the verdict? You spend most of your time in a dank, and smokey cave, eating red meat, and covering yourself with animal skins. Geez, I wonder what were the cholesterol levels were on these geniuses?
Adaptation to an inhospitable environment does NOT necessitate a jump in the aggregate rate of intelligence. Sometimes, the only difference is that you have to work a LOT harder (not necessarily smarter) to survive.
Sometimes you have to spend so much effort trying to stay alive, that you have little time for things like… oh, I don’t know… Algebra, or Astronomy, Geometry, or Philosophy. You tend to shift societal importance to things like, who’s the best hunter, and who can scrape skins the fastest—or who has managed to keep their teeth, and not die of scurvy or gout, from lack of eating enough vegetables.
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 03:16:18 Herneith
@King:
Judging from one of the article on that site the Vikings got of Dodge when the going got tough, that is it got to cold to sustain a regular food source. I guess you could say they were smart in that they knew when to leave!
covering yourself with animal skins
It’s too bad they didn’t have road kill back then! It would have been much easier for them.
“I guess you could say they were smart in that they knew when to leave!”
Lol! Oh no! If they were really smart, they would have stayed and eaten ice cubes and seal blubber, and waited for the cold weather to make their brains bigger!
Like the reindeer in the picture?
Yes, exactly like that dopey reindeer!!
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 05:51:39 Chuck
you provided the worst argument i’ve ever read on this topic. you should probably stop trying to make the anti-HBD point because you’re actually making us look good.
you say that those groups that migrated out of africa had to work “harder and not necessarily smarter”. can’t you understand that those two are inextricable from each other. they are a differentiation from the default position that existed in african ancestors. africans worked as they worked – at a static level of intelligence and hard work. they did what they had to do. there was no impetus to “improve” in terms of intelligence b/c they had fully adapted to their environment in the absence of any exogenous large scale force of nature.
groups that exited africa had to work both harder *and* more intelligently to survive. those that survived passed on their “survivor genes” to their descendents. the change of environment led to agriculture and writing and urbanity and philosophy and mathematics, astronomy and physics. none of those existed in africa until non-africans introduced them.
in your arguments you try to pooh-pooh the eugenic properties of novel environments. dealing with more adverse climate conditions, new terrain, and different potential food sources provided that impetus towards eugenic development.
It only seems like that to you, Chuck, because you don’t understand the difference between the concepts of “harder” vs. “smarter.”
The two are NOT inextricably linked, and anyone who is not struggling to prove the unprovable can clearly see that.
Doing something differently under new circumstances may not demand any more intelligence than doing it as you had been under the previous circumstances. In fact, sometimes, the new circumstances even mean that you must begin doing things in a way that is less challenging to your intellect than before.
“NEW” does not always translate to “more INTELLECTUALLY challenging,” sometimes it’s just more physically challenging, sometimes it just means that it takes more time to do things it took less time to do before. You are building a false equivalency.
How much intelligence does it take to sleep in a hole? I mean, scrambling into the caves, where your children roll around in the reek with the dogs, covering yourself with ill-fitting animal skins against the cold. This is no great accomplishment. There were no major contributions from the colder climes of the North. Their tribes emerged late, at the edges of the great mediterranean empires as crude savages, dirty nomads with clumsy and inaccurate weapons. They brought no inventions with them to speak of, no innovations of war, no complex languages, no great cultures equal to those of the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, or Romans.
It’s quite clear that the cold weather did nothing for them.
“survivor genes”
HAHAHAHAhahahaha!!
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 08:26:29 sam
@ king:
You sure you have not visited Finland? That sounds a lot like this country. Well, we did not have caves, but we had a whole lotta woods, from here to Pacific actually, so we build houses from logs and worked our arses off just to survive.
Like one scientist wrote in his piece of European History, besides some nomadic tribes roamin in the northern wilderness, the only people who seemed to move in on this area above the natural limits of human life were the finns. They were the only people who tried, with varying success, to grow anything so far up north. And with that hard work we survived, had a few biblical hungers etc. but we survived.
One russian scientist even stated that the finns were the original people who lived along side the continental ice cap during the last ice age! Wow! And therefore we must be the most genius nation in the whole World! 😀
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 09:02:05 zek j evets
While I can appreciate your HBD-bashing, it seems a bad idea to turn around and suddenly make the same mistake by supposing that just because colder-climate nations weren’t the most advanced civilizations during the early centuries of our history that somehow There were no major contributions from the colder climes of the North. Their tribes emerged late, at the edges of the great mediterranean empires as crude savages, dirty nomads with clumsy and inaccurate weapons.
This to me is a generalization that is as much ethnocentric as Chuck’s own theories. Calling any people “savages” is insulting, and hearkens back to scientific racism in the late 19th/early 20th century, especially Louis Henry Morgan’s attempt to categorize various cultures’ stages of civilization. (Probably one of the most offensive thing I’ve had to read in my anthropology courses.)
In defense of Northern cultures, some of the earliest examples of cave art, sculpture, and group hunting techniques were developed there. And some of the earliest examples of burial practices (which strongly indicate the evidence of religion) were also found among these groups.
This issue isn’t all that black/white, except for the IQ to cold-climate theory. That part is definitely pretty simplistic.
However, in the course of disproving Chuck, you’re making the same mistakes he does.
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 11:48:04 Hathor
Why is it the some folk have to take the high road and others don’t?
I just saw yesterday on a travel show, cave paintings in India that were as old as the European ones, although burial and art have more to do with culture than intelligence. I do believe some hominids buried their dead before they were technically homo sapien.
@ zek
No offense meant to Northerners, because clearly, their time DID come. If you look at the world today, the Northern barbarians have done pretty well for themselves. But their success came (like most peoples in history) from building on the knowledge and accomplishments of other civilization that came before them, not because they were particularly impressive when they first emerged on the world stage.
The original state of the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, and Vikings, makes their eventual ascent all the more surprising and impressive. But it was not cold weather and “bigger brains”that brought the North to their turn at the top, but prolonged contact with the Romans and remnants of other civilization.
In fact, when the focus of history turned to Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, we see it fall into the Dark Ages for centuries before it began to emerged as a new and significant power.
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 14:39:53 Kwamla
This formating needs fixing Abagand
Before I can comment!
Oops, I forgot to address my use of the word “savages.”
I did use that word BECAUSE it is offensive.
It is a word that was coined by the northern barbarians later in their history, and applied exclusively to darker-skinned peoples in less developed lands and cultures. This has often lead White people to believe that their never WERE any “White savages.”
This, of course, was not the case. The problem is that White people have almost never heard that term applied to themselves or to their own forefathers.
However, when I use the word, to describe the northern barbarians, at the edges of the Roman Empire, it does not carry the same connotation because it is not meant to say that the northerners were GENETICALLY inferior. They were just living in areas poor in usable resources and isolated from the main engines of human technology and cumulative knowledge.
That is the difference between my position and Chuck’s. I don’t think that the “savages” are some genetically backward class of human being, Chuck does.
I must admit to finding it difficult to comprehend the extent of the arrogance and ignorance that compels certain people like Chuck to keep on making statements like this:
I say this because someone like Chuck actually believes – from his postings – that he is a fairly “knowledgeable” individual. Probably someone with a high IQ!!!
So I would imagine that he would probably be aware of a common philosophical logic proposition first associated with “Karl Popper” in the “The Logic of Scientific Discovery”. It goes like this…
Supposing we make a number of observations about swans and conclude because of our “existing” knowledge of swans that they all must be white …
Popper said about this:
No matter how many instances of white swans we may have observed, this does not justify the conclusion that all swans are white.
He showed how it only takes one observation of a “Black swan” to show the invalid and error inducting conclusion: “..All swans are white”
But this is precisely what Chuck has set out to do with his insistence that: “philosophy and mathematics, astronomy and physics. none of those existed in africa until non-africans introduced them.
So For Example…”Robert Temple and the Sirius Mystery”
I have always known about this connection. A West African tribe called the Dogon who believed their ancestors originated from the star system of Sirius. And that civilization on this planet was started by these ET’s.
In 1976 an astronomer – Robert Temple published a book about this Sirius connection. The information was …heavily suppressed and Robert Temple was ridiculed and threated by “unofficial” government sources. Since that time a lot of this information has been corroborated from other sources as he confirms in these interviews.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5bqcs_sirius-mystery-pt-1-robert-temple_tech
Now it may be possible to dismiss or ridicule this “ET” connection but it cannot explain how so called “primitive tribes” in Africa had detailed astronomical knowledge WAY BEFORE any white Europeans or Westerners with their enhanced “survivor genes” and “bigger brains” were able to discover this.
They knew about the existence of star systems such as Sirius A , B and C. None of these are observable without the assistance of astronomical telescope. This knowledge also allowed the astronomer Robert Temple to predict the discover of the two stars “B” and “C” before they were known to the present then astronomical community.
Now this type of information is not difficult to find and research on the Internet. Its also the reason why Karl Popper also concluded:
If we are uncritical we shall always find what we want: we shall look for, and find, confirmations, and we shall look away from, and not see, whatever might be dangerous to our pet theories
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Popper
Which is precisely what I see happening here with some of the theories espoused in this thread.
To Kwamla’s point, you might also have a look into the mathematics of African fractal design.
Here’s a TED talk on the subject.
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 17:33:54 Hannu
I’d like to point out that the size of the brain is not as important as the convolution of the brain. Women, in general, have smaller brains that men, but nobody in their right mind is going to say that women are less intelligent than men.
But maybe I should just go outside and take a roll in the snow to increase my intelligence (yes, we already have some). I’ll be right back and post something smarter!
YES!. This is an excellent presentation on the origin of common mathematical fractals present in organisational patterns found exclusively in Africa communities.
Thanks for this King I was unaware of this origin of fractal mathematics connection.
These mathematical shapes existed for God knows how many thousands of years rooted in the structures of African villages before Western mathematicians had even heard of them!!!
Indeed when Western science did discover these patterns, as the researcher says, they initially just dismissed them as “useless and insignificant”.
Probably more arrogance and ignorance again…
@hannu: way to go my countryman! Forst to the sauna and then to the snow! we have both: extreme heat and extreme cold! How this figures in these theories??
Tomorrow, sam, we will conquer the world with our superior intellect and giant pe…um…brains, I said brains! Mu-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
“Hunnu the Barbarian” sounds very good! You can make a movie about your conquests.
Sorry Sam, but “Sam the Barbarian” isn’t quite as convincing.
LOL! Sam can be Samwise Gamgi!
LOL! The hobbit barbarian?
Your half-a**ed!
Make sure you get out of the sauna and into the snow first!
This is the gist of these blacks have never invented anything arguments, isn’t it? When they come across anything complex, they dismiss it as they were not ‘invented’ by whites. It puts a dent in their white superior IQ theories should they have to delve any further. They can carry on with their delusions.
“Barbarian” originally meant people who didn’t speak greek, as defined, unsurprisingly, by Greek. Nothing more, nothing less.
So I suppose Cimmerians didn’t speak greek, by Crom!
@hannu: I think it is time to evoke the acient gods of the finns and shout Perkele Jumalauta, (Percunas God Help literal translation), and roll in the snow few more times before we embark to our supreme northern whiteness conquer of the world! And after we have beaten our back shining red with the vasta/vihta in the sauna, drink few more kuupallista of mead, way we go.
This, of course, is possible because we are superior and white. Actually we are very white since today there was no sun at all, only three hours of rainy grey twilight. And during this time of year we maintain our whiteness because of no sun light at all!
And King, sam is only my christian name, not my true finnish name, whihc shall be revealed only to my fellow finns, whose intellect can devulge such names. Ynjevi. 😀
on Mon Nov 15th 2010 at 22:45:49 Hannu Lipponen
LOL! Perrrrrrrkele! Or perkunas!
Hmm, why don’t we invite some hot black women to add some contrast to the extreme whiteness and paleness of these northern latitudes!
ps. Mulla on muuten synttärit tänään, siksi mä postaan tänne lonkeropäissäni näin paljon. Hehe!
Ynjevi!! You’re right…
I’m afraid that my ancestors were far too warm for me to be able to pronounce it, much less, understand it.
You good Finns must be left unto yourselves, with your impossible language—too full of consonants and diacritical markings 🙂
LOL! Well, to tell the truth, I don’t really get that “Ynjevi” either!
By Ukko, the finnish god of thunder, “Ynjevi” shall not be uttered by mortal tongues! (Excluding Stan Lee, the first and foremost expert of nordic deities)!
I have a confession to make folks. I am really from Mars! Here’s my picture:
Here’s a picture of my hubby Tars Tarkas, four arms and all:
It’s a cold as f*ck here! Hence the large brains. By the way, my husband is 10,00 years old and he still dresses the same as when I met him 8,000 years ago. What’s up with that?
Ha! Ever thought why Dejah Thoris has tits, even though she hatches eggs?
Barsoom rules!
(ps. I like the direction this conversation is taking…)
The bosom of Mars nurtures only the coldest of warriors…
…from Earth! White man didn’t save just Earth, he had to save Mars as well with his superior intellect and cold reasoning, brrrr….
ps. Tars Tarkas is the coolest mofo of sci-fi EVER!
“I have a confession to make folks. I am really from Mars!”
Excellent, then perhaps you speak Finnish. Or the even more indiscernible language of HBD. (see Chuck for lessons)
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 00:10:12 Hannu Lipponen
Our green brothers!
(Hmmm… suppose they have these really FINE green sistahs as well…I wonder what they could do with those four arms…)
just kidding, KIDDING!
ps. I design humor postcards for living, hence my lame attempts at humor…
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 00:24:45 Herneith
I’ll say! Mines got four!
Tars Tarkas is the coolest mofo of sci-fi EVER
He leaves the toilet seat up which pi**es me off, otherwise he’s not that bad a husband.
Excellent, then perhaps you speak Finnish.
Nope. Martian is across between Italian and Conkinese.
As for the HDBers, they remind me of these folk:
http://www.erblist.com/abg/whitemen.html
Not very nice folk!
LOL-LOL-LOL!
Never bothered to check ANY of the “facts” of those HDBers, because I had my BS-meter calibrated just last week!
Besides, an unknown government source has affirmed me that HDBers are not from Mars but from URanus!
What the hell is Conkinese? Inquisitive minds must know!
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 03:20:19 Uncle Milton
To King:
It’s a looser argument. Most people forget that evolution requires millions of years to make significant changes to any species..
Well first, one should probably define evolutionary changes in terms of generations and not years… bacteria for example reproduce at a much faster rate than humans. One can induce marked changes in a strain of bacteria in less than a year.
As an example of Phenotypic change in humans is that pale skinned white people basically didn’t exist until around 5,500 years ago. The adaption was a response to dietary change (forced by population pressures..) going from a diet heavy in fish and meat to more grains. Fish and meat supplied vitamin D (a deficiency of vitamin leads to a marked rise in miscarriages…. and rickets which hinders formation of a pelvis large enough to give birth) so that when the Northern diet changed the lighter skinned people survived and the darker skinned (probably light Southern Italians..) effectively did not pass on their genes.
(Where some people still retain darker skin, such as with the Inuit in the Arctic, the people obtain significant amounts of Vitamin D from eating fish and sea mammal blubber…)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1210056/White-Europeans-evolved-5-500-years-ago-food-habits-changed.html
To Eurasian Sensation and zek j evets:
The HBD argument (basically that’s what the cold weather argument is…note I am not endorsing it) is that a combination of cold weather and a dense population are required for increased intelligence. (Dense enough to move away from hunting and gathering…)
HBD certainly has it’s racist proponents and skirts very closely to what could be called racist science but they generally acknowledge that some of the smartest groups of people in the world are not white. Parsis and Brahmins in India and the Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese in Northeast Asia rank higher in average intelligence to HBDers than Gentile whites.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 03:39:13 King
Good point. And a very interesting article, thanks. I’ll keep that theory under advisement.
“HBD certainly has it’s racist proponents and skirts very closely to what could be called racist science but they generally acknowledge that some of the smartest groups of people in the world are not white”
White supremacy is not required for racism to exist.
True….albeit HBDers generally put whites near the top of the heap. Just not the very top.
As an example of Phenotypic change in humans is that pale skinned white people basically didn’t exist until around 5,500 years ago.
I should clarify that this is hypothesized but probably would require more evidence.
Yes, that is how i understood it. Evolution is a pretty big word, that covers a lot of ideas. I’d have to think about wether or not I believe this is “evolution” or not.
I mean, as you get older, your body goes through some dramatic changes. Is that evolution?
If you exercise and lift weights religiously, you will look very different than humans who do not. Is that evolution?
If you don’t get certain vitamins or minerals, or direct sunlight, this will also change your appearance. Is that evolution?
Not saying it is or isn’t, just thinking that physiological change, even across a large group may or may not be seen as an evolutionary change, per se.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 06:17:19 Sagat
There are some weird ideas being bounced around in this thread. I didn’t read every single post so I may be repeating something that was already said, but I just want to add my thoughts on the cold climate hypothesis.
This idea is largely misunderstood. That’s why whenever this concept is brought up, we get someone asking the question, “Why aren’t Inuit the smartest people on earth?” or some other variation of that.
Cold climates do not create intelligence. Cold climate is simply a selective pressure. If you had a group of 1000 people and they moved up north and the harsh weather winnowed away most of the group, leaving only the smartest alive to propagate, they aren’t going to be any smarter than they already were. Sure the average intelligence of the group will be higher, because those on the lower end don’t exist anymore to bring down the mean, but they aren’t going to turn into super geniuses.
The brain is a complex organ and there are numerous genes that affect the brain’s structure. We don’t even know all the genes that are involved in brain function. Some may increase brain size. Some may increase the number of neural connections. Some may affect glucose metabolism. They all work in tandem to allow us the ability to move, think and operate. And unless a mutation or a recombination of genes occurs that changes brain function, then the brain stays the same.
It’s most likely that mutations that changed the human brain came from areas where there were large populations. That’s because the increase in numbers creates more opportunities for new mutations. In early human prehistory, those that lived in cold climates had sparse populations. Warm climates with abundant food were the most likely regions for increases in intelligence.
Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley, the Indus Valley and other similar areas would be statistically the most favorable areas for new mutations. That doesn’t mean that a mutation couldn’t originate from a northern population. It’s just less likely. So when some point out that Egypt and Babylon were advanced civilizations that existed in warm climates, it’s really a silly point. Of course they were. But does that mean they had high average intelligence? That’s really the question that should be asked. What were the pressures that would remove deleterious gene combinations from the gene pool of those populations?
That’s where the cold climate hypothesis comes in. It simply suggests that a group moved into colder areas with individuals that already possessed higher intelligence and the harsh climate killed off those not suited for a lifestyle that required long term planning and higher visual-spatial skills. It just about changing averages.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 07:54:53 Eurasian Sensation
@ Sagat:
I am curious. As you are a person of Thai ancestry who is a believer in HBD ideas, how does the average IQ of Thailand (91) sit with you?
Does it not rankle you at all that according to HBD theory, your people are genetically below par in the IQ department?
And does it not strike you as odd that despite their genetic closeness to the Chinese, Thais are about 10 IQ points below the Chinese?
I ask because it kinda strikes me as odd that you believe what you believe.
@ Sagat
All things being equal ANY existential crisis achieves the same result, meaning that cold temps are no more helpful to winnowing populations than extremely warm and arid ones.
Secondly, it is incorrect to assume that those who survive in crisis always have higher I.Q.s. It may turn out to be those with better blood circulation, or those who can haul more wood, or hunt more meat. Because intelligence (as much as we idolize it) is not always the primary factor in survival.
Years ago I used to be bothered by the idea that Thais had a lower IQ than northern Asians. But the facts are the facts and I dealt with it. The IQ numbers come from the Thai government themselves and not some outside group, so it’s not as if I could point the finger at others.
Even though Thais don’t have the highest IQ, I still love Thai people and have never been ashamed of being Thai(though I consider myself American first and foremost). My brother isn’t so bright, but never in my life has his intelligence been a factor in my feelings for him. This is the way I feel about most everybody. I speak about HBD as a matter of fact. Not because I have a beef with others or am looking to tear somebody down. It’s not about what I want to believe, but what I see as being true.
As to your question about the discrepancies in IQ between Thais and Chinese, I don’t find it odd at all. The difference is about the same as between Greeks and Germans. It is what it is.
I was only speaking in regards to the cold climate hypothesis. Of course cold weather is not the only selective pressure on a population and higher intelligence is not the only adaptation to every pressure. The traits that get passed on are those that are beneficial for survival. It may be higher intelligence or any other trait. Maybe a freak mutation could’ve made humans furry and they’d survive the cold that way. Evolution is random.
It’s not biological evolution which is what the topic is about…biological evolution requires reproduction.
Certainly the word evolve has other uses in English.
http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Evolution
“The change in genetic composition of a population over successive generations, which may be caused by natural selection, inbreeding, hybridization, or mutation.”
Wikipedia’s definition (since I am lazy..)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
“Evolution (also known as biological, genetic or organic evolution) is the change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms through successive generations. This change results from interactions between processes that introduce variation into a population, and other processes that remove it. As a result, variants with particular traits become more, or less, common. A trait is a particular characteristic—anatomical, biochemical or behavioural—that is the result of gene–environment interaction.”
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 09:14:40 sam
@hannu: arvasin!! 😀
@herneith: 😀
king: 😀
Seriously, we had to take IQ tests in the army (mandatory national service) and since nobody wanted stay longer than they had to, everybody tried to fix the results as low as possible without getting caught in the act. Higher the score, more surely you ended up in the officers training and three more months service. So…
Well, lets just say that the officer in charge the tests was not amused by the results and we got some extra activities out doors as a result. But he told us that now we had to live with the results for the rest of our lives, so I assume somewhere in some archive there are number of IQ tests that prove that at least one group on finnish conscripts were a amazingly dumb :-D.
I also know a person, who now runs his own hi tech company and is internationally recognized computer security expert, and he never graduated from high school. He was also sent to some tests because his poor performance at school and the IQ tests revealed lower than average intellect. He was also absent from school so much that the authorities were considering to send him to the “special” school for “special” children. 😀
Well, since he was in trouble all the time, they gave him his papers and kicked him out and the principal even told him, that in twenty years he’ll be either dead or in nut house. Thirty years later he is much more richer and successfull than any of his old school mates or the principal. The reason: he was more interested in computers than school as a kid and could not care less about the school or IQ tests. Lesson here is: don’t read too much on these tests :-D.
When ever somebody is trying to construct some kind of value system based on race or qualities based on race, that is racism. You can hide behind some pseudo science such as HBD, but in the end of the day that is what you are: a racist. The only purpose of these things is to construct some kind of racial system, this race is more intelligent than this, and for what? That is the real question.
Tha nazis had their own theories on it, but nobody takes them too seriously today. After all the real aryans are iranians and some north western indians, pakistanis etc., not some six two tall blonde fancy looking male models from Klaufenberg Bavaria. This HBD is same kind of horse manure.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 11:00:36 Chuck
Africa and its warm and arid climate were the default position. As Sagat said, the cold weather hypothesis is wildly misunderstood. The most important impetus was moving out of Africa. Everything else cascaded from that.
Africans had no impetus for their brains to evolve as they had their environment “figured out”. Call this the “Mario Bros. Theory of Human Evolution” if you like. They didn’t, or rather their genes didn’t, need to develop new strategies in order to get by.
“I was only speaking in regards to the cold climate hypothesis. Of course cold weather is not the only selective pressure on a population and higher intelligence is not the only adaptation to every pressure. The traits that get passed on are those that are beneficial for survival. It may be higher intelligence or any other trait.”
Exactly. It is important not to conflate survival to intelligence because in many scenarios dumb people who have other adaptive advantages do survive. THEREFORE, The assumption that the applied selective pressures of cold temperature always result in heightened INTELLIGENCE, is cherry picking the particular survival trait that you desire. It may be as simply as strong dumb people who are hairier.
Africans had no impetus for their brains to evolve as they had their environment “figured out”.
So then, because your forefathers live on a large continent, that means that they have FIGURED OUT the entire environment before you were born?
1) They figured out the massive desserts,
2) They figured out the teeming population of large predators, that were still a challenge thousands of years later.
3) They figured out all the agricultural challenges
4) They figured out jungle survival
5) Mountain Survival
6) Disease control and treatment
7) Typhoons, volcanoes, floods, wildfires
Yes, NONE of these things exerted the slightest pressure that forced Africans to evolve. Since they were born on the African continent, they were naturally immune to all of those challenges, because Africans do not grow more intelligent by solving African problems. -they were already “figured out.”
Only people who moved into a colder climate with far fewer large predators, and with less varied climate regions were challenged to evolve.
Seriously, my concern is not with these HBD ‘theories’, per se. After all opinions are like a**holes, everyone’s got one. My concerns is what these HBD adherents, propose to do with these theories. This sounds like Eugenics to me. For example, how would it effect public policy etc? As history shows, such views can lead to genocide.
I’m more or the mind that false theories should be challenged at their source of false assumption. Without an operational theory upon which to base their biases, it becomes more difficult to take ANY meaningful action.
People like Chuck and Sailer must be kept at the lunatic fringe, where they belong. Of course, they will always have some deluded adherents, but so long as their theories are exposed to the obvious and simple truth, they will not get far with them.
As for the intent of the HBDers, it doesn’t really matter. The fact is that no matter what they intend… their false science will result in further racial prejudice and unfair stereotypes, rationalizations, and categorization.
“I also know a person, who now runs his own hi tech company and is internationally recognized computer security expert, and he never graduated from high school. He was also sent to some tests because his poor performance at school and the IQ tests revealed lower than average intellect. He was also absent from school so much that the authorities were considering to send him to the “special” school for “special” children.”
Great points, Sam! …or whatever your real name is 🙂 Yrvilindikin!??
Yeah, I don’t get that people don’t seem to understand how complex and idea intelligence is.
Dictionary.com defines prejudice as follows:
“The capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc.”
But consider that it doesn’t mention:
1) How long it takes you to grasp any given truth – which is often seen as a major part of being smart.
2) The kind of concepts that you are most adept at comprehending, because most people specialize in this regard.
3) The overall variety and scope of diversity of concepts that you comprehend.
4) The effective application of knowledge, once acquired.
5) The ability to communicate concepts to others in a way that they can most easily understand them.
All of these things are also applicable to our valuation of overall intelligence, but ALL of them are certainly not always tested for.
Add to that the fact that tenacity and self-motivation is a very BIG part of applied intelligence. If a person is good at solving Rubik’s Cubes and playing Three-Dimensional Chess, but is a lazy bones, who prefers to live in his mother’s basement, jobless, eating Pop Tarts and Top Ramen, is that really an “intelligent person?” And if so, by who’s standards?
The basic point is that intelligence is notoriously difficult to quantify. It’s an extremely complicated idea, that is near impossible to assess based on any given test.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 17:49:40 Blanc2
Interesting post. I had never heard any of this. IQ measures something. In my experience what it measures doesn’t seem to have much to do with common sense or the kind of “human” skills that are a necessary part of any successful society. For example, I’ve been involved at various times, in a busines context, with a few MENSA members. In know this because they seem to always want to remind you that they are MENSA members. Mostly I’ve found them to be misanthropic at least, and often obessissve to the point of being sociopathic — certainly not the kind of individuals, in general, that one wants to have to rely on in a social or family setting.
Herneith:
what do you think people could possibly do with belief in HBD in this democracy with this much white guilt roaming around?
as for me (and I think Sailer), i just want to eradicate the egalitarian goals and ideals that we the people use to gauge black achievement. the achievement gap is *partly* a function of lower IQ. throwing money after educational achievement for blacks continues to prove ineffective.
“the achievement gap is *partly* a function of lower IQ. throwing money after educational achievement for blacks continues to prove ineffective.”
So, there’s your answer, Hernieth:
Stop wasting so much money on trying to educate Black people, because it’s just throwing money down the drain.
Yeah, it is expected to hear something like that from somebody who is “not a racist”.
So I thought, I just wanted to clarify their operational goals instead of just them pontificating on their beliefs.
what do you think people could possibly do with belief in HBD in this democracy with this much white guilt roaming around
What white guilt? There isn’t much. Those whites, who are introspective, when it comes to racism, are few and far between. I can count on my fingers those that I have come across. What do you propose they do with these inferior IQ people in regards to public policy?
Just as I thought! A racist hiding under the cloak of pseudo-science!
certainly not the kind of individuals, in general, that one wants to have to rely on in a social or family setting.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 19:12:31 theobsidianfiles
Hang on, Herneith.
Is it “racist” to simply disagree with the way taxpayer monies are being spent wrt education? I mean, let’s say for the sake of argument that Black folk are indeed, on average, less intelligent than Whites or Asians – should we then continue to spend large amounts of taxpayer money on inner city schools, knowing that the majority of the kids there are not able to achieve parity with their White and Asian peers?
What are we to say of the fact that, as the late John Ogbu noted, even the children of the solidly Black middle and upper middle classes, tend to score lower on tests than do lower class and poorer Whites and Asians? do we just ignore his findings and accuse anyone who suggests cognitive differences between the races a “racist” a priori?
See, this is where folks on the Left – and from what I’ve been gathering based on your comments here and your blog, I would say you’re definitely on that side of the political aisle – has to come to grips with its own biases. I don’t think it does the HBD debate any good for the Left not to honestly grapple with these questions, and indeed may only serve to ngin up support for the HBD side.
Now, I agree with you, when you want to know what point the HBDers are trying to make; like you, I too want to know and explore the actual public policy changes they would support and want to see passed. I agree with you that Eugenics, which is what the HBDers most definitely support, would fail, as it has always failed. In every nation its been tried, including Singapore, it has failed miserably – and, as I’ve noted before on another thread here at Abagond’s, the HBDers either never gave much thought to, or they have deliberately refused to take up how they intend to increase the number of Smart White People, and in order to do that, you have to convince White Women with Options, to forego attending prestigious unis, have high prestige and high paying careers, not live in places like NYC, and agree to have babies, at say 21 or so, with Jeremey the STEM Guy. Uh, good luck with that, because so long as we live in a free society, there is no way in hell you’re going to be able to make such an option attractive to many young ladies.
“Is it “racist” to simply disagree with the way taxpayer monies are being spent wrt education? I mean, let’s say for the sake of argument that Black folk are indeed, on average, less intelligent than Whites or Asians – should we then continue to spend large amounts of taxpayer money on inner city schools, knowing that…”
You see, Hernieth, this is what I was trying to tell you above. As long as these dullards think that they have some kind of workable “scientific” theory… no matter how many times it has been utterly disproved above, in this very thread… there will always be people who argue about the allocation of resources, based on those spurious arguments.
Black Americans are not even 13% of the U.S. population. Even at that, they are dreadfully underrepresented in the Advanced Academy based on their population size.
How much tax money do you think is really “wasted” on Black people’s education, as a percentage of the total annual education budget? Not very much, comparatively, I assure you.
It’s not really about “wasting money,” the money spent on Black education would be a minor earmark tagged onto the back end of an insignificant farm bill. The money is insignificant when compared to the whole. The real problem is hate.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 19:41:13 Dr. Vagrant X
The real problem is hate.
Cosigned.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 21:05:50 zek j evets
I have to agree with you King. The money being spent on public education in this country is paltry compared to Social Security, Defense, and paying interest on the national debt. (By the way, shout out to my man Dubya for adding some extra billions to it for us!)
So even if Chuck and/or Obsidian want to say that using taxpayer money to fund education for Black people in America is a waste, then what about the wasted money trying to stabilize countries like Iraq and Afghanistan with our military? Wouldn’t that be a waste of money on people who (for the sake of argument) are less intelligent because of their race?
See you can tell how racist these views really are by the lack of consistency in their views when it comes to dealing with reality. Sure, less money to Black kids in school in America, but keep the cash-flow going for bombs blowing up Brown kids in the Middle East. While these aren’t necessarily the views of Chuck or Obsidian, that questions like these aren’t discussed in tandem with their beliefs is very telling to me.
When it comes to public policy, HBD’s scientific racism is going to fail as much as slavery (and attempts to justify it) failed. Pardon the dramatics, but would anyone expect members of any race to accept decisions influenced by racism? (No matter how “scientific” its conclusions are based on.) We’d have another civil war. No doubt.
Also, this issue is not a fight between Left or Right. Indeed, Conservatives condemn HBDers like Steve Sailer as much as the Left does. It’s sad that American politics always comes down to a choice between Right or Left, because people’s political views are so much more complex than that. But when it comes to race, I’d like to see more bi-partisanship and less showmanship by Democrats or Republicans (especially the Republicans these days, oy vey) trying to win talking-points with talking-heads full of empty words.
on Tue Nov 16th 2010 at 21:34:01 Y.
I agree with King
I understand the need to grant HBD its premise for the sake of argument and get a sense of where they want to go in terms of public policy and the real world applications of HBD. However, Im having a hard time granting that premise because the foundation for it is faulty to begin with.
Its a huge leap to give the benefit of the doubt to a concept as tenacious as HBD.
Also, I have another question for so-called HBDers.
How do you guys reconcile the cold-climate hypothesis with alternative evolutionary hypotheses such as the Multiple Regional Hypotheses(another evolutionary theory I have heard HBDers through around)?
To Zek:
I have to agree with you King. The money being spent on public education in this country is paltry compared to Social Security, Defense, and paying interest on the national debt.
School districts had total expenditures of approximately $562.3 billion in 2006–07, including about $476.8 billion in current expenditures for public elementary and secondary education. Of the remaining expenditures, $62.9 billion was spent on capital outlay, $14.7 billion on interest payments on debt, and $7.8 billion on other programs (programs such as community services and adult education, which are not a part of public elementary and secondary education).
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66
$562 billion per year is not paltry (and is $100 billion less than US defense expenditures at a time when the US is fighting two wars…) Adjusted for inflation, US defense expenditures in (pre wars) 2000 were $100 billion less than the money for public education spent at the primary and secondary levels. (This does not cover college or trade schools…)
How that money is being spent and if it it being spent properly (on people of any race..) is another debate.
I totally agree.
Notice that the problem is not wasting money on educating ALL “dumb people” in America, of every race. They don’t want to weed out ALL of the academically challenged people—they want to focus instead on a single race. Black people.
Ask yourself why no other race was mentioned?
This is the pathology of HBD—It’s the same old Klan of Ku Kluxers, this time pulling their hoods over their lab coats. All of this rubbish science about how cold weather is better for evolution than hot/dry weather etc. is just a facade. And who are the true targets of all of this? who are the wastrels? Who are the phantom menace?
That is what HBD really is.
aw, little girl is too cute
No she’s not, she’s a tax burden!!!
Zek,
Well, I’m glad you didn’t lump me in with those who are actually arguing the case I questioned Hereneith about; I wasn’t in agreement with it, just asking her some probing questions.
See, I don’t think its necessarily “racist” to ask whether public monies are being used in a responsible fashion wrt the public education system, particularly in inner city school areas where Black folks are the majority. Nor do I think it necessarily fair to interject the wars in Iraq or Afghanistan into said conversation. I think both issues can stand or fall on their own merits or the lack thereof; emotional appeals one to another aren’t necessary, and plays right into the hands of those who are fervent HBDers.
My position on the matter is simple: so what if Black folks, in aggregate, are less intelligent than Whites? Now what – do we deny them basic civil liberties? Do we circumvent the Constitution under the grounds that Blacks are more prone toward violence and criminal behavior? Let’s say we do away with Affirmative Action once and for all – on what grounds are we to assume that high quality, individual Blacks would indeed be given a fair shake?
And indeed, as I think it was King rightly noted above, what are we to do with the millions of Dumb White People – or, are they simply not as bad a concern as putatively Dumb Black ones? And then there’s the elephant in the middle of the room – how do we increase the number of Smart White People – a measure that would require somehow getting White Women with Options, to not only forego prestigious lifestyles and educations, but to mate at early ages (early 20s at least) with Jeremy the STEM Guy. Please notice how the HBDers never seem to get around to this when they speak of “Eugenics”.
See, this is where I want to engage the HBDers – I’m willing to grant them carte blanche on their theories, even concedet that they have some good points (like the fact that inner cities spend ridiculous amounts of money per pupil in the public schools with precious little to show for it) – but I want to get at them on the public policy level. Because, in engaging them in such a conversation, it reveals that they really do want to use HBD to change or otherwise influence public policy, and in exactly what way. I want to show everyone just how exactly UN-American the HBDers truly are; because at their core, they do not uphold American ideals or beliefs. They indeed, believe in Monarchy, instead of a divine rule of kings, theirs is the “Scientific” rule of the Cognitive Elites.
Those who’ve known me for some time will know well my views on HBD, and more importantly my views on those who are its biggest promulgators. I give them no quarter.
No King, not even close!
See, she’s a tax burden with low IQ who’s unattractive and has no hope of getting a White man so she better stop complaining and man-up like Black men because her hair needs a relaxer like Liberals need to stop whining about social services and more about the terrorists taking over Amurka through that Mosque pretending to be a cultural center that the little girl was going on a field-trip to until protesters thought her scarf was a burqa and told her to go back to Africa/The Middle East because illegal immigrants are taking our jobs for $5.45 an hour picking fruit that the little girl would eat for lunch, except her family ran out of food-stamps in the recession/job-less recovery and we don’t need to spend more money on lazy people in high-crime inner-city neighborhoods when obviously Steve Sailer should be president and give Black people moral guidance from his White marble peak of Whiteness where the little girl could look up at him and say, “Mommy, why is that White man on the roof again?”
And the mom would say, “Because he’s crazy baby. Now eat your vegetables.”
At least, that’s what I get when I read through some of the comments here ; )
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 00:14:53 Sagat
I think some of you try to divert from having an honest discussion about human differences when you throw out accusations of racism. The cry of “racism!” is really a shaming tactic meant to silence debate. It really only works on those that feel ashamed of their beliefs. For me, at least, it amounts to calling someone a big meanie.
I also think the assertions that human biological differences is somehow a pseudo-science are funny. What really is a pseudo-science is blank slatism. The ideas of blank slaters only work if you assume that somehow human beings are immune from basic rules of biology. People like Jared Diamond peddle junk science and because of ideological reasons, some people eat it up. Gun Germs and Steel has some good ideas but the man lays out his politicized motivations for the book in the first chapter. He even states plainly that he believes Papuans are smarter than Europeans. If he said the opposite, most of you would dismiss his writings outright.
I see this claim made a lot. “You all just hate Black people!” Some do. That’s no fault of science. That some would use information about human differences to belittle Blacks doesn’t make the information false. I’ll be honest and say that probably a good portion of those that discuss human differences have at least some racial animosity towards Blacks, but that doesn’t mean everyone does and as I said, that doesn’t make the facts any less true.
There are human differences. Since we’re not all clones, it’s to be expected that populations vary in frequency of traits. It’s statistically impossible that all groups around the world are exactly the same in every way. Even from town to town, averages will vary. Take 100 people and then tell them to split into two random groups and you’ll find the averages for height, weight, intelligence and various other qualities will not be equal between the two groups. There always has and there will always be variation within groups and between groups. This is not a shocking or crazy idea. It’s basic science.
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 00:15:06 King
zek… you’re bringin’ me down, man.
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 00:31:33 theobsidianfiles
Hi Sagat,
Alright then, I’m willing to engage you in an honest discussion and debate about the *public policy* implications of HBD. Shall we begin?
If you don’t mind, please layout what you, and/or those on the HBD side, would like to see changed along public policy lines, as a direct result of HBD?
You have the floor…
“My position on the matter is simple: so what if Black folks, in aggregate, are less intelligent than Whites? Now what – do we deny them basic civil liberties? Do we circumvent the Constitution under the grounds that Blacks are more prone toward violence and criminal behavior?”
Again, that’s a big concession to make when ALL of the evidence is pointing in the exact opposite direction.
Both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are based on the ideas that all men were created equal. If you accept that Some humans were born as intellectual inferiors, then why not amend the Constitution? Your “rights” are supposed upon your equal standing with all other men. When you are willing to concede that equality, then prepare yourself to surrender your “rights” as well.
But, as I said… why even consider that when it’s OBVIOUS that HBD is for dummies.
Obsidian,
I actually started writing a post about that on my blog. It should be up tomorrow. Please check back then and we’ll have a discussion about it. Your questions about public polices were actually the catalyst for me taking it up, so I want to discuss it with you.
We can talk about it more here too, if you feel this is a more neutral ground. I just cracked open a bottle, so I’ll be off the rest of the night. See ya then.
Well obsidian, discuss if you will, but everywhere that I look HBD is in an almost constant state of being disproved.
http://www.businessinsider.com/gladwell-steven-pinker-got-his-data-from-a-racist-2009-11
But by all means, have at it.
With all due respect, I find your approach to be somewhat counterproductive, although I certainly understand where its coming from. Bugt you have to do a better job of reigning in your emotions here.
Autistic people, for example, clearly are not “equal” to people who aren’t so; but they suffer no reductions in their basic rights as American citizens. We can apply the same reasoning here to the HBD debate/question. Even if it could be proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Blacks on average were less intelligent than Whites or Asians, it still wouldn’t change the fact that Blacks are American citizens, and as such must be accorded the same rights and freedoms as their putatively cognitive betters. The HBDers want to change public policy, much of which would really hinge on changing the fundaments of our society and the ideals on which it is based.
Btw, have you ever read any of Pinker’s work, and/or seen him speak/give interviews? I have, and have found him quite interesting.
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 04:05:29 chic noir
obsidian Autistic people, for example, clearly are not “equal” to people who aren’t so;
Yup, we are superior.
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 10:08:51 sam
@ sagat: I find it extremely funny, as a white northern heterosexual male, that you are saying this:
“I think some of you try to divert from having an honest discussion about human differences when you throw out accusations of racism. The cry of “racism!” is really a shaming tactic meant to silence debate. It really only works on those that feel ashamed of their beliefs.”
I have no idea how high your score in IQ tests was, I never took one after the army ones which we blew, but somehow it does not give too bright impression of you when you complain that nasty derailers are shouting RACISM when you just want to discuss about racial differences. See, sagat, that is racisist. 😀
Yeap. If and when you have an idea that humanbeings are divided into different spieces, races, you are a racist. Because, from the biological point of view, there is only one human spieces in this world. Shockin, isn’t it? But alas, it is true. You and the black guy (with lover IQ than what you have :-D) are more similar than anything else in this planet.
All these different races are not biological. You have practically similar biology in your body as the most scary lookin aborginal you can find. I know, it can really ruin your day to realize this, but hey, I did not create this humanbeing. Blame God! Why he did so lowsy job that he made us one? I have no idea, but it really spoils all this race jibberish for real. From the science point of view that is. 😀
I find it ridicilous that here we have guys, educated I guess, who are trying to find something that would explain their racism for the better. I prefer good ole KKK style racists who just say “I hate everybody” and don’t make any excuses at all. At least they are honest.
Guys who try to find “scientific proof” for their racist beliefs are sorry bunch of whiners who are too scared to say who they are and try to find a pacifier for their nagging thoughts. At least thats what I think, but hey, I am way below the average in the IQ tests so I might be wrong here! 😀
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 10:53:38 Kwamla
@King and theobsidianfiles
I find it amazing you guys don’t seem to pick up on how united you both are in your MAIN view points !!!:
theobsidianfiles
Even if it could be proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Blacks on average were less intelligent than Whites or Asians, it still wouldn’t change the fact that Blacks are American citizens, and as such must be accorded the same rights and freedoms as their putatively cognitive betters.
Could it be any more obvious?
As I’ve said before. Both approaches each of you take towards challenging the HBDers are valid. And neither approach needs to invalidate the others. From my perspective they are actually complimentary.
I don’t read any of these HBDers arguing for your main view points.
A common indication as SAM points out that they are arguing from a less than egalitarian point of view.
So far example SAGAT will make a statement like:
Take 100 people and then tell them to split into two random groups and you’ll find the averages for height, weight, intelligence and various other qualities will not be equal between the two groups. There always has and there will always be variation within groups and between groups. This is not a shocking or crazy idea. It’s basic science.
Of course its “…basic science” we all know and agree that “intelligence” can be measured in the same non-problematic way as height and weight.
See and I haven’t even called this a mean argument!!!
If and when you have an idea that humanbeings are divided into different spieces, races, you are a racist. Because, from the biological point of view, there is only one human spieces in this world.
Species and race are not the same thing. If that’s the basis for your argument then you’ve failed. You can call me a racist for acknowledging that race exists. Doesn’t bother me. Practically everyone in the world knows there’s different races. Since this thread is about race, then it must be a racist too, huh?
…as a white northern heterosexual male
What’s this? Did you label yourself by race? Racist. 🙂
Kwamla says:
Yes, I’m not an egalitarian. It’s no secret.
Ok. I should’ve used the word IQ. Since the definition of intelligence seems to be subjective and cannot be agreed upon, of course we can’t measure it in any way that would satisfy the conflicting views of what intelligence actually is. It’s much like the idea of beauty. Intelligence is in the eye of the beholder.
@ Kwamla,
My statement:
“Both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are based on the ideas that all men were created equal. If you accept that Some humans were born as intellectual inferiors, then why not amend the Constitution?
Was, in actually, in response to obsidian’s statements above along the same vein.
I really don’t object to his getting to the root of the policy goals of HBD, I just wish he could do it without blanket acceptance of their claims. The problem seems to be (and O. can correct me if I’m wrong) that he has read or listened to a lot of HBD stuff himself, and has not the wherewithal to refute it. He doesn’t understand WHY it is wrong, and because of his own inability to challenge their viewpoint, he retreats into Chamberlainesque acceptance and negotiation.
Obsidian himself (as I read him) is a Black HBD believer who now hopes that the U.S. Constitution will still protect his inferiority (or that of his race) from the consequences to his beliefs.
“Species and race are not the same thing. If that’s the basis for your argument then you’ve failed. You can call me a racist for acknowledging that race exists.”
What then is the biological definition of race?
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 17:30:05 Herneith
You can call me a racist for acknowledging that race exists.”
If the shoe fits, wear it. Why didn’t you just come out and say so?
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 17:37:25 Hannu L
I think raci…HBDers like to confuse/blur the sociological concept of race with the biological one. The latter cannot be scientifically proved. I’m a 100% layman but I understand that no (real) biologist or anthropologist approves the concept of “race” as it is understood by HBDers.
King says,
Race is just a subdivision of a species. It’s synonymous with sub-species, though we never really say race when talking about animals.
From a medical dictionary:
a : a category in biological classification that ranks immediately below a species and designates a population of a particular geographical region genetically distinguishable from other such populations of the same species and capable of interbreeding successfully with them where its range overlaps theirs
b: a named subdivision (as a race or variety) of a species
By that definition, humans meet the criteria to be partitioned into different races. We know that human populations cluster into geographical regions genetically. We’ve longed known that humans are morphologically different along a continuum across geographic regions.
Yes, I know that humans are lumped into one subspecies, homo sapien sapiens, but this clearly goes against the very definition of subspecies. There’s long been a debate about this among taxonomists with disagreements about where to draw the lines as some groups, like Somalis for example, don’t fit neatly into the broader categories of race, but according to the definition, this is to be expected. Much of this has to do with giving special exception to humans with regards to biological standards. I call this homo-centrism, because let’s face it: despite our disagreements, in the end we’re all specists.
Thank you Sagat for taking the trouble.
Please site which medical dictionary you are quoting from, where it was published, the edition, and copyright date, if you please.
Let’s treat this as research, so that we can easily verify and identify any presented sources.
Hannu L says:
I think raci…HBDers like to confuse/blur the sociological concept of race with the biological one. The latter cannot be scientifically proved. I’m a 100% layman but I understand that no (real) biologist or anthropologist approves the concept of “race” as it is understood by HBDers.</i
That's not true. There's about a 50/50 split among anthropologists and biologists regarding the concept of race. Most have move towards using the term, population groups, because it's not as loaded of a term. There's no question that groups from around the world have different biological features. It's really just semantics at this point. Maybe in the future, you'll call us populationists as a derogatory term.
Hm. I’m sort of cautious about your 50/50 statement. Often people with your kind of agenda count in non-reliable scientist with a similar agenda.
But, yes of course there are apparent physical differences. I don’t believe that eye- or skin color affect people’s intelligence. Only if you are able to prove that their brain is decidedly different, I think you have a case.
I’m not sure if you’re being facetious, but it’s from Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary, © 2007 Merriam-Webster, Inc. I took that from dictionary.com, which cited that as its source.
Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary. Merriam-Webster, Inc. 17 Nov. 2010. .
What do you suppose my agenda is? Just wondering.
Of course, I’m not being facetious. Why would you suspect that? Surely this isn’t the first time you’ve been asked for a source?
When you’re using a source, it’s just handy to know where it came from. When you’re not arguing to a specific source then, of course, there’s no need.
Sagat
Another question, in trying to understand your position on race. Can you name any races, or define a specific race?
@Sagat
To me it makes no difference whether you use the word “IQ” or “intelligence”. (It is noteworthy how you would use them interchangeably though!!!)
“IQ” is no more scientific or biological in occurrence than “Race” is. Both are socially and culturally constructed.
An illusion perpetuated using these terms is that the differences between the diverse varieties of ethnic groups is some how greatly reflected in human genetic make up or DNA.
However, from a scientific point of view the “differences” we observer between people accounts for less than 0.1/% of that DNA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_genetic_variation
Its questionable intelligence (or level of IQ) – in my view – to be focusing on that 0.1% rather than an acceptance and supportability of the 99.9% commonality between peoples.
King says:
When I speak about Black people or White people, I’m just using shorthand to speak about generally understood ideas of physical differences. Hannu is right in that I do often conflate biological concepts and sociological concepts of race. I’m aware that I do it and I do it out of convenience for the conversation.
Just to be clear. There is no such thing as a Black or White race. When I say Black, I’m generally referring to those of West African descent. There’s a lot of diversity in Africa and I don’t consider Mbuti pygmies or San Bushmen to be the same race as West Africans, because I think they’re distinct peoples. In genetic population clusters, they are more closely related to each other than they are to northeast Asians, but they’re different enough that I think they should be recognized as so. Though my position can be argued as simply a differences in semantics as well.
But that’s the problem right there! I’ve heard of italian/spanish men who have complained that when coming to Finland they were seen/treated like black people! Granted, that was more like a decade ago, but if not even Europeans who (by god’s grace), are überfantastic, white rulers of the earth, cannot decide amongst themselves what is white, what is not!!!! It is an extremely sliding scale.
And I’ve also heard that Finns are considered to be a “mongrel race” by hardcore german “aryans”. LOL! I don’t even care…
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 19:14:15 Chuck
Nah, that’s not it.
It’s just that black people are the largest cohort identified by a commonality: blackness.
Blacks themselves focus on the plight of black education and seek remedies that only apply to blacks. Case in point – one of many – is a recent study which was also reported on by CNN which explored the education gap between blacks and whites. The success or failure of education was analyzed solely based upon the level of the gap. In fact, in school districts where blacks overtook whites in terms of graduation rates, the problem was considered “fixed” and the results celebrated. The community organizers who are active on this front don’t care about education. They care about group politics.
So if they are going to vie for tax money to fix this problem of low black educational achievement, you’re damn right I’m going to view this issue through that dichotomous lens. If black community organizers and black academics are going to say, “look, look, we have a problem with *black* kids’ education that needs to be addressed”, I and other HBDers are going to step in and add some perspective to the issue.
The problem may not be money or racism. The problem could be endogenous.
Its questionable intelligence (or level of IQ)– in my view – to be focusing on that 0.1% rather than an acceptance and supportability of the 99.9% commonality between peoples.
LOL! 😆 “You’re a big dummy because of what you think!” Love that argument. It always comes after,”You’re a racist!” Same bag of tricks. Next you’ll call me an evil nazi.
Men and women are also 99.9 percent alike. So why would anyone examine or be interested in the their differences? Anyone that talks about those differences must be mouth breathing sexists! Tampons are a tool of the oppressor! We are all the same. 🙂
on Wed Nov 17th 2010 at 20:09:23 zek j evets
If black community organizers and black academics are going to say, “look, look, we have a problem with *black* kids’ education that needs to be addressed”, I and other HBDers are going to step in and add some perspective to the issue.
And what perspective would that be? Racism?? C’mon now…
Group politics is nothing new. And to take it as some kind of slight is to ignore the long history and continuing efforts of White group politics in our country, as well as how we are all complicit in it. Just look at the Tea Party.
But that doesn’t shouldn’t stop helping kids who aren’t getting an education to get one, no matter what group they’re from.
(However, I do agree that White men in this country have lots of issues that get ignored by the media, by politics, by our culture due to White men’s history as being the oppressor not the oppressed. And I’d support groups like MRA’s and the False Rape Society, and male abuse shelters, and lobbyists against prison rape, prostate cancer, etc., to address issues that affect men, white, black, or whatever.)
As for the biological/sociological issues about race. Let me say definitively: race as a biological category DOES NOT exist. It does exist sociologically, culturally, politically, psychologically, etc. But biologically it DOES NOT! Sorry, but it just doesn’t. It really doesn’t. No matter how many times HBDers try to say so, it does’t. No matter what arguments you can come up with, science has proven time and again that race in homo-sapiens does not exist biologically.
http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/sciences/lifescience/humanraces/biologyrace/biologyrace.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_%28classification_of_human_beings%29
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f00/web2/ramon2.html
http://academic.udayton.edu/race/01race/race.htm
I mean, I could keep going down the line of just what I find on Google, but that’d be a waste of time. Every major scientific study in the past half-century has shown that race is not a biological, nor a genetic category, not even a sub-sub-species.
So if the HBDers want to keep that single issue on the table, then I’m gonna have to ask a la Forrest Gump…
Are you stupid or something?
Excellent Sagat. You are already smarter than Chuck.
Chuck… oh Chuck… chucalucka… (sigh)
How can people be identified by a commonality called “Blackness?”
What exactly is “Blackness” and how is it defined?
Why don’t you listen to what Sagat was saying above?
“When I say Black, I’m generally referring to those of West African descent. There’s a lot of diversity in Africa and I don’t consider Mbuti pygmies or San Bushmen to be the same race as West Africans, because I think they’re distinct peoples. In genetic population clusters, they are more closely related to each other than they are to northeast Asians…”
BTW Sagat, this part is not necessarily true.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/02/18/genomes-of-desmond-tutu-bushmen-show-africas-huge-genetic-diversity/
Africans may be further apart from each other genetically, than they even are from other non-black ethnicities — there are no guarantees on that front.
I was wondering the same thing myself. What is it that you’re after? Segregation/separation/juxtaposition/justification? For what reasons? I can only assume, but I hope you yourself honestly tell us what you’re after, what kind of satisfaction this kind of approach offers to you?
I believe some people are unable to grasp humankind without labeling them and putting them in boxes. That there must be some kind of biological or divine taxonomic order of things, instead of “chaos”.
Hannu says:
I’ve heard of italian/spanish men who have complained that when coming to Finland they were seen/treated like black people! Granted, that was more like a decade ago, but if not even Europeans who (by god’s grace), are überfantastic, white rulers of the earth, cannot decide amongst themselves what is white, what is not!!!! It is an extremely sliding scale.
The same goes for East Asians as well. Thais are often lumped in with northeast Asians but don’t say that to a Japanese unless you want an earful about Japanese superiority to Thais.
You’re right about the sliding scale thing. All humans are related to one another and there is just varying degrees of separation between groups. That’s really were the arguments come in about labeling, because no one can decide on dividing lines. And there really are no dividing lines, just a continuum of relatedness.
That doesn’t mean that we should ignore differences between groups. They exist, just like the spectrum of colors exist. I understand why many feel uncomfortable talking about our differences, considering history, but I don’t think pretending we are all alike is being honest.
But, but…EXACTLY! If there’s a sliding scale, not just in Europe but everywhere on this planet, who’s gonna draw the line???? And where???
It just keeps on sliding and sliding…it’s just like evolution: there is no INTERMEDIATERY “race” or human “species” to be found in the human genome. It’s still mixing and evolving.
And, umm, I’m all about mixing my SUPERIOR NORDIC genes with…um-who ever comes along. Sigh. 😉 Preferably with black sistah’s with EXTREME blackess! 😉
And, umm, I’m all about mixing my SUPERIOR NORDIC genes with…um-who ever comes along.
Superior? What? I thought you were a Finnish mongrel? 😆
There’s many disagreements about species classifications. Does that mean that species doesn’t exist either? All labels are just constructs. It’s just humans’ way of understanding the world around them.
I had a friend that used to argue with me that colors were just a social construct. He’d tell me that I only saw the color yellow because I was raised to think that way. He’d tried to convince me that yellow might actually be blue and I was just conditioned to believe that it wasn’t. I responded that Japanese have a different culture and they saw yellow too. And then he’d say, “Yellow is not a Japanese word. So they see whatever color their word for it is.” We’d argue about this for hours. These conversations here remind a lot of that. 🙂
This kind of conversation always reminds of a book I read a while ago, namely “The Master Plan. Himmler’s scholars and the Holocaust” by Heather Pringle.
You probably have heard of the “Ahnenerbe”, Himmler’s “brain”child, a special branch of the SS, that was devoted in searching evidence of the existence of the Aryan race, who he thought was the predecessor of ALL high cultures on this planet (Indian Jones featured exactly these guys). So finally, because aryans couldn’t have evolved from any lesser races, he thought that aryans simply must’ve descended from heavens above!!! Leap of faith, indeed!
He also thought that Thor’s hammer, Mjöllnir, was some kind of electro-magnetic weapon (FOR REAL!!). But that’s actually a very good sci-fi premise, hmmm…
Superior? What? I thought you were a Finnish mongrel?
But I am!!! LOL!!
I gather that you understand that I don’t care either way.
@Hannu:
‘May the white ape take us all’!
Thuvia, Maid of Mars!
zek, king, and all who question the biological foundations of race:
peep this.
http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2010/08/connect-dots.html
http://infoproc.blogspot.com/search?q=fst
The term “race” conceptualizes the idea of people who are closely genetically related. There is grey area at the margins, but there is a giant middle black or white area where people of those groups have genetic maps more similar to each other than people of those other groups.
If you look at those maps on the links I provided, you’ll see that sub-saharan africans are clustered together in terms of genotopic principal component analysis. “Black race” is a sociological construction to give a name to something that has a biological root.
And this whole idea that Africans are more genetically diverse among each other does not overturn the argument for higher IQ among non-blacks. People of African descent could still be diverse among themselves but still not have experienced the novel environments that forged higher IQ in those groups that migrated out of Africa.
So as I said above: black activists and liberal politians are using “black” success as a litmus test for the success of social programs and the eradication of racism. Those people don’t even try to differentiate between black individuals; they are forcing us to observe group outcomes. Therefore, this becomes a group discussion. And if it is a group discussion, reviewing scientific research of *group* characteristics is not a racist endeavor.
LOL! I sometimes feel that earth is like Barsoom: lacking of oxygen, making thinking harder for some people…
…more oxygen/air factories! And I want to be the yeddak of yeddaks! The City of Helium überalles!
Oh no, not Steve Hsu… the Physicist (sigh)
Steven Hsu is not a geneticist, he is not a biologist, he is not even in the life sciences at all. He does not speak to the majority opinions within the field of genetics.
My Dad majored in physics, it doesn’t mean that he is qualified to hypothesize on genetics.
I wouldn’t ask an astronaut to theorize on marine biology just because I figured he was “smart”… that’s why we have *specialties.*
@king: yeah, I wanna know more on this:
All these finnish metal heads are wearing black! WTF is this? Is this blackness? And what about Black Sabbath? That band is blackness, isn’t it? I mean, they call themselves BLACK Sabbath!!
And hey, AC/DC has an whole album called Back in BLACK!!! Goddammit! Is there no end to this blackness??!! Theres even a movie called Pitch Black!!!!
Holy hooligan! I have black sweaters on! Am I into this blackness thing or what? I have even black socks on!! Darn, it must be the blackness!
Finnish rockshow band Sleepy Sleepers had a tour called Elvis is Black. Was that this friggin blackness?? Damnit!!
How many times do I have to post the same information before you will actually read it?
African people are NOT “closely related” genetically!!!
AFRICAN PEOPLES ARE NOT GENETICALLY THE SAME!!!
This is a genetic map of Africa.
http://scienceblogs.com/geneticfuture/2009/04/massive_study_of_african_genet
You see, it turns out that Africa is the most genetically diverse place in the world and has extreme hyper genetic diversity.
But how genetically different are Africans peoples from one another? Genetics researcher Stephan Schuster conducted a survey that sequenced the genome of five people native to the region of southern Africa, including anti-apartheid activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The other four subjects were Bushmen, one named Gubi who had his entire genome sequenced.
“Gubi is the first person from an African minority population to be fully sequenced, and comparing him to the other three men from the region shows as much genetic separation as you’d expect to find between European and Asian peoples. Says Schuster: “This is despite the fact that they sometimes live within walking distance of one another”
So, basically between Bushmen and Bantu, you can find more genetic variation that you can find between say… Han Chinese and Frenchmen. Blacks are not one massive genetic race, who is somehow genetically advantaged or disadvantaged in the same way. In reality, they are quite a few, genetically different dark-skinned races.
Article here:
That’s interesting about the Bushmen. I always thought Africa was a fascinating place with it’s variety of phenotypes. I’ve never read that claim about there being more distance between two Bushmen than there is between a European and an Asian. I’m not familiar with that blog or its author so I’m hesitant to put much stock in that. I’d like to see another source. The population clusters produced from the Human Genome Project show all sub-Saharan Africans grouping together.
I think what gets lost on some with these genetic studies is that often times SNPs are used to compare relatedness, but most of these SNPs are on the non-coding region of the DNA. I think what really matters is the coding region since that’s what determines our physical features. Africans are bound to have much more genetic diversity because they build up “noise” on the non-coding region of their DNA because they come from much older populations. I’ve read elsewhere that their genetic diversity is overblown because of the focus on non-coding SNPs.
Sagat, the “blog” is the official blog of “Discover Magazine”
…yes, THAT Discover Magazine. It is one of the most respected wide circulation science periodicals in the world.
Website here:
http://discovermagazine.com/
But if you wish to google “African Genetic Diversity”, you will discover that it is a BROADLY accepted fact, by the vast majority of geneticists worldwide.
Again, these are geneticists, not Physicists (Steve Hsu) not Marketing majors (Steve Sailer) Do you really think that the majority of GENETICISTS are misreading Single Nucleotide Polymorphism and reporting it to be true genetic variation, because I think that if anyone would know better it would be the geneticists, not the layman bloggers, don’t you?
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 00:46:26 Sagat
That’s not Discover Magazine’s official blog. It says on the site, that it’s simply a news aggregator blog called 80beats. There are many discovermagazine blogs. I normally read Razib Khan’s Gene Expression blog which is also a discovermagazine blog.
From the link that 80beats took the story from:
Tishkoff cautions against reading too much into the sequence data at this early stage. “You really need to have population-level information,” she says. “If I see a variant in just one person, I don’t know how prominent it’s going to be in the rest of the population.”
So basically that claim that there’s the same amount of distance between two Bushmen than there is between a European and an Asian is inconclusive at this point. But it also states this:
To date, none of the large human genome projects has focused on minority populations.
So that would explain why the cluster maps so far have shown sub-Saharan Africans grouping together.
And I never said that geneticists are misreading SNPs. SNPs on the non-coding region are often included in population cluster comparisons. This is a fact. Looking at SNPs on the non-coding region is useful because they can show relatedness between populations. SNPs are just a change in the genome. Naturally, Africa has the most amounts of SNPs because humans have lived there far longer than anywhere else in the world and have built up more mutations. What I said, is that I consider the coding region to be more important.
Don’t get persnickety with me.
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 00:54:12 King
“That’s not Discover Magazine’s official blog. It says on the site, that it’s simply a news aggregator blog called 80beats”
oops! you’re right, that was my bad!
I’ll get more persnickety later.
Sagat, you wouldn’t by chance, happen to be a AAAS member would you?
https://pubs.aaas.org/membership/new_member_setup.asp
Is that a promise? 🙂
No. Why? Are you recommending it?
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 01:30:48 Herneith
I prefer to tell people to not get to snarky. The fact that you use the word persnickety illustrates your lack of testosterone! But wait, you don’t have much do you according to these theories? I guess that’s the trade off isn’t it.
I used that word because I was joking with him. And if my testosterone level is so low, then why are all up on my nuts?
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 03:47:53 Chuck
The Steve Hsu piece links to a research piece from the journal Science. They are part of AAAS that you asked Sagat about. That journal produced the model for human genotype that you dismiss. I’m curious to hear your point about AAAS then.
The genotype map shows that “black people” are people with black skin who happened to be closely genetically related to other similar people whom we also call “black people”. I’m not really sure why this concept is so hard for you to grasp.
It’s funny how you automatically disregard any diseenting study or dissenting opinion. Steve Hsu being a physicist means that he at least has more credential than you. You aren’t a scientist (or don’t seem to be one). Physicists are supremely intelligent, and it is feasible that their ability to operate through the scientific method would help them formulate plausible theories or adopt plausible positions in other fields of study. And again, Steve Hsu the physicist has his opinion. You are combating it with your opinion as a…what are you? I’m not sure. You place the burden of proof on HBDers although I’m not sure why.
Why not, it beats washing windows.
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 05:12:04 zek j evets
Steve Hsu again?? Haha, oy vey. No matter how many times you disprove something, someone always bring it back up like it’s true.
At this point in the discussion I’ll have to excuse myself because now HBDers have done jumped the shark by making pseudo-scientists into experts and astrophysicists into biologists/geneticists!
This reminds me of Samuel George Morton… and How Stephen Jay Gould whooped his butt in The Mismeasure of Man. Scientific racism is being touted as actual science, when it’s not. Facts are being touted as facts, when they are not. It’s sad to see, but thankfully very few are persuaded by HBD or even know it exists. (I didn’t know until Chuck commented once on my blog.)
I leave the rest of the discussion to ya’ll.
so you’re going to ignore Hsu’s piece and the scientific research underlying the model i linked to?
how about looking at it first just so you know the basis on which the HBD argument is made.
I just clicked through the link to Steve Hsu’s site, which you and Zek condemned Chuck for posting, and found that it was just simply a graphic that he had taken from Razib Kahn’s Gene Expression site. And the funny thing is, this scatter chart that Steve Hsu posted was created by Razib using data from where? The same study that you posted up above.
What Steve Hsu linked to:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/08/genetic-variation-within-africa-and-the-world/#more-5802
What you posted:
They’re two articles about the exact same genetic study. Talk about irony! 😆
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 06:01:00 Dr. Vagrant X
@Chuck-
I won’t bother re-posting my previous response to you, but if you want you can check the Sailer post. Anyway,-
Steve Hsu being a physicist means that he at least has more credential than you. You aren’t a scientist (or don’t seem to be one). Physicists are supremely intelligent, and it is feasible that their ability to operate through the scientific method would help them formulate plausible theories or adopt plausible positions in other fields of study. And again, Steve Hsu the physicist has his opinion. You are combating it with your opinion as a…what are you? I’m not sure. You place the burden of proof on HBDers although I’m not sure why.
Facepalm x Infinity.
First of all, you’ve committed at least two logical fallacies. 1. Poisoning the Well: King’s and my academic credentials have little to no impact on the evidence presented. If we are presenting facts or theories that have been tested thoroughly with predictable results, the evidence stands despite our positions/standing. 2. HBDers start of from a stand point that is in and of itself a logical fallacy; Burden of Proof or Appeal to Ignorance. While it is the belief among HBDers that snow/adverse weather conditions develop intelligence, there is little to any physical/empirical proof of this Of course you can bring up IQ tests and other systems for measuring intelligence based principally within cultural/societal norms, but you have still yet to prove your thesis/hypothesis. Where is the physical proof, the exact gene, etc. that supports your hypothesis. What HBDers have proposed in theory with far less empirical/physical backing than the Theory of Evolution and the popular understanding of the variance in the human race (or relatively lack thereof). The burden of proof, Chuck, is on the HBDers, not the rest of the scientific community who have substantial and extensive amounts of empirical/physical data to support their position.
Further, Steve Hsu is, as you just admitted, a physicist. Comparing physics to biology as though they draw from anything more than the scientific method is a flawed argument. Yes, Steve Hsu probably took some elementary to intermediate biology classes during undergrad., but that no more makes him an authority on genetics than an Earth Scientist/Geologist. I wouldn’t trust a guy with a Geology degree, even a PhD, to perform a heart transplant, would you? I mean, granted, they both had to take some chemistry and biology courses in undergrad., but somehow I’d prefer the MD over the PhD. So, more on point, why would I give any real consideration to a physicist as it concerns human evolution and genetics? He knows little to anything about that, as he specialized in physics (e.g.-he did not study for a MS or PhD in biology simultaneously, did he?).
Steve Hsu, for all his use of the scientific method, is more than likely a scientific layman when it comes to the specifics of genetics and evolution. Therefore, he’s only in a slightly better position than King to suggest theories for as to why there are “gaps” in “intelligence” levels. However, by your logic, as an anthropologist and someone who has taken a few science courses I learned to use the scientific method as well. Should I start making suggestions to NASA on how to make the next rocket/satellite/etc.?
Dr. Vagrant X:
I linked to Steve Hsu’s site which provided a model that linked to *real* genetic scientists studies which show that race is not a social construct.
I didn’t link directly to the study itself because you must buy a subscription to view it. I figured that model is pretty damning to your case so I linked to it.
But King and Zek refuse to accept that model into the body of evidence because it came from Hsu’s site. At which point I have to bring up that Hsu, being a reputable scientist, may know a little bit more about quality science than you or King or Zek. While Hsu may not be a geneticist, he at least has the scientific background to understand when science is poorly executed. He didn’t find such a problem with the model I linked to.
But the discussion really has nothing to do with Hsu because he didn’t create that model, he merely commented on it because he happens to accept the fall-out from what such a model implies. Which is why he is an HBDer.
So, please, begin by refuting the model I linked to. After seeing that model how can you argue that people don’t naturally fall into genetically distinguishable cohorts?
Wait, so now three of you are attacking Chuck by dismissing Steve Hsu, but clearly none of you even bothered to click the link, because if you did you would’ve seen that it’s nothing more than a graphic and a link to a genetic study.
But, but..a physicist couldn’t possibly possess the power of linkage!
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 07:45:10 sam
@chuck, sagat:
Are you for real guys? There is only one race of humans on this planet, no matter what you say or do or link up or quote. I know it is depressing that those black dudes are your closest cousins biologically, but they really are. 😀
I know it is hard to be racist. I have couple neighbours who are. But they at least admit it openly and do not dance around acting like their racism is based on anything other than hating people who look different enough. Why it is so important to you that you find some kind of “scientific” explanation for your racism?
Why do you want to convince others that there are separate races of humans? And why do you try to convince black guys on this blog that for some reason they are lower than you are? That is really hilarious! 😀
But really guys, why this is so important to you that you go on for days and weeks and months with this same ole old? Looks like you are trying to convince yourselves most of all, because nobody here is convinced on your race theories which, from the biological point of view, are load of mumbo jumbo. 😀
So are you just trying to convince yourself that for some very funny reason you are better just because of your genes? How it is in real life? You guys get the chicks? You beat everybody in athletics? You all wealthy? Successfull?
I mean, you guys must be, since you are genetically superior compared to all black guys here. I bet you guys have more money and success than Will Smith ja P Diddy put together, not to mention that lazy Jay Z guy and his girl Beyoncé. I mean, that is what you guys are saying, right? You are white and genetically you are more intelligent and superior compared to any nig.. sorry, lower races, right?
So put it out sagat and chuck! Show us how much more you are succesfull than those nig.. sorry, lower spieces!
Lets see your credentials, your unbelievable succesfull careers, millions in the bank and mansions on the hill! C’mon guys! I want to see the proof that you are genetically superior to these nig… sorry, lower spieces!
Let us see your superiority in action! Open our eyes with the one undisputed fact that white men like yourselves are superior to those damned nig.. sorry, lower races!
Your lives must proove your theory beyond any theoretical debate! It is really so simple. And you, as an examples of the superior white beings, can show us the light easily by providing us those undisputable facts from your own superior succesfull lives. Right? 😀
Sam: Are you for real guys?
Chuck: Nope. I guess the discussion is over then, huh…oh wait…
sam: There is only one race of humans on this planet, no matter what you say or do or link up or quote. I know it is depressing that those black dudes are your closest cousins biologically, but they really are.
Chuck: No. There is only one species called “humans”. There are various sub-species or something akin to that among humans.
Sam: I know it is hard to be racist. I have couple neighbours who are.
Chuck: So then how would you know?
Sam: But they at least admit it openly and do not dance around acting like their racism is based on anything other than hating people who look different enough. Why it is so important to you that you find some kind of “scientific” explanation for your racism?
Chuck: First, I’m more interested in truth than diversity qua diversity. I’ll address it as an academic argument just for fun. Why not?
And I have absolutely no hatred for black people. The only reason I’m here today is because black man (my step grandfather) adopted my father and his siblings and brought them to America from England (he married my grandmother who had strewn my dad and his sibs into various orphanages and foster homes).
So you mislabel my stance and my intentions. I think that black people – on average – have lower innate IQ than whites. Irish people of Celtic descent have lower IQ than Irish people of East Baltic descent, but I don’t “hate” Celtic people. I just recognize them for what they are and don’t try to sugar coat it for fun or to make everyone happy. In fact, if anything, the only thing I do hate is the pressure to accept these assertions against my true beliefs. If I said this stuff out loud to even a handful of people I’d lose friends or have a brick thrown at my head.
Sam: Why do you want to convince others that there are separate races of humans? And why do you try to convince black guys on this blog that for some reason they are lower than you are? That is really hilarious!
Chuck: Abagond wrote the post, and liberal and progressive activism tacitly supports the argument that IQ is equal and they write legislation with the unreachable goal of parity in educational achievement in mind. Those are two positive statements among many that I think should be met a little bit of truth telling. And I don’t think anyone on this blog is lower than me. Both Menelik Charles and Abagond seem to have high IQ. Possibly even higher than mine.
Sam: But really guys, why this is so important to you that you go on for days and weeks and months with this same ole old? Looks like you are trying to convince yourselves most of all, because nobody here is convinced on your race theories which, from the biological point of view, are load of mumbo jumbo.
Chuck: And it looks like you are crying “uncle”. Say it louder.
Sam:So are you just trying to convince yourself that for some very funny reason you are better just because of your genes? How it is in real life? You guys get the chicks? You beat everybody in athletics? You all wealthy? Successfull?
Chuck: You’re the one who is assuming that higher IQ implies better. Yeah, some WN types and even HBDers believe that high IQ implies moral superiority, but I’ve never implied that. It is an old analogy, but I find it funny that there are so many discussions saying that race realism is racist whenever it addresses the IQ gap. Legislation must be drawn to right the ship, and many community activists are in the business of righting that ship. But there isn’t much talk about making it so that there isn’t any “discrimination” in professional sports. After all, those guys make a lot of money, and it would be really nice for those white guys who could get those jobs via government legislation. But there’s no call for that. Why?
Sam: I mean, you guys must be, since you are genetically superior compared to all black guys here. I bet you guys have more money and success than Will Smith ja P Diddy put together, not to mention that lazy Jay Z guy and his girl Beyoncé. I mean, that is what you guys are saying, right? You are white and genetically you are more intelligent and superior compared to any nig.. sorry, lower races, right?
Chuck: No, Sam. That is what you are saying. Tell me where I said any of that shit. OK then.
Of course you would pick out single examples and make a straw man argument. Standard liberal move.
But if you want to go there, start comparing Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Buffett, the Rockefellers yadda yadda yadda to the top echelon of blacks. How far down the list until you find the wealthiest black person? I believe it is Oprah and then Bob Johnson, CEO of BET. The former made her fortune off the residuals of white guilt. People flocked to her show because she wasn’t militant, but she allowed white people to feel like they were assuaging their past racist ways. Bob Johnson made his money by peddling TV content to black people. He played the race card on his own group and made billions.
So don’t compare me to Jay Z. Jay Z is blacks’ cream of the crop. I’m middle of the road – at best – for whites. Compare me to the middle of the road of blacks and compare credentials.
Sam: Lets see your credentials, your unbelievable succesfull careers, millions in the bank and mansions on the hill! C’mon guys! I want to see the proof that you are genetically superior to these nig… sorry, lower spieces!
Chuck: I don’t toss the word around, and I’ve never called anyone that. I’m not sure why you’re trying to attribute it to me. It seems like you are the one who really wants to say it.
Sam: Let us see your superiority in action! Open our eyes with the one undisputed fact that white men like yourselves are superior to those damned nig.. sorry, lower races!
Your lives must proove your theory beyond any theoretical debate! It is really so simple. And you, as an examples of the superior white beings, can show us the light easily by providing us those undisputable facts from your own superior succesfull lives. Right?
Chuck: I’ve never seen anyone more wrong, actually. You’ve constructed a naïve interpretation of mine and Sagat’s arguments. You’re asking me to look at all of this subjectively, but I’m trying to look at it objectively.
Because if I followed your taunts to their logical conclusion, if I connote high achievement with high IQ, mine and Sagat’s argument would be proven correct. Because, you see, I never said that I am the smartest person alive or smarter than every single black person. I said that white people have higher IQ. And if, as you imply, achievement is directly correlated to IQ, and since white people are obviously more successful than black people, it would follow that whites are, on average, more intelligent than blacks. You’ve proven my whole point by adopting a naïve interpretation of it. Thanks for doing my work for me.
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 12:36:33 theobsidianfiles
Well! I see the gang’s all here. A few thoughts:
King – Obviously you don’t know me very well, because frequent readers of my currently down blog can tell you that I’ve written extensively on the HBD issue and some of its biggest promulgators on the internet. I’ve refuted and questioned them up and down the line, and will do so again as the need and interest arises. As for my own views regarding HBD, I don’t have any problem with the fundamental premise – that human beings evolved differently based on geopgraphic location – my beef with HBDers is THEIR spin on what HBD means, and, the fact that most of them want to use their take on it to change extant public policy – which explains why I tend to focus on that side of the debate. Quite frankly, arguing over whether this scholar or that egghead is qualified or not to discuss science and the like makes my eyes glaze over and I suspect it does for the average reader out there, too. The scientific side of the issue is way too esoteric and frankly, borning, for most people to follow with any degree of interest or caring. It’s much more fun to consider the social implications of what the HBDers are proferring.
For example, Chuck Ross, a guy I know reasonably well, considers himself a HBDer much closer to that which Steve Sailer is, since his is a name that is well known in these parts. Now, he knows well my many writings on the topic of HBD, yet, he’s yet to address my public policy questions regarding them, and again, he’s known me longer than the vast majority of people here do. Nor is his avoidance of my questions unusual – just about every HBDer with whom I’ve “battled” either ignores or dodges my questions in this regard. I’ll lay them out again just in case anyone’s missed it in a seperate post coming up.
Zek – what caught my eye about your comments above was your stated support for Men’s Rights, and how you felt there was some legitimacy in the notion that White Men in particular were having a rough go of things of late historically in America. First, I’d like to ask you to please elaborate a bit on the latter? And secondly, I’m just very curious – what did you think of the Chris Brown/Rihanna affair, and how do you relate that to the actions of Mary J. Blige?
Kwama, thanks for the comments.
In closing, for now, I think it’s far more interesting to consider what the HBDers want to do with the country if they were running it. Again, it seems to me that they have some huge holes in their logic and reasoning here, to say nothing of their running up against the Constitution if their plans are to come into fruition.
Holla back
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 13:18:53 Obsidian
OK, so let’s consider a few of the things HBDers want to see happen, although many of them are not often stated explicitly:
1. End Affirmative Action: really, what the HBDers mean here by this term, is to end any forms of preferences or quotas that pertain to Blacks, in education and hiring. The more prestigious and elite the better. The HBD argument goes, that since African Americans are on average less intelligent than Whites, it then follows that the majority of Blacks don’t really belong in the nation’s best schools and getting the cushiest of jobs because they aren’t truly qualified for them.
The problem with this argument is that it turns a blind eye to the decades, if not centuries long practice of good ole fashioned nepotism – those very same prestigious, elite schools and firms engage in blatant nepotism all the time, by seeing to it that the children of the wealthy and well-connected get in and do well. A very prominent example of this was George W. Bush, important for our discussion because the vast majority of HBDers online at least, are at the very least moderately if not stridently to the Right politically. Please note that, for example, while Steve Sailer has railed on and on about Affirmative Action over the years, he has never said anything about GWB getting over on essentially the same things that he takes issue wrt Blacks. Simply put, the HBDers are cool with preferences and quotas, so long as those receiving them are White, and by this I mean, non-Jewish White. Again, note the fact that the single biggest beneficiary of AA has been White Women – no big hew and cry from Sailer et al.
2. Speaking of the above, the next question we have to consider is that of Regression to the Mean: those of you out there of a more scientific bent will know what I mean by that term so no need for me to go rehashing it here. The problem is the HBDers never seem to want to admit that just because one has high IQ and even successfully mates with another person who is the same, thier progeny may not necessarily have the same IQ; indeed, the odds are that they won’t. The Ivy League is chockfull of mediocre kids of very smart people, who never go on to light up the sky with their supposed greatness by birth gifts. Actually, its often the reverse, its just that being among the elite brings with it the ability to cover up otherwise embarrassing factoids about yourself or those close to you. The HBDers never address this, nor do they address the fact the country has millions of Dumb White People – what are we to do wtih them? The current discussion stays mired in racial politics, partly for the reasons Chuck laidout, that there is such a thing as Leftist racial interests, but als because its an intense area of focus for the HBDers among themselves and in their own right. Even their “bible” the Bell Curve, which I’ve discussed at length at my blog, is viewed in a racial lens, when it truth a miniscule portion of the book was devoted to the topic and the authors were discussing the social implications of IQ bifurcation along class lines, primarly among WHITES. but neither side of the debate, seems to care about this little known fact about TBC. And the beat goes on.
3. Wrt the public school debate, how can we honestly say, with a straight face, that what John Ogbu discovered in his research, that the kids of prosperous and solidly middle and upper middle class Blacks consistently scored lower on tests than markedly poorer Whites and Asians, is booty? And, how can we simply turn a blind eye to the fact that school districts like Newark NJ and Washington DC are paying small fortunes to “educate” Black kids, with so little to show for it? Is it racist to merely point this out? Must we engage in diversionary debates about the Iraq War to honestly question if the monies being spent on such supposedly educational efforts are worth it? And, what of the potential evidence that what the HBDers are saying is true, that most Blacks simply aren’t as smart as most Whites or Asians – does that mean that they still shouldn’t be taught to read and write? See, I think emotionalism and deepseated partisan/ideological bias gets in the way of cleareyed questioning of the issues here. And there are, real issues, to confront.
4. Speaking of the Bell Curve, one of its “solutions” was to restrict the ability of single moms to breed on the dole. The book came out circa 1994, and in 1996, then President Bill Clinton, with the aid of a GOP led Congress, passed Welfare Reform, which made TBC’s suggestions along these lines a moot, at best, point. However, among the HBDers, this remains a hot topic – hence constant recourse to “eugenics” selective breeding that is state sponsored and/or enforced. The HBDers say that the problem is that the dumb are outbreeding the smart, and that one way to address this is to find ways to curtail the former’s ability to breed.
But aside from the facts I’ve noted above, what the HBDers never address is the fact that the Smart White People are dwindling in numbers, and they haven’t figured out how to deal with this. Some of them make passing allusions to things like “affordable family formation”, but the real deal is the fact that they haven’t figured out how to convince Smart White Women, to forego the elite university experience, the high prestige career experience, the Sex And The City experience, and be cool with popping out no less than three kids, starting around age 21 or so, with Jeremy the STEM Guy. Because even if they could get the dumb “NAMs” (Non-Asian Minority; a euphemism for Black and Brown/Hispanic people) to breed considerably less than they do, it still wouldn’t address what I’m talking about here. Simply put, there are enough Smart White People to go around. But the HBDers, for whatever reason, simply haven’t addressed this. And, put all that together with the documented fact that no state has ever been successful in getting its so-called better sections, however one may define them, into breeding MORE. They’ve been successful in getting them to breed LESS, but not MORE. No society has been able to pull this off. Not. A. Single. One. History isn’t on the HBDers side here. How do they explain this, and what is it about their plan, assuming they have one or two, that’s markedly different?
5. And I’ve addressed this A LOT on my blog – what are the downsides of being born on the right end of the bell curve? The book, the Bell Curve itself, seems only to address the left end of the curve, but they say nothing about the right end, and the reason is that it is assumed and taken almost as gospel that there IS no downside. And that I find to be fascinating in its hubris. Nature says otherwise.
For example, we know that having too high an IQ is correlated with reduced ability to socialize and empathize with others; it also goes hand in hand with reduced fertility/virilty. Hands up out there, all the ladies reading this who would like to spend their lives with John Nash or Sir Issac Newton? Brilliant Men they may have been, but by all accounts, they were really, really difficult to live with. Then, consider James Watson – his kid is schizoid. See my “regression” comments above. And those are just a few of the downsides that we know of – as any social scientist knows well, we tend to spend an inordinate mount of time and money, poking and prodding the poor and presumably dumb, but very little time doing the same to those who are deemed smart and rich.
6. Michael Levin, in his book on HBD, suggests toward the end, a stepping up of racial profiling on the part of the police, since in his view, it is proven that Blacks, particularly Black Men, have a higher propensity towards violence and violent crime than anyone else in society. Of course this brings up questions of violations of civil liberties. How do the HBDers square these seemingly two irreconcilable notions? Whether we like it or not, its one thing for a cabbie in Big City America to pass on picking up Black Men regardless of age or attire or even time of day for fear of even a sizable minority of them being known for sticking up and even murdering cabbies; its another to have such a view as a matter of public policy and enforced by the police. HBDers don’t explicitly state whether they’re in favor of such measures outside of Levin, nor have they expressed their views with how they can justify it under current American law and customs.
These are just a few of the many questions I have for the HBDers, that always seem to get lost in the shuffle, due to hyperbole and emotionalism on both sides of the aisle, along with arid and boring to tears esoteric discussions over arguing whether this or that is science or not, or whether this or that source is authentic enough, and so forth. We never really drill down to the nuts and bolts, rubber hits the road hard questions that need to be asked of the HBDers, and I think they kind of like that, because they never have to actually put their ideas out there on the line to be scrutinized; they can always claim ideological martyr status for being shouted down as being iconoclasts in the public square, by left leaning blank slatists who are little more than intellectual frauds. I say, let’s have the debate on HBD, on what it would actually mean in public policy terms. Let’s see how the HBDers intend to address the problems of our time, and indeed things they see as problems. So long as we continue to quibble over how many angles can dance on the head of a pin, we’ll never get to those very important questions.
Hopefully, this comment(s) by me will get the conversation – a truly meaningful one in my view – moving in the right direction.
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 13:52:07 D
And I was about to write something about your right to your opinion and why people should not try and stifle opinions different to theirs.
You can freely hold your opinions about white people being superior to brown/black people. We all have given our reasons for disagreeing with you, and I particularly liked Olufemi’s post and KM’s link about self-educated black inventors. But no, you want the govt to stop spending in education for blacks. I don’t know whether Abagond will allow this comment to appear, but you’re incredibly racist and bigotted. Have you even noticed the flaws with your argument? Even if for the sake of the argument I assume that blacks are less intelligent than whites, you yourself have admitted that there are black people who fit your definition of ‘intelligent’. So in your dream society, those blacks too will not get equal opportunities while dumb and mediocre white people will enjoy their right to education just because they’re white. That’s fair to you?
And did it happen to cross your mind that by the same logic(?) of yours, the US of A should stop wasting money after educational achievement for whites because Asians prove to be better achievers?
on Thu Nov 18th 2010 at 15:29:49 Kwamla
@Sagat, Chuck etc….
This should be of interest to all HBDers and, of course, others following this debate.
I came across this article in the Washington Post from 2005
Scientists Find A DNA Change That Accounts For White Skin
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology’s most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity’s greatest sources of strife.
The article goes on to say…
…Recent revelations that all people are more than 99.9 percent genetically identical has proved that race has almost no biological validity. Yet geneticists’ claims that race is a phony construct have not rung true to many nonscientists — and understandably so, said Vivian Ota Wang of the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda.
“You may tell people that race isn’t real and doesn’t matter, but they can’t catch a cab,” Ota Wang said. “So unless we take that into account it makes us sound crazy.”
Maybe, perhaps its time as Obsidian suggests:
“… let’s have the debate on HBD, on what it would actually mean in public policy terms. Let’s see how the HBDers intend to address the problems of our time, and indeed things they see as problems…”
I tend to agree.
Why not give up the biological deterministic argument about Race and Intelligence. The scientific evidence is not in your favor. The Political one could be if you can make a strong . And at least it would be a more HONEST approach.
Who cares if you get labeled a “big meanie” from time to time!!!
From the few posts of yours that I’ve read in this thread, I’ve gathered that you’re fairly intelligent, but I also have seen that the issue of human differences is something you have little interest in, which is understandable since, as Obsidian noted, it is an esoteric school of thought. I was going to respond to the article that you posted, but honestly, I think it would just lead to butting heads. If you don’t accept the things that I say, then that’s the way that it is. There’s no reason to argue about it.
I just want you to know that this is a subject that I’ve studied for many years and I spend a lot of time reading and digesting different genetic, forensic and anthropology papers. I also read opposing views to try to get a fuller perspective. I only write what I feel is the truth and my point of views aren’t based on some flimsy understanding of science as many seem to suggest. I realize that I take a minority position; I can accept that.
And where are the calls for spending on white students to come up to par with Asian students? As far as I know, money isn’t demarcated in that way although one constantly hears about efforts to throw good money after black education.
@chuckie: oh man, you really need to get out more often! Celtic irish?? Are you really that dumb?? You do know that there is no race called Celts? If you don’t know that then, boy, you gotta didimau to the history class.
There was cultural sphere which was named celtic much later on. So-called celts did not see themselves as one race nor one people. The whole “race” of “Celts” was invented centuries later. You are truly funny guy, man! 😀
i’ve debated on the internet long enough to know that if someone nit picks one tiny point of a long comment that means they realize they are defeated. there are ethnic differences between groups in ireland. there are celts, eastern baltics, nordic alpines, dinarics, etc. they have differentiating features and abilities.
Hey sam, is their a specific gene for nonsensian?
If so, I must have inherited it from my ancestors going back tens of thousands of years!
I’m bogged down with a work emergency at the moment, but I’ll be back ASAP.
@ chuck: right, I hear ya 😀
@ herneith: I have no idea. I have a low IQ so I don’t understand so complicated issues 😀
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 00:10:44 Boddler
There’s a hilarious sort of ironic recursiveness in watching obviously very intelligent people debate the existence of the measurability of intelligence with obviously very much less intelligent people.
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 05:36:27 Mabel
Intellectual superiority from the north is a myth. Take a look at modern medicine, it is still unable to create one medication that has no side effect. Take this pill, but be cautious you may go blind, or paralyzed, this is our current state of medicine. Doctors cannot cure any illness, they can only treat symptoms. The vehicles we drive, pollute the earth. The chlorine in our water is a carcinogen. The food we eat is laden with chemicals. My favourite invention from the north, lets get the roadkill, and left over meat from the kill floor, grind it up and feed it to herbivorous animals, then let us slaughter those animals and feed it back to humans…yep our modern day agri-scientists approved this.
We are being led to believe that more technology is a reflection of our growing intelligence. But be careful, using that cellphone too much may cause brain cancer and don’t put the laptop on your lap, it may kill your sperm..then why the heck is it called a laptop? The state of intelligence if there is any left in the north is glaringly dismal. Yet, the very ppl who are deemed less intelligent seem to be the smart ones among us.
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 05:42:51 Chuck
Mabel:
yet people from these modern societies live much longer and healthier lives than most others.
western technology developed vaccinations against many diseases that killed millions of people. yes, many modern drugs have bad side effects. but you only look at the negatives. how about penicillin? the vaccine against polio? treatments for malaria and HIV?
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 12:10:20 Kwamla
I suppose what surprises me most is, for someone of your supposed intellect, education and scholarship, you would be content to fixate on one aspect of human difference in isolation to everything else?
Its not that I am not interested or have difficulty in acknowledging such differences between peoples. On the contrary I am all for celebrating our unique human diversity in all its vast manifestations. – Something your own Blog site claims to do..!!!
http://celebratediversity.wordpress.com/
So at least I can see your “hearts” in the right place. The problem you experience, in my view, stems from your ingrained beliefs. But, of course, as posts from people like Chuck and others show: you are not alone…!!!
By all means comment on or challenge that Washington Post article (thats why I put it up in the first place!)
Its meant to challenge or initiate questioning of those ingrained beliefs. Just as this very subject and Blog (Abagands) we’re taking part in.
Let me attempt to offer you a analogy of how I see our respective positions:
We live on a planet we call Earth or Terra (dependent on who you listen to). On this many, many human challenges have taken place; wars, famine, glorious achievements, civilizations ancient and new, cultures, explorations etc.. etc…etc add to the list…
But we are also part of a solar system which has formed around our Sun – often referred to as “Sol”
And it doesn’t stop there… We are also part of a Galaxy we call the “Milky Way” and that in turn is part of a wider star system or constellation…and it goes on and on..incorporating vast Universes…
Now I am not telling you anything you don’t already know here. Thats not my point. My point is one of “context and perspective”
Your pre-occupation with what you truly believe are meaningful differences can be contrasted with the challenges we, as humans, have faced and continue to face on this planet.
Not saying they’re not important? Of course they are!!! And time and effort needs to be devoted to dealing and tackling them. But lets also remember and try to keep things in perspective here.
The Solar system, Star Constellation, Universe represents that 99.9% identifiability of “sameness” amongst human beings. This presents a far bigger and greater perspective to take into account.
I am I saying they’re more important? Well in the context of the bigger picture. Of course they are!!! And time and effort needs to be devoted to recognizing, accepting and acknowledging this.
But lets remember this is not an “either” “Or” argument.
The “Big” or the “little” picture. Its an argument for both because they are both equally important and valid perspectives to have. Again it about applying the right context and perspective here.
Problems can and do arise when you focus exclusively and loose sight of one perspective over the other. Those ingrained beliefs I keep referring to can reek havoc when left unchecked.!!!
So Sagat this is presented to you not to convince you of the fallacy of your ways but simply to offer an alternative point of view and understanding of how we see the same world we believe we perceive.
As an added illustration look at the world view in this post contrasted with the world view in the other. Tell me which for you has the bigger world picture?
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 12:34:58 Obsidian
See what I mean? When times comes to pose pointed questions about HBD in public policy terms, they either ignore it or clam up.
Works every time. 😉
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 17:18:03 Bob
Don’t try to figure it out. It is what it is. White people are smarter than black people. Good day.
the thing that works every time is the lack of brevity of your comments. plus, you and i have been down this road before. we don’t have to bring our show to Abagond. when’s your blog coming back? what’s the hold up?
on Fri Nov 19th 2010 at 18:57:55 Jamila
Y said:
Disease burden does play a part in the IQ of nations. Nations with high disease burdens tend to have lower IQ’s those with fewer infectious diseases. One of the reasons that the Africans were enslaved in the America’s and other places was that the higher disease burden in Africa made them immune–or atleast more adept at dealing with–European diseases than the native Americans. Physically, Africans were “hardier” than the Europeans who conquered them. I once read a quote that the life expectancy for a European who went to Africa was less than a year (this was before colonialism).
You can read more about disease burden and its effect on IQ here. http://isteve.blogspot.com/search?q=disease+burden
on Mon Nov 29th 2010 at 00:12:48 Cato
No more comments? Common – the debate is far from over. No one has succeeded in convincing anyone else of their views. It was reading fun though – well most of it.
Chuck…where do I start? You seem to think that Africa is one tiny location. Well, it’s not. According to the current evolutionary theory, the Out of Africa migration has been surmised to be from East Africa, very close to the horn. So people…well the early homo sapiens migrated to Asia, Europe and guess what? Other parts of Africa. *gasp!* Are you following me so far. You know – West Africa, Southen Africa…and the last time I check savannah and near desert conditions are very different environments from dense tropical jungles. Woah! They must have needed a major change in hunting techniques. So that essentially throws your migration theory out the window because, again just so you u-n-d-e-r-s-t-a-n-d there was migration within Africa in the early days to places with very different environments.
Moving on – Sagat. Unlike Chuck, you didn’t merely regurgitate your theories. Chuck did even after people pointed out incongruencies like…Why did the more recently evolved, newly migrating Homo Sapiens outbreed the European inhabiting nearnderthals if by virtue of the cold climate, the nearnderthals would have been smarter. You still haven’t answered that Chuck.
Okay, back to Sagat: Your query on the differences among the races and the example of a randomly drawn sample…. No one responded satisfactorily to that, as yet, so I will. And yes, I believe that there are differences among humans, but you see, those differences are among an INDIVIDUAL vein. Because one family, one nuclear family can have a son who’s a cop and another who’s a crook. One family, one nuclear family can have a son whose extremely smart and another who’s a high school dropout. So, let’s take a large family sample, then; men only for illustrative purposes – brothers, nephews, uncles, fathers, and split them into two groups, then compare the two:
You might get a mean height that is statistically different (Uncle Zuok in group B might have been really really tall), a mean weight that is statistically different (Father Wot in group A might have been really really heavy), and a mean difference in IQ (Son XYZ might have been autistic). Do the same experiment, but regroup the large family as one and compare them with a randomly selected but similarly sized family from West Africa (Family B who you’ve also performed the same experiment on). By the way, Family A was Finish. And let’s say that you once again get statistically different means. What would be your conclusion? Here is how it might look:
1) Family A has a higher average height than Family B, but Group A from Family B has a higher average height than Group B from Family A etc etc etc.
A discussion you had with someone earlier has already alluded to this….diversity and shifting lines. Let’s use simple skin color. You can say that Africans are the darkest group of humans. YET you can find darker groups in India than in some parts of Africa. You can say Europeans are the lightest groups of humans. Yet thera are people in parts of Asia that are lighter than Spaniards and Italians. THAT is the danger of generalizing. it’s the same with IQ assuming the tests are given properly without bias. As someone pointed out – putting a nation at an IQ of 70 is ludicrous from a rational point of view since that borders mental retardation – such a nation should not have a single university of higher education. Can you name ONE nation that lacks a university? And Nigeria has a mean IQ of 67? Well, I must be a genius then! Oh wait, no…high school results showed that while I’m really smart, I’m no genius. So to hell with those results. My experience tells me otherwise, and I have lived in a LOT of places.
Overall, to discuss your difference hypothesis, you will need to group people not as races but as different ethnicities. And since one country like Nigeria has over 250 ethnic groups…well, good luck with that. And if you’d like to think that those in West Africa, for example, are more homogeneous and can be grouped as one, think again. Even within Nigeria, if you know what to look for you can discern slight differences in physical appearance and correctly guess what ethnic group certain people identify with (who knows how different their IQs might be. After all apparently minor differences in physical appearance might mean huge differences in intelligence. Who knows? You haven’t done the study yet). And that’s just one country. So good luck with that!
on Mon Nov 29th 2010 at 01:03:30 Mei Ly
@Cato
O_O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ah, there it is:
http://www.iqleague.com/
One of many websites that have people take their online IQ test and then ranks results by name and country. And take a look at the random distribution of said countries – no Asian countries in the top 10 though – the language barrier maybe? Wow – how different from the test results in that stupid book who stupid people eat up (Hey have the right to call people stupid! I’m smart, remember!)
So if we assume that the people who take this test are in the middle class – hey they can afford to spend valuable time taking an IQ test online – and are therefore likely to be educated. That the fact that they are taking a random IQ test shows that they’re engaged….interesting results start to emerge….after all, the website isn’t trying to prove a point, is it? It’s just having people take tests and ranking them statistically.
on Mon Sep 5th 2011 at 07:18:07 sexmachine
History and everything else disprove the cold winter opinion
on Wed Jan 15th 2014 at 21:20:34 Mr. Green Mario Brother Guy
Actually, your brain works more efficiently in cold weather than hot weather. However, having ancestors that lived in cold regions would not make you smarter.
Efficiently?
But doesn’t the body’s thermo-regulation override outside temperatures under normal conditions?
Mr Green, I questioned your “efficiency” description, because in the very cold weather in cities, it’s not unusual to hear a news story now and again about the poorest of old people who cannot afford adequate, dying from hypothermia.
When it’s very cold brain function can be affected in negative ways,
Apparently, old people in those situations (or anyone in those conditions) become mentally confused and slur their words. When they fall asleep, they die.
*adequate heating
on Thu Jan 16th 2014 at 00:12:34 Mr. Green Mario Brother Guy
Basically, thermoregulation uses more energy during warm weather than cold weather.
on Sun Jan 26th 2014 at 07:52:55 DWornock
Perhaps it is not the snow but adapting to the 25 different environment changes. Going up a mountain in Africa only takes a few generations and so there is only one environment change. Therefore, very little change in I.Q.
However, going north out of Africa averaging 10 miles per generation means moving 200 miles north and a new and different environment with different plants, terrain, animals, and weather every twenty generations. Twenty generations is sufficient for a small genetic change including perhaps a tiny change in I.Q. After 10,000 years people have adapted to 25 different environment with perhaps up to a half point I.Q. increase on average with each change of environment.
@ DWornock
What’s to say that environmental changes were not occurring in Africa itself at the time? http://nabataea.net/sahara.html
Perhaps the Africans were adapting to adapting to “25 environmental changes” of their own, without even having to climb a mountain.
But again, even modern Africa is not just one huge continent-wide climate
Europe is not more varied climatically.
So sorry, but this is just desperately grasping at straws of supposed superiority.
That is an interesting idea. It generally matches Richard Lynn’s numbers for Africa, Europe and Asia but breaks down elsewhere.
The following numbers are rough, but give you the idea:
Lynn’s IQs for native (pre-Columbian) populations:
100 Europe
85-90 Middle East, India, SE Asia, Americas
70 Black Africa
60 Australia, Botswana
Which pretty much fit white racist ideas of the past 30 years. Probably too well..
Your model would predict the following (setting northern Europe at 100 and tropical Africa at 70), big differences from Lynn in bold:
140 Americas
100 Europe, Australia
85-90 Middle East, India, SE Asia
60 Bostwana – assuming it is the Ground Zero of human expansion.
Native Americans had to go through more climate zones than anyone else, way more than whites. Not just because they travelled farthest, but also because the Americas run north to south and so have more changes in climate.
To break it down further:
150 Incas, Tierra del Fuego
140 Aztecs, Mayans, Caribbean, Amazon
130 Apaches, Navajos
120 Sioux, Cherokee, Iroquois
110 Mongols, China, Japan, Tasmanians, Siberians, Laplanders, Inuit, Maori, Polynesia
100 northern Europe, Australia
90 Mediterranean, SE Asia
80 Middle East, North Africa
70 tropical Africa
Interesting post, I don’t agree with it but it’s interesting non the less.
I didn’t wish to imply that distance traveled or number of environment changes vs. IQ change is a constant. Nevertheless, you point about the Americas does in my mind invalidate it. Nevertheless, it may have some effect just as cold weather (snow) may have a greater contribution factor on I.Q. changes, than warm weather.
I do believe that when groups are separated, they continue to evolve and over time have greater differences. I also believe that each group, separated from the others, will evolve to better adapt to their specific environments. Random mutations will account for some change in I.Q., just as they account for other changes such as length of nose and body shape.
Therefore, I.Q. difference may mostly be random. And/or in certain environments, in order to adapt, selection for greater I.Q. may be of greater necessity than other environments. However, those broad generalities don’t identify the specific reasons which I should probably leave to other that are far more intelligent than I.
Thank you Kiwi – you saved me the trouble.
dwornock if you had ANY idea of how slow evolution really works (not adaptation mind you!) then you would realize that there has been nowhere near the requisite time needed for ANY significant evolutionary changes to occur between homo sapiens populations.
on Mon Jan 27th 2014 at 01:37:47 mary burrell
@George Ryder: I agree with that.
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Fri Feb 10th 2017 by abagond
It is two and a half minutes to midnight.
The Doomsday Clock (1947- ) marks how close the world is to self-destruction in the judgement of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, with input from 15 Nobel Prize laureates. It uses:
“the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the planet.”
In 2017 it now stands at two and a half minutes to midnight, the worst it has been since the 1950s.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was founded by scientists who created the first atom bomb. The founding editor was concerned not just with an atomic end of days but more generally with the “Pandora’s box of modern science”.
They set the clock according to not just the in/action of political leaders but stuff like the number and kind of nuclear weapons in use, how much carbon dioxide is in the air, the acidity of the oceans and how fast the sea level is rising.
The clock through the years, showing some of the highlights:
1947: It is 7 minutes to midnight when the clock first appears.
1949: 3 minutes: The Soviet Union gets the bomb.
1953: 2 minutes: US tests the first hydrogen bomb.
1963: 12 minutes: Partial Test Ban treaty, signed in the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
1974: 9 minutes: India gets the bomb.
1981: 4 minutes: Soviets invade Afghanistan.
1984: 3 minutes: arms control talks are just for show.
1988: 6 minutes: Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
1990: 10 minutes: Fall of the Berlin Wall.
1991: 17 minutes: START treaty.
1998: 9 minutes: India and Pakistan test nuclear weapons.
2007: 5 minutes: Climate change, North Korea gets the bomb, Iran is close.
A chart showing all the changes:
Of 2017: A week after Trump became US president, they moved the clock a half minute closer to midnight:
“events surrounding the US presidential campaign – including cyber offensives and deception campaigns apparently directed by the Russian government and aimed at disrupting the US election – have brought American democracy and Russian intentions into question and thereby made the world more dangerous than was the case a year ago.”
Of Trump:
“He has shown a troubling propensity to discount or outright reject expert advice related to international security, including the conclusions of intelligence experts. And his nominees to head the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency dispute the basics of climate science.”
North Korea is also a concern.
The way forward is to cut nuclear arms and carbon emissions, which in turn will decrease global warming and the likelihood of nuclear war. In 2016, carbon emissions were flat, while the number of nuclear weapons increased.
A good first step for the US:
“the Trump administration needs to make a clear, unequivocal statement that it accepts climate change, caused by human activity, as a scientific reality. No problem can be solved, unless its existence is recognized.”
What ordinary citizens can do:
Learn about climate change and nuclear weapons.
Share what they learn.
Inform government representatives of their concerns.
The Bulletin:
“Facts are indeed stubborn things, and they must be taken into account if the future of humanity is to be preserved, long term.”
– Abagond, 2017.
Update (January 26th 2018): The clock has moved forward 30 seconds to two minutes before midnight, the worst it has been since 1953. BBC.
website – see where the clock is now
The 2017 Doomsday Clock statement (PDF)
Republican Bubble
Clock of the Long Now
Muzak – somehow I am reminded of Muzak.
on Fri Feb 10th 2017 at 23:55:24 Solitaire
“The way forward is to cut nuclear arms…”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-putin-idUSKBN15O2A5
In his first call as president with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump denounced a treaty that caps U.S. and Russian deployment of nuclear warheads as a bad deal for the United States, according to two U.S. officials and one former U.S. official with knowledge of the call.
When Putin raised the possibility of extending the 2010 treaty, known as New START, Trump paused to ask his aides in an aside what the treaty was, these sources said.
Trump then told Putin the treaty was one of several bad deals negotiated by the Obama administration, saying that New START favored Russia….
New START gives both countries until February 2018 to reduce their deployed strategic nuclear warheads to no more than 1,550, the lowest level in decades. It also limits deployed land- and submarine-based missiles and nuclear-capable bombers.
During a debate in the 2016 presidential election, Trump said Russia had “outsmarted” the United States with the treaty, which he called “START-Up.” He asserted incorrectly then that it had allowed Russia to continue to produce nuclear warheads while the United States could not….
In the phone call, the Russian leader raised the possibility of reviving talks on a range of disputes and suggested extending New START, the sources said.
New START can be extended for another five years, beyond 2021, by mutual agreement. Unless they agree to do that or negotiate new cuts, the world’s two biggest nuclear powers would be freed from the treaty’s limits, potentially setting the stage for a new arms race.
With Orange Hitler at the helm and his adlepated brain this could be any day our days are numbered he is the one with access to send us to a nuclear holocaust.
on Sat Feb 11th 2017 at 12:10:04 nomad
Keep repeating this myth often enough and it becomes fact. There is no evidence that Russia hacked US election. The nation that has moved us closer to Doomsday is the US under the leadership of Barack Obama. Trump has had the opposite effect with regard to Russia, resisting the Obama/Hillary agenda of pushing for war with that country, though he has on the other hand been belligerent towards Iran and China. That too can lead to nuclear war but not as certainly as a military clash with Russia. When Hillary lost the election the Doomsday clock should actually moved back a minute. She was more prone to war with Russia than Trump.
no mention of shift in US leadership opinion from MAD to a belief that war with Russia is winnable nor of expelling Russian diplomats and sending NATO troops to Russia border in December 2016 under Obama as having any effect on the Doomsday clock.
on Sat Feb 11th 2017 at 15:24:53 Fan ...
“3. Inform government representatives of their concerns.”
Ha! You got jokes.. But you forgot to mention that you better bring a big bag of cash with you while INFORMING those representatives of your concerns because THAT’S HOW Amerika’s system works. Money talks.
Concerns? lol Not so much! In one ear (if you’re lucky enough to get an audience) then out the other ear.
Cash gets stuff done in a lobbyist fed system.
At least Putin cares something about the Russian people should a doomsday scenario occur. They have prepared underground cities/bunkers for ordinary Russian people (not just for the elites) to avoid complete death and annihilation. Russia may or may not win a nuclear exchange, but they have insured that at least a good amount of their people will survive a holocaust!
Can the same be said of the Amerikan (Democrat/Republican) leadership?
No. I think they want us dead.
on Sat Feb 11th 2017 at 16:01:14 sharinalr
@Nomad
If we are dead then who can they use and abuse? Then again our death is a sick pleasure to them so…
@ Nomad – Sharina
I think the satanists’ plan is to keep just enough people/servants alive to serve them. Everyone else, according to them, are just useless eaters.
Be polite. Use a calm voice. In the face of Armageddon.
on Sat Feb 11th 2017 at 19:29:57 TheHipHopRecords (@TheHipHopRecord)
I’m ready for oblivion
on Sun Feb 12th 2017 at 16:52:27 blakksage
There are those who are still (insert Bulletin of Atomic Scientists) attempting to make God out to be a liar (1 John 5:10); that a nuclear war will not take place (Zechariah 14:12) and therefore, averted by mortal men; that the so-called elitarians amongst us aren’t prepared to temporarily escape to their Deep Underground Military Bases (DUMBs, Cheyenne Mountains) at the initial stages of Armageddon (Revelation 6:15).
They’ll be safe for a little while. But after the nuclear dust settles, they better brace themselves because the hunters will be tearing the doors down. Personally, I hope and pray to God that I’m selected as one of His 144,000 hunters to exact terror on the elites that will survive. (Revelation 7:4)
It is unquestionable that a large sum of humanity will die, but not all of us, due to radiation exposure. Those who believe in Him will live and those who think otherwise will die (John 11:26). The Most High will put the warrior Spirit on his hunters and send them to every mountain (bunkers) in order to finish off the so-called elites who have wreak havoc on this planet (Jeremiah 16:16) in an attempt to supplant themselves as being G-d.
To me, it’s truly comical that mortal men (Atomic Scientists) with their diminutive level of wisdom would even attempt to prevent something from happening that’s already been prophesied to happen and WRITTEN by the Most High true God! (Wisdom of Solomon 17:7-8)
All of the Lord’s prophecies will come to pass and not even one of them will fail! (Isaiah 34:16)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2oxLR-e2bI)
Revelation 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
2 Esdras 16 Like as an arrow (missiles) which is shot of a mighty archer returneth not backward: even so the plagues that shall be sent upon earth shall not return again.
John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Jeremiah 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
Zechariah 14:12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
Wisdom of Solomon 17:7-8 As for the illusions of art magick, they were put down, and their vaunting in wisdom was reproved with disgrace. 8 For they, that promised to drive away terrors and troubles from a sick soul, were sick themselves of fear, worthy to be laughed at. (the Bilderberg Group; the Illuminati and the Atomic Scientists)
Revelation 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
2 Peter 3:10-15 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Isaiah 34:16 Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail,
on Mon Feb 13th 2017 at 15:36:34 nomad
Did I say ‘sending NATO troops to Russia border in December 2016 under Obama’?
It was US troops. That’s even more provocative. It’s a curious Doomsday clock that does not take into account US efforts to bring about conflict with Russia, Especially the US engineered Ukrainian coup.
on Tue Feb 14th 2017 at 01:48:05 v8driver
on Wed Feb 15th 2017 at 17:22:47 nomad
Well, there you go. Both the Hillary road and the Trump road led to the same end, didn’t it. Potential war with Russia and inevitably WW III.
I didn’t think Trump would capitulate so soon, giving his campaign rhetoric about getting along with Russia. Obviously there has been some behind the scenes arm twisting going on, leveraging this manufactured Mike Flynn scandal.
The controllers of this nation, whoever they may be (the president is only a figurehead), the real Big Brother, want war with Russia. The ones that gave Barama his marching orders. They would have gone with the Hillary fork. They would have gone to war with Russia with no resistance. But Hillary lost so they went with the contingency plan of coercing Trump into following through on that agenda. Both forks in the road led to the same end.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/02/trump-declares-war-russia.html
on Wed Feb 15th 2017 at 17:37:17 abagond
@ nomad
Your deep state paradigm explains nothing because it explains everything. It has no predictive value. And it can never be proved or disproved. It is a conspiracy theory par excellence.
If anything was going to disprove it, it was the election of Donald Trump. But nope, you keep right on rolling. It has all the intellectual rigour of a wet noodle.
Thank you. I intend to. In spite of your disapprobation.
“Your deep state paradigm explains nothing because it explains everything.”
Your dismissal of it explains you.
So let me be sure I am interpreting you correctly. It is a conspiracy theory that cannot be proved or disproved. Therefore what? It doesn’t exist? Is this what you are saying?
on Thu Feb 16th 2017 at 07:13:43 Solitaire
How do we know that Putin doesn’t want a war with the U.S.?
Here’s a conspiracy theory: Putin wanted Trump in as president to soften us up before launching a conventional war against us.
Here we are, less than a month after the inauguration, and the White House is almost paralyzed due to scandals, incompetency, and in-fighting. Trump’s already alienating key allies, hasn’t yet filled many ambassador positions around the globe, and looks to be gearing up for a witchhunt against his own intelligence community.
Trump has also said (think it was quoted on a different thread) that he wants to tear everything down so he can build it back up again. But what if after he tears it all down, Putin picks that moment to invade?
on Thu Feb 16th 2017 at 12:18:45 nomad
@Solitaire
I would call that Russophobia and Trump hysteria.
Russia has giving no indication of wanting war with the US.
The witch hunt is obviously the Intelligence Community’s against Trump. The stuff yall smoking is dangerously absurd and an inversion of reality.
no response? I’m going to assume my interpretation is correct.
BTW, in the comment you were responding to, I did not mention the Deep State. Doesn’t even sound like a term I have used. But I’m not adverse to using it.
I said “The controllers of this nation, whoever they may be (the president is only a figurehead), the real Big Brother”
We could call these controllers the Deep State. Or perhaps the Deep State is their means of control. We know there are people working behind the scenes to set the agenda. There are names of people of considerable political influence thrown about. Soros, Rockefeller, Kissinger. Maybe bankers are a part of the Deep State cabal that controls presidents. We know for example that a banker chose Obama’s cabinet. And since much of what our government does is secret, the Intel community plays a large roll, along with the driving engine of the Deep State, the MIC. Who knows who these controllers are?
Because it is hidden does not mean it doesn’t exist.
“I would call that Russophobia and Trump hysteria…. The stuff yall smoking is dangerously absurd and an inversion of reality.”
Except that I don’t believe it, any more than I believe Hillary Clinton wanted a nuclear war with Russia.
All I’m saying is if you fit certain pieces of a puzzle together in a certain way, you could equally argue that Putin wants a war with us as long as he can have it under his terms with a good chance of winning. That doesn’t mean I believe it to be true — I’m just saying.
It is probably more likely that Putin wants to see the US weakened and destabilized economically and militarily but has no intention of attacking. And even here, I’m not saying that he definitely wants a weakened America or that I thoroughly believe he does. I think it’s a possibility; it would make strategic sense. But it is equally likely not to be true.
“The witch hunt is obviously the Intelligence Community’s against Trump.”
Trump is currently planning to investigate the intelligence community and root out those he doesn’t like.
“Who knows who these controllers are?”
So in your opinion, is the US government the only one being controlled by secret players behind the scene? Or does this apply also to England, Canada, Germany, etc.? Is it possible that Putin is also being controlled?
If you disregard empirical evidence you could. Nate has been tightening the noose around Russia since the end of the Cold War. The US has surrounded Russia with military basis. The US has provoked an anti-Russian coup in Ukraine. Sent US troops to the Russian border and expelled Russian diplomats on the basis of allegations not yet supported by evidence. And the anti Russian hostility that issues from the mouths of our elected officials, which BTW contrasts markedly to the restrained rhetoric of Putin. All Russia is has done is defend itself from US aggression. Any objective observer can see who the war mongering state is here.
You’d have to deny reality to argue that Putin wants war.
on Thu Feb 16th 2017 at 17:42:15 resw
“Any objective observer can see who the war mongering state is here.”
That’s the problem. Few are objective observers. Most, like abagond and his retinue, can’t even see the New York Times’ anti-Russian propaganda for what it is.
I gave a clear example of it, and the first thing out of abagond’s mouth was another unsubstantiated conspiracy theory. There really is no reasoning with people who don’t want to deal with the facts.
“The US has provoked an anti-Russian coup in Ukraine.”
And Putin’s response was to invade an independent, sovereign nation and annex part of its territory. He had other, less aggressive options open to him, but he chose not to take them.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I get the impression you think if someone disapproves of Putin’s actions, they must approve of the US and NATO. I disagree. I believe they are all jockeying for power. I believe that all parties view their questionable actions as necessary for their self-defense. I believe this mindset puts the world in danger. The Cold War may have ended, but the old lines are still in place and the old mentality still holds sway. All parties share the blame.
You don’t have to answer this next question if you don’t want, but I’ll ask it a second time in case you missed it because I am interested in your opinion: Is Putin also a puppet of unseen masters, or is he his own man?
resw
I was just thinking about the Trump/O’Reilly factor, where O’Reilly called Putin a murderer. Of course any head of state that has ever caused the death of anyone can be accused rightly or wrongly of murder. But here he is speaking from a MSM platform, MSM complicit in the murder of tens of thousands, in a government that reserves the right to murder anyone anywhere in the world. If any leader there is who is specifically known for murder it is Barack Obama; the guy who claimed to be good at it and bragged about killing Osama bin Ladin. O’Reilly cries ‘Putin is a murderer!’ Why does this astound him? He has just had a president who famously personally chose persons to be assassinated by drone on a weekly basis. Did O’Reilly, at any time during this eight years call Obama a murderer? (Somebody knows the answer to that.) The Russophobic double standard is mind boggling.
He didn’t invade. He was invited by Crimea to defend them from Russia hating Nazis, which Obama supported. Imagine that. A black president supporting Nazis. I don’t think Putin’s other options, whatever they may have been, were feasible. Or beneficial to Russia. Why should he bow to US hegemony on his doorstep?
Bottom line. Russia would have taken no action in Crimea had it not been for the coup sponsored by and provoked by the USA. As I say. Russia is only reacting to US aggression.
” …O’Reilly called Putin a murderer…. But here he is speaking from a MSM platform, MSM complicit in the murder of tens of thousands, in a government that reserves the right to murder anyone anywhere in the world. ”
Right, if anyone’s a murderer it’s O’Reilly and the msm executives/faux journalists who conned Americans into supporting the Iraqi invasion based on completely false pretenses, leading to the deaths of at least 100,000.
“Did O’Reilly, at any time during this eight years call Obama a murderer? (Somebody knows the answer to that.)”
Abagond usually knows what happens on Fox News, so maybe he can answer that.
“And Putin’s response was to invade an independent, sovereign nation and annex part of its territory.”
More msm propaganda.
The US gov’t is the one with troops stationed in Ukraine, Poland, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, etc., not Russia.
US supported a coup in Ukraine, not Russia.
Several UN polls conducted over 3 years well before the referendum showed the vast majority of Crimean voters wanted to join Russia.
Crimeans voted overwhelmingly to secede from Ukraine and join Russia.
on Thu Feb 16th 2017 at 20:17:41 v8driver
Ok ‘deep state’ is neospeak for a good old fashioned ‘5th column’ or ‘fourth estate’ but extremely anti-populist
on Thu Feb 16th 2017 at 23:46:52 abagond
Sure it could be true, but without proof or without any predictive value, it is idle speculation.
on Fri Feb 17th 2017 at 00:44:09 v8driver
My cynicism was inculcated before i could walk, pretty sure, and the british/scottish sarcasm didnt help matters at all eh {insert moderatable comment here}
on Fri Feb 17th 2017 at 00:45:28 nomad
I suppose the implication is that The New York Times, Washington Post and NPR are doing their best to report the truth and the others, including RT, are purveyors of falsehoods. That, as regards RT, is a lie. More propaganda. More subtle Russophobia, but propaganda still. That’s not likely to restore MSM’s credibility, so ignominiously surrendered during the Hillary election debacle. The cynicism didn’t just arise out of nowhere. MSM brought it upon itself. This finger pointing is not going to help restore that credibility. I don’t really know if MSM is redeemable. I’m certainly getting my news from somewhere else and a lots more people besides me. These charlatans can F off for all I care.
Oh an btw being the recipient of my cynicism non est sui generis
on Fri Feb 17th 2017 at 01:06:25 Afrofem
@Scribh
I wrote a response to your Frum comment on The Trump Era thread:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2016/11/09/the-trump-era/#comment-365369
There is a large body of literature on this subject and various branches of it, as I indicated, from MIC to CIA to banksters and NGOs and groups like Bilderbergs, Skull and Bones and on and on.. To say it is not worth investigating is simply wrong. In fact it’s absurd. You will not be able to determine a ‘predictive value’ until you have examined the evidence. There is nothing idle about revealing the truth.
on Fri Feb 17th 2017 at 01:59:44 abagond
I never said it should not be investigated.
“I never said it should not be investigated ”
Sure you did.
“without proof or without any predictive value, it is idle speculation.”
Proofs are available in the various literatures that I mentioned. Predictive value emerges from research in those areas. Investigating rather than dismissing as conspiracy theory, in all the pejorative sense of that label.
“BTW, in the comment you were responding to, I did not mention the Deep State. Doesn’t even sound like a term I have used. ”
Huh? You have been using the term regulary since Trump won. You first used it here on November 20th 2016:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2016/11/12/its-not-about-racism/#comment-358657
Michael Jon Barker uses it regulary too. So does Breitbart News:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/02/15/virgil-deep-state-bumps-off-general-flynn-whos-next-target/
“I suppose the implication is that The New York Times, Washington Post and NPR are doing their best to report the truth and the others, including RT, are purveyors of falsehoods. That, as regards RT, is a lie. More propaganda. ”
If the New York Times is propaganda, then RT most certainly is. When has RT ever broken a scandal on Vladimir Putin? But to their credit they did denounce PizzaGate as fake news.
oh I stand corrected. but as I say I have no qualms about using the term.
on the merits of RT versus MSM, MSM is not even in the same league. it is much more propagandistic than RT. as I say MSMs job is to hide geopolitical realities from Americans. RT is the antidote to that mind control because they report what MSM won’t. I think that’s their motto.
on Fri Feb 17th 2017 at 05:58:43 michaeljonbarker
Abagond said : “Michael Jon Barker uses it regulary too. So does Breitbart News:”
That uncomfortable feeling you get when you see your name in the same paragraph with Breitbart news. lol
To clarify when I use the term “the State” I am using it differently then Breitbart news and president Trump.
Trump and friends see the deep state as some kind of shadow government thus they wants to go after intelligence agencies that they imagine are behind it.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_within_a_state
When I use the term “the State” I am referring to the apparatus of the State and it’s monopoly on violence. “War is the health of the State”.
Most governments around the world have States structured like the example above. Citizens think that a State is like a car. If there political party or idiology comes to power they will be able to steer the State to do the good things that they belive in. So they participate in political theater not realizing that the State is the collective “id” of their culture (in the West, white supremacy) and functions instinctively to preserve that. The State works in partnership with banks, corperations, the rich ect. to protect, maintain and expand that wealth at the expense of the average citizen.
States continue to expand until they collapse. Then a new set of thugs take over. Rarely has revolution brought real political change. The Arab Spring is a good example of that.
@MJB
I just want to be sure I’m interpreting this correctly. What you seem to be talking about is the state, not the deep state. So, I ask you like I asked Abagond, Is there a deep state? With all the Intel originating attacks against Trump, the legitimately elected president, from P gate dossier to the Flynn assassination, are you really going to assert that there is no deep state? With an agenda in this case that contradicts the president’s?
“The intel community is a government unto itself.” Michael Maloof.
People in debates like to change the terminology of the discussion to take control of it by getting their opponent to use their words. I’m just pointing out that that is what has happened here. I tend to guard against such shifts in terminology, just to be sure people aren’t distorting what I’m saying. Controllers was my term. At least for this thread. However, I have no objection to using the term you substituted. It doesn’t seem to alter the discussion any.
aaahhaahhaahaaa…
trump changes opinion about cnn being fake news.
now he thinks its VERY fake news.
@michaeljonbarker
“So [citizens] participate in political theater not realizing that the State is the collective “id” of their culture (in the West, white supremacy) and functions instinctively to preserve that. The State works in partnership with banks, corperations, the rich ect. to protect, maintain and expand that wealth at the expense of the average citizen.
States continue to expand until they collapse. Then a new set of thugs take over. Rarely has revolution brought real political change.”
Well said. That is also my understanding of modern nation-states and real effects of most revolutions.
Glenn Greenwald indulges in idle speculation.
Greenwald asserted in an interview with Democracy Now, published on Thursday, that this [Flynn situation] boils down to a fight between the Deep State and the Trump administration.
According to an in-depth report by journalist Mike Lofgren:
“The Deep State does not consist of the entire government. It is a hybrid of national security and law enforcement agencies: the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Justice Department. I also include the Department of the Treasury because of its jurisdiction over financial flows, its enforcement of international sanctions and its organic symbiosis with Wall Street.”
As Greenwald explained during his interview:
“It’s agencies like the CIA, the NSA and the other intelligence agencies, that are essentially designed to disseminate disinformation and deceit and propaganda, and have a long history of doing not only that, but also have a long history of the world’s worst war crimes, atrocities and death squads.”
http://sorendreier.com/chilling-warnings-about-deep-states-war-on-trump/
Thank you. I saw that interview and posted it on my Tumblr:
(http://abagond.tumblr.com/post/157349443149/greenwald-empowering-the-deep-state-to)
I will be doing a post on the deep state.
cool. looking forward to it.
Trump versus the Deep State. What a quandary. Who to root for? The racist or the police state? It’s only fair. The elite have been pitting us left right people against each other for so long, it’s about time for the shoe to be on the other foot. The president against the Deep State. Let’s you and him fight.
Just read an excellent 2014 essay on the Deep State by Mike Lofgren. He describes the Deep State this way:
“It is the red thread that runs through the war on terrorism, the financialization and deindustrialization of the American economy, the rise of a plutocratic social structure and political dysfunction. Washington is the headquarters of the Deep State, and its time in the sun as a rival to Rome, Constantinople or London may be term-limited by its overweening sense of self-importance and its habit, as Winwood Reade said of Rome, to “live upon its principal till ruin stared it in the face.” “Living upon its principal,” in this case, means that the Deep State has been extracting value from the American people in vampire-like fashion.”
http://billmoyers.com/2014/02/21/anatomy-of-the-deep-state/
on Sun Feb 19th 2017 at 22:24:25 nomad
“the Deep State has been extracting value from the American people in vampire-like fashion.”
Sucking the blood of the sufferers. And like vampires doing evil under the cloak of darkness, taking possession of people’s minds and doing evil. Deep state might be the Babylon system.
on Sun Feb 19th 2017 at 22:31:54 Fan ...
Did I hear kiwi’s (nick)name mentioned????
Wait a second, deep state is as i described but wnd is saying ‘pro-obama’ ie [tacitly] democratic or maybe overtly even, calling it that but my gut is a ‘top tier’ military-industrial complex bubble or something, ‘presidential curiosity is not sufficient… Like making the regular govt the congress as opposed to the senate, and grooming the populace’s not only conscious nut experience vis a vis controlling news eh whatever
damn. i had a more thoughtful comment but lost it in trying to insert a link.
basically Obama is the last in the dynasty of CIA presidents and actually works for the CIA. you can tell by his policies that he wasn’t a real democrat. he was a DINO. he’s staying on to help the Deep State overthrow Trump. to orchestrate the coup actually.
Is an American Coup d’etat in Progress?
“Have you asked yourself the question of why Former President Obama is hunkering down in a secure fortress in DC to lead the new “Regime Change” against duly elected President Donald Trump? ”
https://geopolitics.co/2017/02/20/is-an-american-coup-detat-in-progress/
It’s skewed right wing, but makes an important point.
oh yeah. I also said that the fact that Trump is in acrimony with the Deep State indicates that he is not a part of it, as has been every president at least since Reagan and possibly since Kennedy. And I also said, that’s a good thing.
‘Sources say maybe’
like maybe the sun will rise tomorrow?
Like magic 8 ball, the toy that is, just in case it was confusing…
on Wed Feb 22nd 2017 at 02:23:59 abagond
By the same logic, Hillary Clinton was not part of the deep state either given the way Comey, the FBI director, broke with protocol and said he was still investigating her email scandal.
on Wed Feb 22nd 2017 at 05:10:19 michaeljonbarker
I don’t see the “deep state” the same way as has been described. I belive their is a corporatacracy that includes the media and is driven by corperations but I’m not convinced the “deep state” is as entrenched against Trump as Breitbart and the Alt Right describe it.
They see the deep state as interfering with Trump ect but what they really want is to control those institutions within government that deal with intelligence and enforcement. They wish to use the state as a mechanism to enact violence lawfully against their perceived enemies as well as against immigrants and non whites.
They want to harden the facism we already have.
on Wed Feb 22nd 2017 at 13:06:03 nomad
“By the same logic, Hillary Clinton was not part of the deep state ”
Oh yeah. Like the Deep State would not throw one of their own under the bus when they become a liability and too carelessly crooked even for them. Hillary never challenged the Deep State, as Trump is doing. That would be a sign that she’s not a part of it. The fact that she was following the Obama agenda says that she was in alignment with the Deep State.
“They see the deep state as interfering with Trump ” and so do I.
That’s because they are creditable and have journalistic integrity sorely missing from MSM. Instead of smearing RT as propaganda you, as a commentator on black culture, should be praising them for their coverage of black issues. Today I watched a segment on Watching the Hawks “Remembering Malcolm X” featuring his daughter. When has MSM done such reporting?
on Thu Feb 23rd 2017 at 03:53:55 abagond
Huh? RT has journalistic integrity? They are Putin’s little lapdog, just like Fox News is now Trump’s little lapdog. Neither speak truth to power within their own country. Both are political hacks.
RT, from what I have seen of it (mainly the headline news), seems to have a White nationalist / Clash-of-Civilizations theme. Its stories strangely track Fox News and Breitbart News. In fact, you first came off as a Fox News viewer to me. And some of what you say is echoed in Breitbart, like about the Deep State and the profound corruption of the Democratic Party.
RT seems to run stories about Blacks in the US for the same reason East German television did back in the 1980s: to make the US look bad. I doubt they do it out of any concern for Black people.
After all, what Black commentators and reporters does RT have? Every time I watch it, all I see is White people telling me the news. Why is that?
on Thu Feb 23rd 2017 at 05:24:09 nomad
“In fact, you first came off as a Fox News viewer to me. And some of what you say is echoed in Breitbart, like about the Deep State and the profound corruption of the Democratic Party.”
I guess great minds think alike
tsk tsk. so cynical. and such a true believer In the uprightness of US. US dont need RT to make US look bad, too bad you’ll never see whats just outside the blinders you wear.
“After all, what Black commentators and reporters does RT have?”
as we know from Obama, black misleaders and news regurgitaters, black skin does not mean black friend.
“Every time I watch it, all I see is White people telling me the news. Why is that?”
I don’t know. I guess ’cause they’re white. you gon’ hold that against them?
You like to make these unfounded equivalencies. E.g. Because one is a hack, the other has got to be a hack. By definition, Russia’s has got to be worse than America’s. Whatever America’s guilty of, Russia is even more guilty. Face the fact. Our media are the propagandistic even criminal hacks, in that they lie us into wars that cause the lives of millions. They hide news. RT reveals it. US media is not in the same class with RT.
And you keep making these claims without backing them up. Show me the proof that RT is Putin’s lapdog.
I know you’re blind to Wearechange too, but he articulates the truth about the propaganda mill called MSM.
(https://youtu.be/RKhSg2uVVB4)
on Thu Feb 23rd 2017 at 17:11:43 resw
“And you keep making these claims without backing them up.”
Propagandists don’t need to back up claims.
“Face the fact. Our media are the propagandistic even criminal hacks, in that they lie us into wars that cause the lives of millions. They hide news. RT reveals it.”
Like what? What great truths does RT reveal that are hidden by the US media?
” US media is not in the same class with RT.”
Right, because RT is directly controlled by the Russian government.
I will be doing a post on RT.
So then Trump is part of the Russian deep state, since he freely compares the CIA to Nazis and yet has never a bad word to say about Vladimir Putin and even ran on a strangely pro-Russian platform.
You’d think between abagond’s provincial Univision Communications and Breitbart news “diets”, he’d actually want to go on an RT “diet” so he can actually know what he’s talking about instead of spreading propaganda.
I’m tellinya. Go on an RT diet, abagond. Get cured.
I’m sure you have name for this fallacious argument type. Where can I find it?
-never a bad word to say about Vladimir Putin
I don’t know if that’s true or not and if it is its a good thing, but only by wildly stretching the imagination does that make him a part of the deep state. please return to sanity, abagond. your credibility is taking a hit.
-ran on a strangely pro-Russian platform
this a lie and pure propaganda straight from the hoary womb of Hillary Clinton, midwifed by Barack Obama and delivered to the Deep State.
“please return to sanity, abagond. your credibility is taking a hit.”
I am mocking your logic. You are the one who needs to return to sanity.
The video. It doesn’t get any clearer than that. The scion of Zbigniew Brzezinski says that the job of the MSM is to control what people think. She inadvertently let the truth out the bag. MSM is propaganda. I didn’t need her to tell me that. I discovered it on my own. But perhaps you do, since nothing for you can be true unless it comes from the official news source. Well here it is. Delivered by MSM itself.
‘Well, Russia is too.’ I know. The all sides do it argument.
Well no. RT isn’t. These are reporters with journalistic integrity. Not like our sycophantic warmongering media.
“I am mocking your logic.”
people living in glass houses should not throw stones
Off the top of my head that ISIS as prosecuted by Obama was a phony war.
The US provoked the coup in Ukraine. Americans believe Russia invaded. The rest of the world knows this is not true. already discussed above, numerous things, many of which I have posted to this blog.
“RT is directly controlled by the Russian government.”
I’ve already refuted it. Resw has already debunked. And yet you’re going to make that statement as if it were a proven fact. Your credibility is crumbling.
What you and resw debunked and I was wrong about is that RT is OWNED by the government. It is not. I agree. But it still gets most of its money from the government.
“Americans believe Russia invaded”
Huh? Are you and RT saying Russia did not invade Ukraine?
Just to be clear, some parts of the MSM are clearly propagandistic, like Fox News and MSNBC, meaning that they are more interested in pushing a particular political message than in seeking the truth. RT is in the same class, from what I have seen. CNN, the BBC and the New York Times, on the other hand, do seem to make a serious attempt at getting their facts right. That hardly means they are always right or that they are without bias. All three, for example, have a clear pro-Israeli bias.
‘Huh? Are you and RT saying Russia did not invade Ukraine?”
some bright spots amid the blight spots. on the whole its mind control. that’s why you can live in an alternate reality where Russia invaded Ukraine.
the government does not control its content, as you repeatedly assert,
you make it sound like putin issues talking points to Chris Hedges, Jesse Ventura, Larry King and the lesser known journalists and news people, every one of the journalists there that i observed were independent thinkers. every bit as abby whatshername that you have mentioned. no. no more than Obama issued talking points to cnn abc and cbs. which by the way still carried water for the his administration, well aware that they were the propaganda wing of the federal government.
Back to the machinations of the Deep State.
http://theantimedia.org/cia-coup-us-government/
“These wartime developments are not necessarily the work of a democratically elected government, but a shadowy cocktail hybrid of a number of different agencies who will oust anyone they view as a threat to their agenda.”
“Americans believe Russia invaded. The rest of the world knows this is not true.”
The rest of the world??
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_reactions_to_the_annexation_of_Crimea_by_the_Russian_Federation
The so called invasion of Ukraine.
http://www.vox.com/2014/8/15/6006281/russia-ukraine-war-what-we-know
PRESENTATION OF THE CASE
“Obama-Trump economic sanctions against Russia are based upon the lies that are to be exposed as lies, in the links here. So too are the NATO movements of U.S. troops and missiles right up to Russia’s very borders — ready to invade Russia — based especially upon the lie of ‘Russian aggression in Crimea’. All of the thrust for WW III is based upon U.S. President Barack Obama’s vicious lie against Russia: his saying that the transfer of Crimea from Ukraine to Russia was not (which it actually was) an example of the U.N.-and-U.S. universally recognized right of self-determination of peoples (such as the U.S. recognizes to apply both in Catalonia and in Scotland, but not in Crimea) but was instead an alleged ‘conquest’ of Crimea by Russia. (As that link there documents, Obama’s allegation that it was ‘Putin’s conquest’ of Crimea is false, and he knew it to be false; he was well informed that the people of Crimea overwhelmingly wanted their land to be restored to Russia, and to be protected by Russia, so as not to be invaded by the Ukrainian government’s troops and weapons, after a bloody U.S. coup by Obama had — less than a month earlier — overthrown the democratically elected President of Ukraine, for whom 75% of Crimeans had voted. Obama’s own agents were behind that coup; they were doing his bidding. The aggressor here is entirely the U.S., not Russia, despite Obama’s lies.)”
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/02/things-will-get-worse-u-s-stops-lying-crimea.html
on Fri Feb 24th 2017 at 19:06:58 resw
“CNN, the BBC and the New York Times, on the other hand, do seem to make a serious attempt at getting their facts right.”
And that has nothing to do with whether or not something is propaganda. An article can be full of errors and not be propaganda, and one can contain mostly factual information and still be propaganda.
A perfect example is NYT’s article, “A Powerful Russian Weapon: The Spread of False Stories” which accurately says Swedish officials found no links to Russia, but still talks about Russia anyway, and even includes a photo of “unidentified soldiers” in Crimea, as if that has anything to do with fake news in Sweden.
And using abagond’s own standard regarding RT, BBC shouldn’t be trusted because it’s “controlled” by the UK government. And you need look no further than its coverage of Brexit, Syria and Israel to see that it too engages in propaganda.
It is a fact that BBC editor instructed staff to be pro-Israel and not blame Israel for its attacks in Gaza. It is a fact that he said ““Please remember, Israel doesn’t maintain a blockade around Gaza. Egypt controls the southern border.” Forget the fact that Israel with US help built a wall on that southern border, patrols it, and only allows one entrance between Gaza and Egypt.
And CNN? Don’t make us laugh. Its election coverage proved it has a clear agenda. But of course you’re going to defend the network that shilled for your boss, and I don’t blame you since you’re still collecting a cheque.
You live in an alternate reality created by MSM.
@An Scríbhneoir Gael-Mheiriceánach
No. Nobody nor nothing is controlling everything you do. Just your thoughts about geopolitical realities. To the degree that you passively accept the programming. And while somewhere along the line Bilderbergs and lizard people may play a roll, your outlook on the world is primarily being controlled by the CIA and MSM. That’s why you believe that Russia hacked the election, installed Trump, and invaded Ukraine. You believe what the state tells you to believe. Its 1984. How many fingers am I holding up?
Trump being briefed by the deep state
“Greetings, Mr. President. Thank you for taking a few minutes to see me today. I understand your time is valuable, so let me get to the point: …
You need to pull a Mukden maneuver. A Tonkin trick. A Swedish stitch-up. A Gleiwitz gambit. A Lavon lark. A Moscow machination.
You know, a false flag.
I know most people would balk at the idea of telling such a brazen lie, but that’s what I like about you, sir. You’re not afraid to lie, and lie bigly. That’s what this country needs. And the way you got Sean Spicer to straight up lie to the public’s face and tell them that Iran has fired missiles on a US naval vessel was masterful. Who else could think of taking a Houthi rebel attack on a Saudi frigate and turning it into an Iranian attack on the US Navy? It’s so unbelievable, only the American public could buy it!
Now, Mr. President, among your many excellent choices of warmongers, banksters and establishment hacks for your cabinet, I have to especially congratulate you on the choice of Rudy “Butcher of New York” Giuliani on the position of cybersecurity advisor. It’s brilliant on every level. First of all, he has no education, training, experience or displayed interest in technology or cybersecurity, so he won’t get bogged down in actual issues. Secondly, he’s a legitimate 9/11 suspect! He helped illegally clear the 9/11 crime scene! He admitted to foreknowledge of the towers’ collapse! Who better to cover up the next false flag then the man who covered up the last one! It’s like poetry, it rhymes.
…I’m sorry, what’s that? Your opinion? Hahaha. You really are a character, Mr. President, I’ll give you that. Do you think you get an opinion on this? Do you think I’m here to solicit your suggestions? Oh, that’s rich, sir. No, I’m here to let you know some of the options we’re considering. So that, when the time comes, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, even if you’re sitting in a classroom full of kids reading a story about a pet goat, you will know to sit quietly and await your further orders.
Do I make myself clear?”
https://steemit.com/news/@corbettreport/what-will-be-trump-s-reichstag-fire
on Sat Feb 25th 2017 at 18:08:58 Solitaire
Don’t be silly. Putin didn’t invade Crimea, he liberated it! /s
Reminds me of Reagan’s “freedom fighters” rhetoric.
on Sat Feb 25th 2017 at 18:20:01 v8driver
@nomad that’s interesting/wierd coincidence? that the uss cole is involved in that mess.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.foxnews.com/world/2017/02/03/uss-cole-patrolling-off-yemen-after-iran-backed-rebels-attack-saudi-ship.amp.html
So, yall still buying that Russia invaded Ukraine crap? That’s why America is so exceptional.
Yes — just like the U.S. invaded Mexico to take over territory. Regardless of how we sought to justify that (e.g., protecting Americans living in those regions), it was still an invasion.
Putin’s actions in your opinion may be justified, but it still constitutes an invasion. Crimea was legally part of Ukraine, a status recognized internationally and by the United Nations. Putin used military action to take Crimea away from Ukraine.
Ukraine (not just the region of Crimea) has a history of being subsumed by Russia and its independence movements repeatedly crushed.
There’s opinions and then theres facts. Ask the Crimeans if they think it was an invasion.
Yes, and, according to RT, Assad in Syria “liberated” eastern Aleppo after bombing it to bits. Something else the do-no-wrong Russians had a hand in.
Well, that would be people’s opinions, wouldn’t it? And I expect the opinions of “the Crimeans” would break largely across ethnic lines.
What’s really sad is the Crimean Tartars are the ethnic group who have the strongest and oldest claim to Crimea, but they have been virtually ignored in this controversy.
Stalin exiled the entire Crimean Tatar population and forcibly removed them from Crimea in 1944. It’s only been relatively recently that any Crimean Tartars have been allowed to return, but they now constitute an estimated 12% of the Crimean population.
After the annexation, the Russian government told the Crimean Tartars who live on the coast that they would be relocated to other parts of Crimea, whether they want to move or not.
So the people to whom the land belonged for hundreds of years have no voice in this argument between Russia and Ukraine, no autonomy, and not even enough power to prevent their forced removal from their coastal homes.
They’re also Muslim, and we can see from Chechnya what they probably have to look forward to.
“the do-no-wrong Russians”
So much dichotomous thinking in this thread. The U.S. is bad, so therefore Russia must be good. They can’t both be bad. And anyone who points out Russia’s faults must automatically think the U.S. is faultless — no matter what they say to the contrary. It’s all good/evil and no shades of gray allowed.
“Well, that would be people’s opinions, wouldn’t it?”
They are the ones who would know. Did the Russians rape and pillage and firebomb while they were invading? Or did the population of Crimea petition Russia for annexation?
“The U.S. is bad, so therefore Russia must be good.”
You’re the one making it dichotomous. The only reason you think I’m saying Russia can do no wrong is because you believe they can do no right. So it seems odd to you that they can. And they have. They are defeating ISIS where the US couldn’t. Or wouldn’t. And They’re news media is better.
Yes, and, according to RT, Assad in Syria “liberated” eastern Aleppo after bombing it to bits.
Sorry, given your bias against Russia, you need a link. Not saying its not true. Just not taking your word for it.
You guys are such faithful supporters of the government that has abused, murdered and exploited you so. I bet yall stand and put your hand your heart when they play the national anthem.
Unbelievable! So the US funding of ISIS is a conspiracy theory too?
Oh say can you see
True Americans you do be.
“alleges it was intentional – and by Clinton and Obama.)”
It was! Has it not been clear what an evil bunch of malefactors we have running this government? This. is. what. they. do.
even if you go to the gov’t of ukraine’s websites it’s not clear about not crimea the ukraine itself east ukraine
and really? ‘top of the pack’ like as in cards or wth?!?!?!? front of the pack, leader of the pack a trumpism for sure
on Sun Feb 26th 2017 at 00:30:03 Solitaire
” you believe they can do no right.”
Not true at all. For starters, the Russians defeated Nazi Germany.
Can you name one thing you believe Russia has done wrong?
“Or did the population of Crimea petition Russia for annexation?”
Some of the population of Crimea petitioned Russia. The Crimean Tartars didn’t, and look what’s already starting to happen to them.
This is ethnic conflict. There is nationalist foment on the part of both ethnic Ukrainians and ethnic Russians who wouldn’t even be in Crimea except for the past colonialist policies of failed empires.
on Sun Feb 26th 2017 at 01:59:37 abagond
This is the very sort of dichotomous thinking Solitaire was talking about. Anyone who is critical of Trump, Russia or RT is assumed to be a mindless follower of Hillary Clinton, the US or the MSM.
There are tons of RT stories about the “liberation” of East Aleppo. For example:
Syrian govt forces liberate about 40% of east Aleppo from terrorists …
https://www.rt.com/news/368400-east-aleppo-civilians-liberated/
Liberation of E. Aleppo from militants complete – Russian military …
https://www.rt.com/news/370510-aleppo-women-children-evacuated/
Liberation of E. Aleppo has allowed ‘genuine’ separation of ‘moderate …
https://www.rt.com/news/370628-russia-aleppo-separation-militants/
Civilians return to ‘normal’ life in liberated, ruined E. Aleppo (VIDEO …
https://www.rt.com/news/370717-aleppo-vide-locals-return/
Aleppo liberated, country-wide ceasefire now possible – Russian …
https://www.rt.com/news/371427-aleppo-evacuation-syria-truce/
‘Only road’ to deliver aid to eastern Aleppo liberated – Russian MoD …
https://www.rt.com/news/368713-aleppo-castello-road-liberated/
UN stopped offering aid after 40% of east Aleppo liberated from …
https://www.rt.com/news/369027-aleppo-un-russia-aid/
“They wanted us to invade” and “We were protecting them” is classic imperialistic apologetics.
I find it telling that nomad, who has no trouble seeing through the hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton, cannot see through the hypocrisy of Vladimir Putin.
I guess I should be flattered that I rate at least two Russian trolls.
Don’t be flattered. You’re Russiaphobic and paranoid. Anybody who doesn’t buy the propaganda you and the US government is pushing is a Russian troll.
I see the links there. Which one accuses Assad of bombing it to bits? Was he bombing his people or ISIS?
And I see nothing about a “liberation”. I see liberation. You use quotes to deny that they did what they actually did do. The same kind of denial you use regarding Russia. They like Russia can do no right. You are as exceptional and as American as lynching.
*Got to go back that far, huh? They haven’t done anything right in 72 years?
*Why should I? They’ve actually earned my admiration these past eight years.
“I did a Google search for “US funds ISIS.” What I found:”
Counterpunch? Fake news? Come on.
Here’s another fake news site claiming US funded ISIS.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/obama_clinton_created_isis
Thus, a year after Obama and his European and Arab friends brought down Libya’s Gaddafi and shifted their proxy war of regime change to Syria, U.S. military intelligence saw clearly the imminent rise of ISIS — and that “this is exactly” what “the West, Gulf countries and Turkey…want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime.”
Yes, Obama created ISIS, with the enthusiastic assistance of Hillary Clinton, and he is still nurturing al Nusra, the erstwhile affiliate of al Qaida
“Got to go back that far, huh? They haven’t done anything right in 72 years?”
How shall I say this? Oh yes, let me quote your phrasing: “Why should I?”
You claimed that I believed Russia couldn’t do anything right. I gave you one example as proof that your belief about my sentiments was incorrect. You then moved the goalposts on me while simultaneously refusing to give similar proof that you don’t believe Russia is perfect. Just one fricking example, even from 70 years ago. You simply refuse.
So why should I? You’ll just find a reason to dismiss anything I say because apparently you need to continue thinking of me as a mindless brainwashed supporter of the Murican gummint.
Although you know what? This is quick and easy, so here’s example number two: Run up to the top of this thread, take a look at the very first comment, where I copied and pasted a long quote about nuclear disarmament.
One of the two world leaders in that article was trying to do a good thing, and one sounded like a deluded fool. Putin and Russia are being far more reasonable about extending the treaty and continuing to reduce the nuclear weapon stockpile than our current leader.
And I shouldn’t have had to spell that out for you, because it’s my first post on this thread. Right there this whole blankety-blank time.
‘I shouldn’t have had to spell that out for you”
don’t know why you felt you needed to, I can read, I’m just not jumping thru your hoops. you feel you’ve got to make a list. go ahead. that’s your agenda. not mine.
you are the one who characterized my thoughts as dichotomous.
when actually its yours.
So much dichotomous thinking in this thread. The U.S. is bad, so therefore Russia must be good.”
Because I said Russia was justified in this case you asserted that I think they can do no wrong. That is dichotomous thinking on your part. I feel no need to engage in the straw man argument.
The first sentence of this post states:
“The Doomsday Clock (1947- ) marks how close the world is to self-destruction in the judgement of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, with input from 15 Nobel Prize laureates.”
You got that blatantly wrong.
Amerika IS THE DOOMSDAY CLOCK!
There would probably be no such thing or thought of such a thing (as a doomsday clock) if not for how Amerika conducts it affairs (hegemony) throughout the world!
http://www.blacklistednews.com/Dick_Cheney_Poisoned_Hundreds_Of_US_Troops_In_Iraq._Now_They%E2%80%99re_Dying%2C_And_The_Media_Is_Silent/57022/0/38/38/Y/M.html
Confronting these evil treacherous merchants of doom.
(https://youtu.be/H8SycdU3QDk)
Abagond’s view of RT is typical of Americans, the victims of their own MSM propaganda.
Huh? RT has journalistic integrity? They are Putin’s little lapdog
But it’s wrong.
The U.S. view of Russian media is that it is all propaganda all the time to keep the Russian people in line, but it actually encourages diverse and even hostile opinions, says Gilbert Doctorow.
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/02/26/assessing-diversity-on-russian-tv/
on Mon Feb 27th 2017 at 20:30:21 resw
The propagandists already know the US funded ISIS, as I have proved on this blog several months ago:
John McCain said back in 2014:
“Hillary Clinton has described already the meeting in the White House over 2 years ago. Everyone on the National Security team recommended arming ISIS.”
And as they know, Obama admitted to training ISIS or ISIL as he likes to call it: (https://youtu.be/mOYm_CCxxKk)
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard even told us that Syrians “expressed the question, why is it that the United States, its allies and other countries, are providing support, are providing arms, to terrorist groups like Al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda, ISIS, who are on the ground there, raping, kidnapping, torturing, and killing the Syrian people? Children, men, women and people of all ages.”
Then she introduced the “Stop Arming Terrorists Act”: (https://gabbard.house.gov/news/press-releases/video-rep-tulsi-gabbard-urges-support-stop-arming-terrorists-act)
on Tue Feb 28th 2017 at 13:50:33 nomad
It’s as if proof doesn’t matter.
on Tue Feb 28th 2017 at 15:36:20 resw
Proof be damned. Abagond, et al. need to see it on CNN for it to be true.
Oh. Well CNN. I see. That’s definitely not fake news.
on Thu Mar 2nd 2017 at 04:56:44 nomad
Well dam. I guess I was wrong. I thought the existence of the deep state was an uncontroversial issue. Got to stay off the alternative media. They are misinforming me. The New York Times says we don’t have a deep state in US. That’s something that only happens in other less savory countries. Like Egypt, Turkey and probably Russia. What appears to be deep state activity has only emerged with the Trump presidency, the intel community having no recourse but to resort to leaks to undermine him. But its not really a deep state. Even though most of what our government does is secret, i.e. classified. That’s not really deep state.
As Leaks Multiply, Fears of a ‘Deep State’ in America
WASHINGTON — A wave of leaks from government officials has hobbled the Trump administration, leading some to draw comparisons to countries like Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan, where shadowy networks within government bureaucracies, often referred to as “deep states,” undermine and coerce elected governments.
So is the United States seeing the rise of its own deep state?
Not quite, experts say, but the echoes are real — and disturbing.
Though leaks can be a normal and healthy check on a president’s power, what’s happening now extends much further. The United States, those experts warn, risks developing an entrenched culture of conflict between the president and his own bureaucracy.
And you can believe the New York Times. They are not propaganda trying to disguise whats actually going on. And they are definitely not fake news.
Right-wing pundit Bill Kristol believes in the existence of the deep state. He tweets:
Obviously strongly prefer normal democratic and constitutional politics. But if it comes to it, prefer the deep state to the Trump state.
The long hidden Deep state surfaces to meet the threat of Trump.
Both conservatives like Kristol and liberals state “publically, that the “deep state” should take out Trump. Both believe, without evidence, that the Russians intervened to try to get Trump elected. Therefore, both no doubt feel justified in openly espousing a coup d’etat. They match Trump’s blatancy with their own. Nothing deep about this.
Liberals and conservatives are now publically allied in demonizing Putin and Russia, and supporting a very dangerous military confrontation initiated by Obama and championed by the defeated Hillary Clinton. In the past these opposed political factions accepted that they would rotate their titular leaders into and out of the White House, and whenever the need arose to depose one or the other, that business would be left to deep state forces to effect in secret and everyone would play dumb.
Now the game has changed. It’s all “obvious.” The deep state has seemingly gone shallow.”
*The Deep State. Not so deep anymore.
https://off-guardian.org/2017/02/28/the-deep-state-goes-shallow-a-reality-tv-coup-detat-in-prime-time/
forgot link. while I’m adding it might as well quote this passage
Obama, CIA groomed, was smoothly moved into power by the faction that felt Bush needed to be succeeded by a slick smiling assassin who symbolized “diversity,” could speak well, and played hoops. Hit them with the right hand; hit them with the left. Same coin: Take your pick – heads or tails. Hillary Clinton was expected to complete the trinity.
But surprises happen, and now we have Trump
on Fri Mar 3rd 2017 at 06:24:02 nomad
The Deep State’s Hatred of Trump Is Not the Same as Yours
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_deep_states_hatred_of_trump_is_not_the_same_as_yours_20170302
on Tue Mar 21st 2017 at 23:04:17 nomad
I used to think there was a deep state. but some mainstream sources are saying there isnt. And I know these sources are not propaganda or fake news. So it must be true. These sources could not all be under the influence of the CIA. That would be, like, wrong. You know. Brainwashing. ‘Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain’ kind of thing. ‘These are not the droids youre looking for’. Jedi mind tricks.
Last week the New Yorker, and yesterday Salon magazine, published editorials arguing against the very existence of an “American Deep State”. The arguments presented are very…interesting. Both are, perhaps, classic cases of protesting too much
So two…
…wait, did I say two? I meant three four five six seven. [links provided]
Seven non-members of the non-deep state are so enraged by the idea that people might think the totally fake American deep state might be real, that they accidentally publish seemingly coordinated attacks on the very idea. Under very similar titles. All within the same few days. Citing the same “counter examples” of Egypt and Turkey. All acting with symmetrical umbrage.
https://off-guardian.org/2017/03/21/there-is-no-american-deep-state-it-just-looks-like-there-is/
Yeah. There is no deep state. That’s just a conspiracy theory. Worse. It’s a conspiracy theory created by Trump.
on Wed Mar 22nd 2017 at 12:04:11 nomad
on Wed Mar 22nd 2017 at 12:33:17 abagond
Fair enough, but let me post on Neil Gorsuch first.
no sweat. just thought you might have forgotten.
on Thu Mar 23rd 2017 at 20:36:37 nomad
I do like it when people get right to the crux of an issue, as Eric Zeusse does here. Here’s the problem in a nut shell; beginning with the Obama lie that was then enshrined in MSM and implanted into the American mind. That’s how propaganda and social control works and how they funnel us down the path to war.
If the March 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia was based upon the overwhelming desire by Crimeans that Crimea become again a part of Russia such as Crimea had been until 1954, instead of upon Russia’s ‘conquest’ of Crimea such as Obama has charged, then the economic sanctions that Obama placed against Russia on the basis of that annexation is on false ground, and has no authentic justification in law or in fact. Also, in that case, NATO’s subsequent military buildup against Russia, purportedly to protect NATO against ‘another such conquest by Russia’, would be based upon this same lie: the lie that Crimea’s becoming again a part of Russia was something other than a legitimate carrying-out of any people’s sovereign right, of self-determination of peoples — a right that the West recognizes for Catalonians in Spain, and for Scotch in UK, but not for Crimeans in Ukraine. Consequently, essential to addressing this crucial matter is forthrightly to address misrepresentations that are commonly asserted regarding it, and also to address in a credible way what the motivations might be for any such commonly asserted misrepresentations of this historically crucial matter. In other words: an unusually frank discussion is necessary here, which does not mince words where outright lies have been stated and become widespread in The West, and which instead presents the facts that stand forth the most clearly upon the basis of the evidence that is of the very highest reliability and credibility concerning each respective point in question in the matter. The most reliable evidence is presented here, and is consistently in favor of the Russian position, and against The West’s (the U.S. and its allies) position, on this crucial, even mega-historical, issue.
http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/01/06/are-us-economic-sanctions-against-russia-based-on-obama-lie.html
on Fri Mar 24th 2017 at 14:12:24 abagond
@ nomad, etc
I will be doing a post on the deep state soon. If you have any links you particularly recommend, please let me know.
on Fri Mar 24th 2017 at 21:56:05 nomad
Nothing in particular. Just various interesting articles. Washingtons Blog does a good job covering the subject. Here’s an interesting MSM piece.
Mr. Giraldi, executive director of the Council for the National Interest, a foreign-policy advocacy group in Washington, called the American deep state of today an “unelected, unappointed, and unaccountable presence within the system that actually manages what is taking place behind the scenes.”
on Fri Mar 24th 2017 at 22:36:20 Afrofem
@ Abagond (and @Deb)
I recently heard a podcast on Project Censored that went in depth on the subject of the Deep State. The show hosts were joined by Peter Dale Scott and David Talbot.
Peter Dale Scott is a retired Canadian diplomat, professor, and a prolific author on politics and history. His books include Deep Politics and the Death of JFK, Drugs, Oil and War, and The American Deep State.
David Talbot is the founder of Salon.com, and now writes for the San Francisco Chronicle. His most recent book is The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America’s Secret Government.
In little under an hour they briefly give a history of the Deep State, define the sectors of the Deep State and discuss how factions of the Deep State are working against other factions to control the US and global economies.
They also discuss how groups as disparate as scientists, seniors and BLM are all facing the same adversaries and how they could mobilize and build effective coalitions to fight various right wing factions.
http://projectcensored.org/peter-dale-scott-david-talbot-2/
The podcast where the book The Devil’s Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA and the Rise of America’s Secret Government. was discussed:
http://projectcensored.org/14779-2/
If you have time to listen, both podcasts are utterly fascinating and deeply disturbing.
on Sun Mar 26th 2017 at 14:29:03 nomad
The Ministry of Truth
U.S. government developed its sophisticated psychological operations capabilities that – over the past three decades – have created an alternative reality both for people in targeted countries and for American citizens.
https://consortiumnews.com/2017/03/25/how-us-flooded-the-world-with-psyops/
that’s the alternate reality you live in.
your outlook on the world is primarily being controlled by the CIA and MSM. That’s why you believe that Russia hacked the election, installed Trump, and invaded Ukraine. You believe what the state tells you to believe. Its 1984. How many fingers am I holding up?
bunch of good info in this article. Rupert Murdoch, Fox News mogul, part of CIA media control? part of deep state?
Another figure in Raymond’s constellation of propaganda assets was media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who was viewed as both a key political ally of President Reagan and a valuable source of funding for private groups that were coordinating with White House propaganda operations. [See Consortiumnews.com’s “Rupert Murdoch: Propaganda Recruit.”]
Aint it funny? The Ministry of Truth, as I call this perception management bureaucracy, begins around 1984. How appropriate.
The more recently released documents – declassified between 2013 and 2017 – show how these earlier Casey-Raymond efforts merged with the creation of a formal psyop bureaucracy in 1986 also under the control of Raymond’s NSC operation. The combination of the propaganda and psyop programs underscored the powerful capability that the U.S. government developed more than three decades ago for planting slanted, distorted or fake news. (Casey died in 1987; Raymond died in 2003.)
Over those several decades, even as the White House changed hands from Republicans to Democrats to Republicans to Democrats, the momentum created by William Casey and Walter Raymond continued to push these “perception management/psyops” strategies forward. In more recent years, the wording has changed, giving way to more pleasing euphemisms, like “smart power” and “strategic communications.” But the idea is still the same: how you can use propaganda to sell U.S. government policies abroad and at home.
on Mon Mar 27th 2017 at 12:21:37 nomad
I see why people here don’t know about the deep state.
the info is readily available.
you don’t know because you don’t want to know.
its called willful ignorance.
on Tue Mar 28th 2017 at 16:07:52 nomad
Ukraine Annexed Crimea in the 1990s
Something else “our” government and its media whores did not tell us is that under the Crimean Constitution of 1992, Crimea existed as a legal, democratic, secular state. Crimea’s relationship with Ukraine was based on bilateral agreements. In 1995 Ukrainian special ops forces and Ukrainian Army troops invaded Crimea and annexed the territory.
Here is the report from Arina Tsukanova: http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/03/28/so-who-annexed-crimea-peninsular-then.html
The Autonomous Republic of Crimea was established by the 1991 All-Union Referendum in which 94% of Crimeans voted in favor of re-establishing their status as an autonomous republic. Crimeans repeated the vote in 2014 by an even higher percentage, and this time prevented another Ukrainian invasion by reuniting with Russia.
Why didn’t you know this? [’cause MSMs job is to hide it] Why instead do you hear nothing but lies about a “Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea”?
http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/03/28/ukraine-annexed-crimea-1990s/
US in Iraq “liberated” Mosul after bombing it to bits.
on Wed Mar 29th 2017 at 09:33:39 nomad
and viet nam. got to do that too. very important for the crisis we are facing.
lol. did I say ‘crisis’? the first article I read today talks about ‘crisis’. I seem to be right on target.
By Bill Binney and Ray McGovern.
Binney is the NSA executive who created the agency’s mass surveillance program for digital information, who served as the senior technical director within the agency, who managed six thousand NSA employees, the 36-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a “legend” within the agency …
McGovern is a 27-year CIA veteran, who chaired National Intelligence Estimates and personally delivered intelligence briefings to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, their Vice Presidents, Secretaries of State, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many other senior government officials.
Although many details are still hazy because of secrecy – and further befogged by politics – it appears House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes was informed last week about invasive electronic surveillance of senior U.S. government officials and, in turn, passed that information onto President Trump.
This news presents Trump with an unwelcome but unavoidable choice: confront those who have kept him in the dark about such rogue activities or live fearfully in their shadow. (The latter was the path chosen by President Obama. Will Trump choose the road less traveled?)
What President Trump decides will largely determine the freedom of action he enjoys as president on many key security and other issues. But even more so, his choice may decide whether there is a future for this constitutional republic. Either he can acquiesce to or fight against a Deep State of intelligence officials who have a myriad of ways to spy on politicians (and other citizens) and thus amass derogatory material that can be easily transformed into blackmail.
This crisis (yes, “crisis” is an overused word, but in this highly unusual set of circumstances we believe it is appropriate) came to light mostly by accident after President Trump tweeted on March 4 that his team in New York City’s Trump Towers had been “wiretapped” by President Obama.
The Surveillance State Behind Russia-gate
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2017/03/surveillance-state-behind-russia-gate.html
on Fri Apr 7th 2017 at 14:23:45 nomad
Move that clock ahead 2 minutes. Trump has become Hillary Clinton. It happened a lot faster than I thought it would.
they are marching us inexorably into WW III. Both forks in the road led to the same place.
(https://youtu.be/HuvgyTnmUZ0)
Update: The Doomsday Clock has moved forward 30 seconds to two minutes before midnight, the worst it has been since 1953.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-42823734
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Kate Lancaster is a successful, glamorous model with the world at her feet. But she has a secret craving for a simpler life and true love.
A long time ago, Kate lost her heart to Tiarnan Quinn, but he cruelly rejected her clumsy advances.
Now, years later, Kate is a mature woman, and she’s not about to let Tiarnan see that he still has an effect on her. But he does!
Tiarnan Quinn sees a chink in Kate’s armour and now he knows she wants him, he’s not about to let her escape him again. He wants her in his bed until she’s out of his system for good!
Sultry Nights
Mistress to the Merciless Millionaire
Kate Lancaster stood at the very ornate stone font where her two month old god-daughter was being christened, the holy water being poured onto her forehead as the priest intoned a blessing in French. The ceremony was achingly beautiful, in a tiny ancient chapel on the grounds of her best friend’s new home, a stunning chateau just outside Paris. Kate had been at her wedding in this same chapel just nine months previously, as maid of honour.
And yet, this moment in which Kate wanted nothing more than to focus fully on the christening, was being upstaged effortlessly by the tall man who stood to her right. Tiarnan Quinn.
He’d also been at the wedding as best man; he was her best friend Sorcha’s older brother.
Kate tried to stem the pain, hating that it could rise here and taint this beautiful occasion but she couldn’t stop it. He was the man who had crushed her innocent ideals, hopes and dreams. The man who had shown her a moment of explosive sensuality, and in the process ruined her for all other men. And yet she knew she had no-one to blame but herself, if she hadn’t been so determined to – she ruthlessly crushed that line of thinking. It was so long ago, she couldn’t believe it still affected her. That it still felt so fresh.
Despite her best efforts to block him out, she could feel the heat from his large body envelop her, his scent wind around her, threatening to burst open a veritable Pandora’s Box of memories. The familiar weight of desire she felt whenever she was near him lay heavy within her, a pooling of heat in her belly, between her legs. Usually she was so careful to avoid him, but she couldn’t here, now. Not in this intimate ceremony where they were being joined as god-parents in this ancient ritual.
She’d survived the wedding, she’d survive this. And then walk away and hope that one day he wouldn’t affect her so much. But how long had she been hoping for that now? A sense of futility washed through her, especially as she recognized that if anything, her awareness of him was growing exponentially stronger.
Her jaw was tight from holding it so rigid, her back as straight as a dancer’s. She tried to focus on Sorcha and Romain. They were oblivious to all except themselves and their baby. Romain took Molly tenderly from the priest, cradling her easily with big hands. He and Sorcha looked at one another then over their daughter’s head and that look nearly undid Kate completely. It was so private; so full of love and hope and earthy sensuality that it felt unbelievably voyeuristic to be witnessing it, and yet Kate couldn’t look away or stop her heart clenching with a bittersweet pain, momentarily and shamingly jealous of what they shared.
This was what Kate wanted. This was all she’d ever wanted. A fulfillment that was so simple, and yet so rare. Tiarnan Quinn shifted beside her, his arm brushing against hers, making her tense even more rigidly and against her will she looked up at him; she couldn’t not. He’d always drawn her eyes to him, like a helpless moth to the certain death of a burning flame.
He was looking down at her and her heart stopped, breath faltered. He frowned slightly, an assessing look in his gaze as he seemed to search deep within her soul for her secrets. He’d looked at her like that at the wedding and it had taken all her strength to appear cool, he was looking at her as if trying to figure something out. Figure her out. Kate was so raw in that moment, too raw after witnessing Romain and Sorcha’s sheer happiness and love. It was worse than the wedding, she had no defence here with a tiny baby involved, a tiny baby she’d held in her arms only a few moments ago. Holding that baby had called to the deepest most primitive part of her.
Normally she coped so well, but with Tiarnan looking at her so intently now, her protective wall of icy defence was deserting her spectacularly and leaving in its place nothing but heat. And she couldn’t do anything to stop it. Her eyes dropped betrayingly to his mouth. She quite literally yearned to have him kiss her, hold her. Love her. Look at her the way Romain had just looked at Sorcha. She’d never wanted that from any other man, and the realization was stark now, cutting through her.
Against her volition, her eyes rose to meet his again, he was still looking at her. Despite everything she knew, the futility of her secret desires; the feelings within her were rising like a tidal wave and she was helpless to disguise them, caught by the look in his eyes. She knew, without being able to stop it, that he was reading every raw naked emotion on her face and in her eyes. And as she watched, his blue eyes darkened to a glittering shade of deep sapphire with something so carnal and hot that she instinctively put out a hand to search for something to cling onto, seriously fearful that her legs wouldn’t support her.
He’d never looked at her with such explicit intensity…it had to be her imagination. It was all too much and here she was pathetically projecting her own desires onto him…
It was only after a few seconds she realized that Tiarnan had clasped her arm with a big hand, he was holding her upright, supporting her…and right then Kate knew that all of her flimsy attempts to defend herself against him for years were for naught. He’d just seen through it all in an instant. Seen through her. Her humiliation was now complete.
Ruthlessly Bedded, Forcibly Wedded Ruthless Greek Boss, Secretary Mistress
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BREAKING NEWSChevron Houston Marathon
Long-awaited Constable report short on details
13 Undercover's been exposing possible wrongdoing in some of the constable's offices for months, and last week, we questioned why the county attorney hadn't taken action.
Maybe you didn't expect the county attorney to come down hard on the constables, but now there's not even a slap of the wrist.
What did high-priced county lawyers do in 10 long months? You'll see.
"We are reviewing facts, which do not look good. I can't say that they rise to the level of official misconduct or crimes, but they are serious," Terry O'Rourke told us last year.
That was Terry O'Rourke last year, after 13 Undercover had exposed possible wrongdoing in /*Victor Trevino*/'s Precinct 6 office; alleged misuse of county equipment had now surfaced in /*May Walker*/'s office; within months, another constable -- /*Jack Abercia*/ -- would be in chains, arrested by the FBI for alleged bribes he denies.
"There is an investigation in the district attorney's office as well as a review in our office of all the conduct in Precinct 6 and other constable precincts," O'Rourke said.
Now, that long-awaited report has finally been issued and it took 10 months.
"It's a cut and paste job," KTRK legal analyst Joel Androphy said.
You have to read it to believe it. It won't take long, it's barely five pages long. The summary is just two sentences and it doesn't name names -- not one.
"Should they be embarrassed?" we asked Androphy.
"Embarrassed is not the word here -- incompetency," he replied.
So what does it say? It provides legal advice to the constables on how they can avoid breaking the law and a lot of it is plain common sense.
"A law student could have cut and pasted from the various different codes and produced this report within 30 minutes," Androphy said.
But did anyone break the law, violate county policies? Based on this report, who knows.
"Is the county attorney the public's lawyer or the constable's lawyer?" we asked Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan.
"The people of Harris County's attorney," he replied.
"They were elected to protect the public from the public officials, not the public officials from the public," Androphy said.
Your watchdog won't let you see what his office discovered along the way. Last week, we showed damaging emails that suggested they wanted to keep you in the dark. We showed you how a corruption report on another former county official was changed to take out some of the bad stuff. What happened to all that tough talk?
"Nobody is immune, that's our job," O'Rourke said.
"Does this look like a whitewash?" we asked Androphy.
"Totally," he said.
If you'd like to tell the county attorney what you think, here's his phone number: 713-755-5101.
On your behalf, we have demanded once again to see all those draft reports. In February, they claimed they had reviewed thousands of documents, interviewed several people. Who? What'd they say? Don't you have a right to know? After all, you paid for it.
LIVE: Aramco Half Marathon finish line
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3 teens charged with murder after alleged deadly robbery of 15-year-old in NW Houston
By Marla Carter
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Three suspects have been arrested for the murder of a teenage boy who was just one week away from his 16th birthday.
The three suspects - Jashon Freeman, 18; Jacorey Randolph, 19; and Albert Edmond, 18 - are all charged with capital murder.
Spring Valley police pulled over the suspects' car after Houston police broadcasted the description.
Police say the suspects got into an altercation with the victim in the parking lot when one of the suspects shot him multiple times and then stole property from him.
Officers were called to the Innsbruck Lemoyne Apartment complex in the 4600 block of Sherwood around 7:45 p.m., Wednesday night, for a shooting. When they arrived, they found 15-year-old Bryan Escalante dead in the parking lot.
His father told Eyewitness News that he and his son were excited for his birthday, but now that week will never come.
His aunt said Bryan had just helped his mother with laundry and then got a text from a friend and left. The next thing they knew Bryan was shot.
"I ask you to keep his family in your prayers, his family is devastated. His mom, destroyed," said his aunt, Brenda Preciado.
houstonrobberyshooting
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Firebaugh Police find stolen farm equipment worth $300,000, arrest 1
By Nathalie Granda
FIREBAUGH, Calif. (KFSN) -- A tip from a passerby led Firebaugh investigators to a large discovery of stolen farm equipment.
They found $300,000 worth of trailers and tractors that were reported stolen.
One person has been arrested in connection with the crime.
Firebaugh Police said they're constantly dealing with farm equipment theft, which ends up costing the farmers thousands of dollars.
Police said stolen cars were found in a box trailer and at least 20 other pieces of stolen equipment were found at a property off North Dos Palos Road.
"After we started running all the plates we just started getting hit after hit after hit of stolen property," said Sgt. Bernard Ortiz.
Authorities arrested 35-year-old Cesar Figueroa in connection with the crime and say he was living on the property.
Ortiz said the equipment was traced back to several different farmers, including Vince Taylor out of Chowchilla, whose equipment was stolen earlier this month.
"I got a call from Firebaugh police saying they found my back hoe and John Deere tractor," Taylor said.
Ortiz said a nearby driver spotted some equipment on Thursday morning that resembled his employer's recently stolen semi-trailer.
That driver then called the police and soon, they secured a search warrant to look through the property.
Ortiz said agriculture theft is a problem they see all too often.
"Chemicals, farm equipment, a lot of it that gets shipped down into Mexico."
In an effort to deter the pattern, the governor signed Senate Bill 224 earlier this year that would create a new penal code specifically for grand thefts of agricultural property and equipment.
After being a victim of theft multiple times, Taylor said he wants to see harsher punishment for thieves.
"There should be laws to prevent them from stealing. I shouldn't have to worry about my own possessions being stolen."
Firebaugh police are continuing to search for equipment that could be connected to this case, and said it's possible there will be more arrests.
firebaughtheftagriculturefarming
Fresno Co. officials accused of stealing from the dead
Fmr. Drexel professor spent federal grants at strip clubs: Prosecutors
Sheila E. donates drum set to Fresno band that had gear stolen
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Long Island wildlife center thanks social media for stolen falcon's return
LOCUST VALLEY, Long Island (WABC) -- A hawk that thinks he's human - that's the only way to describe 'Buster,' a falcon abandoned in New York City, rescued and lovingly rehabilitated by the volunteers for wildlife in Locust Valley, Long Island.
However, on Friday afternoon staffers say they passed by his cage and did a double-take, Buster was gone.
"It was horrifying," said Lauren Schulz.
Buster was stolen from a part of the facility that was not open to the public. The next 48 hours were agonizing as they made a desperate appeal on social media.
On Christmas Day, Buster magically re-appeared, hungry, thirsty and squealing in a cardboard box left on the center's doorstep.
Buster is what is known as an American Kestrel, and has visited countless schools and libraries to teach children about wildlife conservation.
Buster has never lived out in the wild, and had he been released, staffers are convinced he would never have survived. Yes, Buster is a little stressed out, but they say he will be just fine.
societyoyster baybirdsanimal
Young boy, mother killed after fire rips through New Jersey home
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Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Risk-Factor Guided and Birth-Cohort Screening for Chronic Hepatitis C Infection in the United States
Shan Liu, Lauren E. Cipriano, Mark Holodniy & Jeremy D. Goldhaber Fiebert
http://www.mendeley.com/research/costeffectiveness-analysis-riskfactor-guided-birthcohort-screening-chronic-hepatitis-c-infection-uni-3
{"title"=>"Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Risk-Factor Guided and Birth-Cohort Screening for Chronic Hepatitis C Infection in the United States", "type"=>"journal", "authors"=>[{"first_name"=>"Shan", "last_name"=>"Liu", "scopus_author_id"=>"44861474100"}, {"first_name"=>"Lauren E.", "last_name"=>"Cipriano", "scopus_author_id"=>"16315154700"}, {"first_name"=>"Mark", "last_name"=>"Holodniy", "scopus_author_id"=>"7004800293"}, {"first_name"=>"Jeremy D.", "last_name"=>"Goldhaber-Fiebert", "scopus_author_id"=>"9435535800"}], "year"=>2013, "source"=>"PLoS ONE", "identifiers"=>{"issn"=>"19326203", "pui"=>"368580449", "doi"=>"10.1371/journal.pone.0058975", "sgr"=>"84875287973", "isbn"=>"1932-6203", "pmid"=>"23533595", "scopus"=>"2-s2.0-84875287973"}, "id"=>"0c8bf574-ef23-39f7-adf3-4e702686cd5f", "abstract"=>"BACKGROUND: No consensus exists on screening to detect the estimated 2 million Americans unaware of their chronic hepatitis C infections. Advisory groups differ, recommending birth-cohort screening for baby boomers, screening only high-risk individuals, or no screening. We assessed one-time risk assessment and screening to identify previously undiagnosed 40-74 year-olds given newly available hepatitis C treatments.\\n\\nMETHODS AND FINDINGS: A Markov model evaluated alternative risk-factor guided and birth-cohort screening and treatment strategies. Risk factors included drug use history, blood transfusion before 1992, and multiple sexual partners. Analyses of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey provided sex-, race-, age-, and risk-factor-specific hepatitis C prevalence and mortality rates. Nine strategies combined screening (no screening, risk-factor guided screening, or birth-cohort screening) and treatment (standard therapy-peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, Interleukin-28B-guided (IL28B) triple-therapy-standard therapy plus a protease inhibitor, or universal triple therapy). Response-guided treatment depended on HCV genotype. Outcomes include discounted lifetime costs (2010 dollars) and quality adjusted life-years (QALYs). Compared to no screening, risk-factor guided and birth-cohort screening for 50 year-olds gained 0.7 to 3.5 quality adjusted life-days and cost $168 to $568 per person. Birth-cohort screening provided more benefit per dollar than risk-factor guided screening and cost $65,749 per QALY if followed by universal triple therapy compared to screening followed by IL28B-guided triple therapy. If only 10% of screen-detected, eligible patients initiate treatment at each opportunity, birth-cohort screening with universal triple therapy costs $241,100 per QALY. Assuming treatment with triple therapy, screening all individuals aged 40-64 years costs less than $100,000 per QALY.\\n\\nCONCLUSIONS: The cost-effectiveness of one-time birth-cohort hepatitis C screening for 40-64 year olds is comparable to other screening programs, provided that the healthcare system has sufficient capacity to deliver prompt treatment and appropriate follow-on care to many newly screen-detected individuals.", "link"=>"http://www.mendeley.com/research/costeffectiveness-analysis-riskfactor-guided-birthcohort-screening-chronic-hepatitis-c-infection-uni-3", "reader_count"=>41, "reader_count_by_academic_status"=>{"Professor > Associate Professor"=>4, "Researcher"=>14, "Student > Doctoral Student"=>6, "Student > Ph. D. Student"=>7, "Student > Postgraduate"=>1, "Other"=>2, "Student > Master"=>7}, "reader_count_by_user_role"=>{"Professor > Associate Professor"=>4, "Researcher"=>14, "Student > Doctoral Student"=>6, "Student > Ph. D. Student"=>7, "Student > Postgraduate"=>1, "Other"=>2, "Student > Master"=>7}, "reader_count_by_subject_area"=>{"Unspecified"=>3, "Engineering"=>3, "Nursing and Health Professions"=>2, "Mathematics"=>4, "Medicine and Dentistry"=>17, "Agricultural and Biological Sciences"=>3, "Business, Management and Accounting"=>2, "Social Sciences"=>3, "Immunology and Microbiology"=>1, "Economics, Econometrics and Finance"=>3}, "reader_count_by_subdiscipline"=>{"Engineering"=>{"Engineering"=>3}, "Medicine and Dentistry"=>{"Medicine and Dentistry"=>17}, "Social Sciences"=>{"Social Sciences"=>3}, "Immunology and Microbiology"=>{"Immunology and Microbiology"=>1}, "Economics, Econometrics and Finance"=>{"Economics, Econometrics and Finance"=>3}, "Agricultural and Biological Sciences"=>{"Agricultural and Biological Sciences"=>3}, "Nursing and Health Professions"=>{"Nursing and Health Professions"=>2}, "Business, Management and Accounting"=>{"Business, Management and Accounting"=>2}, "Mathematics"=>{"Mathematics"=>4}, "Unspecified"=>{"Unspecified"=>3}}, "reader_count_by_country"=>{"Canada"=>1, "United States"=>5, "Spain"=>1}, "group_count"=>3}
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.antinf.2014.03.002
http://doi.org/10.1038/ajg.2015.31
http://doi.org/10.1111/jvh.12904
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.idc.2018.02.008
http://doi.org/10.1186/1478-7954-12-15
http://doi.org/10.1097/MEG.0000000000000164
http://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2014.984742
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.dld.2015.06.006
http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302090
http://doi.org/10.1093/cid/civ220
http://doi.org/10.1111/liv.13681
http://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofv101
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.nurpra.2013.10.002
http://doi.org/10.1016/j.transci.2014.07.006
http://doi.org/10.1002/hep.27010
http://doi.org/10.1002/jhm.2376
http://doi.org/10.1097/MOG.0000000000000064
http://doi.org/10.1177/0272989X18793401
http://doi.org/10.2217/fvl.13.115
http://doi.org/10.1111/add.12754
http://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/cku095
Europe PMC Citations 1122 Jan 08:31 UTC
Scopus 5202 Jan 13:13 UTC
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{"id"=>"316140360936062976", "text"=>"cost effectiveness of HCV screening programs in USA\nhttp://t.co/18X5ODMH4c", "created_at"=>"2013-03-25T10:51:50Z", "user"=>"parkness", "user_name"=>"petra wright", "user_profile_image"=>"http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/3057490187/33241385291dae757e03f35a6302137b_normal.jpeg"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/995863"], "description"=>"<p>Small squares represent decisions. For the screening policy decision we considered the alternatives of implementing a policy of no screening, risk-factor guided screening, and birth-cohort screening. For the HCV genotype 1 treatment policy decision we considered the alternatives of standard therapy, in which patients receive pegylated interferon with ribavirin; IL-28B-guided triple therapy, in which after IL-28B genotyping patients with non-CC types receive triple therapy and patients with CC types receive standard therapy; and universal triple therapy, in which patients receive pegylated interferon with ribavirin and a protease inhibitor. In all strategies patients diagnosed with genotypes 2 and 3 receive 24 weeks of standard therapy. We considered all possible combinations of the screening policy decision and the genotype 1 treatment policy decision for a total of 9 policy alternatives. Small circles indicate chance events. Upon entering the model the cohort is stratified by true health state of risk-factor status (high risk or low risk), HCV-status (positive or negative), among HCV-positive individuals by HCV genotype (genotype 1 or other), and among HCV-positive genotype 1 individuals by IL-28B genotype (CC or non-CC type). Depending on the screening strategy, individuals may be imperfectly identified as “high-risk” or “low-risk”, may be screened for HCV, and may be imperfectly identified as “HCV+” and “HCV–”. Once individuals are classified with a diagnosis they enter one of two Markov models based on their true health state. The Markov model of HCV is shown. The Markov model of individuals who do not have HCV has only two health states, No HCV and Dead. We assume no HCV incidence in the model. HCC = hepatocellular carcinoma; HCV = hepatitis C virus; IL-28B = interleukin-28B; PEG-IFN = pegylated interferon; PI = protease inhibitor; Rb = ribavirin.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["Infectious diseases", "public health and epidemiology", "Gastroenterology and hepatology", "Non-clinical medicine"], "article_id"=>658572, "categories"=>["Biotechnology", "Chemistry", "Medicine", "Infectious Diseases"], "users"=>["Shan Liu", "Lauren E. Cipriano", "Mark Holodniy", "Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975.g001", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>4, "page_views"=>14, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Model_schematics_/658572", "title"=>"Model schematics.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>1, "published_date"=>"2013-03-23 02:49:22"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1008021"], "description"=>"*<p>Population weighted average (white male 44%, white female 45%, black male 5%, black female 6%). Each strategy is compared to the next-best strategy on the efficient frontier. Risk factors were considered for all of these scenario analyses but are dominated in all cases.</p>**<p>Prevalence based on 1962–1971 cohort.</p>&<p>Adherence is defined as patients taking ≥80% of their HCV medications.</p><p>“Dominated” indicates that the strategy costs more and provides fewer benefits than another strategy or a combination of two strategies.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["cohort"], "article_id"=>668648, "categories"=>["Biotechnology", "Chemistry", "Medicine", "Infectious Diseases"], "users"=>["Shan Liu", "Lauren E. Cipriano", "Mark Holodniy", "Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975.t004", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>1, "page_views"=>6, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Deterministic_sensitivity_analysis_of_cohort_and_treatment_factors_/668648", "title"=>"Deterministic sensitivity analysis of cohort and treatment factors.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>3, "published_date"=>"2013-03-22 02:24:08"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1008038"], "description"=>"*<p>Population weighted average (white male 44%, white female 45%, black male 5%, black female 6%) for fibrosis distribution: F0 13%, F1 51%, F2 13%, F3 10%, and F4 13%. All incremental cost and QALY are compared to the reference. Eligible screening population in the 40–64 year-old cohort is assumed at 83.5 million.</p><p>ICER = incremental cost-effectiveness ratio; IL-28B = interleukin-28B; QALY = quality-adjusted life-year.</p><p>“Dominated” indicates that the strategy costs more and provides fewer benefits than another strategy or a combination of two strategies.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["hcv", "aged", "incremental", "costs"], "article_id"=>668661, "categories"=>["Biotechnology", "Chemistry", "Medicine", "Infectious Diseases"], "users"=>["Shan Liu", "Lauren E. Cipriano", "Mark Holodniy", "Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975.t005", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>0, "page_views"=>4, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Population_impact_of_HCV_screening_aged_40_64_years_total_lifetime_costs_health_benefits_and_incremental_costs_effectiveness_ratio_of_combined_screening_and_treatment_strategies_/668661", "title"=>"Population impact of HCV screening aged 40–64 years, total lifetime costs, health benefits, and incremental costs effectiveness ratio of combined screening and treatment strategies<b>.</b>", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>3, "published_date"=>"2013-03-22 02:24:21"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1008054"], "description"=>"<p>HCC = hepatocellular carcinoma; HCV = hepatitis C virus; IL-28B = interleukin-28B; NHANES III = Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; PEG-IFN = pegylated interferon; PI = protease inhibitor; Rb = ribavirin; SVR = sustained virologic response; AE = adverse event; QALY = quality-adjusted life-year; CMS = Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services. For further details on parameter generation and the uncertainty distribution of parameters see <a href=\"http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975#pone.0058975.s001\" target=\"_blank\">Appendix S1</a> I; <a href=\"http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975#pone.0058975.s001\" target=\"_blank\">Appendix S1</a> I Table S2; <a href=\"http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975#pone.0058975.s001\" target=\"_blank\">Appendix S1</a> Table S3.</p>*<p>A high-risk individual is someone having a history of injection drug use, transfusion prior to 1992, or greater than 20 lifetime sex partners. The reported prevalence is estimated for the 1952–1961 birth cohort and include individuals both aware and unaware of their HCV infection status. We adjusted the prevalence to only include individuals unaware of their infection status in the cost-effectiveness analyses.</p><p>& The mortality rates for people who recovered from HCV are adjusted by a linear combination of their mortality rates with HCV and mortality rates without HCV using a factor of 0.7.</p>**<p>The reported triple therapy effectiveness in the base-case is similar to boceprevir.</p>***<p>The total quality-of-life weight for a given age and HCV disease state is computed as the product of the mean age-specific quality weight obtained from published data <a href=\"http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975#pone.0058975-Nyman1\" target=\"_blank\">[28]</a>, <a href=\"http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975#pone.0058975-Sullivan1\" target=\"_blank\">[29]</a> and the utility associated with the HCV disease state minus any utility decrements for events that occurred during the cycle such as receiving treatment or a liver transplant.</p>†<p>Unlike other utilities in this table, these utility decrements are for short-term states (that is, receiving HCV treatment or a liver transplant). The QALY decrement for receiving HCV treatment involves multiplying the annual utility decrement by the time on treatment, which can vary given the response-guided therapy rules of each strategy. ˆOne time disutility applied in a 12 weeks period.</p>‡<p>The PI cost is added to the standard therapy cost while receiving triple therapy.</p><p>|| The total costs for a given age and HCV disease state is computed as the sum of the mean age-specific health care costs <a href=\"http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975#pone.0058975-Meara1\" target=\"_blank\">[36]</a> and the HCV-specific health state plus any costs of testing, treatment, or liver transplant that occurred in the cycle.</p>¶<p>We assumed costs in the recovered states are 50% of the hepatitis C–related care costs in the year before diagnosis of the corresponding unaware states <a href=\"http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975#pone.0058975-Poret1\" target=\"_blank\">[37]</a>.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["parameter"], "article_id"=>668678, "categories"=>["Biotechnology", "Chemistry", "Medicine", "Infectious Diseases"], "users"=>["Shan Liu", "Lauren E. Cipriano", "Mark Holodniy", "Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975.t001", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>1, "page_views"=>13, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Model_Parameter_Values_and_Ranges_/668678", "title"=>"Model Parameter Values and Ranges.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>3, "published_date"=>"2013-03-22 02:24:38"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/995866"], "description"=>"<p>(A) The graph plots the incremental discounted QALYs (<i>y</i>-axis) and incremental discounted lifetime costs (<i>x</i>-axis) for each combined screening and treatment strategy. The solid line represents the cost-effectiveness frontier, those strategies that are potentially economically efficient depending on one’s willingness-to-pay per unit of health benefit gained. (B) The bar graph shows the incremental cost-effectiveness ratios of each combined screening and treatment strategy at different levels of treatment uptake at each opportunity (varied over the range 0–50%). The asterisk denotes that, at 5% uptake, birth-cohort screening followed by universal triple therapy for screen-detected, treatment-eligible individuals is dominated. For both panels, IL-28B = interleukin-28B; QALY = quality-adjusted life-year.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["Infectious diseases", "public health and epidemiology", "Gastroenterology and hepatology", "Non-clinical medicine"], "article_id"=>658575, "categories"=>["Biotechnology", "Chemistry", "Medicine", "Infectious Diseases"], "users"=>["Shan Liu", "Lauren E. Cipriano", "Mark Holodniy", "Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975.g002", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>3, "page_views"=>11, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Cost_effectiveness_analysis_/658575", "title"=>"Cost-effectiveness analysis.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>1, "published_date"=>"2013-03-23 02:50:08"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1008076"], "description"=>"*<p>Population weighted average (white male 44%, white female 45%, black male 5%, black female 6%) for fibrosis distribution: F0 13%, F1 51%, F2 13%, F3 10%, and F4 13%. All incremental cost and QALY are compared to the reference.</p><p>ICER = incremental cost-effectiveness ratio; IL-28B = interleukin-28B; QALY = quality-adjusted life-year.</p><p>“Dominated” indicates that the strategy costs more and provides fewer benefits than another strategy or a combination of two strategies.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["benefits", "incremental", "costs", "strategies", "cohort", "individuals", "50", "years"], "article_id"=>668697, "categories"=>["Biotechnology", "Chemistry", "Medicine", "Infectious Diseases"], "users"=>["Shan Liu", "Lauren E. Cipriano", "Mark Holodniy", "Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975.t002", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>0, "page_views"=>5, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Base_case_lifetime_costs_health_benefits_per_100_000_and_incremental_costs_effectiveness_ratio_of_combined_screening_and_treatment_strategies_for_a_cohort_of_individuals_who_are_currently_50_years_of_age_/668697", "title"=>"Base case lifetime costs, health benefits (per 100,000), and incremental costs effectiveness ratio of combined screening and treatment strategies for a cohort of individuals who are currently 50 years of age.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>3, "published_date"=>"2013-03-22 02:24:57"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/1008094"], "description"=>"*<p>Population weighted average (white male 44%, white female 45%, black male 5%, black female 6%) for fibrosis distribution: F0 13%, F1 51%, F2 13%, F3 10%, and F4 13%. All incremental cost and QALY are compared to the reference.</p><p>ICER = incremental cost-effectiveness ratio; IL-28B = interleukin-28B; QALY = quality-adjusted life-year.</p><p>“Dominated” indicates that the strategy costs more and provides fewer benefits than another strategy or a combination of two strategies.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["benefits", "incremental", "costs", "strategies"], "article_id"=>668716, "categories"=>["Biotechnology", "Chemistry", "Medicine", "Infectious Diseases"], "users"=>["Shan Liu", "Lauren E. Cipriano", "Mark Holodniy", "Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975.t003", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>1, "page_views"=>5, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Lifetime_costs_health_benefits_per_100_000_and_incremental_costs_effectiveness_ratio_of_combined_screening_and_treatment_strategies_for_various_patient_ages_/668716", "title"=>"Lifetime costs, health benefits (per 100,000), and incremental costs effectiveness ratio of combined screening and treatment strategies for various patient ages.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>3, "published_date"=>"2013-03-22 02:25:16"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/995873"], "description"=>"<div><p>Background</p><p>No consensus exists on screening to detect the estimated 2 million Americans unaware of their chronic hepatitis C infections. Advisory groups differ, recommending birth-cohort screening for baby boomers, screening only high-risk individuals, or no screening. We assessed one-time risk assessment and screening to identify previously undiagnosed 40–74 year-olds given newly available hepatitis C treatments.</p> <p>Methods and Findings</p><p>A Markov model evaluated alternative risk-factor guided and birth-cohort screening and treatment strategies. Risk factors included drug use history, blood transfusion before 1992, and multiple sexual partners. Analyses of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey provided sex-, race-, age-, and risk-factor-specific hepatitis C prevalence and mortality rates. Nine strategies combined screening (no screening, risk-factor guided screening, or birth-cohort screening) and treatment (standard therapy–peginterferon alfa and ribavirin, Interleukin-28B-guided (IL28B) triple-therapy–standard therapy plus a protease inhibitor, or universal triple therapy). Response-guided treatment depended on HCV genotype. Outcomes include discounted lifetime costs (2010 dollars) and quality adjusted life-years (QALYs).</p> <p>Compared to no screening, risk-factor guided and birth-cohort screening for 50 year-olds gained 0.7 to 3.5 quality adjusted life-days and cost $168 to $568 per person. Birth-cohort screening provided more benefit per dollar than risk-factor guided screening and cost $65,749 per QALY if followed by universal triple therapy compared to screening followed by IL28B-guided triple therapy. If only 10% of screen-detected, eligible patients initiate treatment at each opportunity, birth-cohort screening with universal triple therapy costs $241,100 per QALY. Assuming treatment with triple therapy, screening all individuals aged 40–64 years costs less than $100,000 per QALY.</p> <p>Conclusions</p><p>The cost-effectiveness of one-time birth-cohort hepatitis C screening for 40–64 year olds is comparable to other screening programs, provided that the healthcare system has sufficient capacity to deliver prompt treatment and appropriate follow-on care to many newly screen-detected individuals.</p> </div>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["cost-effectiveness", "risk-factor", "guided", "birth-cohort", "hepatitis", "united", "states"], "article_id"=>658582, "categories"=>["Biotechnology", "Chemistry", "Medicine", "Infectious Diseases"], "users"=>["Shan Liu", "Lauren E. Cipriano", "Mark Holodniy", "Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>2, "page_views"=>16, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/Cost_Effectiveness_Analysis_of_Risk_Factor_Guided_and_Birth_Cohort_Screening_for_Chronic_Hepatitis_C_Infection_in_the_United_States__/658582", "title"=>"Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Risk-Factor Guided and Birth-Cohort Screening for Chronic Hepatitis C Infection in the United States", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>3, "published_date"=>"2013-03-23 02:52:03"}
{"files"=>["https://ndownloader.figshare.com/files/995870"], "description"=>"<p>The graph plots the incremental discounted QALYs and incremental discounted lifetime costs for screening various birth cohorts. The analysis shown in the graph assumes that the treatment strategy used is universal triple therapy. For clarity, the graph shows only those strategies on the cost-effectiveness frontier (i.e., those that are not dominated) although all combinations of birth-cohort groups (40–44, 45–49, 50–54, 55–59, 60–64, 65–69, 70–74 years of age) were considered in the analysis.</p>", "links"=>[], "tags"=>["birth-cohort"], "article_id"=>658579, "categories"=>["Biotechnology", "Chemistry", "Medicine", "Infectious Diseases"], "users"=>["Shan Liu", "Lauren E. Cipriano", "Mark Holodniy", "Jeremy D. Goldhaber-Fiebert"], "doi"=>"https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0058975.g003", "stats"=>{"downloads"=>4, "page_views"=>9, "likes"=>0}, "figshare_url"=>"https://figshare.com/articles/_Cost_effectiveness_of_birth_cohort_screening_by_age_group_/658579", "title"=>"Cost-effectiveness of birth-cohort screening by age group.", "pos_in_sequence"=>0, "defined_type"=>1, "published_date"=>"2013-03-23 02:50:53"}
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Relative Metric 13396805 Apr 23:54 UTC
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Dray’s lucky day in the lead-up to Finke!
Dray’s lucky day in the lead-up to Finke! | Local | News | Off-Road | Sport
10 June 2016 / Text Size (-) (+) / Print
KTM and Toby Price rally behind Finke’s youngest-ever female dirtbike competitor
Finke’s youngest-ever female dirtbike competitor Rosie Dray’s desert racing debut got off to devastating start when her KTM 250 SX-F blew up just 20km into her second day’s practice session. But in a sterling display of camaraderie and support, KTM Australia stepped in to assist the 16-year-old in seeing her 2016 goal through by providing Rosie a brand-new 250cc KTM to complete the two-stage race and the remaining practice days leading up to it.
“I’m so pumped right now,” her dad Jeff beamed. “I can’t think them enough!”
If the generosity of a new bike wasn’t enough to lift the Dray family’s spirits and regain the focus of completing the first day’s race within the four-hour cut-off, Australia’s Dakar-winning Toby Price stepped in to help Rosie and Jeff get the bike set-up and ready for the gruelling demands of desert racing. You can follow Rosie’s weekend via histogram by searching @jeffdray_zeromx in the people tab.
By: Kel Buckley
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A Pilgrim in Narnia
a journey through the imaginative worlds of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Inklings
← 1946 TIME Review of C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce
What Counts as an Old Book? A Response by Dale Nelson →
Girls, Boys, and the Maps in Their Heads: A Reflection on Narnia
Posted on January 24, 2019 by Brenton Dickieson
I walk around with a map in my head. Or at least I try to. I have driven in Tokyo, Manhattan, Vancouver, Kobe, Toronto, Chicago, Montreal, and–most terrifying of all–Wales. There were times in the wilds of Japan or BC that I got a bit mentally confused, twisting up and down mountainsides and valley on the way to some shrine or hipster organic food colony. And I once took a wrong turn walking through London. But generally, I have inherited from my father a pretty good sense of mental geography, and not just a little luck.
Honestly, though, a lot of that good navigation is preparation and good map-reading. Making wrong turns, even with an internal compass, is tiresome and wasteful. Plus, the National Institute of Made-up Statistics (NIMS) says that 31.3% of fights in the car begin with this sentence: “I’m not lost! I just haven’t figured out where I am yet!” So a lot of that map-in-my-head instinct is frankly a commitment to having the right tools at hand. The hunches and risks of an internally compassed guide are usually working hand-in-hand with a map or a pretty good app.
My wife does not share my sense of direction. She has become a pretty good map reader over the years, and we are an excellent team during a road trip. But after a decade in our south-facing home with the sun rising to the east and setting on the west, leaving beautiful golden warmth in our front porch, if I say “the north side of the house” she still hesitates. I don’t think she is terribly unusual among urbanites of our age. I am the one is out of step by saying things like “the north side of the house” when front and back would do just fine.
And in an age of apps that walk us from the unknown wilds to our cozy destination in a few easy steps, what good is the map inside my head, really?
For King Edmund the Just of Narnia, though, this compass-deficit is a boundary-line between girls and boys in all worlds. Prince Caspian is a book of wanderings, a wilderness echo of the biblical book of Numbers, where the choice to ignore the directions of Lucy will lead the heroes into a longer, more dangerous journey. Before the Pevensies and Trumpkin the Dwarf find their way to Lucy’s point of view, however, Edmund drops one of the more petulant sexist moments in the series:
“That’s the worst of girls,” said Edmund to Peter and the Dwarf. “They never carry a map in their heads” (Prince Caspian, ch. 2).
The irony of Edmund criticizing Lucy for her sense of direction is one of the critical foundations of an entire book that is about leadership. Peter and Susan refuse to submit to Lucy’s leadership, and they find themselves lost in a way that could be–perhaps is–fatal for some faithful Old Narnians. The entire book critiques Edmund’s sexism on precisely this point, and Alicia Burrus notes that “Jill’s marked competence” in The Last Battle–Jill Pole goes on to become a strong marksman and an excellent scout–is a kind of rebuke to Edmund’s tiresome beliefs about boys and girls (“Gender Differentiation and Gender Hierarchy in C.S. Lewis,” 30).
As Monika Hilder notes in The Feminine Ethos in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, Edmund is not the only character that goes to easy “girl” stereotypes to limit Lucy’s leadership. Susan calls Lucy the “worst,” “naughty,” and someone who has “no right” to lead the group. Hilder is right in noting that one of the challenges of Prince Caspian is for the characters to recognize the wisdom of Lucy’s leadership. Instead, they are looking around hard for classical, masculine models of leadership–the brawny, woodsy kind of leadership where people know the points of the compass even if they can’t spot the ultimate Guide: Aslan.
It is intriguing that when Lewis slides into the text with his own voice, he is not as confident as the boys in his books. “It’s an extraordinary thing about girls that they never know the points of the compass,” Eustace Scrubb says to Jill Pole when she can’t point him east. While Lewis says that Jill doesn’t have a compass in her head, he admits that “I don’t know about girls in general” (Silver Chair, ch. 1-2). He probably didn’t know, and perhaps still doesn’t.
Plus, for all Edmund is dismissive of girls for getting turned around in a woods, before he ascended to the throne at Cair Paravel, he had his own difficulty with directions. Beyond the fact that the entire first book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is about the moral compass that people carry around in their heads, Edmund had a wee bit of trouble about simple directions. After following Lucy into her “make-believe” country inside the wardrobe:
He jumped in and shut the door, forgetting what a very foolish thing this is to do. Then he began feeling about for Lucy in the dark. He had expected to find her in a few seconds and was very surprised when he did not. He decided to open the door again and let in some light. But he could not find the door either. He didn’t like this at all and began groping wildly in every direction; he even shouted out, “Lucy! Lu! Where are you? (ch. 3).
He couldn’t find the door? How big is a wardrobe, if it really is a wardrobe? No bigger than a cart horse or a young elephant. Edmund mocked the girls for getting confused in untamed wilderness while he got lost in a 4’x8′ wardrobe.
Perhaps that bit of irony is a wee bit too easy. And we don’t even have to wait for the deeper resonances of the book as a whole to punch back against Edmund’s childhood chauvinism. He makes his complaint about “the worst of girls” living in mental maplessness, and Lucy shoots back without missing a beat:
“That’s because our heads have something inside them,” said Lucy (Prince Caspian, ch. 2).
It’s a zinger, and Edmund deserved it. But Lucy’s answer is really a kind of reverse sexism, isn’t it? It occurs once more, as the adventurers are on the edge of a brawl on Goldwater Island (later Deathwater Island). As Kings Edmund and Caspian–really good friends in unenchanted places–are near to blows, Lucy cries out:
“Oh, stop it, both of you,” said Lucy. “That’s the worst of doing anything with boys. You’re all such swaggering, bullying idiots – oooh! -” Her voice died away into a gasp. And everyone else saw what she had seen (Voyage of the Dawn Treader, ch. 8).
Just as Lucy falls precisely into Edmund’s trap of talking about the “worst” of the other sex, Aslan appears on the hillside, silencing them of their petty words.
When we think about sex and gender, there are really troubling things in Narnia. There are individual bits, like Father Christmas‘ weird statement about women at war or all those fat-legged girls and piggish boys in Prince Caspian. Some of those moments require close rereading, though. I think Susan’s exit in The Last Battle is inelegant and false to the series, and Lewis’ symbols of lipstick and parties is a tiresome trope. However, I think there is more going on. And a closer reading of Mrs. Beaver will put accusations of “fussiness” in another light.
While there are some things to be concerned about when reading Narnia to kids today, two things are worth noting.
First, there is a lot of interesting upside-downness in Narnia that really challenges how we understand power. The leadership thing and Lucy, for example, shows how quickly we are to value traits we think of as manly (like map reading and swords) and how easily we ignore traits we think of as womanly (like healing and spiritual vision). The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a book where Lucy shows steady wisdom and judgment, even when other characters lose their ability to lead. This maturity, and the humble growth in characters like Eustace, Edmund, Jill, and Digory, is critical to the way that Lewis changes the rules of the game in Narnia.
Narnia is a place where tears, friendship, curiosity, hope, obedience, and humble courage are prime values and key tools for success. Frankly, we think some things are sexist or problematic because we have bought sexist and problematic ideas about power and leadership with us into Narnia.
Second, I wish that Lewis was even more transformed in Narnia by his own upsidedown spirituality. After showing great leadership and wisdom in Prince Caspian–and taking great risks–Lucy is not invited into the council of the king. She is not valueless in the revolution, but as a result the entire council misses the wisdom she can offer–wisdom only Lucy can offer, the wisdom of a girl, a woman, a queen, and someone with particularly acute spiritual perspective. It is the wisdom of an especially Aslanic tang, but Caspian’s court will miss that wisdom in a moment of great need. More than once in Dawn Treader that wisdom saved them or enriched their experience.
The roles in Narnia often fall along gender lines. I don’t know why this would be surprising for a male author in the early 50s who never had sisters or a mother, whose primary companions were his brother and fellow dons, and who worked in an almost entirely masculine environment.
I am not condemning, nor am I defending. Instead, I am suggesting that if Lewis could see the transformative vision of his own upsidedown spirituality enough to let it infiltrate all of Narnian leadership, so much would have been gained–both for the children in Narnia and the boys and girls reading the books then and today.
Unfortunately, the mental map Lewis had of gender and sex roles was more powerful than his own curiosity and spiritual perspective that liked to play with those roles in unexpected–and often prophetic–ways. It is a loss in a fine series. Because, after all, boys and girls–readers, writers, and adventurers of all kinds–walk around with all kinds of things in their heads.
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About Brenton Dickieson
“A Pilgrim in Narnia” is a blog project in reading and talking about the work of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the worlds they touched. As a "Faith, Fantasy, and Fiction" blog, we cover topics like children’s literature, apologetics and philosophy, myths and mythology, fantasy, theology, cultural critique, art and writing. This blog includes my thoughts as I read through Lewis and Tolkien and reflect on my own life and culture. In this sense, I am a Pilgrim in Narnia--or Middle Earth, or Fairyland. I am often peeking inside of wardrobes, looking for magic bricks in urban alleys, or rooting through yard sale boxes for old rings. If something here captures your imagination, leave a comment, “like” a post, share with your friends, or sign up to receive Narnian Pilgrim posts in your email box. Brenton Dickieson is a father, husband, friend, university lecturer, and freelance writer from Prince Edward Island, Canada. You can follow him on Twitter, @BrentonDana.
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This entry was posted in Memorable Quotes, Original Research, Reflections and tagged C.S. Lewis, feminism, leadership, Lewis and Gender, lion the witch and the wardrobe, Monika Hilder, Narnia, Prince Caspian, spirituality, The Last Battle, The Silver Chair, Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Bookmark the permalink.
171 Responses to Girls, Boys, and the Maps in Their Heads: A Reflection on Narnia
Catherine B. says:
It’s refreshing to read something like this that takes an open-minded approach to the conflicts between the sexes. I also love the parallel that you’ve made between an inner directional compas, and a moral compas.
Story writing seems to be the process of trying step out of our own perspectives with the desire to understand the world through different eyes, and I think that this was the reason that C.S. Louis stated that in general, he didn’t know much about girls. He was trying to portray the feminine mind, and feminine strength as realistically as possible, but he knew as a man that he couldn’t do this perfectly. However, as a girl myself who has read the Narnia series and listened to the stories on CD’s during road trips, I’d say that he did an excellent job.
I’m facing the opposite puzzle to what C.S. Lewis had faced when It comes to writing my short stories. I’m an aspiring female author who is trying to figure out through my male characters what true masculine strength, and virtue is while doing my best not to project my own biases, and the biases of the world onto these guys. It’s like all of my characters are learning along with me, male and female, about what intentions, words, and actions can help them to find harmony, and humility amongst each other. It’s like trying to crack a code. It’s quite the experience.
Oops, I think that I have misspelled ‘C.S. Lewis’ in the second paragraph of my comment. My bad!
Brenton Dickieson says:
Thanks Catherine for this note! I think I’m more concerned about the conflict on the conflict between the sexes, than the actual conflict. For my part in the war of the sexes, I lay down my arms (as much as I can). What do I have left to win that a woman must lose so that I can have it? Nothing that I can imagine (except maybe parking spots, but that’s more or less anyone in my way!).
As far as “masculine strength” goes, I think the greatest example of that strength is what we often think of as feminine. In the face of great power and strength, and with great power himself, Christ surrendered to the powerful, taking death upon himself for the sake of others. I think that self-surrender is the reality at the centre of true love, and is the model of all true strength. It is true, we may have to pick up swords or pens or ploughs to do powerful work, but it begins in the giving of the self.
That’s me, in my view.
And I often misspell things!
patrickwagner734 says:
Please just confirm for me Brenton:
Your view really is – thinking that raising the profile of a “mere abstraction” like “gender inequality” is warfare?.
Your view really is – thinking that someone who “lays down their arms (as much as they can)” and thinks that there is “nothing left to win except maybe parking spots” is remotely qualified to even begin criticizing the “mind-set or mind-maps” of another who was badly wounded experiencing first hand “the horrors of first world war trench warfare” and the objective realities of “the horribly smashed men still moving like half-crushed beetles, the sitting or standing corpses, the landscape of sheer earth without a blade of grass”, a man totally devoted to and responsible for, providing for, and caring for, an older woman because of a promise he’d made to a dead friend ?
… no, I don’t think so. You said these things, not me, and I think you have an inference in them that I don’t know how to address or react to. I don’t know how to respond, except this.
I am a historian and critic of Lewis, and there will always be places where he is more moral, intelligent, educated, informed, or hopeful than I am. But he had limitations too. Among those limitations are his views of gender. His view that women are too emotionally unstable in the defence of their offspring to represent the community interests of the family–to serve as foreign affairs minister of the brood–is utter nonsense. Lewis takes ideas of ideal gender from classical periods or medieval thought and applies them too quickly to real life. He wrote, “whether the male is, or is not, the superior sex, the masculine is certainly the superior gender” (Preface to Paradise Lost, 113). That is not “mere Christianity,” but the imagination of a WWII-era Christian deeply committed to learning from other ages and too quickly taking ideas about gender and making them part of the real world. Plus, he admitted he had limited experience with girls, and his own friends chided him on his experience with children in general.
So I don’t question his duty or morality, or erase his experience. But there was more in the world, and in Christian faith, than this one individual can see.
On the other side, I think the central idea of Lewis’ faith is the idea of self-surrender, of dying in the world like Jesus did on the cross, the death that comes before resurrection–“death is at the root of the matter” he said on the eve of his conversion. This great turning around of power is his most biblically-soaked perspective and it is infused all through his work, so that even his main work of literary theory is about self-death before the text. This works through his fiction by turning things around. Most obviously in Screwtape, but Ransom is an unlikely hero, Mark and Jane must die to self and surrender to one another, Eustace must die to his self and mortify the flesh (by Aslan’s power), Diggory, Edmund, Caspian, Jill, Orual–all follow the pattern of Aslan who lays down his life in the face of power for the sake of others.
That great, subversive power is the centre of his work and his work is most magical when it is present in his fiction. Orual’s story is the greatest pattern, but it is all throughout in myriad ways. There are times to fight and assert in Narnia and the Ransom universe, but they come after the moment of surrender–to God, to Aslan, to truth, to humility.
So when it comes to gender roles in his fiction, he is most engaging and the action takes the greatest adventurous turns when the actions of the text follow this cross-like/stone table-like turn: when Peter and others surrenders to Lucy’s leadership, when Lucy repents for not asserting her individuality, when Eustace allows Aslan to undress him, when Digory denies his own greatest wish, when Jane and Mark risk everything, when Orual turns to die before she dies, when Aslan takes the weight of violence upon his body.
I dare to say that, but I may be wrong in daring and sayin.
And I certainly don’t think ‘that raising the profile of a “mere abstraction” like “gender inequality” is warfare’, though I may not understand what you mean, precisely.
My only inference in my previous quote is perhaps a suggestion that we should use dialectic rather than rhetoric when questioning the facets of an individual personal character we do not know personally. If we must use rhetoric our rhetoric should actually remain within the borders of objective, observable reality.
Comparing fictitious dialogue in a novel in order to mine for examples or inferences of rhetoric that contradict or conflict with our own personal “abstract universal” such as “sexism” (a label for a form of groupthink), is scraping the barrel to construct enthymemes – which are not proper logical syllogisms, but incomplete or invalid arguments that merely take the form of syllogisms, and in which all that matters is that persuasion is achieved by means of the “proof” provided, or more accurately, the apparent proof provided, which is no proof in reality.
I appreciate the criticism.
Dorothea says:
Patrick. To me it is apparent that you are well-versed in philosophical logic and criticism. However, your suggestion of “if we use rhetoric, our rhetoric should actually remain within the borders of objective, observable reality” does not make sense when talking about language, and especially about literary fiction, which are, by their very nature, outside of these borders of objective, observable reality. I respect your criticism in regards to an esoteric conversation about the utility of talking about literature, but if we have a stake in analyzing literature and relating it to the world that constructs the text and the reader’s reception of it, then your argument, to me, seems invalid.
Dorothea, actually I am not well-versed in philosophical logic and criticism, but my suggestion that our talk remain within the “borders of objective, observable reality” makes proper logical sense when you consider that our conversation was not limited to analyzing and discussing only language and/or literary fiction, if it was, I would agree with you entirely, and would probably not have joined the conversation.
Were we not, however, analyzing and trying to answer the question of whether Lewis had a character limitation, ie. his inability to consider modern memes, “ism’s” or ideologies, and that if he did have that ability his literature would be even more relevant and valuable to today’s readers?
I think it was Lewis or Chesterton that said – “One of the falsehoods that has been stuffed into your brain and pounded into place is that moral knowledge progresses inevitably, such that later generations are morally and intellectually superior to earlier generations, and that the older the source the more morally suspect that source is. There is a term for that. It is called chronological snobbery.”
Hmm. I see. Thank you for explaining, Patrick. I wonder if our difference of opinions is perhaps a difference in how literature is studied since the cultural/political turn. And I had to grin a bit at the quote. I definitely fall victim to chronological snobbery sometimes, but I’m working on that.
(I also struggle with the reverse, thinking that the older practices of reading and writing about literature are superior, since they engaged far more with the text than the context, but somewhere in between the balance must be found).
I find “both, and” provides the best balance. If you don’t have “both,and” you run the risk of regressive rather than progressive movement of culture through –“The rejection of traditional values in favour of the latest principle of general destruction for the sake of “the ultimate good” [Fyodor Dostoevsky]
I like Lewis’s advice on how literature should be studied, it includes and anticipates “both, and” …
“I have been told that there are people who want a study of literature wholly free from the love and knowledge of words (philology). Perhaps such people exist. If they do, they are either crying for the moon or resolving on a lifetime of persistent and carefully guarded delusion.
If we read any literature with insufficient regard for change in the dictionary meanings and even the overtones of words since it date; if, in fact, we are content with whatever effect the words accidentally produce in our modern minds, then of course we do not read the work the old writer intended. What we get may still be, in my opinion, a book; but it will be our book, not his.” [C S Lewis]
In what way does your personal “modern method” the one developed since the “cultural/political turn” differ, and which cultural/political turn do altered it in your mind?
Sorry, the question should be – which cultural/political turn altered it in your mind?
I think to answer your question, I need to go back to one of your earlier questions that I did not acknowledge properly in my last reply:
This is not what we were doing. Rather, we were examining something in the social climate of C.S. Lewis’ contemporary time that was not acknowledged properly at the time, but is being considered now due to a heightened awareness of the social inequalities that in fact existed at his time, which we since then trying to rectify. (gender inequality, as we know, was addressed quite some time before that, but in Lewis’ world, for example, women still could not earn degrees from Oxbridge). This is what I mean by a modern method. That is, we are interested in the role authors/works play in ideological/political/social conversations rather than a primary consideration of the words they have written. So, given the quote you bring up from Lewis, it would seem that he would quite agree. However, the question is: which words do we example more closely?
The cultural turn, which is a really vaguely timed period of transition of literary studies, encourages the literary critic/reader to not just see the text as mediators for understanding linguistic phenomena but also cultural ones.
After all our analysis of authors/works and how they play out in ideological/political/social conversations, what do the Feminists, the Hegelians, the Marxists, and modern philosophy bring to the table to offer as a replacement for “the existing reality” what do they propose that is new in “human nature” or different to what the Romans, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth (who proved to be no better or worse than their male predecessors) brought to the table?
What makes them think they will succeed where countless empires, cultures, societies, “geists” and individuals have tried and failed to create an “alternative reality” and ended up as cruel brutes? After all is said and done we have to live with the results or our actions and we are now living on the back of the only civilization that has initiated and permitted the real conditions to exist which allow a Lewis or a Germaine Greer to come up with what they have.
Reversing the sexes or the sexual organs in the following quotes alters nothing – “When mortal men try to live without God they infallibly succumb to megalomania or erotomania or both. The raised fist or the raised phallus; eg. Nietzsche or D.H.Lawrence.” [Malcom Muggeridge] … and “Here is a simple but profound rule. If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute.” [Francis Schaeffer]
I think somehow our replies got a bit mixed up. But I see that as far as discussions go, the discussions are not really new. In fact, I am surprised over an over to come across texts front the 15th through 20th centuries that bring up the same issues about nationhood, identity, belonging, etc. (which are more my fields of study) as today. However, I think it’s institutions and structures of power that keep changing (or not changing, just being reiterated). I am not quite sure what to do with you doubting that contemporary thinkers can change something about our communities, that we should, maybe, just passively live with God?
“Propositions arrived at purely by logical means are completely empty as regards reality” [Albert Eienstein]
My doubts come from the lessons of history, these contemporary philosophers, politicians, and thinkers you speak about have always arrogantly thought that their own personal idea of institutions and systems of power have never been tried properly until they have the power, and take charge of them, and then they are the first …
“contemptible slave, the stinking, depraved flunkey who will first climb a ladder with scissors in his hands, and slash to pieces the divine image of the great ideal, in the name of equality, envy, and” … put your own “ism” here, … and then …“Every member of the society spies on the others, and it’s his duty to inform against them. Every one belongs to all and all to every one. All are slaves and equal in their slavery. In extreme cases he advocates slander and murder, but the great thing about it is equality. To begin with, the level of education, science, and talents is lowered. A high level of education and science is only possible for great intellects, and they are not wanted. The great intellects have always seized the power and been despots. Great intellects cannot help being despots and they’ve always done more harm than good. They will be banished or put to death. Cicero will have his tongue cut out, Copernicus will have his eyes put out, Shakespeare will be stoned—that’s Shigalovism. Slaves are bound to be equal. There has never been either freedom or equality without despotism, but in the herd there is bound to be equality,.” [Fyodor Dostoevsky]
The two question remain –
1. What have these contemporary thinkers, who you think can change something about our communities, brought to the table to offer as a replacement for “the existing reality”, and,
2. Why do they think they will succeed where countless empires, cultures, societies, “geists” and individuals have tried and failed to create an “alternative reality”?
I like the Dostoevsky quote, but I wouldn’t evoke him in this context, because he’s coming from 19th century Russia, which was a swell place for the Tsars and anyone who worked/aligned themselves with him and not many others. Even the cynic must realize that whatever democracy we have now, to whatever extent it’s truly democratic, we still have a lot more stability in our political system and freedom in our personal lives. And I don’t agree with Dostoevsky, but I understand where he’s coming for. And I’m not sure if I should just let this discussion rest, because no one here is talking about an alternative reality, but rather making changes to the existing one, but 1) I think policy changes, shifts in material taught in institutions, shifts in discourse about how people talk to and about one another are all changes. 2) I think they will succeed because history has shown me how others have succeeded before them, and how things have changed.
Dorothea, everyone here is talking about an “alternative reality”, yourself included – “As a man thinketh, so is he, is really most profound … He has a mind, an inner world. Then having thought, a person can bring forth actions into the external world, and thus influence it … People have presuppositions, and they will live more consistently on the basis of these presuppositions than even they themselves realize” [Francis Schaeffer]
I think in my previous quote I agreed with you that we are now living on the back of the only civilization that has initiated and permitted the real conditions to exist which allow a Lewis or a Germaine Greer to come up with what they have, and this is the status quo these people want to change from or remove.
If you knew where Dostoevsky was coming from, and believe me, there is no more qualified person to quote in this context than Dostoevsky, then you would do more to confirm that, what you want to change to is an improvement on what you want us to change from.
My quotes from Malcolm Muggeridge and Francis Schaeffer are contemporary but I also think that the history lessons from 19th century Russia have a lot to offer anyone who is not a chronological snob.
You say you “think they will succeed because history has shown me how others have succeeded before them, and how things have changed” then you are right on two counts:-
1. History (especially 19th century Russian history where this methodology originated ) shows us that wherever these people who think every dimension of life is about “power” have succeeded, millions die for their ideologies and their cruel, inhumane and regressive natures.
2. Perhaps we should just let this discussion rest because you are still not clarifying exactly what is being brought to the table or why you think it will succeed where everyone else has failed and until you do so – “Quarreling means trying to show that the other man is in the wrong. And there would be no sense in trying to do that unless you and he had some sort of agreement as to what Right and Wrong are.” [CS Lewis].
Patrick, 2. I think we do agree on what is right and wrong, but we disagree on how to practice it. And the reason I have a difficulty in clarifying exactly what is being brought to the table is because I am drawing upon present voices, which are varied and diverse and therefore difficult to categorize and sometimes to see past, whereas you seem to like to draw on past voices, no less diverse, but somehow these have already been neatly categorized and given value. 1. I am grappling with the tendencies of some who seem to think some must suffer in order for a social-political-economic revolution to happen. While I see that whenever people who have power have succeeded because millions have died for it, or must die for it after they have it, I don’t think this is a result of thinking every dimension of life is about power. Unfortunately, when others are in power over one, it is difficult to say that the other aspects of life are just as important. But with this, we are straying far and beyond Brenton’s original post. I will need to visit your blog sometime. I will try not to comment anymore, here.
Dorothea, I apologize unreservedly if my postings have made you consider not commenting on this blog, in no way were they intended to personally offend you or make you consider stopping.
no no! Patrick, you misunderstood me! And I’m sorry to accidentally make you think so. I just do not know if I can continue this conversation on this post at this time- it has given me a lot to think about and I appreciate what you have shared, and your questions have made me think deeper about my own standings. However, I just wanted to say why I would probably not reply anymore to comments on this post after this. Sorry!
But to respond directly to the quote, I think it’s an important point that Lewis makes about understanding the words in the author’s context, not ours, and C.S. Lewis was not the only, nor the first to say that.
sorry. I’m missing an “are” and the one “example” should be “examining”
This sentence “…. when talking about language, and especially about literary fiction, which are, by their very nature, outside of these borders of objective, observable reality” made me wonder how can fiction and especially language, can be outside of those borders and still make sense? Maybe literature like ‘the theatre of the absurd’ would be so, but then its purpose was to show the meaninglessness and absurdity of life.
Might this be derived from the prevalent dichotomy between ‘objective scientific language and the language of ‘subjective’ humanities?
Hannah, I was referring the nature of fiction to be able to tell things we cannot experience/observe in “real life” (i.e. forests at the back of wardrobes) and the nature of language to describe abstract things such as love, freedom, or even God. Though I can see what you mean as well, that it would be impossible to have something exist outside of conception. I am not sure if this distinction is something between scientific language ang the humanities.
David Llewellyn Dodds says:
Footnote: By the time Lewis took his viva for ‘Greats’ on 28 August 1922, some 21 months had passed since the first degrees were conferred on women at Oxford:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:First_women_admitted_to_degrees_at_Oxford
This entailed such curious situations as (if Wikipedia is to be trusted, here) Una Ellis-Fermor becoming a Lecturer in English Literature at Bedford College, University of London, two years before getting her Oxford degree – joining Caroline Spurgeon there, who in 1913 had been appointed Hildred Carlisle Professor of English (but was not Oxbridge).
There is, I think, a space when women took the degree and examinations but received not the actual degree. But I’m fuzzy on that.
that’s it! They just received a sheet of paper saying what they did, but did not officially have a degrees and were not accepted as full members of the college. At least not in Cambridge. You are right, Oxford was a little ahead on that matter… But the point is, the atmosphere among the elite universities in England at the time was largely exclusionary. I do want to reply to the other, more interesting points, but may not get to that before tomorrow or later this week.
Or rather, they received their certificate, but were not accepted as members of the college as alumna (and therefore could not vote on the decisions concerning the universities for years afterwards.
Yes – I’m not sure (and am not quickly succeeding in looking up) either how long that went on for…
In Cambridge it was about 20 years. In Oxford it was less (or maybe even no time at all?). Here’s an interesting article about it from 1998. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/at-last-a-degree-of-honour-for-900-cambridge-women-1157056.html
Dorothy writes, “But the point is, the atmosphere among the elite universities in England at the time was largely exclusionary.” That invites a lot of unpacking – I suppose the situation must have been complex and dynamic (if that’s an apt word), in that it changed in various formal respects (strikingly, as you note, at different times and speeds), but what of things like interrelations with other English universities, and with foreign universities (e.g., French, German, American), and with independent scholars, and what might be called ‘content’, or ‘substance’ in contrast to ‘form’ – the work produced by women, their scholarship? What spectra of “exclusionary” to ‘inclusionary’ were there, in these respects?
For example, the Wikipediast tells us “Spurgeon’s 1911 Paris doctoral dissertation, Chaucer devant la critique en Angleterre et en France depuis son temps jusqu’ nos jours, which she published in three volumes in English in 1929, Five Hundred Years of Chaucer Criticism and Allusion, 1357–1900, secured her a lasting place in the history of scholarship on the Middle English author.” Study in Dresden and London, lecturing in London from 1900, doctorate from Paris,then “successfully competed for the newly created chair for English literature in 1913”. Who in Oxford was in what interaction with Caroline Spurgeon when the three Major Oxford Inklings were undergraduates?
Again, of Edith Morley (saith the Wikipediast) “In 1892, she took a course at Kings College London Ladies Department, where her abilities were noticed and it was suggested that she transfer to the Oxford Honour School of English and English Literature, alongside Caroline F. E. Spurgeon. Although she was placed in the first class following examination in 1899, women were not allowed to matriculate from Oxford at the time and she was awarded an ‘equivalent’ degree rather than a standard Oxford degree”. (Ach, so, unreported in her own article, Caroline Spurgeon is here noted as an Oxonian after all…) This did not prevent her going on to teach “at King’s College in 1899, taking a class in Gothic and Germanic philology” and then to Reading, where in “1912, Morley was appointed Professor of English Language at University College in Reading” (which Chair she continued to occupy till 1940) meanwhile editing Hurd’s Letters on Chivalry and Romance, with The Third Elizabethan Dialogue for the OUP in 1911 (not long after Wiliams started working there). That other Oxford Inkling, Hugo Dyson, joined her department in 1924.
Hello David, just a small note: my name is Dorothea, not Dorothy. And thank you for bringing up a few examples of exceptional women who managed to have their “abilities noticed” and go on in academia while still facing a lot of challenges (including administrative and prejudicial) that their male counterparts, often not as strong scholars as they were, did not have to contend with. You are right, the use of the word “exclusionary” was not accurate. Women were not excluded from participating in academics anymore by the late 19th century in many countries. However, there were systems of institutional power in place that continued to make choices about women in academia that these women were excluded from. I also don’t know if any of the Inklings interacted with Spurgeon in any way, but even if so, to say that if *insert a small quantity here* women out of 50% of the population managed to “make it” shows that the mindsets/institutions weren’t exclusionary in some way, then sure, they weren’t exclusionary, but they certainly weren’t very inclusive either.
Hi folks, thanks for this Dorothea and David. Perspective is a funny thing: when I am concerned about the exclusion of women, I want to press those structural things that made it difficult. But there are times I want to tell the good stories of women who strove and succeeded. I think both should sit together.
I agree. I think both are important points of conversation. And I wish we could sit together! And when we do, let’s continue this conversation.
My apologies – it must be really my fault, as I do not have any ‘autocorrect’ on! (I know I kept catching myself metathesizing by way through ‘Morley’ every which way repeatedly – the feeble attempts at speed of the poor typist…)
I don’t know enough to know how unusual the success of women as scholars on the basis of appreciation of their work, whether they were equally institutionally successful or not, was. It makes me the more interested to have a look at the books in the footnotes of the Morley and Spurgeon articles, if I have easy access to a good library again!
For better or worse, one thinks easily of the spectacular fame of the independent scholar, Jessie Weston – though I have not had an opportunity to read the very interesting-looking 2017 article by my erstwhile fencing partner, Juliette Wood.
I would be surprised if any of the Major Inklings (or others like Coghill, Bennett, Cecil, etc.) were not simply as easily, readily appreciative of good work by scholarly women as by scholarly men – do ‘we’ have any evidence to suggest otherwise?
David, you are right. That we do not! And I am the last to suggest that they would not (that is, without further research I have no reason to think they would not). I do have reason to believe, however, that given the pervasive attitude towards women at the time, that the Inklings did not go out of their way to seek out the work of these women. At the same time, they may have been the first to seek these texts out. With Spurgeon being the major Chaucer scholar that she was, I can imagine that they could not look past her work. I do also have to thank you for pointing out these examples of female scholars. You’ve shifted my paradigm about this time period, as well.
Another widely known and widely influential and well-regarded largely independent scholar, though according to Dana Greene in 1913 she “became an honorary fellow of King’s College of Women and in 1927 fellow of King’s College; in 1939 she received the honorary degree of D.D. from the university of Aberdeen” and according to Wikipedia was “one of the first woman theologians to lecture in English colleges and universities, which she did frequently”, is Evelyn Underhill. I’m not sure how wide-ranging and early her Inklings connections were, but I do know she corresponded with Lewis, Williams edited her Letters, and, according to Tolkien’s Gedling 1914: The Birth of a Legend (2008) by Andrew H. Morton and Johm Hayes, Tolkien’s dear aunt, Jane Neave, apparently lived in Chelmsford for a while “in order to be close to the religious retreats run by Evelyn Underhill”.
hmm… okay, more shifting on my end. Here’s another example of female academic success: Dorothy Garrod, the first women to hold an academic chair at Cambridge in 1938. However, on the flip side, what can we derive from the fact that Evelyn Underhill was in the Women’s College of King’s College of London (so again, not Oxbirdge)? The first women students arrived at King’s in Cambridge in 1972. 1972! Though, I’m beginning to think, like you meant to show with your first comment, that Oxbridge, for all its elite status, really was not a paragon of intellectual equality. The issue, then however, is why they are considered so elite?
Dorothea,
I’d like to know a lot more about it than I do! The whole parallel structure of the women’s colleges at Oxford and Cambridge – and elsewhere: Wikipedia says “Bedford College was founded in London in 1849 as the first higher education college for women in the United Kingdom” – with (from whatever point, and for a long while only) “an ‘equivalent’ degree rather than a standard Oxford degree” – seems very strange to me. (So, in perhaps a similar way, does how recently English was an academic subject.) So well and thoroughly worked out – and also, set so apart in basic ways. Who among the ‘elite’ were encouraging, and who impeding, full academic equality, at Oxbridge and elsewhere? And how independent are which learned and scholarly women from the ‘parallel’ academic structure?
Thinking to look up more about Elizabeth Mary Lea Wright, and how she came to collaborate with her husband Joseph Wright on Old and Middle English Grammars and also to write Rustic Speech and Folklore herself, I’ve paused in mid-comment to read a bit in her biography of him as scanned in the Internet Archive – with chapter 4 of the first volume looking fruitful – in which she mentions Glimpses of the Past by Dame Elizabeth Wordsworth, “Late Principal of Lady Margaret Hall” – also scanned in the Internet Archive… I’d better go ahead and submit this, but recommend both for what looks like vivid personal evidence.
eowynscudieradirohan says:
Thank you – you’ve made me look at the Narnian books from a new point of view. As Catherine has said in her comment above – it’s very refreshing. I’ve never considered Lewis’s potrayal of girls as sexist. Actually, his female characters are very interesting. They are strong, enterprising, they love adventure (do you remember Polly’s attic?), they’re kind, and brave, and clever. And they’re very realistic too.
Thanks for the note! I really do think the female characters and anyone who too quickly tosses Lewis in the trash bin as a sexist or misogynist (or racist, or conservative, or heretical) author will miss out greatly.
ooh. I’m glad to read of some of the things you’ve found in your more feminist approach to C.S. Lewis. Nicely done!
Thanks Dorothea. In this case I’m thinking more about gender than just girl power or a feminist angle. I think Lewis is best when he is most playful, but he did think of some things about gender that are pretty weird to us!
If I understood correctly, you were explicating, and implicitly challenging the gender divides in The Chronicles of Narnia, and challenging gender stereotypes and divides is what I would call feminism!
Hi Dorothea,
I am talking to you as a Christian women who doesn’t call herself a feminist. Brenton seems to be talking about gender outside of the political realm, and through a Christian perspective. Our world today appears to have become so divided by isms that it’s heartbreaking. Does holding onto those isms help us to let go of the laws that we love, and to forgive others as we are all trying to figure out how to act in this complicated life?
Hi Catherine. I agree with you that we should not hold onto the isms if they get in the way of upholding the laws we see as integral to our communities. But I do think that, as a Christian woman who also calls herself a feminist, it is worthwhile trying to change the stigma of feminism that seems to get in the way of Christian values. Ultimately, feminism is not about female over male, but rather the age old “love thy neighbor as thyself,” which means that I’m also looking out for the fair treatment of my male neighbors as well (they also should not be reduced in their opportunities and social acceptance based on their gender). I’m not quite sure what you mean by a Christian perspective of gender versus a political one?
I think that what I was trying to say is that I believe that attaching values onto a worldly label with the tree letters ‘ism’ at the end can create challenges in moving beyond them, especially if they have become stigmatized. Even if that’s not the case for other women who identify themselves as ‘feminist’, and even though there are Christian feminists, there are still plenty of others who have called men ‘biased’, but who have also denied their own biases–that’s what happens in group think, and my fear is that group think can stifle spiritual growth if we’re not careful.
ah. I see what you mean. Yes. I am a huge proponent of critically engaging with discourses and ideologies (including those surrounding my own faith), so I see what you mean. I also tend to avoid labels, but I did use one in my first comment without realizing the possible associations outside of how I’ve come to understand it, so thank you for pointing this out. I also am realizing that I may have read a bit too much into Brenton’s text, interpreting beyond the evidence he was providing with contemporary means. I think it is fair to examine C.S. Lewis’ texts more closely from this angle (that he was, without realizing it, sexist), but I would not go so far as to say he was misogynist or the opposite. I don’t know how much thought he gave to the construction of gendered/sexual being, but he was definitely interested in the spiritual/faithfullness of being, for which gender in the social realms sometimes got in the way, which is the point Brenton made quite well.
Thank you both for the civil and considerate conversation. In many ways I would call myself a feminist, and be proud of that, but I am not sure that I have earned the title. I am interested in the welfare of girls and women in particular–not because we want poor things for men and boys, but because our world has bent in a certain way for a long time. I believe that God is working us toward transformation of the cosmos that “breaks down the dividing walls” in many kinds of ways.
The feminists that I read and look up to tend to really value the question of their own values and don’t denounce men as a category to get what they want.
those are my kinds of feminists, too (and the kind that I try to be like). And I have to thank Catherine for her initial reply, because it set the tone of mine as well, though I am, in general, a huge proponent of respectful conversation and making conversation, as Kwame Anthony Appiah writes it in his book Cosmopolitanism. As a final note, I don’t think feminism is a title that needs to be earned. It’s not really a title… though this could lead into a whole other conversation that I hope we can have at some point.
Thank you so much. 🙂 It’s great to have these conversations. It truly is hard to know how tightly, or loosely we should hold onto this label especially since I keep hearing about feminists who don’t tolerate anyone who holds pieces of their beliefs, but doesn’t abide their whole belief system. They tell these people that they are ‘not feminists’. I don’t believe that I have a big enough scope of the world to understand what true equality is in the grand scheme of things, but I do believe that in many ways God moves us towards equality in a nuanced way.
danaames says:
I think the thing that transcends whatever is problematic with the Narnia books in this regard is that Lewis recognized and understood that the true strength of the characters (like that of Christ as you noted above, Brenton) is in their humility. Humility is not a characteristic of gender, but of a humanity that remembers Aslan.
I think that, like the individual human that remembers Aslan, Lewis also knew that “Humility is not primarily a virtue to be acquired but rather an abasement to be endured” [Enzo Bianchi] and we cannot pick and choose where and when we will have to “pick up our cross”.
True – and what comes of the endurance is something greater than both the endurance and abasement. It’s knowing exactly who and what I am… humility. With gratitude, it is how we live in Christ, and sanely.
I think I will disagree on one side of that Patrick. You are certainly right about enduring the difficulty. But I think he thought that the cross was picked up every day and that humility is something formed in us in a life of discipleship. His books show the response to the shaping of Aslan or Maleldil, some challenge or humiliation, then the strong humble response of the hero (or fallen one) changed. The goal, Lewis thought, was a kind of humility that was an integrated sense of self that comes with a disinterest in self.
The Bianchi quotation is really quite stirring.
You are 100% correct about daily picking up or cross and that humility is formed during discipleship. I have not read the Narnia series, I have watched the movies though, and I am beginning to think that perhaps I should read them, so you must forgive my ignorance of the details of how Lewis has translated his faith into them.
These two quotes support your comments about an individual being lost if they are self-obsessed but how important it is to find or “be” one’s “self because it is only possible “in Christ”.
“The characteristic of lost souls is ‘their rejection of everything that is not simply themselves’” [von Hügel]
“People in flight from them ‘self’ are intrinsically violent” [Richard Rohr]
Having just reread chapter 5 of the Problem of Pain in preparation for Charles Huttar’s seminar talk on Lewis’s Socratic myth there, I would recommend doing so in this context for Lewis’s imagining of unfallen human condition: how does humility in our fallen world relate to that?
That’s a question I’m struggling with now, David. Not this minute but in this life period.
For what it’s worth, I’ve just read Walker Percy’s Lost in the Cosmos, and find it very interesting (that inadequate word, again!) to juxtapose with that Myth in chapter 5 – especially his ‘Semiotic Primer’.
Aonghus Fallon says:
It’s interesting to note that while Lewis has female characters in his work, Tolkien largely ignores them – e.g. there are no female characters in ‘The Hobbit’ at all. I wonder which is the more questionable?
I think there are some that have done a comparison. But in the way I approach things, I don’t think either is questionable, exactly. But I think either can be interesting to think about for a curious mind.
Interesting to think how The Hobbit got written after so much mythological/legendary material with prominent female characters, human and non-human, and in the process got taken up into that body of material – with that fact becoming evident in ‘the new Hobbit’, which eventually became The Lord of the Rings as we know it, with characters like Eowyn and Galadriel and Arwen in the foreground and Elbereth and Luthien in the background.
Hmm… just got wondering if it’s clear one way or the other if those open-air Elven parties Bilbo and the Dwarves keep trying to join in Mirkwood were mixed, or all-male? (Need to reread!)
I’m not necessarily criticising Tolkien or Lewis (‘The Hobbit’ is one of my favourite books) so maybe my use of the word ‘questionable’ is questionable? I really just meant that it’s food for thought. Can a male author be categorised as sexist if he largely ignores female characters – or rather, can he be thought of as more sexist than a male author who does have female characters in his work, but whose characters are seen as reflecting stereotypical attitudes towards gender etc, etc?
In fairness to Lewis, while I understand opinions differ in relation to the female characters in the Narnian books, Orual in ‘Till We Have Faces’ is a great female character (although how much of this is intentional on Lewis’s part or not is open to debate).
I think it is okay, too, to criticize or question or struggle with texts. And I don’t know the answer to that question. I mean, he fails The Bechdel test on all his work, though Lewis would pass. Are there multiple non-male characters that talk to each other about something other than the male characters? I think that tool works better assessing where things are at in general rather than for particular books. A war book will often fail (though need not, depending on the book), and we may know nothing about the author’s strengths and weaknesses about women as people.
Orual is fascinating. I struggle to understand exactly her transformation (the “I, too, am Pysche/Ungit” bit), but it is powerful.
I had a big problem with the book’s ending. A story in which you encounter Pan is going to have a very different ending (and moral) from a story in which you encounter Jesus, but Lewis seemed to be implying that they were synonymous.
Your note here is out of order on the screen, so I assume you mean TWHF. If so, your critique might be worth writing up to see in full in a paper.
dalejamesnelson says:
I don’t know if this is the place to submit this observation.
But it’s sobering to think that, today, Lewis would not make the final cut of candidates for a university job in medieval and Renaissance literature, should he have applied. (1) He would not have a CV well-packed with things documenting what he has done to meet the “needs of students from diverse backgrounds” and to encourage their retention and degree completion. (2) His public utterances reflecting Christian and conservative convictions about mankind, the sexes, etc. would make him wholly unacceptable to search committees. Goodness, can you just imagine!!
In fact, Lewis would not be acceptable as a visiting speaker at many universities. If he were invited, protests about the imminent event would be noisy, craven administrators would be intimidated, and Lewis would be disinvited.
Of course, such things don’t judge Lewis and his beliefs, but the institutions and their students.
“I have never been able to understand where people got the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It is obvious that tradition is only democracy extended through time….Tradition may be defined as an extension of the franchise. Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death….I, at any rate, cannot separate the two ideas of democracy and tradition; it seems evident to me that they are the same idea.” [Chesterton]
Hi Guys, I wanted to respond here so that (if you are signed up for notifications) they will get to you. I appreciate the thoughtful and hard-hitting criticism. It is helping me to think through my methods, considering how I could put them most simply. I might write about it, but at this stage in my work (I’m nearly done drafting my thesis and am terribly bereft of time) I just can’t. So, some inadequate responses and perhaps in a few months we could return.
Dale, you are right that Lewis may not get hired at a university, but it is just not a game I can play as we don’t know what Lewis’ views would be today. I suspect few of the great men and women of history could work anywhere, or even be published, in the way they wrote and thought at the time. Lewis developed over the years, some thoughts maturing (like his theory that went into Experiment in Criticism), some deepening (like his growing understanding of God’s forgiveness), some changes in approach (a shift away from overt apologetics, a deepening of fiction), and he may have rethought individual small doctrines or ideas. I just don’t know what he would be like if he were born in 1925 or 1945 or 1965–even if he was as perfectly Lewisian as we can imagine.
The most significant development is that on gender and sex, so that the way he talks about the relation of the sexes in marriage is not how he imagined it in his earlier fiction. It also changes in tone and quality from his BBC talks (Mere Christianity). I find Lewis on sex and gender puzzling, problematic, prophetic, peculiar, and able to bring up possibilities for thinking about culture, faith, and literature.
So, Patrick, that is why approach things the way I do. I see first to know what Lewis thought, to the best of my limited abilities, and to understand that thought in a number of contexts. One in Anglicanism of that time and throughout history. One is as a kind of anti-Modernist Modernist of the period. One is as a Georgian, male-encrusted, Oxonian war vet. One is Lewis as a member of a pretty counter-cultural household. One is as a lit scholar and the way he thought about literature–and thought about thinking about literature. And so on. I critique Lewis in those contexts, but also against the standard of biblical literature and Christianity that he seeks to base himself upon.
In this sense I am a Christian critic, and my primary theoretical lens is theological.
But I am not merely a systemetician or a historian. I don’t read Lewis merely to know what he says. I read him because I think he provides a profound prophetic self-criticism for Christians today–one that we clearly have not heard given the state of our church and our public witness (at least in Canada, England, and the U.S.–and I would say Japan in my experience there). Once we understand the value of the critique, I think that Lewis can then help us to approach a new stance before the world. There are things to learn, there are stories to hear, but there are also places where as Christians we can offer resistance in truth-love ways (to use Paul’s term).
I have written 850 or so posts on this site, and a number of articles. I have read every word of his I can find, often multiple times. Occasionally I offer criticism of his thought or choices based on those categories above. I have done so sparingly and with care. I have not shared what most deeply troubles me, and haven’t cherrypicked the easy things, for the most part. But I think it is okay to offer pushback, knowing that American readers in particular struggle with that.
Beyond all those above, there is one more thing. Lewis was very attentive to the experience of the modern reader. He thought that reader should submit to the text, then bend himself or herself to understand the worldview of the author. I think we have people do that well with Lewis, and my blog does some of that–inviting readers to see Lewis in deeper and fresher ways.
But I am also attentive to the fact that readers’ language changes. Lewis knew this too, and thought translation important–essential not just to Bible work, but to apologetics and theology. And so I address things that readers might be concerned about, like sexism, social roles, strange language, contextual clues, literary links. I want to bridge that gap.
Finally, as a critic, I use any tool I can get my hands on. I’m not a Marxist, but they have given us language of ideology and class that is terribly helpful. I want to look at the linguistics, economics, social make-up, physics, magic, history, and religion of a fictional world, so use whatever tools I can. Gender criticism is an approach that fits with things I said, but at the very least is helpful in the last bit. After all, a man who talked about 7 genders, and husband and wives as gods and goddesses, and wrote his finest literature from the perspective of a woman ruler, there is a lot worth studying in Lewis.
I’m sorry I can’t dialogue more. Some of my approaches are Lewisian, some are not. But I should say a final word. In a way, I wish Lewis was “better.” I wish his apologetics was a little deeper, that he developed his social thought more, and that he knew a wider range of people. When he talks about everyman, it’s not always clear he knew every man. I wish when he took someone on, like liberal Christians or teetotallers, he knew them better so his critique was more incisive and more fair. I wish he had our historical point of view to take his intriguing critique of imperialism even further. I wish his ecclesiology and pneumatology was stronger. I don’t agree with his understanding of hierarchy, priesthood, marriage relations, purgatory, and church music. But in all of these there are resources for conversation that would give us a stronger footing today–even for those who disagree. I neither want to reshape him nor condemn him, but neither do I leave him untouched in the past.
Brenton, it must have troubled you to have to write, “Dale, you are right that Lewis may not get hired at a university, but it is just not a game I can play as we don’t know what Lewis’ views would be today.” T
To think that university literature departments have come to the place that a scholar with Lewis’s command of language and literature and his superlative qualities as teacher and critic might not get hired (or even interviewed) basically because he was a conservative Christian!
It’s hypothetical of course and there’s no need for me or someone else to get all het up about it. But we find ourselves in agreement that a scholar with Lewis’s knowledge, but not signed up and paid up as a progressive liberal, might not be able to find work in our universities; we can’t honestly say, “Pshaw! That’s ridiculous! Of -course- he would!”
That’s why it seems to me disingenuous or at best a sign of ignorance coexisting with good will when one occasionally sees liberals say things like this: “Where -are- the conservative literary scholars? We don’t see any,” etc.
If they are there (and they are, here and there) , they likely are keeping quiet, keeping their heads down.
I’m retired now. One of my colleagues (tenured, Phd.D) in English remains. I don’t know if I have known a prof who cared more about students than this woman. But last time we talked about it, she expressed to me that she was about at the point where she doubted she could go on. And this is in “conservative” North Dakota.
Dale Nelson
Thanks Dale, I don’t know what conservatives are experiencing, but there are some that work on my campus. They feel embattled, but so do I and my views down spectrum well.
I finish my PhD soon and start looking for teaching positions with not a lot of hope. But not because of my point of view, but rather because of what you wrote in today’s post about the utilitarian nature of rightish understanding of education (though it is more than the right on that one). “Liberal” education–learning freely in a free spirit–is no longer cost-effective.
Be sure and let us know how it goes.
Is it a generational or a geographical, or perhaps even a gender thing that makes me feel completely out of touch with those uses of “conservative” and “liberal”. They have become almost completely meaningless epithets, at least when used by people in North America.
I don’t thionk Lewis can be accurately described as either “conservative” or “liberal”, though in his writings he did seem to favour liberal democracy as a political system for much the same reasons as I do. In Lewis’s ere the cheif enemy of liberalism was not conservatism but radical fascism (as protrated, inter alia in That hideous strength . In what sense was he a “conservative Christian”? What does that even mean?
Probably in this sense – “I am a democrat because I believe in the Fall of Man. I think most people are democrats for the opposite reason. A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and so good that everyone deserved a share in government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they are not true. And whenever their weakness is exposed, the people who prefer tyranny make capital out of the exposure. I find that they’re not true without looking further than myself. I don’t deserve a share in governing a henroost, much less a nation. Nor do most people – all people who believe advertisements, and think in catchwords and spread rumours. The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows.” [C S Lewis]
Well yes, but it is because he said things like that that I regard C.S. Lewis as more of a liberal, and so it is of no help at all in seeing what it means to say that he was a “conservative Christian”. He certainly wasn’t a True Blue Tory (though I suppose in the USA nowadays that would be a “True Red Tory”).
For what it’s worth:
A.G. Dickens, whom Lewis taught Political Philosophy (from Platonic Communism to Lenin’s The State and Revolution in 10 weeks), describes him as a liberal Christian in my interview with him for the Wade Oral History archive.
George Grant, an enjoyer of the Socratic Club, has an interesting discussion of what ‘liberal’ does or might mean, in English-Speaking Justice (1974).
Stephen Neill, admirer of Lewis’s OHEL volume, and correspondent, discusses something he characterizes as “Liberal Catholicism” (p. 273) and later (p. 401) “the old optimistic ‘liberalism'” and “‘post-Barthian liberals'” and says “there will always be need for a liberal wing in the Church” in Anglicanism (1958).
Thanks for this. Steve, I should have added that in my context (North America), conservative Christian tends to be (but is not exclusively) Protestant (we tend to say conservative Catholic, and Orthodoxy is not a huge public question, and we often specify evangelical Anglican or not), and evangelical, fundamentalist, or charismatic/Pentecostal. In theological circles, it is a movement that rejects “liberal” theology in the school of Schleiermacher, Bultmann, the public face of the Historical Jesus quest group, the Gene Robinson, movement, etc. It is a school largely rooted in historico-grammatical exegesis, a “high” view of scripture, belief in the four last things and miracles, and the emphasis on response to salvation, the centrality of the cross, and ethics. In that sense Lewis fits pretty well, though he doesn’t align well with American evangelicals.
Just encountered someone quoting this from the speech which John Henry Newman delivered on receiving the official notification that he was to be a Cardinal (1879):
“For thirty, forty, fifty years I have resisted to the best of my powers the spirit of liberalism in religion. Never did Holy Church need champions against it more sorely than now, when, alas! it is an error overspreading, as a snare, the whole earth … Liberalism in religion is the doctrine that there is no positive truth in religion, but that one creed is as good as another, and this is the teaching which is gaining substance and force daily. It is inconsistent with any recognition of any religion, as true. It teaches that all are to be tolerated, for all are matters of opinion. Revealed religion is not a truth, but a sentiment and a taste; not an objective fact, not miraculous; and it is the right of each individual to make it say just what strikes his fancy.”
This is pretty clearly not what either A.G. Dickens or Stephen Neill were referring to, but invites finding out more in its detail – including the reference to “thirty, forty, fifty years”, which would takes us through the 1840s, and 1830s, to the 1820s.
I think you are right that lib-con are loaded terms. Are they helpful? I am (in North America) a “conservative” on economics, but there is a conservative government in the USA today that seems to have no overlap with what I called conservative just a few years ago. I’m a “liberal” on human freedom, but we have a liberal government in Canada that believes in limiting human freedom to encase their beliefs in the world. It’s difficult to know how this is helpful any more.
Moreover, Lewis was an open progressive on some things–he had an atypical family, was an animal rights activist, valued socialized health care, worked to subvert immigration restrictions, worked to subvert the Nazi regime, he was anti-eugenics, was an environmentalist, and wanted to open the academic life more to women colleagues–and was conservative on many things–he disliked technological development, he had essentialist views of gender, he resented limitations to personal rights by the state, he had grave doubts about progressive education, and he thought Labour pretty much botched the post-war organization. But, even those I listed were tagged differently then, so what help is it?
Finally, how often do people just pick up people like Lewis and make them do what they want? That book by West on evolution, the Magician’s Twin, is a terribly hackjob appropriation. Lewis isn’t even important in it. American conservatives consistently pick Lewis up with levity, without considering his penetrating critiques of some of their core tenets.
So in the end perhaps it matters not. I may misread Lewis, but I do try to let him be him, to the best I can.
The only motive for my pre-preemptive “push back” was to stop the burning of books (written by yourselves or your readers) before they are even written.
“If there is one thing worse than the modern weakening of major morals, it is the modern strengthening of minor morals. Of all the marks of modernity that seem to mean a kind of decadence, there is none more menacing and dangerous than the exalting of small and secondary matters of conduct at the expense of very great and primary ones, at the expense of eternal ties and tragic human morality.” [G K Chesterton]
“The idea that it is only in the last five years we’ve discovered what gender really is, is the height of absurdity.”[Jordan Peterson]
And like JP I just think any ideology based on the difference between sexes (or as my wife’s father used to say – “the bleedin obvious”) is absurd, especially when you are trying to discuss, and I quote you here – “What is the heart of C.S. Lewis’ spiritual theology?”
I’m not sure this conversation is going to go anywhere if you think I am book-burning, or calling for it (metaphorically, or otherwise). My reading of Lewis is that at the heart of his understanding of Christian life is that we echo the cross in our lives, we imitated Christ, we give up our lives, we surrender, we crucify ourselves–or are co-crucified with Christ–so that our self may life. I think that his understanding of hierarchy is at odds with this in some ways, though in A Grief Observed he has brought that lesson into his relationship with Joy. I wish that Lewis integrated his upsidedown, self-surrendering, cruciform way of understanding Christ-life soaked through in all ways, as I wish for myself. So this is what I do. You are welcome to say what you like, but here we divide. I hold Lewis’ work, life, and theology in deepest respect–a model for me, one I hope will transform my evangelical community. So, book-burning? No, I’m out.
Tangentially, Eric Voegelin has some interesting things to say about the problems or both censorship and lack of censorship, historically, in the volume, Nature of the Law and Related Legal Writings.
Ach! “or”>”of”
I also hold Lewis’ work, life, and theology in deepest respect – read this after posting a comment near the bottom of this chain (Febr 7 – 12:53 pm), but it might also fit here.
Allow me to use some “rhetoric” which will remain within the borders of objective, observable reality to explain what I meant by “stop the burning of books (written by yourselves or your readers) before they are even written.” David in a post below has grasped my point exactly. How many books would you have written if your future in the institutions you are working so hard to be employed in were not forcing you to self-censor (burn) before you let the idea even get off the ground? Only you know or, what is even worse “don’t know” the answer to the question.
Hopefully this opens up the conversation again rather than shuts it down.
I’m trying to understand what you mean by ‘the burning of books’. Are you worried that books will be written containing stories that show so much disapproval for the stories from the past that they are metaphorically ‘burning’ them? Because if so I don’t think that you have to worry about me, or the other people in this discussion doing that. Everyone here seems to be really open-minded.
In the quote from G K Chesterton that you have posted the ‘strengthening of minor morals’ is mentioned, and I’m wondering if this is somehow related to my belief that society might be currently blurring the lines between social rules and moral rules. Because if so I can full-heartedly relate to much of what you are saying, and I think that I can see a link between the burning of books, and the burning of major morals if this was the gap that you were intending to bridge. On the chances that I’m not projecting my own ideas onto you it doesn’t seem like anyone here is against your concerns, so likewise, nobody here wants to burn books.
If not burning, banning is a recurrent contemporary issue – for example, what’s been going on in Duluth for the past year with this as (most?) recent development:
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/sites/default/files/spirit%20car%20letter%20%285%29.pdf
I take Patrick’s “to stop the burning of books (written by yourselves or your readers)” to mean any- and everyone of us might to our surprise be suddenly subject to censorship of the most ferocious sort, etc. – and, more and more circumspectly subject to self-censorship to avoid such risks.
I think that I see what you mean. Self-correction can be a good, humble thing to do to a certain extent, but correcting ourselves, or other writers for story content that isn’t ethically wrong in order to please the world is a form of censorship that can make stories insincere if we go too far, and even strip us of our freedom to create, and to live out adventures in the real world.
I do believe, however, that there needs to be a balance. If we never wrote stories that went against some social conventions they would get dull and lifeless over time, and I think this was the idea that Brenton was trying to convey. But also, banning conventions, or the representation of conventions under the guise of being “morally bad” is in fact…wrong. For example it’s nice to have female characters who are physically, and exceptionally strong now and then, but as a female author I am very much outspoken, and against making this representation of female characters a moral obligation that every author must follow. It’s actually deeply cruel to force authors to write “strong female characters” even if their hearts aren’t set on it–my heart used to be fine with this, but not so much any more now that this has been pushed as a “moral” obligation. Paradoxically, we are being taught that we have a moral obligation to break the morals from the past. Some people are so against everything, and anything that is conventional that they will dehumanize the conventional books and people with an ungrounded lack of mercy over every little thing they do and say. I can see both of your concerns, and I empathize with them, but I don’t see anyone here who would do that. I don’t believe that people can burn books unless they have the intention to do so out of deep-rooted hate, or lack of forgiveness towards the ideas represented within the pages.
The banning of the books as mentioned in your link was probably done by the schoolboards out of hate for mercy. They probably just spotted parts of the stories, or words that they didn’t like among the good intentions that are represented throughout the whole thing, and deemed them as all bad. It’s a twisted form of “purification” that throws the baby out with the bathwater.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s dehumanizing to criticize out of existence, but it’s also dehumanizing to leave uncriticised. This is true about us humans, and this is also true about the stories that we tell.
Your statement – “Paradoxically, we are being taught that we have a moral obligation to break the morals from the past.” sums it up perfectly, you could, however also have added – “Without bringing any proven and workable replacement morality to what is being destroyed”
Spot-on Mr Dodds. Lewis had to make some tough political decisions – “When Winston Churchill offered Clive Staples (C. S.) Lewis (1898–1963), the great Christian apologist and author of the Chronicles of Narnia, the honorary title of Commander of the British Empire, Lewis declined on the grounds that accepting would strengthen the hands of “knaves who say, and fools who believe, that my religious writings are all covert anti-Leftist propaganda.”[Letters of C. S. Lewis (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1988), 414. Churchill offered Lewis the investiture following the Conservative Party’s return to power in 1951.] Those somewhat familiar with C. S. Lewis’ writings might infer that his reluctance to involve himself in politics simply reflected his personal preference for evangelization in the private sphere. It would be a mistake, however, to infer that his religious writings were apolitical. Indeed, in his essay “Meditation on the Third Commandment” (1941), Lewis acknowledged the political dimension of evangelization: “He who converts his neighbour has performed the most practical Christian-political act of all.”[C. S. Lewis, “Meditation on the Third Commandment,” The Guardian (10 January 1941]
Dear Catherine,
Thanks for these detailed reflections on these matters – among which, the fine observation, “Paradoxically, we are being taught that we have a moral obligation to break the morals from the past”!
To bring Milton in again, I recall being struck by reading his “Areopagitica; A speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England” and “Of Education” (both from 1644) together – with respect to the breadth of free access in the former and the importance of attention to what children should, and should not, be given to read at a certain age in the latter. How best do we make loving, humanizing criticism possible? Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory suddenly springs to mind, here – with the governments efforts, and little Luis’s response to his experience.
Patrick (at 11:18 a.m.),
I love that little essay and return to it often – and keep meaning to read more Maritain on the basis of what Lewis says there.
There is also that variation on what you quote in the last paragraph of his “Preface” to Sanhurst’s little book, How Heathen is Britain? (latter reprinted as “On the Transmission of Christianity”) – after the powerful third-last paragraph about how bad it was, as far as he could see, in 1946 – with a Christian minority of teachers “isolated in a hostile environment” and the expectation that “It is unlikely that in the next forty years England will have a government which would encourage or even tolerate any radically Christian elements in its State system of education”, and his quotation of Rousseau as context, who wrote “I know of nothing more opposed to the social spirit” than Christianity. (Arend Smilde has a good little article about that book and author, here:
http://lewisiana.nl/sandhurst/index.htm )
“God may reduce you
on Judgment Day
to tears of shame,
reciting by heart
the poems you would
have written, had
your life been good.” [W H Auden]
It seems the “right thinking” folks on social media have targeted yet another YA author. Kosoko Jackson has chosen to withdraw his novel after facing “backlash for centering a story about the Kosovo War around two non-Muslim Americans.”
Catherine I have answered Brenton in a post above, David, in a post below also grasps what I meant by the phrase. Your statement “society might be currently blurring the lines between social rules and moral rules” is exactly what causes this inversion of priorities to the detriment of the poor and helpless. Example in case, when those in power convince those they rule that it is more important to put a little cross on a voting slip, that supports and maintains their power than to have sufficient food to eat.
Side note: Lewis seems to take up that Chestertonian perception in a big way in The Abolition of Man!
Imagine if CS Lewis, and Jordan Peterson could meet in person today… I can imagine them empathising about todays problems, and also taking part in some pretty complex debates, and discussions about the things that they agree, and disagree on. They would definitely agree on the existence of objective reality, but CS Lewis would definitely reject Jordan Peterson’s claims that the Bible is a book of symbols rather than objective truth. This would be interesting. I’d be curious to see how a conversation between these two would actually turn out.
It would be an interesting conversation, but I would have to read up on Peterson before I poured the wine.
I wonder how far one could do justice to their thought by selecting and interweaving selected quotations into an imaginary debate or discussion, rather as Humphrey Carpenter does in his imagining a meeting in The Inklings?
I’ve been hearing quite a lot about Jordan Peterson lately, and wondered if his stuff was worth reading. Someone pointed me to this review of one of his books, which issues the warning: “Before they get carried away, the Christians now tuning into Jordan Peterson need to realize that this man is not the next C.S. Lewis. On the contrary, Jordan Peterson is the man C.S. Lewis warned them about.”
See Book Review: 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson.
I don’t know if you are correct about Peterson being the the man Lewis warned us about but I do know that Peterson goes further than anyone else I know, clergy, philosopher or psychologist, in answering Lewis question –
The Christian is called, not to individualism but to membership in the mystical Body. A consideration of the differences between the secular collective and the mystical Body is therefore the first step to understanding how Christianity without being individualistic can yet counteract collectivism.”[C S Lewis]
“The sovereignty of the individual is sacred, and … that the fundamental linkage between the pathology of the state and the psychology of the individual is the individual’s propensity to self-deceive him or herself and adopt an in-authentic mode of being and action.” [Jordan Peterson]
If you have a better proposition I am very keen to hear it.
Most of what I have to say on that topic is in a blog post here Individualism, collectivism and communitarianism | Khanya.
Thanks Steve, my delayed response is because I am reading the passages you linked to and I need to get “up to speed” on exactly what “communatarism” is defined as these days. Until now I thought that the story of Ananias and Saphira in the book of Acts had demolished that proposal.
I haven’t read that book yet, or watched very much of Jordan Peterson, but he seems like someone Lewis would engage with interestingly, if they were around together. What would Lewis say about Peterson and the ‘Tao’ (as he uses that term in The Abolition of Man), for example? “Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today” sounds a lot like George MacDonald, to me. And “Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping” sounds like Lewis – or, Lewis-compatible (as when he discusses ‘loving’ as ‘willing the good of someone’). “Once having understood Hell, researched it, so to speak—particularly your own individual Hell—you could decide against going there or creating that” sounds a lot like both Williams’s Descent into Hell and Lewis’s The Great Divorce – and indeed more than a little like 1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV), “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” Would Charlie Clark think St. Paul too close to “the expression of Pride [which] is Pelagianism”, here? Jordan Peterson is admittedly not Christian (or Jewish), but it’s not clear to me he’s dogmatically closed (e.g., like the sort of classic ‘Agnostic’ who asserts he knows we can’t know).
Peterson definitely agrees with Lewis on certain things – “I think the idea that the most godly thing you can do is to accept the reality of your crucifixion [taking up your cross] is true! I think that’s true! It’s never been presented better than that. I think that Western civilization’s emphasis on the sovereignty of the individual [in the image of God] … is right. So to the degree that our culture – and what is right and useful about it – maintains itself and moves forward, it’s going to have to reunite itself to its symbolic foundation, with its underlying story. I don’t see another alternative. Do I think that will be a Christian revival, so to speak, a renaissance? Yeah I do.” [Jordan Peterson]
But, and this is the enigma that Peterson is, he continues to avoid “boxing and labeling” by “any identity politics or any identity religion” so most of his followers are watching expectantly to see where his journey takes him
George MacDonald, ‘worked out’ of his formal ministry, made a living in good part by travelling about lecturing (and guest-preaching – though I’m not sure off the top of my head where that fits in, in the ‘making a living’ part). Jordan Peterson has not yet been ‘worked out’ of his academic position, but also does a lot of (as I understand) remunerative public lecturing. Might an academically unemployable Lewis have ended up doing much the same in our day (or even in his own – managing to combine writing and public lecturing)?
Your speculation, David, is eliciting from me an irresponsible fantasy — C. S. Lewis as Motivational Speaker.
“C. S. Lewis knows about grief. His mother lost her battle with cancer when he was a boy — and he lost his faith. His best friend was vaporized by a German bomb in World War I and he took on the burden of caring for the friend’s mother, a mean old lady who eventually lost her mind. He fell in love late in life only to lose his love to the same disease that killed his mother. Now C. S. Lewis reveals how he came through all this, and how you can too, with the secrets of faith and Joy despite suffering! A freewill offering will be taken after his talk, Wednesday night at the Alerus Center.”
Yeah, maybe something like that could happen but I was thinking of Lewis as a scholar. There are independent scholars — and they are real scholars, like John Rateliff and Douglas Anderson — closely identified with Tolkien studies, for example. but for a scholar of medieval and Renaissance literature — I doubt this would work.
Hmm… if you had the background and then made enough from your other writing and public lecturing – and got access to the relevant libraries! – even that might be possible.
Did the BBC not pay him then?
I suppose they did – but can’t remember in detail what I may have read about it. That’s a good question in general though about all the different sorts of talks he gave – did he usually get fees, transportation expenses, bed and board for long-distances?
You are absolutely correct when you say “Of course, such things don’t judge Lewis and his beliefs, but the institutions and their students.” … which logically implies that …”If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.” [C S Lewis] … however, these days … “Do we know the difference between what nature has meant for nourishment and – what nature has meant for garbage?” [C S Lewis]
Another question is, would he be on the BBC (or other UK broadcasters), nowadays, if he still thought as he did then (1940s-60s), and, if so, in what capacities?
He would definitely not be allowed on the BBC today, and what is really sad is that everything he and Tolkien stood for would today be considered not fit for public consumption in Britain simply because the moral high-ground has been hi-jacked by “collectivism”.
According to “Racial Equity and the Production of Knowledge,”
—How do we perform—and validate, and support—the reparative epistemic justice that the discipline so sorely needs? It is here that I will insist on a modification to the discourse of inclusion. For this reparative epistemic justice to take flight, holders of privilege will need to surrender their privilege. In practical terms, this means that (in an economy of academic prestige defined and governed by scarcity) white men will have to surrender the privilege they have of seeing their words printed and disseminated; they will have to take a backseat so that people of color — and women and gender-nonconforming scholars of color — benefit from the privilege of seeing their words on the page. Again, however, I emphasize that this is an economy of scarcity that at the level of journal publication will remain zero-sum (until and unless this system of publication is dismantled): every person of color who is to be published will take the place of a white man whose words could have or had already appeared in the pages of that journal. And that would be a future worth striving for.—
Author:D. Padilla Peralta
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0gfxoljbi9nsr8r/Padilla%20Peralta%20SCS%202019%20Future%20of%20Classics%20Equity%20and%20the%20Production%20of%20Knowledge%20ed%20w%20tables.pdf?dl=0
He’s a Classics scholar. This isn’t satire, not a hoax.
Mr D Padilla Peralta was asked by Dostoevsky’ why he felt qualified to provide the solution to our “equity” issue, this was his answer – “Dedicating my energies to the study of the social organisation which is in the future to replace the present condition of things, I’ve come to the conviction that all makers of social systems from ancient times up to the present year, 187-, have been dreamers, tellers of fairy-tales, fools who contradicted themselves, who understood nothing of natural science and the strange animal called man. Plato, Rousseau, Fourier, columns of aluminium, are only fit for sparrows and not for human society. But, now that we are all at last preparing to act, a new form of social organisation is essential. In order to avoid further uncertainty, I propose my own system of world-organisation. Here it is.” He tapped the notebook. “I wanted to expound my views to the meeting in the most concise form possible, but I see that I should need to add a great many verbal explanations, and so the whole exposition would occupy at least ten evenings, one for each of my chapters.” (There was the sound of laughter.) “I must add, besides, that my system is not yet complete.” (Laughter again.) “I am perplexed by my own data and my conclusion is a direct contradiction of the original idea with which I start. Starting from unlimited freedom, I arrive at unlimited despotism. I will add, however, that there can be no solution of the social problem but mine.” Dostoevsky
Bravo, Patrick!
Dostoevsky’s captivating, funny, weird novel Demons (aka The Possessed, The Devils) really deserves that oft-used epithet “prophetic novel.” Sexual aberration, amoralism, passionate factionalism, sensation-seeking, desecration (the mouse and the icon being like something you would see in a London gallery today), and, above all, “strong delusion” (2 Thessalonians 2:11, debet qui legit intellegat) — Dostoevsky seems to have intuited much of what was coming in the next century and in our own. There’s even a hint of the Islamic idea of the “hidden Mahdi,” and who in 1870 could have suspected that the president of an Iranian state would make him international news?
Of course, Dostoevsky’s radicals tended to be impoverished students and dropouts, while today (cough)….
I used to love teaching Demons, writing instructional materials on it, etc. I won’t say it is Dostoevsky’s greatest novel, but it’s my favorite of the ones I’ve read, though I cherish the Russian Monk book of The Brothers Karamazov.
https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=5438641
Dale, that’s pretty goofy. I could add some more of true silliness–the kind that would seem to betray learning as an institution or as an exploration.
But is this the whole thing? Can we capture the school of theory by the stupidest bits? Is that how you would want a school of thought represented?
I can only speak for myself. I am an evangelical Christian and I have never, in 25 years of paying attention I have never, ever heard my spirituality represented well in media, and very rarely in film or literature. It is now so far beyond the possibility of accidental that I find myself wanting to join a conspiracy theory cult. So I am perhaps a wee bit more sensitive to looking for the best in a movement, and criticizing that. Evangelical Christianity is strong enough, I think, to destroy its best people and ideas rather than cherrypick the weakest (which are often more fundamentalists anyway).
So … that’s where I’m at. I hope that’s okay to push back a bit.
Brenton at 8:33 pm on 30 Jan.:
“Dale”?
Apologies, this was supposed to be an answer to your post and I answered David,s post below with it, so you can delete that post if you like. I don’t know how far Wilfred Laurier in Canada and Evergreen in the US are from Pince Edward Island but if you have some time to spare one day go to YouTube and do a search for Lyndsey Shepherd(TA)/Wilfred Laurier and Brett Weinstein(exLecturer)/Evergreen, although it was the “well-placed” people in Canada it was the students at Evergreen.
The stories there makes the Dostoevsky quote look like a transcript.
It’s worth asking how socially effective are those “stupidest bits”? For example, I’ve recently read the Afterword by Boris Strugatsky in the English translation of his and his brother Arkady’s novel, The Doomed City, about how they wrote books expecting that they would never be permitted to be published in the Soviet Union. How many ‘well-placed’ people are needed to shut things down, exclude the ‘irredeemable’ or whomever, and so on?
I don’t know how far Wilfred Laurier in Canada and Evergreen in the US are from Pince Edward Island but if you have some time to spare one day go to YouTube and do a search for Lyndsey Shepherd(TA)/Wilfred Laurier and Brett Weinstein(exLecturer)/Evergreen, although it was the “well-placed” people in Canada it was the students at Evergreen.
Hi Patrick, we are pretty close to Wilfred Laurier here (about a 20-hour drive, which is Canada close). We know the Lyndsey Shepherd case pretty well. Intriguingly, it was our left-wing national paper that released the story and played the whole tape. And my local university campus is part of a network of 100 public universities in Canada, and our faculty associations (unions) which are pretty liberal condemned the university’s restriction of academic freedom of Shepherd as student and teacher. There is some hope in the nonsense, though Canada is admittedly less embattled that the US (and even the UK).
Very encouraging! I should’ve guessed you would investigate quite thoroughly the environment you are working so hard to be employed in. I think all institutions of learning could assist and help people come to the place where they are able to base their beliefs on KNOWLEDGE, but they are also all now threatened by “SKEPTICISM”. However, I also believe that “SKEPTICISM” is good because it initiates and stimulates inquiry, and it is necessary for undermining illegitimate claims to authority.
Patrick Wagner commented and asked:
—-After all our analysis of authors/works and how they play out in ideological/political/social conversations, what do the Feminists, the Hegelians, the Marxists, and modern philosophy bring to the table to offer as a replacement for “the existing reality” what do they propose that is new in “human nature” or different to what the Romans, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth (who proved to be no better or worse than their male predecessors) brought to the table?
—-What makes them think they will succeed where countless empires, cultures, societies, “geists” and individuals have tried and failed to create an “alternative reality” and ended up as cruel brutes? After all is said and done we have to live with the results or our actions and we are now living on the back of the only civilization that has initiated and permitted the real conditions to exist which allow a Lewis or a Germaine Greer to come up with what they have.
—-Reversing the sexes or the sexual organs in the following quotes alters nothing – “When mortal men try to live without God they infallibly succumb to megalomania or erotomania or both. The raised fist or the raised phallus; eg. Nietzsche or D.H.Lawrence.” [Malcom Muggeridge] … and “Here is a simple but profound rule. If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute.” [Francis Schaeffer]—
There’s much one could respond to here, but in this reply I’ll just say that it’s characteristic of the left, certainly including people who have a sophisticated understanding of rhetoric and should know that they are unfair, to associate their opponents with the worst that can be ascribed to them, while, on the other hand, insisting on being judged themselves by their ideals and the wonderful world they promise. It is an integral part of feminism, Marxism, etc. to rehearse endlessly the crimes and failings of Western man; you see this every Columbus Day, you see it when the American Library Association once again holds forth on “Banned” [sic] Books Week (or is it Month now?), when every pop entertainer signals his or her wokeness about gender, and so on; always The Struggle Must Go On. This is ingrained in their “critical lenses” for the teaching of literature; every reading of a book is a fresh injection of their notions. But, on the other hand, the enormities associated with feminism, Marxism are written off, or ignored, or even celebrated, e.g. the millions of infant deaths due to “reproductive rights.” Instead they project the notion that so righteous is their cause that anyone who disagrees is either ignorant or evil … although, before they had got their present, and increasing, grasp of public institutions, they pleaded for tolerance for divergent views.
To take Schaeffer’s remark: he’s on to something. Find out about your local univertsity’s College of Education. Likely enough it is pledged to social constructionism: there are no real absolutes, there are no true essences in creation reflecting the immanence of the Logos, etc.
Side note: Eric Voegelin, in The New Science of Politics (1952), is very interesting in his commendation of Richard Hooker as an analyst of that “characteristic” you sketch.
Re “Here is a simple but profound rule. If there are no absolutes by which to judge society, then society is absolute.” [Francis Schaeffer]—” adding another l’Abri quote: “Seeing everything as relative, makes that view become absolute”
I just rewatched The Song of Bernadette (1943) and those parts of Lucy seeing Aslan when no-one else has, in Prince Caspian, came to mind – before I finally got round to reading this post. (I should reread Prince Caspian to get a sharper sense of similarities and differences!)
Steve Hayes says:
Very interesting. One point where I disagree with you quite strongly, however, is on the point that Susan’s preoccupation with lipstick and invitations is a “tiresome trope”. The fact that so many commentators on that entirely miss the point shows that it perhaps more needed than ever. see here Milton, Lewis, Pullman, and pop culture.
I’m not sure it was tiresome when Lewis used. And I have a different reading of the Susan passage than people who are angry at Lewis for this one. But among tiresome tropes I place the hypocritical clergyman, the power-hungry politician, the greasy salesman, the magical negro, the dumb father. I have never met a magical African descended person, but I am sure that these people exist in general in reality. But in writing, in film, people uses these characters because they are lazy writers, wanting to use a stock character as a shortcut to emotional connection. I think Lewis is making a slightly different connection here, but the “lipstick and nylons” girl of the 40s and 50s is pretty well-used in the decades to follow, and how often do people use fashion-sensitivity to equate dimness or dullness of various kinds. Sure, that gets turned around in the Legally Blond type films, but it doesn’t make it any less tiresome to read.
I don’t think obsession with fashion and popularity and consumerism has decreased since those days, so I don’t find it tiresome. But one other point struck me about it in our day, and how it relates to boys and girls. In the instances I noted in my blog post Lewis was criticised for saying that Susan was interested in boys, though Lewis didn’t say that at all.
And when it comes to fashion, girls don’t dress to attract boys, they dress to impress other girls. If girls wear something unfashionable, it is other girls, not boys, who tease them about it. And I recently read an article about a boy who committed suicide because his father bought him new shoes of the “wrong” brand, and he would go to school wearing old worn-out shoes of the “right” brand rather than new ones of the wrong brand because it was other boys, rather than girls, who teased him about it.
Thanks for the dialogue, Steve. My Susan complaint is twofold: she falls to a trope, and it is one that has done damage over time (though I doubt it did then). So I am combining but not conflating two realities: what Lewis did and how readers read.
In my context this is tiresome because it is tagged to girls growing up, and not boys. Then it moves into business settings where women are judged for dress and looks in a way men aren’t. And so on.
I don’t think it is about fashion or lipstick (or boys–you are right about what Lewis didn’t say that is read here). It isn’t about Lewis doing something right or wrong morally. It is about a shortcut that Lewis took in what is inelegant character development as a whole that is swept up with all kinds of sexist responses to how girls and women are pictured. That’s why girls and women sometimes feel hurt by Lewis in reading it. When you look at the energy of Lewis’ character development, does Susan’s strike you as rich and full and consistent? If so, great. But I find it weak, faltered, unclear, so unlike Orual or Jane or Mark or Jill or Eustace. Susan falls to a trope instead of remaining a person. This would be true if she was one of another tiresome trope like all women love shoes are all boys like to wrassle or all men in suits are either evil or government secret police or all clergy are money-hungry or perverts or all days are useless or whatever.
I think, but it is only a guess, that future generations of girls won’t read the Susan thing and have to face the same connection in culture, but will still be upset about Susan’s authorial excise from Narnia.
OK, it’s a trope. I’m not sure what’s wrong with that. I see it as the same trope as the one that appears in the parable of the sower — the seed that fell among thorns.
Oh, I’m not against tropes! But to use what is already an active image at the time of writing is an interesting choice. The movement to cliche is quick.
In Lewis’ case, it’s the combination of a bad character move + the reader’s experience.
It’s (in my experience) a breath-takingly shocking development, and only sketched pretty briefly, but it’s a shock of a kind of apostasy, and apostasy is real, and shocking and bewildering, though (compare Lewis, or Anakin in Star Wars) not necessarily permanent.
To take up my comment of a year ago on your follow-up post of 19 September 2016, the Susan at that point reminds me of the Lewis at the point of Surprised by Joy treated in the chapter, “I Broaden My Mind”. She, like he, opts for becoming “dressy”, “a new element had entered [her] life: Vulgarity”, though up till then she “had not been flashy.” Maybe she, like he, has a Pogo: “Here was sophistication, glossy all over, and (dared one believe it?), ready to impart sophistication to us.” Or, maybe glossy magazines like the post-war precursors of Girl’s Life were enough. That is an important point of pseudo-‘maturity’ – and, as you suggest, perhaps now more than ever – but, as with Lewis, it also need not be the end of the story.
Now, I wonder about the interrelations of writing that chapter of Surprised by Joy and The Last Battle. Do we know if he was, or might well have been, working on both at the same time? (Paul Ford puts writing The Last Battle between autumn 1952 and spring 1953, while Surprised by Joy was published in 1955 – but Warnie mentions his working on “the early chapters” on 25 March 1948: was there a rewrite coinciding with vulgarly “dressy” Susan?)
A curious thing, pointed out to me years ago by an Inklings-loving friend, is the double maturation of the Pevensies – and notably Susan – first in Narnia, when one thinks of the last chapter of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and of the whole action of The Horse and His Boy slotted in before that last chapter, and then all over again in our world – with the successes in Narnia no guarantee of like-paced success back here.
David, I am in exactly the same place on Pogo-Susan, and did a lecture a few years about it. I’m glad to think I wasn’t alone.
I’d like to think more about age and youth in Narnia. Thanks David.
Branching off to your Milton point, do let me encourage you to try reading Paradise Lost – and Paradise Regained (and lots of Milton, for that matter) – perhaps handily together with Lewis’s Preface to Paradise Lost – and also the relevant chapters of Williams’s The English Poetic Mind (1932) and Reason and Beauty in the Poetic Mind (1933: chapter VIII) scans of both of which are available in the Internet Archive. I can’t remember if Lewis takes up the use of Isaiah 14, but he does do a lot of interesting comparing of Milton to the broader Christian background (especially, as I recall, St. Augustine) of which I think that must be a part rather than a Miltonic innovation (however that strikes you).
That reference from Perelandra about Ransom’s thoughts amidst his experience is a fascinating one with respect to “a sombre and tragic Satan out of Paradise Lost”, given the variety and subtlety of Lewis’s discussion in A Preface to Paradise Lost about Milton’s depiction of Satan. (At what point, I wonder, did Ransom translate The Screwtape Letters – in that conception of the Ransom Cycle?)
Milton’s poetry and prose are also interesting to consider in a discussion of ‘Christian’ and ‘liberal’. This sonnet (as transcribed in the Beeching edition of his Poetical Works at Project Gutenberg) springs to mind:
I did but prompt the age to quit their cloggs
By the known rules of antient libertie,
When strait a barbarous noise environs me
Of Owles and Cuckoes, Asses, Apes and Doggs.
As when those Hinds that were transform’d to Froggs
Raild at Latona’s twin-born progenie
Which after held the Sun and Moon in fee.
But this is got by casting Pearl to Hoggs;
That bawle for freedom in their senceless mood,
And still revolt when truth would set them free. 10
Licence they mean when they cry libertie;
For who loves that, must first be wise and good;
But from that mark how far they roave we see
For all this wast of wealth, and loss of blood.
“Licence they mean when they cry libertie” — boy, isn’t that the truth.
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
I, not e’en a princeling, do rage nonetheless.
And I read “Paradise Regained” as “Paradise Rewind,” and was looking for a new piece.
Lewis also promoted reading Milton, in line with “Abolition of Man”:
“Until quite modern times …. the universe was believed to be ….. objects meriting our approval or disapproval, … with endorsement of underlying moral values …(Tao).
Older poetry, eg Milton’s, by insisting on Stock themes/responses, eg love is sweet …. instructed by delighting …
The old territory, in which alone man can live, has been left unguarded …. with moderns, pressing forward to conquer new territories of consciousness ….. with too much faith in …. raw experience” (passages from pp 101-103 “CS Lewis’s Poetry – Charles Huttar”, in “Word and Story in CS Lews” – hopefully my rendering is ok)
Nice! I should get rereading that!
Thanks Hannah, I’d also recommend that whole Word & Story collection.
A lot of it is indeed great! But I couldn’t recommend all of it, as in some chapters I find it hard to sift if/how the views and understanding of those writers colour what Lewis actually wrote, believed and stood for, eg on any influence of ‘Plato’ on his thinking.
And I really disagree with the portrayal of Lewis’s views on originality in an article on CS Lewis’s personae by Stephen Medcalf (p120-122, if understood correctly).
The modern emphasis on originality can be such a deadening burden on artists’ creativity, and at art college I have seen the results of it being even a main criteria – anything then goes, if only no one else has thought of it.
With Lewis I much prefer the ages when there was no division between ‘high arts’ and crafts (that division resulting eg in jewels only being considered ‘art’ when they cannot be worn) and when it was accustomed practice for eg Shakespeare and Bach to start with ideas/work of someone else; and also the ages of “the medieval habit of scarcely valuing the contributions of individual artists or authors to the continuing on work or story”, working for God’s glory instead of my own.
I remember finding that paper very interesting, also when I first heard a version of it read to the Lewis Society (his footnote reference to “Pusey House” on p. 109), but I’d have to reread carefully to see what I agree with, disagree with, or am not sure what I think about – he was certainly always someone willing to discuss and open to persuasion (and would have been one of my dissertation examiners if I had been more efficient or he had lived longer) – though now we have to take both sides in any imagined discussion – but he always seems to me to give lots of challenging food for thought, whatever conclusions one reaches after reading him.
Looking up Milton at Project Gutenberg (PG) just led me to a historical novelist I had forgotten I had ever heard of – though I did hear of her because Lewis ordered one of her books in August 1918 – Anne Manning. PG includes a transcription of the Everyman’s Library reprint of two of her works together (EL 324), with an introduction by Katharine Tynan: Mary Powell & Deborah’s Diary. The full title of the former is The Maiden and Married Life of Mary Powell, afterwards Mistress Milton, also written as a diary, while the Deborah of the later book is the daughter whom she died giving birth to. What Lewis ordered was her book The Household of Sir Thomas More published together with Roper’s Life in The Temple Classics series – which I presume also lies behind the Everyman’s Library volume (EL 19) with the same content (scanned in the Internet Archive). Tynan (both poet and novelist herself) strikingly says, “Her studies of great men, in which her imagination fills in the hiatus which history has left, are not only literature in themselves, but they are a service to literature: it is quite conceivable that the ordinary reader with no very keen flair for poetry will realise John Milton and appraise him more highly, having read Mary Powell and its sequel, Deborah’s Diary, than having read Paradise Lost.” Looking her up in the Wikipedia led not only to links to her many works transcribed in PG and/or scanned in the Internet Archive, but to a less prolific but equally appealing sounding contemporary historical novelist, Hannah Mary Rathbone, author of So much of the Diary of Lady Willoughby, as relates to her Domestic History, and to the Eventful Period of the Reign of Charles the First and its sequel, Some further Portions of the Diary of Lady Willoughby which do relate to her Domestic History and to the Events of the latter Years of the Reign of King Charles the First, the Protectorate, and the Revolution.
A sort of addendum: It is thanks to Walter Hooper’s annotation of the letter to Arthur Greeves he dates “[7 August 1918]” in Collected Letters, Volume I (2000), p. 393, that I know about the Manning-Roper volume. Lewis says “I am getting the Life of Thomas More in the Temple Classics.” I assume that means ‘purchasing’ – or even ‘awaiting the arrival of’. I got there by checking the index for Ann Manning.
I’ve never yet read right through Vol. I, but assumed I must have read the same annotation in They Stand Together (1979) – which we have here in the “First Collier Books Edition 1986”. Just double-checking only now, I see Walter had not supplied that info, there, yet (p. 228)! (What a lot he has done – and gone on doing – for Lewis scholarship!)
Whether anyone knows where the Temple Classics volume is, now, assuming Lewis did own it, I don’t know. Manning does not come up by my search here, and the edition of Roper that does may be another:
https://www.wheaton.edu/media/wade-center/files/collections/author-library-listings/Lewis_Library_20181114.pdf
Rereading that letter yet again, I wonder if there is not also some interesting matter on the ‘Susan question’, too! Lewis notes he has borrowed MacDonald’s Princess and the Goblin from Maureen Moore (then less than a fortnight away from her twelfth birthday) and that she “has a well stocked library of fairy tales which form her continual reading – an excellent taste at her age, I think, which will lead her in later life to romance and poetry and not to the twaddling novels that make up the diet of most educated women apparently. I am getting the Life of Thomas More in the Temple Classics.” Is there an implication there that ‘I am also getting Ann Manning’s far-from-twaddling historical novel, too’? Tantalizing questions – did he enjoy The Household of Sir Thomas More? Did he pass it on to Maureen – or even read it aloud in ‘household circle’? And, where did he get this impression of “the diet of most educated women” – and what would he give as examples of such “twaddling novels”? (Might we also see An Experiment in Criticism already glinting in the far distance, here? – re. what – and how – one reads?)
Dragged back to Maureen’s age (according to Paul Ford’s calculations) from her late 20s in Narnia, Susan has nine years till The Last Battle to be assailed by the superficializing contemporary influences that surround her. (By the way, I find Ford’s discussion of Susan and how Lewis may be developing her character throughout the series, in Companion to Narnia (1980), well worth (re)reading!)
Love it David, I think this sonnet echoes the chore of what JP is trying to say to an audience which comes from everywhere – unless the “sovereignty of the individual” – a concept only real in the Kingdom, is instituted in those outside of the Kingdom, it will not work out well for them. Not any/every collective, only the God/Christ/Bride – BODY. Those who are not disciples of Christ (not seeking first the Kingdom) are citizens of another collective and as such remain divided or without integrity (integration of spirit, mind and body) and who “seek to maximize their own power/freedom without constraint” are unable to “know what to desire”.
Re Susan. I’ve never had a problem with the Susan storyline. I think Lewis probably felt (with some justification) that having all four get into heaven was a bit pat. Susan ended up being the only viable candidate for exclusion, not because of suitability, but because (a) Peter is group leader, (b) Edmund’s epiphany rules him out, while (c) Lucy is the innocent and most accepting of the four when it comes to the miraculous.
‘Lipstick and nylon’ is just an indicator (ie, of Susan’s superficial value system) rather than specifically sexist. If – for example – it had been Peter, Lewis could just as easily have said – ‘He’s interested in nothing now-a-days except girls and motorcars’.
Thanks for this analysis!
It gets me thinking more – and realizing I need to reread – about how much (or little) Lewis tells us about the memories of their Narnian experiences the Pevensies have when back in our world (with no earth-time having passed, in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) – and wanting to compare what Williams does (avoiding spoilers) in Descent into Hell with memory of Doppelgänger experience, and in All Hallows’ Eve with memory and experience of every day life when ‘beyond’ or ‘outside’ it in some sense.
I hadn’t thought of that first bit. I have thought that Lewis would have thought that 7 princes would have been synchronistic at the end.
ireadthatinabook says:
To me what’s so jarring about Susan’s end is not that she is caught up in “nylons and lipstick” but that she has all but forgotten Narnia. A teenager forgetting her childhood faith because of her fashion interest is a somewhat tiresome trope but not an unreasonable one. Susan Pevensie forgetting that she once actually was a Queen of Narnia because of her fashion interest, now that is ridiculous. For it to make sense within the story either “nylons and lipstick” are enough to rob someone of all their memories and thinking abilities, or Narnia was always a make-believe land and Susan is actually a voice of reason.
To I Read That in a Book:
I probably would have agreed with you at some time, if you’re saying it stretches credibility to believe that Susan could have had her Narnian experiences but eventually lost a sense of their reality. But I think that’s actually — from a literary point of view — a brilliant masterstroke. The implication is that, even with such an experience in her girlhood (and Susan is sometimes depicted as a bit too old as compared to the books), the power of the immediate present, the tide of the senses, the pressure of worldly considerations, and so on could be just too much.
And I think that’s true. At the time of the Incarnation, many people saw miraculous things, e.g. the feedings of the multitudes, etc. But isn’t it likely that, eventually, many of these same people eventually settled into a rut, taking their sense of daily reality from those around them and so on?
I think the artistic and the thematic effectiveness of Narnia would have lost something if Lewis had made it clear that all of the children stayed true throughout their lives to the Narnian experience.
Coventry Patmore, in Religio Poetæ: “Let not my heart forget the things my eyes have seen.”
“Let us not forget in the darkness what we have known in the light” — Arthur Machen, I think.
I would perhaps have bought that if she had only not had time for Narnia any more, but according to Eustace she is actively denying it’s existence. Surely we deserve to see more of her motivations than Jill’s suggestion of “nylons and lipstick” before we are to believe that?
If he wanted to exclude her, why not give her a motivation that makes sense to a child reader? Perhaps she couldn’t handle the knowledge that she couldn’t return or something like that? As an adult reader I can of course see parallels to people loosing their faith as they grow-up etc, but a child (who are after all the primary audience) will probably go for the straight forward interpretation, that Susan forgot about Narnia when she started to care about lipstick. And that I believe to be deeply unfair to her character.
Having just caught up with these comments, Dale’s raises om my mind a sort of tangent, by contrast – Eliot’s imagination in ‘Journey of the Magi’ about how lastingly, weightily one of them has retained his experience. (And, perhaps Eliot’s ‘Animula’ provides for a more direct experience to compare with Susan’s.)
Not pausing to reread later relevant posts and comments, memories of attention by others to Prince Caspian among the Chronicles makes me want to reread it, to see how much it may prepare the young reader for the later Susan.
I’ve actually not read Eliot’s Magi, but O’Henry is an annual tradition here.
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Hard to believe it’s already been half-a-year since this post went up – it feels much more recent! Roger Pearce’s attention a couple days ago to Frederick Adam Wright (1869-1946) as translator of St. Jerome while at Birkbeck College, University of London, left me wondering who may be included among his students, and what interconnections there may have been with Inklings and their contemporaries and colleagues, and generally fired up for learning more about him. Turning to the Internet Archive led me to scans of various works, including Feminism in Greek Literature from Homer to Aristotle (1923) – ! (of which I have so far only read the interesting introduction):
https://archive.org/details/feminismingreekl00wriguoft/page/n5
A quick Wikipedia check of the history of Birkbeck tells me “In 1921, the college’s first female professor, Dame Helen Gwynne-Vaughan, began teaching botany” – two years before that book of his appeared. (Alas, no more about F.A. Wright, though).
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Last Night / Noise Pop 2011 Noise Pop 2011: Dan Deacon Incites Mass Interpretive Dance, Brings Francis Ford Coppola to the Independent
Posted By Mike Orme on Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 8:14 AM
Dan Deacon and friends at the Indy last night
Ed Schrader's Music Beat
@ The Independent
Better than: Self-inducing an acute epileptic seizure.
Baltimore's Dan Deacon has a knack for putting together electronic things, and for blowing apart peoples' minds. It's difficult to listen to Deacon's breakthrough 2007 record Spiderman of the Rings without getting caught up in its kaleidoscope of euphoric and vertigo-inducing sound oscillators, drum machines, and vocal modulations. On record, Deacon sounds like twenty people (and three specific musical chipmunks) all trying to play laptop pop at the same time. It's all really busy, but when his crazy ideas work, those twenty people and three rodents sound like they're immersed in the greatest little jam ever.
Live, however, Deacon's the 21st century equivalent of Dick Van Dyke's one-man band in Mary Poppins.
Installing his effects rig, which looks more like an electrician's workbench, smack dab in the middle of the crowd, Deacon recreates his studio sounds all by himself, performing amidst the near constant threat of being overrun by his fans. Few beyond Deacon and conceptual cousin Girl Talk are brave enough to perform in the crowd: if I were him (which I'm not), I would live in constant fear of some drunk kid throwing up on my (his) vintage Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt.
The king of Baltimore DIY even lets his subjects take the throne: for his show at the Independent last night, in the first of what will be many nights of Noise Pop revelry, security let audience members go up onstage to catch the show from a higher vantage. Deacon's sense of the relationship between performer and audience might seem a little po-mo, but he and the crowd looked like they had an enormous amount of fun last night.
First came calisthenics: Deacon issued directives to the audience to perform left arm stretches, delivered with the enthusiasm of Richard Simmons. Actually, before that came an audience-interactive sound-check, capped by an impromptu dance with the crowd to Simon & Garfunkel's "Cecilia." "I call bullshit," said Deacon of the song's lyrics. "There's no way all that happened."
Two or three songs into the set, Deacon brought up the lights, got the crowd to form a circle, and soundtracked a dance-off. ("Rule number one: sassy as fuck. Rule number two: you pick the next competitor. Rule number three: right side of the room dances like Jurassic Park, other side dances like what you wished Avatar would be like.") He brought the crowd into the performance about every other song: an interpretive dance to "Of the Mountains" from 2009's Bromst, led by Deacon's lighting tech; introspective neighbor head-touching to start "Snookered"; a human dance gauntlet running out the venue's back door and back in its front entrance. Deacon's antics inspired nearly the entire throng to boogie around, touch one's neighbors, and willfully shuffle around the crowded floor for over an hour.
Deacon's music is, for good reason, an acquired taste. Between his arpeggiated synth loops, the grating oscillator noises, and the chipmunk choruses, it's really easy to lose one's way in the bog of sound. His show really did fall in the swamp at Coachella in 2008, when the venue's chaotic outdoor acoustics essentially rendered his set unlistenable. But despite having not played a show in almost four months, Deacon looked sharp Monday and held his set together through sporadic technical glitches and equipment swaps.
Good thing too, because it appears that Deacon had to put on a little show for his new bosses. Deacon's been tapped by Francis Ford Coppola to score his next film, Twixt Now and Sunrise, starring Val Kilmer. SF Weekly (i.e., me) actually glimpsed Mr. Kilmer at a café in Union Square on Monday. Upon reading Pitchfork's take on the matter, rumors abounded (perpetuated entirely by me) that Kilmer might show up for the Indy show. Indeed, a section on the balcony ended up being reserved, but apparently went to Coppola's production company American Zoetrope, which has been putting up Deacon in a guest house with Kilmer all week (according to Deacon). We're about 95 percent sure that the bearded fellow sitting in the corner of that reserved area early in the show was in fact none other than Mr. Coppola himself, in attendance just long enough to get a feel for Deacon's performance before heading out early. (Update: We've heard from several sources that, yes, it was indeed Coppola in the audience last night.)
It's too bad the oenophilic filmmaker didn't stay for the whole gig, because Deacon put on an electrifying show surpassing even his own high standards. The set got a usually reserved San Francisco crowd to collectively lose its shit to a bunch of little soundboxes Deacon probably built in his garage, and some audience participation gags that a fourth-grader could (and probably would) write. And I'm sure Dan didn't fault Coppola for the early exit. After all, as Mr. Deacon is just now finding out, making movies is hard work.
Critic's Notebook
Openers: Have you heard the one about how shitty parking is around Alamo Square? I have, which means I didn't get to hear Altars. The first band I caught was Oona, which combined what sounded like 1930s flappers, New Wave, and the awkward stage antics of its eponymous singer, Oona Garthwaite. Ed Schrader's Music Beat fared better: an off the wall two-piece with a literal drum and bass, with Schrader flailing on a floor tom speak-singing, while his compatriot rumbled out fuzzy bass chords. Obviously having a lot of fun, the pair also somehow evoked shadows of long retired post-punk and no wave pioneers of the past. Plus, the Baltimore-based Schrader is a Giants fan (or at least claims to be).
Renovations: The Independent has made some really nice changes since I last visited the venue. Restrooms have been gender-reversed (so now I'm that much closer to the men's room) and redone real classy--the piss trough in the men's room is no more. There's a good bit of woodwork in the main space that's new to me, and the club has installed some really cool red and white light fixtures that fade in and out in a pretty progression. Nice job, Indy!
Missed the set?: Don't worry! You can catch Dan Deacon and his similarly DIY opener Ed Schrader at the Rickshaw Stop tonight (Wednesday Feb. 23). Good luck finding a ticket, ye hardy souls.
Closing remarks: Deacon can't very well leave his effects table to the whims of the mob for even a few seconds, so an encore is pretty much out of the question unless he really tries to move his ever so slightly corpulent ass quickly off and back onto the dancefloor. Although Deacon didn't do an encore, he saved the best for last and brought out the magical "Crystal Cat"/"Wham City" one-two punch -- tracks two and three from Spiderman and inarguably Deacon's best-known works to date.
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Tags: Dan Deacon, Noise Pop 2011, Oona, The Independent, Image
Mike Orme
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The Body holds the innate intelligence of our Being...
Andi D. RMT - is a caring, compassionate and intuitive Body Therapist - specializing in Cranial Sacral Therapy, Meditation and Mindfulness Training. She has been in practice since 1993 and is a standing member with the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario.
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What is Cranial Sacral Therapy
Craniosacral Therapy is a light touch modality, that can create dramatic improvements in your life. It releases tension deep in the body to relieve pain and disfunction and improve whole body health and performance. Few body structures have more influence over your health and well-being than your central nervous system and few body systems have more impact on your central nervous system then the craniosacral system
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Every day your body endures stresses and strains that it must work to compensate for. These changes often cause body tissues to tighten and distort. These distortions can then cause tension to form around the brain and spinal cord resulting in restrictions any where in the body. By releasing the tensions of the tissues we can reduce the effect of trauma and strain
The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless fluid that is produced in the ventricles of the brain and acts as a cushion or barrier for the brain and spinal chord. The fluid performs like a hydraulic system, bringing nutrients into the system, while removing waste and debris. CranialSacral Therapy works very closely with the CSF, by assessing it's flow through inter-cranial membranes, releasing adhesions and congestion, and thereby improving the environment of the brain and CNS.
Fascial is a network of thin water filled layers of connective tissue. It joins our head to our feet and everything in-between much like a spiders web. It is said that it holds consciousness. In addition to the dura matter which surrounds the brain and spinal cord, fascia is imperative to release for full body recovery.
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Posted on January 11, 2014 March 11, 2015 by Santulan
5 off-beat Bollywood movies to get you started
Movies are an integral part of India. Be it the popular Bollywood which makes mostly Hindi movies, or the other regional –woods like Tollywood (Bengali), Kollywood (Tamil), Mollywood (Malayalam) and so on which makes movies in regional languages, cinema touches many people. The movies made can be split broadly into two categories: mainstream cinema and off-beat cinema. Mainstream movies are your run of the mill Bollywood movies. They either use well established or upcoming stars, are easy going on the story line (possibly with a bunch of plot holes), and have song-dance routines. Typically these are happily ever after movies, and are meant for enjoyment with friends and family as a welcome break from the drudgery of life. Their main motive is to reach out the most to the average movie goer and make as much money as possible. Off-beat movies are also called parallel cinema or art movies. These are not your average light hearted movies. Most of them involve shunning of the song and dance routines, which makes it difficult for everyone to watch. The movies are thought provoking, and dark. Some may make you laugh, but will utilize dark-comedy or satire to do so. Typically they deal with realism, or the morals and motivations of the characters. Off-beat movies generally don’t perform that well financially. It is easy for most mainstream movies to make millions for their makers and have wide viewership. Off-beat movies on the other hand are critically acclaimed and well made, but do not gather in as much revenue. These are generally viewed as a means to showcase talent, or experiment. That doesn’t mean however that they must be taken lightly. Some of the most interesting and thoughtful movies have been off-beat movies. Since people need to develop a taste for such movies, sometimes off-beat movies are made with a touch of mainstream masala. This may be in the form of having famous and popular actors, addition of songs that go with the plot (and do not have uncalled group dance sequences), or some sweetening of the story line. I would like to share 5 such movies with you that I believe are a must watch to develop a taste for more serious off-beat movies. Dev D: This is a modern adaptation of the old Bengali novel Devdas by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay. The novel has been famously adapted into movies with Ashok Kumar and Shahrukh Khan as the titular character. Devdas and Paro are childhood friends, and develop romantic feelings for each other after Devdas leaves his village for schooling. When he comes back, he is not allowed to marry Paro as she is from a family of lower status. While Paro moves on, Devdas drowns himself in alcohol at the court of Chandramukhi, with the help of his friend Chunni. Soon she develops feelings for him, but Devdas does not return them. The alcoholism takes a toll on him and he visits Paro one last time before he dies.
This modern adaptation is quite different. Paro (Mahie Gill) is much more confident and bold unlike the soft spoken versions before. She can match Dev (Abhay Deol) in his passion and wants him physically just as much as he does. While the parents approve of his match with Paro, a misunderstanding causes the jealous Dev to not marry her. Paro harbours no more feelings for him and moves on. Chandramukhi (Kalki Koechlin) on the other hand is a teen, who has to shift as her boyfriend makes an MMS of her performing oral sex on him. When this becomes public, her family first leaves the country. After her dad’s suicide, she comes to back to the country and lives with his family in the village. Unable to come to terms with culture shock and misogyny, she runs back to the city where she becomes a prostitute under Chunni. Dev meets Chunni over drinks and drugs, and begins to spend time with Chandramukhi. What is wonderful to see is how both the women are strong willed and ready to take control of their lives, and how Dev is brought back on his feet by them. The movie has a wonderful soundtrack by Amit Trivedi which complements the psychedelic take on the novel. Aks:
Aks is the story of Manu Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) and Raghavan (Manoj Bajpayee). Manu Verma is a cop who is given the job to protect the Indian Defence Minister on a foreign trip. Raghavan is a skilled (albeit psychopathic) assassin who manages to kill the minister. Manu and his partner team up to catch Raghavan at the cost of his partner’s life. There is a fight in the jail when Raghavan is sentenced to death, and the two end up shooting each other. While Raghavan is presumed death, his soul latches on to Manu and tries to take control over his body. The movie is about this fight of the two souls in a body, and how Manu has to now save his family and his world from the evil spirit within him. The movie features wonderful performances by both the actors. No Smoking:
Directed by Anurag Kashyap, it is one the lesser known movies that utilize a fantasy dream world. The movie is the story of Kay (John Abraham) who not only is a chain smoker, but a narcissist. His wife (Ayesha Takia) cannot deal with it anymore and threatens to leave him unless he quits smoking. Left with no option he is lead to a rehab centre called the Prayogshala (Laboratory in Hindi) by his old friend Abbas (Ranveer Shorey) who started to smoke with him in the first place. He signs a contract with Shri Shri Shri Prakash Guru Ghantal Baba Bangali Sealdah Wale (Paresh Rawal) so that he would do ANYTHING asked to quit smoking. He is blackmailed into threats that for each time he smokes a worse punishment will dealt onto him. This includes from hearing loss, making his brother with a sick lung to breathe in a gas chamber full of cigarette smoke, cutting of fingers and killing of his wife. One he realizes that the Guru’s disciples have infiltrated his life to ensure that, he has to come up with a plan to escape them. The movie uses fantasy lucid dreams, the concept of karma and souls as well. Delhi Belly:
An air hostess (Shenaz Treasurywala) agrees to make a delivery for her colleague’s friend as her friend is unwell. She gives the package to her boyfriend (Imraan Khan) and his debt-ridden roommates (Vir Das and Kunaal Roy Kapur). The package contains smuggled diamonds which are to be delivered to a local gangster, but is mixed up with a stool sample when one of the roommates gets diarrhoea after some street food. Hence the name Delhi Belly. Taking this as insult, the gangster kidnaps the air hostess. The film is about the hilarity that ensures as they sell off the diamonds and try to rescue the girl. This is a relatively short film that features no intermissions. The movie contains generous use of Hindi curse words, and potty humor. The movie is made by newcomers Abhinay Deo, Akshat Verma. It is one of the few Bollywood movies to have most of its dialogue in English, with generous Hindi curse words thrown in. Gangs of Wasseypur:
Gangs of Wasseypur was shot as one movie which was 319 minutes long. Since it would be difficult to release a movie over 5 hours long, it was split in to 2. The movie is set in the Wasseypur and Dhanbad cities in the Bihar state. Sardar Khan’s (Manoj Bajpayee) father was killed by Ramadhir Singh (Tigmanshu Dhulia) who is a coal magnate and politician. Khan swears vengeance upon Singh, and promises to not kill him but make his life miserable. While he becomes a gangster in his own right, he is not able to fully deal in and gets the shot to death. After his and his older brother’s deaths, and spurred on by his mother (Richa Chaddha) the youngest heir ( Nawazuddin Siddiqui ) takes on the family business as he tries to exact the vengeance his father couldn’t. The movie is more just than the vengeance over dead family members, but deals with the politics of the region and how people come together or fall apart. The movie has generous use of the local regional language, and curse words. The soundtrack shuffles from rustic songs, old family songs, and some eclectic dance numbers. This one is a must –watch film that cover over 30 years of story. This post is a part of the Miss Lovely Activity in association with BlogAdda. Miss Lovely, an off-beat film directed by Ashim Ahluwalia is set in the lower depths of Bombay’s “C” grade film industry. It follows the devastating story of two brothers who produce sex horror films in the mid – 1980s. A sordid tale of betrayal and doomed love, the film dives into the lower depths of the Bollywood underground, an audacious cinema with baroque cinemascope compositions, lurid art direction, wild background soundtracks, and gut-wrenching melodrama. Miss Lovely is scheduled for commercial release on 17 January 2014. You can check the trailer of the film
Posted in Blog Challenge, Movie Reviews, ReviewsTagged BlogAdda, bollywood, india, movies, offbeat, prompt
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20 thoughts on “5 off-beat Bollywood movies to get you started”
hitchy says:
Nice list… off late some very interesting movies are being made!
Have you seen Shahid? Black Friday? B.A. Pass?
If you have not? get them straight away!
Santulan says:
I have seen Black Friday and B A Pass. I couldn’t see Shahid though 😦 Waiting for DVD
torrent is super clean
“Typically these are happily ever after movies, and are meant for enjoyment with friends and family as a welcome break from the drudgery of life”
Are you kidding? With those gyrating hips and busts thrust in your face and some with mandatory molestation/rape of hero’s sister by villain sort of scenes many are not ‘watch with family’ sort of films. But then how many Indians are concerned about their children growing up on such a diet? 😛
But recently I have seen some good movies, light-hearted and off-beat stories, though mainstream cinema.
Enjoyed reading your post. 🙂
Well, many people seek enjoyment in *such* movies
No debate on that. But can they be termed ‘meant to be enjoyed with family’? 😛 Anyway chod do. You didn’t seem to notice the tongue-in-cheek! 😉
*happens a lot these days* *sad face*
craftyshines says:
Lice list, Santulan. I wait with eyes peeled for a nice movie, parallel cinema or otherwise.
I haven’t seen No Smoking, guess will catch a DVD.
Will always be crazy about Dev D. It’s beyond expectations.
Do watch The Lunch Box and Stanley Ka Dabba, if you haven’t already. (Yeah, I guess food is my thing!) 😛
Lunchbox is a wonderful thing.. I have trouble classifying it as a bollywood film.
Fooooood.. is fun 😀
Haha! Going by your Gravatar, I am sure I have company!
Rainbow Hues says:
Lovely list… seen all of these but somehow mine turned out differently. Have you checked those.
Yeah! Just read in the morning 😀
Arvind Passey (@arvindpassey) says:
More than the list, I liked the reasons you gave for their inclusion in your list… though I’m sure your list is actually much longer than just 5. Haven’t watched ‘No Smoking’ yet… but there are too many people who have added this one in their list… so, I guess I need to get it’s DVD.
Arvind Passey
http://www.passey.info
Afshan Shaik says:
Interesting list
how ever I never watched No smoking . Must plan it some day
GOW is an all time favourite
The Girl in Blue Jeans says:
Love Dev D and Delhi Belly!
For all my claims of being a Bollywood buff, I haven’t seen GoW 😦 By the way, on the not-so-offbeat-but-still-offbeat list, I would add Vishal Bharadwaj’s Omkara, Maqbool, and even Kaminey!
Fab list of films.. I’m waiting to watch Lunch Box as well..
Dev-D and Delhi Belly were brilliant.
Miss Lovely looks interesting.. did you watch it or yet to?
Nice list..I must say. Have seen all of those.
Best of luck for the competition.
so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or two images.
ชาทีมิกซ์ says:
Very rapidly this web site will be famous amid all blogging and site-building
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Yosuke Saruta pledges to bring ONE strawweight title back to Japan
By: James Goyder | January 15, 2019 9:58 am
Yosuke Saruta has always been an athlete. As a child the Japanese strawweight saw himself competing in the English Premier League, the World Series or maybe even the Olympics but instead he has forged a very successful career in mixed martial arts.
The 31 year old challenges Joshua Pacio for the strawweight title at ONE: ‘Eternal Glory’ on Saturday. He has the opportunity to reach the pinnacle of the sport and fulfill a lifelong ambition,
“I was very active and loved sports (like) football, baseball and gymnastics. I wanted to be an Olympic athlete, The goal was to be the best in the world at some sport.”
For Saruta the road to a ONE Championship title shot has been rough. He’s won eight of his last nine fights but the sole defeat during that period came when his right eyelid was ripped open by a spinning back kick in a freak accident.
Serious setbacks
He’s no stranger to injury and has suffered more ups and downs than the average footballer, baseballer or gymnast,
“From training and bouts, I have had some major injuries. I have dislocated my elbow, broken my hands, broken my nose and eye, and I had to do a lot of rehabilitation.”
However he is now fully fit and believes these setbacks only served to make him stronger,
“I learned to never quit, and about the importance and support of my coaches, training partners, and family. I strengthened my physical abilities, and this has become my strongest point.”
Saruta benefitted from another fighter’s misfortune with injury recently. He was only offered a shot at reigning strawweight champion Pacio in Jakarta this Saturday after original challenger Hayato Suzuki pulled out.
As the old adage goes ‘you make your own luck’ and, coming off a decision win against former champion Alex Silva, Saruta simply found himself in the right place at the right time.
He has already won the Shooto strawweight title but has never had a fight of this magnitude,
“I do not consider myself a success yet. This is the biggest chance of my life,” he says.
Slow start
Saruta actually lost his first two bouts. He bounced back to win his next two but eight years ago the Kawaguchi City native was the owner of an uninspiring 2-3-1 professional record, the type of tally which would make some fighters question their career choices.
Not Saruta though. Instead he went on to win is next five fights, earning a bantamweight title shot with Shooto,
“I hate to lose, and I believed that if I continued, then I would become a champion,” he said.
He went the full five rounds with Ryuichi Miki twice, drawing one and losing the other. Saruta didn’t capture the Shooto title in either of his first two attempts, but he had well and truly made the transition from journeyman opponent to elite contender.
Championship experience
Saruta believes this experience of going the distance in a five rounder should serve him well ahead of this Saturday’s title shot,
“I have the stamina to go all five rounds, and a strong will,” he said.
The ONE strawweight title has been changing hands frequently. With every fight a new champion is crowned and Saruta’s compatriot Yoshitaka Naito won the belt, then lost it, then won it, then lost it again.
Silva, who Saruta beat last time out, held the title as recently as last year. The Japanese fighter might have earned his shot in an unconventional manner, but he’s absolutely determined to make the most of it,
“I will dominate him in every situation and (win) by KO. I’m going to bring the ONE strawweight title back to Japan.”
Korean bantamweight Jin Soo Son released by the UFC
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You are here: Home / Deployment / 5 Ways this Army Mom Copes with Deployment
5 Ways this Army Mom Copes with Deployment
December 5, 2017 By Army
Coping with your child’s military deployment can be challenging. I connected with Keiko and loved the 5 ways that she is staying grounded and balanced during her son’s deployment. Here are her tips!
It feels like yesterday that our son told he wanted to join the Army. That was 8 years ago. It’s been a quite a journey since.
Honestly, I didn’t want him to join the military, especially since our country was still actively fighting in the Middle East. He is my son, he is my baby, and my own selfishness wanted to keep him home.
I slowly realized that it’s his life after all and wanted him to be happy and feel fulfilled. I kept it cool outside, but inside there was this inner turmoil. My leveled headed husband said to me “It’s okay. He’ll be fine. There is danger in everything in life. Not only the physical, but the emotional regrets of not following a passion. It’s what he wants to do.”
I was thinking “Sure, true. But no guarantee that he will be safe.”
The fact of matter is that there is no guarantee no matter what he does in life. So I took a deep breath and told myself to trust this process and support his goals and dreams.
Eight years later, we heard the dreaded word that we had been praying that we wouldn’t hear, “Deployment,” A.K.A. , the ”D” word. Our son told us during a routine video chat and I could feel he delivered the news as lightly and gently as he could.
In that instant, I felt my mind spinning a mile a minute and my heart sunk. The instinctive word “ Oh No!” was right at the tip of my tongue. But then something stopped me and even to my surprise, these words came out instead “ Oh, wow, what an opportunity that will be!”
My husband chimed in saying “ Hey, go see the world, you’ll have great stories to tell your kids and theirs as well!”
In that instant, I made a conscious decision to stay positive and optimistic no matter what, and to keep myself very busy. I also made a decision to select carefully whom I would share my feelings and comments with.
People mean well but often do not know what to say. I don’t mean to be funny, but it wouldn’t hurt to avoid “downers.” Life is all about the perspective for most part. “The half full glass“ mantra should be the anchor to all the parents and spouses of deployed soldiers.
Tips to Stay Positive and Calm During Deployments
Here are five of my methods that are helping me tremendously to cope as I wait for my son to come home.
Five to ten minutes of meditation every day. Staying grounded is very important and a short guided meditation helps to achieve that. I particularly like a “gratitude” themed meditation.
Stay physically active! In month one of my son’s deployment, I joined a local gym. I set reachable goals that I’m sticking to. I like fun group exercises, because they allow me to be social as well. Being cooped up in a house is probably the worst thing to do.
Find a support group. For me, finding the Facebook support Page , Army Mom Strong was truly a gift from the universe. I say this as I truly believe in the Universal Laws of Attraction. I stumbled upon the Army Mom Strong Facebook Page and website on the same day that had I pledged to stay positive and optimistic. I love this community because we are all there purely to support each other. Be mindful, however when you are selecting a support group. Stay away from pages with political agendas and hateful comments. Let’s all remember this is not about US, it’s all about our SOLDIERS.
Keep our conversations with our soldiers precious. Keep your drama and overly “concerned” thoughts at bay. This doesn’t mean that we only tell them what they want to hear and life at home is all unicorns and rainbows. Keep it real, light and supportive. We have NO idea what’s like to be out there for them, and there is no need to add any burden.
Stay connected with them via social media (if available), free phone chat apps, and make a list of all the care packages that you will be sending them.
I sincerely hope that my tips for coping during deployment help other parents and spouses. Everyone is so different but we all have the common goals of making our loved ones feel supported while they are away.
I just simply chose to have a faith, stay grounded and grateful. My wish is for all of our solders to stay protected and return home safely.
Keiko Broyles
Staying Connected to your Soldier with the Sandboxx App
Filed Under: Deployment Tagged With: Coping with Deployment
Kris Nelson says
Great article! Good suggestions! Army Mom Strong helped me as well!
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County Board Issues
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“Smart Growth” and Rosslyn Station at Rush Hour
It seems Arlington County is obsessed with development. Having approved plans to increase the density of Crystal City by 50 percent, construct a 600,000 sq. foot high rise on the EFC Park and Ride lot and redevelop Columbia Pike at triple density, County Board will soon approve plans to construct a 532 unit apartment complex on Wilson Blvd. between Kansas and Lincoln Streets in Ballston (Virginia Square Towers) and a new six story headquarters for Boeing in North Crystal City (Monument View). Also on the drawing boards are plans to construct a 22 story office tower (Penn Square) behind Costco’s in Pentagon City. County Board touts these projects as proof of its commitment to “Smart Growth,” i.e. dense development along transit corridors. (more…)
October 14, 2011 / In Development / By Audrey / 2 Comments
Recycling On Columbia Pike
Most people think that recycling promotes the common good. But it could mean losing your apartment or condo to an upscale developer. According to the recently released “Columbia Pike Land Use & Housing Study Preliminary Analysis Report,” drafted by Dover, Kohl & Partners, that’s what’s happening on Columbia Pike right now. Commissioned by the County to determine the feasibility of undertaking residential redevelopment of the Pike, Dover, Kohl candidly reports that of about 1000 new apartments constructed on the Pike since 2009 all are “high-end luxury units with no committed affordable housing.” p. 1.17. Rents on renovated units shot up–even doubled–and tenants have been evicted to make way for “repositioned”, i.e. upscale apartments. This is just the beginning. (more…)
June 21, 2011 / In Development / By Audrey / Comments Off on Recycling On Columbia Pike
Arlington Recycles?
I recently investigated Arlington County Board’s claim that “Arlington is dedicated to advancing environmental sustainability”. I sent an FOIA request to Michael Clem, of the county’s Environmental Management Office, asking for the county’s recycling rate. Clem reported a 39.9% recycling rate for 2010. This compares with a statewide recycling rate of 38.6% for 2009. So Arlington’s recycling rate is approximately the same as the rest of the state and a far cry from Falls Church, which recycles 57.6% of its waste. This is troubling not only because it belies Arlington’s claims of sustainability, but because Virginia itself lags behind the rest of the nation in recycling and recycling infrastructure. In fact a Virginia Beach recycling specialist told me in 2008 that outside Virginia Beach there are no comprehensive recycling facilities in the state, and Northern VA trucks its recyclables to Maryland for processing. (more…)
May 19, 2011 / In Environment / By Audrey / 3 Comments
Artisphere Is A Black Hole
Arlington Green Party chairman John Reeder was taken to task in the Sun Gazette for his LTE criticizing the Artisphere as a white elephant project and recommending that the county shut it down. Reeder wrote back:
I neglected to mention that on top of this $800,000 loss is the expected $800,000 loss that the county government had already anticipated and budgeted. In other words, the Artisphere is now running a $1.6 million loss so far this operating year.
I appreciate the arts, but I appreciate learning and reading at our public libraries as well, and value homeless people having a roof over their heads and a daily hotmeal. I suggest that the county government could transfer park employees and maintenance funds now used at the Artisphere to repair and operate a closed and widely attended summer performing arts venue in Arlington—the Lubber Run Amphitheater.
May 2, 2011 / In Development / By Audrey / 14 Comments
Arlington Green Concerned About Community Energy Plan
Arlington Green Steve Davis raised concerns about the viability of the county’s proposed Community Energy Plan (CEP) at the April 26 County Board Meeting. Speaking on behalf of the Arlington Green Party, which was a liaison to the Community Energy and Sustainability (CES) Task Force, Steve Davis said he agrees with the plan’s recommendations. But he doesn’t think it goes far enough. He’s also concerned that one of its core recommendations, a district energy company that would use cogeneration of heat and power (CHP) to reduce the carbon footprint of densely populated neighborhoods like Rosslyn, Ballston and Crystal City, might require state legislative approval. (more…)
April 27, 2011 / In Energy / By Audrey / 8 Comments
What’s So Smart About East Falls Church Area Plan?
On April 16 County Board voted to adopt the East Falls Church (EFC) Area Plan, touting it as the climax of a five year planning effort with lots of community input. Stewart Schwartz of the Coalition for Smarter Growth submitted remarks endorsing the plan, which entails 600,000 square feet of mixed used development, including replacement of the VDOT owned Metro parking facility at EFC with ground floor retail and up to eight stories of apartment/condo development. Mike Nardolilli, president of the EFC Civic Association, said that key features of the plan were all approved by EFC residents in a 2005 survey. But EFC resident John Shumate and others who testified challenged that claim. See Shumate’s website. Shumate said that only 7 percent of those surveyed bothered to respond and that Nardolilli systematically ignored or tried to silence civic association members critical of the plan. He claimed that the ultimate insult was Nardolilli’s acquiesence to 600,000 s.f. of development after pledging to set the limit at 450,000 s.f. (more…)
April 18, 2011 / In Development / By Audrey / Leave a comment
County Board Echoes Fudged Numbers
At its April 16 meeting, Arlington County Board voted unanimously to adopt a budget for FY12 that includes no real estate tax increase and very limited restoration of library and public safety cuts enacted in 2009 and 2010. In doing so County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman repeated the carnard that county residents pay lower real estate taxes than other Northern Va. jurisdictions.
Unfortunately Zimmerman is wrong. (more…)
April 18, 2011 / In Budget / By Audrey / Leave a comment
Fudging the Numbers
Arlington County Board is trumpeting the fact that its FY12 budget contains NO real estate tax increase. So what’s there to complain about? Well for one thing, the current tax rate is high. In fact at $4,821, the average Arlington household’s real estate tax burden is higher than any other Northern Virginia jurisdiction, including Fairfax County, City of Fairfax, City of Alexandria, Prince William County and Loudoun County. This may come as news to anyone who read the Revenue Summary and Detail report on the county’s FY12 budget website. A chart on page 43 shows Arlington with a lower tax and fee burden than all nearby jurisdictions except the City of Fairfax.
These numbers are wrong. (more…)
What To Do About Artisphere
Arlington County’s budget reflects its main priority, which is to promote economic growth by satisficing developers at the expense of basic needs. There’s nothing inherently wrong with economic growth or developers for that matter, but there are limits to growth. Nowhere are those limits more in evidence than Artisphere, a widely touted but poorly attended cultural arts center in Rosslyn that is currently running a $800,000 deficit. (more…)
April 12, 2011 / In Development / By Audrey / 2 Comments
Independent action is the way
Audrey Clement, Ph.D.
Paid for by Committee to Elect Audrey Clement
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Konami: In the Name of Petty Revenge
by: Sonny Go
Editorials, Video Games | 05 December 2015
So a travesty occurred in this year’s Video Game Awards (I think the event is a sham, but it does its good anyway), wherein Geoff Keighley mentioned that Hideo Kojima was banned from attending to receive an award for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Keifer Sutherland received the award instead, which is definitely an indication that Konami is still adamant about keeping Kojima away from his creation.
I do think it’s in the name of petty revenge; I don’t know if Kojima could have committed a mortal sin that could have him deserve having his baby taken away from him. Previously, I wrote about Konami’s scorched earth policy in recent years and my hypothesis that Yakuza are behind it all. I don’t think that’s a conspiracy; it’s more or less an open secret. I felt strongly about it when I first wrote it, and I still do now.
Then again, it’s more out of purging zeal to out of the video game industry. That’s no hypothesis since they’ve been dumping their properties on the wayside over the years, with Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid being the latest casualties. The company can do what it wants to its own property, but burning bridges and invalidating careers along the way is going much too far just for some business directive.
Too much has already been said about Konami and its recent displays of blatant disregard for its legacy. If it really is company policy to screw your best employees over after their usefulness has been spent, then all fans of these old Konami franchises can do is watch in morbid fascination as the company scuttles itself. It’s pretty much being consumed from within at this point, and it won’t matter how much damage control they’re doing since they’re so bad at it anyway.
These old men have no regard for emotion and sentiment, which something I usually begrudgingly commend but won’t in this case. Yes, it’s for the sake of doing better, but it’s done through erasing its history, and that’s betraying its customer base. As dynamic of a business move it may seem to be, and perhaps shareholders will be happier with these decisions later on, but how could turning your back on what gave you your reputation be a good long-term move?
Also, they’re banking on pachinko (and maybe even water industries). How could it not have Yakuza behind it all when they’re investing so much on those types of businesses? But then again, that’s their business and we can’t really do anything about it but grumble loudly and speculate on what could have been if they didn’t go ape shit. At this point, let’s leave it at that—they’ve gone absolutely bonkers, and you can’t just coax it to get sane again.
But this latest gaffe of theirs is stepping over a line most other big companies dare not cross. It’s one thing to give a longtime employee the cold shoulder after relationships turn sour, but denying them their labor—the very thing that made your company great—in such a fashion is not only sad, but rightfully infuriating. But of course, you can do whatever you want since you hold the copyrights to that property, but taking such a body of work away from its creator is beyond disgraceful.
It’s abhorrent, a transgression deserving of a dressing down and forced exile. No, I’m not exaggerating. (They haven’t done anything that’s deserving of seppuku yet, but they might at this rate.)
These are most likely my final words on this blog regarding Konami. I wish to not speak further on the subject unless it involves confirmation of my Yakuza theory. These are sour grapes that will never turn into wine, but just rot that will slowly but surely fade into the aether.
The only trace of Konami that will remain is in the phrase “Konami code.” Future generations will have to research the etymology of that phrase for they will never grow up knowing the joy of playing a Konami game.
Tags: Hideo Kojima, Konami
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LEGAL: SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS
This is an outdated version of this SLA. Click here to view the current version of this SLA.
SLA for Virtual Machines
Last updated: November 2016
For all Virtual Machines that have two or more instances deployed in the same Availability Set, we guarantee you will have Virtual Machine Connectivity to at least one instance at least 99.95% of the time.
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This Service Level Agreement for Microsoft Online Services (this “SLA”) is a part of your Microsoft volume licensing agreement (the “Agreement”). Capitalized terms used but not defined in this SLA will have the meaning assigned to them in the Agreement. This SLA applies to the Microsoft Online Services listed herein (a “Service” or the “Services”), but does not apply to separately branded services made available with or connected to the Services or to any on-premises software that is part of any Service.
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This SLA and any applicable Service Levels do not apply to any performance or availability issues:
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That result from faulty input, instructions, or arguments (for example, requests to access files that do not exist);
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Due to your use of Service features that are outside of associated Support Windows; or
For licenses reserved, but not paid for, at the time of the Incident.
Services purchased through Open, Open Value, and Open Value Subscription volume licensing agreements, and Services in an Office 365 Small Business Premium suite purchased in the form of a product key are not eligible for Service Credits based on service fees. For these Services, any Service Credit that you may be eligible for will be credited in the form of service time (i.e., days) as opposed to service fees, and any references to “Applicable Monthly Service Fees” is deleted and replaced by “Applicable Monthly Period.”
SLA details
"Announced Single Instance Maintenance" means periods of Downtime related to network, hardware, or Service maintenance or upgrades impacting Single Instances. We will publish notice or notify you at least five (5) days prior to the commencement of such Downtime.
"Availability Set" refers to two or more Virtual Machines deployed across different Fault Domains to avoid a single point of failure.
"Fault Domain" is a collection of servers that share common resources such as power and network connectivity.
"Single Instance" is defined as any single Microsoft Azure Virtual Machine that either is not deployed in an Availability Set or has only one instance deployed in an Availability Set.
"Virtual Machine" refers to persistent instance types that can be deployed individually or as part of an Availability Set.
"Virtual Machine Connectivity" is bi-directional network traffic between the virtual machine and other IP addresses using TCP or UDP network protocols in which the virtual machine is configured for allowed traffic. The IP addresses can be IP addresses in the same Cloud Service as the virtual machine, IP addresses within the same virtual network as the virtual machine or public, routable IP addresses.
Monthly Uptime Calculation and Service Levels for Virtual Machines
"Minutes in the Month" is the total accumulated minutes during a billing month for all Internet facing Virtual Machines that have two or more instances deployed in the same Availability Set. Maximum Available Minutes is measured from when at least two Virtual Machines in the same Availability Set have both been started resultant from action initiated by Customer to the time Customer has initiated an action that would result in stopping or deleting the Virtual Machines.
"Downtime" is the total accumulated minutes that are part of Maximum Available Minutes that have no Virtual Machine Connectivity.
"Monthly Uptime Percentage" for Virtual Machines is calculated as Maximum Available Minutes less Downtime divided by Maximum Available Minutes in a billing month for a given Microsoft Azure subscription. Monthly Uptime Percentage is represented by the following formula:
Monthly Uptime % = (Maximum Available Minutes-Downtime) / Maximum Available Minutes
The following Service Levels and Service Credits are applicable to Customer’s use of Virtual Machines:
Monthly Uptime Percentage
Service Credit
< 99.95% 10%
< 99% 25%
Monthly Uptime Calculation and Service Levels for Single-Instance Virtual Machines
"Minutes in the Month" is the total number of minutes in a given month.
"Downtime" is the total accumulated minutes that are part of Minutes in the Month that have no Virtual Machine Connectivity. Downtime excludes Announced Single Instance Maintenance.
"Monthly Uptime Percentage" is calculated by subtracting from 100% the percentage of Minutes in the Month in which any Single Instance Virtual Machine using premium storage for all disks had Downtime.
Monthly Uptime % = 100% - (Minutes in the Month - Downtime) / Minutes in the Month
The following Service Levels and Service Credits are applicable to Customer’s use of Single-Instance Virtual Machines:
< 99.9% 10%
1.9 Last updated: January 2020
Release notes: Addition of Azure Dedicated Host (ADH) guarantee
1.8 Last updated: March 2018
Release notes: Added SLA for Virtual Machines deployed across two or more Availability Zones.
Release notes: Removed exclusion for downtime related to Single-Instance Virtual Machines maintenance
1.6 Last updated: April 2017
Release notes: Added ‘X 100’ to the monthly uptime availability formulas to fix a typo.
Release notes: Improved SLA by adding 100% service credit guarantee if uptime falls below 95%, and excluded temporary disks from the requirement to have premium storage on the single-instance SLA.
1.4 Last updated: November 2016
Release notes: Updates related to maximum available minutes
Release notes: Added a new, Single-Instance Virtual Machine SLA
1.2 Last updated: July 2016
Release notes: Updated SLA to include Virtual Machine connectivity
Release notes: Moved the Virtual Machine section out of Cloud Services SLA to the Virtual Machines SLA
SLA for all Microsoft Online Services
Related SLAs
SAP HANA on Azure Large Instances
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Photo by Cal Athletics
Bears Fall to Stanford, 79-65
By Viet Nguyen
The California Golden Bears (8-7, 0-4 Pac-12) again fell behind early, but fought to make it a game before falling to No. 5 Stanford, 79-65, Sunday at Haas Pavilion.
After getting embarrassed at Maples of Friday night, Cal acquitted themselves better, getting within six in the third period before Stanford (15-1, 4-0) pulled away for good.
“We wanted to come out and show that we were a better team than we showed on Friday,” said Cal head coach Charmin Smith. “We played with a lot more energy, and the effort level was a lot better and that allows us to be more competitive.”
“I thought Cal came out very aggressive,” said Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer. “It was a very physical game.”
Jaelyn Brown scored 14 to lead Cal. Fellow senior Sara Anastasieska had 13, and freshman Cailyn Crocker contributed 11. The Bears’ improved effort resulted in 20 free-throws, with Cal hitting 18.
Anastasieska also had a team-high six rebounds as Cal was dominated on the glass, 40-26.
Stanford had four with double-figure scoring. Haley Jones and Kiana Williams each had 21, and Lexie Hull had 15. Ashten Prechtel had 11 points, all in just over two minutes of play in the third.
Cal committed two turnovers to open the game, and Kiana Williams and Haley Jones scored in the paint. Bears kept pace by going inside themselves, earming three free throws.
But the Bears missed their first eight shots, and every miss allowed Stanford to run, and Lexie Hull hit two layups to pull the Cardinal ahead 12-3 halfway through the first period.
Cal’s offense continued to struggle, twice turning the ball over at the initial pass of the possession.
Ca’s reserves helped to steady the ship and keep pace. Evelien Lutje Schipholt used her length to alter shots inside. Chen Yue hit Cal’s first basket, a long jumper from the top of the key. Jazlen Green took her time and hit a nifty reverse, and Cailyn Crocker called for a high screen and hit a pull up.
After one, Cal was down 18-9.
Green knocked down a corner three to open the second. After Jaelyn Brown hit two free throws, Cal’s press earned a turnover, and Crocker converted it into a layup, pulling Cal within 20-16 a minute into the second.
“I’ve been doing some thinking about what’s our identity,” said Smith. “And I think we are much better when we are aggressive defensively.”
“That was the message coming into today: make them feel us when we’re on the court,” said Anastasieska.
“There’s a flow to Stanford basketball when they are in their comfort zone,” said Smith. “For the most part, during the game, I know when Tara is feeling you and she’s concerned, and there was a lot of time in this when when we made them feel us, and that’s very important.”
Green went down in a scary collision, staying on the floor holding her head. There was no update on her status immediately after the game.
Both teams picked up the pace of play, with Stanford finding and exploiting mismatches. Cal went cold again, managing one basket in their next seven attempts. Two consecutive baskets by Haley Jones got Stanford back up, 29-19, halfway through the second.
Cal pushed back, led by some aggressive play by McIntosh and Sara Anastasieska. McIntosh continually harassed the Cardinal ballhandlers on defense; on offense, she attacked and drew fouls. Anastasieska was emblematic of Cal’s assertive mindset; she drove hard to the basket, scoring five points, including a three-point play, drawing Cal within 31-28.
“What we talked about [from last game] was that we settled for a lot of semi-contested threes, instead of shot-faking it and driving by them,” said Smith. “We thought we had some sweeps to the rim when we watched the film. We drilled those actions and we were a lot better today with that.”
The Bear cause was aided by foul trouble for Francesca Belibi and Nadia Fingal--two of Stanford’s main inside players. Still, Stanford dominated the glass, 21-13.
Jones hit a double-clutch three, and Lexie Hull banked in a short jumper, keeping Stanford ahead, 36-29 at the half. Jones had 13 and Hull had 11 at the break.
“Haley had one of her best games of the year,” said VanDerveer.
Kiana Williams skittered around a pick for a layup to open the third.
Cal crashed the offensive glass, earning three chances at the basket, paying off with two Alaysia Styles free-throws. A three by Anastasieska drew Cal within 40-34, 90 seconds into the period.
Cal tried to trap the ball handler, but Stanford made them pay, finding Ashten Prechtel for consecutive threes.
After a three point play by Anastasieska, the 6’5 Prechtel continued her tear, showing her wide skill set. The freshman grabbed a tough rebound in a crowd and hit a putback, followed by another three. Her personal 11-3 run pushed Stanford up 51-37, forcing Cal to call time, with 5:06 in the third.
“We did a real good job--they had zero bench points in the first half,” said Smith. “Then Ashten came in and knocked down those threes. We just lost her, and that really took away our opportunity to keep it close. That turned the tide.”
McIntosh took the ball right at Prechtel, earning the foul. It was Prechtel’s third, and she went to the bench. McIntosh hit both free-throws.
Cal played good defense, but Stanford continued to find a way to convert. Disciplined switching bottled up the Cardinal for 28 seconds, but a broken play became a three for Williams. An emphatic block by Styles soon resulted in a putback by Lexie Hull.
Cal’s aggressive play did continue to pay off at the line, as the Bears hit 10 of 10 in the third.
McIntosh’s scintillating layup--crossover, fake pass, tough finish--got Cal’s fans up on their feet, but two free throws by Belibi stretched it back to 62-48, to end the third.
A three-pointer by Brown gave Cal a positive start to the fourth, but Stanford then blitzed the Bears for a 13-0 run, showing off their many weapons. Williams and Jones each hit two baskets the the stretch, using their quickness, strength, and handle to get to the basket at will. Stanford went up 75-51, halfway through the fourth.
With the game well out of reach, the Bears continued to give fans reason to cheer. A 6-0 run resulted from well-run sets and decisive play. Crocker confidently knocked down a three. Yue grabbed a strong offensive rebound and put in a reverse. And Brown completed the Cal scoring with a three point play. The Bears closed the fourth hitting six of nine shots.
“We’re learning, we’re building, we’re growing it together, and this was a good showing for us,” said Smith.
“We weren’t happy with how we came out on Friday,” said Crocker. “So each day, we’re trying to push and continue to be who we know we can be.”
Leilani McIntosh had eight points to go with five rebounds and five assists. She also drew a game-high five fouls from Stanford.
Cal had eight blocks, including four from Evelien Lutje Schipholt.
6724 attended the game, including Cal Chancellor Carol Christ, who was on the Cal bench as the honorary coach.
The game served as a kick off for 150W, the yearlong celebration of 150 years of women at Cal. https://150w.berkeley.edu/
Never miss the latest news from Bear Insider!
Tags: WBB
Discussion from...
Haas Pavilion (0 replies) Women's Basketball (18 replies)
1,105 Views | 18 Replies | Last: 3 days ago by wvitbear
Schroeder71
12:44a, 1/13/20
Cal played much harder today than Friday night. As Charmin stated (to paraphrase): the team played watchable basketball.
Leilani McIntosh, Sara Anastasieska & Evelien Schipholt deserve special mention for outstanding effort/performances today. Schipholt should be named the starting center because she is the only post with any athleticism that can block shots. She blocked 5 shots today while Stanford guards [Haley Jones, Kiana Williams & one of the twins] made at least a dozen layups. Most blew right by CJ West & Chen Yue. In conference, every opponent has guards that are doing that: Washington (Amber Melgoza) & Washington State (Chanelle Molina).
Oregon and Oregon State have star guards, too. Stanford also got layups on three inbound plays. Cal also did not get back on defense on a couple of occasions. CJ West made a single basket over the two games vs Stanford. The majority of turnovers are made attempting to get the entry pass into our senior post. Chen Yue has played better than CJ, too.
Cal often played tough defense *when* they were in position. The problem is that if one adds up all of the times when Stanford was making layups-it was easily the difference in the game. Also, the Cal posts did not defend the Stanford frosh center Prechtel. She scored 11 points in 8 minutes and blew open a tight game. She was unguarded on three consecutive three point baskets.
Senior Anastasieska & the four freshmen played extremely hard today and should be proud. The other upperclassmen should attempt to match their intensity. If they don't want to put out the effort, bench them.
GO BEARS!
annarborbear
It's a roster full of limitations. And that's why we were picked for 11th. But the effort and the hard work within those limitations couldn't be better. The fans were cheering until the end, and no one went home early. These players deserve that during this period of transition. Even the players you mentioned negatively seem to be doing what they are capable of doing.
Stanford is also basically an all-star roster. Adding Haley Jones with her size, instincts and technique, and now putting her in the starting line-up, makes them a much better team. They have shooters, speed and size and seem to complement each other very well. Will have to rise to their level through our improved recruiting.
3 edits
You're correct that Stanford has a 15 player roster of 4 & 5 star recruits. Heck-they just brought in the #1 recruit class in the nation. It really makes it hard for Cal to matchup and not to be intimidated. I noticed that Schipholt (6-2) got several of her shots blocked and stopped aggressively posting up for offense. She should drive to the basket from the free throw line more often.
Unfortunately, both Oregon & Oregon State have similar talent and height advantage. GO BEARS!
CalFanatic
We always knew this was going to be a rebuilding year. I am just enjoying the journey and loving the growth of our Freshman.
I see big things happening next year.
Joined: Dec 7, 2009
In reply to CalFanatic • 12:55p, 1/13/20
CalFanatic said:
Next year, depending on the status of Mi'Cole Cayton and Naje Murray, we might have only one player with more than a year of experience. The sophs will have learned a lot and the incoming freshies are highly rated but the team will be VERY young. Should be fun to watch that talent develop but I think it might take another year for them to really take off.
GATC
In reply to annarborbear • 1:00p, 1/13/20
annarborbear said:
I missed the game (and the Beyond the Lair with Charmin and Tara) since I had to be somewhere (sad event) and could only a few sneak peeks at the action. From what I saw it looks like the team played hard and did a lot of good things. Hope Green is okay.
3Cats4CAL
In reply to Schroeder71 • 1:41p, 1/13/20
Schroeder71 said:
Yes besides only scoring 3 pts in the last 2 games CJ isn't able to get back on defense as quick as each of the 3 Stanford bigs she was supposed to be matched up. I distinctly noticed 3 different times she was heading back to the other end of the court and each of Stanford's bigs is Fingall, Prechtel, and ? who were each following CJ proceeded to pass by her down the court. As in another post someone noted she isn't performing as well this year. She still is missing layups close up to the basket. Even Chen has improved and hustles faster down the court. Evelyn definitely needs to start even though she isn't a senior. Still rooting for CJ to do better since she is a Bear and chose Cal.
In reply to stu • 1:45p, 1/13/20
stu said:
True. However, I do think that returning Lei, Jazlen, Alaysia and Cailyn... along with Naje and 2 freshman who would start on any Pac-12 teams (Onyiah and Daniels)... should put us in the post season. Maybe that is just wishful thinking on my end!
stu-you're likely correct! If a team is going to click the prerequisite is strong guard play. When Ionescu went to Oregon, the Ducks began their growth spurt to a top five team. Stanford has Kiana Williams & Haley Jones directing their offense. The Cardinal is #3 in the nation. Haley Jones never played PG in high school so imagine how good she is going to become...
Oregon will no longer be nearly unbeatable next season without their leader, Ionescu. Charmin Smith needs to bring a floor general and a couple of outside shooters. Naje Murray may be one as a junior transfer in 2020-2021.
The guard from Greece may also be an improvement over this season's roster.
Cal Fanatic is correct in that the young Bears should be fun to watch develop next season into a upper division Pac 12 team (probably top 25). It will be a process, however, to grow into excellence. GO BEARS!
I am not yet expecting next year to be all that wonderful either. Will be surprised if more than one of our incoming posts will be truly PAC-12 ready, although our interior defense should no doubt be improved. What we really will need now is two back-to-back solid recruiting classes.
In reply to CalFanatic • 4:50p, 1/13/20
Don't forget Evelien. I'm also hoping Mi'Cole and Naje will be able to provide experience in the backcourt. And nothing wrong with wishful thinking, you could be correct!
SFCALBear72
I attended the women's hoops party on Sunday before the Stanford game. This event is sponsored by the Alumni Association and had Coach Smith as the featured speaker.
Our #6 rated 2020 recruiting class was one of the topics she addressed. Apparently, we are not done yet.
Coach Smith said that the coaches have been out on the road looking to add a player (or players). The actual number wasn't specified. Coach Smith did say that Stanford has the #5 recruiting class and she would love to overtake them. LOL Maybe a grad transfer?? We'll see.
Go Bears!!
Not saying that it's the way that we should go, but Arizona now has four transfers and six international players on their roster. In addition to a possible grad transfer, there is sometimes an undergraduate transfer who can qualify for immediate eligibility, for example when a coach has been let go or there is some problem on a team. I am sure that we are looking at all possibilities. However, I would still have no problem with a three-year plan that takes one more year of finding and recruiting the right people. And then you have to expect at least one more development year after that. We have learned in the past that some players look good on paper, but don't fit the school, the culture or the system. Our Final Four team also took a few years to reach its potential.
wvitbear
I don't think we can contact a player who is currently playing on another team. Ncaa rules.
Do you know how the transfer portal works?
Just red it. Can't be recruited till the NCAA puts you in the transfer portal. Player has t notify the school she is playing at that she will not be returning and is leaving for another school. The School has 2 days to put erin The NCAA transfer portal. The other schools can contact her.
So we can't go out and recruit players if they haven't left the school. This usually happens in March ad April.
In reply to wvitbear • 6:35p, 1/15/20
wvitbear said:
Thanks. I have been wondering if someone drops off a team during the season, can they then enter the portal before the season is over. Looks like they cannot if they are still enrolled.
I think they can if enrolled but must declare that they are leaving. Obviously they are not leaving if they are still playing.
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Journeys to democracy
Beena Sarwar
Rising above divisive politics, golf tournament brings Indians and Pakistanis together in America
Cambridge event Standout for Peace in solidarity with #StandWithKashmir
Global Standout for Peace in solidarity with #StandWithKashmir
PERSONAL POLITICAL: Rest in peace, comrade Kutty. The struggle continues
Eerie Silence: The Trauma of Kashmir in the Larger Context of the Fight for Democracy and Human Rights
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Remembering Doc: The importance of civil discourse and the art of listening
#MeToo: Moving towards a cycle of healing
South Asian activists, academics, journalists urge Sri Lanka not to violate fundamental rights in the name of combating terror
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Press Freedom: Challenges to journalism go beyond violence and commercial threats
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Pakistan's first 'tarana', by Jagannath Azad
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India-Pakistan people's peace resolution: Throwing a pebble in the pond
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'Looking back to look forward' - amazing response to an uplifting event
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Some facts about Husain Haqqani and ‘memogate’
Posted on January 4, 2012 by beenasarwar
Husain Haqqani: Pawn in a larger game?
There are numerous issues besides ‘Memogate’ that directly affect the people, like the shortage of gas, electricity, clean drinking water, housing, healthcare, employment and so on. But the issue gains significance because so far, no democratically elected civilian government in Pakistan has ever been allowed to complete its tenure and hand over power to the next one through democratic elections (as I outlined in this paper). There were hopes that this government would be the first to do so – a critical step towards the continuation of a democratic political that is necessary to move the country away from the military-dominated politics of the past – something, as it is now all too apparent, is not a thing of the past after all. In this context, it’s important to understand the current situation and its dangers. Myra MacDonald sums it up in an analysis for Reuters. Some insights were posted to this blog earlier (here and here). Additional facts are laid out in a document received today (reproduced below) that outlines some facts about Husain Haqqani and ‘memogate’. Also read this important article, ‘Treason? Under what Constitution? in the New Pakistan blog, which dissects the ‘memo’ contents and notes that each item in the document falls under the constitutional purview of the federal government…
Issue at hand: Former Ambassador of Pakistan to the US, Husain Haqqani, is currently a virtual prisoner as his life is under danger both from the extremists and from the security agencies. He is residing for his own safety at the Prime Minister’s residence. The Supreme Court of Pakistan imposed a travel ban on him on December 1, 2011 restricting him from leave the country. His wife, Member of Pakistan’s Parliament, Farahnaz Ispahani’s life is also in danger, which is why she is currently in the US where she had come for medical checkups.
This situation arose after the false allegations by an American businessman of Pakistani origin, Mansur Ijaz, who claimed that the Ambassador and President Zardari had sought American help to prevent a military coup in Pakistan. Ambassador Haqqani has flatly denied these allegations. Further, Ambassador Haqqani knew Admiral Mullen very well and could have contacted him directly anytime; it defies understanding why he would need Ijaz to convey a message to Admiral Mullen.
A history of false claims: Mansur Ijaz is well-known over the years for self-promotion and false claims. During the mid-1990s he claimed that he had close ties to the Sudanese government and would be able to help the Clinton administration get Osama Bin Laden. However, both Clinton NSA Sandy Berger and the 9/11 Commission that interviewed Ijaz found no credible evidence in what he said. In 1999 Ijaz claimed to be the American envoy to India and Pakistan to help resolve the Kashmir dispute but in the end neither side found him credible or someone who could deliver. In 2004 Ijaz claimed that chemical warheads were being smuggled into Iraq for an attack on American troops which he later denied.
The ‘memo’: Former US national security advisor General Jim Jones conveyed Ijaz’s memo to then Chairman US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mullen. Gen Jones in an affidavit has sworn that he believes Ambassador Haqqani had nothing to do with the memo. According to General Jones the language of the memo was akin to what Ijaz wrote.
Ijaz claims that soon after he wrote an OpEd about the ‘memo issue’ on October 10, 2011, Pakistan’s ISI chief, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha flew to London, met him and examined the evidence and found it credible. However, Admiral Mullen has stated that when he received the memo from Gen Jones, he did not find it credible and took no action on it.
Threats: Asma Jahangir, leading human rights advocate and counsel to Ambassador Haqqani, has stated that Ambassador Haqqani is under threat from his own intelligence-security agencies. In this context Admiral Mullen in one of his final testimonies stated that Pakistan’s intelligence service, ISI, and the Pakistani military have often lied to the Americans, and provide support to the extremist groups, including those who kill Americans.
Action required: Ambassador Haqqani needs to have his passport returned to him and have his name taken off the Exit Control List (ECL) so he can travel. The due process of law must be applied.
Background: The government’s opponents – in the media, political parties, military-intelligence establishment – have used this opportunity to attack the government and try to make Ambassador Haqqani a scapegoat. Some worrying facts:
Opposition leader Nawaz Sharif (who in 1999 had Ambassador Haqqani imprisoned and tortured for writing OpEds against his regime) is the leading petitioner before the Supreme Court.
• The Supreme Court took up Mr Sharif’s petition instead of sending it to a trial court first.
The Supreme Court ignored due process of law and immediately placed a travel ban on Ambassador Haqqani without letting him or his counsel appear before court.
The head of the ISI himself conducted a forensic investigation and the army chief and head of ISI have stated in their affidavits that they believe the ‘memo’ was genuine – which points to an attempt to frame the Ambassador by institutions that have never agreed with his views.
A political-media trial and witch-hunt has been ongoing since Ijaz’s OpEd first appeared in the Financial Times.
Detailed Background and Information
Background of Memo: The origins of the memo are in dispute. On October 10, 2011 an American businessman of Pakistani descent, Mansur Ijaz, wrote an OpEd in Financial Times alleging that in the aftermath of the Osama Bin Laden raid of May 2, 2011, he was approached by a senior Pakistani diplomat to pass on a memo to enlist the US military’s help to head off a feared military coup, in exchange for overhauling the country’s powerful top security leadership. He said he gave the memo to former NSA Gen (retd) Jim Jones who passed it on to then Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen.
In the ensuing weeks Ijaz claimed that Amb Husain Haqqani was that senior diplomat and that he and Amb Haqqani corresponded by Blackberry messenger messages, phone conversations and emails.
Amb Haqqani flatly denied these allegations. Admiral Mullen stated that he had received a memo but he did not find it ‘credible.’ According to Mullen’s spokesman “I have said this before and am saying again today. Nothing about that letter had the imprimatur on the Pakistani Government. It was not signed. And the contents of it Admiral Mullen did not find credible. So he took no action on it.” (November 22, 2011)
Amb Haqqani returned to Pakistan on November 19 and tendered his resignation in order to ensure a free and fair inquiry into the issue. The civilian government, while supporting Amb Haqqani’s account accepted his resignation. His passport was confiscated upon his return to Pakistan.
Supreme Court action: December 23, former Prime Minister and leader of the main opposition party, PML-N, Nawaz Sharif filed a petition in the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) claiming that under article 184(3) of the Constitution, the SCP could take up any issue of public importance which relates to fundamental rights. SCP accepted the petition along with other petitions.
On December 1, 2011 the Pakistan Supreme Court placed former ambassador Husain Haqqani on the Exit Control List (ECL) barring him from being able to leave the country, without giving the former ambassador or his lawyer to appear before the court. So due process of law was not followed and Mr Haqqani’s fundamental rights were violated.
Gen Jones in his affidavit to the Pakistan Supreme Court stated that while he did pass on the memo he does not believe Amb Haqqani had anything to do with the memo.
On December 30, Pakistan’s Supreme Court set up a 3-member judicial commission to investigate the issue. According to the SCP judgment a petition seeking an investigation into the affair had “succeeded in establishing that the issues involved are justiciable.” The court also upheld the travel ban on Amb Haqqani. Further, the court has ordered the attorney general of Pakistan, Foreign Ministry and the Pakistani High Commissioner in Canada to approach the parent company of Blackberry, Research In Motion (RIM).
The government maintains that since Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy the correct forum for any such inquiry should be the parliament. The Parliamentary Committee on National Security was already looking into the case and that should be the proper venue not the Supreme Court.
Counter arguments by Amb Haqqani’s lawyer, Asma Jahangir: According to Ambassador Haqqani’s lawyer, leading human rights advocate, Asma Jahangir, the verdict was the “darkest day for the judiciary because the apex court has subjected fundamental rights to national security.”
Terming the court’s judgment ‘disappointing’, she said, “today we feel that the military authority is superior to the civilian authority. Today, the struggle for the transition to democracy has been blocked.” And, “I am forced to think if it is the judiciary of the people or the judiciary of the establishment.” Ms Jahangir also expressed her deep regrets and said she was totally unprepared for this reward of sacrifices rendered by lawyers’ fraternity, as the Court ‘dimmed even a fraction of ray of hope’, while providing the petitioner with relief beyond what they had sought.
Ms Jahangir said the decision was against the rule of law and had compromised a citizen’s right to justice. The verdict reflected undue supremacy of national security and integrity over human rights. “When order came on 1st December, Husain Haqqani was not heard. He did not even have a lawyer,” she said. “Saying that there is a memo and linking it with Husain Haqqani are two different things, it’s more of a media trial that got hyped after Supreme Court’s order”.
DG ISI Shuja Pasha and Gen. Kayani: quick to accept Mansoor Ijaz's claims
Amb Haqqani’s lawyer and others have pointed to the role of Pakistan’s security services, especially its intelligence agency. Both the head of Pakistan’s intelligence service, ISI, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha and Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, submitted petitions before the Supreme Court insisting they believed the memo was genuine and needs to be investigated. Significantly, according to Mansur Ijaz, Lt Gen Pasha travelled to London in October and ascertained that the memo was genuine. Why was Lt Gen Pasha so eager to travel to London and agree with what Ijaz said? Whose permission did he obtain before doing so? Is he the person who should perform a forensic investigation? Mr Ijaz also alleged in an interview in December that soon after the Bin Laden raid Lt Gen Pasha travelled to the Gulf to muster support for a military coup.
Imminent danger to Mr Husain Haqqani: A media trial has been ongoing since Mansoor Ijaz’s OpEd published in FT in October. The involvement of opposition parties and their leaders in this political-media witchhunt.
The judiciary seems to be ruling on the basis of national security ideology instead of constitution and law.
All those individuals who are speaking out in Pakistan for democracy and human rights are being silenced one by one. Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, former Governor Salman Taseer, former Minister Shahbaz Bhatti were assassinated. Former Amb Haqqani and his lawyer have received serious death threats.
On January 1, 2012, Ms Jahangir announced that she was quitting the case as she did not have faith in the commission been set up by the Supreme Court. According to Ms Jahangir, the Supreme Court’s decision on the petition was a victory for the country’s establishment, and it was being used to transform the country into a ‘security state.’
Ms Jahangir further stated that her client, Mr Haqqani, was under threat from the security agencies. She feared that the security forces-intelligence agencies would try to coerce a statement out of Mr Haqqani. That is why he first stayed at the President’s House and is currently residing at the Prime Minister’s residence.
(ends)
Filed under: Pakistan | Tagged: Asma Jahangir, democracy, Husain Haqqani, memogate, Pakistan, supreme court |
« ‘Memogate’ commission should examine existing evidence, not create new evidence Concern for Pakistan democratic process, safety of human rights defenders »
Save My Pakistan, on January 4, 2012 at 9:49 am said:
False claim on the ‘ECL’: Supreme court never ordered to put Haqqani’s name in the Exit control list. The order was very clear. He can not leave the country without the consent of the court. But the interior minister Rehman malik acted hurrily and placed his name on the ECL. What a crap people governing the country. You areticle has more objectionable points. Please clear your dirty mind. The message is very clear. Whoever is working against the country must get punishment. Bhutto, Benazir, Nawaz, MQM, ANP, Zardari, Haqqani, Gillani etc are traitors. Hang all of them ASAP.
beenasarwar, on January 4, 2012 at 9:24 pm said:
The Supreme court initially ordered that Husain Haqqani was not to be allowed to leave the country and did so again at the end in their order about setting up the commission. I find your tone and language objectionable, as well as your labelling of others as ‘traitors’.
Some facts about Husain Haqqani and ‘memogate’ | Tea Break, on January 4, 2012 at 8:36 pm said:
[…] Some facts about Husain Haqqani and ‘memogate’ […]
Pakistan's Slow-Motion Coup | Pakistan Examiner, on January 7, 2012 at 11:51 am said:
[…] Army also now has a newer hook to hang proceedings against this government: the“Memogate” scandal. In the aftermath of the bin Laden raid, a mysterious memo was delivered to Adm. Mike […]
Breaking news : Army Coup in Pakistan just around the corner ?, on January 11, 2012 at 6:12 pm said:
[…] crimes. The Army also now has a newer hook to hang proceedings against this government: the "Memogate"scandal. In the aftermath of the bin Laden raid, a mysterious memo was delivered to Adm. Mike […]
Army Looking at Imran Khan as a Viable Alternative « ALAIWAH!, on January 24, 2012 at 3:32 pm said:
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“War”… Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff face off in a beautifully written action entertainer
Dig beyond the surface pleasures, and you’ll see how the film marries our masala sensibilities to the Bond/Bourne action spectacles.
You can read the full review on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/war-movie-review-by-baradwaj-rangan-hrithik-roshan-tiger-shroff
Siddharth Anand’s War is a deeply felt labour of love. It’s the testosteronic equivalent of what Shah Jahan built for Mumtaz Mahal. For generations to come, fans of upper-body sculpting will gaze at Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff in wonder and weep softly at what they wish they had. If I happened to find myself next to Hrithik on a flight, I’d have to politely insist that he stow his biceps in the overhead compartment. Tiger rips his shirt off in the climax, and his torso seems to be making a peace sign. The film is, first and foremost, a monument to male beauty. MF Husain was so floored by Madhuri Dixit in Hum Aapke Hain Koun…! that he watched the film 67 times. The CEO of Talwalkars will have a similar response to War.
Posted in: Cinema: Hindi
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54 Responses ““War”… Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff face off in a beautifully written action entertainer” →
Jugaado
review of Joker?
https://www.filmcompanion.in/joker-movie-review-venice-international-film-festival-2019-joaquin-phoenix-baradwaj-rangan
Okay, thoda showing off to banta hai 🙂
Sometimes a critic captures in words what creative people behind the work keep feeling throughout but aren’t able to nail in terms of language. Thank you for putting it across so articulately. A special one !! https://t.co/tWOc68TWdv
— Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) October 3, 2019
@” Even if you want to watch War as a “leave your brains at home” movie, the writing team doesn’t leave its brains at home. They take it seriously, and that’s why War is a defining action movie of our time”
Expect the unexpected from BRangan. Few have left theater 1 hour into this screening. This seems to be two different movies now. Once again, we are left in this subjective and objective debate. Never the twain shall meet.
Essentially descriptors for information or writing that help you decide whether they’re worthwhile sources.
Prakash Alagarsamy
The movie was slow and too long. Dialogue predictable. I honestly thought you will bash the movie. But what do I know. Have to say I am very surprised by your review BR..
chvs Chaitanya
Is it me alone or any one else who see this review as complete satire
I feel a sense of sarcasm in every sentence
Great review BR , agree with most of your points . One point that I somewhat disagree is the Entry scene of Tiger – IMO he just rolls in from the window. Compare this to Hritik’s grand and majestic walk from the helicopter and the subtle nodding to the Colonel. The twists are interesting and will be the reason for repeat audience .
When I wrote it, I didn’t intend an iota of sarcasm. I hoped some lines would be amusing, yes. Sarcastic? No.
The title line of the review usually indicates what I felt, so…
I guess sometimes people get embarrased by some mild homoerotic fanboying and prefer to see it as satire.
Terrific piece Sir. Thank you
Gonna go watch War today against my better judgement just for Hrithik. Good to see him do a movie in a genre he does best – the guy was born for this. He must give up aspiring to be known as some great actor and do action masala movies where he dances. That’s all people want from him. I haven’t seen a Hrithik movie since Dhoom and I only saw it because he looked a-mazing. The acting experiment he’s done for most of his career has almost never worked out in his favour. He’s a star – he must accept it although time may already have run out for him. I say this as his well wisher – he’s multi talented and there’s no shame in being a huge star making entertaining movies. Almost all of SRK’s career is total garbage but he still managed to be a huge star. Though I wouldn’t ask Hrithik to make films that are that trashy, he should stay is his strength genre and make one of those once a year.
Clearly you and I have watched two different movies 😛 😛
–Spoilers alert–
The movie I watched had a lot of convenient writing in the second half, where things just happen in accordance with what the good guy thinks! Take for example, the scene where the hero ‘discovers’ that it is he who is going to be poisoned during their out of nowhere lill boat trip….the flashy cars inside the ship in Artic right at the time for them to escape…and a missile, which was supposed to bring a huge destruction, destroyed just a ship, with no effect on the ice stretch which the cars were speeding on…these rnt nitpicking…these are basic logic, rt and flaws in the celebrated writing!
The hero says he hasnt spoken to anybody about the Naina character, so its still unanswered how did that scene turn out, if the informer wasnt the Colonel !
The hero is a fugitive on the run, that too from the Indian intelligence agency, but is happily spending time with kids in open spaces! Either they arnt intelligent enough, or its the writing !
The first half, I agree, had a lot of smart writing…the introduction of the hero character and his ploy…the scene where he meets the traitors son and the subsequent suspicions he had in mind…the comedy element in the action scene at baghdad….and yes, the mom-son-fathers killer scene that followed…
Not nitpicking, but a simple facial plastic surgery could change the vocal cords (oh yes, they give a dumb unconvincing explanation for that), the body, the swag; even his mom couldnt recognize her son; it wouldve been great to see if the big reveal came from the mom to the hero (just like in the past how she turned her husband to law)
Oh, I could go on and on…I am just surprised that you were supportive and appreciative of its shoddy writing ! I agree, to each his own ! But baddy man…you !!!!! 😦
That said, it would be amazing if Yashraj films could get Hrithik and Salman of (Ek Tha Tiger…….Tiger, hmmm) together in one such spy action thriller !
Re-The hero says he hasnt spoken to anybody about the Naina character, so its still unanswered how did that scene turn out, if the informer wasnt the Colonel
This was explained later – the Colonel spoke (right after hanging up with Hritik) to the analyst who was Hritik’s first victim.
typo correct and clarified a bit.
Wth BR! What were you thinking when you said this: “Even if you want to watch War as a “leave your brains at home” movie, the writing team doesn’t leave its brains at home.” Went in thinking it would half smart but gave up any pretense of smartness when they started doing comedy with ISIS terrorists.
I went in just to enjoy long slow mo shots of Hrithik but even those were too much and there was altogether too much Tiger. YRF films have zero soul and substance – there’s not one thing believable or engaging or relatable. They HAVE to rip off a 100 other Hollywood spy films and set the protagonists in India with plots that are laughably bad. Don’t we have enough terrorist intrigue right here in India? What need to go to Malta and Iraq and the fucking Arctic circle? Our terrorists only go international enough to get to Pakistan – guess it’s not pc for YRF to go that way, so it has to be tons of European locations. Poor Hrithik deserves better than this. And what’s with Tiger – he’s trying hard you can see but how is he so bereft looking of any human emotion. And the end twist killed whatever residual interest left over. Made zero sense and sitting through that climax ugh!
Pluses: Hrithik, his face, his eyes, his footwork, him being a literal God, some of Tiger’s stunts
Minuses: Everything else.
Mank fan
Hrithik’s twitter acknowledgement of BR is the biggest sign yet of BR going mainstream…
Waiting for our masala film connoisseur’s take on the film, hope he has something fresh to add and not just a ‘WAR’ like tribute to his mentor.
PS- Good to see Tiger in a film worthy of his pyrotechnics
Glad to know that you enjoyed the Soni Razdan – Tiger Shroff scene as much as I did. That’s what you get when you hire someone of the quality of Abbas Tyrewala, even if it is just for the dialogues. Coming to the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed the build- up and the entire first half. It is one of those rare films that grips your from the opening sequence itself. As an audien, I was as curious as the characters in the film to know the reason why Kabir has gone berserk. Though the reason itself, which we go on to discover, in the second half was weak and predictable. The film does struggle a bit there. I thought SIddharth gave up after an impressive start. But then as you mentioned in the review, just when procedings were looking ordinary and unexciting, the writers hurl a shocker at us, which I thought was nicely concealed. But it is a strictly a film for those who are willing to suspend disbelief. Because once you start analysing the movie from the start, after you have exited the cinemas, some pieces do not seem to fit at all.
Will saurabh do this ( tiger shroff opening sequence), will saurabh do that (shoot out scene). Many issues pop up when you think along those lines. But to the credit of the makers, we do not ask these questions, while we are watching the film.
Also I feel an HR star vehicle is much more interesting than a Salman or even a Shahrukh star vehicle. it could also be because he’s not as big a star as them, yet. HR is not afraid to play roles with grey shades. The trailers had us doubting Kabir, we doubt him through the course of the entire first half, where Khalid is the good guy. HR could have easily hijacked the film, but he gives Tiger the space he deserves and a character which he can be proud of. I was more surprised with his acting skills than his acrobatics.
Rishikesh: But it is a strictly a film for those who are willing to suspend disbelief.
Huh? Isn’t that a given with this genre?
I said it with reference to your point ” The writing team doesn’t leave its brains at home”. I would have loved to agree, but there are too many loose ends with respect to the traitor character, which keeps me away from doing so. For the time being, let us be content with the fact that the film didn’t collapse ( like abbas mustan’s race movies) inspite of the multiple twists.
war was the most fun i had in cinema watching a bollywood after a long long long time, it was so much fun , pure joy ride . I went and watched it second time, like it’s been said in the review, perfect combo of bollywood ethos and hollywood sensibilities
Shivaay
The first half is extremely well written, narrated and played out with perfect Bollywood masala props. Unfortunately, the film like most others suffers from the curse of the second half. Shoddy convenient twists, complete suspension of belief and a gory one on one climatic fight scene straight out of a B grade Prabhu deva flick did not blend in with the first half. It felt like I watched 2 different movies in the pre and post interval period.
Story : 5/10, Strong start but shoddy, silly and laughable second half.
Screenplay : 6/10, holds well for most part till the gory never ending climax that should have been edited.
Performances : 7/10, Superb Hrithik in every way, effective Tiger, Ashutosh and Anupriya. Vaani was a sore and so were the baddies.
Action/Cinematography/Dialogues/Technical Aspects : 7/10, some witty one liners for HR, excellent action sequences barring the climatic one that was good enough to leave a sour taste.
Overall : 6/10, one time watch for the excellent camerawork, locations, actions and HR of course.
I really liked War. there are some issues with the film, but coming from YRF and Sidharth Anand , these are very minor. Honestly , i never expected the film to be this good. They have got an acceptable mix of masala in to this Hollywood template. But the best thing about the film is that Hrithik is back in form, after some quixotic pursuits to prove himself as a character actor , he’s returned to where he belongs. Some thoughts below
https://manksjoint.home.blog/2019/10/10/war-hrithik-roshan-is-back-with-a-bang-in-this-satisfying-mix-of-masala-and-hollywood/
MANK: I knew, I knew, I knew this film would bring you back 😀
Ha Ha…. , so predictable eh? 🙂
MANK- Maza aa gaya , loved you review .
An Jo
a take on war…
https://satyamshot.wordpress.com/2019/10/09/an-jo-on-war/
MANK: I wondered about that Hindu/Muslim angle, too — but wasn’t able to decide if Kabir is Hindu? Isn’t the name both Hindu and Muslim? Or is there a scene where we get an idea of his religion?
sai16vicky
On a lighter note, I get a feeling that Siddharth Anand read the following (before going on to make this movie) :).
“Of course, even the worst Vishal Bhardwaj film is going to be a better movie-going experience than the best Siddharth Anand film. Duh”
https://baradwajrangan.wordpress.com/2014/10/17/lights-camera-conversation-the-critic-doth-protest-too-much/
Don’t miss the comments thread!
BR saab: that;s what I commented in my review – I have been extremely kind to this movie…It was heart-breaking to see you and MANK club it onto masala;.a dumb Muslim angle and a scene lifted straight out of DEEWAR doesn’t quite help this movie break into the club..
Thanks Rocky
An Jo, don’t break your heart buddy. It just a movie.
I felt it was more than just stealing a scene from here and there, i did feel the filmmakers genuinely attempting to integrate the masala elements and being successful at that. This is not a Dhoom film, which is totally superficial. That was the big problem with Dhoom 3 where the masala elements and superficiality of the rest of the movie never mixed. They remained totally separate like oil and water. Here I felt the emotional connection between the protagonists and the masala echoes in both character and narrative arcs . In Dhoom2, in the confrontation between Hrithik and Abhishek and when later Abhishek flips the coin imititating his dad from Sholay, it is just a cool nod, which we laugh at. But here in the first confrontation scene between tiger and Hrithik, when they are comparing their scars- one’s emotional, the other’s physical- , and talking about their past history, it did hit me emotionally. And I felt that emotional impact throughout their cat and mouse game in the film.
Which is why i believe they made it separately from Dhoom series rather than making it as Dhoom4. This story would not work in Dhoom world
Brangan, I think the character of Kabir is hindu. When I googled it, his name came up as Kabir Luthra. They didn’t want to overtly state this, otherwise, all the reviews would have been about this Hindu Muslim conflict. It may have gone the Kabir Singh way, this time with religion. Even if he isn’t, I think both of them dancing to Jai Jai shivshankar or the fact that saurabh takes the face of Khalid to be the traitor are all a throwback to that masala ethos.
@ MANK:
Haven’t broken my heart at all: But sure as hell am upset at how we are not able to differentiate between masala pointers and actual masala. That is what this movie is, it’s just a middle-path between masala and Hollywood-aping. In that single shot for almost 1 minute where Hrithik pulls up Tiger in the Syria scene, Jason Bourne would have shot 27 rounds and escaped a capture scene. But this as per what I think, is both the strength and weakness; it’s a good marriage, not a very succesfull marriage between masala and Hollywood
As I have mentioned in my review, a couple of scenes where Soni Razdan comes up and tells Tiger to distribute food to everyone on the team, and Hrithik stares, doesn’t constitute masala for me; as well as the DEEWAR scene where Khalid is honored..
Still, as I mentioned, I had a blast uptil the last 30 minutes..
An Jo: All I am saying is that this is the best (so far) combination of our masala universe and the Bond universe. These two tonalities make for a fire/ice combination and the writing does a fine job of tipping a hat to both.
I am not comparing this film to, say, DEEWAR etc.
An Jo, what Brangan said . And as I said in my review, it’s a satisfying mix. It’s not possible to have a hundred percent successful mix of both. Even Salim Javed couldn’t do it in Shaan., Though they did much better with Don – as again I mentioned, which is perhaps the most successful marriage of the two
Now that all three masala experts are conversing in the same thread, can I ask what exactly is masala? I have a sort of vague idea of what it is but what exactly are the must haves that make it masala? Which of these films would you classify as masala and which as not and if so why in either case – Baazigar, Darr and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na?
Also, is the Tamil definition of masala little different? Methinks if one of at least three sentiments is not there in a film, it is not masala – amma sentiment, annan /thambi sentiment or thangachi sentiment? I don’t remember akka sentiment making a star appearance too often.
Ayyayyo, I left manaivi sentiment. Also very important.
Watched War last weekend, and while the second half had too many loopholes (the missile destroying just the ship with no effect whatsoever to the geography around was laughable even then), I enjoyed the ride. I liked the twists and turns; I liked the unexpected twist and while my mind was still raising questions, the action was fast-paced enough for me to overlook them.
Besides, Hrithik on screen, looking like he does (and not a-quivering with emotion) helped a tonne. I’m so glad that two back to back hits has brought him back into the reckoning. I hope there will be more successes in store for him.
Must say I was also pleasantly surprised by Tiger.
@Madan, welcome to the club.
Watched War last Saturday, and though I loved that I spend the day before my birthday watching two handsome men fight and dance on screen, I wish the film was at least half hour shorter.
Both of them were good with the material they had, and Hrithik had never looked better!
However, the fight and chase sequences were overdrawn and long, and that made the last fight a drag. I liked that one of the fights had a music score around it, it gave the impression of a choreography in motion.
The sound was unusually loud in our hall too, not sure why.
Some things made sense or took on a different meaning after the last twist on the boat:
– Why Tiger did not ask Hrithik when he got a chance “why” he was doing what he was doing, but “whom he was going to kill next”
– Why Tiger wanted to lead the investigation
Also, the meeting between Tiger and Hrithik in the presence of the little girl takes on a menacing undertone.
Some parts were sloppily written. For eg, the way Khalid explains how he got the issue with his vision – it was OTT.
Also, how could Tiger remember his meeting with his mother in the flashback?
Anyway, good attempt, good show of bod and male beauty, but could have been better edited. And could have had a little more humor like the first fight together as a team.
An Jo:Just because a mother comes to the stage to accept an award, does not make it a Deewar scene. Honoring someone after his death has been a repetitive scene in Hindi movies – recently I saw Force 2 that ended in the same note.
Rishikesh:
“Will saurabh do this ( tiger shroff opening sequence), will saurabh do that (shoot out scene)”
– We have to remember (though Khalid is supposedly the next best thing after Kabir) that all of them were trained the same way and have similar qualities to be allowed into the team.
Madan, it’s a subject that we have discussed and debated several times in many threads. Dont have time to go into it it very deeply. this might help. straight from the master’s mouth
https://baradwajrangan.wordpress.com/2017/01/07/the-revisionary/
MANK: Thanks. I have seen that article (and participated in the thread!) before. It isn’t particularly illuminating either. I guess masala is more a ‘feeling’ than a distinct genre? I don’t see Dangal as masala at all, for instance.
I fully agree with An Jo and Madan. We are, may be, loosely interpreting the term ‘Masala Movie’ as there is no standard definition to what constitutes a ‘Masala Movie’ but until now I thought atleast I broadly knew what it means. However with this glowing reveiw by BR for this crappy movie, I am equally disappointed like An Jo and Madan.
What I thought is the benchmark of a true Masala Movie is the movie Bahubali. This movie is the gold standard of how a movie-maker ought to skilfully garnish masala elements to make the melodrama palatable to larger audience. The best example I feel of this skill is when Katappa introduces the commoner as none other than the Amarendra Bahubali to shell shocked Devasena and her kingdom. The way Katappa delivers the rousing dialogues about the greatness of Amarendra Bahubali while the outer robe burns away to reveal his armour. That was a superb wolf-whistle moment. I can go on and on as the movie had many such moments. Needless to say, Bahubali also had many scenes which will require the viewer to connect dots on his own with very less exposition done in few plot points.
Coming to the movie WAR, I really didn’t find the need to really connect the dots as every scene and plot point was overtly explained. Too much exposition really. And to say this movie was a good Masala Movie is demeaning the entire genre. Just giving an illogical twist at the end implies poor story conceptualization. That was also the problem with the recent Sahoo where few last-minute-twists made the story manipulative and unworthy of being Masala moments. The WAR movie can at best be regarded as the poor cousin of a good Masala movie along the lines of other so called Masala movies like Housefull, Golmaal and Dhoom franchise.
Paras: Just to be clear, I have not expressed an opinion on War as I haven’t seen it. I just made a roving enquiry about masala as this discussion brought BR, MANK and AnJo together. As for BR, it is always confusing what kind of masala he specifically likes. Which is good in a way because it is supposed to be subjective.
I’ve had this doubt about what exactly constitutes the masala genre as well, its roots, any other country’s cinema which is similar or is it an India specific genre. Could someone do a write up on this?
Voldemort- IMO I think movies like The Expendables, The A team, etc can be classified under the masala category.
Finally caught the movie on Prime. The story is very predictable except for the Saurabh-Khalid twist. Quite a few loose ends like why would the colonel call Naidu when he knows there’s a mole in RAW? Where does Hrithik get the plane which he uses to attack the second guy? Can colonel send 6 agents out of the country (tickets, visa et al) without informing anyone?
Only positive was watching the Hrithik-Tiger body off.
When I first read this review, I made a mental note of watching War at my leisure, as going to the theatres to watch a YRF film, that too a big-budget actioner, was a big no-no to me. Those bridges have been burnt, beyond repair, by now. And I’m glad it turned out to be the right decision in the end.
If one looks up the definition of a “wannabe” film, War would qualify in a canter. The film’s Hollywood-inspired action scenes are mostly flat and provide little adrenalin rush, if at all. Worse still, some of them just stretch indefinitely – to the point that one just wishes the ordeal were over, one way or another. In the era of Jason Bourne and Casino Royale, can there be a bigger misfit than a Sidharth Anand /YRF attempt at making a slick actioner for the Indian masses?
To be fair to the plot, there is some (much-needed) relevance to the current political climate – the idea of a “Nationalist Muslim” who is tainted by his father’s betrayal, and is out to restore his family’s honour, does hold some water. The only problem being: this exact plot point was used in Chak De India, which ironically released during a different regime. This makes the whole exercise appear a bit cynical. Jog your memories a few decades back, and lo and behold, the same theme permeates the excellent Kaala Pathar, another YRF creation, although it must be said, the standards used to be much higher back then.
I’ve often argued in the past that old-school masala registers need an upgrade – they need to keep up with the times – but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. The usual YRF (read Adi Chopra)/KJo “trademark” bling is all too visible, to the film’s detriment, of course. The cinematography emphasises bright and sunny hues when the story is anything but; the songs are generic and lacklustre – they even managed to make Hrithik, the dancing sensation, look commonplace in Jai Jai Shiv Shankar. Lesser crimes, in the past, have served as clarion calls for life-imprisonment!! Or calls to move to a neighbouring country.
Speaking of Hrithik, going past the obvious homoerotic tones of his character, which may or may not be intentional, I do think there was an opportunity missed. His character is loath to admit Khalid into his team because he killed his father and now fears revenge. Not because Khalid is a Muslim – a more intelligent script would have hinted at his Islamic-weariness, if not outright Islamophobia. That trait alone would have made his character much more interesting, more real, and the payoff would have been immense – Khalid’s innocence and loyalty winning over Kabir’s bigoted mind would have been the masala upgrade of our times. Rakeysh Mehra made this a very convincing and poignant character arc in Rang De Basanti, for reference.
Finally, the question for you, BR, is this: how is it that a film like War ranks high on your Tomatometer but Son Chiriya doesn’t? And I don’t mean that as an accusation – more of a polite enquiry, even if it doesn’t come across that way. The latter is a far superior film in every conceivable way; it carries a pro-feminist agenda in the times of #MeToo, expands on rural India’s brutal caste-divide, and despite the film’s ode to Polanski’s Chinatown, it’s not gimmicky in the least. War, in contrast, is just tired and old – not old as in “old-school” but old as in “putrid.”
Odiyan Hater
What put me off was that the movie looks like every other yashraj movie in many of the scenes – the same lighting, angles, shots etc.
Many scenes looked like they were out of a rom com, like a lazy sunday afternoon, like a 90s doordarshan show, like a rasna ad, like kuch na kaho…
Had me mates over, and over 2 bottles of Macallan, chips and tandoori chicken, we enjoyed the heck outta this!
War is quite simply that perfect “booze and bites” actioner, best enjoyed when some fine single malt is starting to course through your veins.
I say, if you’re gonna fuse the over-the-top physics defying stunts of the Fast &Furious flicks with the twisty plot of a Mission Impossible joint, and spice it up with some Bond-ian exotic locales,John Woo style gun ballet (with a wink to his “Face/Off” to boot) and HK cinema- inspired fights, you go all the way!
Rightly understanding that beefcake-driven action has a hefty chunk of “Man Love” powering it, War ramps up the homo eroticism to levels unseen since Val Kilmer invited Tom Cruise to be his “wingman”.
The script rightly avoids giving both it’s leads sustained love interests, because no gal stands a chance amidst the scorching “bromance” sparking between these 2 perfectly sculpted Adonises (I think I counted 16 packs and estimate a combined body fat of 4.5% between the both of them. The pressure to look as good alone would put most women off). I doubt if any of Hrithik’s heroines ever shot him a glance as warm, tender or loving as the one Tiger gives him at the first sight of Kabir alighting from the chopper.
Hrithik’s obviously having a lot more fun here than his normally constipated performances in love stories or period epics.
It’s so over the top, so silly, but so, so, so,so,so fun!
Masala done right! Let’s have more of this.
As usual, great comment from Saket and fine observation from KayKay. Glad you had a great time – albeit with able support from rich scotch.Foreign locales; firing scotch!!
My response to Saket’s comment –
Great comment Saket. But I would think you went in with a really different expectation/s.
There’s no doubt this is a Hollywood wannabe; and on that front, it scores. I did find it offensive and do still that BR equates our Hindi-masala to this film; thematically, perhaps yes, but execution-wise, absolutely no-which-way. Just because you have a Muslim ‘maa-scene’ thrown in, doesn’t make it a masala film. Anyway, the corruption of the masala universe began with the Vijay Mallya of the corruptors, Karan Johan, with his version of Agneepath, PAANIPATH. So for his protege to follow the same path, is no surprise.
I found the bike-sequences very well-done: Technically, this is a superior product from the Hindi-film industry: See, when you have stars like HR and TS, it is easy to make these kind of films, but with star-actors like Abhishek, you can’t sell these films: That’s why, AB was a perfect anti-dote to JA and HR in the DHOOM series. That Sanjay Gadhvi messed up in DHOOM 2 getting greedy with HR’s super-stardom and under-playing and making a joke out of Abhishek in D2 is no secret. But look how D1 captured JA versus AB. Movies are richer whenever there’s an even play-off. Why were the senior AB’S face-offs with Vinod, Shatru, Shashi, Manoj, Amjad, Rishi, so successful? Performance-wise, AB is the stamp of DEEWAR, but line-wise, philosophically, SHASHI’s MERE PAAS MA HAIN, will live-on for centuries..
For my part, I quite enjoyed the film; and frankly, the vibe that I got from this film and that made me enjoy it was ANDAR BAHAAR starring Jackie and Anil. Great fun, great time-pass!
And great to see the Bombay brightness captured after Amit’s Rote Hue…nostalgic!
“War”… Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff face off in a beautifully written action entertainer – Pune12.com →
October 3rd, 2019 → 21:36
Saket’s comment on War | SATYAMSHOT →
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The ‘bike swarm’ evolves into a movement of its own
Posted by Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor) on November 23rd, 2011 at 5:02 pm
Bike swarm participants in downtown Portland during the N17 protests.
(Photo: Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)
The ‘bike swarm’, like the Occupy movement itself, isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s getting stronger and smarter.
“With bikes you have so much mobility, it really changes the game, it opens up this whole new realm of possibilities of what you can do.”
— Katherine Ball
What began on the morning of November 13th as a way to lend support to Occupy campers facing eviction by the Portland Police Bureau, has evolved into an ongoing movement of its own; complete with dedicated volunteers, a new website, and strategy meetings.
Some in the community have voiced concerns about bike swarms’ intentions to obstruct the police. Others say they’d rather not have bicycling politicized by being injected into the Occupy demonstrations. But those involved in the swarm say they are committed to non-violent, legal activities and they point to their recent actions as proof that their methods are peaceful, law-abiding, and most importantly, successful.
Just what is the bike swarm?
In a nutshell, it’s a group or groups of people riding bikes during marches and other demonstrations. The people on bikes support the protests, and because they’re not on foot, they have strategic advantages: Bikes are vehicles so they’re allowed on the street; people on bikes have greater sight lines (especially those on double-decker tall bikes); and bike riders can move more quickly than people on foot.
Katherine Ball has helped the bike
swarm evolve in Portland.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Katherine Ball, a 27 year old activist currently enrolled in a Masters program at Portland State University, has been one of the more active participants in the bike swarms. “With bikes you have so much mobility,” she says, “it really changes the game, it opens up this whole new realm of possibilities of what you can do.”
Reid Parham, a 26 year old software engineer and Portland resident, has also participated in several bike swarm actions. He describes the role of the swarm as “maintaining the presence [of the protestors], but not being antagonistic at all.” While he speaks to the important strategic role the bikes have played at recent demonstrations, Parham says that the morale boosting impact the swarm has at marches is “absolutely, unquestionably the best part of it.”
Beyond the morale support and technical advantages, the symbolism of the bicycle during these events shouldn’t be underestimated.
Portland-based religious historian Keith Watkins, who hadn’t participated in any of the Occupy demonstrations until being inspired by the swarm, wrote about it in a recent entry on his blog:
“This small group of Portlanders used the unique features of human powered, two-wheeled vehicles in a wonderfully creative manner.
By rolling along through streets jammed with people, they maintained the principle that these streets are there to provide places for traffic to flow.
By their personal vulnerability on their fragile machines, they accented the importance of using modest modes of demonstrating power.
They manifested a whimsical spirit that seemed able to soften both sides of the often-tense face-offs.
… On this one long night… a few cyclists earned the respect of the city in a way that increases my delight that I too am a cyclist in this wonderful place.”
The impetus for the swarm began on the eve of the eviction, as Occupy Portland supporters got together to dream up ways to deal with the threat of police action. Once the riot police showed up and the standoff began, the bike swarm did laps around Chapman and Lownsdale parks for many hours. Occupy Portland campers and other supporters gave high-fives and shouted “Thank you cyclists!” as the pack rode by.
The presence of bikes looping around
the parks made a difference
as the encampment faced eviction.
The climax of the swarm that morning was when the last line of riot-gear laden police relented their blockage of SW Madison Street and let a pack of swarmers roll through (that moment was caught on video by Dan Kaufman).
Ball was one of the leaders that night. She says there was so much positive energy among bike swarm participants that “there was an obvious sense that we should do it again.”
Ball collected names and emails and another activist, Dan Kaufman, started an email list (with the subject line of “Bike Check” — a play on the people’s microphone call of “Mic check”) and began spreading word of the swarm among other people in the bike scene.
That enthusiasm carried over into the bike swarm’s second big day of action — supporting the N17 demonstrations.
Ball and others reported that the bike swarm numbered about 100 people at the start of the N17 march. Despite claims that the police had hacked into their text messages and tried to confuse swarmers, Ball says N17 was another big success.
“It was much different than at the eviction, we broke up into four different groups. One was to create diversions for the cops, another was to go up on the sidewalk and create a barrier between cops and the march, another group went in front of the march, and the last group stayed on the opposite side of the street.”
Ball was in the diversion group and recalls that they gave the police “something else to think about” besides Occupiers taking over downtown banks.
The legal grey area that bikes occupy came into play during the N17 protests.
At one point Ball recalled one of the bike groups was surrounded by riot cops near Pioneer Square. The bike riders were legally in the street and they weren’t doing anything illegal. Then they began to chant, “Where’s it legal to ride your bike? In the road!” That moment created what Ball refers to as an “interesting role reversal, when we are following the law and the police are obstructing the law [by standing in traffic].”
“I want to operate in that [legal] grey area,” Ball continued, “Because it’s the space of greatest possibility.”
When I asked Ball about how that tactic might be considered confrontational, she explained that her method is to be “really nice to the cops.” Instead of yelling, “This isn’t illegal!”, for instance, Ball would ask them calmly, “Is this illegal?” Her goal is to keep things “playful”. “We need to have more of a dialogue with them.”
One criticism leveled against the bike swarm concept is that it drags bicycling into the muck of controversial political movements. More controversy and political baggage is the last thing bicycling needs, or so goes the argument.
Ball feels that it’s not a bad thing to politicize bicycling.
“I think it’s a big problem in the U.S. that we’re so afraid of politicizing things. We need to get involved in shaping the world we want. Shying away from participating in democracy or in politics is obviously not the right thing to do right now.”
Swarm participants
during N17 actions.
(Photo: Occupy Oregon)
The N17 bike swarm gave Ball and others a chance to try out new ways of participating in our democracy. “It worked,” she recalls, “and we thought, this is really exciting.”
Another bike swarm volunteer proposed a strategy meeting the next day. Over 30 people showed up, many more than anyone expected.
At that meeting, the group re-affirmed their goals and took charge of bike swarm’s future. They discussed a proactive communications strategy, which included buying the PDXBikeSwarm.org domain name and starting a Twitter account; and they discussed how best to deal with the legal grey areas bikes often find themselves in during the demonstrations.
“We agreed that our image so far is celebratory, festive, light-hearted and supportive to the protest actions that we buzz around,” read notes from the meeting.
The bike swarm seems to share much of the spirit — if not the practical methods — of critical mass. In some ways, the bike swarm is kinder, gentler, and more thoughtful than critical mass. Sort of like critical mass 2.0. For many activists that participated in critical mass, there was an adrenaline that came with ‘taking over the streets’. That sense of excitement helped fuel much of America’s modern-day bike advocacy; but it never quite led to the revolution on our roads many of us still hope for.
The bike swarm, standing on the shoulders of critical mass and bolstered by the Occupy movement, has a chance to do that. And for Ball, our love of bicycling and what it represents is precisely what could make it happen.
“How do we make the revolution as exciting as the next iPod?” she wonders, “That’s one of the things bicycles bring to this movement.”
Meeting flyer
If you’d like to learn more about the bike swarm, or consider getting involved, come to a meeting this Friday at 7:00pm at the Lucky Lab Brewpub on SE 12th and Hawthorne 8:00 pm at 707 NE Broadway #203. Stay tuned to PDXBikeSwarm.org for more details.
Family Biking: Preludes to pedaling their own set of wheels July 3, 2018
Gravel 'Epic' lures riders to Oregon Coast Range and delivers on its promises May 7, 2018
ODOT's McKenzie Pass is now carfree, but you ride at your own risk May 3, 2018
National Bike Summit: The health of the bike movement — and its future under Trump March 6, 2017
PDXsays November 23, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Swarm! Swarm! Swarm! Swarm! That is all.
Daniel Keller November 23, 2011 at 5:35 pm
I love the Bike Swarm!
shirtsoff November 24, 2011 at 9:37 am
I love Bike Swarm too!
browse November 23, 2011 at 6:04 pm
I’m proud to have ridden in the N17 swarm, and I look forward to riding in one again soon.
Nick V November 23, 2011 at 6:08 pm
This is a good and thorough story, Jonathan. However, no matter how “nice” the swarm is to police, they’re still preventing them from doing their job. Yes, the bike swarm cyclists are helping the Occupy protestors, but what exactly are the Occupy protestors accomplishing? As I’ve written before on your blog, there are far more direct and non-confrontational ways to get one’s point across to the Wall Street fat cats.
sorebore November 23, 2011 at 6:19 pm
o.k. Nick V., I’ll take the bait. since I missed your suggestion’s before, could you provide a link or quote?
I don’t know how to dig up past posts but I believe that the way to make a statement to Wall Street is by moving your money to a smaller bank or credit union and then STOP buying any and all of the needless gadgets and “stuff” that I see so many protestors carrying and using (smartphones, for example, who needs ’em?). These purchases only make rich people richer. My two cents.
Ringer November 24, 2011 at 2:19 am
So, you use a computer, not a smart phone. I think your missing something.
Nick V November 24, 2011 at 4:05 am
I use a computer for work and to stay informed. What exactly am I missing?
Ringer November 25, 2011 at 11:20 am
I don’t think denying technology is a postive step
9watts November 26, 2011 at 11:17 am
I don’t think posting obtuse ill-considered one-liners on a bike blog is a postive step.
Kevin November 25, 2011 at 12:30 am
I think a good example is I buy a laptop from someone say…ASUS as opposed to Apple because Apple is the most guilty corporation when it comes to hoarding vast billions of dollars of liquid cash (about 70 billion at last count). Money just sitting there doing nothing, not moving the economy, not hiring people, not going to charity. its idle money and idle money is terrible for the economy. Yet look at any footage of a protest and it comes off as an apple commercial.
Otto November 27, 2011 at 3:45 am
You can’t hire people for phantom jobs. What is Apple supposed to do, have an Apple store on every corner like Starbucks? Maybe they can hire an army of people to be janitors or company roofers. Or they can make 300 million iPads just for Americans but then have an excess inventory problem because, you know, there is such a thing as competition in computing. Instead of making great computer products maybe they should just camp out in a park for five weeks and plan bike swarms. The reason they have a lot of cash is because they make products that a lot of people want and voluntarily buy. Just because they don’t immediately burn through the cash or they’re not as “charitable” as you think they should be doesn’t make them a bad company. In fact, just the opposite because they don’t need bailouts like the banksters or faux philanthropy to score lame PR points. Would you feel better if Apple had trillions in debt like the U.S. government?
Come on man, stay focused on the real culprits. Apple didn’t bankrupt the U.S. economy and they don’t run Portland.
By the way, it’s not “idle money”. It’s called savings. Something Americans should learn a thing or two about and if they did there wouldn’t be as much credit financed over-consumption, which is the cause of our economic problems. Savings means less comsumption and less debt service. Companies and people who save don’t need bailouts. So if you were thinking straight you would encourage savings, rather than call it “evil”.
Which is it swarmers and occupiers, are you against “idle money” or over-consumption? Make up your
Otto November 27, 2011 at 10:28 am
The smart phone makers provide a lot of jobs to working people and app developers. Also, mobile devices helped protesters organize and share information that isn’t filtered by mainstream media or censored. You don’t help people by taking away choices they’ve already made.
Rich November 24, 2011 at 9:54 am
Nick, I ask this in sincerity: what are the more direct methods of confronting Wall Street Fat Cats that you endorse?
shirtsoff November 24, 2011 at 1:20 pm
Is Nick V a legitimate person or a paid corporate contracted employee here to skew the discussion? His comment, which fails to acknowledge that bicycles are a central piece of Swarm activity and thus pertinent to BikePortland.org, rings several warning signs in my head and reminds of a recent BBC article on fake user comments (see link below). Fake or not, he has a point to push even if it flies in the face of public will for the masses.
Allan Folz November 25, 2011 at 1:02 am
What are the Occupiers accomplishing? In LA they are getting the word out that we need a presidential administration that will prosecute the absolute and undeniable fraud from Wall Street that created this whole situation in the first place.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=198032
Mark November 23, 2011 at 6:20 pm
Critical Mass lite
Straybike November 23, 2011 at 6:50 pm
N17 was a real show of nonviolent participation by the entire OccupyPDX movement, when Police Presence was at a peak. There was no Swarm interference with Police only a distraction when the music was loud and the police were tapping there boots to the beat. We have established the right to ride in the streets, and are free to exercise that right. We demonstrated peacefully during the police free march/ride on N19. Critical mass has evolved in Portland continuing to promote cycling as an acceptable way of life in this great city. Swarm is that evolution using the bicycle as a tool to expand creative thinking and allow participation in public activism outside of just cycling.
Champs November 23, 2011 at 7:03 pm
Keeping with BP editorial guidelines, “people on bikes” are getting involved.
As for politics, this is Portland. Bikes and/or beer will get involved in every issue, whether someone cures cancer or becomes the next Hitler.
Hugh Johnson November 23, 2011 at 7:07 pm
Just when I thought Jonathan could move on from the polarizing politics. : (
sabes November 23, 2011 at 7:39 pm
All this is assuming that Occupy shouldn’t have been evicted. I’m all for peaceful protest, and love the bike swarm idea, but maybe there is a better way to protest Wall Street than occupying a city park, which, really, didn’t accomplish much at all.
Actually, Occupy Wall Street and all the local solidarity sites have already accomplished far more than I thought possible and far more than anything I’ve seen. Occupy has changed the narrative and changed the conversation. That is the first step, and the hardest to make.
wade November 23, 2011 at 7:51 pm
do you think people choosing to move money to smaller banks or credit unions would have happened without the occupy movement? i really don’t know the stats on that, i mean, how much money is leaving and going to other friendlier places, but according to democracy now the amount of lobbyists representing banks in washington has increased considerably. and the human microphone. people are showing up all over the place and human microphoning. without occupy, unlikely that it would be currently happening. i’m so into the human microphone. the bike swarm seems to be the alterna-critical mass a lot of people have been looking for, something smart and playful yet engaged, although not requiring clowning or miming. i haven’t been, so perhaps i’m off on this. and i agree about politicizing transportation cycling/cycling in general. does anyone else feel like the people who could come out and make a stand aren’t because they’re protecting their brand?
9watts November 23, 2011 at 8:27 pm
Hurray for bikes, hurray for civil disobedience, hurray for creative protesting.
Hart Noecker November 23, 2011 at 9:29 pm
If the job of the police involves harassing and arresting people for exercising their freedom of speech rights, I’ll gladly use my bike to prevent them from doing their job.
Dan Kaufman November 24, 2011 at 10:12 am
The Problem is Civil Obedience
by Howard Zinn, 1970
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/CivilObedience_ZR.html
are November 24, 2011 at 11:49 am
fabulous link, dan, thanks. would rather read this than this
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/11/16/presidential-proclamation-thanksgiving-day-2011
on “thanksgiving day”
BURR November 24, 2011 at 12:27 pm
And here’s two more links to stimulate your grey cells on T-Day:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/6471
Kiel Johnson November 24, 2011 at 2:29 pm
Katherine ball is so hot
maxadders November 25, 2011 at 9:28 am
The whole reason the cops didn’t tackle any of these folks during the park evictions is because bikes are already politicized to a huge extent here. Conservatives whine a bunch about “special treatment” and “pet projects” whenever safety or infrastructure improvements are brought up. Liberals almost universally support pro-bike measures. If you think bikes are a neutral entity, you’re living under a rock.
Thankfully this swarm thing was as ineffectual and embarrassing as I’d expected. What’s that saying about Portland being passive-aggressive? I think it applies here.
“Thankfully this swarm thing was as ineffectual and embarrassing as I’d expected.”
Says you. I beg to differ. So there!
wsbob November 25, 2011 at 12:34 pm
“The whole reason the cops didn’t tackle any of these folks during the park evictions is because bikes are already politicized to a huge extent here. …” maxadders
I doubt this to be the reason the police haven’t much interfered with the bikeswarm effort. All reports so far about bikeswarm’s activities seem to be that this effort has been upbeat and not antagonistic or obstructive. People riding for bikeswarm have just been riding around OP’s appearances, expressing their personal views, offering words of support to people in general.
Have they been dragging their bikes in large numbers en masse into shoppng malls and bank lobbies in efforts to interfere or block day to day activities in such places? Deliberately attempting to block doorways or streets with their bikes? Haven’t heard anything like this. As they’ve been riding around, have they been calling out antagonistic taunts or names to the cops? Haven’t heard anything like this either.
maxadders November 25, 2011 at 6:29 pm
I watched the park evictions live on TV a couple weeks ago– twenty people slowly circling a police action on bicycles looked pretty pointless to me. Guess I had to be there.
Hart Noecker November 27, 2011 at 11:03 am
That’s what you get when you let corporate media show you a sliver of events, your narrow view will match what you’re spoon fed.
Troix November 26, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Nick V – what are they accomplishing? The national political dialogue has shifted towards job creation instead of the Tea Party driven austerity measures that were all we heard about before the OCW arrival. That alone is an important result on the federal level. Its a young movement – it will evolve it’s message and hopefully work towards more specific goals, but it is amazing to me that folks like you expect an organic movement to gel quickly because of your own impatience. Your impatience is your own issue – please don’t dump it on this social movement.
jim November 27, 2011 at 10:16 am
Why arent they riding circles around the white house? This administration is getting filthy rich from inside knowledge about stocks before legislation afects them. It should be illegal but they know the loopholes and how to avoid jail.
JF November 28, 2011 at 11:45 am
Is the “Bike Swarm” associated with Occupy or not? Is it a stand alone group which happens to ride along to be pesky during any protest or civil disobedience action? Or are they Occupy protestors who happen to ride bikes as well?
If it is with occupy, i have a good idea of what message the “Bike Swarm” is trying to say. If it is a stand alone group, what exactly is the message/statement the swarm is trying to get out there?
Dan Kaufman November 28, 2011 at 2:52 pm
The swam is a tactic that was popularized during the recent Copenhagen Climate Conference. The PDX bike Swarm was hatched from OccupyPDX meetings from a desire to plug bicycles and bicyclists into the protest.
I shouldn’t speak for PDX Swarm but I feel that fact should answer your question. That said, there is nothing I know of that prevents the swarm from flying where it wants.
JF November 28, 2011 at 4:44 pm
So they are occupy supporters that ride bikes. Is that true?
I was not questioning the tactic or where the idea of swarm came from, but rather what is the Pdx bike swarm message if not with occupy?
Yes, JF, I’d say that is true (as well as the converse).
The swarm has not developed a specific message other than the act of supporting the occupy protest and demonstrations. I hope that answers your question.
Man, you are *so* caught up in the dominant paradigm, it’s eerie.
This reply was supposed to appear under:
If they want to be a swarm shouldn’t they all dress up like bees?
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Open thread: What are you thankful for? »
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Imagining an inner Powell that would actually solve the street’s problems
Posted by Michael Andersen (Contributor) on July 26th, 2016 at 2:46 pm
When more people use cars on a street, it becomes less and less efficient. When more people use mass transit, it becomes more and more efficient.
(Image: Nick Falbo)
The City of Portland and the State of Oregon both say they want to free more of their constituents from traffic congestion and to reduce planet-killing pollution.
There’s no mystery at all about what this would look like on inner Powell Boulevard. Everyone with some measure of power who has considered the issue knows the answer. But for some reason, the millions of public dollars spent talking about that possible answer have never resulted in a street-level picture of it.
That changed Monday when a Portland-based street designer, Nick Falbo, threw up a rough image of a Powell that would get more and more efficient as more people use it rather than less and less efficient.
Here’s the full before-and-after rendering Falbo shared on his Twitter feed:
Notice how both images feature the same number of cars.
Falbo’s day job is with Alta Planning + Design, but his Twitter feed is his own.
In March, project managers pulled the plug on short-term plans for a “rapid” bus line on inner Powell because they realized it wouldn’t actually be rapid. There was one basic reason: the Oregon Department of Transportation had silently vetoed the possibility of fully prioritizing bus traffic over car traffic with a dedicated lane, and no politicians in the state, city or regional government had tried to force them to do otherwise.
Would removing cars from two lanes of Powell in favor of buses (plus ambulances and, maybe, trucks) get a lot of people angry? Of course it would. Is it far easier and less stressful for an independent contractor like Falbo to throw up a nice-looking image and enjoy the cheers from like-minded folks on the Internet? Definitely.
But there’s a reason that people cheer for images like this one. Unlike any other traffic plan for inner Powell, including the status quo, it offers a way to actually solve the problems before us, rather than closing our eyes and hoping our grandchildren never ask us why we never got around to making those problems go away.
— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org
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metro, nick falbo, oregon department of transportation, se powell blvd
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My neighbors actually showed up! Maybe it was just the free ice cream September 14, 2018
Spiffy July 26, 2016 at 2:55 pm
I was just over at the Powell-Division Transit Development Project web site (http://www.oregonmetro.gov/public-projects/powell-division-transit-and-development-project) yesterday to see what was going on and I took the survey this morning…
it focused exclusively on Division…
I filled out the forms and felt like they were completely avoiding the issue of non-transit commute traffic on Division…
they stated less stops, better signal timing, and larger buses as reasons it will speed up the street…
what they forgot to account for was the currently congestion level that will never let them realize any greater speeds due to the bus sitting in traffic…
I wasn’t happy…
in the comments section at the end I stated that they needed to move this idea over to Powell and dedicate an entire lane for the bus so it wouldn’t get stuck in traffic…
Josh Gold July 26, 2016 at 3:16 pm
I left the same comments you did about dedicated bus line for Powell. Also recommended to look at moving #10 off Clinton between 21st and 26th, and asked for more frequent service during peak times for #4 to alleviate crowding.
Betsy Reese July 26, 2016 at 5:29 pm
Thanks for recommending that the #10 be moved off Clinton, Josh.
I and other advocates have been told for years that the #10 bus cannot be moved off Clinton over to Division Street because it cannot make the turn at SE. 26th Ave. and Division.
Here is proof that it can and does every time it is detoured from Clinton. I watched this detour operate smoothly again yesterday while Clinton was closed between 25th and 26th for movie filming.
See my Youtube video of the #10 – easily, smoothly, and without leaving its lane – making the turn from Division to 26th southbound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y4Pd6tPHgU&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share
Let’s get this big bus off our Greenway for these five blocks.
Spiffy July 27, 2016 at 8:11 am
speaking of getting buses off the greenways, I’d like to get the 71 off of Lincoln from 52nd to 60th and have it also take Division instead…
Adam H. July 27, 2016 at 9:14 am
I agree! The bus seems to have trouble getting around the traffic islands on Lincoln. TriMet did this a few times, so I know it’s possible.
nuovorecord July 27, 2016 at 9:27 am
“…seems to have trouble getting around the traffic islands on Lincoln.”
I ride the 71 a lot. This is certainly not the case.
I also ride the 71 a lot. The “trouble” is that the bus driver has to greatly slow down to get around them. Which means the islands are working, I suppose, but why even have the bus driver deal with that when the bus could be routed over Division instead?
Daniel Costantino July 27, 2016 at 10:11 am
Yes please! It would be great to have that bus turn onto Division between 52nd and 60th.
Dick Pilz July 28, 2016 at 2:21 pm
The claim I heard, at a neighborhood meeting about the 50s bikeway, was a southbound bus could not negotiate the right turn from 60th onto Division
paikiala July 27, 2016 at 2:47 pm
Betsy,
The video needs to be more clear as to the constraint/lack thereof. A view from 26th south of Division looking NW that shows the bus number, where it started it’s turn, and the distance from the corner, would better illustrate the feasibility of the movement.
eawrist July 26, 2016 at 3:21 pm
DOTs in cities around the country (such as PBOT) in many cases have a clear precedent of successful design, have the relevant research, know what design lends itself to safer and cleaner neighborhoods and what is ultimately better for our future. Their hands are equally tied by political positioning and constraints that render projects ultimately ineffective. This is what happened to the Powell-Division project.
We know what to make, we just don’t have the politicians who will do it.
Adam H. July 26, 2016 at 3:25 pm
The Powell-Divison BRT project is dead as initially envisioned. The project is now effectively an express Division bus, running entirely in mixed traffic. Which itself is a good improvement, but it is not BRT. Why do Metro and TriMet need until 2021 if all that’s being done is the removal of a few stops and nicer bus shelters?
Hello, Kitty July 26, 2016 at 3:02 pm
I agree that something like this has to be the future of Powell, however, the “same number of cars” caption sort of glosses over the fact that the photo shows a very low-volume time of day. There is no way a redone street could carry anywhere near the volume of vehicular traffic Powell does when it is full (which it is much of the time).
Many people (here and elsewhere) complain about the changes to Division (which were much less dramatic than this proposal). How would a redone street actually function in practice?
Images are powerful, and I hope that these help move the conversation beyond where it has been stuck for approximately forever.
PS A minor quibble: my understanding is that ODOT didn’t veto the idea of a dedicated lane on Powell because no one asked.
Totally agree. One of my frustrations with this project was that “retention of car lanes” was a metric of success from the very beginning. The project was set up to fail.
Is this true? Was that ever a stated goal or criteria of the project?
When using the interactive plan map, every single segment on Powell said something along the lines of whether it could be done without interfering with motor traffic. Why even state that if it wasn’t a goal of the project?
Probably because they didn’t want to scare off the 95% of Portlanders who don’t want to disrupt auto traffic on Powell? (Because where would it go? Probably more would filter through the adjacent neighborhoods.)
I don’t know what this was ever an official goal of the project in the way you presented it; it was probably seen as a constraint on what was politically feasible.
I want to be clear that I do want to take a closer look at lane removal on Powell, but I recognize that most people would oppose it, making it a very tough political sell.
I don’t buy scaring people away as a valid reason. We elected our leaders to lead, and it’s their job to convince us why it’s needed. Come up with a compelling argument why we need this project, rather than throwing up their arms and dejecting “well, this will make people upset”. Someone is always going to get upset, but we need our elected leaders to make tough (even unpopular) choices that will benefit everyone in the long run.
Of course they should lead. But they also need to reflect the will of the people who elected them, otherwise they won’t get elected again. I agree that Powell needs a reboot, but I am really unsure how accomplish it.
I would argue that the job of elected officials is not solely to represent the will of the people, but to work towards a future that benefits all their constituents as well. I’m willing to bet that highway widening would poll well in the region, but most of us here would agree that is bad for our future. Let the government represent the will of the people, but also let them make the decision on implementation. If the will of the people is to “solve our transportation issues” let Metro come to the conclusion that bus lanes on Powell would solve that and help more people that it would inconvenience.
Keviniano July 26, 2016 at 4:45 pm
I think that the TriMet version of BRT will rarely have 24/7 dedicated lanes. If they thought a project deserved that, they would want to put in a MAX line.
Not saying I agree with that approach, but it seems like that’s how they think about it at a high level.
Tri-Met on an ODOT road = ODOT vision = more cars. ODOT staff has actually told PBOT staff that projects like Clinton are messing up their roads.
What we really need is for PBOT to get control of Powell and other not-highway highways.
was carless July 27, 2016 at 10:53 pm
That will never happen. It’s a state Highway and a nuclear evacuation route. They won’t even allow signals or crosswalks on Powell or Barbur because it could interfere with troop movements.
eawrist July 28, 2016 at 5:25 am
Wow. We really need ODOT out of Pland ASAP.
Michael Andersen (News Editor) July 26, 2016 at 8:52 pm
Yeah, it’s entirely possible that no staffer for TriMet, Metro, PBOT, etc, ever actually transmitted the words to any ODOT staffer “seeing as it’s the only actual solution to rush-hour congestion on inner Powell, why don’t we have a dedicated bus lane there?” ODOT’s cultural conservatism creates a pretty convenient villain for people at other, less conservative agencies who would rather not force the question. Same goes for politicians.
Ultimately, it’s on our politicians — Gov. Brown, state legislators, the city councils, the Metro council — to force difficult questions. Not ODOT staff, though IMO the top ODOT staff could be forcing them if they wanted to and they could also be doing a better job of making it feel safer for the questions to be asked.
Hello, Kitty July 26, 2016 at 10:09 pm
Ultimately, it’s on its to make sure our politicians are asking the hard questions, and won’t be out of a job if they do.
Chris Anderson July 27, 2016 at 12:03 pm
ODOT is insulated from political pressure. So wouldn’t it be nice if they would use that situation for good instead of evil?
Blake July 30, 2016 at 2:22 pm
I don’t think ODOT is insulated from political pressure, it is just getting a good deal of cover from Governor Kate Brown who has the power to appoint the 5 member commission who is the parent agency for ODOT. If the governor decided that the approach ODOT took was inappropriate, she could push change.
It might meet bureaucratic resistance but I doubt the pressure is being pushed from the Governor’s office for a change of priorities to something more progressive like PBOT: http://bikeportland.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/green-hierarchy.jpg
For example, the governor would not be talking about freeway expansion as a tool to reduce congestion in a positive light like this: https://twitter.com/OregonGovBrown/status/758739322627436546
As Oregon moves to becoming a more reliably blue state, it would seem possible to change the person who is at the top to someone with more progressive transportation priorities (at least relative to other states where getting a Democrat elected is more difficult).
m July 26, 2016 at 3:07 pm
It’s disingenuous to take a picture during a non-rush hour period and say the “after” shows the same number of cars. Powell is packed with cars during rush hour. We all know that. That said, it makes no sense to install a BRT without a dedicated lane. Car capacity will be cut by 50% but it is worth it to encourage the use of BRT – It has the speed of trains with the lower expense of Buses.
My view is that the “powers that be” never really want BRT all along but would much prefer to wait so they can install MAX down the road. BRT is practical but not sexy. Tri-Met likes sexy.
Light rail was never on the table despite 50% of the survey results contained comments who were interested or in support. If Metro wanted LRT, they did not want it to happen soon.
Exactly. Their focus now is on Southwest to Bridgeport Village.
Yeah, Powell never looks like that except maybe at 3 am. That being said, we shouldn’t even care about how many cars we can fit on Powell at all. We should care about the effect the road has on our built-up neighborhoods and how we can use public right-of-way to improve livability. Don’t like how slow Powell is now? Well, then why not take this fancy new bus or MAX line we just built?
Right now, Powell functions as a car sewer and nothing else. Crossing on foot at rush hour takes forever because the signals are timed for maximum car throughput. Everyone seems to complain about traffic reducing their quality of life, but what about the quality of life for the people who live nearby? Powell is hugely detrimental for those who live along the corridor, and it’s high time we fix that. We can even improve things for drivers if we get them to take the bus instead, so there’s no drawback to this.
Charley July 26, 2016 at 4:20 pm
WORD. I live off of Powell. It’s a transportation barrier to me, not a transportation corridor. I route my whole commute around how to avoid Powell. My wife and I love our neighborhood, but Powell is like a giant festering wound in the middle of it. There’s little beauty or fun commerce on Powell- mostly strip clubs and weird old greasy restaurants. It will always be like that as long as Powell is a highway.
I also live a block from Powell. I frequently take the 9 bus to get downtown so it does function as a transportation corridor for me, though it often gets stuck in car traffic. Walking along or crossing Powell on foot, however, is not a pleasant experience. There is so much lost potential and it’s all because of how dangerous Powell is for anyone not in a vehicle.
Craig Giffen July 27, 2016 at 11:45 am
Powell is actually fun to bike on at 3am, if you see a car though, get the hell off the road because the driver is either drunk, driving 20mph over, or both!
Eric Leifsdad July 26, 2016 at 3:10 pm
ODOT out of Portland!
B. Carfree July 26, 2016 at 3:15 pm
Step Two: ODOT out of Oregon.
Nice drawing. However, it would fail California’s standards for bike lanes since he left the street light pole in what should be the clear zone for the bike lane. The lack of any clear zone on our bike facilities is a constant irritant and safety hazard. It’s long past time for us to raise our game in this regard.
if you want to move the light pole because it’s a foot away from the bike lane then you’ll need to move all the trees as well…
meh July 26, 2016 at 3:23 pm
What’s the definition of efficient here? Is taking twice as long to travel to and from a location an efficient use of my time? Waiting for mass transit is not an efficient use of time.
Waiting in a car in traffic is a much worse waste of time for everyone else.
also waiting behind a bus in the bike lane.
I hear you. DC just decided to designate a shared bus/bike lane on a major street. Remember dodging buses on Williams? Yeah.
SaferStreetsPlease July 26, 2016 at 3:33 pm
BRT would run often and be much more efficient than driving during peak hours if Powell were redesigned as such. I’m not going to hold my breath since ODOT is involved.
dan July 26, 2016 at 3:40 pm
So many people agree with you that we have 1+ hour commute times to the outer suburbs. In those circumstances, personally I would much rather take transit (and do, when I visit my parents in Vancouver on weekday evenings) – at least I can read rather than creep along at 10 mph. It is, of course, your prerogative to prefer holding the wheel and creeping along at 10 mph. 🙂
JeffS July 26, 2016 at 6:59 pm
No, that’s absolutely not the measurement.
Perhaps if you want to factor in the extra time you have to work to pay your insurance, tax, registration and gas, then maybe.
Cheaper, faster, and more convenient isn’t the benchmark for mass transit.
I gladly choose 60 minutes of care-free playing on my phone/internet and chatting with society over 30-45 minutes of stress being on high-alert for idiots breaking the law with only a radio as my escape…
meh,
People moved per hour, not cars moved per hour.
Yes. I would also add the oft overlooked variable of whether during this movement people report they are happy or not.
GlowBoy July 29, 2016 at 10:18 am
As someone who uses both bikes and mass transit regularly for transportation, I disagree about transit being an inefficient use of time.
In fact, I often make the decision to use transit instead of a bike precisely because I’m short on time that day. On a bus or train, I get work done (or maybe just some reading I haven’t gotten to, if it fits my mood). Can’t do that in a car or on a bike.
Yes, transit can take longer to get somewhere, but that’s just a simplistic view of how we use our time as it is to eschew biking because it often takes longer than driving.
– Time spent in a car is completely unproductive other than getting you to your destination.
– Time on a bike is less wasteful because you’re getting where you’re going and getting exercise at the same time. Yes, the transportation aspect often takes longer than by car, but it’s time efficient because the amount of time spent is still less than if I’d driven to my destination, then driven to the gym and worked out separately to get that half hour of exercise.
– Likewise, time spent in transit vehicles is efficiently spent because I’m getting where I’m going and working at the same time. Again, this generally takes longer than by car, (and usually longer than bike, if transfers are involved), but the total amount of time spent is still less than if I’d driven to my destination and done the same amount of work at a desk somewhere,
Huey Lewis July 26, 2016 at 3:29 pm
Because I’m clueless; what is the clear zone? What the f does California have to do with this?
Huey Lewis July 27, 2016 at 9:21 am
Fantastic. All the mega commenters on this site and no one can answer a question.
Did you not get the Googles installed on your computer?
Huey Lewis July 27, 2016 at 10:10 am
With all the people who seemingly never leave BP ever I figured someone could answer. I check BP a couple times a day. And sometimes not at all! Blue collar work doesn’t allow me non stop internet access through out the day.
The “clear zone” is used for highways and is empty space along the roadway so that a driver who leaves the roadway doesn’t crash into something. It’s been shown to actually reduce safety because its existence encourages speeding.
Hello, Kitty July 27, 2016 at 9:46 am
This is exactly why I like on-street parking!
Thanks, Adam.
Bjorn July 26, 2016 at 4:26 pm
It is going to need enforcement cameras too or people will just drive down the red lane.
much like how people drive in the Belmont bus-only lanes… never seen a cop in that area during commute…
I’ve taken the Tour d’ODOT and Powell is a mess. It needs to be safe.
David Lewis July 26, 2016 at 5:17 pm
Maybe we should ask why we have these problems to begin with!
A big reason is that Powell (US 26) is part of the National Highway System. And, thanks to extremely short-sighted performance measures being pushed by FHWA, the priority for our streets is to move cars as rapidly as possible. This being, of course, at the expense of mobility for people. 🙁
http://t4america.org/2016/07/27/a-large-congressional-delegation-asks-usdot-to-improve-the-proposed-congestion-rule/
Nick Falbo July 26, 2016 at 6:54 pm
Thanks for the share Michael!
Implementing this would require a dramatic departure from our standard practices with regards to accommodating motor vehicle traffic. Portland is learning where their limit is when it comes to road diets, and this drawing goes so far beyond their limits that it is unlikely to be taken seriously. I do hope however that it can become a discussion point for asking some questions about my future option vs. today:
Which street can move the most people?
Which street produces the highest speed for transit?
Which streets produces the highest serious injury crash rate?
Which street can be more economically prosperous?
Which street can support the future population growth of our town centers on Powell and in Lents?
Which street gets more people to their work on time, reliably?
My take is that the answer to all of these questions is the multimodal version of the street.
Ms.Haole July 27, 2016 at 10:58 am
I want to get involved and do everything I can to make dedicated BRT or light rail on Powell a reality. Is there anything I can do aside from just attending the Powell-Division Transit meetings, and writing to politicians? Can we somehow band together to pressure Trimet/ODOT/politicians?
Eric Leifsdad July 27, 2016 at 10:43 pm
If we look at how much we’re willing to spend on road maintenance, our “limit” for road diets looks like: most streets are closed to through auto traffic and arterials are as you’ve shown above.
I know — suggesting we stick to a budget isn’t taken seriously. Hey, no problem: we’ll just add some toll lanes to the freeway.
I think it’s important to note the corridor itself negated the potential effects that LRT would have in connecting the East parts of the metro area. The narrow corridor as it was defined prior to the project precluded any consideration of anything other than Powell-Division. This was both nonsensical and predictive of one impossible solution. A line from the Tillicum down Powell connecting at 205 would not be one line (i.e. it would allow lines on existing track to Clackamas, to the PDX and to Gresham). The effects multiply with connectivity. The narrow corridor mindset made the project essentially worthless from the get go.
Straddle bus. Should be able to buy them in a few years from China.
John Liu July 27, 2016 at 1:34 am
I don’t understand how the rendering fits with the actual dimensions of Powell.
Powell is five lanes wide, currently four travel lanes (two in each direction) and a center turn lane.
The rendering shows four travel lanes (a car and a bus lane in each section), two bike lanes (look like each is 5′ wide), and a center bus stop island that looks about as wide as a lane.
Seems to me the rendering assumes you can squeeze one more 10 foot wide lane into Powell. Maybe you can, but if there is actually room for bike lanes, they are probably not going to be roomy and buffered enough to satisfy many here on BP.
Also, are there a lot of BRT-suitable buses with passenger doors on the left side?
It’s not at all clear to me how the intersections will work, or how vehicles will make left turns. What, for example, would the plan for 39th & Powell be?
Typically with center-running bus lanes, left turns are banned at most intersections. At major streets like Chávez, there would be separate signal phases for buses and drivers. It works the same way left turns across MAX tracks do.
That would put all non-through traffic onto Division, right?
Some of those people will take the bus.
And many won’t. How will Division handle the increase in volumes?
It will slow to a crawl to the point that no one will want to drive on it, so they make other transportation choices.
Hello, Kitty July 27, 2016 at 10:06 am
That’s already happened! The mantra when we redid Division was “let them use Powell!”. If Division becomes the main access to the neighbourhood, in not sure that will work well.
Adam H. July 27, 2016 at 10:06 am
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearing_traffic
Is this a serious answer?
Alex Reedin July 27, 2016 at 9:20 pm
Yep, this is a serious answer. With population growth strong in Portland and no one making any more land, we physically cannot have as high a percentage of people get around by car, the most space-consuming form of transportation, anymore without extreme congestion. Any affordable attempts to improve other modes require taking space away from cars. Therefore our choices are extreme car congestion or even more extreme car congestion – and even more extreme car congestion by making space for other ways to get around makes more efficient use of our space, allows more people to get their daily needs met in a reasonable amount of travel time, and is better for our health and the world. Seems like a slam dunk to me.
Nick Falbo July 28, 2016 at 8:48 am
My assumptions about widths are slightly different than yours, but yes, at station areas there will be some road-widening necessary. Along segments without stations, the median would be reduced to a minimum width and it can fit curb to curb.
http://streetmix.net/nickfalbo/32/powell-remix
Adam July 27, 2016 at 6:31 am
But you’re going to have to put one HELL of a lot more diversion on Clinton for THAT to ever happen.
Chris I July 27, 2016 at 6:53 am
A lane reduction on Powell is going to be a non-starter. This project needs to be LRT, as it would nicely tie into the Orange line on the west end, and the green line on the east end (with potential extension east on Division). It would be expensive, but would add significant new service options and system flexibility, all on a dedicated ROW. Powell has extra ROW east of 52nd that was set aside for the Mt. Hood Freeway, and we should take advantage of that. Between 17th and 52nd, a few elevated sections would be required (near Cleveland HS and at 39th due to ROW width and traffic impact). A MUP could be built adjacent to the MAX ROW for the length of the project, flying over many busy intersections, safely separated for the entire length.
ethan July 27, 2016 at 7:01 am
A partially elevated MAX line would be very cool.
Agreed. If we can’t take away a lane on Powell, then why not elevate a line above it?
Bald One July 27, 2016 at 10:36 am
new Orange MAX line is elevated at numerous locations (I guess this is partially elevated) between Milwaukee and Portland.
i wear many hats July 27, 2016 at 8:20 am
I have a monorail for sale Portland.
Simpsons aside, why not?
Chris I July 27, 2016 at 11:03 am
The Orange line already has several long, elevated sections. Seattle’s Link system has even more. They do add cost, but don’t require any new vehicle technology and can be designed in a way that doesn’t greatly degrade the street below:
http://www.alexblock.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/VTA-San-Jose-1-1024×450.png
Benefits include faster, more reliable service and increased safety for all users (vehicle, pedestrian, transit user). If elevated stations can be avoided, the costs are not that much higher.
m July 27, 2016 at 9:29 am
Like I said above, Tri-Met likes sexy (and expensive).
eawrist July 27, 2016 at 12:50 pm
Expensive compared to current highway spending? Current cost of vehicle ownership where other options are not viable? Current cost of health deficits due to SOV use? Cost of infrastructure related to fuel? Looks a lot cheaper in the long run to me.
Max is sexy the way your creepy uncle is sexy.
Lance W. July 28, 2016 at 10:55 am
I live on SE Gladstone between Chavez and 26th. We’re supposed to be a neighborhood street, but we carry more and more traffic in the form of short cutting commuters. 20 years ago I saw counts that put the volume at 9,000 vehicles/day, typically neighborhood streets are below 1,000. I know these numbers have escalated. Commuters are looking for alternatives to Powell. As traffic slows ever more on Division, has been largely eliminated from Clinton and Holgate is already congested, I’m expecting even more cars on our street! Especially with the upcoming narrowing of Foster! People continue to move out, thereby requiring longer commutes. They move to cheaper housing, they move to escape what they perceive as negative living conditions. They do not recognize the burden this puts on those of us who live ‘in’ the City. The regional town centers have not as of yet grown enough to be significant job centers…will they ever? The pattern of development in outer areas is auto oriented. These people won’t/can’t give up their cars…at least nowhere in the near future. Downtown will remain a major ‘draw’ pulling people in. I fear that our inner city neighborhoods will continue to degrade, not because of some inherent urban malady, but because of the burden all of this traffic creates. Outer city areas demand better vehicular access. We demand a high quality of urban life. The two are in direct opposition to one another. Compromise satisfies neither and perpetuates the problem. A note, the same pattern of suburban sprawl, makes leaving the City for outings outside the City more tedious. This all reminds me of of the Sellwood Bridge finance fiasco in which the bulk of commuters come from Clackamah county who voted to stiff the rest of us with the costs that their choices have put on us.
I don’t think planners have caught-on to the new era of waze and ubiquitous maps/gps navigation. If there’s a path for traffic to cut-through, it will keep doing that until you plug the holes or make that path slower. Stop catering to auto use and people will make different choices.
Our first response to any problem with traffic should be to close or restrict access or connectivity. (People will say that’s not possible or make some excuse, but they’re either in denial or can’t do math.) Once waze tells drivers it’s fastest to stay on the main road, they will do that.
The other thing is eliminating free parking. Suburban commuters don’t get to vote on that either.
Tom Hardy July 28, 2016 at 5:09 pm
It would be nice if ODOT would actually do something like is drawn up here but what is more likely for inner SE is like was done in San Antonio to some of the state highways that were through streets in neighborhoods.
What was done is at the first part of the arterial id to make ramps up to a second level for through traffic. This would start at about 12th to 17th. a second level would go to approximately 92nd. then return to street level for interchange to 205. The lower level would continue. Through buses would take the upper level to Gresham and the lower level would Accommadate local buses and traffic.
« Bike Theft Task Force spreads awareness at Sunday Parkways
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Now You Can See Video Of SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK
A behind the scenes video from SPIDER-MAN: TURN OFF THE DARK doesn’t raise the hackles quite as badly as those Vogue pictures did.
By Devin Faraci Nov. 23, 2010
And now our latest look at the big, expensive Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. I guess the footage in this video is less terrible than the images we saw recently, but then again most of what we’re looking at here seems to be rehearsal stuff, not costume stuff. And playing over it is the truly AWFUL song Boy Falls From the Sky, one of Bono and The Edge’s contributions to the musical. It sounds like the opening credits to a 1990s teen show on Nickelodeon. Ugh.
via Comics Alliance
Heads Up: Mondo’s SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME Poster Lands Tomorrow
Looks Like Sony Is Trying To Force Their SPIDER-MAN Spin-Offs Into The MCU
BMD’s Ode To Twinkies In Film
spider-man: turn off the dark
This one's a real looker (and just wait'll you see the Variant version).
By JM Mutore, Jan 13, 2020
With MORBIUS, Sony is finally making good on their threats of a SPIDER-MAN Villains Universe. But is the MCU getting dragged into it?
By Evan Saathoff, Oct 25, 2019
Yes, it’s as silly as it sounds.
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RPG Theory Primer
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Don’t Fight The System
Posted: October 7, 2011 in System Design
Tags: authority, freeform, GM responsibility, mechanics, pacing, story, system
A lot of roleplayers believe that game mechanics are evil things, to be minimised if not completely rejected. A common complaint is that they get in the way of “the story” – which, to story-lovers like myself, is most definitely a Bad Thing.
But is this really justified? Certainly in many games (especially traditional ones), the mechanics are convoluted and difficult to remember, and this can definitely lead to them claiming the focus of the group’s attention, at the cost of the fictional aspects. But is this an unavoidable consequence of mechanics?
I suggest not – and in fact I think mechanics can help the story-focussed group avoid other things that might distract from the story. Here are three examples.
Removing GM responsibility
A roleplaying game is essentially a series of statements made by the various players about things that happen in the fiction. In a “traditional” GM / player model, many of these statements are made by the GM, who, without mechanics, has to decide “what happens” using only their own intution. Sure, they might use some guiding principles (e.g. drama, fairness, plausibility, “cool”, etc.), but fundamentally it’s their call.
Not only is this potentially disempowering for the other players, but it’s also quite risky socially – it’s very easy for GMs to upset or frustrate players by making a call the players don’t like (too harsh, not harsh enough, and so forth). Even with an extremely close understanding between the GM and the players, no GM is flawless – and besides, such understandings are rare treasures indeed. For a new GM, a new player, a new game, a new group, the potential for misjudgement is huge.
A mechanical framework distances the GM from these decisions. If the dice (or whatever) come down against you, then Bad Things Happen, and you’ve accepted the risk by agreeing to play within this particular framework. No hard feelings toward the GM. As Apocalypse World shows extremely clearly, this doesn’t remove the GM’s creative input – there are plenty of different ways Bad Things can Happen – but it can provide a bare-bones structure for the GM to enhance and flesh out in play.
Managing Pacing
In games which focus on “story”, pacing is paramount – but tough to get right. Whoever’s responsible for managing pacing, it’s very easy for it to fall by the wayside in favour of the other jobs that player’s juggling, leading to play that gets bogged down in mediocre scenes rather than staying focussed on the action.
Using mechanics to handle pacing allows it to be more strictly guided and emerge naturally through play. Sorcerer’s advice: “Get to the Bangs!” is exactly this sort of thing in action.
Clarifying Authority
Any system, no matter how freeform / mechanical, defines who can say what, when, about the game’s fiction. The more freeform (or less strict, or less clear) a system gets, the easier it is for clashes to occur between two (or more!) players whose statements conflict – “hey, GM, you can’t put that into my character’s backstory”.
Having a clear mechanic for who is allowed to say what sorts of things can help avoid such conflicts, and keep the game running smoothly. (Indeed, I think even most “mechanics-light” systems tend to have this dictated somewhere, though not always clearly.)
What I’m Not Saying
Important note: I’m not saying a good GM / group can’t do the above things themselves, without the help of mechanics. They can, of course! But when they don’t, the results can be just as detrimental to the story as the most convoluted mechanical systems out there.
So no, mechanics aren’t the only way to get these things done, but they are another way, and one that might leave the GM / group free to spend effort on other things, e.g. contributing cool stuff to the game, playing more games, or even (shock, horror) their lives outside of roleplaying. (I believe such things exist.)
But those are just my three things, right? What else can a system do for story-focussed groups, that I haven’t considered?
It can help people avoid blank-page-syndrome, by scaffolding ideas. When I can do anything, it’s harder for me to choose what to do—a form of analysis paralysis.
It can also help shape a particular kind of story. When you play Dogs in the Vineyard, you get Dogs. When you play Becoming Heroes, you get BH. This is related to pacing, and to the particular kinds of bad things that happen, but it’s more than that. Particularly, you can shape voluntary action through systems of reward and penalty.
I’m thinking about this last point a lot with Et in Arcadia Ego. I want to make a game that encourages people to act in the manner-bound fashion of a Jane Austen novel, when those people themselves don’t necessarily understand the manners or the reasons for them.
Rabalias says:
So, I think there’s a lot to be said for consistency and realism, and having a mechanical system usually means increasing the former and can help with the latter too. Systems that work a bit too hard at realism can start getting in the way of story, but a well designed, streamlined system needn’t. I don’t know if this is really a big deal for story-focused groups, but I tend to think that story-focused/not-story-focused is a bit of a false dichotomy anyway.
A further thing that a system can do is provide active support for storytelling. Think about Fiasco – those tables in the playset are invaluable for creating inspiring elements for the players to bounce off. Or Cyberpunk (and, if my sources are correct, Traveller) which have character generation systems designed to produce interesting background plot hooks. And then there’s the Exalted stunt system which, admittedly as part of a rather clunky system, encourage vivid and varied narration.
Finally – and I wouldn’t say this is necessarily ideal for story-focused play – system can help in the event of player-on-player conflict. No matter how trusted the GM is, the need for an independent and fair way to mediate that sort of conflict will always be there.
Blackrat says:
Kit – nice! Both excellent points. I certainly wouldn’t know how to behave in a Jane Austen novel myself; I look forward to seeing what you come up with to make me do so :-)
Rabalias: Yeah, I agree with pretty much everything you’ve said.
“story-focused” – sure, the term’s a bit wooly. Given that I’m addressing concerns about “getting in the way of story”, it was the best I could come up with on the fly. You know the kind of play I’m talking about, right? What would you call it? (And, FWIW, I do think that consistency / plausibility is important for most games, story-focused or not.)
Exalted stunts – your point is absolutely right, so this is off-topic really, but I honestly don’t think they *do* encourage vivid and varied narration. They *intend* and *claim* to, but they actually don’t in practice (mostly).
Player-on-player conflict – yeah, I think this is a special (and particularly difficult!) case of my first point – removing the GM’s responsibility for making a “good” call in that circumstance. (And it can be a really interesting part of story-focused games, IMO.)
Well – I think I have an idea what you mean by story-focused, but I think it would be well worth putting some effort into clearly explaining it, because I suspect we probably aren’t thinking of exactly the same thing, and it’s clearly an important concept to your game philosophy.
Kit – story scaffolding is pretty much what I had in mind when I mentioned support for storytelling. That’s a nice way of putting it.
Re “story-focused”: yeah, alright. Actually I don’t think it is a particularly important concept for my game philosophy; it’s a loose grouping of certain game preferences, nothing more.
What I’m talking about in this post is the common (and often justified) complaint that mechanics “get in the way of the story” or similar. What I mean here when I say “story-focused”, then, is a game which is not interested in exploring the possibilities of the system (for interest, for min-maxing, or whatever) but rather is interested in prioritising the fictional events as the main focus of attention during play. The kind of games, and groups, which produce those kind of complaints, if playing with an inappropriate system. Simple as that.
What I’m *not* talking about (or not *only* talking about) is Narrativism. If I had been, I would have said so :-) There are many reasons and ways to focus on “story”, and Narrativism doesn’t by any means cover all of them.
Addendum: perhaps “fiction-focused” would have been a better term. The point is that attention is paid to the fiction in preference to the real-world cues such as mechanics.
Ah well, that has made me think of another point in favour of system. System produces (can produce) unexpected outcomes. Of course, a narrator (player or GM!) can drive the action towards unexpected outcomes deliberately, but then they’re only unexpected to the other people in the game. System can at times create outcomes that are unexpected for everyone – and that’s cool.
Huh, here’s an interesting expansion on my “Remove GM responsibility” point: http://playpassionately.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/social-responsibility-and-honest-adversity/
(From Jesse Burneko’s “Play Passionately” – a series of articles that’s well worth reading.)
Essentially it says that in order to play the “antagonist” role in an emotionally-powerful game, the GM needs to invest a lot of their own emotional effort and vulnerability to make the antagonists powerful and meaningful. In order to “referee”, they have to “break off from that emotional space to make sure everything is being handled ‘fairly.'”
What system can do (as Jesse’s post says) is provide the “refereeing” so that the other players have the tools to push back on the GM’s emotional / creative input. Therefore the GM doesn’t have to step back from providing that input, which leads to easier and probably more satisfying play for them.
Radio Rivendell!
Creative Differences: Why Simulationism is not Narrativism
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Hiring New Staff At Your Church? Schedule a free 30-minute strategy session with one of our church staffing experts.Get Started
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Leadership| Communication| Church DNA/Culture
The Next Big Thing in the Church Won’t Be Anything Like the Last Big Thing
Written by Todd Rhoades
Innovation and change is everywhere.
The work I do with Leadership Network puts me in contact with some of the sharpest and innovative minds in today’s church. It’s exhilarating.
The one thing I’ve noticed about church innovators is their embrace of risk.
Most churches that are growing or innovative risk often.
Most churches that are stuck, plateaued, or in decline have a deep aversion to risk.
Innovation is all about trying new things. Things you know at the offset may not work.
But they might.
If they don’t, you simply stop doing whatever you’re doing and try something else.
Great leaders don’t see this as failure, they see it as learning.
It’s just as important to learn what doesn’t work sometimes as it is to learn what does.
Great leaders are constantly thinking about creative ways to do ministry. Ways that work. Ways that may never have been done before.
Phil Cooke has some great advice on creativity in ministry:
“…When it comes to creativity, get outside your normal experience. Dig deep. Make new connections. It’s tough to get a new slant on something when you’re looking at it head on. Don’t try to make the next big thing what everyone else expects.”
Everyone is wondering what the next big thing in ministry is.
We’ve seen some pretty big shifts in my lifetime.
Contemporary worship. Multisite. Technology revolutions. An emphasis on generosity and externally focused ministry.
All of these movements came out of people trying new things.
And many came out of shortage. Shortage of space, resources, time, or money.
Some ideas aren’t just a continuation of a current idea, but are really brand new ideas altogether.
Phil’s advice is good. When you’re thinking creatively, don’t try to base everything on what you’re currently doing now. Don’t iterate. Be creative and try something totally new.
Phil gives a great example. When Henry Ford was young, people were talking about ‘if we just had faster horses’. The answer (as we now know it) really had nothing to do with horses at all.
As you look at what you really need in your ministry this year, what can you create that’s different than you’ve ever done (maybe than anyone has EVER done in the church).
What kind of crazy idea can you hatch?
And will you have the courage to risk failure to try it?
If not, you’re idea is dead.
If so, it might could be the next big thing that God uses in many churches, literally everywhere.
Take a few minutes to dream and innovate today. And pray for breakthrough and creativity and wisdom. (Wisdom is the one thing in the Bible that God says he absolutely will give when we ask for it… so ASK. FOR. IT.
Todd Rhoades
Todd has invested over 30 years in serving churches, having served as a worship pastor for over 15 years, a church elder for more than a decade, and in various ministry leadership roles in both the business and non-profit sectors. As the original founder and developer of ChurchStaffing.com, Todd fundamentally changed the way thousands of churches search for pastors and staff on the internet. Most recently, Todd’s work with Leadership Network has provided him exposure to the innovative trends in today’s church and inside knowledge of how healthy churches operate and uses it to help churches find a healthy, long-term fit for their next team member. Todd is a graduate of Cedarville University, and lives in Bryan, OH with his wife, Dawn.
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Report On Business
Business School Research
Many startup ‘unicorns’ overvalued, UBC research indicates
Eleven of the 116 companies studied were overvalued by more than 100 per cent, researchers concluded.
DARAH HANSEN
Published September 7, 2017 Updated September 16, 2017
The Globe's latest report on research from business schools.
Everyone loves a unicorn. These are the young and innovative startups with reported valuations or more than $1-billion (U.S.).
Think Uber, Airbnb and SpaceX – all highly valued companies fuelled by investor expectations that they'll be the next Google or Facebook.
But are these rare creatures really deserving of their mythical status?
Will Gornall, assistant professor of finance at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business, doesn't think so.
According to a financial model developed by Dr. Gornall and Ilya Strebulaev of Stanford University, many so-called unicorns are overvalued.
Drawing from data contained in U.S. legal filings, Dr. Gornall found nearly half of the startups in their study (52 of 116) lose their unicorn status when their valuation is recalculated. The discrepancies vary, but the average company reports a valuation 48 per cent above its fair value, with common shares overvalued by 55 per cent, the researchers calculate.
Eleven companies are overvalued by more than 100 per cent, they conclude.
That overvaluation exists does not surprise Dr. Gornall, who has expertise in examining the complex deal structures behind early-stage companies. Miscalculations are made when current valuations fail to include additional perks not found in previously issued shares, so equating their prices significantly inflates valuations.
For instance, the researchers found 53 per cent of unicorns gave their most recent investors either a return guarantee in their initial public offerings, the ability to block IPOs that do not return most of their investment, or seniority over all other investors, among other important terms.
Still, Dr. Gornall admits, "I was surprised at the level of overvaluation and, moreover, how much it can vary between companies."
Dr. Gornall says the study does not suggest companies are deliberately misleading people. However, the findings do expose widespread confusion around the true value of startups – a particular problem for employees who are often paid partly in stock and options, yet have little clarity around what those options are worth.
The dilemma also extends to investors, he adds, many of whom "appear to lack an understanding of the complexities of venture capital deal structures."
The researchers believe better disclosure in venture capital-backed companies, not just unicorns, is required in the United States as well as Canada, where the federal government is looking to encourage more startup success stories.
More broadly, the study offers a lesson in the importance of paying attention.
"Whether you are talking venture capital financing, negotiating a real estate deal or getting a loan, you need to read the fine print and understand the contract," Dr. Gornall says.
Story ideas related to business school research in Canada can be sent to darahhansen@yahoo.ca.
Female-led startups face a funding hurdle
Timing is everything for science-based startups seeking funds
Follow us on Twitter @globebusiness Opens in a new window
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The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
Glenn C. LOURY
Harvard University Press, 2002 - Current Events - 226 pages
Speaking wisely and provocatively about the political economy of race, Glenn Loury has become one of our most prominent black intellectuals--and, because of his challenges to the orthodoxies of both left and right, one of the most controversial. A major statement of a position developed over the past decade, this book both epitomizes and explains Loury's understanding of the depressed conditions of so much of black society today--and the origins, consequences, and implications for the future of these conditions.
Using an economist's approach, Loury describes a vicious cycle of tainted social information that has resulted in a self-replicating pattern of racial stereotypes that rationalize and sustain discrimination. His analysis shows how the restrictions placed on black development by stereotypical and stigmatizing racial thinking deny a whole segment of the population the possibility of self-actualization that American society reveres--something that many contend would be undermined by remedies such as affirmative action. On the contrary, this book persuasively argues that the promise of fairness and individual freedom and dignity will remain unfulfilled without some forms of intervention based on race.
Brilliant in its account of how racial classifications are created and perpetuated, and how they resonate through the social, psychological, spiritual, and economic life of the nation, this compelling and passionate book gives us a new way of seeing--and, perhaps, seeing beyond--the damning categorization of race in America.
THE ANATOMY OF RACIAL INEQUALITY GOFFMAN'S "STIGMA" AND MINE As
mentioned, I approach "racial stigma" via the work of Erving Goffman (1963). In
his book Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, Goffman studies ...
RACIAL STIGMA are determined within a social-cognitive matrix that is raced. A
similar policy with a different set of beneficiaries might not have the same
ideological resonance. More generally, if when assessing a policy observers
make use ...
THE ANATOMY OF RACIAL INEQUALITY emerged from a system of social
interactions, a key feature of which is the tendency of a great many people to "
disdain and avoid (some) blacks." Moreover, while the stigmatized "racial other"
in our ...
Glenn C. LOURY,Glenn C Loury
admissions affirmative action African Americans American society ANATOMY OF RACIAL anti-essentialism argued argument Asian assess Axiom behavior beliefs biased Black White blindness bodily marks causal Chapter civic claim colorblind consider convention culture development bias disadvantage discourse discrimination in contact dishonor distinct drivers economic Education effects elite employers ethical evidence fact goal historical human idea ideal institutions interactions liberal individualism monopolistic observer moral National Center normative observing agents outcomes percent persons political population possible practice procedural processes question race race and social race-based race-blind race-egalitarianism race-indifference race-marked racial classification racial discrimination racial disparity racial groups racial identity RACIAL INEQUALITY RACIAL JUSTICE racial markers RACIAL STEREOTYPES racial stigma racism reasons reject relevant reward bias self-confirming situations slavery social choice social choice theory social cognition social meanings Source specific Statistics structures subjects theory thought experiments tion traits U.S. Census Bureau United W. E. B. Du Bois
The Psychology of Working: A New Perspective for Career Development ...
David Blustein
Charles Wade Mills
Boston University professor Glenn Loury was educated at Northwestern University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Loury has taught at Harvard University, Northwestern University and the University of Michigan. He is currently on the commission for the National Academy of Science and was elected vice president of the American Economics Association in 1997. Loury has contributed writing to The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and National Review. He also is an editor for The New Republic. Loury's book "One by One, From the Inside Out: Essays and Reviews on Race and Responsibility in America," which won the 1996 American Book Award and the 1996 Christianity Today Award. He has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Title The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
The W. E. B. Du Bois Lectures, ISSN 1545-1267
Author Glenn C. LOURY
Digitized 18 Sep 2008
Current Events / Political
Political Science / Civil Rights
Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations
Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies
Social Science / Reference
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weed and mould them tenderly, and so on from time to time until all the bank is level to their roots; after which they are weeded occasionally until they grow six or seven feet high; they are commonly ripe in about twelve months from the time of planting.
After the first crop is taken off there springs up a second one, called rattoons, which often is better than the first. If the estate is a poor foil, there are seldom more than two crops of rattoons taken off till the ground is holed and manured again ; but if it be a deep foil, it may yield good rattoons for ten or fifteen years. As the canes grow, they have joints or knots at every three or four inches distance, at every one of which they have long blades, something like staggers; still, as they grow towards maturity, those blades wither and become burthensome to the stalk, so that they are obliged to be taken off, and this is called trashing.
When the canes are ripe, it is known by the richness of their juice, or by cutting some of them with a sharp knife, and observing the grain: if it appears soft and moist, like a potatoe or turnip, it is too green: but if dry, and white particles appear, you may be sure that the cane is ripe; any man, who is a planter, will know when they are ripe by the appearance of the tops and stalks.
It often happens, that through the neglect of the manager, to his disgrace, and that of the D 3 attorney attorney for suffering it, wood for fire and other necessaries are not prepared in time: there are many preparations to be made for crop; the coppers and iti 11 s may want repairing or setting; the mill and gutters, pumps and vats, or cisterns, may be in the fame predicament. I fay, when all these, and many other matters, are not considered of and prepared in time, if the canes are ripe, and dry weather ensues, they will turn red, or (as they fay) get burnt; after which, though they must be cut to clear the field, they are not worth the expence of cutting.
Burnt canes make a sort of dirty black sugar without any grain, something like that which the Indians extract from the maple-tree in Canada, which is commonly reserved for the use of the sick negroes, or converted into rum; I faw many fine crops ruined through such neglect, and yet the managers were supported betrer than many in-, dustrious experienced planters.
When canes are once burnt, I would recommend to every manager not to make any more sijgaroutof them, only what would serve for plantation use, to convert the juice of the remainder, without boiling it, into rum, which will yield a greater proportion than otherwise.
I fear I shall be deficient in describing the mill which grinds, or rather squeezes the juice out of the canes: Suffice it to fay, that a large shingled roof, of a conical form, about 30 feet diameter, being supported by twelve or sixteen
strong strong hard wood posts, six or seven feet high, erected on an eminence contiguous to the boilinghouse, beneath the centre of which roof three iron rollers are fixed upright and quite close together; each roller is about two feet in diameter, and three feet and a half in length, the rhind or shell about one inch and a quarter thick; these rollers being filled with hard wood, and coged all round, and supported on the mill bed, about eighteen inches from the ground, on fma.ll pieces of metal about the size and shape of whipping-tops, called capouscs; the main or middle roller, being filled with a long bull-tree, which extends to the utmost centre of the roof, where it is steadied by an iron axle, and having six or eight long shafts or arms morticed therein, which extend to the circumference of the roof; the cattle or mules being chained to those arms, are drove round by little boys or girls, which of course turns the main roller, and thereby the other two also; this is what is called a cattle mill •, wind and water mills are all differently constructed. The canes being cut, and all the trash lopped off, are carried in wanes, or if the estate is mountainous, on mules backs, to the mill, and are put in small quantities (six or seven at a time,) between the first and second roller, and are drawn in and flattened, so that the juice is pressed out and falls on the middle bed which is lined with lead, from which a gutter, lined with lead, conveys it to the boiling-house i as fast as they D 4 pass pass through the first and second rollers, they are puc in again on the other side, between the second and third rollers, so that the canes pass twice through the mill, after which they are carried and spread about the works till they dry, and then raked up and carried to a long large lhade, called a trash.house, where they are piled, as being the only suel for boiling the sugar i a prudent manager will always endeavour to keep his trashhouses sull, so that at the beginning of crop he will have plenty of seasoned trash, and will not be obliged to use that which is green.
In the boiling-house there are four or five coppers of different sizes set close together, about eighteen inches from the floor; the largest of which is called the grand copper, and the first that is filled with liquor; as soon as it is full, and tempered with a small quantity of.Bristol lime and lye-water, the black boiler cries out, "Fia! gran-coppa!" e. Fire! grand copper' at which vociferation, a blazing fire is instantly put to the grand copper, by the fire-man who attends outside, (for all the fire-places are outside, at each of which a man attends). As soon as the liquor in the grand copper comes to a simmering, the fire is damped, till all the dirt and trash which gathers to the top is skimmed off with a flat copper skimmer, sull of holes like a sieve; after the liquor is properly skimmed and clarified, it is thrown with ladles into the second copper, to which fire is also put, and then shifted from that
to to the third copper, and the grand copper filled again; in the fourth copper, called a tach, the liquor is boiled into a thick syrrup, and by turning up the ladle, and observing the white grain on the bottom thereof, the boilers know when it is sufficiently boiled, and fit to be taken off; there are many gradations to be observed in boiling of sugar; such as sufficient boiling; too much boiling; sufficient temper; too much temper; too little temper; richcanes; poor canes; and burnt canes. When liquor gets too much boiling, or too much temper, it hardens the molasses in the sugar, and will be black in the coolers and hogsheads; nor will it cure properly; i. e. the molasses won't drain from it. When liquor has got sufficient temper, it is known by holding up the ladle; if it drips short it has got enough; but if long, like tar, too little. If liquor is not sufficiently tempered, the sugar will waste more into molasses in the curing than common, and will not have a course grain.
Some people may fay, that any man may be a planter; and that bringing canes to perfection, boiling of sugar, and distillation of rum, &c. &c. are quite simple; that any man may get knowledge of these, without exposing his constitution to the menial, toilsome, and painful drudgeries of an overseer's life, for three, four, or five years : He may attempt it,■—but how insignificant and aukward must a man appear, who attempts or undertakes a business he knows nothing about; he
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Thanks to the rise of mobile texting and messaging apps, “chatbots” are causing a stir in the world of customer service. In 2016, Business Insider UK wrote that the most powerful tech companies think chatbots are the next best thing since the iPhone. Indeed, Facebook now allows businesses to deliver automated customer support, e-commerce guidance, content and interactive experiences through chatbots on Messenger.
Chatbots are computer programs that mimic conversations with people using artificial intelligence. “Bots” are the next step in the evolution of the Internet; they are transforming the way people interact and the future of customer service. So what role will they play in contact centers that are at the heart of customer service and first point of call for many customers?
After all, the millennial generation has come of age and is old enough to make a significant dent on consumer spending. These tech-savvy individuals have high expectations and demand round-the-clock service as well as instant responses.
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PUTS CUSTOMERS IN CONTROL—Like Facebook, customers can mute/block communications that they don’t want to receive and can spend more time interacting with you. Generic Message Templates mean structured messages with call to actions, horizontal scrolls, urls and postbacks that promote stress-free customer engagement.
Facebook isn’t the only chatbot game in town, but because of Messenger having a reach of around 900 million users plus vast connections with advertisers and a healthy developer ecosystem, it provides the most attractive platform.
Don’t Forget the Humans!
As customer service becomes more and more automated, the inquiries that actually require personal handling are becoming more advanced and necessitate a higher set of skills from agents. Good training and employee loyalty will be ever more important as experience and knowledge will be a premium when dealing with complex customer inquires which cannot be answered by a robot.
Therefore, a sophisticated yet easy-to-use workforce management solution will be essential. Through advanced forecasting, scheduling and competence management, the humans in contact centers will remain more valuable than bots will ever be.
At Teleopti, we believe a combination of bots and well-scheduled human agents with the right skills could be today’s silver bullet solution for effective customer service.
Download a PDF of this article.
Magnus Geverts is head of Business Development at Teleopti. He has two decades of experience from Workforce Management as a Consultant, Head of Development, Head of Marketing and Head of Global Sales for Teleopti, a market leader in Workforce Management solutions. In 2010, he relocated to New York where he successfully built up Teleopti operations in both North and South America before moving back to Teleopti’s Swedish headquarters to take responsibility for product management, marketing and strategic partnerships. With customers in over 80 countries, Teleopti leads the way in optimization technologies using employee involvement as a catalyst to improve performance.
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A lesson in statistics with E. Calvin Beisner and J.C. Keister at WUWT
Sou | 5:15 AM Go to the first of 18 comments. Add a comment
In a variation of the denier memes "CO2 is only a trace gas" and "it's not happening", Anthony Watts has a silly article about ice. Actually it's an article about "trillions of dollars", which is at the heart of most denier protests about global warming. (Archived here.)
Many deniers take the position that we can't afford to stop the sixth major extinction and we can't afford to make the world bearable for future generations. What they really mean is that they've got a lot invested in fossil fuels and they don't want to shift to clean energy.
The other common theme that you'll find on denier blogs is a fear of fear. Studies show that people in the USA who vote conservative are more likely to be hypersensitive to threats. In extreme cases like you'll find with inhabitants of denier blogs, they'll do anything to avoid what they perceive as threatening, even rejecting facts. (Judging by the number of articles denying melting ice and rising sea levels that Anthony Watts posts on his blog, the thought of it scares him more than anything else. Maybe even more than an increase in taxation.)
To cut to the chase, WUWT "guests", E. Calvin Beisner and J.C. Keister wrote an article under the title "Lying with Statistics: The National Climate Assessment Falsely Hypes Ice Loss in Greenland and Antarctica"
What they are pretending is that it doesn't matter if the ice keeps melting and sea levels rise by one or two metres this century, and six to ten metres in coming centuries. All the ice in Greenland and Antarctica is tiny compared to the size of the world, didn't you know?
Actually, it's not quite that. What these two are arguing is that more ice won't melt as the world heats up. They reckon that ice will only keep melting at the same rate as it's melting today - or should I say, as it melted last century. They are rejecting basic physics. I expect they are surprised every time ice cubes melt in their bourbon.
Here are two charts they put up to PROVE the scientists are "lying with statistics":
See - in nine years the ice melted as a percentage of total ice was miniscule and "nothing to worry about".
Even NASA knows that if all the ice melted it would barely bother anyone (as long as they didn't live in Bangladesh or London or the Netherlands or China or Florida or anywhere near the coast). And NASA scientists, as every WUWT-er knows, "don't know nuffin'". The image below is not just all the water currently bound up in ice. It's all the water at or near the surface on earth - compared to the size of Earth.
Source: APOD NASA
Compared to that, what's the point of complaining about the ice melting? Even if it all melted it would only raise sea levels by 66 metres (216 feet). What's to worry about?
Nothing to worry about
That's only about 0.6% of the depth of the deepest portion of the Mariana Trench. It's like health fanatics (such as the guvmint) arguing that if you ingested 0.00029% of your body weight in arsenic it'd kill you. What do they think we are? Stupid sheeple?
Think about how "warmists" try to scare the poor little dears at WUWT about rising temperatures. Here's a chart to prove that a piddly rise of 6C wouldn't hurt a fly. Heck, the temperature here can change by more than that here in 12 hours.
Data Source: Bureau of Meteorology
Needless to say you shouldn't trust the above temperature chart. It was obviously tampered with to make the oldest temperature readings colder and the later temperatures hotter! Here's another one. Not quite six degrees:
Adapted from Jos Hagelaars
Oops! How did that chart get there?
Anyway, here's a couple of charts to prove that a sea level rise of sixty six metres is nothing at all. If all the ice melted it might take 5,000 years - that's what I've put in the chart. First of all let's see how those deceiving scientists would probably portray it, just to scare the folk at WUWT:
Deceptive "scientific" chart
Now look at how it really should be presented:
True "statistical" chart - WUWT-style
Think about that for a while, scientists!
E. Calvin Beisner is not a climate scientist. No, he's an orthodox presbyterian elder and a member of the pseudo-religious cult, the Cornwall Alliance. His denial of science is to be recognised by the Heartland Institute, so we've been told.
J.C. Keister Jr is also associated with the Cornwall Alliance. He claims a PhD in something or other but I guess he gave that up for his crank religion.
The Cornwall Alliance forbids its members from accepting climate science. It's probably a mortal sin. Not sure about evolution - that might be forbidden too. At least one of its members, Roy Spencer, rejects biological science.
Bernd Felsche says:
Alarmism is a characteristic of having lost a sense of proportion.
nickreality65 doesn't like it when someone tickles his amygdala and says:
Now do the same w/ 100,000 years of co2 plotted next to keeling. And scores of temps, sea levels plotted w/ exaggerated scales to maximize the fear factor.
Dave confuses sea ice with land ice and says:
How can Antarctica be losing ice if it just recently reached an all time greatest extent?
UnfrozenCavemanMD says:
Thus my maxim:
“Anyone who is giving you numerators without denominators is trying to deceive you.”
Schreiber, Darren, Greg Fonzo, Alan N. Simmons, Christopher T. Dawes, Taru Flagan, James H. Fowler, and Martin P. Paulus. "Red brain, blue brain: Evaluative processes differ in Democrats and Republicans." PloS one 8, no. 2 (2013): e52970. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052970
Posted by Sou at 5:15 AM
Labels: denier weirdness, E. Calvin Beisner, ice, J.C. Keister, Mariana Trench, sea level, statistics
Catmando July 7, 2014 at 5:41 AM
Is it me or do the ice loss graphs for the Antarctic and Greenland say 100%? Doesn't that mean all the ice has been lost from those two places? I'm pretty certain that the most rabid environmentalist doesn't claim that. Shouldn't the graphs' titles be % ice remaining...?
Nick July 7, 2014 at 6:03 PM
Yep, the number one blog science site has covered itself with glory again! There is no continental ice left apparently. And the cretins must be kicking themselves that they missed that Mariana Trench scaling opportunity....
And Then There's Physics July 7, 2014 at 7:05 AM
You have to try and appreciate why these two probably do not find this concerning. As far as they're concerned, it will take almost the age of the universe before Greenland and the Antarctic lose a significant fraction of their ice mass.
Millicent July 7, 2014 at 7:12 AM
Sometimes I am not sure if WUWT comments are by college students seeking to demonstrate the stupidity of the site and its denizens.
Cugel July 7, 2014 at 8:19 AM
Love the Mariana Trench Depth charts :) You've read "How To Lie With Statistics", haven't you?
As ever, Dr Inferno was way ahead of Watts.
Cugel July 7, 2014 at 8:40 PM
An absolute classic.
ligne July 7, 2014 at 11:50 PM
i'm sure that Keister found this a refreshing change from "showing which mathematical axioms are scripturally sound and which are not". valuable and not at all in any way crank research, i'm sure you'll agree.
Some mathematical axioms are scripturally unsound? Or some scripture is mathematically unsound? Did this joker just show that God isn't so good at maths then?
ligne July 8, 2014 at 9:54 AM
i think that he's arguing that the Good Lord made integers, addition, multiplication and circles, and that finding the Bible quotes that demonstrate that all the rest was not the work of man is left as an exercise for the reader.
incidentally, all his talk about distributive laws sounds a little communist, dontcha think?
E. Calvin Beisner November 19, 2014 at 2:59 AM
Never noticed your silly post here until just now. It could be used as a prime example of straw man argument. You suggest that we're arguing something we're not arguing at all. The point of our article is that the National Climate Assessment's chosen way to depict the rate of Greenland and Antarctica ice loss is deceptive, making it appear much more rapid than in fact it is. You never address that at all.
Here are some factual claims in our article. Kindly point out to us which of them is wrong:
1. Greenland is losing about 0.1% of its ice per decade—that is, about 0.01% per year. At that rate, it will take a century for it to lose 1%.
2. Antarctica is losing about 0.0045% of its ice per decade—about 4.5/10,000ths of a percent per year. At that rate, it will take about 2,200 years for it to lose 1%.
3. And the effect on sea level? Combined, about 1 millimeter per year—or about 3.3 inches by the end of this century.
And, by the way, J.C. Keister's Ph.D. is in physics, and he was a working physicist for several decades before his retirement.
Also by the way: Keister and I are both all in favor of developing ever-cleaner energy sources so long as, as with anything else done in life, it's done with attention to tradeoffs, i.e., with serious, comprehensive benefit/cost analysis.
Sou November 19, 2014 at 7:19 AM
Given your comment, Calvin, I don't know what you're complaining about. I know you do this sort of thing for a living (professional science denial) and you've sworn some sort of oath of allegiance to science denial. However, your comment is simply confirming my article was on point. Just as I wrote you are claiming or at least implying:
a) that there's so much ice that a bit of melting will hardly be noticed - your ridiculous straight line charts to hide the decline; and
b) that ice won't melt more as the world heats up. Which is weird. You're arguing that there won't be a rapid sea level rise in the next few decades.
Here's some information for you to digest in between your bouts of science denial and obfuscation and anti-science propaganda:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/aug/24/incredible-polar-ice-loss-cryosat-antarctica-greenland
http://blog.hotwhopper.com/2014/05/unstoppable-meltdown-in-antarctica-and.html
BTW Calvin's "religion" isn't accepted by the religious any more than his "science" is accepted by the scientific. He's pseudo through and through! A professional pseudo.
He could even be a professional pseudo crank for all we know! This chap is all tied up with the crank anti-science organisation, the Cornwall Alliance.
BBD November 19, 2014 at 7:51 AM
Ice sheet response to continued warming will be *non-linear* ECB.
Stick to 'theology'.
he should really read Dr Inferno's DenialDepot article linked above. It just maps so well.
I don't suppose you could provide some evidence that I've "sworn some sort of oath of allegiance to science denial."
[snipped the rest - Sou]
Do you mean you're doing a Peter and denying your allegiance to the Cornwall Alliance's "An Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming" aka "some sort of oath of allegiance to science denial"? It sure reads like some sort of oath and it's definitely science denial.
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This is for every dad who looks wistfully out to sea and mourns the passing of the Age of Discoveries. It’s for fathers tamping down their inner Magellan and doing a daily commute instead. And it’s for any man who could make a two twigs and dishcloth tent, light a campfire from the glint in his eye and dig an artesian well with a teaspoon, if only he was given the chance.
Father’s Day is on June 19th and we salute every intrepid one of you. If more solid proof of devotion is required on the big day itself, cast your eye over our travelling dad wish-list and take it away …….
Carry-On Cocktails
Okay, this one’s a bit more louche executive travel than legendary navigator. But who are we to say Vasco da Gama wouldn’t have swapped the odd Spice Route for a flawless Old Fashioned back in the day? Compliant with international airline rules and in seriously desirable packaging, each tiny tin contains everything you need to mix a cocktail at 30,000ft, from demerara sugar to bitters and a muddler. Never again need your beloved dad suffer the dreaded in-flight-sloppy-pour.
According to people who know absurd stuff: Moleskine notebooks were inspired by Bruce Chatwin’s, The Songlines, and have been a travel journal staple ever since. Picasso doodled in his, Hemingway totted up bar tabs and even Oscar Wilde used a Moleskine to record his best lines. We might have made a little of that history up. But since the spirit of the world’s best known ‘little black book’ is creative freedom, that’s fine. Start with a Classic Notebook and throw in a copy of Death in the Afternoon for good measure.
Crumpled City Maps
21 grams is exactly the weight of over 50 cities worldwide on a Crumpled City Street Map. From Berlin to Sydney, they’re practical and precise, packed with information and ideas and the best bit: no folding. Maps are made to scrunch up into a ball and come out flat, only when needed. We can’t describe how much we love this idea and there isn’t a father we know who’ll miss the soul sucking tradition of map origami.
Frugal dads the world over know the pain of excess baggage charges. This fine and handy gadget cuts out the bathroom scale dance before you travel. And, on the way back, means you don’t have to wait until check-in to find out it costs less to buy an Algarve villa than it does to fly hand-crafted Portuguese tiles home.
Extra-Compact Travel Hammock
This one goes out to any man who can’t look at perfectly spaced trees without thinking, ‘hammock time’. This portable piece of beach-snooze-heaven weighs next to nothing, is about the same size as a trashy airport novel and takes less than five minutes to put up, anywhere. It’s also nice looking and, if your dad’s given to sharing, there’s room for two.
All-in-One Body Fuel Wash
Sweet as it is to decant best-loved potions and lotions into dinky, teeny-weeny little travel containers, it’s not really a dad thing, is it? With that in mind, hand over the gift of fuss-free grooming courtesy of Kiehl’s Body Fuel. It’s an all-in-one shampoo, body wash and face cleanser, smells citrusy and minty and comes with a caffeine and Vit C. boost. Plus, the packaging is masterfully understated.
Anti-Theft Rucksack
If anti-theft anything sounds too twitchy-traveller for comfort, fear not. This minimalist canvas and leather rucksack isn’t bells and whistles paranoia. It just can’t be opened unless you take it off. because the zip faces your back. Much more urban voyager than nervous tourist, it’s brilliant for crowded summer cities and obviously means it’s best if dad carries absolutely everything for everybody, just to be on the safe side.
This Daddy Belongs To …….
Legend has it that Dashiell Hammett was a man known for wandering (amongst other things). He once went out in New York and eventually turned up in Singapore with a three-week beard and no clue as to how he’d got there. We’re thinking most dads aren’t quite as bent on a party as Mr Hammett, but it does no harm to keep an eye on them. A personalised T stamped with important names makes sure any dad who drifts out of sight for even a second can be harmlessly corralled and returned to his rightful owners, fast.
Classic Leatherman
This is not one for hand-baggage, but that’s about the only limit to the Leatherman classic multi-tool. It has everything from tiny tweezers to big, manly pliers in one chunky – yet compact – piece of stainless steel gadget magnificence. Very useful and, most important of all, lets dads enjoy more of those, ‘stand back, everything’s under control’ moments which seem to make their holidays truly magical.
Happy Father’s Day on June 19th and happy travels to all travelling dads, all year round.
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The jobs we do
Media critics: And then there were none
Bob Collins February 7, 2017, 1:58 PM Feb 7, 2017
David Brauer, once the preeminent media watcher in these parts, once humbly observed that his beat wasn’t that hard. You just have to wait for media people to email their news organization’s secrets and get to work. There’s no bigger sieve in the world of business than the nearest newsroom.
He was, of course, too humble. His analysis of the performance of media organizations here was enlightening and informative, and, no doubt, made journalists better. If you had any journalistic chops at all, you didn’t want to get a failing grade from Brauer or any other media critic with a shred of respect in the business.
The late David Carr, of course, set a standard for this in his years at the New York Times. Criticism — knowledgeable criticism — makes journalism better.
“Carr’s opinion and analysis mattered,” journalism professor Steve Buttry wrote upon his death. “When he disagreed with you, you stopped a moment to ponder his point, and, even if he didn’t win you over, he made you think. His reporting was thorough, his analysis incisive, his criticism fair.”
Making us think about what we’re doing is why it’s not for nothing that we observe today that there no longer is anyone with credibility in the industry in Minnesota, as near as we can tell, performing this vital function.
The last media critic, Brian Lambert at MinnPost, has revealed that the online publication has ended the media beat.
Lambert, however, is still writing his presumably popular Daily Glean, which patrols what stories the daily media is reporting.
MinnPost was the last holdout among local news organizations with a media beat, but had to concede reality. Compared to other needs and demands of news consumers, the coverage had to go.
“We’ve made a bunch of investments in staff and technology over the last couple of years that we obviously think are critical to the organization and our mission,” MinnPost editor Andrew Putz said in an email this afternoon. “But — as with almost every news operation these days — that also means making some hard choices. As much as we’d like to (and as much as I expect us to one day), we can’t cover everything we want to right now.”
Putz says MinnPost is putting its money in coverage of local government, immigrants and refugees, workforce issues and stories arising from data analysis. The site will still do the occasional story about the media.
Beat coverage of media issues joins a wish list for future resources that includes dedicated reporters for higher education, health care policy, and more coverage of the state outside of the Twin Cities.
There’s a lot of value in all of that, certainly. And a lot of media criticism can be local gossip, true.
But, more often than not, it holds local performance to professional standards.
On his own blog post, for example, Lambert takes on the case of a reporter for Marketplace, who says he was fired for questioning journalistic ideals like ‘objectivity’ and ‘neutrality’.
But as the news media has contracted, its coverage of itself is disappearing. There’s nobody left with an understanding of journalism to regularly demand explanations of the media organizations when decisions and coverage spark questions. Nothing good can come of that fact.
There are exceptions. Both PBS and NPR still employ media reporters and ombudsmen to respond to listener criticism and to help explain, when necessary, how decisions are made. That’s an important function because in the absence of that explanation, listeners and readers will create their own reality, which is almost always wrong.
But, by and large, ombudsmen are gone, and to the extent there was still valid media criticism here, MinnPost owned the space abandoned by other organizations.
Lambert, for example, was the media reporter for the Pioneer Press, Mpls-St.Paul magazine, and Twin Cities Daily Planet before joining MinnPost.
Years ago, the Star Tribune called their ombudsman, a “reader representative”.
Lou Gelfand, who died in 2013, was probably the best known.
He was cut loose in 2009 by the newspaper, which had given him a twice-a-month business ethics column after settling a 2005 age discrimination claim.
Former Pioneer Press staffer Kate Parry took the ombudsman job with, reportedly, a less adversarial approach, although her Sunday column reached its high-water mark by questioning the ethics of Star Tribune legend Sid Hartman after it was revealed he would take part in a fundraising effort for the athletics department at the University of Minnesota, which he covered as a journalist.
“I might drop dead tomorrow and not have a chance to do this,” Hartman told Parry. “There’s nobody else who’s done more for this paper. That’s why it could be right for me and not for someone else. I’ve got a unique situation. There can be a little different rules for all I’ve done for this newspaper.”
In her critique, Parry disagreed.
The damaging, high-profile ethics scandals at some of the nation’s very best newspapers in recent years have had their roots in similar situations. When a prominent or promising staff member appears to skate past standards to which others are held, real damage is done. It hurts morale when others think there is a double standard. It sends the wrong signals to young journalists. It endangers the newspaper’s credibility.
The issue was resolved, Minnesota Monthly reported at the time, when Hartman agreed the money raised would not be turned over until he left the paper, which may never happen.
But it was resolved because someone was watching, someone with expertise and professional standards.
Parry’s column ended in 2007 in a cost-cutting move when she became the health editor. She’s now the paper’s assistant managing editor for development and special projects.
The Star Tribune tried out a blog and an occasional column in which then-editor Nancy Barnes could take on the weighty issues. Both seemed to die of their own neglect.
The newspapers are out of the media criticism business. Brauer has moved on to live the life of a Minneapolis squire. Lambert is off the media beat. David Carr is dead.
At a time when the media’s credibility is at a rock-bottom, there’s a clear niche to be filled in knowledgeable reporting on what, why, whether, and how we’re doing what we’re doing.
The dwindling comfort that news consumers might feel, knowing someone was asking the right questions and occasionally inflicting proper punishment, will only feed the mistrust of the very institution of journalism.
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chlost
It would seem that in this era of claimed “fake news” and fact-checking, this would be the era in which a clear head, journalistic standards, and ethics focused reporting on media would be most important. Maybe you should step up to the plate and take on that reponsibility, Bob Collins.
I have less time left in the profession than Sid Hartman does.
MrE85
Best line of the day. Knowing Sid, you may be right.
Got someone swinging two bats in the on deck circle for NewsCut?
Heh. No. This blog dies when I do.
you are retiring and not dying, correct?
I’m hoping to retire before I die. But also hoping to die before I get old.
You and Roger Daltry huh? 🙂
As a fellow pre-geezer, I totally appreciate your perspective. Old is just another word for infirmity and decrepitude.
rallysocks
As awesome as that would be, would it be fair to inflict that on a person? After all, even the fact-checkers are roundly called out as biased, therefore the facts presented are open to interpretation, leading to alternative facts with which we are free to disagree with.
Everybody wants “just the facts.” Then they get the facts and decide they don’t like them so they must be made up from biases.
People who’ve worked in newsrooms make perfect candidates for the task. They’re already used to ignoring the pointless braying of some in the public.
Well, that’s true enough. BTW, love the new promos for NewsCut.
It’s all Eric Ringham.
The Twitter threads on this topic are always interesting. In addition to Brauer and Lambert, you’ll (Mr.Collins) usually chime in, as will Jason DeRusha from ‘CCO.. But in a town that employs a fair number of newsies, its a very small circle who are willing to critique their peers and profession.
Journalism, despite what non-journalists think, is a complex equation. A “story” is a complex thing. Twitter can’t handle the duties.
Rob Levine
To quote the great Brad Zellar, when it comes to media criticism there’s never enough sets of teeth to go around
I agree, it would help the media’s image if each news outlet would justify the issues covered and why & how they’re being covered. Then use analytics to show quantitatively which types of stories are getting the most coverage. I still think making the balance of a newsroom known and to aim for better balance would improve the quality of perspective in newsrooms, but many already know about my rant on that. I agree the media needs to be as up front as possible with coverage explanations as often as possible.
Forget balance. Worry instead about accuracy, timeliness and quality.
The rest will take care of itself.
I’m afraid that truth, accuracy and beauty are all in the eye of the beholder.
// I still think making the balance of a newsroom known
How would you like it broken down if you got your wish? The vast majority of people, I suspect, are not the wildly rabid partisans that you find in comments sections and talk radio. The vast majority of people, I suspect, are far more varied in their lives.
Beyond that, your plan assumes that journalists cannot be fair and professional in covering stories. What you’re actually looking for is merely a reason to dismiss that with which you may not agree with on the basis of someone’s civic responsibility as proof that what they are reporting — no matter how factual — is the product of a corrupt process.
This latest kerfuffle making the rounds isn’t about whether a news organization’s perception of “objectivity” (spit) is appropriate in these times… it’s the acknowledgement of a reality that too many in the American public simply will not allow to exist as validity, that with which they disagree. So of course you don’t allow your reporters to jump into political opinions.
People will believe that which they want to believe and they will not believe that which they don’t want to believe and they will go to extraordinary measures to protect that instinct.
One of the most important jobs for journalists is to remind themselves that they shouldn’t give a damn about the fantasy world some in the audience live in. Just keep reporting professionally.
I agree 100% with your last line.
tboom
How about the second to last line?
AllYourTV
Great column and it is a topic dear to my heart. It’s always frustrating to me that I can find plenty of places that will pay to write national media criticism, but there hasn’t been any work locally. But for that matter, I had to launch my own site in order to write about television, since TV critic is a near-extinct profession in the Twin Cities.
I remain amused by the fact I have more name recognition almost anywhere that isn’t in Minnesota. What a strange profession.
Was I the only person who bemoaned the demise of the Minnesota News Council? Granted it had no enforcement powers, but their ability to force outlets to defend their actions was definitely refreshing.
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Labour tries to make its mark
Global events may soon relegate Labour conference to the News in Brief sections of newspapers, especially as it appears that G20 finance
ministers are preparing for Greece to default and
for contagion to spread to other parts of the Eurozone. So, the Labour leader has wasted no time as Labour conference opens.
In interviews with the Observer and the Sunday Mirror, he revives his tactic of presenting himself as an insurgent, the man to "rip up the rulebook”. He makes a pledge or two: the headline
grabbing idea is a cap tuition fees at £6,000 per year, paid for by
reversing a planned corporation tax cut on the hated banks. This blatant pitch for disaffected votes, coming from a leader who opposed fee increases outright last year, doesn’t suggest that
the leadership has moved beyond eye-catching gimmicks to talk credibly about economic policy.
That sense is compounded by Ed Balls. In an interview with the Sunday
Telegraph, Balls says, “I said a year ago, ‘there’s a global hurricane brewing’. Our recovery was fragile and if you try to go too far too fast, you put jobs in recovery at risk. And
it was very, very risky. David Cameron and George Osborne said ‘no’, they knew better…It’s hurting but it’s not working…And you know, at a certain point, George Osborne, Nick Clegg
and David Cameron will have to face up to the need for action and a change of course."
Once again, Balls fails to present an alternative. Rather, he woos the social democratic wing of the Liberal Democrats by saying that it’s “quite conceivable that we’ll have a
coalition with the Liberal Democrats”. He then adds that Nick Clegg would be, echoing Simon Hughes’ excruciating Glee Club
shanty last week, hung out to dry.
Balls’ interview indicates that this conference is about positioning rather than policy. Miliband and Balls are trying to move the centre ground to the left by courting the squeezed middle
with a range of tax and spend goodies: the proposed tuition fee cap is an example of that strategy in action. Meanwhile, shadow ministers will apologise for some of New Labour’s foibles and
shortcomings, part of the continuous attempt to draw a line under the era of Blair and Brown. Already, Jim Murphy has conceded that Labour lost control of the defence budget and today he vows (£) that the party will never descend into soap opera again. Liam Byrne, John Denham and Douglas Alexander are
all expected to offer mea culpas. By the end of this conference, we should know where Labour stands, though not for what it stands.
Jim Murphy
The Lib Dems’ long-term assault on Labour
A report to worry the two Eds?
Making the case for further tuition fees
Ed Miliband makes a very obvious pass at Vince
Searching for an alternative
Murphy sets Labour’s new strategy a-rolling
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Amid Overheating Concerns, Dubai’s Nakheel Posts Revenue Surge
Asa Fitch
Nakheel Chairman Ali Rashid Lootah talks to journalists in Dubai
Asa Fitch for The Wall Street Journal
Dubai’s real estate market has surged to dizzying – and some would say, worrying – heights after prices rose by more than 20% last year. The chairman of the emirate’s biggest government developer, however, isn’t too concerned. Added regulation has helped curb speculation and should put a damper on a market that many analysts already see as frothy, Nakheel chairman Ali Rashid Lootah said Sunday.
“You get increases when there is speculation,” Mr. Lootah said. “Everyone is trying to control that and stop speculation.”
Dubai doubled its transaction tax on property sales from 2 percent to 4 percent last year, a move aimed at curbing excessive short-term buying and selling. The U.A.E.’s central bank also put into place new caps on mortgages in an attempt to control the amount of leverage in the market.
Prices have continued to rise despite these efforts, and Nakheel enjoyed strong demand for its new projects last year. The company raked in about $2.56 billion in revenues, up by 20 percent compared to 2012. It made a net profit of $700 million, also a major increase on the year before, according to figures announced today.
Nakheel is planning to use its newfound wealth to repay all of its debts and get its financial restructuring firmly behind it. The company was one of the hardest-hit in Dubai by the financial crisis, which sent home prices tumbling by more than half in many areas starting in late 2008. Since Mr. Lootah came on board in 2010, Nakheel has restructured debt with banks and reached settlements with most contractors and other creditors.
Yet the rapidity with which Nakheel and the Dubai market in general have bounced back isn’t universally seen as positive. Property consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle said in a fourth-quarter report released yesterday that while the residential market might have had a banner year last year, rates of growth will be calmer this year.
“The rapid price growth, return of speculation and the dominance of cash buyers could translate into excessive price growth or over-development that, if not managed carefully, could result in a bubble that would be harmful to the Dubai residential market in the longer term,” the report said.
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← From the object of Uncle Verne’s affection…
Name that caption: Saban better have time for this shit. →
More Freud, less football coach: Schultz on Richt
While I suppose it was inevitable that the Crowell dismissal would be the inspiration for another Jeff Schultz column in which he appoints himself Mark Richt’s scold, yesterday’s piece took a slightly different tack from where Schultz usually goes when the criminal element rears its ugly head in Athens town.
That may be the consequence, as Schultz concedes, of the fact that nobody can accuse Richt of sitting on his hands anymore when a player, even one as important as Crowell was, crosses a line.
Richt, to his credit, no longer responds to players’ criminal or just plain stupid actions by merely making them run stadium steps or suspending their dessert privileges. He has come a long way from enabling Odell Thurman. He suspends players. He kicks them out. He tries to make them understand that getting four or five stars stamped on your forehead by a recruiting site and the ego trip of a signing-day news conference shouldn’t be accompanied by a sense of entitlement (even if it too often does).
Or, it may be because certain issues are both beyond Richt’s control and not matters that Richt’s peers need address, again, as Schultz concedes: “Some of Georgia’s problems can be attributed to having a tougher drug-and-alcohol policy than other schools.”
But seven kids are gone, gone, gone from Georgia’s vaunted Dream Team class. And that means somebody’s got to shake a vigorous finger in Richt’s direction. Jeff Schultz is more than happy to supply that finger. It’s just that instead of tut-tutting about an out of control program, it’s now about not winning enough.
The problem now is that too many of the players Georgia is recruiting should be red-lined. The line of risk needs to be pulled back.
Obviously, Richt and his staff are getting a lot right. The Bulldogs are favored to win the SEC East. They’re projected to open the season as a top-10 team.
But imagine if they actually had everybody there.
So Richt’s a guy who needs to be held accountable when he tolerates bad behavior, and he’s also a guy who needs to be held accountable when he doesn’t. How does that work exactly? Well, it would seem to start by weeding out the bad seeds before they ever get to campus.
Have the negative headlines of this offseason given him reason to pay closer attention to a recruit’s personal blemishes?
“We do find out as much as we possibly can,” he said. “There are rules on how many times we can call a kid and see him in person. We try to maximize those things.”
Sorry. But losing seven of 26 kids from one recruiting class in one year screams that there’s a need for a better filter.
What sort of filter? Schultz doesn’t have an answer – and again concedes that there probably isn’t an easy one.
Richt was accurate when he said, “To say that issues aren’t happening around the country isn’t really realistic.”
Every major program in the country wanted Isaiah Crowell coming out of high school. There wasn’t a one of them which wouldn’t have taken his signature on the dotted line had it been offered. And there wasn’t a word of warning when Crowell hoisted that puppy in the air that Richt was making a serious mistake in signing him. Indeed, Schultz himself had this to say after Ealey and King left the program: “Fact is, the Dogs were going to rise or fall next season on the strength of freshman Isaiah Crowell, any way.”
So somehow Mark Richt is supposed to be able to reach into the hearts and minds of men (well, seventeen-year old men, anyway) and divine an evil purpose that no one else can see. In other words, Mark Richt’s biggest flaw as a head coach is that he’s not the greatest amateur psychiatrist on the planet.
That’s not a standard Schultz has failed to deploy before. If you’ll recall, he was very critical of Richt’s search for a replacement for Willie Martinez, not because Grantham was a poor choice, but because Richt got used during the search process by the likes of Foster, Chavis and Smart to get better contracts from their existing employers. As I pointed out at the time, that premise ignores the way the hiring process works. But in Schultz’ mind, it should have been obvious to Richt than none of those men were ever serious about coming to Georgia.
Of course, the beautiful thing here is that none of us know if Richt and his staff have turned down certain kids who they felt were too big a risk (although given Georgia’s alarming number of open scholarships, I suspect that’s been the case more than we suspect), kids who indeed went on to become problems in college. But I bet Jeff Schultz could write a doozy of a column about a talented kid whom Richt wouldn’t take a chance on, then went on to college and managed to become a success on and off the field. (I’m looking at you, Deion Bonner.)
Speaking of Bonner, maybe Schultz thinks it would be a good idea for Richt to avoid recruiting Columbus Carver entirely. After all, Bonner and Crowell make for two pretty significant flame outs in a short time. Here’s how another Carver grad might answer that:
“I hear that a lot. It ain’t Carver. It’s not Carver It’s the individual,” Jones said. “There’s a lot of great players that that have went on from Carver: Oklahoma State, Duke University, Ole Miss. I mean we’ve got a lot of players in Division I football. It’s the individual that makes mistakes. … It’s never the school, it’s the players.”
Jones, of course, is one of those players that has avoided trouble, despite a rough upbringing.
That’s why you take a risk, if you’re Mark Richt. It’s not just because you have to recruit where the talent takes you, although that’s certainly a large part of it. It’s also, though, because you honestly believe you can make a difference with the kids you bring into the program. You’re not always going to be right about that. But I don’t think that means you should give up altogether.
****************************************************************************************
UPDATE: Michael Felder has a succinct rebuttal to Schultz – “Georgia doesn’t have a discipline issue. They have a getting caught issue.”
74 responses to “More Freud, less football coach: Schultz on Richt”
The same attrition takes place other places. It’s just they plan for the attrition at Alabama and LSU and sign 25 players for 18 slots, knowing 7 players will a) do something criminal along the way, b) screw up academically, or c) have significant injuries.
Richt can’t control the actions of everyone on his team, but he can control the number of athletes he has at his disposal.
With the luck UGA has had over the last several years, I have no doubt that the first time Richt does that, not a single kid will get injured or arrested.
Then the ones that don’t contribute should have to go elsewhere. Where in the US Constitution does it say that everybody is entitled to a spot on UGA’s roster for the whole 4 years? Actually, that is part of the problem. At Bama, for example, everybody knows that if he doesn’t bust his ass somebody else who will is going to take his scholarship. But not at UGA, nooooo. Show up, don’t get caught smoking dope or fondling girls who don’t want to be fondled or with a gun, and you got it made for 4 years (5 if you redshirt). What do you think would happen to YOUR job if you didn’t really contribute? What are we teaching the kids on the Georgia team with a policy that accepts them as members of the team even when they don’t contribute either because of lack of effort or because it turns out they really don’t possess the skills to help out? What does that evoke in the players who DO bust their asses to contribute, seeing others who don’t contribute, still there and on the team? 69 scholarship players on the roster and we haven’t even had any injuries because fall practice hasn’t started yet. Roster mismanagement is the single biggest mistake that CMR commits, over and over and over and over…………
Come on Mayor, that’s grade A bullshit and you know it. The problem with taking that stance is you start obfuscating the true mission of a University (higher education) with the success of the football team.
Let’s say a kid that earns a scholarship to UGA out of high school based on his athletic merits comes in and never cracks the two-deep. This kid busts his ass every day at practice, but for whatever reason he never develops beyond what he was coming in from high school and rides the pine. Let’s also say that this kid is an exemplary student – never misses a class, is going to graduate on time with good grades, and has never once run afoul of John Q. Law. Can you say with a straight face that there is a legitimate reason for cutting that kid’s scholarship because he fit the definition of a college student to a Tee, but just couldn’t cut it on the football field?
The problem is that there is no objective manner to assess whether this kid’s scholarship should get cut. At least with academic based scholarships there is a set criteria that a student knows he/she must achieve to maintain the scholarship. With athletic scholarships, it’s all subjective judgment based on the head coach’s evaluation which I think is far more power than any one person should have over a kid’s education. I think it’s utter bullshit that anybody could justify cutting some kid’s scholarship because he didn’t pan out as a great football player, but is doing everything else expected of him as a college student and represents the University well. I’m not sure that’s water I want my alma mater to start treading in. Of course, YMMV.
Let me clarify that I have no problem with cutting a kid that is doing all the wrong things (i.e.not going to class, not getting grades, getting in trouble with the law, etc.). Ultimately, there needs to be a set objective criteria that could cause one to lose his athletic scholarship and takes some of the leverage away from coaches in the relationship.
Sooooo, you are OK with getting rid of kids that don’t meet YOUR criteria but are not OK with getting rid of kids that don’t meet somebody else’s criteria. Right. Got it. This reminds me of the old joke about asking a woman: “Would you sleep with me if I gave you $10,000,000?” After a “yes” answer then offering $5. When she says: “NO! What type of girl do you think I am?” then the retort is : “We’ve already established that, now we’re just haggling over the price.”
No, try re-reading that. I’m okay with getting rid of a kid’s scholarship when said kid doesn’t meet an OBJECTIVE criteria over somebody’s (the coach) SUBJECTIVE criteria. I can objectively measure whether a kid is going to class, getting appropriate grades, or how many arrests he has.
I cannot objectively measure how good a kid is performing on the football field. That is in the eye of the beholder and a coach shouldn’t have that type of power over a kid’s education. He should have to prove, without a doubt, that objective parameters of the scholarship were violated before revoking it.
Far too long the coaches have held this power over kids and abuse it everyday. Until there is a transparent, objective criteria set forth on scholarship offers, I will continue to support a player when he is shuffled out the door by the likes of Saban/Spurrier/Miles just because he wasn’t good enough on the football field.
Just to play devil’s advocate here but there’s not as big a distinction between you and the Mayor’s criteria in certain situations, say in a hypothetical situation where all of a University’s classes are graded on a curve. In that case losing your scholarship because you couldn’t crack the two deep would be as objective as losing your scholarship because you couldn’t crack the top 25% of your class.
Back to the discussion at hand, first, i think we can all agree even if Georgia commits to scholarships for a full 4 years for everyone, We need to start using up all of our scholarships. Having only 70 scholarship players not counting former walk ons is absurd. Second, I wouldn’t have a problem, with cutting a guy’s scholarship if the coach deems the player can’t contribute on the field. Provided a few conditions. 1) the player knew that was a possibility when he signed 2) the player can transfer elsewhere without sitting out any time at all, and 3) the player can remain on academic scholarship without counting towards the team’s limit so as to continue his education. Yeah i know these aren’t realistic but I’m talking ideal hypothical situation here.
#3 is the big one for me. I completely agree with those conditions, though. It’s the transparency in the system that has to improve before I will trust a coach over a player. Coaches use the power play on kids by threatening scholarships because they know they can and there’s nothing a kid can do about it.
Also entirely agree on using up all the available scholarships. There’s got to be a better way to get to the 85 number than what we’re doing now. Honestly, I don’t disagree with the Mayor at all with respect to roster management issues. I take issue with his assertion that we should just freely run kids off that are basically dead weight from a football perspective, but could be perfectly productive students/members of the UGA community.
+1 on the using all available scholarships. How Saban accomplishes #3 apparently is by saying that the kid is permanently injured and arranging for the kid to keep his scholarship via a medical hardship. I think the former player has to continue to do something with the team such as work as a manager or some such. Does anyone out there in blogland know?
Don’t worry, Bonner is in “pre-trail” intervention, according to the AJC. Not sure what that entails.
Seriously, though, what is a coach supposed to do here? Rock, meet hard place.
DawgFaithful
I read this crap yesterday. Schultz is an F—-ing moron. We’re recruiting the same kids that everyone else in the country is. Crowell was the #1 RB in America and was from GA. If he would have gone to Alabama and won the Heisman, Shultz would have written an article bashing Richt for letting the top players in the state get away. Furthermore he takes a shot at the “dream Team” for losing 7 of its members to attrition. I think the Dream Team has worked out pretty well: Corey Moore, Malcolm Mitchell, John Jenkins, Ray Drew, Chris Conley(Fla. Game), Jay Rome, Amarlo Herrera, Ramik Wilson etc. All contributors and current/future starters. I’d say that was a pretty good haul. 1 of the kids that was dismissed for theft was Nick Marshall. He broke every QB record in GA his senior year. Were we not supposed to go after an athlete like that? What red flags was Richt supposed to see there? We recruited him as a DB but it was well known that Paul Johnson was recruiting him hard at QB. Nick Marshall said that Johnson told him if he came to Tech he would make him a Heisman winning QB. If he’d gone to Tech and gotten himself kicked off their team, do you think Shultz would have written a few paragraphs of swill condemning Johnson for his recruiting methods? I think not. Just look at this guy’s picture in the paper. He looks like the biggest Dbag on earth. Probably got his ass kicked regularly growing up. What else could have turned this moron into the Swill Merchant that he is today.
More evidence of his idiociy…
“He has come a long way from enabling Odell Thurman. He suspends players. He kicks them out.”
You mean the Odell Thurman who was suspended multiple times. Or the Odell Thurman who got kicked out of the program and had to spend a year at Ga Military before being allowed back? Yeah, Mark Richt’s willingness to suspended or kick off a star player has come along way since the time when he was willing to suspend and kick out star players.
Worst. Newspaper. Columnist. Ever.
Be careful now with that “worst ever” stuff. You either don’t remember, or have forgotten about Terrance Moore.
Here’s the question I was expecting you to ask in this piece, Senator, and the question I’d like to see Jeff Schultz answer. He references “recruiting risks” in this piece, intimating that there were some sorts of warning signs about Isaiah Crowell or some of the other players Georgia has recruited over the years who have seen early exits from Athens.
I want to know exactly what warning signs there were. Certainly, they weren’t readily apparenty to Schultz, since he neither he nor any other sportswriters covering Georgia (the school or the state) took the chance to write about them. I recall Crowell’s commitment being hailed as a Georgia victory. Certainly, all the other schools out there were recruiting his ass, so they must have missed or ignored these supposed warning signs, too.
What indications were there that the Marshall, Sanders, and Seay would end up trying to steal stuff? Were there any? All accounts I read of those young men said they were going to be assets to the school.
It’s been well documented that UGA’s policies on certain offenses are tougher than other schools and it’s been well documented that UGA is a lot more free with information than other schools. Perhaps we just hear about UGA’s problems more than those at other schools? Regardless, I want to know: How were any of these players undue risks? And how does he account for the players that Georgia DID take a pass on because of worries about their backgrounds? Let’s hear it, Jeff. What were the signs? Because if being from a poor neighborhood and impoverished family makes you a risk, then a LOT of colleges are taking flyers one risky athletes. And if that’s the only “risk” you see, then you need to re-evaluate some of your attitudes.
And that’s saying NOTHING about the borderling slanderous idea that Richt was soft on discipline at any point in his tenure. I expected to lose at Clemson in 2003, for example, because half of the damn team was suspended. Player discipline was NEVER limited to “running stairs or losing dessert privileges.” Enabling Odell Thurman? Richt kicked his ass off the team after a fight and then let him come back *a year later*… he was arrested for underage alcohol (shocker in a college town) and suspended for that. Then, Richt suspended him for three games in 2004 (including a crucial conference game against South Carolina) for another offense. Richt wasn’t enabling anyone, he was disciplining him. Odell screwed up in post-collegiate life.
Rambo offered by Bama and almost every other SEC team
Ogletree…ditto
Branden Smith….ditto
Crowell…ditto (plus half the country)
Commings…South Carolina
Pretty weak, but then again, it is Schultz. As much as I dislike Bobby Petrino, Schultz’s questions for John L. Smith on Wednesday were disgraceful.
Amen. Schultz loves to ignore evidence and rewrite history. He loves to say someone is doing something wrong but never has any helpful insight into what they’re dong right. In short, Schultz is nothing more than the bullhorn of the frustrated idiot class of football fans.
I would do anything for him to come onto this message board and defend himself, though I doubt very seriously he can find a defense of his position. He was avoiding criticism in the comments of the AJC while playfully responding.
I really loathe that guy’s writing. Circular logic all over the place and snark that isn’t even funny. It’s a terrible combination.
REVEREND THOMAS JOHNSON
Haven’t bought a copy of AJC in 10 years – seems my life has been a little brighter ever since. http://www.wedgeorgia.com
+1 Rev. Going on 20 years for me.
Everyone recruits the smae kids, the only thing you can control is your discipline standards once they’re on campus as well as how many kids you sign. The only thing Richt needs to do differently is sign more kids and be more discreet and I would argue be a little laxer in how he punishes them as well. Or basically the complete opposite of what Schultz thinks is the problem.
JoeDawg
Why do we even waste our time talking about this guy? Schultz is a troll.
ZerPointZero
Reading Schultz makes you stupider. I don’t read him because he is 1. Not at all funny and 2. Brings nothing to the table.
I am baffled that he has a job.
He could write all nice things about UGA and I would feel the same way.
He is a hired D-Bag. I feel sorry for his lack of talent.
Schultz is a gaseous fuckwit. What about the hundreds of players under Richt that have not done stupid things, but instead have done great ones? What about Matt Stafford, #1 NFL pick and who seems like a pretty charitable dude? Thomas Brown, who is coaching now? Nothing about them?
Young men do stupid things all the time, particularly if they don’t have stabilizing influences at home, this is hardly limited to the Georgia program. Schultz is basically slamming Richt for not having a crystal ball and divining Crowell’s idiotic choices.
the pity of schultzie isn’t that he’s dumb, it’s that he’s lazy. when he was the thrashers beat writer one could read his articles and actually learn something. too much proximity to the dipshittery of mark bradley and deluded personal piety make for a nasty mix on deadline.
I gave up reading the shallow, poorly thought out columns from Schultz years ago. He’s a “don’t do this” object lesson for critical thinking.
No one buys newspapers anymore. Jeff has been hired to write whatever it takes to get eyeballs on a website so advertisers will pay to hawk their wares. It’s the equivalent of the talk show host who panders to our most prurient interests to get people to listen. Newspapers are not in business to sell news or stories anymore than radio and television are in the business of entertainment. They’re all in the advertising business. Period. They need to sell ads or they become unemployed. Period. He’s simply doing what he gets paid to do. We shouldn’t expect anything else. More importantly, we shouldn’t contribute to it by sending folks over there to see what he wrote. Ignore him. Us getting worked up only gets Jeff a raise.
True to all dat. Unfortunately, I can’t tear myself away from following the Blog (and its incidental risks ie. Shultz) especially in the dark and pigskin-less days of July.
Go 30 days cold turkey. I promise you won’t miss anything about the AJC. Seriously. There is nothing of value on their site.
This. Spend a little time with out them, and you’ll wonder why you ever gave a damn about that rag soon enough.
I meant THIS august blog — haven’t touched the AJC production in years.
What we all have to do in unison and across the board—do NOT click on links that lead to Schultz or anybody else at the AJC. Every time we do that we reward them for the asinine tripe they print. I actually wish the Senator wouldn’t include the link to that nonsense on this blog. Tell us what the moron said but do NOT reward that dope with the gift of a link.
These revisionist, hindsight observations are sickening. As many above have pointed out, UGA recruited the same athletes as all other SEC schools, the difference is UGA actually enforces standards the others choose not to employ. If they had forgiven the transgressions those of those seven athletes from the Dream Team, would that make UGA and Richt a better program? It is so dumb as to not be worthy as a discussion point.
The better journalist might look deeper into the tragic circumstances of unwed births and broken homes that haunt the black community nationally, or the permissive society/schools that ignores the damages broken homes inflict on these young people, be they white, or black. To attack a man with the character of Mark Richt while ignoring the real issues surrounding these problems is cowardly and shallow. Someone should haul Schultz outside the AJC offices and whale the hell out of him. Better yet, his bosses at the much despised AJC should ask him for the “rest of the story” about other programs’ policies, or identify what steps are being taken to address a national shame are. Short of those additional paragraphs, they should fire his sorry ass for making another “Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious” piece designed only to fill space while imparting no new information while tearing into one of the few positive people in these guys lives. Never buy an AJC, and never click on their links, the paper has done enough damage in its time.
He has to feed the AJC comment page trolls. It is what drives the clicks and their revenue stream these days.
You had to know this was coming from the AJC. Like I posted about Towers and the context /article of the writer from the Birmingham News, today’s alleged sportswriters do not write about sports but about themselves. They like to attack coaches, players, and universites like many journalist do today. They pick and select the programs and coaches they like. They buy into the liberal elities and shelter the Penn States / Paterno plus faculty and the Dukes / Duke faculty / President.
The AJC is a liberal, yellow, newspaper. Look at every writer they have.
If I was the AD I’d have a long talk in Athens about how they report on the sports at UGA. That article is one in a long list of articles highly critical of UGA. CMR does what he can do for the University, the players, the team, and the overall program at Georgia. He has done a very good job. UGA has a great system in place for discipline. It is fair and it is even handed. No coach is more sincere, honest, and genuinely interested in athletes and students at UGA than Mark Richt.
Crowell is an edge player. He demonstrated that at Carver and in the play-offs when UGA stepped up its push. Did the coahces at UGA misjudge him, perhaps…that is the complaint some of us have about the RB position coach. Most fans who follow teams and regions in the lower half of the state understand the set-up in Columbus. One school has all the football players, another all the baseball players, and another the basketball players. Compare Columbus to any other town in Georgia and their high school program. Now why does Schultz address that situation as to whether it is factual or not, or what Carver does. That would be too hard for a Jeff Schultz…like all those writers who failed to see the early signs at PSU or at Duke.
So what does it all mean. Crowell you messed up and wasted a great opportunity. Maturity. Can you coach that?. Perhaps, but anybody who has ever had a 15 to early 20’s son knows it is rough. You hug them one moment and the next you want to kick their butt. And then you think back to your own life. And CMR has a staff, an alumni base, and almost 100 young men who work out every day. Those guys are always on the edge. Crowell’s a good guy, but he was immature and for whatever reason he never understood where he was at at this point in his life.
CMR has these qualities that a Jeff Schultz does not have but feels free to rake CMR on a consistent basis. LIfe experiences in football as a player at top program that has had its issues. A highly regarded OC under one of the most respected coaches in the NCAA D1. A program the set in the top 5 for years. A man deeply rooted in Judeo-Christian faith. An outstanding family man. An outstanding employee and ambassador for the University and athletics at UGA.
Jeffl Schultz is immature. He is a piss poor sports writer. He has a job for life at a piss poor newspaper. He is aware of both of those facts. He is so conflicted about it he can not stand the success of any coach or player. He revels in these kind of situations.
Crowell was dismissed. No one will dismiss Schultz at the AJC. But the AD can sure revoke his press pass. If he wants to write, let him buy a seaon ticket and make a contribution ot the Bulldogs.
Three outstanding players at Hoover, and not one word or sentence about these outstanding young men and their commitment to themselves and their team mates. That never crosses the mind of a Jeff Schultz…a poor, bitter sportswriter from the AJC…one in a long list of them.
Well said, Will. I do not for the life of me understand why CMR, McGarity and the rest of the at Butts-Mehre put up with Schultz or anyone else at the AJC. I hate to say it but Corch had it right. If they were saying negative things about his program they didn’t get access. McGarity of all people should understand this.
DamnGoodDawg
The more I read their moronic babble, the better chances those clown dicks get to keep their jobs and keep writing biased, anit-UGA stories. I don’t read the AJC anymore, because the more I read their moronic babble, the better chances those clown dicks get to keep their jobs and keep writing biased, anit-UGA stories. I don’t read the AJC anymore…
Ugh, see, it’s a vicious cycle and just gets me even more irritated. And then I get this weird vein popping out of my forehead, and my wife is like “whats wrong with your head?” And I’m like “this terd-licker at the AJC said this about the Dawgs and…” And she gives me this look like, who the hell is Jeff Shultz, and why do you even care what he writes?
Exactly… why do I care what he writes.
As far as passing on kids who may be potential trouble, Dexter Moody also comes to mind.
http://blogs.ajc.com/georgia-state-sports/2012/03/27/dexter-moody-suspended-indefinitely/
I’m guessing “Scoop” Schultz is unaware that Odell was arrested for a traffic violation during his redshirt year and as a result was kicked off team and sent to GMC for awhile.
I believe he was actually kicked off for a fight in addition to that. Then had two suspensions during meaningful games. Odell wasn’t enabled at Georgia.
TAdams
Wish folks would stop defending Mark Richt, when Richt gets criticism that he deserves. Less than 70 scholarship players? No sugar coating, that’s inept management, name another SEC team with that. Yes, Richt doesn’t know ghow to stop it, and has no clue as to what’s causing it. Wake up homers.
That’s justified criticism, and I have no problem with it. What I do have a problem with is having an AJC columnist spin things in ways that aren’t true and writing things that simply aren’t the case; I have a problem with Jeff Schultz writing that Mark Richt was soft on discipline and that he has enabled these players. 70 scholarship players isn’t soft on discipline. If anything, it’s tough on discipline, because he is showing the door to players we need.
However, TAdams, I’ll ask you the same thing that I asked above: what warning signs did Richt supposedly miss? We’ve passed on players with character issues in the past, and these players supposedly came highly referred and with no previous legal issues. What could Richt have done differently? Certainly, he has laid down the law that future transgressions will get people kicked out. What else is there to do, outside of changing UGA’s policies that force his hand whereas the Alabamas of the world don’t have the same problem?
Fools/tools like him don’t have answers, in fact that don’t really have thoughts. Just like to sit in the weeds and bitch and attack. Don’t really get how we have fans that better belong with a Bama, tosu, Barn, TN, etc. where all that matters is winning….even if you have to sacrifice any integrity or principles that true winners have. Be thankful for the good man we have at the helm. It isn’t that you have to agree with every decision or policy he makes, or every play call, just knwing he is committed to doing things the right way and will always represent us in a way that makes us proud is all I need from him. That is what makes you want to be a homer, I just wish we had a way to get those who don’t like our home out of the bunker. Guys like that don’t fit the R&B I know and love.
R u talking about Schultz or SkepticDawg or TAdams?
Newspaper Conspiracy theory–out to get Mark Richt? Really man? Jeff Schultz won an award for top 10 sports jourbnalist in the country, he knows more about football than whoever runs this blog, sure man, aliens are real too 🙂 Or hmm, for the rational sports fans out there, not fanatics, maybe Jeff Schultz has a point??????
So tell me, Mr. Rational Sports Fan, since I’m obviously too stupid to figure it out on my own, how would you screen the bad apples out?
WARNING!!!! TROLL ALERT- WARNING!!!-TROLL ALERT
Danger Will Robinson! Danger!
The other Billy Mumy!
I’d take “whoever runs this blog” in an intellectual cage match over Jeff Schultz any day of the week, and twice on Sundays.
Thrice on Saturdays?
We need you to tell us more wise one.
Oh, Jeff, we see right through that user name.
Re: Jeff Schultz Award Winning Sports Journalist–Janet Cooke won the Pulitzer Prize while at the Washington Post for a story that later was established to have been a complete and utter fabrication. Just sayin.’
LOL. Yeah, like winning an “award” is reason enough to take everything Schultz says as fact. That one made me nearly spit my beer all over my monitor I laughed so hard. This guy must jerk off to Oscar and Emmy award actors too, huh?
Isaiah Crowell would still be playing for Saban, Chizik, Dooley, Spurrier, Meyer, and Miles. Not one of those guys would have pulled the plug at the point that Richt did.
And ditto for Mettenberger.
Indeed, Mett is playing for Les Miles as we speak. And a kid who stole from UGA players’ lockers last fall has a full ride to Clemson University. Not everyone passes on some of the players that UGA either passes on or shows the door.
Eh, I’m going to have to disagree there. I don’t think the football coach has much say in the matter once a kid gets popped for felony weapons charges. However, I don’t think there’s any way in hell this would have happened in Tuscaloosa because Saban micro-manages that program so much that a football player wouldn’t be driving around at 3AM on a Thursday without a chaperone or somebody from the program watching him.
You may be right, especially about Saban not having a player in the situation that Isaiah was in.
Saban doesn’t allow his players to emerge from an alley or ride in Mudcat’s car? I honestly believe if Crowell and company had gone through a roadblock in Tuscaloosa, Saban would have been the first person called. I wish I knew who the football player was that Jimmy Williamson caught screwing his wife/mom/daughter or whatever. Dude harbors more of a grudge than Spurrier does.
Umm, did I just agree completely with something in the Bleacher Report? [Head Explodes]
No surprise here. Schultz doing what Schultz does. Sensationalism and agitating. That’s the only thing that gets his articles hits on the ajc’s site. People read it for the same reason some folks flip over to MSNBC from time to time. It’s like a train wreck. Schultz hates UGA because it, and more strangely and incongruously represents two demographics that he holds in contempt. Well to do Southerners and middle to lower middle class Souterners (in his mind those awful people who drive pick up trucks), almost exclusively conservative and nothing like him. See, Schultz isn’t the only one who can play the amateure shrink game.
Any high school student-athlete, with even the most impressive and clean resume, who passes every evaluation with flying colors, is perfectly capable of a tragic mistake while in college. As an old theologian once said, there is no limit to the depth to which we are able to fall. True for you and me, true for adolescent males. Point being – there is no exact science to reading the heart of a young man, and what may lurk beneath. Senator is right – Richt is no Freud. Even Freud would have embraced Crowell on signing day and hoped for great things from the young man, and known deep down (with Richt) that it could all be undone in a moment of weakness and foolishness.
Profound. Indeed profound.
To weigh in on the “crappy journalism” issue rather than the “bad apple” issue, I have to say the inverted quality gap between MSM sportswriters and sports bloggers–nearly all of whom are unpaid–continues to amaze me. And the thing is: Schultz is hardly the worst sportswriter at the AJC, and the AJC does not have the worst sports section of the remaining major metro newspapers. It does make me crazy that the AJC used to train its best talent in the sports section (going back to Roy Blount, Jr., and before that, all the way back to Ralph McGill), and still somehow can’t, in the most incredibly employer-controlled labor market in an incredibly employer-controlled economy, find better writers than the people they have. But the problem seems to go well beyond Atlanta, and obviously infects the MSM TV networks as well.
As an online journalist myself, I know we’re all living in hell right now, until such time as the economics of the industry get sorted out and/or the world ends. But sports journalism is particularly screwed up, which is why we should all give daily thanks that folks like the Senator are willing to do this as sidelines.
This was probably the worst article I’ve ever read.
As someone said previously, the idiots at the Urinal & Constipation would have been killing Richt if he hadn’t signed Isaiah or the Dream Team. Now they get to kill him because a bunch of college kids do stupid stuff (surprise surprise).
Why doesn’t Schultz write an article about Nick Saban not being a good enough parent, or devoting too much time to football (instead of kids), since apparently his daughter kicked the shit out of her sorority sister OVER A YEAR AGO, A POLICE REPORT WAS FILED, and the first anyone hears about it was when a lawsuit was filed last week?!?!?! But no one in the media will write that story, because they know the odds of getting any interviews or access to Saban or Alabama after a story like that are about -1000%; but they can trash our coach, and our players, and our former players, with impunity….
I wouldn’t wipe my ass with yesterday’s sports section….
Man vs Man. Richt vs Schultz. Coach vs local sportswriter. If you want to lay out a comparison as a basis for Schultz to hammer CMR again, then why omit the coaching record and awards CMR has in his resume, then think about the intangibles. The young men who have left the program, played well, individual accomplishments of players, the support fans and alumni have poured into the university, the inspiration CMR provides people in this state, and etc.
I’m alum of UGA. I give to the funds. I had my roommate from metro Atlanta flunk out after two quarters becuase he partied every night. Now did the Admissions office misjudge him. No. He meet the requirements. He did not have the motivation or desire to compete in a classroom with his peers. He lacked maturity. A lot of us fans see that in kids on both sides of the field. Crowell showed that several times as a freshman. Other kids in that recruiting class who remain meet the same requirements are playing. CMR’s fault. I think not. These guys have to start taking responsibility for themselves and their team. Crowell has no shame or character. He was lazy. How many kids would love to play in that program and attend classes in colleges that are very good. Walk off campus with a degree and a high recommendation from a man like Richt.
I’ll test Schultz accomplishments in a few weeks on Friday night in the stadiums of football class 1-AAAAAA [that be Valdost, Lowndes, Camden Colquittt County, and company]. I’ll ask those fans if they know Jeff and his world class awards. I would dare say right now not one soul will know who in the hell this guy is give a damn about his trophies or framed paper.
Closing, I doubt if CMR cares about any individual awards he has or will recieved. He is not than kind of man. The man cares about faith, determination, and growth. I’ve never heard any kid who was dismissed or suspended complain about CMR.
But I did not see Schultz write one word about those three young players who were at Hoover. Schultz used that opportunity, Media Days, to attack CMR rather than write about the players who were there, their play, and their development under CMR..
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Differences in sickness absence between self-employed and employed doctors: a cross-sectional study on national sample of Norwegian doctors in 2010
Judith Rosta1,
Gunnar Tellnes2 &
Olaf G Aasland1,2
Doctors have a low prevalence of sickness absence. Employment status is a determinant in the multifactorial background of sickness absence. The effect of doctors’ employment status on sickness absence is unexplored. The study compares the number of sickness absence days during the last 12 months and the impact of employment status, psychosocial work stress, self-rated health and demographics on sickness absence between self-employed practitioners and employed hospital doctors in Norway.
The study population consisted of a representative sample of 521 employed interns and consultants and 313 self-employed GPs and private practice specialists in Norway, who received postal questionnaires in 2010. The questionnaires contained items on sickness absence days during the last 12 months, employment status, demographics, self-rated health, professional autonomy and psychosocial work stress.
84% (95% CI 80 to 88%) of self-employed and 60% (95% CI 55 to 64%) of employed doctors reported no absence at all last year. In three multivariate logistic regression models with sickness absence as response variable, employment category was a highly significant predictor for absence vs. no absence, 1 to 3 days of absence vs. no absence and 4 to 99 days of absence vs. no absence), while in a model with 100 or more days of absence vs. no absence, there was no difference between employment categories, suggesting that serious chronic disease or injury is less dependent on employment category. Average or poor self-rated health and low professional autonomy, were also significant predictors of sickness absence, while psychosocial work stress, age and gender were not.
Self-employed GPs and private practice specialist reported lower sickness absence than employed hospital doctors. Differences in sickness compensation, and organisational and individual factors may to a certain extent explain this finding.
It is documented that the sickness absence in the workforce sectors with higher rate of self-employment is lower than in the public sector [1]. In Norway, hospital doctors are salaried employees with no salary reduction during sickness absence, whereas private practice specialists and general practitioners (GPs) as self-employed may contract economic losses during their eventual sickness absence, with 16 waiting days and a compensation of 40% of gross profit, with an annual maximum of NOK 711,900 in 2010 (EUR 93,680; GBP 76,020) [2, 3]. An additional difference between the two groups exists in the commitment for continuous patient care. If absent from work, private practitioners must usually find a locum as opposed to employed hospital doctors [2]. This can be a challenge, as most GPs and private practice specialists work alone or in small groups, with an increasing demand for GPs and private practice specialists in Norway [4].
Work stressors are important determinants in the multifactorial background of sickness absence [5–8]. For doctors, a high level of work stress combined with low prevalence of sickness absence is a familiar situation [5, 7, 9–15]. Some studies suggest an association between poor team work, bullying and sickness absence among different categories of hospital staff [7, 16].
A Norwegian study with data from 1993 showed that working whilst ill was more common among GPs compared with hospital doctors [17]. A preliminary analysis of the 2010 postal survey among Norwegian doctors suggests that the majority of doctors have little or no sickness absence at all – particularly doctors in general and specialist practice [9].
We have previously shown that in Norway every fourth GP compared to every third senior hospital doctor perceive their workload as unacceptable, and that GPs and other private practitioners through repeated surveys from 1994 have been more satisfied in their jobs than have hospital doctors [9, 18, 19] – suggesting less job stress [20]. Among employees in general an inverse relationship between job satisfaction and sickness absence has been documented [6].
Studies on work and stress are often based on one of two stress models. Karasek’s job strain model is widely used to describe how decision latitude (professional autonomy), psychological demands and social support, may have a bearing on sickness and sickness absence [21]. Decision latitude is negatively associated with sickness absence, while the effects of psychological demands and social support at work are not so clear [22]. Another stress model, the effort-reward imbalance model (ERI) has been proposed by Siegrist [23]. According to this model, a lack of balance between effort and reward leads to emotional distress and increases the risk of poor health and sickness absence [15, 24–26].
In this study we apply the ERI-model, supplemented by a measurement of the level of decision latitude.
The aim of this study is to compare the number of sickness absence days during the last 12 months and the impact of the employment status, psychosocial work stress, self-rated health and demographics on sickness absence between self-employed practitioners and employed hospital doctors in Norway.
Data collection and sample
In Norway, doctors’ health and working conditions have been studied in an extensive research program by The Research Institute of the Norwegian Medical Association starting in 1992. Since 1994, a representative panel of originally 1,200 active Norwegian doctors has been followed through postal questionnaires biennially. Over the years, younger doctors have been included and several hundred have left the panel due to retirement, death or voluntary withdrawal. The present study is based on data from 2010, with 1,014 respondents out of 1,520 potential.
The project is in compliance with the declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects adopted by the World Medical Association (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html). According to the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics, the study based on “Norwegian Physician Survey - A bi-annual prospective questionnaire survey to a representative sample of Norwegian physicians” is exempt from review in Norway, cf. §§ 4 of The Act. The project can be implemented without the approval by the Regional Committee for Medical Research Ethics (IRB 0000 1870). Additionally, approval for data protection of the bi-annual prospective survey among Norwegian doctors was obtained from the Norwegian Social Science Data Service (Reference 19521).
Sickness absence was measured with a single question: “How many days of sickness absence have you taken during the past 12 months?” No distinction was made between doctor-certified and self-declared absence, or whether the sickness absence days were taken as one or several spells during the year. Preliminary analyses of the data showed [9] that the majority of doctors had none or only a few days of sickness absence during the last 12 months. Therefore, the reported numbers of sickness absence days were split into four levels: 0 days, 1–3 days, 4–99 days, and 100 or more days. Sickness absence days and sick days were used as synonyms in the study.
Potential determinants of sickness absence days
Psychosocial stress at work was measured by the validated short form of the effort-reward questionnaire (ERI) [27]. It comprises four items from the effort scale (time pressure, interruptions/disturbances, responsibility and demanding in the job) and five items from the reward scale (remuneration, esteem/appreciation, career opportunities such promotion, job security). Estimations were given on a five point Likert scale. According to this model, work stress is rooted in a chronic mismatch between high efforts and low rewards. Hence, a ratio of the sum score of the effort items (nominator) relative to sum score of the reward items (adjusted for the number of items; denominator) greater than one indicates a high level of psychosocial work stress.
Professional autonomy (decision latitude) was measured with one item from the validated job satisfaction scale of Warr et al. [28] “How satisfied are you with the freedom to choose your own methods of working?”, scored on a seven-point scale from very dissatisfied to very satisfied.
Weekly working hours were recorded as a self-estimated continuous variable [19].
Self-rated health, measured by the question “In general, would you say your health is: very good, good, not very good (average), poor”. This item has been showed to be correlated with mortality risk, morbidity, and general health status [29].
Other variables were sex and age, plus the main grouping variable dividing the sample in two: employed hospital doctors (consultants and interns) and self-employed doctors (general practitioners and private practice specialists).
We used Pearson’s Chi-square test for categorical data, and ANOVA for comparison of group means. Logistic regressions were used to estimate the simultaneous effect of gender, age, self-rated health, employment status, professional autonomy and work stress caused by psychosocial work environment on sickness absence during the last 12 months. SPSS Statistics, version 19 was used for the analyses.
The response rate was 67% (1,014/1,520). 948 doctors younger than 68 years answered the question on number of sickness absence days. 521 of these worked as employed consultants or interns in hospital trusts and 313 as self-employed GPs and private practice specialists. 103 worked in other settings (administration, research), and they are not included in the subsequent analyses. 11 respondents who did not indicate their present work situation were also excluded.
The proportions of GPs (30.5%; 254/834), private practice specialists (7%; 59/834) and consultants and interns in hospital trust (62.5%; 521/834) were not significantly different from the same segments of the total Norwegians doctor workforce (consultants and interns 65%, 10,907/16,793; GPs 29.4%, 4,942/16,793; private practice specialists 5.6%, 944/16,793). Gender and age proportions were also roughly the same (data not shown).
Potential determinants of sickness absence
Table 1 presents the potential determinants of sickness absence among doctors by employment status. Males, older age, high professional autonomy and low psychosocial work stress were more prevalent among self-employed than employed doctors. There were no differences in weekly working hours or self-rated health.
Table 1 Potential determinants of sickness absence of Norwegian doctors by employment status in 2010
Number of sick days
Figure 1 illustrates the levels of the sickness absence days during the last 12 months among Norwegian doctors by employment status in 2010. 83.7% (95% CI 80 to 88%) of self-employed doctors and 59.5 (55 to 64)% of employed doctors reported no sickness absence at all last year. 5.8 (3 to 8)% of the self-employed and 17.1 (14 to 20)% of the employed doctors reported 1 to 3 sickness absence days, and 8.3 (5 to 11)% of the self-employed and 21.7 (18 to 25)% of the employed doctors reported 4 to 99 sickness absence days. Judged by the confidence intervals, the differences between self-employed and employed doctors were statistically significant on all three levels. With regard to the small group with a very high number of sickness absence days, there was no difference, 2.2 (1 to 4)% (7/313) of the self-employed and 1.7 (1 to 3)% (9/521) of the employed doctors reported 100 days or more.
Levels of the sickness absence days during the last 12 months among Norwegian doctors by employment status in 2010.
The importance of employment category
To further explore the differences between the two categories of doctors in this study we performed a multivariate logistic regression with doctor category as the response variable (Table 2). The employed doctors were younger, had better self-rated health, were slightly more likely to work more than 40 hours per week (not significant), experienced a significantly lower professional autonomy and more psychosocial work stress. The statistically significant differences in sick days remained when controlled for the above mentioned variables. There was no gender effect in this model.
Table 2 Logistic regression model on employment status as response variable among Norwegian doctors in 2010 (method: enter; n = 768)
Variations in number of sick days
We also looked at differences related to number of sick days. Table 3 shows four multivariate logistic regression models with different levels of sick days as response variables. The predictors are employment category, age, gender, self-rated health, weekly working hours, professional autonomy and perceived psychosocial work stress (ERI).
Table 3 Logistic regression models on sickness absence days during the last 12 months as response variable among Norwegian doctors in 2010 (method: enter)
Age, gender and perceived psychosocial work stress were not significant predictors in any of the models. Employment category was highly significant except for those with more than 100 sick days last year (model 4), indicating that serious chronic disease or injury is not related to employment category (see also Table 2). Self-rated health and professional autonomy are significant predictors of sickness absences of more than 3 days.
Employed hospital doctors reported higher sickness absence compared with self-employed GPs and private practice specialists. Age, gender and psychosocial work stress measured by ERI had no impact on the number of sick days.
Comparisons with other studies
A comparison with other studies is limited by methodological differences regarding data, sample characteristics and measurements methods. However, Norwegian doctors seem to have a poor effort-reward balance as 19% (95% CI 13.3-25.6) had an ERI ratio greater than one, compared with 5.6% (95% CI 1.0-10.2) of high-skilled Norwegian white collar workers [30]. With regard to sick days, the number of yearly working days lost per full-time equivalent Norwegian employee according to the European Labour Force Survey in 2004 was 22, compared with 7 days for doctors [31]. Neither is the higher risk of sickness absence among females in the Norwegian workforce found among the doctors [32].
The international literature is ambiguous on the issues of doctors’ sickness absence and work stress. While we find that employed hospital doctors run a higher risk of sickness absence and psychosocial work stress than self-employed doctors in private practice, a study from the UK reports no difference between GPs and other doctors in sick leave [12]. In another UK study, higher percentage of GPs than hospital doctors perceived their job as “often or always stressful” (69% vs. 51%), and reported no sick leave in the last year (females: 65.2% vs. 42.9%; males 65% vs. 58%). However, more occupational stress and fewer days sick leave were reported by GPs and hospital doctors than company fee earners [13]. In Germany, psychosocial work stress as measured by ERI, was similar among hospital doctors in surgical fields (female: 24%; male: 26%) and doctors in private practice (28%) [15, 20]. A Finnish study found only a small difference between GPs and consultants in psychological stress using the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire, and that Finnish GPs had more short-term, but not long term, sickness absence than consultants [33]. To report no sick days at all was more frequent among our Norwegian doctors than in a comparable UK study [12].
These international differences in doctors’ sick days and stress levels may be due to different measurement instruments and different types of contract or sickness compensation schemes. In Norway, 94% of the GPs, as opposed to their hospital employed colleagues, have limited sickness compensation and obligatory waiting days, while 92% of Finnish GPs are employed by municipal health centres and have the same sickness compensation scheme as hospital doctors [2, 34]. In the UK, all NHS doctors, most hospital doctors and about a third of the GPs have a sickness compensation scheme. For the self-employed GPs sickness compensation arrangements depend on locum insurance [34–36].
Different from studies in the general population and professional groups, the high ERI levels of psychosocial work stress was not associated with number of sick days in our sample [22–26]. On the other hand, and consistent with other research using Karasek’s job stain model, professional autonomy was a significant negative predictor of sickness absence of more than three days [22]. In line with other studies, self-rated health was also a significant negative predictor of sickness absence in our sample [6].
Explanation of the results
It is clear that the type of sickness compensation has a bearing on the amount of sickness absence [22]. In Norway the introduction of full compensation for wage earners from day one in 1978 led to increased sickness absence [37]. Norwegian doctors employed by health trusts (mainly hospitals) are entitled to this type of sickness compensation, while the self-employed doctors (general practitioners and private practice specialists) usually have to wait at least 16 days, and do not get full compensation. In addition, these doctors are likely to be more committed to continuous patient care and must find a locum in their absence [2].
The potential effect of attitude toward sickness absence must be also considered [22]. We have data on sick days from 442 hospital doctors who answered the survey both in 2008 and 2010. 70% (17/20) of the doctors who had become self-employed reported no sick days in 2010, compared to 53% (224/422) of those who were still working in hospitals, a statistically significant difference (p = 0.005, Pearson’s Chi-square Test).
Also among the 13% of all doctors who rated their own health to be average or poor the self-employed more often reported no sick days last year (57% vs. 43%, p = 0.032; Pearson’s Chi-square Test). This is in line with an investigation using Norwegian data from 1993 showing higher prevalence of working whilst ill among self-employed GPs than employed hospital doctors [17].
It is possible that the observed difference in sickness absence between the two groups may be associated with the nature of the job rather than employment status. A Finnish study describes the working environment for doctors in the public sector as more strenuous than for doctors in the private sector, while a UK study reports more work stress among GPs than among hospital doctors [13, 38]. Other studies show no or small differences in perceived psychological stress between GPs and hospital doctors [15, 20, 33]. In our sample, hospital doctors compared with GPs and private practice specialists experienced more psychosocial work stress (Table 2). However, we found no association between psychosocial work stress and number of sick days (Table 3). Our studies with data from the last decade suggest similarities in the nature of job of employment and self-employment doctors in Norway. Several lifestyle factors such as alcohol consumption, smoking and physical activity were similar across doctor groups [9]. We also showed that the perceived unacceptable work stress, working hours and a desire for a change in workload did not differ significantly between hospital and private practice doctors [9, 19].
A good professional climate and reduction of psychosocial risks at the workplace are reflected in European and the Norwegian working conditions legislature [39, 40]. Doctors, particularly those working in hospitals, show an increased risk for psychosocial work stress. High doctor work stress is related negatively to quality of health care and positively to a number of physical and mental disorders such as burnout [15]. A current Norwegian study shows that sickness absence after a counselling intervention for burnout can prevent later burnout [41]. Almost 70% of the doctors in our sample reported no sick days during last year, but 13% rated their own health as average or poor. We know that doctors go to work with the same symptoms that they certify sick their patients for, which may negatively affect both their health and job satisfaction [6, 17]. Therefore, a lower threshold for sickness absence is required. Good doctor health is a necessary prerequisite for a good quality and stability of our total health care systems.
Limitations and strengths
The strength of this study lies first and foremost in the representative dataset, making the results generalizable to the entire population of doctors in hospital and private practice in Norway. The high validity of the instruments concerning on Effort-Reward Imbalance, professional autonomy and the self-rated health are also strengths of the study [27–29].
The response rate of 67% is fairly good. It is higher than in a number of other doctor studies, but does not rule out the possibility of non-respondents bias. There is of course the possibility that the doctors who did not respond had a long-term absence from job due to illness.
A further limitation is that self-reported sickness absence days that cannot be controlled against official records. However, there is at least one study that shows agreement between self-reported and recorded number of sickness absence days over a 12 month period [42].
The duration and type of sickness absence episodes (self-declared or doctor-certified) were not recorded in this survey, neither were the reasons for sickness absence, nor whether the reasons were work related. However, it is well documented that a significant part of the sickness absence are work-related [22]. Female doctors are more involved with family care than their male counterparts, and some of the reported sick days could be related to childcare or care of other family members [43]. A recent Norwegian study shows that sickness absence among females are mostly related to caring responsibilities, while the men have more stress and conflicts at work [44].
In our study, private practice specialists and GPs were defined as self-employed doctors. However, there is a small group of GPs (5.7% in 2010) in Norway who by choice are employed by the municipalities with a fixed salary and a sickness compensation system similar to the hospital doctors [4]. We are not able to identify these doctors in our sample.
One might speculate whether the different proportions of GPs (254/313) and specialists in private practice (54/313) in the self-employment group, and senior (405/521) and junior (116/521) doctors in the employment group may affect the results, but this does not seem to be the case. Among hospital doctors the level of sick days was similar between juniors and seniors, as was the level between general practitioners and other private practice specialists (data not shown).
Because sickness absence varies between cultures and the number of foreign doctors in Norway is increasing, it is also important to include this perspective in further research on doctors’ sickness absence [31, 45]. Other specific elements in doctors’ work situation like concerns about clinical responsibility, emotional burden of patient care or finding a locum on short notice might be also useful, which was not possible in the present study [1, 17, 22].
The study emphasises the role of employment category in sickness absence among Norwegian doctors. Self-employed GPs and private practice specialists report less sickness absence than employed interns and consultants in the hospital. Differences in sickness compensation, and organisational and individual factors may to a certain extent explain this finding.
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Ferrie JE, Kivimäki M, Westerlund H, Head J, Melchior M, Singh-Manoux A, Zins M, Goldberg M, Alexanderson K, Vahtera J: Differences in the association between sickness absence and long-term sub-optimal health by occupational position: a 14-year follow-up in the GAZEL cohort. Occup Environ Med. 2011, 68 (10): 729-733. 10.1136/oem.2010.060210.
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The authors wish to thank all doctors who have supported this study by participating in the survey.
Institute for Studies of the Medical Profession, Oslo, Norway
Judith Rosta
& Olaf G Aasland
Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Gunnar Tellnes
Search for Judith Rosta in:
Search for Gunnar Tellnes in:
Search for Olaf G Aasland in:
Correspondence to Judith Rosta.
None of the authors have any conflict of interests to declare.
JR and OGA contributed to concept and design of the study, analysis and interpretation of the data, and writing the article. GT contributed to concept of the study and critical revision of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.
Rosta, J., Tellnes, G. & Aasland, O.G. Differences in sickness absence between self-employed and employed doctors: a cross-sectional study on national sample of Norwegian doctors in 2010. BMC Health Serv Res 14, 199 (2014) doi:10.1186/1472-6963-14-199
Health policy, reform, governance and law
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Prevalent diabetes mellitus in patients with heart failure and disease determinants in sub-Saharan Africans having diabetes with heart failure: a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis
Leopold Ndemnge Aminde1,2,
Anastase Dzudie1,3,4,
Andre Pascal Kengne1,4,5
1Clinical Research Education, Networking and Consultancy (CRENC), Douala, Cameroon
2School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
3Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Internal Medicine, General Hospital Douala, University of Buea, Buea, Cameroon
4Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
5Non-communicable Diseases Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa
Correspondence to Dr Leopold Ndemnge Aminde; amindeln{at}gmail.com
Introduction Heart failure (HF) is the final common pathway for most cardiovascular disease (CVDs). Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a major contributor to CVD burden and an independent predictor of mortality in patients with HF. However, the epidemiology of DM in African patients with HF is less well described. The current proposal is for a systematic review to assess the prevalence of DM in HF and the determinants of disease in patients with diabetes and HF in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
Methods and analysis A systematic search of published literature will be conducted for observational studies on the prevalence of DM in HF and risk factors of HF in these patients in SSA. Databases including MEDLINE, Google Scholar, SCOPUS and Africa Wide Information will be searched from January 1995 to February 2016. Screening of identified articles and data extraction will be conducted independently by two investigators. Risk of bias and methodological quality of the included studies will be assessed using a Risk of Bias tool and STROBE checklist. Appropriate meta-analytic techniques will be used to pool prevalence estimates from studies with similar features, overall and by major subgroups. Heterogeneity of the estimates across studies will be assessed and quantified and publication bias investigated. This protocol is reported according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 guidelines.
Ethics and dissemination The proposed study will utilise published data; as such there is no requirement for ethical approval. The resulting manuscript will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. This review will identify the knowledge gaps as well as inform policymakers in the region on the contemporary burden of DM in patients with HF.
Trial registration number CRD42015026410.
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to face rapid epidemiological transition from communicable diseases to chronic non-communicable diseases (NCD) owing to the growing burden of risk factors such as high-blood pressure, obesity, diabetes mellitus (DM), physical inactivity and unhealthy eating habits.1 NCDs are the number one cause of death around the world2 and second leading cause of mortality in SSA accounting for 30% of the 9.5 million deaths in 2011.3 According to the 2013 Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD), cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounted for 38.3% of NCD deaths in SSA,4 and recent increases in global deaths due to CVD have been attributed to population growth and ageing.5 Bloomfield et al,6 in a recent comprehensive review on aetiologies, epidemiology and clinical characteristics of heart failure in SSA, highlighted that this syndrome was largely due to non-ischaemic causes, the majority being hypertensive heart disease, rheumatic heart disease and the cardiomyopathies. This was similarly observed in THESUS-HF, the first heart failure registry on the continent.7 It was, however, suggested that, though atherosclerotic heart disease (to which diabetes is a major contributor) was apparently rare, these conclusions were based on only a few studies and hence its contribution cannot be totally ruled out.6 DM is a major contributor to CVD burden.8 Recent estimates from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) suggest that global population of individuals with diabetes will increase from 382 million in 2013 to 592 million in 2035, with the highest relative increase at 109% occurring in SSA where it is estimated that the number of people with diabetes will double from 19.8 million to 41.5 million.9 Kengne et al10 recently estimated that diabetes was accounting for 8.6% of total mortality in SSA in 2013. Several studies have shown that the risk of developing CVD is more than twice in patients with diabetes over those without diabetes and about 80% of the mortality in patients with diabetes occurs through CVD.11 ,12
Besides atherosclerotic CVDs, cardiac failure is a recognised CVD complication in diabetes, where it is over two times more frequent than in people without diabetes.12 Via several mechanisms including diabetic cardiomyopathy and coronary heart disease, DM has been shown to play a significant role in the pathogenesis and outcome of heart failure (HF).13 Besides conventional cardiovascular risk factors leading to the development of HF, individuals with diabetes are more vulnerable via the contributing influence of diabetes-related risk factors including chronic hyperglycaemia, insulin resistance and collagen deposition in the myocardium eventually leading to the so called ‘diabetic cardiomyopathy’, causing abnormal left ventricular and diastolic function.14 In an in-depth literature review on HF in people with diabetes, it was suggested that the determinants of heart failure documented in other parts of the world are similar to those in African patients, however, the contribution of diabetic cardiomyopathy was still somewhat discordant.15 Moreover, several reports have shown DM to be an independent predictor of mortality in HF.16 ,17 In spite of these observations, the epidemiology of DM in patients with HF has been less well described. Hence, we propose this protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate the current prevalence of diabetes among individuals with HF in SSA as well as the determinants of disease in those patients having diabetes with HF. Results will provide evidence on the current burden of diabetes in this vulnerable population and inform health authorities on major risk factors for which control interventions should be tailored in the region, to curb this burden.
We aim to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to ascertain the prevalence of DM among patients with HF as well as the determinants of disease in sub-Saharan Africans having diabetes with HF.
The proposed review will strive to address the following research questions:
What is the prevalence of DM among adult sub-Saharan Africans with HF as documented in studies reported between 1995 and 2015?
What are the determinants of HF among sub-Saharan Africans having diabetes with HF in those studies?
Study designs: cross-sectional, case–control and cohort studies conducted on HF in SSA, with data available on prevalent diabetes and risk factors for HF among patients with diabetes.
Study participants: adult (age >18 years) human participants residing in SSA, regardless of their ethnic background.
The final diagnosis will be based on physician-made diagnosis or as defined by the WHO/IDF18 for DM and European Society of Cardiology (ESC)19/American Heart Association (AHA)20/Framingham criteria21 for HF diagnosis at the time of study (table 1), or self-reported.
Time-period: we intend to consider all published and unpublished data found between 1 January 1995 and 29 February 2016, while considering changes in definition of diabetes and HF over time.
Study settings: health facilities or community-based settings; rural or urban SSA.
Language: all studies reported in the English or French languages and conducted on human subjects will be considered.
Definitions of diabetes mellitus and heart failure
Studies conducted among populations of African origin but residing outside Africa.
Studies lacking prevalence rates and risk factors with absence of data to compute them.
Case series with small sample sizes (sample less than 30 participants).
Letters to editors, reviews, commentaries, editorials and any publication without primary data.
Studies in subgroups of participants selected based on the presence of diabetes.
Duplicate publications from the same study. For studies published in more than one journal/conference, the most recent and comprehensive publication will be used.
Studies not performed in human participants or published in languages other than English and French.
The methods of this systematic review are reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 Guidelines.22 See table 2 for checklist.
PRISMA-P 2015 checklist for systematic review and meta-analysis protocol on prevalent diabetes mellitus in patients with heart failure in sub-Saharan Africa
Search strategy for study identification
Electronic searches
We will search PubMed MEDLINE, Google Scholar, SCOPUS, ISI Web of Science (Science Citation Index), Africa Wide Information, African Index Medicus (AIM) and AFROLIB databases, from 1 January 1995 to 31 August 2015, for published studies on DM in patients with heart failure in SSA. This search shall be conducted using a predefined comprehensive and sensitive search strategy combining relevant terms with names of countries in SSA, to obtain the maximum possible number of studies. This search will be guided by the African search filter, which has been reported to have good sensitivity (and improved precision) of 74% (1.3–9.4%) and 73% (5–28%) for MEDLINE and EMBASE, respectively.23 This search filter includes names of each African country and shortened terms to capture studies from regions. Countries with official names in a language other than English will also be entered in the official form, and for countries that have changed names over time, both names shall be included in the search. Table 3 depicts the main search strategy to be employed.
Search strategy for MEDLINE, and adaptability to regional data bases
We will search reference lists of relevant citations for articles of interest.
We will contact authors, experts in the field, research organisations, conference websites and proceedings, for any relevant material. This shall be carried out via emails. If, after repeated attempts to contact authors via email for relevant information, no response is gotten, the said study shall be excluded.
Study records
All identified search results will be entered into RevMan V.5 software for de-duplication of records. These shall be subsequently uploaded into Eppi-Reviewer, which is an internet-based software program to facilitate collaboration between investigators during the selection of studies to be included in the review. Prior to screening of studies, investigators shall create standardised and pre-tested questions following the inclusion criteria. These questions together with abstracts and full texts of articles will be uploaded into Eppi-Reviewer for eventual piloting of the test questions.
Two investigators (LNA and AD) will independently select studies that meet inclusion criteria. Citations and abstracts will be screened for relevance, and duplicate citations will be excluded. Titles and abstracts shall then be screened following inclusion criteria stipulated earlier, following which the full texts of potentially eligible articles will be obtained. These full texts will be screened using a standardised and pre-tested form to include eligible studies. Disagreements will be resolved by consensus, with consultation of a third author (APK) when resolution cannot be achieved. Corresponding authors will be contacted in the event that the publication (1) is unclear and may be subject to multiple interpretations, or (2) has collected data but did not report data that are relevant to our study analysis. For studies that are excluded, the reasons shall be documented. A flow chart will be used to demonstrate the entire review process.
Two investigators (LNA and AD) will independently extract data from included studies, using a standardised and pre-tested data extraction form. Any inconsistencies or disagreement shall be resolved by consensus or consultation with the third investigator (APK).
Data items
Data will include the geographic region and country where study was conducted, the year study was carried out and year of publication, the language of publication, demographic characteristics of participants (mean age, sex proportions), study design, setting (rural or urban, health-facility or community-based), sample size, number and proportion with diabetes, known duration of diabetes, diagnostic criteria for diabetes and HF, respectively, cardiovascular as well as diabetes-specific risk factors of patients and measures of association (χ2, ORs, risk ratios, p values and CIs) will be recorded.
Assessment of methodological quality and risk of bias
Two reviewers (LNA and AD) will independently score the quality of included studies. The STROBE checklist24 will be used to evaluate reporting methodology in each paper while risk of bias in individual studies will be assessed using the Risk of Bias Tool for Prevalence Studies developed by Hoy et al25 (table 4) and the Cochrane guidelines available in Review Manager V.5.3 (http://tech.cochrane.org/revman). Discrepancies will be resolved by consensus or by consulting the third investigator (APK). Inter-rater agreement on screening, data abstraction and methodological quality will be assessed using Cohen's κ coefficient.26 We intend to present risk of bias and quality scores in a table.
Risk of bias assessment tool
Data synthesis, analysis and assessment of heterogeneity
Data will be synthesised to answer both research questions. Prevalence data will be summarised by country and geographic regions. In a situation where a population is reported at both regional level and with national estimates, we shall consider the most comprehensive and updated national estimates. Any other material will be excluded or considered as duplicate. A meta-analysis will be performed for the prevalence across studies with similar characteristic. Further to this purpose, the study-specific estimates will be pooled through a random-effects meta-analysis model, to obtain the overall summary estimate of the prevalence across studies, after stabilising the variance of individual studies with the use of Freeman-Tukey double arc-sine transformation.27 Such a transformation is required to reduce the effect of extremely high or extremely low prevalence rates on the pooled estimate. Heterogeneity will be evaluated by the χ2 test on Cochrane's Q statistic, which is quantified by I2 values,28 assuming that I2 values of 25%, 50% and 75% represent low, medium and high heterogeneity, respectively. Funnel plots supplemented by the Egger test29 of bias will be used to investigate the publication bias. When statistical data pooling does not yield meaningful results, such as in the presence of considerable clinical heterogeneity, we will conduct a narrative synthesis. Meta-analysis will be conducted overall, that is, across all possible eligible studies. However, we will also conduct subgroup analysis to compare the estimate across major predictive characteristics and assess the consistency of the effects across those subgroups. Major grouping characteristics will include gender (gender-specific analysis where possible; and below vs at or above the median proportion of men across study), age (below vs at or above the median), geographic region, time the study was conducted/published (below vs at or above the median); diagnosed duration of diabetes (below vs at or above the median), diagnostic methods; study design, etc. For determinants of HF, in anticipation of the large variability in their investigation and reporting across studies, only a narrative synthesis of the evidence will be conducted. We will report the total number of determinants investigated across all studies, and for each determinant, the number of times it was reported to be associated with the outcome. We will further report on the range of measure association used for each determinant across studies, with indication of whether those measures were adjusted for confounders or not.
The data will be analysed using the statistical software R (V.3.0.3 (2014–03–04), The R Foundation for statistical computing, Vienna, Austria).
We will perform subgroup analysis where substantial heterogeneity will be detected to identify possible sources with the following grouping variables; age group, gender, study setting (rural vs urban, health-facility vs community-based), geographical region (central, west, east and southern Africa) and study quality. Any subgroup differences identified will be described, and our findings will be interpreted in the light of these differences.
Confidence in cumulative evidence
We intend to assess the strength of evidence provided by studies included in the review, using the Grading of recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. This assessment of the quality of evidence would include risk of bias, consistency and publication bias. Studies in which further research is, respectively, unlikely to change effect estimates, or likely to have a considerable impact on effect estimates, or capable of changing the effect estimates, or those in which there is uncertainty in effect estimates, will be described as ‘high’, ‘moderate’, ‘low’ or ‘very low’ qualities.
Reporting of this review
The proposed systematic review will be reported following the PRISMA guidelines.30 We intend to publish a PRISMA checklist alongside the final report.
Potential amendments
We do not intend to make any amendments to the protocol, to avoid the possibility of outcome reporting bias. However, any amendments that do prove necessary will be documented and reported transparently.
Cardiovascular disease continues to be a daunting problem in SSA and is projected to worsen in the coming decades if no action is taken. DM is a major contributor to the CVD burden and studies among Caucasians suggest it is an independent predictor of mortality in HF (the final endpoint for most CVDs). The epidemiology and burden of diabetes in this group of patients with HF has been less well documented in Africa. We intend to describe the current prevalence of DM among patients with HF and the determinants of HF among patients with diabetes in SSA. Determining this current burden will be important for clinicians providing care to this vulnerable group of patients. If diabetes is found to be as common among patients with heart failure in SSA as those elsewhere, clinicians in this setting would have to be alert when managing these patients and, more especially, aggressively control identified modifiable risk factors. This would reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with CVD, as well as the economic burden in an already financially-constrained setting plagued with communicable diseases as well. Possible limitations of this study would include a predominance of poor quality studies and significant heterogeneity of studies precluding further analysis. In addition, a predominance of cross-sectional studies would make it difficult to obtain or determine risk factors for diabetes. Finally, including only studies published in the English or French languages, we may lose relevant data from studies published in other languages. This review will, however, identify gaps in the current literature on this topic and provide direction for future research in people with diabetes and cardiomyopathy.
Ethics and dissemination
The current study is based on published data, and hence does not require ethical approval. The final report of this review in the form of a scientific paper will be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Findings will also be presented at conferences and submitted to relevant health and policy authorities. We also plan to update the review in the future to monitor any progressive changes on the subject.
Zimmet P,
Alberti KG,
Shaw J
. Global and societal implications of the diabetes epidemic. Nature 2001;414:782–7. doi:10.1038/414782a
United States Department of Health and Human Services. Global Health Topics: Non-communicable diseases [Internet]. 2014. http://www.globalhealth.gov/global-health-topics/non-communicable-diseases/
Kengne AP,
Mayosi BM
. Readiness of the primary care system for non-communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. Lancet Glob Health 2014;2:e247–8. doi:10.1016/S2214-109X(14)70212-8
Mensah GA,
Roth GA,
Sampson UKA, et al
. Mortality from cardiovascular diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis of data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Cardiovasc J Afr 2015;26(Suppl 1):S6–10. doi:10.5830/CVJA-2015-036
Forouzanfar MH,
Moran AE, et al
. Demographic and epidemiologic drivers of global cardiovascular mortality. N Engl J Med. 2015;372:1333–41. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1406656
Bloomfield GS,
Barasa FA,
Doll JA, et al
. Heart failure in Sub-Saharan Africa. Curr Cardiol Rev 2013;9:157–73. doi:10.2174/1573403X11309020008
Damasceno A,
Mayosi BM,
Sani M, et al
. The causes, treatment, and outcome of acute heart failure in 1006 Africans from 9 countries. Arch Intern Med 2012;172:1386–94. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2012.3310
Global Burden of Disease Study 2013 Collaborators. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 301 acute and chronic diseases and injuries in 188 countries, 1990–2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet 2015;386:743–800. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)60692-4
Aguiree F,
Brown A,
Cho NH, et al
. IDF diabetes atlas. 6th edn. International Diabetes Federation, 2013.
Echouffo-Tcheugui J-B,
Sobngwi E, et al
. New insights on diabetes mellitus and obesity in Africa-part 1: prevalence, pathogenesis and comorbidities. Heart Br Card Soc 2013;99:979–83.
Stamler J,
Vaccaro O,
Neaton JD, et al
. Diabetes, other risk factors, and 12-yr cardiovascular mortality for men screened in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial. Diabetes Care 1993;16:434–44. doi:10.2337/diacare.16.2.434
Woodward M,
Barzi F, et al
. The effects of diabetes on the risks of major cardiovascular diseases and death in the Asia-Pacific region. Diabetes Care 2003;26:360–6. doi:10.2337/diacare.26.2.360
Soläng L,
Malmberg K,
Rydén L
. Diabetes mellitus and congestive heart failure. Further knowledge needed. Eur Heart J 1999;20:789–95. doi:10.1053/euhj.1998.1472
Bell DSH
. Diabetic cardiomyopathy. Diabetes Care 2003;26:2949–51. doi:10.2337/diacare.26.10.2949
Dzudie A,
Sobngwi E
. Heart failure in sub-Saharan Africa: a literature review with emphasis on individuals with diabetes. Vasc Health Risk Manag 2008;4:123–30. doi:10.2147/vhrm.2008.04.01.123
Aguilar D,
Solomon SD,
Køber L, et al
. Newly diagnosed and previously known diabetes mellitus and 1-year outcomes of acute myocardial infarction: the VALsartan In Acute myocardial iNfarcTion (VALIANT) trial. Circulation 2004;110:1572–8.
Ancion A,
Lancellotti P,
Piérard LA
. [Congestive heart failure and diabetes mellitus]. Rev Médicale Liège 2005;60:536–40.
World Health Organisation (WHO). Definition and diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and intermediate hyperglycaemia: report of a WHO/IDF consultation. 2006. https://www.idf.org/webdata/docs/WHO_IDF_definition_diagnosis_of_diabetes.pdf
McMurray JJV,
Adamopoulos S,
Anker SD, et al
. ESC guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure 2012: the Task Force for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Acute and Chronic Heart Failure 2012 of the European Society of Cardiology. Developed in collaboration with the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC. Eur J Heart Fail 2012;14:803–69. doi:10.1093/eurjhf/hfs105
Yancy CW,
Jessup M,
Bozkurt B, et al
. 2013 ACCF/AHA guideline for the management of heart failure: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines. J Am Coll Cardiol 2013;62: e147–239. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2013.05.019
McKee PA,
Castelli WP,
McNamara PM, et al
. The natural history of congestive heart failure: the Framingham study. N Engl J Med 1971;285:1441–6. doi:10.1056/NEJM197112232852601
Moher D,
Shamseer L,
Clarke M, et al
. Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement. Syst Rev 2015;4:1. doi:10.1186/2046-4053-4-1
Pienaar E,
Grobler L,
Busgeeth K, et al
. Developing a geographic search filter to identify randomised controlled trials in Africa: finding the optimal balance between sensitivity and precision. Health Inf Libr J 2011;28:210–15. doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2011.00936.x
von Elm E,
Altman DG,
Egger M, et al
. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement: guidelines for reporting observational studies. Bull World Health Organ 2007;85:867–72. doi:10.2471/BLT.07.045120
Hoy D,
Brooks P,
Woolf A, et al
. Assessing risk of bias in prevalence studies: modification of an existing tool and evidence of interrater agreement. J Clin Epidemiol 2012;65:934–9. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2011.11.014
Landis JR,
Koch GG
. The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics 1977;33:159–74. doi:10.2307/2529310
Barendregt JJ,
Doi SA,
Lee YY, et al
. Meta-analysis of prevalence. J Epidemiol Community Health 2013;67:974–8. doi:10.1136/jech-2013-203104
Higgins JPT,
Thompson SG
. Quantifying heterogeneity in a meta-analysis. Stat Med 2002;21:1539–58. doi:10.1002/sim.1186
Egger M,
Davey Smith G,
Schneider M, et al
. Bias in meta-analysis detected by a simple, graphical test. BMJ 1997;315:629–34. doi:10.1136/bmj.315.7109.629
Liberati A,
Tetzlaff J, et al
. PRISMA Group. Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement. Ann Intern Med 2009;151:264–9, W64. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-151-4-200908180-00135
Contributors AD and LNA conceived and designed the protocol. LNA was responsible for manuscript drafting. APK and AD took part in critical revision for methodological and intellectual content. LNA is the guarantor of this review. All the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/ This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
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Campion School Royal Leamington Spa Aspire Engage Achieve
Campion SchoolRoyal Leamington Spa
Music for School Assemblies
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Governance and Finances
Collecting Exam Certificates
Staff SEND CPD
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Year 8 Pathways Information
Most Able Pupils
Support with Mental Health
Attendance Information for Parents
Extra-curricular Timetable
Home learning guide
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Post-16 Curriculum
Year 6 Pupils
At Campion we are committed to promoting the welfare, safety and personal development of our students. Consequently, we realise the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest safeguarding advice and guidance issued by the government (Keeping Children Safe in Education, July 2015; Working Together to Safeguard Children, March 2015; Prevent Duty Guidance, July 2015; and Female Genital Mutilation Risk and Safeguarding, March 2015)
Our Safeguarding Policy is sent to all staff and clearly sets out our approach to dealing with safeguarding issues. We also have posters up around the College to remind staff and pupils of our designated safeguarding team.
Mrs. Angela Burden
Mr. Steve Bolsover
Ms. Mandeep Sandhu
There are a number of recent local authority policy developments in the areas of, specifically:
Radicalisation, Extremism and the ‘Prevent Duty’
The school ensures that all staff (including temporary, supply, volunteers) renew their safeguarding training annually. This means that their knowledge is fresh and up-to-date in what can be a complex and fast moving area of education. The training makes explicit reference to: the types and signs of abuse (now including Radicalisation, FGM and CSE); how to manage a safeguarding disclosure; their statutory responsibility to refer any concerns.
If concerns are raised about the welfare or safety of a child, the designated safeguarding person must give careful consideration as to whether a referral needs to be made to children’s social care. If this course of action is taken the school will usually inform parents, unless there are compelling reasons for not doing so.
Once a referral has been made the school works closely with a range of relevant agencies in order to bring about the best outcome for the child.
Radicalisation, Extremism and the Prevent Duty
As a school we have a statutory duty to “prevent people from being drawn into terrorism” (Prevent Duty Guidance, July 2015). The risk of radicalisation and extremism in Warwickshire is deemed to be low. However, given the demographics of the local area the greatest threat is posed by Far Right Extremism / Neo-Nazism.
In our day-to-day contact with students we should look out for the following:
Graffiti symbols – Nazi Swastikas and the numbers 14 (the fourteen words “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”); 18 (Adolf Hitler); 88 (Heil Hitler); and 28 (Blood & Honour)
Accessing extremist material online – website and social media
Reading extremist books (e.g. The Anarchist Cookbook or My Struggle) or listening to extremist music (e.g. Screwdriver)
Changes in behaviour or friendship groups
Voicing racist opinions or using racist/hate language
Inciting violence, crime or anti-social behaviour
Condoning or supporting violence or harm towards others
Around 65,000 girls in the UK are at risk of Female Genital Mutilation. These girls can be of any age, even babies, and are predominately from East and West Africa. Girls from Somalia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea and Mali are at a particularly high risk.
Pupils are made aware of this issue through their REAL (PSRE) lessons.
FGM, which usually takes place during the summer or “cutting season”, is a form of abuse with no religious justification.
If a member of staff has been informed that FGM has taken place or observed FGM – there is a mandatory personal duty which requires the individual professional to make the report. The recommended route for doing this is to call 101.
However, if a member of staff suspects that FGM has been carried out, or are concerned about the risk, they should follow the Warwickshire's Safeguarding procedures outlines above and in the Safeguarding Policy.
You can download a leaflet to read more about this by clicking here.
NSPCC Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Helpline
The NSPCC has set up a FGM helpline, which is free, anonymous and 24/7. If you’re worried a child is at risk of, or has had, FGM, call the FGM helpline on: 0800 028 3550 or email fgmhelp@nspcc.org.uk.
CSE is a form of sexual abuse where victims are manipulated or forced into taking part in sexual acts. This can either be part of a consensual relationship or in return for attention, gifts, money, alcohol, drugs or any other bribe.
Pupils are made aware of these issues through their REAL (PSRE) lessons.
The warning signs for CSE include:
Mood swings / being emotionally upset.
Poor attendance or a pattern of non-attendance.
Change in physical appearance / appear dishevelled.
Misusing alcohol or drugs.
Chatting online to people they have never met.
Hanging around with older people.
Unexplained gifts.
Showing inappropriate sexualised behaviour.
Sexual Transmitted Infections (STIs) / seeking emergency contraception.
If a child starts to exhibit, or is exhibiting, any of the behaviours highlighted above please follow the school’s safeguarding procedures. If you feel the child is in immediate danger contact the police.
You can find out more by clicking or downloading the leaflets here and here.
‘Sexting’ is an increasingly common activity among children and young people, where they share inappropriate or explicit images online or through mobile phones. It can also refer to written messages.
Pupils are made aware of these issues through assemblies and specialist talks.
As a parent, it is important to understand the risks so that you can talk to your child about how to stay safe and what to do if they ever feel scared or uncomfortable.
SelfieCop can protect them from ‘Sexting’ – Click for more information.
Campion School
Sydenham Drive, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV31 1QH.
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Culture of Capitalism
Brand Affinity Industries Will Crush Startup Entrepreneurs
Published February 3, 2018 by Aaron Hoddinott
Category: InfluenceTagged entrepreneur, B2C, brand affinity, emotional connections to brands, brand affinity industries, B2C business, make sales quickly, starting a new B2C
Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles Gives Inspirational Speech
What I Learned from Former Special Forces at SHOT Show
I want to talk about B2C (business to consumer) industries to avoid getting involved in as an entrepreneur – no matter how much you may love them. There are specific industries (many consumer products which are prone to ‘brand affinity‘) to avoid as an entrepreneur because you’re going to have to throw a lot of money and sweat equity at trying to change people’s seemingly irrational minds.
In specific B2C industries you will spend a lot of time, and money, trying to convince people why they should merely consider your product, never mind buy it. You won’t be selling in these industries; you’ll be trying to dispel prejudices, some of which span generations!
Funny example: Growing up as a kid, my mom was a loyal customer to Chevron. I can’t remember a time when she didn’t fill up her Toyota Celica in another gas station other than Chevron. It was remarkable. Even as a kid I noticed we always went to Chevron, despite its competitor being closer to our house. One day I asked my mom why she always went to Chevron – I was probably nine years old at the time. She said it had the cleanest gas… was that true? Unlikely. But guess where I filled up once I started driving? Think Ricky Bobby. Generational biases are potent things.
Despite my warning, if you’re passionate about these landmine industries, ones where purchases are based on emotional connections to brands, not feature-sets and benefits, you need to know what you’re getting in to. It’s going to be a long slog as an entrepreneur, often requiring hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not millions) in marketing just to change public opinion on why consumers should consider an alternative brand. That’s not money well spent in my opinion.
I call these ‘brand affinity industries,’ and they’re a nightmare for new entrants. Not saying they can’t be cracked, but why bother? Seriously… you may think I’m pessimistic, but I’m just an entrepreneur who likes to measure ROI very clearly and hit the ground running when my product rolls off the assembly line.
Quickly making sales is priority number one for any new B2C business. And I’m not a fan of running up sand hills.
What entrepreneur wants to spend their capital convincing consumers why they should cut the cord on an established brand they’re devoutly loyal to? I want to make sales quickly. Avoiding strong brand biases when you need to ramp up revenue is wise.
What is a Brand Affinity Industry?
Brand affinity is when a consumer has a powerful bond or loyalty to a specific company – and its brand. This connection occurs for various reasons, but usually it’s due to generational ties (examples are pickup trucks and Chevron in my case) and trustworthiness (think Volvo for safety). Brand affinity industries are those selling personal products, social status products and anything requiring precision or safety – think luxury watches, makeup, bras, high-end cameras, smartphones, coffee, pickup trucks and women’s jeans.
When starting a new B2C venture as an entrepreneur, it’s critically important to know the consumer biases you are up against. There will almost always be a few hurdles to clear. However, industries with extreme brand affinity, such as the examples mentioned above, should be avoided unless you have hundreds of thousands of dollars to burn. Strong emotional connections of consumers to other brands are costly to compete against, and time-consuming to break. Not worth it.
Stay hungry,
P.S. I’ve walked the walk and generated millions of dollars in revenue from my online business. Subscribe to my newsletter below to learn tips and strategies which helped me rapidly grow as an entrepreneur.
What I Learned from Former Special Forces at SHOT ShowSuper Bowl MVP Nick Foles Gives Inspirational Speech
Aaron Hoddinott
Investor and marketer willing to take big swings at bold ideas.
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The All-In Entrepreneur
It May Be Time for a Business Pivot
12 Months is Not Much Time – A Guide to Resolutions
The Best Video on Marketing You’ll Ever See
Your Business Goes Where Your Eyes Go
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Airlines get ready for jet biofuel take-off in Norway
Lefteris Karagiannopoulos
OSLO — Airlines are confident of having sufficient supplies of biofuel-infused jet fuel to comply with a Norway requirement which takes effect next year, although they warn of additional costs.
From January, jet fuel suppliers in Norway must blend 0.5% of biofuel in all their aviation fuel, a policy Oslo hopes will boost supply and demand and lead to lower CO2 emissions.
Although aviation biofuel suppliers say it can cut the carbon footprint of airlines by up to 80%, it costs four times as much as normal jet fuel, which has so far curtailed usage and therefore demand for increased production.
And not all biofuels are equal when it comes to their environmental impact, both in production and transportation.
Norway’s new rule demands that airplanes refueled in the country use a product made from waste fats and vegetable oil, although it excludes palm oil.
“There are not that many suppliers that supply that type of fuel. We have access and can buy these quantities at this stage. As we go into the future though we need more,” Rickard Gustafson, chief executive of SAS, told Reuters.
The Scandinavian airline has set its own goal of powering all its domestic flights, which account for 17% of its total fuel consumption, with biofuel by 2030.
SAS expects Norway’s 0.5% biofuel requirement to mean an additional 3 million euro ($3.33 million) in annual fuel costs.
It said it may source the biofuel it needs from AirBP, BP’s specialist aviation division, and intends to buy more from Sweden’s Preem, which is building new facilities.
But with Sweden and Finland considering following Norway’s lead — all three say that by 2030 they want to increase aviation biofuel use to 30% of total refueling — there is a danger that demand will outstrip production.
“We have to create the market. There is strong demand for biofuel. But not enough is produced,” Norway’s Climate and Environment Minister, Ola Elvestuen, told Reuters.
Neste and Norwegian utility Statkraft are also developing new plants, while similar projects have been announced by Air France KLM and AirBP.
Wideroe, a small Norwegian airline, welcomes Norway’s requirement but called for other countries to follow suit.
“As a first step we would like to see national requirements of biofuel being replaced by international requirements. This would ensure a level playing field between airlines,” it said, adding that it wants to use electric planes by 2030.
However, budget airline Norwegian Air said Norway was creating artificial demand which, even though it can be met initially, could cause a future fuel squeeze.
“With other (biofuel) volume obligations in the future, we could easily get a supply shortage,” a spokeswoman said.
“In order to fulfill the mandate, imports from other regions might be necessary. How sustainable is biofuel that has been shipped half way around the world,” she said.
Norwegian Air has been investing in more fuel efficient planes, which should be encouraged instead, she added.
Some in the airline industry market, including the SAS CEO, said some of the extra fuel costs may be added to fares.
Despite this, passengers at Oslo airport welcomed Norway’s pioneering move.
“I do not mind if it will cost a little bit more. We have to clean up the world and do what we can do to have cleaner fuel,” said 72-year-old Dag Christopherson. ($1 = 0.9016 euros) (Editing by Gwladys Fouche and Alexander Smith)
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Building Company Culture: 7 Steps for Every Small Business
Ed Nathanson
Right now, candidates have more options for employment than at any point in recent history. In other words, it’s a candidate’s world and we’re just living in it. And for small businesses, that means that if you want to fill your open roles, you need to set yourself apart – and you need to have a great company culture to do that.
Now, we’ve heard a lot of praise for the company cultures of tech giants like Google and Netflix or retail monoliths like Zappos (just to name a few). But, let’s get real: small businesses can’t do anything with these examples. You don’t have huge HR teams with expansive budgets, built-in (and beloved) brand recognition, or all the perks like doggy day care centers, onsite barber shops or any other over the top benefits those companies are offering lately.
Without all the bells and whistles, most small businesses have had to be, for lack of a better term, more “scrappy” in how they build winning company cultures. In my opinion, what they are doing are the real examples most of the business world can learn from. Not to say that the large companies aren’t doing amazing things, but in the name of “stuff my company can actually do” vs. “what I would love to do If I had a huge budget” it’s time we started offering up some examples of small businesses that are doing things right – and that are actually relevant to the majority of the folks reading this stuff.
So, I recently spoke with two different small companies from two very different industries about how they go about building, defining and measuring a successful company culture. Based on our conversation, here are some steps that every small business can take to build a geat company culture:
Step 1: Define what you want your company culture and values to look like
Michael Monteiro, CEO of Buildium (a growing property management software company out of Boston) believes that to build a successful company culture, you have to answer three core questions:
Why does our company do what it does (i.e. Why do we exist)?
What do we believe (i.e. what are our values)?
Where do we want to go with the company (i.e. what is our vision for the company)?
Michael admits that in the early years of Buildium, without answering these questions it was much harder to build a clearly defined company culture. “In the absence of answers to these most basic questions, we didn’t know whether we were really aligned. That was fine in the early years when we were in survival mode, but as time went on, our employees increasingly wanted to know where we were going as a company.”
Michael offers this advice to fellow small businesses: Don’t defer what’s important.
“Focus on your culture as early as you can. The perks — free beer, free snacks, ping pong tables — will carry you by for a while, but ultimately, people want to know where you're going, and why they're doing the work they're doing. Without a defined culture, employees get disenchanted; they move on. And without those guardrails, it makes it hard to make decisions as an owner.”
Buildium's core values.
It’s also really important to ensure that these values are part of the everyday fabric of your employee experience. “Make sure you aren’t just hanging values on a wall. Come up with something genuine to you and your company. Then think about what it looks like to live what you've described, what it will take to stay true to that company vision and those values." Michael adds.
Step 2: Look at what your culture is like now – and if you need to make changes
Sarah Larson, Partner and CHRO at Third Rock Ventures, has a ton of experience building company cultures in her career. Third Rock Ventures is a venture capital company that launches and builds Life Sciences and Biotech companies. Long story short, building cultures in startups is something Sarah has done countless times over.
When asked about how she goes about literally starting a company culture from scratch, Sarah said: “Culture starts with the very first person. Whatever the circumstances are that they came to be in the company, it's their set of beliefs and values that will dictate the initial build. It does not take long (maybe 5-10 employees) to be able to see what kind of culture exists,” she says. “This is when you can start to proactively make changes if you want to."
For example, Sarah says that if you are worried about the energy level in a team (perhaps they are too laid back) make a deliberate decision to hire people with more energy. Or if you feel like there is too much “group think” – perhaps employees are from only startup companies’ backgrounds or from all big pharma companies – change it. “Building a company from scratch is actually the easiest cultural build. It's changing culture once it's ingrained that's hard,” she says.
Third Rock Venture's core values.
Lastly, in these early stage company cultures, do not underestimate the importance of the Board and their impact on culture as well. “Invest in board culture as much as you do company culture: In small companies the role of the board is often more intimate and connected to the organization and has the ability to have a heavy influence on culture.”
Step 3: Identify (or hire) someone who will be your people person
Clearly, hiring the right kind of personalities and backgrounds has a huge effect on how a company operates culturally. Sarah said there is one key hire though that can really help make a difference in the early stages of culture building – your people person.
“I believe that one of the most critical hires as early as possible in a company is your people person. You need that expert who is trained in culture to help drive what you are creating and help identify if it’s going well or not.” she says.
And, that doesn’t mean hiring an HR person. “Many people make the mistake of thinking that just because someone is an HR professional, they “get” culture. That could not be farther from the truth. Ask yourself, has this person ever been in and witnessed exceptional cultures? Because if they haven’t, why would you expect that they can create it for you?"
While the people person in your company is a big part of helping in your cultural endeavors, don’t make the mistake of putting the role of culture all on one person. “Culture is not 'HR’s Job.' It's everyone’s priority and it should be a top strategic imperative,” Sarah says.
Also, while we hear constantly about all of the fun events and activities some of the world’s most admired company cultures do and have, we need to remember that these activities and events in small businesses are a two sided coin. “Culture is not all about social events: Don’t create a bunch of “fun crap” just because you think it will mean you have a fun and socially engaged culture. Small companies are very busy. Social events take away from people’s time to do their work. So make them meaningful,” Sarah points out.
Step 4: Invest time in building your talent brand
Your talent brand is what your employees think, feel, and share about your company as a place to work.
“I am a big believer in the power of a talent brand and the ability to articulate your culture through different channels,” says Michael. “In today’s war for talent, candidates are almost always passive. Giving them an opportunity to connect with you in advance of meeting with you, allowing them to form an opinion and then gauge their expectations once they are on site creates another level of engagement,” he adds.
Sarah says she is fascinated by how few (biotech) companies are building their talent brands. “When I was at Foundation Medicine, we were one of the pioneers in Biotech with our adoption of talent branding. Biotech is notoriously a “play it safe” industry with its branding. We saw immediate and exponential results.”
An example of Foundation Medicine’s talent brand was this highly successful video, showing individual employee stories under the broader company vision of “Transforming Cancer Care.”
Michael added that Buildium also understands the real importance of effective talent branding. “Use your culture and values to hire,” he says. “You want your employees to know what they are signing up for, and you want them to want to be a part of it. If they see the vision and understand what’s important to you, everyone can more easily row in the same direction.”
Step 5: Optimize your hiring process to ensure you are bringing in the right people
When it comes to recruiting and hiring, “taking the time up front will pay off because in a small company, getting it wrong is palpable,” says Sarah. I agree with this statement with the power of 10,000 suns. The early hires you make can not only impact your business, but also directly impact your culture too. Often, I see a lot of small businesses hire for skill early on (because of need) but they don’t place enough importance on the culture aspect in assessing new hires.
Here are some ways to make sure your hiring process is set up to bring in the right talent:
Make sure candidates appreciate your culture and values: If your new hires align with your culture and values, it's easier for everyone to be moving in the same direction, according to Michael. Here are some interview questions that can help you assess if a candidate shares your companies values,
Divide and conquer in the interview process: Optimize your interviews and use your interview team to cover as much ground as possible. No one, no matter how good an interviewer he or she may be, can get a full picture in 45 minutes. Assign your team different areas to cover in the interviews (skills, cultural fit, experience, etc). If you assign different areas of the interview (and interviewers) to different subjects, it will result in deeper conversations, different conversations and a broader understanding of each candidate.
Prioritize attitude over skills and experience: As a growing small business, the easy thing to do is hire that person who can do the job “right now” with as little training as possible. Heck – most small businesses are hiring people who are doing the same exact job they need – just at a different company. While these hires have immediate impact (usually), you need to question if they will be growing with you for years after the immediate task/need you hired them for is gone. I have seen a lot of clients have longer term success in hiring people who might not have all 10 of the 10 skills or experience they need, but maybe have 6 - 7 and are great fits culturally and genuinely excited about the opportunity. These types of hires tend to stay longer and have the ability to grow into different roles as the company grows.
Don’t hire “mini-me”s: “Culture fit” does not mean that a new hire looks like, thinks like or acts like you and your team. Think of it as a “culture add” – is the person someone who brings diversity of opinion, thought, experience and background? Understanding this as you hire will help bring a balanced and truly diverse type of culture to your organization.
Step 6: Find ways to constantly reinforce your core values
Having programs and initiatives in place that regularly reinforce the core values that make up the central tenants of your culture is key to keeping your culture thriving. At Buildium, they do just this, starting with culture awards.
“All of our awards are peer nominated. We think it’s a great way to celebrate those who consistently live our values and go above and beyond,” says Michael.
Some of these awards include:
The Founders Award — an annual award given to an employee who best exemplifies the core values, and represents the best of what it means to be a “Buildian.”
Core Value “Animal” Award — a monthly award given to an employee who best demonstrates the core values. It’s actually “Animal” from the Muppets (!).
Other Buildium core value programs include “Volunteer Weeks” four times a year and company wide monthly meetings with lots of open communication. Michael believes that “living” these values also leads to a culture that can have tangible effects for your customers too.
“Some of my favorites aren't programs at all but are the small examples of going above and beyond: Sending a customer flowers when we learned about their 30th wedding anniversary; ordering an Uber for one of our customer’ tenants who was in a bind; sending co-workers prepared meals when they and their families are going through a tough time. You won’t find any of these things in any company handbook or manual. These are just examples of our employees exemplifying what it means to be a Buildian. That’s a culture we’re proud of,” says Michael.
Step 7: Measure if your culture is effectively attracting and engaging talent
In the absence of countless tools and the resources to manage them, how do you actually measure whether you culture is one that people buy into and like being a part of?
To do just that, Michael likes to measure something he calls “Employee Pride.”
"We measure effectiveness in several ways, including employee engagement surveys, employee referral rates, voluntary turnover rates, and employee ratings and review sites. These measures help us tell whether we’re on the right track with respect to creating the kind of employee experience we want to create.”
However, Michael cautions that there is only so much you can measure via metrics. “We find that the things that can't be measured are just as important. It's what you can see and feel happening around you. For us, we always ask; 'Will this help the employee see this as the best place they've ever worked?' and 'Are we setting the highest standard for the way business should be done?' That results in an environment where employees lift each other up, and we see them doing everything they can to go above and beyond for our customers.”
Sarah thinks the recruiting side can also be an indicator of measuring cultural effectiveness. “Are you winning the fight for talent without jacking up the compensation to ridiculous levels?” she asks. Sarah also says that one measure is to simply look at the bottom line. “Most people don’t think to consider productivity and sometimes revenue [to measure engagement]. Happy people produce more. It’s a fact."
There's one thing Sarah said that I think really nails it:
“Work life balance is not a “thing” in small companies. Own up to it and embrace it. Be honest about it. And then create an environment where you trust the robustness of your hiring process to deliver new employees who understand the commitment they are making, what will make them successful, what the expectations are of them and what they can expect of you.”
Culture is a big difference maker in attracting and retaining great people – as well as in being a high performing business too. Signing up for a startup or 1000 person company culture can be very different than joining one that has 100,000 employees. Yes, the huge multinational “sexy” companies are doing some amazing things, but what they do can be incredibly hard to learn from when your entire company is 5 - 200 people.
The building of an effective culture is ultimately unique to each organization, but the “nuts and bolts” of an effective culture for small businesses are what made these conversations with Saran and Michael so fascinating (and important) to me. Any company, regardless of industry or size, can learn from their advice.
As promised, no yoga room or office sommeliers – just some real-world examples and advice that doesn't require a huge budget and lots of resources. Building your company culture is one of the most important endeavors for any small busines – and an effective one can be the key to hiring and retaining a highly engaged and productive team.
*Image from Buildium
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Company Culture,
How This Company Established a Four-Day Work Week — and Says Others Can Too
How to Accurately Assess Culture Fit, Based on My 45 Years of Recruiting Experience
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Best Free Books
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Thank You for My Service
Author Mat Best, Ross Patterson & Nils Parker
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs
Our score: 4.5
From 548 Ratings
Thank You for My Service Summary
Thank You for My Service - NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The unapologetic, laugh-your-ass-off military memoir both vets and civilians have been waiting for, from a five-tour Army Ranger turned YouTube phenomenon and zealous advocate for veterans
Members of the military’s special operations branches share a closely guarded secret: They love their jobs. They relish the opportunity to fight. They are thankful for it, even, and hopeful that maybe, possibly, they’ll also get to kill a bunch of bad guys while they’re at it. You don’t necessarily need to thank them for their service—the pleasure is all theirs.
In this hilarious and personal memoir, readers ride shotgun alongside former Army Ranger and private military contractor and current social media phenomenon Mat Best, into the action and its aftermath, both abroad and at home. From surviving a skin infection in the swampy armpit of America (aka Columbus, Georgia) to kicking down doors on the outskirts of Ramadi, from blowing up a truck full of enemy combatants to witnessing the effects of a suicide bombing right in front of your face, Thank You for My Service gives readers who love America and love the good guys fresh insight into what it’s really like inside the minds of the men and women on the front lines.
It’s also a sobering yet steadying glimpse at life for veterans after the fighting stops, when the enemy becomes self-doubt or despair and you begin to wonder why anyone should be thanking you for anything, least of all your service. How do you keep going when something you love turns you into somebody you hate? For veterans and their friends and families, Thank You for My Service will offer comfort, in the form of a million laughs, and counsel, as a blueprint for what to do after the war ends and the real fight begins.
And for civilians, this is the insider account of military life you won’t find anywhere else, told with equal amounts of heart and balls. It’s Deadpool meets Captain America, except one went to business school and one went to therapy, and it’s anyone’s guess which is which.
Mat Best, Ross Patterson & Nils Parker Book List
Mat Best, Ross Patterson & Nils Parker
Copyright © 2020 Buy Books Pro.
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22-Jul-2010 2:47 PM
Australian Infrastructure Fund and Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad gain on traffic releases
Shares in Australian Infrastructure Fund (AIX), 49.1% stakeholder in Queensland Airports Ltd (QAL), rose 1.2% yesterday. QAL released its traffic report for Gold Coast, Townsville and Mount Isa airports for the 12 months ended 30-Jun-2010.
Gold Coast Airport reports 9.7% rise in pax for year ended Jun-2010
The three QAL airports handled 7 million passengers in total, up 9.7% year-on-year. Gold Coast Airport led the way - its passenger throughout surged 12%, while Townsville rose 4% and Mount Isa remained relatively flat with 1% growth.
QAL is 100% Australian owned, with Hastings Funds Management the responsible entity for AIX (49.1%) and trustee for The Infrastructure Fund (TIF) (33.7%), and Perron Investments holding the remaining shares.
AIX’s other airport interests include Airstralia Development Group (Perth Airport: 29.7%), HOCHTIEF AirPort Capital (HTAC) (Athens: 5.3%, Düsseldorf: 4.0%, Hamburg: 5.7% and Sydney: 2.6%), Australia Pacific Airports Corporation (APAC) (Melbourne and Launceston airports: 10.2%), Airport Development Group (NT Airports) (Darwin, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek airports: 28.2%).
See CAPA Airport Operators/Investments profile on Australia Infrastructure Fund
Kuala Lumpur reports 17.8% rise in May-2010 pax and cargo surge
In Southeast Asia, Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB), operator of Kuala Lumpur International Airport, closed 0.2% higher yesterday. Passenger traffic at Kuala Lumpur surged 17.8% in May-2010 to 2.7 million passengers, as highlighted in MAHB’s traffic report released on 21-Jul-2010. International pax soared 24.7% year-on-year to 1.9 million, while domestic pax rose 4.7% to 849,442. The airport also reported cargo growth of 28.8% and an 8.4% increase in aircraft movements.
MAHB manages and operates 39 airports in Malaysia: five international, 16 domestic and 18 short take-off and landing ports.
See CAPA Airport Operators/Investments profile on Malaysia Airports Holding Berhad
Selected airports daily share price movements (% change): 21-Jul-2010
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance
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05-Feb-2010 5:15 PM
US airline outlook: Fundamental restructuring is in the wind but will the industry revert to type?
A simple question on the lessons learned from the downturn, posed during last week’s Continental analyst call, resulted in the clearest indication yet of the structural changes now under way at US carriers. They go far beyond capacity, revealing the task ahead for legacy airlines. It also reveals the implications for manufacturers, regionals and organised labor, as low cost airlines also restrain expansion.
“The airline business is crazy. I've not been enamored with the industry in general. You can't depend on anybody and anything. It's dog-eat-dog and one thing or another from one minute to the next. What I understand about it, I don't like what I see” - Robert Brooks, Hooters Air owner. Source: The Sun News, 21-Mar-2006. Hooters Air finally ceased trading on 17-Apr-2006, after operating for only 3 years.
The complex response, however, did not come from Continental Chairman Jeff Smizek, who pointed to changes related to technology and ancillary revenues driving structural changes that would force costs down and revenues up.
It came instead during last week’s United Airlines analyst call when UAL Chair Glenn Tilton, President John Tague and CFO Kathryn Mickells outlined a sea change in an industry mindset that has destroyed more capital than even the great depression.
With only two reasonably profitable years past decade, the US airline industry certainly needs some fresh thinking.
US airlines^ operating margin: 2001 to 2009*
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, company profiles
*2001 to 2008 results are based on figures obtained from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics while 2009 results are based on figures reported by selected airlines
^2009 figures are based on results reported by Alaska, JetBlue, US Airways, AirTran, United, Allegiant, Delta, Continental, Southwest and American airlines
Has adversity actually bred a new way of thinking?
It seems that finally the US airline executives are focused on breaking conventional wisdom that investing in airlines is only for short-term opportunistic gains. They want investments to be good over the long term as well. They also want to bury Former Continental CEO Bob Six’s worn-out aphorism: “To make a fortune in the airline business you have to start out with two fortunes.”
Of course the largest restructuring would be for the US industry to consolidate through mergers and the subject was touched upon during the recent analysts calls, as a hopeful analyst broached the question – after all, there’s money to be made with mergers. While everyone seemed to agree more consolidation was needed, many said the environment was not right and the best way to combine is to follow Delta’s lead: put together two networks that are complementary, not competitive.
As usual, US Airways’ Chair Doug Parker called again for such consolidation, saying without it, US carriers remain at risk of getting into the same trouble they did at the turn of the economy in 2007. However, he also noted that the industry was in the best shape it’s been in since all the actions it took to survive the recession.
But, in the absence of mergers, these nuanced changes really paint an intriguing picture one that constitutes the building blocks of tomorrow’s industry.
NB: This analysis is drawn from developments covered each day in America Airline Daily. Join the growing number of companies making the switch today.
United’s Tilton leads the charge to a new industry vision
During United’s analyst call, Tilton and Co did not even wait for the question on how the industry is being restructured. They had clearly been chomping at the bit all week to answer the question. Morgan Stanley’s Bill Greene, who began this conversation with his question to Smizek, has launched a spirited discussion in the C Suites across the industry and one that is highlighted by the measured responses from Tilton and his team.
Tilton agreed with Smizek’s response on the importance of unbundling, merchandising and technology introduction to streamline and improve the customer experience as well as to increase revenue-generating opportunities.
But listening to the 4Q2009 earnings conferences was indeed a watershed in how airline managements now think about the industry, passengers and market share as well as their fiduciary responsibility to stakeholders beyond Wall Street.
“We have to understand that the up cycle is just that, a cycle,” Tilton said. “But we have to challenge everything including the business model itself and we must continue to restructure the business.”
A seminal shift in attitude
Then Tague joined in, saying two things that were stunning, given the history of the industry. It was these two statements that really signalled the seismic shift.
“The financial community has every right to demand that we eliminate the components of cyclicality that are clearly self induced,” he said. “We better, as a business, start planning for what our decisions reflect in the bottom of the cycle and not the top of the cycle, and that may involve leaving some opportunity at the top, but when we spit back twice as much at the bottom, it’s not a very rewarding experience.”
Then, there was this. “We also can’t be induced in the up cycle to give away what the employees have paid for in the down cycle,” he said. “So I think we have to be cognizant of that always when it comes to production levels of the business. We have to take that stewardship responsibility equally as serious.”
This is the clearest indication of the newly emerging mindset.
“I think a significant lesson learned for us is, there’s no upside to decision avoidance, regardless of the cycle,” said Tilton. “So a lesson that we’ve learned here very well since the restructuring is no sacred cows. This is an industry that’s structurally challenged. This is a management team that understands that and will address those issues.”
He went further with the conversation on structural changes. “I’d say the structural changes (are) with respect to unbundling, and merchandising, and new sources of revenue, and challenging the business model itself,” he said. “It should continue, not only in times of duress, but just in the normal course of restructuring the business that obviously needs restructuring regardless of the cycle.
“I think, third, the partnerships and consolidation needs to continue as well,” he continued. “Regardless of what opportunity any particular carrier may have, you need to take advantage of it in the down cycle or the up cycle. In addition, we must continue to challenge the cost structure of the industry, it is too high. It is burdensome regardless of the cycle. We need to continue to take cost out, even in the most robust of times and one way to look at that is, we need to find new means by which we deliver the product to the market. I think we can apply technology here in improving efficiency and productivity in the business. We can also do that in concert with partners, which I think will enhance the industry’s ability to withstand down cycles when they come, as they will. So those are four robust lessons that we’ve learned. But it’s also frankly, objectives that we hold for ourselves and our Board to continue to pursue and we’re very aggressively pursuing all of them.”
Current conservative capacity policy should become permanent
No matter how many statements heard in executive suites about the recovery and forward bookings, they pale in comparison with the magnitude of what Mr Tilton and his team outlined. Above all, the call was the single most important discussion in a long time - simply because it reflected a quite different mindset in airline economics from that experienced early in the last decade. It is one that has been building since 9-11 and magnified by the 2008 fuel crisis, to be sure, but one that recognises a healthy bottom line is more important than market share.
US domestic capacity has fallen 16.5% since 2001, with legacy/regional carriers reducing their capacity by a remarkable 26.9% and the LCC segment growing its capacity by 29.4% over the same period.
US legacy/regional carriers vs low cost airlines’ domestic seating capacity (millions): 2001 to 2009
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & OAG
Legacy carriers have kept their international capacity levels steady over the past decade, with a low point in 2003 and a peak in 2008. LCCs have meanwhile dramatically increased their international capacity levels (off a very small base) to short-haul transborder markets particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean.
US legacy/regional carriers vs low cost airlines’ international seating capacity (millions): 2001 to 2009
Today, while legacies cannot afford to leave any passengers on the table, the new rhetoric could imply management is at last giving up on trying to be all things to all people, in favour of the high-yield passenger and high-margin revenues such as ancillary fees. Certainly, that the message their recent passenger service efforts send out.
That said, the failure of the most recent fare hike attempt delivers a mixed signal, illustrating just how tough a job industry executives have in transforming the industry into a consistently money-making business.
President John Tague attempted to put the failed fare hike in perspective, however: “Generally the rate of success over the last three to four months has been improving over prior periods,” he told analysts. “We will continue to do everything within our power to optimize the pricing that we see ahead. Look, I think there’s still some reticence. We’re very early in this recovery period. We have had quite a bit of success in the last several months with creating these peak pricing periods that are getting longer and longer and more frequent. So that’s working well on the industry. This artificial resistance, I hope, will go away in the second and third quarters, as we see seasonal demand improve against constant capacity levels. So that’s what we’re expecting, and that’s what we’ll be working hard to accomplish.”
Or is it because the LCCs are slowing their expansion too?
United’s comments went well beyond paying obeisance to capacity discipline that we’ve all heard in the past two years. While other airline executives have discussed snippets of what Tilton and Co were getting at, the United executivess put it into a neat little package that offers a vision of the future.
Comments on capacity discipline have been welcomed warmly, no doubt, but only with a grain of salt that says, “Let’s see if they actually mean it when the up cycle begins and they really start competing with each other again.”
If current plans for 2010 are any clue, then perhaps they do mean it, but will they stick to that discipline if credit costs go cheap again and leasing companies and manufacturers dangle sweet deals? Or if some airlines break ranks and attack existing markets. Boeing and Airbus have some troubled programs such as the 747-8I, which may need a boost. Will capacity have to earn its way into the system, as suggested by JetBlue CEO Dave Barger during his call? The real test will come beyond this year.
Suggestions that the new way might be real
CFO Kathryn Mikells provided a partial answer, one that holds true today as the industry crawls out of the abyss. “I think what we’re all doing is seeking to repair our balance sheets, and the only way to do that is to actually get some sustained reasonable profitability,” she said. “I think that’s going to be another governor on behavior, but certainly we’re encouraged by what we’re hearing from others on their calls with regard to holding the line on capacity, which is clearly what the industry needs to do.”
Tague agreed. “If the industry continues to focus on all of the elements of lessons learned or the elements of cost management or the application of technology or the use of scope and scale and flexibility, then you don’t invite a cannibalization of the business as we may have had in times past. So all of the issues of performance form a barrier of sorts. Let’s face it; this industry is performing and consolidating.
“At United, we firmly believe that the only way the industry can fully recover and meet its financial targets is through capacity discipline,” he continued. “Capacity simply must be set at a level that allows for compensatory pricing. Despite the challenging revenue environment, 2009 truly represented a continuation of fundamental improvements across our business.”
Much of the improvement stems from industry capacity levels coming down, as the US LCCs finally played ball. Last year was indeed a watershed. Their share of domestic seats fell for the first time in decades, to 28.5%, having peaked at 29.2% in 2008. And this comes at the same time as the differences between the two categories of airline become increasingly blurred.
US LCCs domestic capacity (seats) share (%): 2001 to 2009
As they mimic the behaviour of full service airlines, the LCCs however continued to grow their share of capacity on international routes to/from the US, although their presence is limited only to short-haul, cross-border markets, in the absence of widebody fleets (which are not on the radar) or long-haul codesharing (which is at an embryonic stage, except eg for JetBlue).
US LCCs international capacity (seats) share (%): 2001 to 2009
As a result, US LCC shares of total domestic and international capacity slipped slightly in 2009 at 24% - and could stay around this level for the foreseeable future.
US LCCs systemwide (domestic and int’l) capacity (seats) share (%): 2001 to 2009
Southwest finally flatlining
Perhaps the real reason the US legacy airlines can now openly discuss this apparent radical change in mindset is that the low cost segment, led by the largest domestic US carrier, Southwest Airlines, is also holding the line.
AirTran and JetBlue are growing capacity more aggressively in 2010 (while Allegiant’s growth is surging, off its relatively small base), although capacity expansion rates are well below previous years. The legacy carriers are also moving closer to restoring growth in capacity, according to statements in their 4Q2009 financial results.
Selected US airlines capacity (ASM) expansion outlook
Capacity plan
1Q2010: +6% to +8%;
FY2010: +5% to +7%
2Q2010: +4% to +4.5%;
3Q2010: +2%;
1Q2010: -2.5% to -1.5%;
FY2010: -0.5% to +0.5%
1Q2010: -3% to -5%;
Domestic: -1% to -3%;
International: -5% to -7%
No capacity growth expected for the full year 2010
1Q2010: -2.9%;
FY2010: +1.3%
1Q2010: +15%
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & company reports
Crucially, Southwest’s historic fuel hedging benefits are all but gone. The grandfather of the LCC industry posted a quarterly loss in 3Q2008 and shrunk its capacity for the first time in 23 years in 1Q2009. The Dallas-based airline narrowly avoided reporting its first full-year loss since 1972 in 2009 and is suffering from a growing weight problem, now with the highest LCC costs in the industry and fast-approaching Alaska Airlines, Continental and Delta.
Selected US airlines operating cost per ASM v operating cost per ASM excl fuel: 4Q2009
*Continental operating cost per ASM excluding fuel not available
^Network carrier figures are for mainline activities
Across the Atlantic, and noting Southwest’s distress, Europe’s Ryanair (which modeled itself on Southwest) is also preparing to make wholesale changes to its strategy, shifting away from a high-growth operation beyond 2012 to a future of route rationalisation, low capex, profit maximisation and returning surpluses to shareholders. CEO, Michael O’Leary, seems intent on avoiding the excesses of its Texan counterpart and instead maintain the airline’s waistline at a reasonable level.
See related report: The party's over: Ryanair's ancillaries are stuttering, to raise fares, slow growth
Meanwhile easyJet is already pursuing a strategy of slower growth and yield maximisation, targeting business travellers – the bread-and-butter of its network rivals – as a result of boardroom brawling over the pace of growth.
Southwest, the market leader, is itself searching for the way forward
Southwest is undergoing an uncertain metamorphosis involving a focus on attracting business travelers and targeting hub airports. Its future necessarily involves codesharing with foreign partners, slow (or even zero) fleet growth and potentially a merger with a domestic rival.
It appears that since Southwest became a 500+ aircraft super heavyweight, strategic problems have emerged, as the airline exhausted profitable route expansion options; this unfortunately coincided with the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Southwest, Ryanair and easyJet fleet growth: 1971 to 2012F and 2013-2015 scenarios
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation and Ascend Online and airline reports
NB: (1) easyJet fleet data for 2009 to 2012 period is for the 12 months ended September, while data from 1971 to 2008 is based on calendar year data. Estimates for 2013-2015 are based on fleet growth of approximately 4% p/a. This figure has not been provided by the airline, but based on CAPA’s own assumptions on the possible future fleet growth profile.
(2) Ryanair fleet data for 2009 is for the 12 months ended Sep-2009, 2012 data based on fleet size at Mar-2012, 2010 data is based on estimates, while data from 1971 to 2008 is based on calendar year data. Estimates for 2013-2015 are based on zero fleet growth, assuming CEO, Michael O’Leary, holds to recent comments that the carrier would cease to grow after 2012.
(3) Southwest Airlines fleet data between 1971 and 2008 is based on end of year period, with data from 2009 onwards based on fleet outline presented in Apr-2009, detailing the carrier’s plan for a net reduction of two aircraft in the year. Additional data was sourced from media and trade union reports. Estimates for 2013-2015 are based on fleet growth of less than 1% p/a. This figure has not been provided by the airline, but based on CAPA’s own assumptions on the possible future fleet growth profile.
Southwest ended 2009 with roughly 535 aircraft – two fewer than as at 31-Dec-2008. It is looking at “flat” fleet growth in 2010 and future aircraft deliveries, stretching until 2017 could be used to refresh, rather than grow the fleet.
A commitment in earlier negotiations with pilots was to expand the fleet by 5% p/a, resulting in a targeted fleet of 568 aircraft by the end of 2012. That target appears to have been dropped in subsequent negotiations. The new pilots’ contract, reached in Sep-2009, included retroactive pay raises of 2% for 2007 and 2008, plus 2% in 2011. Raises for 2009 and 2010 will be based on Southwest's profitability (or lack thereof).
The airline also committed to capping ‘near-international’ codesharing with partners from an originally envisioned 6% (as per the tentative agreement rejected by pilots in Jun-2009) to 4% of Southwest’s ASMs. This is a key opportunity for legacy rivals to exploit – and Tilton has talked of increasing the use of partnerships.
That Southwest pilots are playing an increasingly pivotal role in the airline’s strategic development (eg effectively scuttling management’s moves to acquire Frontier Airlines over seniority issues) is playing nicely into the hands of its rivals.
With Southwest effectively knee-capping itself and most of the other LCCs showing more capacity restraint, the remaining carriers can begin to hope for better times.
US carriers’ domestic capacity growth (% change year-on-year) in 2009
Southwest CEO, Gary Kelly predicts the US economy will expand by approximately 3% in 2010 and that business traffic demand will grow at a “similarly modest pace”. The airline accordingly has a “very cautious expansion plan for 2010”.
The current fleet plan for 2010 calls for scheduled capacity reduction of 1% in 2010, but Mr Kelly stated this level can be calibrated through retirements and lease returns if industry operating conditions or capacity levels change.
Southwest retains considerable flexibility to manage its capacity, by tweaking utilisation rates, as well as tapping leasing market. It also has low (but rising) load factors, meaning the airline has the ability to grow its capacity with its existing fleet. But expansion into congested hub airports is more fleet intensive than operating from secondary points.
Leading LCCs preparing for a sustainable future
As noted in CAPA’s Nov-2009 Global LCC Outlook report, “it is now clear that a new plateau has been reached in the evolution of low cost operations and strategy. There are several reasons, with regional variations in the relative importance of each”.
The report also noted, “during four years of ideally fertile breeding conditions for new entrants - cheap fuel, cheap aircraft, easy credit and strong consumer demand – the low cost market grew significantly. And so did the intensity of competition for the short haul, low price passenger.
“Then, following a serious fuel cost shock in 2008, when jet fuel prices threatened to reach USD200, a credit and demand crisis replaced fuel concerns, accompanied by the flow-through of the previous three years of unprecedentedly voracious aircraft ordering. The sorcerer’s apprentice had turned on the fleet expansion tap, pushing capacity growth where prudence would not have dictated. All of these took their toll on any airline model which lacked resilience.
“The proliferation of low fare entrants – not always as low cost, or as well conceived as they should be – meant that the level of head-to-head competition among them became ferocious, where previously it had often been possible to avoid direct confrontation”.
The report added that high fuel prices, seen as “the main threat to the LCC model”, are “the most likely catalyst of change in the short term”. Future surges in price can be highly destabilising and one of the few risk management options that most low cost operators have to guard against this is to search for higher yields.
The report concluded that fuel prices - and other uncontrollable externalities, both in cost and demand “will relentlessly force most low cost airlines towards reconstituting the network model, domestically and internationally”.
Southwest, despite its protestations, will eventually charge for bags and its transition to the legacy carrier ranks will be complete.
As low cost competition eases, does this then presage more new entry?
What about new entrants? Will we see a new crop of wild cards, not educated in the airline industry’s school of hard knocks since 2000? Certainly lease prices for older aircraft have slumped to attractive levels in the past year.
But Mickells pointed out credit markets can act as a natural dampener on “what was, historically, problematic,” she said. “It’s not nearly as easy to get that capital today.”
In response to a question on whether that equation might change when the industry recovers, Tague said, “I think if you look at the mortality rate of the recent new entrants that, too, would form a reasonable barrier to entry. Look, while this is a risk that we’re all cognizant of, I’d say that actually new entrants flowing into the business have tended to be driven by excess aircraft available at unprecedented prices, and boy, if that hasn’t been the case over the last 24 months, I don’t know what has.
“So a lot of time we’ve seen those aircraft artificially reenter the market, and I have personally been relatively encouraged over the last few years,” he continued. “We’re not seeing that. I think the lessons-learned question has to go beyond the industry and go to the supplier and the financing base, and I think they’ve got their own set of lessons learned as well.”
That may just be wishful thinking, but conditions for market entry do still seem less than welcoming.
There is major cost reduction work still to be done – keeping a careful eye on fuel prices
It was Tague who suggested the industry cost restructuring is far from over. Further, he said that managers can no longer just endure down cycles in the hopes of making it to the up cycle. They must manage for the down cycle.
“Clearly, we don’t stand here today and suggest we have a lot of easy, low-hanging fruit with respect to incremental cost opportunities,” said Mikells. “That said, I think over the last few years, what we’ve really demonstrated is we’ve got a very strong focus on assuring that we maintain a competitive cost structure. We’ve done a lot of hard work to improve our relative position in this area and we’ve got a laser focus on that.
“We are driving accountability and also developing the book of work to see if we can actually better performance than what we’ve told you in our guidance,” she continued echoing similar statements throughout the industry. “So we’re seeing some clear pressures, but we’re very focused on this and I think you can expect that we’re going to continue to have very good performance.”
And, if fuel goes to USD90 or USD100 a barrel, expect quick decisions. “We will do what we have done before in making capacity adjustments,” said Tague. “We have the necessary flexibility whether it is on wholly owned aircraft or the regional fleet with fleet utilization running at all time highs. There is lots of opportunity to adjust down.”
Tague added that the company is always striving to beat goals. He maintained plans are in place or being developed for more cost reductions that won’t be realized until 2011, 2012 or 2013.
“There has been a cultural change on delivering cost performance,” he said, in yet another expression of the will to ensure that this time it really will be different.
But again the old plea to government…
Even so, Tilton voiced a cautionary note saying there are only so many structural changes that industry can make on its own. Putting on his chair-of-the-Air-Transport-Association hat, he said government has to change as well. “Structural issues extend beyond airlines and they play an important role in sustaining profitability,” he said pointing to excessive taxation, inadequate infrastructure and over zealous regulation, no doubt meaning the new tarmac rules. “These must be addressed as well if we are to succeed.”
Surprisingly, and perhaps it was his role as ATA chair that kept him diplomatic, Tilton seemed to put his trust in the industry advisory committee formed by the Department of Transportation last November. The latest task force is only one in a long string of similar federal efforts, mostly viewed as political theatre. Most end up gathering dust, but Tilton said that this time around it was an opportunity to “get all the issues on the table and develop a road map to address the barriers that impede airlines from profitability.”
Even so, perhaps this managing-for-the-down-cycle mindset, coupled with the excruciating pain the industry has endured in the last decade will conspire to force action this time
But then again, a decade ago few airline executives would have suggested that a healthy bottom line is more important than letting opportunities go, even during an up cycle. Another read of that, however, is that a healthy balance sheet allows airlines to compete better, as suggested by Alaska Chair Bill Ayer.
It is a no brainer that the signals are flying that if execs want to gain any traction on fares and profits, they have to focus on keeping capacity – and costs – low.
Strategic flexibility is now the keynote
The implications of this new manage-for-the-bottom-of-the-cycle outlined in last week’s United Airlines analyst call represent a tectonic shift for the industry, as evidenced by Mr Tilton’s insistence that there are no sacred cows.
It all comes down to a single word – flexibility – which, said United President John Tague, was the single most important factor in acquiring and sustaining profitability.
Thus, fleet acquisitions and code-sharing relationships will not be judged by cost and incremental revenues alone. Deals will be crafted with several scenarios in mind in order to get the flexibility needed to battle headwinds and take advantage of any tail winds.
That has generally negative implications for aircraft manufacturers. Will the industry’s capacity reticence force manufacturers to dial back on their forecasts? Will this give Embraer and especially Bombardier a realistic foot in the door as the airlines look at restructuring fleets with this new flexibility prism in mind? On the latter, the answer is absolutely.
All the new programs developing around the world make for a lot of competition and manufacturers have been known to subsidize new aircraft just to get them into service. The question is, will the experience of the 1980s and 1990s - with the last generation of regional airliners - be repeated with new entrant narrow-body and regional aircraft programs buying their way into market share, despite international trade agreements.
This all suggests more risk for the regional airline industry
“We’ve got to be nimble in terms of capacity and constantly looking at our fleet plan, both our mainline fleet and our Express (regional) fleet that we operate through our contractual relationships,” said United CFO Kathryn Mikells, sending another shot across the regional industry’s bows. “To ensure that every year, we’ve got a number of aircraft that are coming off lease, that are coming out of financing, that we have United Express, regional capacity flexibility, both on the up side as well as in the other direction. I think those were all things that we managed very, very well, and certainly is something we’ll continue to focus on going forward.”
Regionals were put on notice last summer they would have to take on an increasing share of the risk. The sweetheart contracts of the post-9-11 period are now a thing of the past. That means the eight-to-10-percent margins that resulted may also be a thing of the past. This will be a test as to whether regional airlines really have been better stewards of the bottom line, or whether those contracts simply gave them an edge.
While legacy airliines refuse to make public what they actually mean by increasing risk, regionals have seen the writing on the wall and are looking at new solutions.
Examples include SkyWest’s deal with AirTran over Milwaukee. Although this is small, it keeps the aircraft flying and, even on a pro-rate basis, making money. The same applies to the ERJ170s which Republic’s Shuttle America has deployed with Mesa’s go! in Hawaii.
Republic’s answer has been to become a bank, lending millions to partners such as US Airways, Midwest and Frontier and ending up with a Frontier/Midwest branded operation along with some ERJ 190s to boot. It is unclear whether this will pay off, but it is seen as a risky, if not necessary, move for today’s environment.
And labor will have to join the party if these changes are to happen
Barclays Capital’s Gary Chase joined the analysts’ conversation: “I think about what the industry has learned in this cycle is that it’s far and away a flexibility issue,” he said. “You’ve got to be ready for just about anything, I think is what we’ve learned. To have the kind of flexibility that I think is consistent with the kind of volatility, don’t you need to rework labor agreements?”
The response from executives included frank language, sending signals to labor, which is working on open contracts throughout the industry. Indeed, all of United’s contracts are open although not expected to be resolved this year. Thus, watching what comes out of United’s discussions with its unions could prove a benchmark since it will signal whether its manage-for-the-bottom-of-a-cycle mentality is to gain traction.
“We have, what we believe to be flexibility that has been hard earned,” said Tilton. “We wanted to convey that, given the challenges of this industry, this management team and this board, have a fiduciary responsibility to take full advantage of every flexibility we have in our tool kits and when I said no sacred cows that’s exactly what we’re going to do. The industry has made expedient decisions, when it was seemingly affordable or comfortable to do so, and regretted them thereafter. So we understand the benefit of flexibilities that we might have to deploy competitively. We’re going to take full advantage of it.”
The success of such policies depends on whether or not labour buys that structural changes are necessary to not only maintain jobs but to ensure that what they have already paid since 9-11 is not squandered in typically blind competition for market share.. More importantly, will they buy the suggestion that structural changes which lead to a consistently healthy bottom line in both good and bad times, will actually achieve labour’s most important goal – greater job security?
Salary restructuring becomes a vital part of the “flexibility” goal
Regardless, the signal was very clear. Rather than complain about concessions that have cost members such acute pain, management needs to restructure compensation packages, one of the sacred cows to which Tilton was no doubt referring.
And a clear signal as to the path United wants to take came from Mikells. “I think that the variable compensation model has worked very well in highly cyclical industries,” she said. “Communications comes to mind. So I think as a benchmark for the industry where other industries have already moved, it’s a very worthy discussion.”
A big question is whether or not the trend toward creating incentive pay programs, allowing employees to share monetarily in success, will make much of a difference to the traditional labour mentality. Alaska’s incentive plan allows employees to share in up to 15% of profits. Clearly the airline considers people to be a good investment in achieving its goals and other airlines agree.
Continental began this trend and Smizek’s refusal to increase salaries unless the company is profitable is only the latest move. SkyWest Airlines has had it as part of its DNA almost since inception, making it one of the most successful regionals in the world. The same can now be said for Continental, which is consistently in the top ranks in customer performance well beyond the JD Power award. This is likely why other airlines have climbed aboard that bandwagon. It is a strategy that works for the passenger, for the employees and for the company and its shareholders.
And the tasty pieces: preparing for the upside
United concluded this discourse by outlining how it is preparing for the rebound. Its plans are being repeated across the industry by low-cost, regional and legacy carriers alike.
If flexibility is the new touchstone for airlines, then everyone needs to be on notice that, assuming United’s strategy is successful – and United not only needs all players to sign on, it needs the industry itself to keep its discipline – this become a different airline industry.
Such discipline will be a signal that industry leaders have finally learned that most basic of economic lessons – the law of supply and demand.
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Newark Topics
Ready Or Not Newark Enrolls Water Testing college access NPS Clarity 2020 All Topics
Newark
Newark’s North Star Academy charter schools are cleared after discipline probe
By Patrick Wall
PHOTO CREDIT: Hafsa Razi
As local news deserts become the norm, Chalkbeat remains 100% committed to the communities we cover. Get our Newark education stories delivered to your inbox.
New Jersey’s largest charter-school network did not violate state regulations when it disciplined students with disabilities, according to a state investigation triggered by an advocacy group’s complaint.
The complaint, which was based on parent reports and state data, alleged that North Star Academy charter schools suspended students with disabilities for minor infractions, causing them to miss class and be separated from their general-education peers in violation of federal disability law.
After interviewing North Star officials and reviewing school documents, state investigators concluded that the network of 13 charter schools followed the appropriate procedures when disciplining students with disabilities, which includes continuing to provide required educational services after suspending students.
“North Star was able to demonstrate compliance with the procedural regulations for disciplining students with disabilities,” according to the Oct. 15 investigation report.
The report does not address North Star’s suspension rate for students with disabilities, which the complaint alleged was among the highest in the state during the 2016-17 school year. The complaint, using state data, said the rate was 29 percent; North Star said it was 22 percent. The report called that data “informational” but said it was outside the one-year timeframe of the investigation.
Esther Canty-Barnes, director of the Education & Health Law Clinic at Rutgers Law School in Newark, which filed the complaint in August, said the report did not delve into all the issues raised in the complaint. For instance, it called for an investigation into how North Star’s special-education students are affected by suspensions and how often they are forced to repeat grades.
“It only addressed whether the charter school followed procedures,” Canty-Barnes said, “which is a very limited scope of what we asked them to do.”
North Star serves nearly 5,000 students at its Newark sites. Founded in 1997, it is one of New Jersey’s top-performing charter-school networks. Part of the national Uncommon Schools organization, the Newark campuses are known for their rigorous academics and strict discipline policies.
About 9 percent of North Star students had disabilities last school year, according to the report — just over half the rate in Newark Public Schools, where it was 16 percent.
Thirty-eight North Star students with disabilities served 10 or more days of suspension during that 2017-18 school year, the report said. The network gave in-school suspensions to students who disrupted class or refused to do work. It issued out-of-school suspensions to students who used threatening language, stole staff property, or displayed “defiance and aggressiveness.”
The investigators found that North Star administered the suspensions properly. For instance, records indicated that schools held legally required meetings to determine whether students’ disabilities contributed to the behavior that triggered suspensions. The schools also came up with plans to help de-escalate the students’ behavior or give them “break time” to refocus or talk to a school staffer.
When North Star did suspend students with disabilities, it made sure they continued to receive their legally mandated support services, the report said. When students were suspended for 10 or more consecutive days, North Star sent teachers to the students’ homes to provide instruction.
Barbara Martinez, a North Star spokeswoman, said the network takes “great pride” in the education that it offers students with disabilities. Those students perform in the 75th percentile or above on the state PARCC tests, she added.
“We are glad to have the NJ DOE official confirmation after their thorough investigation that these baseless and biased allegations are unfounded and that North Star is fully compliant with all procedures surrounding discipline for students with disabilities,” she said in a statement.
Michael Yaple, a state education department spokesman, said the agency’s special-education office does not have any other open investigations into North Star. He added that complainants can appeal the office’s decisions.
The federal education department’s Office for Civil Rights currently has three open investigations into North Star’s special-education practices that were launched in July 2015, according to the agency’s website. Martinez, the North Star spokeswoman, said the agency “fully investigated” a complaint from 2015 involving one student and made no determination “that we are aware of.” The agency did not immediately respond to a request for information about the investigation.
Lauren Morando Rhim, executive director and co-founder of the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools, said that some schools’ strict discipline policies deter families of children with disabilities from enrolling. She added that even though North Star appears to be following special-education laws, it still serves a relatively small share of students with disabilities and has had a high suspension rate.
“It does raise questions as to why that’s the case,” she said, “and what could they do to increase access and success.”
North Star Academy complaint investigation report (PDF)
North Star Academy complaint investigation report (Text)
Patrick Wall @patrick_wall pwall@chalkbeat.org
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Tag Archives: Zara Porter-Hill
Inside Sotheby’s: Auction House Response Reveals Key Players in Fight Over Khmer Statue
Sotheby’s has responded to the U.S. government’s amended complaint in the legal battle for the Khmer warrior from Koh Ker, arguing that the US Attorney’s failure to cite a Cambodian national ownership law is a”fatal flaw” in their effort to seize the allegedly stolen statue.
[See our previous coverage of the case here.]
“The [government’s amended complaint filed recently] claims a Cambodian king a thousand years ago built the Prasat Chen temp where the Statue’s feet were allegedly found, and asserts the Statue…therefore automatically belongs to the modern Cambodian state. No court has ever forfeited property on such a theory, which squarely conflicts with the settled and undisputed law articulated in McClain and Schultz,” which both required a “clear and unambiguous” national ownership law, Sotheby’s stated.
Sotheby’s arguments focus squarely on the legal foundation of Cambodia’s claim and largely sidestep the government’s amended complaint, which alleged the auction house was deceitful about the statue’s origins in omitting the role of Bangkok-based collector Douglas Latchford. Those claims are an effort to “change the subject,” Sotheby’s said in its response, accusing the government of using selective quotations from internal auction house emails revealed during discovery.
To support that position, Sotheby’s helpfully attached those internal emails to its response as exhibits, giving us an unusual glimpse into the vetting process used by leading auction houses with a piece of ancient art they knew would raise legal and public relations concerns.
The Sotheby’s emails reveal for the first time the identities of several key players in the drama:
Anu Ghosh-Mazumdar, Assistant VP, Indian and SE Asian Art at Sotheby’s. Most directly responsible for coordinating the statue’s vetting and sale.
Zara Porter-Hill, Head of the Indian and SE Asian Department at Sotheby’s London. She corresponded directly with collector Douglas Latchford about the statue’s origins. Latchford initially told her he had the statue in London in 1970, but later claimed that Spink must have purchased the statue in Bangkok. (See Exhibit 3)
Henry Howard-Sneyd, Vice Chairman of Asian Art at Sotheby’s, was asked to be the point of contact between Sotheby’s and the government of Cambodia before the statue’s proposed sale. He demurred, saying, “we simply wanted to be informing him out of politeness and did not want to raise this to important or ‘pay attention’ levels.” (See Exhibit 9). Ultimately it appears that contact with the Cambodians was handled by Jane Levine, head of Worldwide Compliance for Sotheby’s and a former prosecutor of antiquities cases in the same US Attorney’s office now suing for the statue’s return. (see Exhibit 12.)
John Twilley: A conservation expert hired by Sotheby’s to examine the statue after questions were raised about its authenticity. Twilley noted that the difference in condition between the head and body suggested the statue may have been purposefully broken “for ease of transport” from the site where it was found (See Exhibit 7) Ironically, Twilley was also an expert at the Getty workshop on the looted statue of Aphrodite, which was broken by smugglers for ease of transport.
Pieter Meyers: A former senior scientist at LACMA, Meyers conducted an analysis of the statue’s stone, confirming the link between the statue’s head and its torso. (See Ex. 8)
Hab Touch: The Cambodian government official who Sotheby’s debated notifying before the statue’s sale. (see Exhibit 10) Dismissed as a “bureaucrat,” Touch ultimately objected to the statue’s sale and asked for its return to Cambodia.
Below we’ve embedded Sotheby’s response followed by the exhibits we’ve referred to above.
Tagged Anu Ghosh-Mazumdar, Cambodia, Hab Touch, Henry Howard-Sneyd, Jane Levine, John Twilley, Koh Ker, Pieter Meyers, Sotheby's, Zara Porter-Hill
“That sculpture is an icon of discovery, destruction and restoration because it was on open display in the National… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 9 hours ago
RT @UKinAfghanistan: Met police and British Museum help Afghans recover looted ancient masterpiece theguardian.com/culture/2020/j… 9 hours ago
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Boston Landmarks Orchestra opens summer season with “The Planets,” world premiere
Christopher Wilkins conducted the Boston Landmarks Orchestra Wednesday night at the DCR Hatch Bandshell.
The Boston Landmarks Orchestra and conductor Christopher Wilkins paid tribute to the hundredth anniversary of Gustav Holst’s The Planets Wednesday night. The event, at the DCR Hatch Memorial Shell, was part of the season-opening program of free summer concerts on the Esplanade.
The seven-movement astrological suite, of course, does not need this centennial year to be heard more frequently. Today–as in the composer’s own time–The Planets stands as Holst’s most visible achievement, unfortunately eclipsing his other works. Yet despite its popularity, the suite had an inauspicious beginning. The premiere in London’s Queen’s Hall led by Adrian Boult in September 1918 was thrown together at the last minute. Holst was even forced to draw upon singers from the St. Paul’s Girls’ School where he taught for the wordless female chorus in the final movement, “Neptune.” The first performance was also incomplete, and the full suite wasn’t heard until 1920.
Wednesday night’s performance paid special homage to the premiere as the Landmarks Orchestra welcomed the Paulina Voices, the fine all-female chorus from the same St. Paul’s Girls’ School in London, to the Hatch Shell. With a svelte vocal blend, the singers brought the sound of faint light to “Neptune” as Wilkins coaxed orchestral harmonies that evaporated into prismatic vapors.
The Landmarks Orchestra, in fact, sounded as good as it ever has. Leading with broad gestures and brisk tempos, Wilkins sculpted languid lines and drew plush textures from the ensemble in “Venus”; Kevin Owen’s horn solo floated smoothly over the accompanying flutes and clarinet phrases. The theme of “Mercury” unfolded from the orchestra’s dusky basses and bassoons to the violins’ glistening upper register. In “Jupiter,” Landmarks’ dark-toned brass section added subtle weight to the jocular music.
Elsewhere the playing and Wilkins’ direction yielded electrifying results. The pompous march of “Saturn”emerged in powerful, precision-cut phrases. “Mars” moved with urgency, though Wilkins drew out the conclusion for dramatic effect. The snarling fanfares of “Uranus” galumphed appropriately and pulsed with impish glee.
Pegasus Promenade, a new work by composer Gonzalo Grau and the young students of East Boston’s youth program ZUMIX, was heard in its world premiere.
Cast in four movements and spanning fifteen minutes, Pegasus Promenade takes Holst’s Planets as its inspiration. Lyrics and music written by Tayler Fernandez Núñez, Rehanna Fernandez Núñez, Jennifer Perez, and Eleasah Whittaker leave vivid images of galaxies and constellations in the mind, and Grau’s orchestrations wrap the songs in vibrant textures, having the tuneful appeal of a film score. The attractive sonorities are combined in strange yet familiar ways.
The composers of this collaborative suite of songs took turns singing and playing an electric piano, spinning out a pop-style sequences that were complemented by Landmarks’ winds and strings. The brief parts for wordless female chorus, sung by the Paulina Voices, resulted in harmonies that glistened like moonlight on water. The percussionists of ZUMIX, playing all sorts of bells and drums, churned out driving African polyrhythms for a zesty, propulsive ending. Together, the combined ensembles gave Pegasus Promenade bold advocacy.
Much of the concert’s first half was devoted to light classical favorites. The Paulina Voices, led by Heidi Pegler, delivered Lyn Williams’ short Festive Alleluiah with energy and gleaming tone. A short encore, Andy Beck’s Something Told the Wild Geese, featured the singers in even more delightful moments of silvery sound and clear diction.
Wilkins led the Landmarks Orchestra in André Caplet’s orchestration of Debussy’s Clair de lune, bringing out its cool, colorful lines. Leroy Anderson’s Summer Skies, with its Wagnerian heft, brought moments of tender warmth. And the Edwardian swagger of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 set the air spinning in a grand opening to Landmarks’ summer season.
The Boston Landmarks Orchestra will host the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Wind Ensemble and Orchestra in music by Bernstein and Stravinsky 7 p.m. July 25 at the DCR Hatch Memorial Shell. landmarksorchestra.org
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Home / News / Guests and Blogs / Media Matters vs. Fox News: Israel Impact?
Media Matters vs. Fox News: Israel Impact?
Stan Kreis March 31, 2011 Guests and Blogs 165181 Commenthttps%3A%2F%2Fboulderjewishnews.org%2F2011%2Fmedia-matters-vs-fox-news-israel-impact%2FMedia+Matters+vs.+Fox+News%3A+Israel+Impact%3F2011-03-31+16%3A30%3A19Stan+Kreishttp%3A%2F%2Fboulderjewishnews.org%2F%3Fp%3D16518
Image from Politico.com
Media Matters, the ostensible media watchdog, has come out four-square in favor of going to war with Fox News. It henceforth will concentrate on “guerrilla warfare and sabotage,” according to its principal, David Brock.
What matters here is not specifically that Media Matters is openly at war against Fox News, which by itself is a topic somewhat outside the scope of a pro-Israel blog, but this article is relevant to us because it presents evidence as to what Israel and pro-Israel activists are up against.
1. The media war between Israel’s supporters and detractors is a strongly determining factor in the sustenance to and maintenance of Israel’s existence; this is a point I think upon which, whether ideologically left or right, we could agree.
2. The larger media war, not specifically regarding Israel, but that war between left-wing and right-wing ideologies, is a strong factor in the smaller media war over Israel; in other words, what happens in the larger media war affects Israeli PR.
3. Despite protestations to the contrary from the left, Fox News is indeed much more balanced in its presentation of news and information between left and right. Although I would not call Fox News pro-Israel, I would characterize it as a news medium much more willing and open-minded to a right wing and Israeli point of view on the subject. Regardless of whether one allows for this same characterization to apply to other mainstream news sources or not, the point is that Fox News is a major bulwark against a vast sea of anti-Israel propaganda perpetrated by most other media around the world. In other words you can find Israel’s point of view represented on that channel as you can on other news sources, but, one would also find a more nuanced critique of the Left and liberalism in general on the questions regarding Israeli policy.
4. Media Matters, specifically, and other such left-wing groups more generally, are much less inclined to be willing and open-minded to a right wing and Israeli point of view on media content. Thus, when a group such as Media Matters has as its openly stated intent, the shuttering of Fox News, then it becomes a matter relevant to the pro-Israel community.
5. As Media Matters and other such left-wing groups grow and hone their craft they will therefore become ever more dangerous to open debate on Israel. Why? They wish to shutter Fox News. Although, in the interest of open debate, we would not call for the shuttering of Media Matters, we should expose their attempts to shutter right wing media and not just to criticize it. Criticism of Israel, or just questioning its policies, is legitimate. Being a jackanapes is also legitimate, though ill-advised. Being closed-minded is also ill advised. Working to shutter criticism by argument is legitimate as well, but one opens themselves to being exposed as a hypocrite or a scoundrel. Guile is legitimate too. What is not legitimate is trying to undermine the First Amendment by using government as a lever to shut down your opponents. This is what I think Media Matters is trying to do.
6. Lastly, as a more general point, when Media Matters bills itself as a media watchdog, but then turns from that to “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” against Fox News, we have an object lesson regarding the nature of left versus right. That nature is that many ideologies, movements, institutions and organizations that bill themselves as democratic are actually more inclined to authoritarianism.
The bottom line: Remember the Latin phrase Caveat Emptor? Buyer Beware.
From Poltico:
Media Matters’ war against Fox
By: Ben Smith
March 26, 2011 07:23 AM EDT
The liberal group Media Matters has quietly transformed itself in preparation for what its founder, David Brock, described in an interview as an all-out campaign of “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” aimed at the Fox News Channel.
The group, launched as a more traditional media critic, has all but abandoned its monitoring of newspapers and other television networks and is narrowing its focus to Fox and a handful of conservative websites, which its leaders view as a political organizations and the “nerve center” of the conservative movement. The shift reflects the centrality of the cable channel to the contemporary conservative movement, as well as the loathing it inspires among liberals — not least among the donors who fund Media Matters’ staff of about 90, who are arrayed in neat rows in a giant war room above Massachusetts Avenue.
Read the rest of the article here.
© 2011 Capitol News Company, LLC
Tags Fox News Media Matters Stan Kreis
About Stan Kreis
Stan Kreis has degrees in sociology, economics and accounting. Therefore he is wise, literate, financially sound and married to Kathryn Bernheimer (she would never marry anyone without such credentials). Grave marker: "the world was his oyster, unfortunately, he ate it and got stomach cramps."
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Chanukah may be over but its message is not. Especially with recent challenges to Jewish lives, we need to find experiences that bolster our determination to thrive, and our confidence in humanity.
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The right to vote is one of the most precious rights in our democracy – and it is under attack. In the last decade, many U.S. states have made it harder for people to vote, adopting tactics such as stricter identification requirements, polling place closures, limits on voter registration and early voting, and purges of voter lists.
16518One commenthttps%3A%2F%2Fboulderjewishnews.org%2F2011%2Fmedia-matters-vs-fox-news-israel-impact%2FMedia+Matters+vs.+Fox+News%3A+Israel+Impact%3F2011-03-31+16%3A30%3A19Stan+Kreishttp%3A%2F%2Fboulderjewishnews.org%2F%3Fp%3D16518
Stan: I think this is a bit of a stretch. I would put this in the same category as defending the Mubarak regime — it may have been overall good for Israel over the last 30 plus years, but I don't think that for that alone Jews or anyone else should condone everything else they did.
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Insect baits and baiting
Pest control| PPC97 November 2019
Partho Dhang has a PhD in Zoology and is the author of ‘Urban Pest Control: A Practitioner’s Guide’, where he explores trends in the industry, pest control tools, and sustainable pest management.
In this exclusive article for PPC, Partho explores the intricacies of insecticide baits, giving practical insights for UK pest management professionals.
SPEED VIEW
Baits are generally safer than sprays as they have low levels of active ingredients
Baits designed to attract one species rarely attract other pests
By coprophagy and necrophagy, leftover insecticide is taken up by others in the infested location, causing secondary kills
After eight months, cockroach populations decreased about 80% in IPM units, compared with a 300% increase with conventional treatments
The human component involved in baiting is possibly the factor against its effectiveness, possibly resolved by training.
Indoor pests have habituated themselves with human food and items we leave lying around, thus making use of insecticide baits has turned out to be most advantageous and effective.
As we know, pests find harbourage in homes for food and shelter.
The concept of baiting has taken these two aspects and turned it into a practical technique.
A pest controller now provides bait as a food substitute, and bait stations as shelter to replicate both of the pests needs.
Another reason bait has become popular is reduced risk and higher safety qualities when used correctly.
Reducing risk with bait
Baits are generally safer than spraying as they make use of very little active ingredients in their formulation.
The amount of active ingredient varies between 50mg to 2.0g per kilogramme of bait.
The application rate is also a few grammes of formulated bait per square metre of the treatment area.
This keeps both the application site and the applicator safe.
Most active ingredients used in insect baits are chosen to have low mammalian toxicity and are target specific.
They are not usually contact poisons and are mainly analogues and antagonists of insect growth regulators (IGR) such as juvenile hormone (JH), ecdysone, chitin synthesis inhibitors and related compounds.
Partho Dhang
Each of these generation compounds has low toxicity to mammals, or selective toxicity towards insects, therefore making bait handling safe.
But there are instances where toxic active ingredients are also used in baits to give a quick killing effect.
In such cases, the percentage of active used in the formulation is kept at a level which is many times lower than conventional spraying.
Baits are target specific - baits made for one pest species rarely attract another pest species.
This prevents affecting non-target organisms that may also be around.
This is achieved by using pest-specific attractants and stimulants.
In addition, baits should always be applied or placed in selective areas or inside concealed bait stations which prevent non-target organisms coming in contact.
These two aspects lower the risks of bait when applied.
Baits work by a single process of ingestion - a precise act on the part of the pest.
While conventional spraying requires the pest to come into contact with the chemical.
To achieve this, baits need to be selectively placed, whereas for spraying the entire area is treated.
Thus the amount of active ingredient used in baits can be very small.
The inner workings of bait
Baits developed for insect pests are food based.
They have not only been effective in killing the insect directly through ingestion by the feeding individual, but also showed a killing effect on individuals that did not ingest the bait directly.
The process termed ‘transfer effect’ or ‘secondary effect’ further enhances the efficacy of the bait against insects which are social or live in groups and exhibit trophallaxis or proctodeal feeding.
Cockroaches are not social insects but live in groups, therefore bait works well with them.
Cockroaches have shown a horizontal transfer of insecticides contained in baits and there is much research to demonstrate this fact (Kopanic and Schal, 1997; Buczkowski et al, 2001).
The process of secondary kill takes effect due to the presence of unmetabolized slow acting insecticide in the bait formulation, in the faeces, or oral secretions or it may simply remain in the body of the dead cockroaches.
By the process of coprophagy and necrophagy, leftover insecticide is then taken up by another group individual in the infested location, which brings about secondary kills.
Transfer effects or secondary kills increase the overall control efficiency of the bait; however the efficiency of the secondary kill can be dependent on the active ingredient and other influencing factors such as developmental stage, strain and donor/recipient ratio (Wang et al, 2008).
In one study, the researchers Bayer et al (2012) showed that cockroaches in fact consumed more active ingredient from a bait than needed to cause mortality proving there was no bait shyness.
The same work also estimated that a 30g tube of gel bait potentially killed from 394 to 6,966 adult cockroaches, depending on their species.
Mortality for all cockroach species was faster for adults (≥3 days) than for nymphs (≥7 days).
Similar successful bait transfers, from one individual to others in a colony, have been shown in controlling all forms of social insect pests such as ants, termites and wasps.
Are baits advantageous over conventional sprays?
It remains an unchallenged fact that conventional methods of pest control have eased urban life of humans, but it has also brought enormous damage to health and the environment.
Conventional methods of pest control can cover a wider range of pests, provide quick and easy elimination and have long field persistence as key benefits.
Conventional methods depend on the use of pesticides as a single approach to pest control, in which the chemical provides significant or acceptable reduction in the pest population.
It involves a single action of a chemical application following some regular, predetermined spray schedule.
However, modern pest management is more than just eliminating pests. It involves maintaining control over pests, preventing re-infestations and reducing chemical use as being more important than mere killing (Dhang, 2011).
Baits have provided a rational solution to all the above and, in addition to being able to control cryptic pests, have allowed treatment to inaccessible and sensitive areas.
In addition baits offer no odour, no translocation, and no staining potential, which are all common household concerns. Baits also leave lower or no residues.
Furthermore, baiting is most suitable for treating sensitive locations such as high-density human population, food preparation areas, inside hospitals and schools.
It is another aspect, such as cost of services and overall efficacy, which make baits advantageous over conventional sprays.
A World Health Organization (Europe) publication provides some insight into it (Rust, 2008): it reported in one instance that the cost for a conventional service of cockroach control was US$8.57 (£6.79) per unit and IPM was US$7.49 (£5.93) per unit.
In another study, the costs for IPM involving monitoring, baiting, cleaning and structural repairs were US$46-69 (£36-55) per unit in the first year and US$24 (£19) per unit in the following year.
In comparison, conventional chemical controls cost US$24-46 (£19-36) per unit, and involved no repairs or structural modifications to the apartments.
In another study in public housing, the costs of conventional crack-and-crevice treatments with sprays and dusts were compared with vacuuming, baits and insect growth regulators (IGRs) for controlling German cockroaches.
The average costs for IPM and conventional treatments were US$4.06 (£3.64) and US$1.50 (£1.19) per unit, respectively. After eight months, cockroach populations decreased about 80% in IPM units, compared with a 300% increase with conventional treatments.
What are the methodologies involved in baiting?
Compared to conventional spray treatment, baiting is inspection-driven, friendlier to the environment, and often more effective.
Though the technology is restricted to a few pests, it has made significant progress as a tool in urban pest management.
However, as discussed by Dhang (2011) the overall efficiency of baiting will depend on the bait applicators.
Applicators’ knowledge and skills are of paramount importance for baiting to be successful, as the concept of baiting is a dynamic field, constantly evolving and adjusting to changes in insect behaviour and location.
The human component involved in baiting is possibly the single factor against its popularity among pest control practitioners, which could be resolved by training.
The critical part of a typical baiting programme depends on the following:
Quality of the bait
Commercial bait varies in attractability, nutritional quality, colour, texture, moisture and many other factors which are critical to acceptability and sustained feeding. For best performance, bait needs to be tested before use.
Technical skills and knowledge of the bait applicator
This is the second most important factor in bait performance. Good bait but poor placement and wrong dosage can make bait ineffective. The greatest variant in any baiting program is the quantity of bait consumed. Knowledge of pest biology is often required to overcome this issue.
Pest population
It is never possible to determine the pest population based on a survey or inspection. Often the population of the pest determines the bait quantity, the number of visits and ultimately the cost. This has to be thoroughly noted before starting a baiting programme.
Harbourage location
Baits will only work if they are ingested, which is always a voluntary act. A pest will not walk an extra mile to seek a bait when food is around the harbourage. To make baits competitive it is thus important to either aggregate the pest in a specific location, using a bait station or place the bait in the regular feeding zone near the harbourage.
Sanitation of the area
Baits or a baiting programme does not work well if the sanitation of the site is poor. Leftover food or alternative food available on site acts as temptation away from the bait, reducing its consumption and in turn becoming ineffective in the elimination of the pest. Thus it is advisable to clean the site before baiting.
Follow-ups and monitoring
One time bait application does not often work. Too much bait left may turn dry, get contaminated, and thence be unfit for sustained consumption. Too little will not kill all individuals in the group. This makes a repeat visit a must.
Bayer BE; Pereira RM and Koehler PG, 2012. Differential consumption of baits by pest blattid and blattellid cockroaches and resulting in direct and secondary effects. https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.1200
Buczkowski G, Kopanic RJ and Schal C, 2001. Transfer of ingested insecticides among cockroaches: effects of active ingredient, bait formulation, and assay procedures. Journal of Economic Entomology 94, 1229-1236.
Dhang P, 2011. Insect Bait: Technology to Manage Urban Pest with less Insecticide. In: Dhang P (ed.) Urban Pest Management: an Environmental Perspective. CABI, London,pp. 187-206.
Dhang P, 2018. Urban Pest Control: A Practioner’s Guide. CAB International, Oxfordshire, UK, pp 98-107.
Kopanic RJ Jr and Schal C, 1997. Relative significance of direct ingestion and adult-mediated translocation of bait to German cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) nymphs. Journal of Economic Entomology 90, 1073-1079.
Rust M, 2008. Cockroaches. In: Bonnefoy X; Kampen H and Sweeney K (eds) Public Health Significance of Urban Pests. World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark, pp.65.
Wang C; Yang, X; El-Nour MA and Bennett GW, 2008. Factors affecting secondary kill of the German cockroach (Dictyoptera: Blattellidae) by gel baits. In: Robinson WH and Bajomi D (eds.) Proceedings of the sixth International Conference on Urban Pests, Budapest, July 2008, OOK-Press, Budapest, pp. 153-159.
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Are we going to lose more insecticides in 2020?
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Ficam W to be withdrawn from the market
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VIDEO: Inspection and control of bed bugs
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Body, mind, soul
Meet the Publisher
Donald N. Bastian
Donald N. Bastian, bishop emeritus of the Free Methodist Church of North America, is widely regarded as an inspired preacher, wise overseer of the church, and outstanding writer. Throughout his ministry he has spoken with particular urgency on the biblical vision of marriage and the family. His own vision is informed by a unique blend of biblical and pastoral insight and his life as a husband, father, and grandfather.
Read Bishop Bastian’s blog here.
The Pastor’s First Love
And Other Essays on a High and Holy Calling
Wise and practical essays on the pastor as shepherd,
preacher, worship leader, and professional
Winner of a 2014 Word Guild award
Finalist for the 2014 Grace Irwin award
“This is pastoral theology at its best. Bishop Emeritus Donald N. Bastian unfolds a lifetime of pastoral wisdom in words as fresh and timely as they are seasoned and timeless. In writing that is deeply rooted in scripture and the pastoral tradition of the historic church, Bastian applies his years of experience as pastor and church leader to the perennial needs of the postmodern church in any culture. Highly recommended.”
– DOUGLAS R. CULLUM, Vice President and Dean, Professor of Historical and Pastoral Theology, Northeastern Seminary, Rochester, New York
“Rightly recognized for the grace and gifts of pastoral ministry, Donald N. Bastian has provided readers with wisdom, substance, and practical help distilled from decades as a minister of the gospel. Especially helpful for younger pastors, the book will deepen their theology, confirm their vocation, and help them through more than a few difficulties.”
– VICTOR A. SHEPHERD, Professor of Theology, Tyndale University College & Seminary, Toronto, Professor Ordinarius, the Graduate Theological Union, University of Oxford, and author of eleven books
$24.95 USD / $24.95 CAD / £16.50 GBP
Available now from:
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Please Verify If You are of Legal Drinking Age in Your Region.
Craft beer goes kegging, canning, growling
Grey Goose swears by its unique vodka cocktails
GenNext-India leads the change
Show me the way to the next cocktail bar
Craft Sisterhood nurtures a new Indian gin brand
Craft Drinks India sequel, 3-4 July, in Bengaluru
‘Big Boys’ can dance to innovation tune too!
The branding of Hopper beer bottle
How Arundeep Sangla built his beer ‘Estate’
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Ketel One’s way to sustainability in the bar
How to make the best wheat beer
A boot camp for crafting beer
Birthing a new beer can be fun, and how!
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Singleton makes the world go round
‘To make a million, start with 10 million’
Looking for Purrrfection
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Whisky’s Watershed Cometh!
Wine Yard
Grover Zampa celebrates 30 years with exclusive soiree
Organic wines from Arunachal, Maharashtra
Climate change forces re-think, re-calibration
Grover Zampa wins women’s votes
3rd India Wine Awards in October
‘30 Best Bars in India’ underway
Craft Drinks India 2019 blended business
CDI 2019: Blending businesses in Bengaluru
Best in the business
Tech-Tonic
Happy-Innings
Between Covers
Home Cover Story
Go, Go, Goaaah!
Vikram Achanta
Paul John single malt whisky (L) is now firmly on the global spirits map, with its flagship Nirvana, Brilliance, Edited and Bold editions. Fullarton Distilleries’ Woodburns (R) is a contemporary Indian blended whisky with pretty neat packaging.
The Indian alcobev industry has seen a wave of innovation across sectors, starting from Indian native spirits like Feni and Mahua to single malt whiskies, exclusive gins and craft beers. What binds an exciting set of brands in all these categories together is Goa; and what immediately springs to mind is ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’
Feni means froth in Konkani, and the name is said to have originated somewhere between 1584 and the 1750s, with its first mention in the 1750s when the Portuguese started taxing it. The Arabs are believed to have introduced the cashew fruit to Goa, and 1584 is believed to have seen the first mention of a spirit called Nasha Pani.
Distilling of cashew fruit pulp started during Portuguese rule and the colonisers allowed it to flourish while also putting in place a set of rules, which very much focused on the small scale and artisanal nature of production – a trend which the world has now begun discovering and valuing.
There were, of course, some oddities in the rules, which have persisted to this day. For example, even though you may have a plot of land where cashew trees grow, you still have to put in a bid for that cashew every year – if someone else wins the auctioned lot, s/he can pick the fruit!
Even after that there is a catch – there is a separate auction for those who wish to distil the pulp of the flavoured fruit! After the liberation of Goa in 1961, Feni was left to follow the same old laws.
However, since it didn’t quite fit in as an IMFL (India made foreign liquor), it was included under the classification of ‘country liquor’. This classification helps keep the prices of Feni low, and well within the reach of the common man who drank it.
But the law also prevents its export to other states – and hence a lack of awareness about Feni and low social esteem.
Going premium
That is where producers like Hansel Vaz and Regan Henriques, of Cazulo Feni and Rhea Distilleries respectively, have stepped in. At the age of 26, Hansel turned away from his job in a multi-national in the South Pacific, to return home and resurrect his family’s Feni business.
After years of hard work Hansel launched Cazulo (the Konkani word for firefly) Feni in 2012; but his product was priced at thrice as much as other brands of Feni. But due to the Vaz family’s long history in the liquor retail sector, it soon caught on and found eager buyers.
My early memories of drinking Feni are not pleasant; but when I drank Cazulo for the first time in 2015, I found that Hansel had struck the right balance between aroma and taste, which give Feni its distinctive markers. Both have been gently toned down, helping Feni find new fans.
Hansel also invested in his brand to ensure that people would be proud to pull out a bottle of Cazulo at home, or order it in a trendy bar. (See our photo-feature in Brews&Spirits of Aug-Sept, 2019)
Another distiller who is doing his best to change the adverse perception of Feni is Regan Henriques of Rhea Distilleries, who has produced three interesting variants, two of which I’ve tasted a couple of years ago.
“Normally, cashew Feni is distilled twice, but Fidalgo premium is distilled a third time, enabling us to achieve an ultra-fine Feni,” Reagan informs me.
Matured in oak
Fidalgo also enjoys premium pricing (Rs. 500), befitting its silver medal at the prestigious San Francisco World Spirits competition (2016) and another silver in the white spirits category at the International Wine and Spirits Challenge in London in 2017-18.
Traditionally Feni has been rested or matured in garrafão (large glass jars). Regan decided to experiment with maturing Feni in oak casks for several years, which increased the expense due to their scarcity and cost. But he found that this led to a remarkable transformation in the flavour, with the Feni gaining complexity and depth, with appealing aromas and a warm amber colour.
This resulted in a brand that he called Rhea Heritage. Regan uses American oak casks, which have previously been used for bourbon. The Feni is aged for a minimum of 3 years and Rhea Heritage is priced at Rs. 750.
Regan also chose triple distilled Feni for infusion with fresh cinnamon from Sri Lanka and honey from Kerala. He lets the flavours marry for three months before bottling it as Rhea Harmony (Rs. 650/). A smooth blend, Regan advocates its consumption either on the rocks, or chilled with ice and soda, or even possibly as a chilled shot.
Savoury gins
Over the last few years premium gin has begun to take off in India, but the brands / variety on offer were not to the liking of Anand Virmani and Vaibhav Singh, co-founders of Perch, a wine, coffee and cocktail bar, with two outposts in Delhi.
Instead of complaining about it, they decided to create their own gin label and thus was born Nao Spirits, which they chose to set up in Goa. Anand says, partly in jest, “It gives me a good reason to visit Goa!”
Jokes aside, what was also of appeal was that they could tap into shared infrastructure, and avail of the facilities offered by Blue Ocean Beverages located in a dusty industrial estate in Sao Jose de Areal, south of Margao.
I visited there earlier this year. Tucked away in a corner of the massive facility is Agotha, the copper pot still from Hungary, used to make both, Greater Than, their entry level gin, as well as Hapusa, their premium variant. (See Agotha in Brews&Spirits of June-July, 2019).
Greater Than, their first brand, owes its name to the mathematical precision of a cocktail recipe. With Greater Than in the mix, it would elevate the recipe and make it greater than the sum of its components.
Greater Than is a classic London dry gin, perfect for a G&T or other classic cocktails. Hapusa, their second brand, is the world’s first Himalayan dry gin, comes in a beautiful bottle and has foraged Himalayan juniper and locally sourced botanicals.
Hapusa is a savoury gin, for which we have also turmeric and mango to credit, and is a great gin to just sip over ice or, if you like, in a Classic dry martini.
Goa is home to another Indian craft gin, this one from Third Eye Distilling, a brand called Stranger & Sons. Fularton Distilleries, with which Third Eye Distilling shares manufacturing space, is a large integrated alco-bev facility.
The logo of Stranger & Sons is a tigress and no ordinary one – a two-tailed, 3-eyed animal. The gin has a vivid mix of Indian botanicals, starting with the Gondhoraj lemon and also including liquorice, nutmeg, cassia bark and mace. (Read more about Stranger & Sons in Brews&Spirits of Aug-Sept, 2019).
For Sakshi Saigal, CEO of Stranger and Sons, “Goa was a natural choice as it is both the traditional seat of alcohol trade in India (since Portuguese times) and a key player in India’s spice trade.”
Fullarton Distilleries produces Woodburns, a contemporary Indian whisky, which also has a pretty neat packaging, something to also look out for on your next trip. It is a blended whisky, with a high percentage of malt (all locally sourced), priced at Rs. 2,850 in Mumbai and Rs. 1,500 in Goa.
Hapusa, Stranger & Sons and Woodburns have set new standards for Indian packaging. Aman Thadani of Fullarton tells me he is planning to launch his own brand of gin in 2020.
Paul John single malt whisky is now also firmly on the spirits tourism map with an exquisite visitor experience centre built in traditional Goan architecture. It has a full team of experts on hand to guide visitors through the whisky making process.
The barley malt is sourced from the plains of northern India. The spirit which emerges from the pot stills has no colour and little flavour, but its quality is of paramount importance. It is matured in ex-bourbon casks from Kentucky, oak casks from Limousin (France), sherry butts from Spain and port pipes from Portugal.
Apart from the newly launched Nirvana, the distillery’s flagships are Brilliance, Edited and Bold. Two other whiskies are available only in Goa due to their high (55% ABV) alcohol content, the Select Cask-Classic and the Peated.
Beer bouquet
As a frequent traveller to Goa, one brand I always looked forward to was Kings Beer, served in its stubby bottle. It was with sadness that I realised that this was one constant I would no longer enjoy. Fortunately for me, a string of entrepreneurs afford me enough choices in both, packaged beer (bottles/cans) or fresh beer from a tap.
Suraj Shenai had his first taste of an IPA (India Pale Ale) while on a flight to the US and he was hooked. With no experience of beer, apart from mass market lagers in India, this was an eye opener. He spent the next few weeks touring breweries up and down the coasts of America.
He got on board as a co-founder, Ashtavinayak Paradh (aka Ash), a doctorate in brewing sciences from Scotland’s prestigious Heriot-Watt University, who was associated with Pune’s Vasantdada Sugar Institute. Suraj finally set up Goa Brewing Company in a large derelict villa in Sangolda (across the Mandovi River from Panaji), to set up his brewery.
Ash and his team of young brewers, most of who have studied under him at VSI, churn out Eight-Finger Eddie, a fruit-forward and hoppy IPA. A pineapple Saison is their second commercial launch, and their most recent one is an ale called Saints and Sinners – in a blue bottle with a red seal!
My next stop is just a short distance away in Saligao, where Bengaluru-based Arbor Brewing Company supplies beer in kegs across bars in Goa as also make three of their beers available in cans in a Beer Garden that also offers superlative food and service.
While Greater Than and Hapusa are housed in Blue Ocean Beverages (south of Margao), Stranger & Sons works out of Fullarton Distilleries (at the base of the Western Ghats in Khandepar). Both of these are large facilities which, apart from producing their own set of brands, also provide entrepreneurs with both the space for production and access to expensive facilities like bottling lines and storage tanks.
Mrinal Manu of Blue Ocean does not yet have his own brands, but currently manufactures and exports a range of brands under license from different companies, including the US-based Hartford Eastern Holdings. Blue Ocean also has plans to launch its own products, staying within the craft spirits and liqueurs space.
Aman (Fullarton) and Mrinal (Blue Ocean) are both old hands in Goa and both give credit to the local population as a contributory factor for more and more brands choosing Goa as a base. “Although small, the population is discerning, has a good palate, is well versed with spirits and is open to new ideas,” says Mrinal.
As Anand of Nao Spirits says, “The Blue Ocean guys understood the meaning of craft and were curious enough about what we were doing. We couldn’t have managed without their support for sure.”
Mrinal also supports Desmondji, India’s first home grown agave spirits and Mahua brand which (although manufactured in Andhra Pradesh) also makes select use of Mrinal’s facilities, including the bottling lines.
Mrinal says he is very happy to work with people like Anand and Desmond Nazareth of Agave India. “They are trying to differentiate the industry,” he notes.
There’s more to the Goa story than inspiration and sweat. Sakshi of Stranger & Sons notes, “People here are very serious about their susegad time: they will shut shop and leave, no matter how pressing your work. It took us some time to get used to it, but you can’t really complain about a 4-hour work day!”
Go, go Goaah! for the latest in alcobev innovation
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Mother crashes into ditch as she swerved to avoid dead deer in road
The mother was injured, but her two kids were not.
Adam Uren
Stearns County Sheriff
A driver in central Minnesota crashed into a ditch after swerving to avoid a dead deer.
The incident happened on County Road 2 in Stearns County just after 6 a.m. Tuesday, when a Toyota Corolla driven by Kelly Lanners, 32, of Albany, left the road.
It emerged she had swerved to avoid the deer lying in the roadway, and ended up driving into a ditch on the east side of the road, striking a sign in the process.
Her two young sons were in the rear passenger seats, neither of whom were injured as they were using their seat belts and child restraint seats.
Lanners, who was also wearing a seat belt, was taken to St. Cloud Hospital for treatment on non-life threatening injuries.
Her car was towed from the scene and the dead deer removed from the road.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety says that it received 7,896 reports of crashes involving vehicles and deer between 2014 and 2018, of which 18 resulted in death and 116 in serious injuries.
Many drivers in Minnesota will know this of course, but the experts advise that if you see an animal in the middle of the road, the worst thing you can do is swerve to avoid it, as this significant increases the chances of causing yourself injury.
Stearns CountyMinnesotacrashdeer
Near-zero visibility: No travel advised in parts of southern MN
Very strong winds are whipping around snow.
Woman killed after driver swerves to avoid deer, hits a tree
Driver swerves into pasture, hits and kills cow
The driver was uninjured in the collision.
3 injured in crash after truck swerves to avoid bear cub
The crash happened on Hwy. 2 in St. Louis County.
Charges: Driver drank Fireball before crashing into Starbucks
The driver and two customers were injured in the crash.
Motorcyclist, 20, dies in collision with deer in northern MN
The victim is a resident of Hibbing.
See this crash? It was caused by a cellphone distraction
The driver, fortunately, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Virus from midges has been causing deer deaths in Minnesota
Two deaths have been confirmed, and several more are suspected.
1 dead in crash between SUV, ATV in central Minnesota
The ATV driver died after being struck from behind.
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Transfer News LIVE: Latest from Man United, Arsenal & more
PatickM
Whilst a deal is being worked on for Lukaku, the two clubs are in discussions over what would be an emotional return to Goodison for Rooney...
CHRIS WHEELER AND JACK GAUGHAN: Wayne Rooney's agent Paul Stretford held talks with Everton chairman Bill Kenwright on Wednesday afternoon as the Manchester United striker's return to Goodison Park edged closer.
The two men spoke at Kenwright's London offices and further talks are planned in the coming days with Everton increasingly hopeful of bringing Rooney back to Merseyside 13 years after he left for Old Trafford in a £27million transfer.
Everton have stepped up their interest in the last few days and there is a willingness on behalf of both clubs and the Rooney camp to strike a deal.
However, no agreement has been reached yet and it's understood that all three sides will have to compromise before that happens.
A number of options are being discussed including United paying up the remaining two years of Rooney's contract and allowing him to leave on a free transfer, and a season-long loan which would see the two clubs share his £230,000-a-week wages.
Everton have always been Rooney's preference ahead of a move to China or America, and he confirmed after United's win in the Europa League final in May that they were the only club he would play for after leaving Old Trafford.
But until now the finances have proved a significant stumbling block with Everton only prepared to pay a fee of £10m and wages of £150,000-a-week for a 31-year-old player whose stock has fallen significantly in the last 12 months. READ MORE
Donald Trump and Poland's president plot against t...
Where the stars of McLeod's Daughters are now
Saturday, 27 January 2018 Saudi man loses right to drive after undergoing sex change surgery
Saturday, 27 January 2018 Mortician arrested after spending 8 hours with penis stuck inside corpse
Saturday, 27 January 2018 Woman goes blind after Syphilis-ridden brother pranks her with facial cum shot
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Emilia Gąsienica-Setlak
PROJECT COINCIDENCE
Born 1986. Polish paintress & graphic artist. In the year 2011 she graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow in the Painting Studios of Professor Teresa Kotkowska-Rzepecka and Professor Leszek Misiak. She has also a university degree in graphic art in the Woodcut Studio of Professor Bogdan Miga. The most important issues of her artistic interests are dynamic colour, brief composition and their synthetic relations to the surroundings. Her works have been used as cover motives for books: „Evil Spirit” („Scriptum” Publishing House, 2005) by the Bulgarian absurdist fiction writer Svetoslav Minkov, „Aquatic names of the Vistula basin” (Polish Academy of Science, 2013) by Doctor Urszula Bijak and has appeared on the cover of the „Women In Art 278 Magazine”, 2014. Her paintings participated also in the filming of Spanish-American movie „Embers”, directed by Claire Carre, 2015. She exhibits in Poland, Spain, Italy, United States, Japan, Great Britain, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria and Hungary. An author of twenty four solo exhibitions and participant of over sixty group exhibitions and art fairs. Her works are located in Polish and Hungarian art museums and private collections in Europe, Asia and United States.
„Kísértés”, KREDENC Bistro Gallery, Budapest
„Project Coincidence”, CULTURE MAGAZINE Foundation, Krakow
„Points of View Krakow-Warsaw”, Gallery Kazimierz, Krakow
„Donkey Art Prize III”, MOSTRAMI FOLLI50 SPACE-Milan,
VIOPHILIA Gallery-Miami, 3331 CHIYODA ART CENTRE-Tokyo,
Gallery 76 at DUBAI INTERNATIONAL ART CENTER
„Small Wonders”, ATOMIC CAFE Gallery, Detroit
„Soma Space”, ETHER Gallery, Warszawa
„Some Like It Hot”, CITY OF ART Gallery, Krakow
„Painting”, CASTLE Gallery, Sucha Beskidzka
„6x6x2015”, ROCHESTER CONTEMPORARY ART CENTER, Rochester
„Museo de la imaginación”, ARTÁGORA Gallery, Sevilla
„April International Art Show”, KAZI30 Gallery, Budapest
„3rd International Mail Art Exhibition”, MALOM Gallery, Nyíracsád
„Woo”, 33 GALLERY, Ostrow Wielkopolski
„S-Expression”, CULTURE MAGAZINE Foundation, Krakow
5th International Painting Competition, LESSEDRA Gallery, Sofia
„Master and Disciples”, CENTRUM Gallery, Krakow
„Hunger of the Colors”, ENIGMA Gallery, Przemysl
„The Next Thing”, DWOR KARWACJANOW Gallery, Gorlice
„I will do it my way”, CSW SOLVAY, Krakow
„Interim Form”, LAMELLI Gallery, Krakow
WPA4 Art Festival, Duszniki-Zdroj
„Wayfaring”, PANORAMA Gallery, Tomaszowice
„Artifacts”, AGH Professor Club, Krakow
„City of Stars” Art Festival, Zyrardow
„Abstract”, ZADRA Gallery, Warsaw
„Art of Women”, CZAJKA Gallery, Warsaw
„Painting/Graphics”, STRUG Gallery, Zakopane
„AFRICA art/etnography”, Museum of Etnography, Krakow
„Painting”, POD ANIOŁEM Gallery, Rabka-Zdroj
„Contemporary Art Medals”, WINDOW Gallery, West Dean
„Portrait of a Woman”, ARTPARK Gallery, Zakopane
An important element is the artistic consciousness of her way and the place where she is located. We feel the hunger of the colors shown as an attempt to cast them as the most intense in the pictures, see through them that the world is „variable, dynamic, surprising and therefore beautiful”… it is the rebellion against pseudo-objective delusion of local color. Emilia Gąsienica-Setlak is aware of the fact that „color can dominate the whole picture, can dominate all the other works in the museum hall” – it is disappearing knowledge today.
Dr Rafał Borcz
The color sensitivity and the ability to build summaries based on chromatic harmonies is perhaps one of the most important assets of Emilia Gąsienica. The second is a constant tendency to go beyond the form once established and closed, continuous experiment in which formal decisions are born spontaneously and determine initially unpredictable directions, toward which draws attention of still searching Author. The final choice seems to be quite justified, even if the arguments are not disclosed and will remain forever in the realm of the most subjective content.
Dr Ewa Herniczek
The „Woo” cycle, which glorifies the colors, reflections and adopting them matter, without losing on narrative and lyricism, is the culmination of the artist’s previous activities. The penetrating them female figure is only an excuse for artistic exploration made by Emilia and attempt to continue the story initiated by the masters of painting, such as Kandinsky, Matisse, Klimt or even Chagall. What is more, the work of the Artist does not lose its freshness and consistency in spite of salon convention.
Katarzyna Kowalska, MA
The backbone of the exhibition is made up of the latest Emilia Gąsienica-Setlak’s series “Lux In Tenebris”, whose title is a reference to an evangelist or Bertolt Brecht’s play, but in the artist’s intention focusing on purely artistic issues. “Light in Darkness” is to present the physical nature of human existence devoid of cultural contexts. The paining medium enables the artist to look at the human body differently from photographers’ lenses, filters and shutters. The people presented in the pictures are frozen, limited only by gravity. They do not interact with the environment, they do not go about their daily routines, they wait… for the light shed freely on their skins to take out a subjective history described by the painter’s brush, a history of colours, shapes, textures and the anatomic relationships that govern them. Additionally, the Soma Space exhibition will host the artist’s works from her other series, including “Woo”, “Uninhabited” and “Interim Form”.
Marcin Setlak, MA
catepillart@gmail.com
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News Archivegetonline2017-05-19T14:37:38+01:00
“We must not ignore the voice of people in the Holy Land” – bishops
News, News Feed
By Oisin|2020-01-17T16:39:36+00:00January 17th, 2020|Categories: News, News Feed|
Participation in the Holy Land Co-ordination 2020 included Bishop Noel Treanor of Down & Connor and Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ of Raphoe.
Bishop Michael Router calls for an end to cycle of violence
Featured, News Feed
By Brenda|2020-01-16T09:29:35+00:00January 16th, 2020|Categories: Featured, News Feed|Tags: armagh, Bishop Michael Router, Drogheda, Gangland, Lough, Violence|
"From the bottom of my heart, I ask individuals and communities to stand together and cooperate with Gardaí in every way possible to help permanently bring to an end this cycle of bloody violence in our community." - Bishop Michael Router
New podcast on the Catechism
By Brenda|2020-01-15T16:33:54+00:00January 15th, 2020|Categories: News, News Feed|
Catechism in a year podcast
Pope Francis baptises children in Sistine Chapel
On the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Pope Francis celebrated Mass in the Sistine Chapel, and baptised 32 children.
Northern Ireland deal offers new hope – Church Leaders
The leaders of Ireland’s main Churches welcome the agreement reached between Northern Ireland’s political parties and the UK and Irish Governments, saying the new deal offers fresh hope.
Irish Bishops promote peace in the Holy Land
Bishop Noel Treanor and Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ will join with bishops from Europe and North America on this visit to the Holy Land.
Parishioners from Knock to participate in Papal Mass for ‘Sunday of the Word of God’
By Brenda|2020-01-15T16:17:43+00:00January 9th, 2020|Categories: Featured, News Feed|Tags: knock shrine, Pope Francis|
Archbishop Michael Neary, Archbishop of Tuam will lead a group from Knock Shrine to participate in a Papal Mass celebrating the first ever Sunday of the Word of God.
Pope Francis calls for prayers for Australia
By Brenda|2020-01-08T14:34:42+00:00January 8th, 2020|Categories: News, News Feed|Tags: Australia, Pope Francis|
At the General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis called for prayers for Australia, which is battling massive wildfires.
Vatican releases Pope Francis’ message for World Day of the Sick 2020
By Brenda|2020-01-08T11:22:41+00:00January 8th, 2020|Categories: Featured, News Feed|Tags: Chaplaincy, Good Samaritan, healthcare, Pope Francis, World Day of the Sick|
“Come to me, all you who labour and are burdened” is the theme of the World Day of the Sick, to be marked on 11 February.
Pope Francis appeals for self-control amid heightened threat of war
By Brenda|2020-01-08T14:36:11+00:00January 8th, 2020|Categories: News, News Feed|
Amid an escalating crisis between the United States and Iran, Pope Francis urges nations to exercise self-control and dialogue.
We can build a more just and peaceful world for ourselves and others if we live our faith authentically – Archbishop Eamon Martin
By Brenda|2020-01-02T15:03:21+00:00January 2nd, 2020|Categories: Featured, News Feed|Tags: Archbishop Eamon Martin, New YEar 2020, World Day of Prayer for Peace|
World Day of Prayer for Peace 2020
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Time to benefit from country’s competencies to establish real gold mining industry in Egypt: Al-Nagi - Daily News Egypt
Interviews Time to benefit from country’s competencies to establish real gold mining industry in Egypt: Al-Nagi
Time to benefit from country’s competencies to establish real gold mining industry in Egypt: Al-Nagi
President Al-Sisi’s second term experiencing more facilities, incentives for investors
Doaa A. Moneam March 5, 2019 Be the first to comment
Since the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources has announced the winners in the last gold ore exploring tender conducted in April 2017, the four winning companies have not yet received their five concessions.
Without revealing the reasons behind that, official resources previously told Daily News Egypt that the Ministry of Petroleum is drafting new requirements for gold ore exploration in Egypt. Meanwhile, the four companies suspended their investments in Egypt until the government clarifies the situation of the tender.
Nabil Al-Nagi, owner of Veritas Investments Limited (VIL), one of the winning companies, spoke to Daily News Egypt about his company’s situation in the tender and evaluated the economic reform plan adopted in Egypt. VIL is investing mainly in two activities, one is a gold and silver mine in Peru, and the second is a gold trading company.
The interview’s transcript is below, lightly edited for clarity:
How do you evaluate Egypt’s position regarding the economic reform plan?
All actions that the government has taken so far aim to boost the country’s GDP growth and foreign exchange reserves which will have a positive impact on employment rates and stability of the banking system.
In the long term, these economic reforms will gradually improve the tourism and export sectors, especially natural gas exports, and improve the performance of the private sector investments.
In addition, these reforms improve the confidence in Egypt’s banking sector and stock market which has recorded unprecedented indicators since the implementation of the economic reform plan. Egypt’s stock market will be the dark horse among the global emerging markets in the coming two years especially after offering governmental companies.
What has been achieved so far since applying economic reform procedures?
The second term of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is witnessing the continuation of both political and economic reforms, attracting more investments, and many problems and obstacles that investors, especially foreign ones, have been facing declined.
The floatation of Egyptian pound helped to reduce the trade deficit thanks to the improvement of exports’ performance and their increasing competitiveness, thus, the demand on foreign exchange declined and the competitiveness of the domestic industry was promoted.
How did the Investment Law enhance investment environment in Egypt?
Indeed, the Investment Law protects investors, as it sets for the first time a number of incentives for investors, along with the current ones.
It also provides new techniques to deal with investment conflicts, and procedural reforms that can eradicate bureaucracy gradually, easing the procedures to embark on new investments and ensuring equal opportunities.
In this regard, this law sets out a solid basis for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), easing the financing procedures through the financial inclusion system. In addition, it offers multiple choices for investors and facilitates procedures of registration, approval, and licensing. This law is a step that reduces the time spent by the investor to launch his projects.
Likewise, the single-window system which was applied in the General Authority for Investments and Free Zones (GAFI) and the accreditation offices that opened all over Egypt were serious steps towards attracting more investments and enhancing the investment environment in general.
At the same time, the law put methods to protect investors against any kind of arbitrary practices or abuse of power. Along with that, the ministerial committee formed to deal with investment disputes is being held twice a month instead of one time every two months, which sends a reassuring message to investors.
Undoubtedly, the Investment Law clearly guarantees equal treatment for all investors, foreign and local alike, protecting the capital through banning sequestration, seizing assets, or nationalising without a court order.
What is the current situation of your investments in Egypt after winning in the gold mining tender announced in May 2017?
In mid-July 2017, Veritas Egypt signed the first agreement to obtain exploration license, then this license was issued after a few amendments at the end of October 2017. Another version of the license was issued in mid-December 2017. But, until now, all the winning companies, including my company, have not been handed over their sites.
So, how do you see the delay in the concessions handover?
Well, I have no answer for this question as the government has not provided any explanation for this delay until now.
However, the owners knew from media that the government outsourced the Baker Mckenzie Company in 2018 to put an entire new system to benefit Egypt the most of its mineral wealth, including gold mining. The new plan will include new methods of exploring gold ore and attracting more investments in this industry. I think this is the reason why the owners have not received their concessions yet.
How do you evaluate the tender system in Egypt?
Actually, the terms of gold ore exploring that had been set in the last tender were drafted in a similar frame of oil and natural gas exploring tenders, which are not relevant to the gold mining as a high-risk industry and a long-term investment. There are key differences between the two kinds of exploration.
What is your vision of in this regard?
The new tender terms should exclude the concept of production sharing that allows the Egyptian government to obtain a share of the concession’s production and replace it by collecting royalty fees. This will be beneficial for both parties, investors and government. It’s the common technique followed in other countries’ gold mining industry.
This concept, if the government adopted it, would attract significant investments in this important industry.
What are the competencies that Egypt should obtain to have a strong gold mining industry?
Egypt is a huge country with vast and rich mineral resources. Egypt’s gold ore reserves are promising. Undoubtedly, this significant mineral wealth, especially gold ore, need to be extracted, which means that Egypt must make use of this opportunity to establish a real industry and attract many companies to explore and extract its mineral wealth, especially large companies with long experience.
All the tender winners will develop their assets and strengthen their investments to make their concessions as productive as Al Sokari gold mine.
Topics: gold mining Industry Nabil Al-Nagi
Doaa A. Moneam
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https://cdn2.dailynewsegypt.com/2019/03/05/time-to-benefit-from-countrys-competencies-to-establish-real-gold-mining-industry-in-egypt-al-nagi/
EMRA to replace bidding system with 6-year gold exploration license: Source
Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority targets EGP 2.4bn in profits in FY 2019/20
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Egypt, Germany discuss boosting tourism cooperation
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“Global company to draft new terms to benefit from Egypt’s mining wealth”: official source
7 billion ounces of gold in 125 concessions need to be controlled
Top 10 global countries in producing gold ore : Egypt out of scene
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Public figures call to amend presidential term; Al-Sisi asserts respecting constitution
Illegal gold mines destroying Amazon rainforest: study
March 5, 2019 Breaking News
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Silent René Clair: The Phantom of the Moulin Rouge (1925)
August 29, 2019 By PH in 2019 British Silent Film Festival Tags: 20th British Silent Film Festival, British silent film festival, Lobster Films, Rene Clair, silent film Leave a comment
Le Fantôme du Moulin-Rouge (1925)
René Clair was one of France’s most celebrated auteur directors, who made great films in both the silent and sound eras and on each side of the Atlantic. We’re thrilled that our festival will host the UK premiere of Lobster Films’ new restoration of his first feature film, Le fantôme du Moulin-Rouge (The Phantom of the Moulin Rouge, 1925). And we’re even more excited to say that this screening will be accompanied by two of our favourite musicians, multi-instrumentalist Stephen Horne and harpist Elizabeth-Jane Baldry.
Although Clair is credited, quite rightly, with one of the most sophisticated transitions to the talking pictures with the eloquent sound design of Sous les Toits de Paris (Under the Roofs of Paris, 1930), his silent work is particularly fascinating and has been overlooked by too many people. His silent work combines the avant-garde, the comic and the fantastical to make films that are filled with beauty and wonder, as well as humour. Continue reading →
20th British Silent Film Festival – at-a-glance timetable
August 19, 2019 By Sue Porter in 2019 British Silent Film Festival Tags: 20th British Silent Film Festival, British silent film festival, BSFF 2019, silent film, timetable Leave a comment
Song of the Scarlet Flower (1919)
Leicester Museum and Art Gallery
7. 30pm
From Morn to Midnight (Von morgens bis mitternachts)
Thursday 12 September
10am – 11.15am
From Music Hall to Cinematograph
The films, life and work of Alf Collins and the Collins’ Family
Presented by Ray and Sylvia Spare
ABC in Sound
Presented by Bryony Dixon
The Oyster Princess (Die Austernprinzessin)
Introduced by Margaret Deriaz
Peace on the Western Front
Introduced by Toby Haggith, Senior Curator from the Imperial War Museum.
Comradeship
Introduced by Lucie Dutton.
The Song of the Scarlet Flower (Sången om den eldröda blomman)
Spring Awakening (1929)
Friday 13 September
9am – 10.05am
The City of Song
Introduced by Geoff Brown
British silent rarities from the Archive Film Agency
Introduced by Laraine Porter
Tons of Money
Spring Awakening (Frühlingserwachen)
Introduced by Michael Eaton
8.15pm -10.15pm
The Struggle for the Matterhorn (Der Kampf ums Matterhorn)
Introduced by Miranda Gower-Qian
Tell Me Tonight (1932)
Saturday 14 September
Tell Me Tonight
11am -12.20pm
The Runaway Princess
11am – 12.30pm
Neil Brand’s Laurel and Hardy Show, live music
The Boer War on Screen
Presented by Bryony Dixon and Matt Lee
The Midnight Girl
Introduced by Michelle Facey
The Phantom of the Moulin Rouge (Le fantôme du Moulin Rouge)
8pm – 9.20pm
Feeding the Pigeons in St Mark’s Square
9am – 10.12pm
Secret Film
Introduced by Geoff Brown.
A slow journey across Europe – A programme of early travelogues
12.30pm – 1.15pm
‘An Appreciation of Film’: The Leicester Film Society in the 1930s
Presented by Sue Porter
The Puppet Man
Screening the Victorians
A hundred years ago … The Midnight Girl and the cinema in 1919
August 8, 2019 By PH in 2019 British Silent Film Festival, Uncategorized Tags: 1919, Adolph Philipp, BSFF19, Marie Pagano, silent film, The Midnight Girl 1 Comment
Adolph Philipp and Marie Pagano in The Midnight Girl (1919)
We’re standing on the verge of the Roaring Twenties all over again. It’s often instructive (and fun!) to look back at how cinema has advanced in a century and 1919 was a particularly strong year for the movies. As the Cento anni fa strand at Il Cinema Ritrovato proved this year, many films we now acknowledge as silent classics were released just before the feted 1920s began. In 1919, the war in Europe had ended, Hollywood was growing strong, the feature film was rapidly becoming a fixture, and things were about to get very interesting in Germany. At the 20th British Silent Film Festival, we’re commemorating the anniversary of the Weimar Republic by looking at the fascinating German cinema of this period and its global influence too.
We’ll be screening several diverse films from 1919 at this year’s festival in Leicester: from Mauritz Stiller’s captivating Swedish drama Song of the Scarlet Flower starring Lars Hanson, to Maurice Elvey’s WWI movie Comradeship and Ernst Lubitsch’s frenetic comedy The Oyster Princess. One of the 1919 films on the slate is likely to be unfamiliar to most of us – The Midnight Girl, a charming two-reel comedy, which reveals the extent of the influence not just German culture but the New York stage had on mid-period silent cinema. Not only that, but our screening of the film will be very special.
Adolph Philipp, the writer and director of The Midnight Girl, was born in Germany but ran away as a teenager to join an acting troupe. In the early 20th century he opened a theatre in New York, where he staged many of his own musicals for the substantial German-speaking audience in the city, as well as selling his sheet music. Continue reading →
20th British Silent Film Festival – Song of the Scarlet Flower (1919)
August 6, 2019 By Sue Porter in Uncategorized Leave a comment
Sången om den eldröda blomman (The Song of the Scarlet Flower)
Dir: Mauritz Stiller, Sweden 1919, 1hr 41mins, recorded music.
Lars Hansen in The Song of the Scarlet Flower
A big-budget classic from the golden age of Swedish silent cinema starring Lars Hanson as the wilful homme fatale and farmers’ son Olof who is expelled from home after a familial disagreement. Olof joins an itinerant group of loggers who ride the rapids down the local river. But despite his bravado and logging prowess, Olof can’t forget a woman he left behind. Stunning location cinematography and a justifiably famous log-riding sequence highlight the relationship between humans and their magisterial landscape. The original music score by Armas Jarnefelt, who along with Sibelius was Finland’s most popular composer, is here reproduced to perfection.
20th British Silent Film Festival – rare British silents
Dir: Various, UK, 80mins
Mr O’Kelly Takes His Missus to Southend
A Merry Night
A selection of comedies and drama from the 1910s and early 1920s, recently digitised from nitrate originals by the Archive Film Agency and unseen in the UK for decades. A Merry Night is a drunken comedy with some disorientating special effects, The Nervous Curate and The Curate’s Double both feature hapless clergymen, always good for a joke as are henpecked husbands in Mr O’Kelly Takes His Missus to Southend. Part II of the programme changes tone and features H.B Parkinson’s 1922 A Tale of Two Cities with Clive Brook in an early role and Fred Paul’s 1921 The Oath made as part of the Grande Guignol series.
20th British Silent Film Festival – early news
Below are just some of the films that we will be screening as part of the 20th British Silent Film Festival at the Phoenix in Leicester. We will post the final programme on the site once all films have been confirmed. More information to follow.
Comradeship (Maurice Elvey, UK, 1919)
Guy Newell in Comradeship
One of the first British films made after the Armistice and the first produced by the Stoll Company. Comradeship covers the sweep of WWI on the home front and battlefield, on class relations, the role of women and the plight of wounded soldiers returning to civilian life. It was also one of the first films screen as part of the 1st BSFF in 1998. Starring Guy Newell, Gerald Ames and Lily Elsie. Introduced by Maurice Elvey expert Lucie Dutton.
Tell Me Tonight ( Anatole Litvak, UK/Ger, 1933)
Magda Schneider in Tell Me Tonight
An engaging musical comedy, starring Magda Schneider and Jan Kiepura, set in Switzerland and based around the popular song of the title. German star, Magda Schneider plays the local Mayor’s daughter and Kiepura , a famous Italian tenor who exchanges places with a fugitive in order to escape the limelight for a time. Tell Me Tonight was a German co-production, this time filmed in UFA’s Babelsberg Studios and directed by the talented Anatole Litvak. An engaging musical comedy set in Switzerland and based around the popular song of the title. German star, Magda Schneider plays the local Mayor’s daughter and Kiepura , a famous Italian tenor who exchanges places with a fugitive in order to escape the limelight for a time.
The Runaway Princess (Anthony Asquith and Fritz Wenhausen, UK/Ger, 1928)
A British –German co-production based on Elizabeth Russell’s 1905 riches-to-rags novel, Princess Priscilla’s Fortnight. Starring Mady Christians, Paul Cavanagh and Fred Rains . Christians stars as the lonely Ruritanian princess, betrothed to a man she has never met, who runs away to London with her professor (Rains) to escape her arranged marriage and meets the handsome detective sent in pursuit!
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NEW YORK GOP LEADERS PLACING THEIR BETS ON DOLE
By Robert J. McCarthy
Published Sat, Mar 25, 1995
Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas is jumping on the "I Love NY" bandwagon these days, and for good reason. With just about every major Republican in New York State endorsing his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, the "political observers" who do their best observing at presidential election time are asking why any other Republican would even venture into these parts for the March 7, 1996 primary.
"We think Dole will win, if not all, then an overwhelming majority of delegates in this state," Gov. Pataki said in Buffalo on Wednesday. "That might well make New York for the first time an important player."
Indeed, the Senate majority leader seems to be heading toward a lock on New York, which will send 102 delegates (third largest) to the Republican National Convention in San Diego. He has also lined up Sen. Alfonse D'Amato and state Republican Chairman Bill Powers -- the same duo that engineered the Pataki victory and wrested control of the Executive Mansion from the Democrats for the first time in 20 years.
But Dole has not stopped there. He has also gathered Erie County Republican Chairman Tom Reynolds, Attorney General Dennis Vacco, Congressmen Bill Paxon and Jack Quinn, and anybody who's anybody locally.
"Sen. Dole has been here three times to help rebuild our party when it was at low ebb," Reynolds said last week. "He was a significant help to us, and when he called me and asked if I would support him, he knew the answer."
Reynolds calls the Dole effort in New York the most unified he has ever seen, even more than Buffalo's Jack Kemp in 1988.
Pataki says there are lots of good reasons for New York to support Dole. First, he says, Dole is "the right guy." The governor thinks the senator is in a good position to help New York.
And he relishes the Empire State's new chance to influence the process. The New York primary will occur just a week after New Hampshire's, allowing a big say that previously fell to southern and western states in all those "Super Tuesday" affairs.
"For decades, New York has been utterly irrelevant in presidential politics," Pataki said. "We now have an early primary. If we can have New York solidly with Dole, we can impact in a very real way the nominee."
Of course, all this doesn't exactly wash with those already changing their return address labels to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Take Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, seen by most as the Dole's most formidable challenger. Press Secretary Gary Koop says Gramm will be in New York City Monday for a fund-raiser hosted by top GOP names like Lew Lehrman, Dusty Rhodes and Bill Simon.
"It's a long process ahead of us and nobody has got it wrapped up yet," Koop said. "And to say the state is either written off by us or wrapped up by Dole is premature at best."
Still, even Gramm's guy acknowledges that Dole has built a powerful campaign apparatus in New York. And because making the primary ballot in New York involves such an "arcane" process that relies heavily on party backing, Koop says Dole has some built-in advantages.
"Obviously," he said, "they're an asset."
It is quite possible, then, that New York may not prove a favorite stomping ground for presidential hopefuls -- at least during the primary season. If Dole turns out to be as strong as the GOP leaders pray, New York could be just a skipover on the way to more contested pastures.
In Niagara County, meanwhile, the fallout continues from the vicious special election that sent George Maziarz to the State Senate. After the March 14 decision knocked former Republican Assemblywoman Betty Hoffman out of the local political scene, casualties continue to mount.
The latest appears to be County Legislator Renae Kimble, who was fired by state Sen. Anthony R. Nanula on Tuesday.
Ms. Kimble isn't saying much about the situation, but her friends are. They contended weeks ago that she would lose her job in Nanula's Niagara Falls office after she led the fight against the switcheroo that almost resulted in Mrs. Hoffman running on the Democratic line.
Because that scenario was partially engineered by Nanula pal Steve Pigeon as well as the senator's allies in Albany, the political fortune-tellers have long gazed at a pink slip for Ms. Kimble in their crystal balls.
Sen. Nanula, however, vehemently denies any political motives in Ms. Kimble's dismissal. He lays the blame on cutbacks in the Senate's budget and on Ms. Kimble's inability to devote time to both her Senate and County Legislature duties. Ms. Kimble, he said, was one of several Nanula staffers dismissed or cut back.
"The bottom line was that Renae, as a $20,000 part-time person, proved to me she was unable to really make the position a priority because of her commitment to the County Legislature and by the way she handled herself," he said. "The best alternative for me was to let her go. And I wasn't inspired by any other reason than that."
Robert J. McCarthy– Robert McCarthy joined The Buffalo News in 1982 and has been political reporter since 1992. A native of Schenectady, he graduated from St. Bonaventure University.
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